Peachtree City Classic Women's 5K Race Report

Sarah and I pre race, trying to not get hurt taking a picture. 

K and I pre race.

The whole crew after the race.
L-R: Me, K, Elizabeth, Shannon, Emily, Sarah and Allie.
Elizabeth, Emily and Allie are Shannon's incredible daughters.

Friday night, K and I picked up our race packets and race shirts on Friday night. They had an "expo" but I use the term loosely because there wasn't much there, but I held out hope that there would be more at the expo in the morning. Sarah and Shannon were kind enough to take Bella out to dinner while K and I hit up Groove class, it made Bella's day. Anyways, after I picked Bella up, I headed back to Casa De Awesome to get my stuff ready for Saturday morning. I didn't get much sleep, I was revved up and kind of nervous about Saturday.


*WARNING- I know some of what I was thinking and what I describe is crazy, just go with it... come with me to CRAZY TOWN. Also, there is a little TMI, just thought you should be warned.*
Saturday morning I woke up early and got myself ready for the race. Who would have thought that I would ever get up early to go to a race, let alone in the cold, how things change. K picked me up and we made our way over to the race. They had a slightly bigger expo thing set up, which was alright but I couldn't focus on any of it because I was busy thinking about the race and wondering if I would be any faster than last race. We met up with Sarah, Shannon and Shannon's daughters, it was cool to have everyone to chat with and hang out with. We eventually made our way up to the starting line and I started to size up the competition. Yup, I was looking around to see who might be slower than me and who I could take down, I know it's not logical but it's what I did. Let's face it, I was not going to be fast, at least not yet, but I knew I didn't want to be last across that finish line. Then they called us to line up, and before we knew it, we were off. Ok, everyone else was flying, I was shuffling along... no, let's call it "enjoying the scenery".  Kids were passing me, then some old ladies passed me, I think some snails passed me too but I can't tell for sure because those damn snails were fast, but I was "enjoying the scenery". All kidding aside, I was on my own and I got into a bad head space with a few minutes, I was a freakin' mess. I had started out with a plan of doing my little run/walk intervals, and that went out the window when I got pissy. As I was trotting along, I spotted this poor soul who was really just busting her butt and really focusing and she became my target. I wasn't going to let her finish before me! I would pass her, she would pass me, and so it went for half of the race that is until she shot off and left me behind. Didn't she know that she was supposed to stay back and finish after me?! Didn't she get the memo? I was pissed but instead of following, I kept my miserable pace and sulked.  It wasn't long until I found a new target, an elderly lady who was deceptively slow. Guess what Granny did within a minute of becoming my target?! Yup, she flew off too... WTF! Finally, I found my last target, a lady whom had been in my general area the whole race. I decided that she wasn't going to finish before me darn it. Did I mention that I had a little cry during the race? Yeah, I cried because I felt like such a loser because I didn't push hard enough and I was pretty much having a beat up on Lucy and pity party. The thoughts going through my head were crazy, and I think that having Aunt Flo in town didn't help my mental situation at all. I was driving the bus to Crazy Town! Anyways, I am glad that I managed to pull myself together because I'm sure I looked like a hot sweaty and teary mess. I messed with my playlist and finally found some songs on that got me fired up. One of the songs that I was listening to is called Floor On Fire, and I was scooting along whispering "the floor, the floor is on fire"... yup, must have looked and sounded like a complete nut job but at that point I didn't care anymore. Then I could see the three mile mark, and I also saw Sarah and K coming back for me. I am so glad that they came back for me and crossed the finish line with me that in itself almost made me cry because it was such a sweet gesture. I was mad at myself after the race, I was mad because I didn't push hard enough, and I was mad that I let my targets beat me, I was just mad. I pitched a fit like a 5 year old, it wasn't pretty.

Afterwards, we started walking back to the expo area and low and behold there was post race cake. Yup, CAKE! As you may have already seen in my previous entry, I enjoyed the heck out of that cake. At that point, I decided that I was going to celebrate my 6 pound weight loss and my not being last, and there's nothing better for that than cake. That's right, I lost 6 pounds last week and I hope that's enough to keep me in the top three for "Lost It" and help set me up for the win. Yes, I know celebrating and drowning my sorrows in cake isn't the answer, but I didn't even care. Anyways, lots of lessons learned on Saturday morning.

Let's review...

1. I have awesome friends who came back for me!  
2. People who are your targets to beat need to be told to slow down because apparently the race officials aren't great at handing out the memos.
3. Stick to the plan, don't let anything divert me from the plan.
4. I need to come up with ways to overcome the mental funk I get into.
5. I drove the bus to Crazy Town, need to try and refrain from doing that again.
6. I need to run with kleenex or a hanky, not only did I cry but my nose was runny before that even started.
7. Crying during a race is dumb and does not make one look bad ass at all. Who cries during a 5K, it wasn't like I was running the NYC Marathon. 
8. I need a better and more organized playlist. 
9. I'm already looking for another race, so I must be insane. 
10. I took time off my last 5k, and I hope that it will only keep improving from here on out.
11. Post race cake is delicious, screw ILIATC for one day.
12. Cake can make just about anything better, the only better solution is a cupcake. I'm just sayin'....

I'll leave you with the song that I was singing to myself towards the end.