Big House 5k Race Report

It's been a long long long freaking time since I've written about a race. This is because I've been quite busy just trying to survive the winter of doom.

Now that we're ALMOST in the clear of said winter it's time to start RACING again!! WOOOOP WOOOOOOOOP!

Last month I signed up for the Big House 5k. This was a very important race for 2 reasons.

1. I SURVIVED THE WINTER OF DOOM!

2. It's the first race I ever ran back between baby 2 and 3 when I had just started to think about running.

That race back in September of 2011...Took me 39 minutes and 41 seconds to finish. It was painful. It sucked. I wanted it to end before mile 1. I went home and took a 4 hour nap.....OH and I "carb loaded" with a bag of purple skittles the night before..........................................

Big House 5K...September 2011

I was so excited to run this race this time around. I knew I was going to be considerably faster than the first time around but since all.freaking.winter. I had to slow down for the ice, snow, frozen slush, or WHATEVER ELSE mother nature could throw at me....................I really had no idea how fast I could be.

The last official 5k I ran was The Turkey Trot last November. I finished in 29:41....officially my fastest timed 5k. When there was ONE weekend about a month ago that the ice coverage was minimal I tried to go out and time myself. I finished 3.1 miles in 28:08. So going into The Big House 5k my goal was to finish under 28 minutes.

Ok. It was finially RACE DAY!

I love race day.

The night before I set out all of my clothes. Made my playlist. Actually got a decent amount of sleep...THANK YOU MAX FOR NOT SLEEPING IN OUR BED!!!!

My friend picked me up that morning...It was her first 5k and SHE ROCKED THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

We got coffee...Met some other friends that were running so we could car pool into the maze known as U of M and off we went.

The coffee did it's job by the time we got there. I.LOVE.COFFEE.

I decided to ditch my extra coat because I knew I was going to be HOTTTT by the time I started running.

We made our way to the start line.

Took some pictures of the 6,000 people running this race. I'm not from Michigan...but I equate these people's love of U of M to our love of the Chicago Cubs. But with less heart break.................Nearly everyone had on blue and maize....Some kind of U of M shirt, hat, wrist bands...something. And there I was...In my florescent pink shirt and lime green head band. WINNING.

I wonder if Red Shirt was avoiding my picture or seeing if his farts stink. hm..

We waited for about 15 minutes. Being with friends at the start line helps me a TON. I stop over thinking every move I'm going to make. I stop doubting myself. I stop worrying about not beating my goal. Until about one minute to the start.

Then I panic. Every thought of self doubt you can imagine goes through my head.

Right as the gun goes off there's a push to the start line....And I don't know if my first time running 5k friend knew this but at the perfect moment she said....."Don't worry...It's just another run."

And we were off.

With TIMBER blaring in my ears I just ran.

My GPS wouldn't locate so I had no idea what my pace was. How far I'd ran. NOTHING. Which was bittersweet for sure.......The adrenaline rush you have at the beginning of these races is INSANE. It's SO hard not to get caught up in the crowd and run way to fast. My watch would have kept me in check instead of letting my emotions move me but not gonna lie. That first mile was really freaking fast....and it felt really freaking good.

Around mile one my watched beeped and finally picked up a signal. I felt good. I knew I was fast but I really had no idea how fast. So I just kept running.

Between mile 1 and 2 the crowd started to thin out a bit and I could finally start picking out people to pass. A runner friend of mine told me to pretend there was rubber band slingshotting me past the next runner....this worked like a charm.

Goodbye skinny girl in awesome orange pants.

Goodbye lady with a full fuel belt and ridiculously large arm motions.

THEN. There was this skinny little chickie that I would pass...then she passed me. I pass her. She passes me. This went on for most of mile 2. Then I said to myself. She's a freaking size 2 at best. a solid 6 inches shorter than me. Is wearing TRACK PANTS so clearly she must be and Olympian...and here I am...running WITH HER!!!

I know we're getting closer to the stadium and decided to kick it in the ass. Since my GPS didn't work until mile 1 I really had no idea what my time was...I was using it more to track my pace...So as we come around the corner...I see the U of M football stadium I see where the people are going in...I know the finish line is close. I kick it in the ass and pass Track Pants one more time and decide there is not freaking way she is passing me again.

With one of my favorite running songs (Alive by Krewella) pounding in my head I run through the tunnel and onto the football field, down the sideline, and towards the 50 yard line. I look at the clock and it says 28:25.....and I cross the finish line a few seconds later.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed. I didn't know how long after the gun went off I actually crossed the start line....I thought it was about a minute...what if it wasn't? What if it was 24 seconds? That would make my official time 28:01.

Insert more self doubt here.

But then I said to myself....are you for real right now? The last time you were in this exact spot it took you almost 40 minutes to finish. Even if you finish at 28:01 you still kicked ASS.

It took me about 5 minutes to find my amazing husband who had brought all 3 kids to watch me finish...though he said my florescent pink shirt in the sea of blue and maize was easy to spot. I took a few pictures with the kiddies, waited for the rest of our friends to finish...and headed to breakfast and get groceries. The line to check the official results was crazy long so I said I would just check online when we got home.  I posted some pictures on Facebook on our way to the store and said I THOUGHT I did it in under 28 minutes but wouldn't know until my official time was posted later that day.

I left my phone in the car...grocery shopped with all 3 gremlins....carrying the littlest gremlin for the entire time....The largest gremlin managed to spill an entire bag of goldfish all over the floor while we were checking out and the middle gremlin's new nickname is 99 Problems because without fail he melts down over the littlest thing at the worst possible moment and then that little thing turns into 98 more things and the melt down never ends.

If I would have tried to do that after I ran this race 3 years ago.........................................................ugh.

This is why when people as me what I'm training for the most accurate answer is LIFE!!!

We get everyone back in the car and as we're driving home I check my phone...One of the friends that had gone to the race with me had checked my official time and posted on my facebook that I finished in 26:55.

I of course didn't believe her. So I check for myself.

Holy shit.

I finished in 26:55.

There are some things I never ever ever thought I would be able to do. This my friends is one of them. 26 minutes and 55 seconds. That put me in the top 10% of my age group! I used to be in the last 10%. I mean it is still so unreal. UNREAL. It just solitifies that you should NEVER underestimate yourself. There really is NOTHING you can't do. NOTHING.

Then not only did I run a 26:55 5k and go grocery shopping with all of our children...We then went home, did 3 hours of yard work, cooked dinner for a group of friends, and walked to the Dairy Queen where I enjoyed EVERY FREAKING BITE of a cookie dough blizzard.

Top: September 2011...Post baby number 2...First 5k EVER...finished in 39:41

Bottom: April 2014...Post baby number 3...Big House 5k...finished in 26:55

JUST.KEEP.GOING.