I saw that my pacer, Allison, from BR100 was running a weeknight 5k about an hour and a half away. I really wanted to see her again and thank her in a more coherent state of mind for all she did for me. So I loaded up my youngest daughter and the jogging stroller and went to the race. Because that's what a sane person would do right?
Goofing off with the baby before the race
Allison is coaching a couple to run the Erie half marathon and they were at the race as well. Being so far away I only saw a few familiar faces but Allison seemed to know everyone. She kept telling everyone how I just finished Burning River which was a little embarrassing. I'm sure no one really cared about the insane girl with the wild-child toddler and a pink stroller!
At 7pm we all walked to the top of a big hill to the starting line. The race director gave a few little directions and shout outs but I missed most of it because I was feeding the baby cookies to keep her quiet. After a few minutes we were off!
The first quarter mile or so was across a parking lot and then left across the top edge of it. Then we turned onto a trail. A real, honest to goodness dirt and grass and rocks trail! The stroller was hammering up and down like a jackhammer and I couldn't see where my foot would land next so I was forced to back down the pace quite a bit and a few people passed me. I told myself I didn't care but when we reentered the road after a half mile I started trying to gain back my spot. Mile 1: 9:24
After that there was a fairly long uphill to a turn around point. I saw all my friends and shouted encouragement but I was slowing down. I could feel that uphill was not in the cards today. More people passed me. After the turn around I fairly flew back down the hill but we turned back onto the same trail and I was forced to slow down even more this time. I even walked a few portions for fear of overturning the stroller. Mile 2: 11:14
After we exited the trail into the parking lot where we had started we ran across a bridge and down a paved road on a steep descent. I hate braking on descents but I had to keep control of the stroller on the winding road. I passed many people on the way down and probably got a little ahead of myself. At the bottom of the hill we could see the finish line but we ran right past it. A little while later we turned around at a cone and headed back. I passed one more woman on this section and then there was no one left to catch. So I just tried to maintain the best possible pace. Mile 3: 9:28
The last .1 or so was an 8:37 pace. Time: 30:40
We crossed the line with Allison cheering wildly and amused onlookers cracking jokes about the baby beating me and how I would have crushed the whole field if I had ditched the stroller. It was hilarious to me that they were so impressed with my 30 minute stroller run. Allison actually did perform impressively and took 3rd woman overall.
Allison and I post-race
Since Allison had won an award I wanted to stick around and see her get it. I got the baby some pizza and ice cream and she made a mess and ran around like, well, a two year old. While we were waiting the official results went up and my eyes almost bugged out of my head when I saw I'd gotten 3rd in my age group. I finished 52/81 overall and 3/4 in my age group. It's kind of hard to believe I beat anybody in my current condition but I apparently did.
I guess now I should probably actually rest and recover but I'm not good at taking my own advice. I'll probably just try not to be too stupid and maybe hide all my running friends on Facebook for awhile.
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