Thank you for all your support. The Women’s Clinic met their financial goal of $20,000 and even exceeded it by a little. I finished in just over 33 minutes a personal best. My team won first place for fund raising thanks to the readers here. Four of our members won first place time slots in their age divisions.
Heidi, Me, and Kelly Marshall in front of the Independence Courthouse just after our run. Note to self: Do not run with a water bottle. It's heavy and they have people along the sides who will feel bad if you don't take the water that they volunteered their morning just to be able to hand you.
NHeidi and Me before the run. Trying not to feel nervous.
Heidi, her cousin Haley and two of their friends from church just after the run.
Wish I took more pictures!!!! I enjoyed the experience a lot and am looking to see the which next 5k (local) that I can work into my schedule. Then maybe a 10k, half marathon or something bigger–like an obstacle or mud run?
Things I did right this year:
Dressed in layers that I could take off and attach to my body while still running.
Trained 3 days a week on hilly terrain with days of rest between. For training I used a Gym Boss timer with 1 minute running and 1 minute walking. As I increased in fitness I increased my running speed during that interval.
Ate a great breakfast to run on: Smoothie with 1 cup almond milk, 1 scoop designer whey protein, 1 Tbs cocoa powder, 1/2 banana (frozen) and 5 frozen strawberries.
Wore sunscreen.
Took my cellphone for photos.
Left my purse at home with just my id, $20, and single car key in a zip pocket in my running pants. Pinned my cellphone pocket shut so it couldn’t bounce out while I ran. It was 55 degrees at the start of the race. I wore Walmart brand full length black boot-cut running pants in a performance knit with a zippered id pocket. Perfect. On top I had a 3/4 length cotton shirt, the official race t-shirt over that and a zippered hoodie over that. At the first mile marker I was ready to lose the jacket. Other than that, I was right climate wise.
Took melatonin the night before so I would get a good night’s rest.
Prepared the night before with the race route, clothes laid out, hair plan (to keep it out of my eyes), weather watch, food plan, and showered the night before so there was very little to do the morning of.
And carefully selected good running shoes and ran with them several times before race day to break them in.
Things to do next time: No water with me (too much to carry), and take extra safety pins in case team members need their bibs pinned on. (another team member saved us this year–thanks Janelle Bird!)
