So after last weekend's race, wanting to PR, but not being able to since I was struggling between runner and mom, I was anxious about running the next one. I really wanted to PR, it had been over 2 years since I PR'd and after all my training, I was getting a little discouraged. But after hearing a few people talk about the hills in this race, I was starting to lose hope that I would be able to. Hills and me are not friends. So, I resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't PR at this race, but that said, I wasn't going to allow the hills to beat me.
Ryan and I got up that morning, and drove to the race, getting there early because we didn't know how many people would be registering and not really knowing what to expect since this was the first time we ever ran it.Let me also say, it was cold! Not up north cold, but cold for an October Florida morning. We checked in and got our t'shirts - very cool, warmed up, and went to the start line. Since they changed the layout from the race last year, a lot of people were asking if anyone knew what the route would be - so I guess we were all in the same boat.
Finally, they sounded the horns, and we were off. What an awesome, challenging course. We went through beautiful neighborhoods, and there were a lot of hills. The route was well marked, and there were people routing us on throughout the race. I ran most of it, but I have to admit, I had to walk a lot of the hills - not easy at all. But I pushed on, as I said, I wasn't letting these hills beat me. My son decided to start at the front of the pack, so I never saw him throughout the race. Finally, I saw the street sign of the street we started on and knew we had to be getting close, and what confirmed it was when I saw one of the 5k runners running back towards us. With that confirmation, I decided I would step it up a bit, and then when I made the turn and saw the finish line, I really started to book it. As I got closer to the finish clock, it said 31:51, 30 seconds from my PR. I almost cried from joy, I was going to do it, I was going to PR this race. I finished in 32:06. I was so happy!! My son didn't PR, he finished 28:52, but he was okay with that because he made a running friend and ran the whole way with him, each encouraging the other.
Now the wait to see where I finished in my age group. Honestly, I didn't care if I placed or not, I was just happy that I PR'd. Finally, the first set of results were put up. Imagine my surprise, I came in 2nd, and 1st place was only 15 seconds faster than me. Woot Woot!!! Ryan came in 2nd also, and his running friend came in 3rd. Great race for all. Only after they handed out trophies, did I find out there was only 2 runners in my age group, and 3 in my son's. Ha Ha - I came in 2nd and last. Didn't matter, it was an awesome race anyways.
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