You have GOT to read this...

So...if I told you I was 60 would you believe me??? Keep that question in mind....

The Operation Homefront 5K run for the troops....Race Report...Extravaganza..Disaster..Triumph...Victory....Defeat...

Those are the words that describe todays race..sounds interesting right? Keep reading!

I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night wanting to forfeit the race..I was exhausted...sore from all the weeks workouts...sleep just sounded sooo much better!

Despite all odds...I pulled my butt out of bed (with a little help from the bursting bladder)...and figured if I was up to go to the bathroom...I might as well be up to run a 5k! Easy enough right?

Driving there made me realize right away a sub 25 would not happen. My car was complaining to me about the hills...so I knew my lungs wouldn't be happy either. In the end...as long as I could get a new PR I would be happy.

We walked up a hill to start the race and then took off. You would think that walking UP a hill would mean a fast start going downhill!?! Wishful thinking right? Somehow we started climbing right off the bat. I did my best to power up the hills and let my self recover a little bit once I got up them as to not completely whack out my heart rate. This one girl with a goarmy.com shirt passed me and I decided to just draft off her the whole race...then with about .5 mile left I passed her up on a hill. With about .25 left this girl passed me and looked like she was going strong..and I thought "Awwwww helllll no you dont! You will NOT pass me in the last .25 mile!"...and I just took off like a bat out of hell and sprinted past her and kept sprinting till the end. My splits were as follows :
8:31
8:33
8:45
Finishing time was 26:31 for a pace of 8:32 which is good for a PR by 36 seconds (which is GREAT considering that PR was set on a flat course) I decided to stick around for the awards since I didn't see too many girls ahead of me..I thought there was a chance I might win something.

I could hear all the chatter on how tough the course was...and talk about the hills..and traffic (they warned us multiple times about the traffic and risk of dying on the course...sweeeeeeet! The race was to benefit wounded soldiers..however I felt like they were trying to recruit wounded runners). We then planted a tree in honor of all the wounded soldiers and dumped coffee, water, gatorade, baby formula on it. I wouldnt be surprised if the tree is dead tomorrow.

So we get to the womens age group of 20-29 and they call the third place girl with a time of 28:30...Inside I get all excited thinking "YES!! I got 2nd in my age group!" 2nd place girl with a time of "25:40"....wait..what? Did they just skip me? Wait..what age group are we in again? HOLD UP PEOPLE!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?

So I start talking to myself..Do I say something? Do I walk up and make a scene? Do I care? What do I do??? Then I started thinking...this isn't fair. I'm not fast enough to EVER win an award..and I have a blog..where I could post the picture of me and my award...ahhhhhhh...so I decided to step up and say something. The guy acted like it was a BIG deal that they messed up..and I kept trying to explain it's not that big of a deal..and I quietly disappeared back into the crowd. I figured once they finished announcing the women that he would announce the mistake or something..nope nothing...finishes the guy awards...even finishes the DOG AWARDS!!!..and no mention of runninduff :(

So then I was annoyed..this guy KNEW he messed up...tried to cover it up and let it slip through the cracks..(funniest part..his company was called "Exact Timing"...riiiiggghhhttt)..so I decided to say something. He was able to scrounge up a 3rd place age group medal for the 60 & Over! AWESOME!!!!! (being super sarcastic here). Never announced it to anyone.....and I had to ask to get my picture taken with my 60 & OVER medal! ANYONE could get 3rd place in the 60 and OVER group! Ughh..so frustrating. So by the end I felt extremely stupid...for making a big deal out of a stupid 5k...but at the same time I felt sooo slighted. I know if he would have admitted the mistake to everyone I probably would have walked away and never thought anything of it. It was the fact that I never got ANY recognition for poppin lungs out there on those hills....

Ok....and secretly the worst part. The girl who walked away with MY medal was the girl that I decided to beat this time because she wore tights with stirrups on them and running shorts over them. The whole combo was making her out to be some super duper professional runner..and I just KNEW I had to beat her. The best part...I never even saw her as I finished 2 minutes ahead of her...but wait...who has the medal? She does! I think that made it worse....

So...here it is...in all its glory!! My 60 & Over award....



Am I sad I didnt break 25 minutes? Yes..however this was NOT the course to do it on. The 20-29 GUYS division first place winner ran 25:56 only 30 seconds faster than me. Does it make me want to run a sub 25 on a flat course even more? Yes!...I can't wait to get back to O-Hi-O and do it! I need to check this goal off the list. Did the world stop since I didn't conquer my goal? I don't know...my clock is still ticking...so I guess not haha.

I will post the final stats when the race results are up.....although I'm sure they will be all screwed up and say I ran a 3 hr 5k..so much for "exact timing"...they didnt even use chips...what a joke!