Autism 5K Recap

I don't even know where to start....

It was an amazing weekend.  We made new friends, proved that GBA is more than a state of mind, kicked some a**....  many of us PR'd...

Yeah...   to say I'm proud of us, as a team, is not enough.  I wish I was full of words tonight.  Instead, I'm full of emotion.

You know... this is quite a team.  V, Iron J, 3L, TMB (sling), Kc, Illusive Dave (pink socks), SpeeDee, GBA GF, B'nut, Cuzin' Rick, GBA CF, DeNiece (purple), Lacey (green ball cap), Earth Mama Mer (pink), Amber

Shout out to C for running "in honor of me... ok mom?"

Shout out to V for flying in from NY to join the fun.

Shout out to Lacey for joining us - her recap is here, and it's pretty cute.  She "ran" with my son G.

Shout out to SpeeDee who paced C to a HUGE PR.  Huge.  +1:30 off her previous time.

Shout out to KC who placed 3rd in her AG.

Shout out to DeNiece for winning her AG.

Shout out to TMB who ran in a freaking sling.

Shout out to 3L for winning her AG.

Shout out to B'nut for winning her AG.... (true story ~ my 4 year old won her AG)

Shout out to Dave for embracing the spirit.

Shout out to my H for wearing a RED SHIRT with SOX on the front of it... hilarious, yes he gets the joke, I'm sorry I can't explain it 100% here...

And finally, I guess I should at least give myself some kind of credit/shout out.  I wasn't feeling it on race day.  I felt un prepared and un ready to run a 5K at speed.  I had fear.  Not that I wouldn't finish, don't be silly.  But that I would NOT PR.  That the one time I ran a "fast" 5K was a fluke, or the course was short, or ... something.

Before the race I jogged over and said HI to Isn'tcool.  Isn't that funny? Yeah, I know.  Sadly, I am starting to like him.  Damn.  My blog posts about volunteering are probably going to suck from now on...

After that, we did the photo thing.  And I still wasn't feeling it.  Still, right before the race I jogged a 3 minute warm up and went to line up at the start.  Some guy looked at me in my socks in the "front" (I was 3 "rows" in) and says, "OH, well what are YOU planning on running it in?"  And I said, confidently, "7:40's, or so..."

I had no confidence in that at all.  But it was a goal...

"Oh.  OK.  I was thinking I would run it in 8's.  And he stepped back and gave me his spot.

I went out too fast.  *typical of me at a 5K... when am I going to learn?

I died a little in mile 3.  *worst bonk in 5K history as far as average pace "fall off" is concerned.

My goal was 23:59.  I missed it.

By 12 seconds.  12 seconds in a 5K is a lot of time... but I DID get a PR.

...a 3rd place AG in a fairly large race.  This wasn't 3rd out of 13... this was something like 3rd out of 40!  You know, for all my joking about not being elite, or even "Richmond Elite", I think I need to try to embrace the idea that I'm surprisingly fast for a girl in Dr Seuss striped tall socks...  average pace 7:48...