First Race Win EVER! YAY!

Saturday's Pumpkin Run 5K went better than I could ever imagine.

At first I wasn't confident of a decent time because it was FREEZING cold, gray and windy. Even during my warmup, I just wasn't "feeling fast." I started thinking, well what the hell, it's a nice little local race for charity. After Stride for Pride's great time, I can't get to upset at a slow time.

We all lined up. It was a small race - about two dozen people or so, a lot of teenagers. The gun went off and although my legs weren't tired per se, they did not feel speedy at all.

Somehow I still managed to find myself in third place overall, with one girl and one guy ahead of me. The guy was the same kid who dropped me in the last mile at Stride for Pride, but more on that later.

I didn't see any mile markers, so didn't check my watch the entire time. The first half was down Mt. Pisgah and all I kept thinking was, "Oh man, the second half back up the mountain is going to SUCK."

Hit the turnaround and the lead girl started flagging the minute we hit the uphills. I managed to catch her around mile 2.5 or so. There was an extra loop on the way back to make it a 5K, so I lost my feel for where I was on the course, and didn't realize I was near the finish line until I was on top of it. I only had 200 meters or so to open up and sprint. If I had known the course better I might have been able to shave a few seconds off my time AND catch the lead guy.

Anyway, I finished first woman, second runner in. Usually not a big deal since it was such a small race. The important number is my time, which was a season best 23:17.

It was a great way to end the season - a season best AND my first win.

Now, back to triathlon training and hopefully getting my endurance up in time to do Tinman next season. Getting my pool/gym membership today.