New Albany Independence Day 5K 2013

It's a holiday, therefore we must race!  This year a Fourth of July race was offered just up the street from home so Dave, Dad, and I all signed up.  I had intended to push the stroller during the race but my mom offered to watch him, so the race was on!  Yesterday morning we were woken up by rain so plans changed a little.  Instead of my mom and the baby being at the race to spectate, we now how to drop him off at my parents' house and would travel with my dad to the race.  I had picked up our race packets before the race so we were not in a time crunch, at least. 

When we arrived at the race it appeared very small.  We also noticed that there were apple pies for the age group awards and individual-sized apple pies as a finisher's award.  Sweet!  Literally!  So we were ready to race to earn our pie.  The race started with kids races starting with a crawl for babies that could not yet walk.  Seriously cute.  I wish Anderson could have participated.  After the kids races we all lined up.  Dave lined up close to the front, I was a few rows back, and Dad lined up even further back.  We took off and I felt pretty comfortable.  I was huffing and puffing but did not feel out of control.  I was surprised, then, when I hit the first mile marker in 6:45.  Sure the first mile was downhill, but things felt fine so I kept rolling.  During the second mile I got passed by two people pushing strollers.  I thought for sure I was slowing down, but I wasn't as I hit the two mile mark at 7:04.  Then I got thinking, hmmm, maybe I've got a shot to PR?!  Seven minutes came and went in the third mile and then eight minutes.  Where the heck was that mile marker (I never saw it)?  I tried my hardest to repass the girl with the stroller but came up just a little short.  In the end I raced a 23:08 which is a whole minute faster than my first 5K back from pregnancy.  Dave ran a 21:30.  What's crazy is that I finished third in my age group out of over 45 (30-39 age group) and therefore I got a big pie.  Even crazier, I was less than 15 seconds from winning my age group.

Dave finished 5th in his age group with a 21:30.  He was only 17 second out of placing.  That sucks (for him) that he beat me by a minute and a half and I was the one who placed in my age group.  My dad, who raced in the 50+ age group finished 14th!!!! in his age group and he was about halfway in his age group.  Holy moly!  That's a lot of old dudes.  :)

 The baby looks so happy to be having his picture taken.

It may have been a small race, but it was competitive.  They've already said they're bringing the race back next year and I look forward to running it again.

Next up, trail racing!