Siren Freedom Five 5K (3.15 miles)
38:16
Average Pace 12:19/mile
Husband to son: "There's poop on your foot!"
Me, thinking to self: This is how this race is going to start? Really? *sigh* Mom of the year award over here.
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As I stated in my previous race recap, race day preparations sure have changed for me now that I've got a kid to manage. I can honestly say worrying about who has poop on their foot would never have been anywhere near to a concern of mine on race day prior to 2016.
Mom life.
Yes, I'm laughing at myself. Don't take this too seriously.
Anyway, on 4th of July Monday this year, I again found myself getting ready for the Siren Freedom Five. This was officially my 5th year of running this race, with previous completions in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Like some of the years previous, for the big race I decided to give the Statute of Liberty costume a rest and wear my Wonder Woman dress. But, unlike years previous, I had a new little firecracker accessory to add to my pre race photo op - check it!
Also new for this year was a 2 man private cheer section. How cute is this?
Anyway, back on track with the race recap.
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It seems like every year this race is a steam bath. In fact, that's exactly why I skipped running this in 2012. So imagine my surprise on race morning when it seemed like we had a relatively cool morning with pleasant temperatures in the forecast. Score!
Enjoying the nice weather and my own personal support group, I arrived at the start point for this 5K in a fairly pleasant mood. Poopy foot aside, of course. And don't worry, we came fully prepared with a diaper bag, so that poopy foot was quickly amended. Moving on ...
Per the usual, as I approached the race area, people were causally milling around and the MC was making announcements / providing the typical entertaining banter pre-gun. Since I had arrived with minimal time to kill, I said my goodbyes to my boys and slowly strolled over to where people seemed to be lining up to race.
Like I said last year - this race always proves challenging to seed at, since many walkers participate that do not understand race etiquette and start towards the front of the pack. And like last year - I was still not sure where to stand, especially since I'm at a pretty slow pace these days. While I was milling around debating my start point, I noticed an elite runner at the front of the pack in full on Uncle Sam regalia - wig, top hat, jacket, everything!
Dang. I should have gone for the statue costume again. How great of a picture would that have been?! Next year, I guess.
Finally, knowing I was overthinking how to self seed, I just picked a spot and stuck to it. As I did so, I was approached by a few ladies who complemented the Wonder Woman dress. And in the second it took one of them to say "great costume", a light bulb immediately went off over her head.
Her: "Were YOU the Statue of Liberty last year?"
Me: "Yeah, I was. I decided to switch it up this year and wear this instead."
Her: "Too bad! Did you see Uncle Sam up there? That would have made a great picture!"
LOL! Good times. I guess I'm kind of a local celebrity at this race now!
Somehow, the ladies disappeared into the crowd again and before I knew it, it was gun time. Bang, time to run!
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With my GPS watch set to 2/1 intervals still from the previous week's Rainbow Run, I went into this race with the intention of maintaining that interval for this run as well. But of course, since this is a fairly well attended event (even more so when you consider the size of this small town), it didn't take much for me post gun to get swept up in the crush of the crowd. Before I knew it, I was talking myself into just going for it and seeing how far I could run ... despite my complete lack of training and cardio endurance.
Thankfully, the cool weather held out, so my last second amendment to my run plan wasn't as dumb as it sounds. I made it through my first mile without a hitch, and considering I hadn't run a full mile continuously since Mankato last year (or maybe even longer ago than that), I was pleased with my 11:37 pace.
Knowing I would never make it the entire distance running, at mile two I dropped back to somewhat of a 2/1 interval, but it was a little wonky. Sometimes I missed a beep and ended up running 3 minutes. At one point I hit the water stop and that threw of my timing, too. In the end, I don't really know what mile two was like interval wise. But who cares, forward movement was my only goal at that point and I was doing it.
Coming in to mile three, I was starting to realize maybe I wasn't as out of shape post baby as I originally thought. Thinking maybe it was realistic to finish this race with another continuous one mile run, I went for it. And sure enough, I did it. Granted my second continuous mile was a little slower than my first, this time ringing in at 12:15. But I was OK with that.
Despite being happy with my pace, obviously I was a little distracted by the effort on that final mile ... I didn't even see my husband near the finish taking this picture:
Whoops! Oh well. It's the thought that counts, or something.
After I crossed the mat, a couple of ladies who came in just after me complimented me on a good effort. I thanked them as graciously as I could, but told them that I was a little frustrated since I had run faster in years previous and was struggling since I had just had a baby a couple months back. Frustrations aside, I told them that they were good motivation to me too, since we had leap frogged each other at mile 2, and I was honestly not sure I would beat them. We both had a little chuckle about that and parted ways.
Declining the post race snack table, I wandered off to find my boys in the crowd. After a bit of work, we found each other, and then headed home ... where I was greeted via email with my official results a few hours later:
Your official time was 38:16, a pace of 12:19 per mile. You finished 231st out of 384 women and 38th out of the 60 Women 30 - 39.
While I know this is nowhere near fast, or in my historical performance anywhere near "good", I'm not going to worry about it. Compared to my 13 minute pace last week, I was pleased to have been able to push out something closer to 12 this week. And that's all I cared about.
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Hm. Usually I'm a little more graceful working this stuff into my recap, but I'm not sure how to fit this in this year. So here's a foot note showing the race details.
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Oh! Before I go, a note on this year's swag. Remember how last year I commented on the lack of patriotism in their shirts and suggested a design something more like this?
Look at the 2016 shirt!!!
Gotta love it when people take constructive feedback to heart!
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Oh, one more cliff hanger for those wondering. Yes, Uncle Sam finished in full costume. And I heard he came in around 20 minutes, or maybe even sub 20! Yowza!
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And that's the story of how race bib #70 joined my collection - here's to another race soon ... which as I hinted at in my previous recap, is already on the books ... so I guess I should really just change this tag line to: stay tuned!
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