Race Recap- Bobcat Hustle 5K

I want to start this off with I am NOT normally a morning person!  For this race, I had to get up around 6:30am in order to get ready, get something to eat really quick, get my Mother-in-Law settled to watch the kids, and get out the door by 7:30. I was very happy The Husband was home to go with me because when I first signed up I had no idea if he was going to be working weekends or not and thought there was a chance I would be on my own.

We got out the door right on time at 7:27 and got on the road.  The race started at 9:00 and I wanted to be there around 8:30 to pick up my race bib and t-shirt and figure out where everything was happening.  The race took place on one of the branch campuses of my college alma mater. I had taken some classes there toward the end of my degree so I knew where it was and where to park. The one thing I wasn't sure of were the street names so I wasn't sure where the starting line was.  I had eaten really fast before we left the house but The Husband forgot his breakfast on the table so we ran through Mcdonald's right before we got to the race so he could get some breakfast.

We got to the campus with plenty of time to spare so I ran in to get my things while The Husband finished his breakfast in the car.

When I got back, I got situated with my knee braces (darn runner's knee), headphones, phone, etc.  Around 8:45 I jumped out of the car and followed a stream of people to the back of the parking lot and lined up. 

 

(About to head to the start line.  Ignore my weird face- I always suck on a jolly rancher while I run.  Prevents me from drinking a ton)

I got right around the middle of the pack and waited.  It was pretty chilly that morning so I was happy that they started on time!  I do know that the next race I will start a little closer to the front.  I thought I had found a good middle ground because I knew the super fast people would be in the front and I normally average in the 10:30 min mile range but I ended up being a bunch of walkers and had to weave my way around until I got out of the pack.

After getting to a pretty empty area I just got into a zone and ran.  It was so much fun.  I ended up coming up behind a little boy who was running about my pace.  I ended up passing him on the hill but when I was looking at the finish times he came in right behind me.  He was 9, which I think was awesome! There were a few kids there but he was the only one I saw that was running it and he rocked it!

I set my eyes on a guy a little ways in front of me and decided to use him as my pacer.  That worked really well until about a mile or so in at the top of the hill.  He ended up stopping there and a few more times so I ended up passing him and having to find someone else to "stalk." =)

In all I ended up with an official time of 29:25.5 (9:39 pace) which made me 45/117 overall, 16/69 of women, and 1/8 in my age group! That last one really surprised me.  Too bad I found that out AFTER I had told The Husband we could leave before awards because they only gave awards to top overall men and women.  I turned out to be wrong about that- they did the top 3 places in each age group.  BUMMER!

In all, I had an AMAZING experience.  Plus, they were raising money for the Theraputic Horseback Riding Program for people with disabilities, so that was pretty awesome, too!