June 6th-Family House 5K

Yesterday was the Family House 5K in Peoria. It's actually for a really good cause. The family house provides a place to stay for families of people at Peoria hospitals. There were only 130 people there, which was kind of nice. I came in 6th out of my age group at 30:14, finally broke that 31 minute mark! I was panting pretty hard by the end. Usually I get at a comfortable pace and trudge along. This time I decided to push myself, and really try. I'm feeling it today, my legs are a little sore and they NEVER are!

I got there too early and picked up my race packet. With ANOTHER mis-sized shirt. Why, why do I never get the size shirt that I request? Oh well, it worked pretty well to mop off my sweaty head after the race. I sat in the car and read awhile. The sky got dark and it started downpouring. I decided that I would run it if it was still raining since I drove all that way (and I'm stubborn). The rain finally quit and then it was just kind of cloudy. The sun peaked out a bit and I was mentally willing it to go away-it was already steamy out and the sun was not going to help matters. Luckily, it stayed away during the race.

We all lined up on the wet pavement and the announcer told us to all hope it didn't start raining or that the sun wouldn't come out, lol. We took off and I started my Garmin. Man, I LOVE my garmin. I got sweaty awfully quickly so I started purposefully running through puddles to splash myself with the water. I wondered if I actually layed down in a puddle if anyone would notice. Hmmm. We looped around an area and passed the starting point. I panicked for a second thinking that we'd have to loop around again (and we had already went 2 miles) so I checked my bib and it did indeed say a 5K so I calmed down. While I was doing this a man yelled at me to keep my head up so I could breathe. Well, duh. Um, okay, calm yourself down, oh spectator annoying man.

The route cut back early and I could finally see the finish line. I checked my garmin and it said I had .1 miles left so I started sprinting. I couldn't let the old man slightly behind me beat me! I broke out sprinting and the finish line people started grinning at me. I passed the finish line and they held up their hands yelling "you're done, you're done, slow down!" I think they thought I was going to run them over. The last number I saw was 30:14, so close to my official 30:19.

I headed over to the food (may favorite part) and there was donuts, pizza, oranges, gatorade, banana bread....I loaded a plate and sat down. It was sunny then and it was HOT. I grabbed some water and headed home. I got home only 1/2 hour after the boys woke up so that was nice.

I definitely need to pick up a hat. I was kicking myself for not having one when I thought I was going to have to run in the rain. I picked up some shorts yesterday that had a key pocket. Carrying your keys while running sucks! I just had my clicker, but still.

Even though this has been hottest weather race, I had a lot of fun at this one. Maybe it was because there wasn't as many people so it was a little less intimidating. I don't know. Anyway, onto next week. Next saturday is the Quad Cities Race for the Cure. I'm going with several other people so it should be fun!