My Second 5K

It was a good race. I did well considering I haven't been training. I'm eager to see how I can do better in a couple of months... I've got my eye on a 5K on Nov 6. I improved on my time from my first 5K. In June, my time was 46 minutes and 26 seconds. This 5K, my time was 43 minutes and 47 seconds. An improvement - amazing to me considering I didn't really do any training for this event. In fact, I was almost anti-training. I was working out but I was only running once a week and not aiming for certain mileage or endurance goals. My plan is to keep working towards the 500 Miles plan and, in so doing, I'll be better prepared for the Nov 6 5K and should be able to shave a bit more off my time. This was an inaugural event for Mallow Run Winery. They worked with an event company for organization. It was very well done. There was very little we could complain about. There are certainly areas that can be improved for next year- and I truly hope there is a next year! I registered on site since I didn't really commit to doing the event until about 2 days prior. That went fairly easily. We walked around the winery a bit before the start- just to warm up. The 5 mile racers started at 4 p.m. and the 5K start was at 4:15. There were 1,213 participants in the 5K and 470 5 mile runners. The route was well marked with volunteers posted at intersections or corners to help us stay on track. When the 5 milers were in the final stretch, they came down the road that the 5Kers were heading up and there were volunteers on bikes and in a golf cart that cleared the road for them. That was one point of contention for me. A lot of us that wanted to run had to walk because we got a bit packed in at that point. We were running through farmland and it was a serene setting- fields of dry corn, horses in a pasture, bright blue sky and a pounding hot sun. My other complaint was the handling of the drink station halfway through the course. They were a bit slow on cup filling and they had the station set on one side of the course so there was a bit of a slow down and even stop to get hydration. You have to spread out your water station and have a system in place where certain people fill, a filler hands to a hander outer, and you have your tables spread out and on both sides of the course. I did have water from that station and also gatorade and was surprised at how the gatorade actually pepped me up a bit. I might have to consider those gels they sell of gatorade type picker uppers for mid race. I took advantage of shade and downhill whenever I could. In the last mile, heading down the incline, the paramedic team was on the other side of the road assisting someone. As I got closer, I saw a worried mom seated on the ground, stroking the hair of a child who was laying in the ditch, being attended to by the paramedics. The child appeared to be around 10 years old and they had oxyen flowing and she was definitely passed out, heat exhausted, dehydrated, something. I held up my hands and prayed for a moment as I ran. I had to contain my emotion- I immediately put myself in that mom's shoes. But I had to keep running. And I did. And I crossed that finish line. And it felt awesome. The winery had pizza and wine and free wine tastings and special prices for event attenders. We sat outside and listened to the band for a few minutes and then headed into the store to each buy a bottle of wine to take home as a souvenir. I definitely earned my shirt and wine glass!