Gratitude!

My sincere and heart-felt thanks to all the fast men (30-34 years old) for NOT racing in the Paris Mountain 5K today!

So, the alarm went off, and I was very tempted to turn it off, wake up when I felt like it, and hopefully catch Neese after the race. In fact, almost every fiber in my body was screaming for this. But I figured I wouldn't wake up in time, and we wouldn't make it over to Furman U, and I would let Neese down. Mendy and I both wanted to hang out with her again, because she's just so darn sweet and fun to talk with. And the chance to meet her husband and Anne was an additional draw.

Anyway, we made it there in time to enjoy the pandemonium of pre-race activities: ran out of shirts (even for pre-registered), apparently no race packets, delayed start, etc. Neese, Rhett (her husband), and Anne (Rhett's daughter) were right out front waiting for some slow pokes to finally arrive...us! By the time I got my bib number, there wasn't much time before the start. I did a couple hundred yards of warm up, and I am now a believer in this. Moments before the gun, I tried to share some last minute experience and tips with Neese and Anne, and then we were off.

I felt great, and was running a nice pace with a great feeling of efficiency. And I had my tights on, so I looked great! LOL I passed a bunch of people (I should have been way closer to the start line) and crossed the 1 mile marker at 6:09. SWEET! Then the wind came: 46 degrees and about 14 mph whipping across the lake through most of mile 2. Mile 3 greeted us with a little bump: a very steep up and down hill that just totally messes up your rhythm. It was about this time that I started regretting the large coffee (with 4 espresso shots) I drank on the way to the race.

I kept with my chosen pace group, wasn't passed, and traded places a couple of times with a young guy that finally edged past me. I crossed the line with 20:04 showing (a PR for me), but figure that if chipped, I would have actually had a 19:58. WOO HOO! It was good enough for 2nd place in my age group. Neese and Anne also had a great race with a very strong finish! This course, and today's weather was no joke, and it appeared that times across the board were down compared to other 5Ks with the same people.

I was happy that I braved the morning and weather, very glad to have hung out with Neese and her crew, and very happy to have Mendy and Grace there cheering me on ("Doing great, Daddy!"), which overshadowed the unfortunate disorganization of pre-race activities. I'm sure next year will be better, and I hope the race directors from this year direct next years race, as I'm sure they will iron out all the bugs. They really did a great job considering they had to handle two very separate races today with their full schedules with their running store. And, they are nice people, extremely easy to talk to.

When's the next one, Neese? :-)