The DeLorme Family: Super 5k Race Recap

In my last post, I had mentioned that I was debating whether or not I would run the half marathon or 5k this weekend. Both were an inaugural race for Super Bowl Sunday. I loved the idea of running a race before eating lots of bad food on Super Bowl Sunday. When I first saw it advertised months ago, I wanted to do the half marathon. It was very cheap for a half and it was in Colorado Springs. I figured it would be a great one to do. However, I have been kind of focusing my training more on speed. My brother invited me to join his running team for a winter running series. All the races in the series are 6 miles or less. Since I knew I needed to have my best times, I have been training really, really hard. It is kind of counter intuitive to train for distance and speed at the same time. I found myself not doing a great job on the distance part. It is much easier for me to get in a quick 5 mile run then a long, slow 10 mile run.

So, I still wanted to try the half marathon because I thought it was a great opportunity. Then I saw the weather report. At the beginning of the week it was supposed to be 54 degrees on Sunday. Every time I checked the weather the high kept dropping for Sunday. The HIGH was then predicted to be 34 degrees. I just couldn't see myself enjoying a 13.1 mile run in really cold temperatures. I also thought about it more, and realized that since I have been training for speed so much, I should do the 5k and see how good I could do. Finally on Friday, made the decision to do the 5k.

The race was very well organized for it being an inaugural race. My sister also came out to run the 5k. The nicest part was that we got to stand in the Plaza of the Rockies to keep warm before the race. This was so much better than standing in the freezing cold for a long time. I started sizing up my competition and really started to doubt myself. I just told myself I was going to run as hard as I could, do my best, and see where that got me. When they said "go" I took off. For the first time in my life, I could see that there were only 3 woman ahead of me. It was a very neat feeling to know I was so close to first place. I knew I would have to keep running strong to hold my place. I held 4th place for the first two miles. Around mile 2, a woman behind me pulled ahead of me. I was really hoping she would wear out and I could pull back ahead but unfortunately that never happened. I wasn't at all familiar with the course which is a major disadvantage to not know where the finish line is. I was very, very happy to come in 5th place (out of 250) overall for the females. That is by far the best I have ever done in a race. I got second in my age group out of 72 woman. I got a really neat football trophy. Being the super competitive person that I am, I am already focusing on what I need to work on to do better. I have several more races in the near future. I am truly just having a great time doing them and I am amazed at how far I have come in only 10 months of running since taking my year break. It will be interesting to see what future races hold. I have a 5 mile race this weekend. (I am also toying with the idea of starting a seperate blog about running so this blog can be primarily about the kids.)

Joey is so supportive of my running. He helps me out so much. He always takes the kids so I can go run or go to races. When I do races, I have to be gone for about 4 hours. He never complains and is so helpful. He also comes to as many of my races as he can and takes great pictures. He didn't come last weekend because it was so cold, but he did manage to come this weekend. It really helped me when I was running to know that I would see my family cheering me on. I wanted to make them proud. The way the course was laid out, I got to run by them twice. I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband and family. I truly couldn't do it without them!

Sunday afternoon, we headed to Bri and Brad's house for a Super Bowl get together. We had a great time eating great food and spending time with wonderful friends. The kids had a great time too. Bri has a huge Great Dane. Dawson was pointing at her saying, "Dee". I think he called her a "Dee" because I always refer to dogs as doggies. It was too cute! The other day, he refered to a monkey as a "key".

I have been really bad about taking pictures this week. I will try to be better this week.