Celebrity Ghosts 5K 2012

I love Facebook.  Maybe a little too much.  I am probably look at Facebook, maybe, 25 times a day.  Every once in a while, it is a good source of information too.  Like Friday, when I saw that the Columbus Running Company was putting on a 5K that evening in Westerville for an acceptable price, and well, I had nothing else going on.  I sent a text to Dave asking if he wanted to run it and he said yes but didn't know if he would make it home on time to do it (it was a 7:00pm race).  At 6:00 he texts me and said he was just now leaving work.  We would never make it; I was disappointed.  Nevertheless, I got into my running clothes and set his out; printed out two entry forms and filled them out; and got my checkbook ready to go.  He pulled in the driveway at 6:25 (traffic must have been great) and rushed in and got on his clothes.  All systems were a-go!

We got into Westerville in great time, but it was their community Halloween festival and traffic got worse as we got further into uptown.  Finally I just hopped out of the car and ran up to the running store to get us registered while Dave was finding a parking spot.  At 6:55, we were both registered, finding a bathroom, and heading to the start line.

This was a small race (less than 100 participants) and most people either looked like runners or looked like runners wearing Halloween costumes.  I was a little worried that there would be no walkers and I would be DFL.  The horn sounded and we headed off into the dark.  Dave ran his own race and well, I jogged my way along the course.  The course started through Otterbein's campus, past a graveyard, and then finally onto a very dark trail only marked by glow sticks.  I found it to be absolutely fun!  And surprisingly, I wasn't sucking.  I jogged most of the way, except for three inclines in which I needed to walk to keep my heart rate down.  Around the two mile mark, my bladder and the baby sitting on it decided I needed a bathroom break.  Unfortunately, there were no port-a-johns and I wasn't going to just go in the woods.  Finally we entered a park that had a bathroom, however, it was way off course and I was doing well and didn't want to stop and let those I had already passed go pass me.  Yes, I had passed people.  Chicked by a pregnant woman!!!  With a half mile left, Dave came back for me and "ran" with me until the finish.

I set a new PR (pregnancy record), 35:11.  And shockingly, I finished 6th in my age group out of 12.  The winning female time was 23:XX, which I totally would have crushed and won the race.  Next year, Gadget. Next year!