Halloween Hunt 5 miler, the skirt, the hip, and an award???

Ok, sometimes when I take pressure off myself, I do better, go figure?

Last night, after running out to the Lynchburg bbq with my sis, I went up to the gym and did 1 hr on the elliptical and stretched. It was official, I felt good enough to do a 5 mile race the next day.

Got up this morning after a restless night of sleep, did a few errands, and drove to Long Hunter State Park. Nervously warmed up, stretched, and went to the bathroom. It's so GREAT that this race is only $10 when you register on race day and opt NOT to get the shirt, I might add! There were the usual state park runners there. Terry was making his rounds and talking smack. (It's true Terry, you are "smack"! Ha) I wore one of the Nike running skirts that I had bought recently. I figured this would be a good race to test one of them. Well, both skirts are really too big around my waist but Melodie (who had one on) told me to roll down the waist band. This is what I get for being short waisted and just plain SHORT! Personally, I think the tights under it could be tighter, but that's just me. I should have bought the small, I guess...

Anyway, I'm standing there chit chatting at the start catching up with people that I only see at these races when Tomas starts the siren. He's so cool! He makes the perfect dracula every year at this event. There were more people dressed up this year than at the last two HH races that I've ran. When we did the costume awards, we had the Tin man, a Girl Scout, a guy dressed as a girl cheerleader, the power bar girls, a Geisha girl, Superman, and an Olympic swimmer (he was nearly naked standing there in goggles and a speedo!) The Guy cheerleader won. I wish I had a pic of him. He had this huge wig, glitter on his eye lashes, and this tiny little cheerleader outfit. He was probably 14-16 yrs old. Terry said that he heard the cheerleader's rustling pom-poms behind him. The cheerleader passed him on the course!! So, this boy was really fast with a huge wig on his head and carrying pom-poms while running!!

I did the first mile slow or I thought I did it slow. I tried to make myself keep it even, keep it comfortable. I even allowed people who I would normally not allow to pass me. Tomas was calling out the first mile times. Mine was 7:50? Good grief, it felt more like a 8:30-8:50. Anyway, I'll take it........so, mile 2, mile 3 went by uneventful. I ran with a tissue in my hand simply because I tend to cough up stuff when the seasons change and I did not want to be spitting all over the course. I'm so glad I took that tissue because I sure did use it. Mile 4 seems to come up quickly. It's a rather curvy course and I know it well. I ran straight lines as much as I could and the last mile, I kept hearing this person breathing hard behind me. I had no idea who it was...didn't care but for some reason I decided to stay ahead of whoever it was.... When I finished, the man introduced himself and told me that he had been pacing off me and the last mile he wanted to try to catch me but I turned it on the last half mile. (Ok, thanks?)

I ate half a hot dog off the grill, got some diet coke, and a banana. I was cooling down quickly and got COLD. I put some fleece on and walked around. I heard Kellie A. call my name. She did the Staggerwing Du this past Aug. GREAT RUNNER! She's 35 and already has a Boston Marathon under her belt. As a matter of fact, she seriously should have won the duathlon this past Aug. Due to a Newbie guy who got disqualified, she got penalized for passing him. Anyway, that soured her big time but now she says she has a good mind to come back and try to win it next year. Go Kellie! She advised me that it would NOT be wise to do the Team Nashville 1/2 with the hip issues going on.....wait till next year, it ain't going anywhere. John S. said the same thing so next year, the Team Nashville 1/2 will definitely be on my schedule.

A few of the FAST women that I've had to contend with this past year after I turned 40 have turned 45. Yippee!! They are out of my age bracket for now finally! This is the only way I knew I could get an age graded award anyway. Low and behold, I managed to get 2nd in the 40-44 age bracket. (Right behind Melodie) I guess if Jeanine had showed up, I would have got 3rd. My time was about 40 seconds slower than last year, I think... I kept it well under 43 mins but I'm not at all sure what my time is right now. I just know I've got a cutsie award to add to the collection. Yippee!!!!!!!! :)

Anyway, great day for a race and I'm glad I went. I took ibuprophen and I mowed about half the yard just to clean up the leaves. I'm going to ice my left hip after I stretch it a little.

Tomorrow should be fun......I hope to buy a new camera after the Raider's game is over.