Beerun frostiness....and I am not referring to the beverage

I did the beer run yesterday! 5 miles (I have not run more than 4 since the end of Oct)...39'ish degrees...and rain!! It POURED all day and turned to a slight drizzle right before the race, so that was good. The 5 mile route was around my old UNCG campus and the campus of GSO college too. So it was nice to be somewhere where I knew all the territory. Hubby was there to support us and take pix. We told him to be ready at the finish about 1:10 into it...that was our goal!

Pre-Race Photo opp

The race started on time (MIRACLE!) at 3pm. I was racing w/ 2 friends so that was nice to have them there. The 1st mile we got to in about 10:30...not bad...at maybe 1.2 miles I removed my jacket. It was 39 but I was getting hot! Mile 2, hmm, I can't remember the pace. We had just finished a BEAST of a hill and I didn't think to look. About 2.5, my friends were maybe 30 secs ahead of me...I could not keep up and the monster hills kept coming and coming! DANG those beast hills. They sucked.

At about this time I started looking behind me and realized that my worst running fear could come true. I could finish LAST...dead LAST! OMG. There were maybe 12 people behind me that I could see. There could have been more around the corner but I doubted it. I could see a pretty good distance. I am pretty much a "middle of the pack" girl...I am not fast but I am not the slowest person in races....in the age group categories of previous races and in the overall finishes I am mostly in the middle. TODAY? Not so much. OH the drama. In talking later, we figured that all the die hard runners thought "cold? Rain? No Big deal!" and the newbie runners and people like us thought "No way dude, I am not going out in that!" (friends of ours who did this...you know who you are! :) ha)...then we had the ACC tournament going on while we ran...so that probably kept some peeps away. So basically it was US and die hard runners. HA

But I kept going. Mile 3...HILL...then a little flat. Then more hills. Finally, about 3.3 or so someone came up behind me and told me she had been trying to catch up with me the whole race (this happened to me at the 10k in Oct...and that person passed me!). But I knew this girl...so we chatted a bit and that helped my mind escape for a bit. She had run a 1/2 before..and had run a 5k earlier that day!!! WOW!...and came in dead last she said. ha. GREAT!!!! Just what I needed to hear. We ran together till mile 4 and then she remained about 20 secs ahead of me the rest of the race. My friends? NO where to be found. NICE! lol

Mile 4 was right in the middle of the UNCG campus. Nice again b/c that is my old stomping ground. Toward the end of a race there was another killer hill...it went on and on and on. UGH. I passed some tall in shape dude that was walking (I felt bad for him but I was glad to pass him too, ha) and passed some maybe 24 yr old girl who looked great and fit...when I was passing her we chatted for a moment and both agreed the hills sucked..and I told her she looked like a runner...she then mentioned she had exercise enduced asthma so she was having trouble. Poor girl I thought...but PEACE OUT b/c I am passing you!! heh!

Almost to the end! I think in this pic both my feet are off the ground! This is actually the best race photo (action wise, not looks wise) that I think I have! ha

The last 2+ mins maybe were flat and partially downhill. I looked down at my Garmin and realized...OMG, I was gonna finsh in less than an hour! I rounded the corner to the finish and picked up the pace a hair. I finished in 58:39 watch time and about 58: 54 ish (I can't remember and results haven't been posted yet) clock time. YEAH!! I'll take it. My friends finished about 57:20 ish or something. SO proud of everyone! And thank GOODNESS hubbie went out to the finish early or he would have missed us since we told him we would be in about 1:10. hee hee. I know that is slow for you big runners out there but I am glad I did it. A slow race/run is better than no run at all. One of my friends ( who was not there b/c she just had a baby) hubbie was running too and he wanted to beat 40 mins. He did it in 38 I think. He ran w/ his father in-law who is 63 ish and he did it in 44 mins. Impressive.


Since it was a Beerun...duh...there was BEER at the end of the run. We got 2 tokens for free beer...we all had saved one but gave the others to hubbie to have while waiting for us. We had a celebratory good beer after the race...and some bagel and enjoyed our accomplishment!

Finally some frostiness in the form of a beverage!

Me, Matty (our friends hubie) & Maria

I am signed up for a massage today to help me recover. Oh the benefits of racing! Beer and massage!

Mileage YTD: 76

Total Mileage:291