"...In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or
brilliance. They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not."

~ Anonymous
(taken from Matt Erbele's, It Takes Time to Get Good)

Saturday, April 3, 2010

An Anonymous 5K

There is a convention in town for a group of which I am a member and although I loathe and detest any gathering that requires me to mingle with or be jostled by throngs of people and therefore NEVER attend the conventions, I was talked into doing the 5K that was being held as a part of it this morning.

This is the blog approved pic. Another friend took a picture that did not follow the "no full body pictures taken of RBR with skinny bitches" rule, therefore it will not appear in the blog. My blog, my rules.

This is the first race I have done in a loooooooooooooong time (since Barb's Race in August) and only my second organized 5K ever.

The first and only 5K I had run prior to this was 4 years ago at the same convention with the same friend. Three miles was a longish run for me then.

Post Race 4 years ago. I am #153. Skinny bitch is #165, lest there be any confusion. This is prior to the pink hat. Tan hat, bleh. So not me.


I have been sick with a head cold all week and woke up this morning with a head full of snot. I attempted to empty said snot, but half a box of Kleenex later I was largely unsuccessful. To say I was dreading this run was an understatement. I could tell I was feeling insecure when I chose to wear my Napa Valley Marathon t-shirt to run a 5k. I mean, come on. How lame is that?

I guess I was hoping it would tell all the other runners, "I know I am sucking ass today, but look, I ran a marathon at some point in my life."

As I said, lame.

We line up and head out. Many people bolt from the start like there was free pizza at the turn around (there wasn't. I checked) and I just trotted along warming up and enjoying the perfect running weather. My head was feeling better and I was breathing pretty well.

Then something happened that never happens to me. I got competitive. I started picking people off and pushing hard to beat people. I have pushed to beat a time before and maybe beat a particularly irritating person, but typically I do not get rabid about beating people in races because, let's be honest, I can't beat many people.

It was a little fun, but it also reminded me why I prefer long, slow runs; running fast hurts (ok, fast-ish). At heart, I am a marathoner. A trots along-chatting-and-taking pictures marathoner.

Final time: 29:10 PR

22 comments:

Unknown said...

Woah! Great job! i better hope you aren't out there for any of *my* 5Ks.

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

Trotting along and taking pictures... now you're my kind of runner!!!

You beat my PR by 17 secs.

BTW, you're totally skinnier than Skinny Bitch in that picture.

Generation X (Slomohusky) said...

I have to agree with Pam F. Who is the skinny one? :) Thanks for sharing.

Aka Alice said...

I am hungering for a sub-30 5K finish this year and am therefore completely green with envy right now.

BTW...I just read your last post...You are awesome RBR and happy 19!

Jo Lynn said...

I've never run a 5k in under 30 minutes. Good job girl! ;)

IronSnoopy said...

Isn't it cool to answer the question of "what was your time?" with a "twen..." instead of a "thir..."?

ROCK ON, BITCH! Nice job!

And yes, you're totally way skinnier in the photo and fabulously adorable, tan hat included.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Whoa! PR, baby! WTG!

And way to bury the lede. When you PR, you're supposed to title your post: "I PR'd Today!"

Congratulations! Imagine how you'd've done without the head cold!

Anonymous said...

Sweet job with the PR. You are a much better person than I. Once I started running mrathons, the thought of doing a 5K was, well, let's just say, unappealing.

Diana said...

Congrats on the PR! They always seem to come when we feel our worst! I woke 2 days ago with a head cold too and am praying it doesn't move south to the chest. I am scheduled for a "shit-load" of swings today.....hopefully my workout will go as well as your 5K with a cold did!
Happy Easter!

Herself, the GeekGirl said...

Congratulations on the PR! You're looking fabulous, by the way. I had to recheck the numbers because that picture, you look like the skinny bitch. I am totally with you on the "approved picture" thing. I've even "untagged" myself in photos of me that others have posted on Facebook if they make me look like crap.

Christi said...

Great job on the run!

PunkRockRunner said...

Welcome back to racing and congrats on the PR for RBR.

All the best,

Ron

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

ZOMG, sister! I totally spaced on that brutal and impolite Fallopian tube-punching I ungenteely threatened you with, and hence, missed it during The Great Impolite Comment Purge of Early April. I supposed there's no point in my purging it now - it's already made its way around town.

Let's call it a mulligan.

No more impolite comments for the rest of April.

So post 'em if you got 'em! This offer expires in 25 days ...

SteveQ said...

Woo-hoo! PR! And I couldn't track the Walrus Girl waddle by pictures of your ass taken by the Hubble telescope (sorry, just had to take over for Glaven).

Formulaic said...

So many positive things to say!

First: NICE PR! I mean...very nice! Like watch out because you are fast!

Second: You might need to reconsider who the skinny bitch is. You look pretty hawt in the middle there. Like Misty said, I had to recheck the numbers several times to ensure that we were talking about the same persons.

Third: I am just generally impressed with you! No real reason. Hope you don't mind, but I am telling people that you are my friend (and I don't mean that I am saying that under my breath either!)

You are rocking it out there!

Keep it up!

SteveQ said...

Had to check: you're PR's less than twice mine (15:28), but yours is a heckuva lot more recent!

Southbaygirl said...

HELL YES BIATCH A PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woo hoo!!! I do agree, I love to chat and take pics and you feel like you cant do that in a 5K but a PR...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so stoked you got out there and ran a 5k and got a PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, I realize I've gone a bit overboard with the exclamation points so I'll stop after saying WOO HOO A PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Southbaygirl said...

I'm coming to SF and running the Half with my sister and niece (who are flying in from England to run their first ever Half marathons!!!)) We must have dinner!!! And wear pink!!!

Klassenator said...

You still have one more 5k in ya, this weekend at SJSU! Good job on the PR

Unknown said...

Great job on the PR!! Woohooo!

Regina said...

who is that skinny bitch wearing #153 standing next to skinny bitch? Congrats on the PR, yeah!

LJ said...

NICE PR! My goal is a sub-30... so good job!