Cotton Row Run - 5k - I DID IT!!!

On Monday I ran for the first time ever in the annual Cotton Row Run. I have always wanted to do and this year I sucked it up and ran! Just the 5k, though, I'm not that crazy! I jog for exercise, but 2 miles is generally my max distance. That last mile on the 3.1 mile race was tough! Brad completely did not believe that I would actually run in this race, even though I have been talking about and psyching myself up for it for an entire year! I registered back in February so the fee was only $15 and I would not feel bad about losing it if I backed out went on a fabulous Memorial Day Vacation instead.

Here's my trainer, the Cam Man, all decked out in his red, white & blue. He accompanies on all my runs & really pushes me to my limits. Ha! He was not allowed to accompany me in the race. Damn rules!

Camden was more interested in waving his flags than letting me be in a picture with him.

I look drugged out in this one, but I assure you, this was a performance-enhancing free effort on my party. I definitely could have used some performance enhancers! Ha!

Brad dropped me off near the start line to go park so I wandered around aimlessly for 40 minutes before the race. I was feeling lonely (as lonely as you can be with 5000 other runners milling about) & nervous so I was really excited when I ran into them before the start & we got pre-race pictures!

The race planners asked all participants to wear red, white & blue in honor of Memorial Day, so that's what I wore. Brad said it was really hard to pick me out of the crowd. Next time I will wear hot pink or purple! I was so nervous about this race that I peed four times between 7am, when I got up, and the 9am start time! Twice in a port-a-potty in the parking lot! Ha!

Here I am at the first turn, about half a mile in. There were 1975 runners in the 5k race. That first half mile was really tough trying to navigate around the crush of people jockeying for positions! I was about 1/10 of a mile behind the start line, and it took me almost a minute to cross the start after the race started! Craziness!

This was after the turn, and the crowd had started to spread out. I still had to zig zag across the street and run on sidewalks to get around the slower paced runners. Not that I'm fast, but a lot of people were walking!

Here I come at about 1.5miles. I was really starting to feel it here.

Except for getting hosed up at the first water station, I ran the first 1.75 miles. I walked a tiny bit before I hit the 2 mile mark.

I told Brad, "Ferris, I'm dying" as I passed him. He thought I said I was so embarrassed! Ha! I probably should have been!

I would say I walked less than half a mile total, mostly in the last mile of the race. I did sprint at the end! Here I am approaching the finish line!

See the look of pure agony on my face? I was really turning on the speed right there!

I did it! Yay! My official race time was 37:15. Actual time from when I crossed the start line til I crossed the finish line was 36:35. I am really happy with that time! I know it's no big whoop for all the seasoned runners out there, but distance is not my thing. This is the first race I've run in since high school! Even back then, I only ran the 1/4 mile & 1/2 mile! Plus that was 20 years ago! Seriously, my 20 year reunion is this summer. Anyway, I am really proud of myself for running this race. My goals were to finish it, to run the whole way, and (really ambitious) to finish in 36 minutes! I didn't run the whole way, but I did come pretty darn close to my goal time!

In the interested of disclosure, I think it's only fair to tell you that I threw up as soon as I crossed the finish line! Now that was embarrassing! It was mostly water, but still!

Family pic before heading home.

Thank you so much to Brad, Camden & Paula, who came out to the race & cheered me on (& took my pictures)! Thank you also to everyone who wished me well & congratulated me on facebook! All your good luck wishes really meant a lot to me!

And Cathy, you were right. I'm itching to run another race now!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day! I sure did!