Getting a little frustrated with my lack of training. Yes, I ran another 5K this week, but I didn’t
do much else. Never mind that I was in a
minor car accident, which has eaten up some of my time with visiting the
doctor, the massage therapist (ended up with a stiff neck), and the body shop,
and never mind the continuing Arctic temperatures. I still need to be making time for more and
better training. I believe I only worked
out once besides the race, and that was only to go on a 2.5 mile walk. So, on to the race…
On Sunday Scot and I attended the annual Love the Run You’reWith 5K, the second in the Pacers race series for 2014. This was my first time running the race. It has a Valentine’s Day theme, and when you
register you have to self-identify as single (“Stupid Cupid”), in a
relationship (“Co-Dependent”), or it’s complicated (“Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em). Each relationship category had a different
colored bib, so the single people, for example, would know who to mingle with
if they were still looking for a Valentine.
The race packet did not include a t-shirt, but it did have a fleece
blanket and a box of conversational hearts candy.
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| It was COLD at the start! |
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| Nice fleece blankie swag! |
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| Here we are at the start - already freezing! |
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| The crowd at the starting line, ready to get moving and warm up |
The course was so-so.
We started near the Pentagon Row Pacers near the Pentagon City Mall and
mostly ran along Army-Navy Drive, which runs alongside I-395. That meant we saw and heard cars on the
interstate for most of the course, which sometimes made it difficult to carry
on a conversation. The other side of the
street was residential. At mid-course
the water station was staffed by my running club, Shirlington Running Club. A couple years ago I worked that
water station, so I knew how cold the volunteers were. The year I volunteered, the water in the cups
froze over! On a hot summer run, I love
ice water. On a 30 degree day…not so
much. Anyway, as always the SRC
volunteers were awesome, so thanks to Sherry, Jen, Megan, Bill and everyone
else!
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| I took my own bad run-by pic of the Shirlington Running Club volunteers, but this one is better (photo credit to Bill Arnold) |
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| Megan makes sure Scot stays hydrated |
Many people ran this race in shades of red, white and pink
in honor of Valentine’s day. There were
a bunch of tutus as well. Everyone was
quite bundled up. Scot and I wore red,
though I’m not sure that we really planned it that way. We were just trying to stay warm.
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| Bill surprised us, and we were running so fast that the photo is blurry! (photo credit to Bill Arnold) |
Other than at the water station, I didn’t see any friends on
the course, but I knew that fellow SRC friend Pam was out there. We met up at the after party at the Pentagon Row Champps,
where each runner got to choose either a mimosa or a bloody mary (I chose a mimosa). And then the SRC runners and volunteers
stayed for brunch, which included a DJ and karaoke, plus Olympic figure skating
on all the TVs. I must say, the service was
extremely slow. I’m not sure if they
were understaffed or if we had an inexperienced server who couldn’t quite hack
it. It took so long to get our
pancakes. At least we had some good
company, and were able to keep warm.
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| How'd this happen? Scot is smiling while Pam and I are making pouty faces (photo credit to Megan Sorrell) |
I may or may not do this 5K again. On the one hand, registering for it forced me
to get outside and get in a short training run, and that was good for me. On the other hand, next year I could
volunteer at the water station and still attend the after-party, while saving a
few bucks. I will have to figure out
whether registering for all of these 5Ks is what I want to keep doing in
between marathons. Hmm…
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