Divas Half Marathon 5K Race Day!

Today was the Divas Half Marathon 5K race.  I woke up at 5:30 and ate some cereal and a banana.  Then we headed out.  The street parking was already filled up so hubby dropped the boy and me off on the other side of the park where the race started.  I dropped my phone getting out of the car but it seemed ok. We walked across the foot bridge which dropped us at the entrance to the park.  It was a sea of pink.  Runners were coming from every side converging on the park.  We made our way to the start and waited for hubby to show up after parking the car.  The half marathon runners started before us and there were a lot of them so it took a while to clear the course for the 5k. So 5k started a few minutes late. There were so many 5K runners that they had us start in 3 waves.  Fortunately I was in the second wave.  It was a little confusing at the start.  The first wave went then the guy didn’t call the second wave to start but everyone started moving forward.  There was some wave 3’s starting to move. Finally the announcer said just wave 2’s are starting.

It took a while to find hubby. I wasn’t getting his texts. We got together a few minutes before the race start and it turned out that the sim card was dislodged in the phone. My boy could fix it, of course, had to remove the battery to do it. So I was trying to reboot my phone and get my running append music player to start while I was shuffling in the crowd to the starting line.  Finally got them to start.  I started off a little fast. My upper rib cage was starting to hurt.  I got discombobulated with my running app, music player and the second wave hadn’t started lining up but already on the move.  All the runners passed me.  I was the only slow runner in the bunch.  I was running with the walkers who were very annoying.  They were passing me and then they would slow down.  The young girls ahead of me kept stopping to take pictures. Selfies, of course.  The ladies with the strollers almost ran me over. I finally settled in and before I knew it I was at the mile one marker. I found out my running app wasn’t working because it didn’t tell me that I was at mile one or what my splits were.  So I pressed on.  I got to the turnaround for the 5K and started heading back.  The 2 mile marker was at the water station and before we headed onto the path.  After that I knew it wasn’t that long until the finish line.

It was hard being bunched up with the walkers going over the little foot path and the bridge.  After the bridge the path opened up.  Right near the finish line was the tiara and boa station. Some lady and her kid were just standing in front the table so I couldn’t get my tiara and boa.  Finally got it then a little ways down I spotted hubby and the boy.  I crossed the finish line in 57:48.  That was faster than I thought I would be.  I thought I was running really slow.  Not bad for my first 5K run.  At the finish line they had shirtless firemen giving us our medals but I couldn’t get anywhere near them because of the walkers in my way.  Finally a cute fireman gave me my medal.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to have my picture taken with him.  There was a big mob of us moving forward.  We got our roses, then our glass of champagne.  Were stuck in a bottle neck waiting to get to the food station where they bananas, apples, pretzels, bagels and cookies.  Got through then I was trying to eat some food and drink my water but I had my hands full so I gave some of my food to hubby to hold.

It was a fun race but I am really, really, sore.  You would think that I ran the half marathon.  LOL!  Never did catch up with my friend who was running the half.  Next year I will be faster so I won’t be lumped in with the walkers.