Ava Brown Memorial 5K

Other possible titles for this blog post:
- Last Minute Decision
- 5K PR
- Because SuperKate Said So
- Between Downpours

This morning I ran with the Brown family to remember their sweet baby girl who passed away from SIDS.  It really was a super last minute decision though I had thought about it on and off for a while.  I was seriously still in my pajamas less than an hour before the race.  It STORMED all night - like thunder, lightening and downpour (5+ inches of rain in the gauge).  It was pouring when I woke up.  As I sat reading Facebook, blogs and emails this morning - the rain started to lighten up and I looked at the radar.  It was only to be a little pocket of less rain followed by more orange, red and yellow stuff.

My son was at my mother-in-law's for the night and my husband left to take our daughter to piano lessons.  I sat here and tried to decide what to do.  The race was at 9:00 and I looked at the computer's clock and it was 8:20.  What the heck - SuperKate told me to run this!  Throw on my capris, sports bra, duathlon tech tee - darn!  Running socks in laundry!  Oh well, cotton will have to do (Please Lord don't let us get too wet!)  Speedlaces let the shoes slip right on and I grabbed my wallet and out the door I went.  Ate a granola bar as I drove into town.  Another downpour on the way into town.  Geez, what am I doing?  Stopped by ATM for $20 to enter race. 

Got there about 15 min before it started and registered.  Nothing like last minute!  No shirt - that's fine as I don't need another and more of my fee will go to charity anyways.  Walked back to starting area and stretched a bit.  Saw only one or two folks I knew.  They had over 200 pre-register but the weather kept the turnout relatively low (though more than you might have thought with the very brief break in the rain).  Pretty soon, Ava's Dad did a short welcome and then started the event. 

We took off out of Memorial Park and I found a couple people to hang on to.  Orange shoe/pink compression sock lady and I did some leap frogging.  She ended up besting me on some uphills.  For a while I tried to hang on to Ava's big brother (cutie pie Zachary).  He outran me for a while, but I finally was able to get in front of him (though he took 2nd in his age group LOL).  Ran with a guy pushing a regular (non-jogging) stroller for a while.  The uphill section at the end did us both in, but he was able to run better once we were on the flat just before the finish and came in just before me.  I came in just after 36 min on the clock.  I'll have to check official results, but that is about a 4.5-5 min PR for me.  Still need to work on getting under 30 min for a 5K, but a PR is a PR no matter what. 

I've been regrouping mentally this week.  I've been looking hard at training plans and how multiple races affect those plans.  You guys are right - I'm racing myself and shouldn't worry about how fast or slow I am compared to others.  I know I've come a long way.  Stomach bug took me out on Wed-Thur this week.  The up side is that I finally hit my "off-season" weight loss goal (a week late).  But I'm sure as I eat this weekend some of that will come back.  Have a girls night out with a friend in from Kentucky tonight.  No big plans for tomorrow - will see if the weather is conducive to a bike ride.  Busy week coming up so I'd better get some workouts in while I can.