Posted on January 1, 2010 - by Ashley Jackson

Race Report: 2010 Resolution Run 5K

I went to bed at 8:30 last night so I could get some good sleep in before the race today. Some firecrackers woke me up at about 12:20, and then at 4AM I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was hungry (thanks to the potatoes I had for dinner), so I got up, took the dog out, and decided to try one of the peanut butter cups I made last night.

So good! And so easy to make!

I went back to bed for a few hours, but was so anxious about the race that I didn’t really sleep much. Finally I got up and got ready to go. I’d laid out my clothes and gear the night before, so pretty much all I had to do was throw everything on and grab breakfast.

I’d planned to eat a banana with peanut butter and a piece of bread with some jelly, but I felt like I was going to throw up. I ate a banana and one of the peanut butter cups on the way to the race.

My parents wanted to come see me run the 5K and were waiting for me in the parking deck. As I was getting what I needed out of the car, I realized that I’d forgotten my camera!! I left it sitting on the chest in my dining room! Fortunately, my dad has an SLR digital camera and came prepared to take pictures. And then he let me borrow his memory card so I could get the pictures off of it. Yay!

I already had my bib, but went to pick up my timing chip and my shirt. The first 100 participants were guaranteed shirts, and it turned out they were long-sleeved technical shirts! Pretty cool. Everyone else got t-shirts.

My mom held onto my keys and my race shirt for me, and also helped me put on my race bib. It was cold out there and my fingers weren’t working!

I took a little jog around one of the buildings and stretched some before the race started, and it did help keep my calves from cramping.

Soon enough it was time to start! I lined up near the back and we all took a little jog to the starting line.

(You’ll notice in these pictures that I tend to run on the outside of my feet, at least on my left leg–I didn’t know that! It’s a wonder I don’t break an ankle! Yeesh!)

I gave my parents a wave right before I ran through the starting line.

I look so awful in pictures. Me and my multiple chins…

I stuck near the back of the pack with the folks who were alternating between walking and jogging. About a quarter of a mile in, I realized my left shoe felt loose. I looked down and it was coming untied! I swore (!) and hopped up onto the curb to retie it, then jumped back in without losing too much time.

The race volunteers were very encouraging. They were wishing us a happy new year and telling us to keep going. One of them even jokingly told the two women behind me who were jogging and talking that if they were talking they weren’t running fast enough.

The course was a big loop on the main road on campus (with a detour onto a side road), and since the start was kind of in the middle, we had to pass by the staging area again less than halfway through.

I drive or walk up and down this road all the time, and let me tell you, there are hills there I never knew existed. Fortunately, they’re low sloping hills, not the steeper ones at the lake that I usually run at, but they were still hard!

Not too hard that I couldn’t give my parents a “whoop whoop!” sign when I ran by.

At this point I knew I was going to be able to run the entire way. It was going to be hard, but I was pacing myself well to finish strong. I glanced at the clock as I ran by and was shocked to see that it read 22 minutes!

There was a water stop just past the staging area and I thanked the volunteer who handed me a cup of water twice because my mouth was so dry. I took a couple of sips and tossed the rest, though.

Around the 2-mile marker, I heard someone call my name. I looked up and my brother and sister-in-law were standing at the corner. I waved and pointed them toward the staging area.

The course was flat for a bit in the middle, but as I ran toward the stretch before the last turn, I realized there was a huge hill I had to run up to get to the turn! One of the volunteers yelled at us to charge the hill and I jogged on, knowing that once I hit the turnaround point it would be all downhill or flat for the rest of the way. The runners who had already started back in the other direction were yelling to us that it was just a little further to the top, and I smiled at them while thinking, “You lie!”

The volunteer at the turnaround point cheered me as I rounded the cone and headed back down, and I’ve never been so happy to be jogging down a hill. It gave me a chance to recover a little bit. I was still at the back of the pack with the people who were using the run-walk method to complete the race, but I knew I was going to finish.

As soon as I saw the Red Hat building, I sped up. The volunteer at the intersection  yelled, “Great pace!” but I knew that I was still a little ways away from the 3-mile marker and slowed down a little so I could still finish strong. And then, over the hill, I could see the finish line!

See the man in blue on the right side of the picture? He’d been slow jogging behind me and finally caught up and passed me in the last part of mile 3.

But when I hit the home stretch, I threw everything I had into it and blasted past him.

Ha ha! Take that, Blue Man!

And then I hit the finish line and heard the beep of my chip turning off! I made it!

I’d tied my chip into my shoe laces in addition to zip-tying it in, so I took a few seconds to get it off in the finishing area. But I turned around and saw that the clock said 41 minutes and some number of seconds. Could it be? Did I really finish in less than 45 minutes?

Yes! I did! I came in 17th in my age/gender class (20-29 year old females) with a time of 41:02 and a pace of 13:13! I’ve never run so far or so fast before! And I ran it without stopping, except for the ten seconds or so when I was retying my shoe. If my shoe hadn’t come untied, I would have been under 41 minutes!

I grabbed half a cup of Gatorade and a chocolate chip cookie from the aid station and ate it while watching the little kids do their mini run. Since this was my first 5K, I wanted to stay through the entire thing, even though my poor family was freezing. Hey, I told them it would be cold! And we were going out to lunch afterward and nothing opens until 11AM, anyway. The results were posted and then we watched the awards being given out–but pretty much everyone who hadn’t won (and some people who did win!) left by the time they gave out the awards! Tsk.

Once everything was over, we walked back to the parking garage and everyone waited while I let myself into the building I work in and switched shirts. I took off the black shirt and wore the yellow short-sleeve shirt under the shirt I got at the race. Much warmer!

Then my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and I drove to Cary for lunch at the Carolina Ale House.

My meal came with fries or coleslaw. I got the cole slaw. Oh, french fries, I miss you already…!

It was crazy peppery coleslaw! Yikes. I ate half and took the rest with me in my to-go box.

My entree was a Greek chicken pita wrap. “Grilled chicken breast, mixed greens, diced tomato, red onions, kalamata olives, crumbled feta cheese and homemade balsamic dressing wrapped in a warm pita.” I had mine without the olives! Blech.

This was very tasty. I ate half and put the rest in my to-go box. Lunch tomorrow! I wasn’t sure how much I should eat right after running.

So I accomplished both my goals for the race–finishing and running the entire race. And I did it in less time than I thought I would! It’s amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it. And when you’re stubborn as a goat.

I’m home now and chilly and a little sore…no running for me for a couple of days. I’m going to curl up in bed with the rest of The Biggest Loser marathon on Bravo and my dog and maybe take a nap…

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me and gave me advice as I was preparing to run my first 5K, and to my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law for coming out to support me! It helped knowing there were folks out there pulling for me.