I Won a Race! (Turtle 5k)

I’ll admit it, I’m a little more than a little competitive. With other people, yes, but also with myself. I am no good at running races “for fun” have been known to not run one if I know I have no chance of at least achieving a personal record.

Sad, isn’t it?

So I wanted something to train for after the Myrtle Beach Marathon and thought that a 5k PR would do the trick, except I didn’t anticipate that it would take so long to not only get back into running, but more formal training (i.e. intervals, speed work etc). When I did run, I just wanted it to be easy, fluff miles. I did do some intervals but my heart wasn’t totally in it and my time showed. I wanted to have a race to run in March though, and it seemed like this one was small so I might have a chance to win something (see? competitive) so I stuck with the plan.

The Turtle 5k (ironically named if you ask me) supported Meals on Wheels and was in honor of Lena Cox, a long time volunteer for Meals on Wheels. She was nicknamed the turtle because she believed very much in the perseverance lesson involved in the story “The Tortise and the Hare”.

The race was an easy out and back on a local bike/running trail, with the awards at a church within walking distance (literally down the street). They made a few announcements and we were on our way.

I’m historically not a very smart racer because the adrenaline of running a race tends to take over and I end up running my fastest mile at the beginning and suffering through the end. After the success starting more slowly with the marathon I really tried to do the same here. I was mostly successful. I stayed behind another girl and ran Mile 1 in 7:34. The turn on a dime was slightly annoying but really no big deal, and I high fived the other runners on the way back to keep myself from going to quickly and ran Mile 2 in 7:36. I had hoped to speed it up a little, but you live you learn. Mile 3 I tried to turn it up and did but not as much as I had hoped, finishing in 7:21. I was literally one second behind some 12 year old kid the entire last mile and the poor kid kept trying to speed up to stay ahead, while I was thinking “no worries buddy I don’t have the energy to beat you.”

My clock finish time was 23:22, the EXACT same time as my last 5k, but my watch time was 23:21, so that’s what I’m going with. Hey, a PR is a PR, even if its only one second.

Post race they had water and a good assortment of food choices particularly for such a small race. Doughnuts, cupcakes, fruit, granola bars and water. It took awhile for all the runners to finish and awards to start, but my dad had come along to watch the twins so they kept us entertained while we waited.

I’m not a slow runner but I’m not amazingly fast either. Sometimes results in races are just as much in who shows up as how fast you run. This race was my lucky day because not only did I win a medal, I won OVERALL FEMALE! And as an added bonus, got a $50 gift card to a local restaurant!

We tried to take a celebration picture, but you know how those go.

Great mom, you won. Where’s our snack?

So, time wise, not my best race ever. I’m still struggling to get back to where I was before the twins were born, but it was a good time and frankly, it was awesome to win overall!

It is just fun to see my name here, even if I’m not SUPER speedy