A cold front was blowing in and while it wasn’t cold (it was
around 60°), the wind WAS cold. As we
waited for the start time, I was wishing I had worn my white half zip under my
green tech shirt. I was really glad that
my costume included gloves because otherwise my hands would have been
frozen. Before the start, I discovered
some friends were also there running it!
So I hung out with them before the race started.
So, I’ve said I was in costume. I was Luigi from Super Mario Bros!!! it was really fun putting the costume
together. I already owned a green tech
shirt. I bought a 10 inch stuffed
mustache and a green Luigi hat on Amazon.
I picked up some $1 gloves at Walmart and then I sewed together a bibbed
skirt in sparkly blue material with oversized yellow buttons! And then I wore some blue semi-short shorts.
The race started and off we went. We were running on Camp Mabry and it was an
out-and-back course. It’s the same
course as last year. It’s also the same
course as the 4th of July race, except that this one places the
start/finish line further along so it’s actually a 5K and not .2 of a mile
short.
As we ran along, I felt like I was going kind of fast, but
not too bad. I wasn’t concerned about it
as this was a 5K. If I run fast, it’s
okay because it’s only 3.1 miles. I near
the first water stop and my Garmin beeps mile 1. I look down and am shocked that it says
8:59! I knew I was going fast but it
didn’t feel anywhere NEAR like I was going that fast! I breezed by the water stop. Kind of difficult to drink out of a little
paper cup with a giant mustache on your face.
I kept on cruising along. Mile 2
beeps and I look again and am even more shocked as I see 8:37!!! At this point I say “forget this, I’m going
for it!” and actually tried to keep the pace up. I managed 8:38 for the 3rd mile
and the last .15 was done in 1:15. I had
an official timing mat time of 27:27.
That’s just 14 seconds shy of being a new PR. Yep, I ran my second fastest 5K in a
costume…without even trying…without it even feeling hard at all. When I ran my current PR of 27:14 earlier
this year, I crossed the finish line and literally almost collapsed. I crossed the finish line at the Mustache
Dache and I still felt great! (in fact,
I went on to run another 7 really fast paced miles after I got home)
I waited for my friends to finish and cheered them across
the finish line and then we hung out and took funny pictures. We loaded up on bananas, popcorn and
oatmeal. I didn’t personally get any
popcorn but I did have a banana and some very yummy oatmeal. It was cold but it was delicious!
They posted the results on the table and so I went and
checked mine. I don’t know how many
people participated, but I placed 55th overall (daaaaaaang) and 18th
in my age group. I don’t know how many
were in my age group but the age group was ridiculous. It was ages 18 to 39. Even with my 27:27, I didn’t have a chance of
placing with that kind of age group spread.
I think if it was 5 year groupings I definitely would have gotten at
least 3rd. If it were 10 year
age groups, I probably still wouldn’t have gotten an award, but at least I
would have had a chance.
However, I still won…the costume contest! And guess what? I got the exact same award the age group winners got, a pint glass with the Mustache Dache logo on it. WIN!
However, I still won…the costume contest! And guess what? I got the exact same award the age group winners got, a pint glass with the Mustache Dache logo on it. WIN!
I really like this event and plan to do it every year unless
a special race comes up (like the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, OK…I’d really
like to do that one year).
Oh and they had free official race pics!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment