Race Day

I had initially wanted to try for the half marathon in Chattanooga. I was training with a friend who was going to run the Haunted Half the day before in Cookeville and so I thought I'd just train with her and run the next day. But my knee threw me for a loop and I had to start back at the very beginning.

So I signed up for the 5k.

The time difference meant we had to wake up at 3am for me to get to the park in time to get my packet. I probably could have left a bit later, but I get so nervous when I don't know where we are going and want tons of time to allow for confusion. =)

It was a bit cold, but this is better than hot so I was happy.

Two of my cousins were running with me. And by with me, I mean they stood beside me waiting for the race to start and then took off. I never saw them again.

 I had my gps watch on and as we crossed over a bridge above the park I could see the finish line below. It didn't look far enough away. Sure enough as we were getting closer I began to realize that the course was short. This meant that I hadn't kicked it into high gear as soon as I should have. 

Getting closer to the finish line I saw a time of 44 min and a banner that said marathon finish.

This picture is of me checking to see if the other runners have the same bib as me. I was afraid I was off course.

 But it is just a race and since I wasn't even close to placing in my age division and wasn't technically supposed to be running 3 miles yet I figured it was fine.

My cousin Matt and I after the race.

As I was checking results on the website later I realized that there were over 100 women in my age division alone. My dad (had he been able to run the race) would have been one of 14 in his age division. So I guess there are benefits to getting older. Unless all of those women keep running like I intend to. =)