Today was the Freeze Your Gizzard Cross Country 5k. It was a great morning for it, cold at 36 degrees but virtually no wind which was a real treat. After yesterday's gusty run, I was a bit worried about what today would bring.
The route was pretty hilly today. The "cross country" part was no joke. I ran the entire thing looking down at my feet worried about twisting an ankle. I like the cross country races though, the terrain takes your mind off of how far you've been and how far you still have to go!
Early on, I'd say about 1.5 miles in, I found myself directly behind two boys that couldn't have been a day over 15. They were all arms and legs. Long thin limbs flying around. They had creaky voices and were talking non-stop about video games. As much as I'd love to hear about the newest advances in X-Box, I decided to pass. I was cruising along quite well, my legs felt great, I was having no problems with my breathing and I felt fast. There were a lot of runners though and the course was pretty tight so it was hard to get by people. As I was nearing the finish line, I looked up ahead of me, I'd say about 100 yards, and spotted to young kids. I'm talking 7 or 8 years old. Just trotting along having a great time and here I was, behind them, breathing pretty heavy by now and thinking to myself 'I signed up for a half marathon and 2 8-year-olds are kicking my ass in a 5k?!' So I dug deep and found some more gas and managed to pass them just before the finish line. My husband caught the proud moment as you can see (I'm the dot wearing black pants and a blue top with white sleeves, the little shits are behind me in blue and red).
It wasn't until after the race that I found out there was a 1-mile 'Fun Run' for the kids and they were running in that one! Kind of a relief, I have to admit.
I didn't know he and the kids were there though. I crossed the finish line, found a seat to take off my chip timer and heard my name. I turned around and there were my peeps! Red noses and all!! The boys made cute signs for me: Q's had a picture of a cake because pretty much all he thinks about is cake and C's had a family of turkeys. They were a wonderful site, my hair, not so much.
All in all, it was a fun race. Good weather, challenging course. I finished 5th in my age group, 20th over all in a pack of 219 women. Time: 24:40.
