A&F 5k Run
I felt like crap when I woke up Thursday morning and called into work. The office manager called me back and told me to not come in to work since a lot of people were out of the office and I had already worked overtime this week. So I slept in and came into work after noon. I took a decongestant and I started to feel a bit better.
Susan and I left work around 4:15 and I changed into my running outfit that my roommate just got me and pinned my number on and then we were off to the A&F campus. There were a whole bunch of cars trying to get parking spaces. We eventually settled on a spot and then just walked around since there was over an hour before the race. We found the beer and I wasn't able to find the plain and simple bud light I always drink. It was funny walking around since a ton of people were wearing the A&F challenge shirts. Don't people know that is the equivalent to wearing the shirt of the band to that band's concert? There were also people there wearing the shirts who obviously didn't accept the challenge and were only there to drink and hang out.
The bikers started at 6:20 and then we started to line up with the runners. I started to get really excited and nervous at this point. There were a bunch of people around me and I was trying to start towards the front. There were also a ton of elementary school kids up front. The announcer was trying to encourage them to go more towards the back. Susan told me to get to one side so I can pass people easily. I don't know what it is about big groups but people get really loud and annoying. I think the fact I still didn't feel good contributed to me feeling annoyed by others quickly. So then the 5k run started and it was just crazy. I kept looking to my sides to make sure I wasn't about to get run over or that I wasn't about to run into someone as I try to pass someone. This lasted for about 100 - 200 feet. Then things got more in order where we were all just running a few people across. The A&F workers were scattered throughout the run to cheer us on which was cute. After the first mile I just thought to myself "I thought we had gone further than just 1 mile." They handed out water but I didn't have any as I get cramps easily with anything in my stomach. This one guy begin me had some to drink but didn't swallow it right and started coughing pretty aggressively. I wanted to pat him on the back and be like "are you ok?" I just kept thinking "run run run don't stop" and as we got near the loop around we started to see the front runners loop around and start running the other way on the other side of the street. After I looped around I started to look at the other side of the street to see if I could see Susan or Nate. I finally saw Susan and yelled "GO SUSAN!" and she waved back as I started to wonder where the next mile marker was going to be. At the next mile marker I looked down at my watch and thought it said 14 min or so. We passed more A&F workers cheering us on and I thought of how weird it would be to cheer on people you didn't even know running at your work's campus. As I ran up to the A&F entrance all of a sudden there were a bunch of elementary school aged kids running with us. Where did these kids come from? Did they run the whole length and just start catching up with us, or were they just messing around. I failed to check if any had running numbers on but I doubt they were running the whole time. I was breathing really heavy by this point and was thankful that I haven't smoked in a while and that if I wasn't congested I would probably be doing better. The 3 mile marker came up and then I headed toward the finish line. At that moment some kid just zoomed past me and I started to pick up my pace but didn't increase it by much. I could then see the time and I was disappointed to see it on 20 minutes. I thought I was running better than that but maybe I wasn't seeing my time correctly when I was checking it at each mile marker. I ran through the finish line at 20 minutes 48 seconds. My goal was to have a 7 minute mile and I beat that. After wards I ripped off my tag and handed it in and got some water. My face was now burning I imagine my face was beat red. I checked in one of the office windows and just saw a sweat soaked face. I was still breathing heavily and then came the headache. It was awful. My sinuses were mad and they were going to get back at me. So I sat on a bench and just kept wiping the sweat off my forehead and drank small drinks of water. Finally my headache got to be so bad I just started pushing on my forehead in hopes it would alleviate the pressure, which it did not. Some guy sat next to me and said "Hey I saw you passing me." I asked him what his time was and it was in the 22 minutes range. I told him mine and just kept drinking water and trying to think about something other than the pounding headache. Ugh, I really can't stand groups of people for extended periods of time and my time was about up. I just kept looking for Susan to finish while people were being loud. Finally I saw Susan and the first thing she said was "I'm so mad two fat girls passed me!" Her time was in the 30 minute range and I told her my time which she thought at first I was joking. We then decided to get food even if we weren't ready to eat so we wouldn't have to wait in line later. So I got a hamburger. There was an A&F ice sculpture. I remember hearing some kid say "What does that say? A&E? OH! A&F!" No shit Sherlock. What did you expect it to say GAP? We then sat down near the stage and started to eat. My headache started to go away a bit. Then Nate and his friend Kim came up and shared with us their times. Then they left to get some food. The beer was nasty. Too hoppsy. Susan got us some Gatorade and cookies. The cookies were alright and then the band started to play. We finished our food and then headed out to get some more cookies. I ate the cookies and then we both decided we had had enough to eat and really didn't want to spend the rest of the night drinking nasty beer. So we grabbed a bunch of A&F spring water and headed for the car. I got home told my roommate my time and then my mom called me. I had left her a voice mail but she hadn't checked her voice mail yet so I told her my time. She was really surprised and told me that I'm running the Thanksgiving 5k with my brother and sister and there is a chance I might beat them both. I really doubt that since it will be much colder and my sister runs a 5k in 19 minutes 38 seconds and I don't see me running that fast in the morning. All and all it was a nice first 5k run and hopefully next 5k I feel better and perform better.
