The Hills Will Kill You: Rest in Peace 5k Recap

First off let me say that this race was SO much fun! The weather was perfect (low 60s and overcast with a slight breeze), the scenery was beautiful, and the costumes were awesome! Also, I think more races should start at 5pm. I got to sleep in, enjoy my day, fuel up a little bit at breakfast and lunch, and digest, all before race time. It was a welcome change!

As I wrote in my "goals" post for this race the other day, my only main goal was to have fun and run easy. I won't give away everything yet, but I'll just say that I only met one of those goals.

Runners started gathering around 4 pm at the cemetery. There were some pretty awesome costumes. I saw at least two Waldos, Mario and Princess Peach, Pac-Man, Wonder Woman, Freddy Krugger, a guy dressed as a huge Dunkin Donuts coffee and his girlfriend as a donut, just to name a few.

Mike and I drove Cynthia and her husband Tanner to the race. It was Cynthia's first 5k and first race ever! She has been doing a Couch to 5k program since the summer. Even though the course was challenging I think the fact that it was low key and halloween-y made it a little less intimidating than a regular race, which was probably good for her. I remember how nervous I was for my first race in February.

Cynthia sewed her own Luchador mask and cape. I wasn't going for anything in particular, but I think I sort of came off Gaga-esqe. Really, when I went to the Halloween store I was just looking for things I could still comfortably run in: thigh highs, a short wig, maybe some glasses. Nothing crazy.

Cynthia and I pre-race

I almost missed spotting Julia completely with her wig and glasses. 

The girls - Cyn, Julia, and I

The girls and Steve as Dracula

Mike decided to throw on his Spongebob costume from last Halloween even though he wasn't running. Good thing he did too - it made him really easy to spot in the crowd when I was running!

Tanner, Cyn, Mike and I

Note to self: NEVER go short, curly, and blond. Not a good look for me!

While Steve headed to the front of the pack (as usual), us girls stayed comfortably in the mid-back of the pack of 200 some runners and waited to start.

Since my calves have been feeling super weird and grumpy the last two weeks, including a horrific run Friday afternoon that made me very worried about possibly having a serious injury, I had every intention of taking this race nice and slow. I figured that if my calves still felt even the slightest bit off, I would suck it up and skip my long run on Sunday and maybe even some runs next week, and try to rest.

When the gun went off I was extremely nervous about how that first step would feel. To my surprise it didn't feel like anything. No pain! It felt fantastic! In the span of the next .5 seconds I realized that this wasn't going to be an easy run, and I couldn't care less! I was gonna run this for all of its worth! My legs were back and it was go time!

Getting through the crowd was a little rough the first half mile. By the time we rounded back through the start area I was still feeling good and had left my compatriots a bit behind. I was sad to leave them. I really wanted to be there with Cynthia on her first race, but I knew I could still be there at the end, cheering her towards the finish.

Steve rolling through at the head of the pack, as usual

Julia and Cyn

I went into this race knowing it had a lot of uphills to contend with, making it much more difficult than your average 5k. For every uphill, however, there is an equal and opposing downhill. As soon as I realized I was "racing" and not just "running," I had to come up with a race strategy: take it as easy as needed on the uphills making sure to utilize my arms to force myself up them and ride the downhills to make up for time lost. I stormed the first downhill hard, still riding on the speed into the first uphill before coming down into a more manageable "climbing" pace. So far, so good.

Steve rounds a corner, cape flying

By the time I hit the second uphill I wondered if I could really pull this off, but my competitive side kept pushing me forward, picking off Wonder Woman, the Flash, and others, one at a time. 

Steve to the finish!

Almost there!

By the time I had the finish line in my sights I was completely wiped. Those hills were no joke. Even more impressive: I kept my wig and glasses on the whole time.

This is the point in the post where I would love to tell you that I set a new PR and finished the 5k in 23:09. That would all be true....had this course been measured correctly. I knew I was flying, but I also knew that there was no way I finished almost 3 minutes faster than last Saturday's race, especially with how exhausted I was feeling on some of those hills. Based on my mapping later at home (and several other finisher's GPS watches), the course was around 2.9 miles instead of 3.1.

What does this mean? This means that had the course been an actual 5k distance, I would have set a new PR. Unfortunately, since it was short (and uncertified by the USATF) I can't count it and I'm kind of pissed about that.

Final Stats: ~2.9 miles, 23:09, 7:58 pace

I joined Steve at the finish where he immediately told me the distance was short. This, of course, I already knew. Oh well, pretzels and water in hand, we headed back towards the finish to catch Julia and Cyn finish.

:"And my calves didn't hurt at all!"

Giant soft pretzels = perfect post-race food

Mask and wig still intact and headed to the finish line!

Run Luchador! Run!

Cynthia and Julia finished strong! Cynthia was really happy with her finish and we were all thrilled for her! Nothing beats that first race finish! Steve, Mike (our photographer extraordinaire), and I headed back to the finish festival to meet the rest of the group. 

Bye bye blondie (thank goodness!)

Me and Cyn post-race, sans costumes

As I said at the beginning of this post, the race was REALLY fun! I definitely want to run it again next year, even though I know it is not accurately measured. Sometimes running should just be about the fun and less about the time goal!

Hello October!