angelak | First 5K

Salmon Days 2007 was pretty fun, all in all. Saturday morning was filming the Salmon Days parade with TS. I was the handheld camera on the ground. This was a first; I did not get taken out by any floats in spite of TS constantly telling me to get all up into the floats. LOL It’s scary and difficult to know where your reference points are (and I have poor depth perception as it is) when you have a camera on your face. I did get the money shots of the dogs.

Then I hung out at Salmon days after that.

Sunday morning started abruptly, I wanted to be at the Rotary Run pick up for my shirt and time chip without much ado. My parents came to hang out and drop me off; initially Jim was going to be at drill, but he ended up having it get canceled till next weekend.

So I got up at 6.20ish to shower and get ready. My parents arrived around 6:50, I got dressed and prepared to leave for the run. We got there, parked, and I picked up my shirt, number and chip.

1654 was my number. I found the chips to be really cool. They’re timing chips that you put in the laces of your shoe (so they’re close to the start/finish lines). How cool is that? Okay, easily amused but really. It was a fun experience. I laced it into my top lace because if you lost your chip, they’d charge you $30.

So, after bathroom breaks, stretching, and a bit of liquid… it was almost time to leave. The unknown of the situation lead to the usual fun. I was hoping that the distance was not too far off my usual daily runs. Would I disappoint myself with a high run-time? This was the true test of tests. An actual timer. An actual course with true distance readings. Odometers on cars can be off a lot, and I have tried to track my route with Classy, but… maybe I was short changing myself this whole time and the run would pose issues for me???

Excitement that I might surprise myself also, was present. It didn’t matter, I was registered, getting ready to step into the sea of people… I was going to find out the truth! I have a pretty good idea of my fitness, I figured I’d be “middle of the pack.” I started somewhat close the front where all the “serious” speed workers were, but only because it seemed the easiest place to be. And after all, I’m into some measure of speed, right?

Stepping up to the line was the mix of emotions; anxious eagerness and slight nervousness and excitement. The countdown started, the airhorn blew, and then everyone started running. Looks crazier than it is. I adjusted my IPOD volume to a high volume because I wanted to remind myself that really, this was no different than running alone.

The first song was Amber, by 311. Before I knew it I was in the groove. I wasn’t in it to push myself 100%, but I wasn’t into it to mosey either. I wanted to know how far 5K was on a mapped course, and not Classy’s Odometer. So, I tried to remind myself to go as fast as I could without blowing all my energy in the first half.

I enjoyed the mile markers. They had boy scouts holding MILE #1 signs, and MILE #2. (there was no mile #3, or I never saw it… hmmm). At mile #1, they had boy scouts with partially filled little Dixie cups with water. I took one, I figured, wow – I am a little thirsty. Ok. Cool!

So we ran up Gilman, to Front Street, and then around Dogwood I think? And back to 12th Avenue. It was fun to run through the streets, and there is a neat feeling of being in a huge crowd of people all doing the same thing. I guess it strikes me as amazing because I never thought my life would take me in this sort of direction, but it’s a really fun hobby. I hope to keep it fresh by hiking and continue running as well.

There’s something about it that I can’t put my finger on that brings me back to it. I think it has to do with the challenge, and the fact that I can continually improve at this point – and perhaps that it was something I said I’d never do. I hated running a few years back.

So, weaving through the streets was fun, and walking was weird. I felt like I was letting everyone pass me by when I stopped to rest. But I realize that the rest points are good to get back some endurance to run farther, faster after the walking. It became impossible to tell if you were at the beginning or the end, or the middle – when the course weaved through streets and before you knew it you couldn’t see where the stream of people began or ended. I figured maybe I really was at the back? Or maybe not. The thoughts running through my head were something like that. Am I tired? Am I pushing it too hard? Should I push it harder?

There were a few people who seemed to be running my pace and walking in my pace. I realized my method could not have been too bad. After I point I also got to realizing, hell… my usual pace is pretty good, so I should continue on my own pace and stop letting the mental push rob me of anything :)

I also had fleeting thoughts of whether they were thinking about the raindrops that had begun falling on me, back at the start line (mom, dad, Jim.) :)

And some of the route just seemed to fly by as I was induced in my own trance. It was a really fun experience, and now that I know what I expect, I know I’d do it again. The very end I got a little tired and took a couple of walk paces. I then turned the corner to the finish line and sprinted at 90% capacity. (I think I had a faster sprint in me, but I decided to stick with the almost my highest exertion rate, fearing a stomach crash at the end).

So I pushed across the finish line and there it was. My moment of final achievement. I had hemmed and hawed all month, and here I was, finished. I immediately began scanning the crowds to see my posse. And there they were. They hadn’t seen me come in because the 5K and 10K were intermixed and no one said “HEY LOOK THE FIRST 5K people are in!” and therefore they had no idea when I’d be coming through. They spotted me pretty quickly and pointed me to where the shoe untiers were (to take the chips). I then ducked under the tape and went to hang out with them and cool off. I felt super warm, but it may have been wearing a shirt. (Lately I’ve been going in my sports bra only on runs.)

I wasn’t as red as I thought I was. Dad didn’t get any in action photos of me, disappointingly, but he got a few before and after.

Then we went home, hung out – rested, and ventured out to Salmon Days. Briefly saw faerievixen2 and glitch25. We had fun wandering around the streets.
Later that night I found the results for the 5K online.

My stats looked like this:

30 minutes even (on the dot!) for the 5K.
I finished 391st out of 809.
I was 12th out of 26 in my age class.
I was 169th out of 459 females.

It seems middle of the pack is where I am, and that’s pretty cool.
And now I have the new goal of trying to beat 30 minutes for the next one… because of course next time I am sure I can do better!!!

It's pretty cool, and now I can say I did a 5K. Yeay.
Here's a couple of photos:

Water Hoarder!