Wellsfest 5k

After seeing a forecast of 90% chance of rain for Friday night and Sat. a.m. I was glad to get up to dry roads. I was dreading the thought of running in the rain. The race was scheduled for 8 o'clock so I got up at 5:45 a.m. for my traditional slice of toast and water. Yum, doesn't that sound good?

My stomach really didn't seem quite as nervous as usual which I think was due to hurting my back on Friday and being concerned about that. I hoped it wouldn't cause problems in the middle of the race.

On the drive down it was very cloudy and foggy. Some mist began to show up on the windshield. Thankfully, it didn't rain.

When we got to the ballparks where we thought we were suppose to park, there wasn't many runners milling around. Hmm, interesting. Come to find out we were in the wrong place. Thankfully we arrived early and quickly found the right place.At the start we were a little jammed.............but quickly we all spread out. Downhills are a wonderful way to start a race, but unfortunately what goes down, must go up. Toward the end of the race we would be headed back up this hill.

The road flattened a bit and then as we hung a left there it was. A killer hill. I was not prepared for this. For some odd reason I had it in my head this would be a relatively flat course, wrong. The hill was one of those that seemed to go on forever. I was already huffing and puffing. How was I ever going to make it? Only with the help of the good Lord above did I. Trust me, I was already begging.

In almost all the races I have ran previously I always seem to find myself running alone(with exception of the last race). And for the most part, this one was looking about the same until I heard the clomp, clomp of shoes hitting the pavement behind me.Uh-oh, where did she come from? (She) being on the right in this pic. David was standing at the corner here and yell's to us both, we are 2nd and 3rd and no one is behind us. Now (she) being on the left. Hello new racing partner! This has not ever happened before. What shall I do? Hmmm?

As you can see back up the hill from whence we came. Okay, at this point, running up a hill at the end of a race, when you are dog tired, is no fun. We continued up the hill and then took a right at the next light, down straight and then another right in to the parking lot where I knew the finish line waited.At this point, I was thinking I may have kicked(yeah, right-what kick?) too soon. But luckily I made it. Yippee!!Ah, the sweet taste of victory! I brought home the Grand Master trophy.I love receiving these but I know there is always someone who can and will beat me. I never want to take this for granted.As with all runs this is the t-shirts we received. Cute, huh?

In the end I finished 2nd female overall, Grand Masters winner and 17th out of 178 participants.

Right now I am eyeballing a race for next Saturday. Not sure if I will or not. I will just wait and see.