Here's a picture of me in my running outfit before the 5k run.
Susan and I left work around 4:15 and I changed into my running outfit that my roommate just got me and pinned my number on and then we were off to the A&F campus. There were a whole bunch of cars trying to get parking spaces. We eventually settled on a spot and then just walked around since there was over an hour before the race. We found the beer and I wasn't able to find the plain and simple bud light I always drink. It was funny walking around since a ton of people were wearing the A&F challenge shirts. Don't people know that is the equivalent to wearing the shirt of the band to that band's concert? There were also people there wearing the shirts who obviously didn't accept the challenge and were only there to drink and hang out.
The bikers started at 6:20 and then we started to line up with the runners. I started to get really excited and nervous at this point. There were a bunch of people around me and I was trying to start towards the front. There were also a ton of elementary school kids up front. The announcer was trying to encourage them to go more towards the back. Susan told me to get to one side so I can pass people easily. I don't know what it is about big groups but people get really loud and annoying. I think the fact I still didn't feel good contributed to me feeling annoyed by others quickly. So then the 5k run started and it was just crazy. I kept looking to my sides to make sure I wasn't about to get run over or that I wasn't about to run into someone as I try to pass someone. This lasted for about 100 - 200 feet. Then things got more in order where we were all just running a few people across. The A&F workers were scattered throughout the run to cheer us on which was cute. After the first mile I just thought to myself "I thought we had gone further than just 1 mile." They handed out water but I didn't have any as I get cramps easily with anything in my stomach. This one guy begin me had some to drink but didn't swallow it right and started coughing pretty aggressively. I wanted to pat him on the back and be like "are you ok?" I just kept thinking "run run run don't stop" and as we got near the loop around we started to see the front runners loop around and start running the other way on the other side of the street. After I looped around I started to look at the other side of the street to see if I could see Susan or Nate. I finally saw Susan and yelled "GO SUSAN!" and she waved back as I started to wonder where the next mile marker was going to be. At the next mile marker I looked down at my watch and thought it said 14 min or so. We passed more A&F workers cheering us on and I thought of how weird it would be to cheer on people you didn't even know running at your work's campus. As I ran up to the A&F entrance all of a sudden there were a bunch of elementary school aged kids running with us. Where did these kids come from? Did they run the whole length and just start catching up with us, or were they just messing around. I failed to check if any had running numbers on but I doubt they were running the whole time. I was breathing really heavy by this point and was thankful that I haven't smoked in a while and that if I wasn't congested I would probably be doing better. The 3 mile marker came up and then I headed toward the finish line. At that moment some kid just zoomed past me and I started to pick up my pace but didn't increase it by much. I could then see the time and I was disappointed to see it on 20 minutes. I thought I was running better than that but maybe I wasn't seeing my time correctly when I was checking it at each mile marker. I ran through the finish line at 20 minutes 48 seconds. My goal was to have a 7 minute mile and I beat that. After wards I ripped off my tag and handed it in and got some water. My face was now burning I imagine my face was beat red. I checked in one of the office windows and just saw a sweat soaked face. I was still breathing heavily and then came the headache. It was awful. My sinuses were mad and they were going to get back at me. So I sat on a bench and just kept wiping the sweat off my forehead and drank small drinks of water. Finally my headache got to be so bad I just started pushing on my forehead in hopes it would alleviate the pressure, which it did not. Some guy sat next to me and said "Hey I saw you passing me." I asked him what his time was and it was in the 22 minutes range. I told him mine and just kept drinking water and trying to think about something other than the pounding headache. Ugh, I really can't stand groups of people for extended periods of time and my time was about up. I just kept looking for Susan to finish while people were being loud. Finally I saw Susan and the first thing she said was "I'm so mad two fat girls passed me!" Her time was in the 30 minute range and I told her my time which she thought at first I was joking. We then decided to get food even if we weren't ready to eat so we wouldn't have to wait in line later. So I got a hamburger. There was an A&F ice sculpture. I remember hearing some kid say "What does that say? A&E? OH! A&F!" No shit Sherlock. What did you expect it to say GAP? We then sat down near the stage and started to eat. My headache started to go away a bit. Then Nate and his friend Kim came up and shared with us their times. Then they left to get some food. The beer was nasty. Too hoppsy. Susan got us some Gatorade and cookies. The cookies were alright and then the band started to play. We finished our food and then headed out to get some more cookies. I ate the cookies and then we both decided we had had enough to eat and really didn't want to spend the rest of the night drinking nasty beer. So we grabbed a bunch of A&F spring water and headed for the car. I got home told my roommate my time and then my mom called me. I had left her a voice mail but she hadn't checked her voice mail yet so I told her my time. She was really surprised and told me that I'm running the Thanksgiving 5k with my brother and sister and there is a chance I might beat them both. I really doubt that since it will be much colder and my sister runs a 5k in 19 minutes 38 seconds and I don't see me running that fast in the morning. All and all it was a nice first 5k run and hopefully next 5k I feel better and perform better.
Here's a picture of me in my running outfit before the 5k run.