Oak Grove Running Festival 5K!!!

I made a last minute decision to run the Oak Grove 5K last Saturday.  Monday the 15th we moved from our corporate apartment where we'd been living for 2 months into a house.  It was an all day event watching the movers unload our belongings and checking off each box and piece of furniture off on a list.  My heart sunk as I saw more and more damaged things coming through the door.  It was expected though, when they loaded the truck in North Carolina it took them from 8:00 in the morning until 12:45 the next morning!!  I just knew that there was going to be carnage.  I wasn't disappointed and it was very stressful.

No training for me on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday I did a ride with the girls.  Thursday was a grueling track workout.  Friday another ride, this time tempo followed by a hard mile and then a cool down mile.  So I went to the race with tired legs. 

Earlier in the year I was contacted by a former Aquaphor teammate who still had some loose sample left over from a couple years ago when we were sent a giant box of 1100 samples.  Mine were all gone, and she asked if I was interested in the ones she had left!  Of course I said yes, and gladly paid for the shipping to get them!   A couple months ago when the race director and local triathlete asked if anyone had anything to donate for the race packets I anted up about 100 samples for the goody bags!  This got me a comped entry to the 5K!!  How could I say no??

The race was two loops through the Oak Grove High School campus and finished with a lap inside the football stadium. It was flat and guaranteed to be fast!  The girls that I train with - Deanna, Judy and Lesley were all going to be at the race.  This was going to be fun!  We all run the track together and I was excited to see how we'd do.  Lesley and I planned to run together and try to pace the run (yeah, right).

When I was picking up my race packet one of the cyclists that I ride with told me he wanted to introduce me to his wife.  I met Marisa and we started chatting, then she asked me what my ethnicity was and I told her half Japanese.  Her reply was "Me Too!!!"  So we spent a little time talking about our parents and how they met.  Now Marisa looks Hapa but she is probably 5'8 or 5'9' - lucky girl, her Dad is 6' tall!  Me... I stand just a smidge over 5' tall. 



Me, Lesley, Deanna and Judy!


We lined up and Lesley and I took off - my Garmin showed that we were going too fast and I commented that we needed to slow it down, but there was the shadow of a very tall girl with a long ponytail right with us.  Marisa ran with us for most of the run - I went out too fast and faded towards the end and she passed me with about a half mile left to go.  I kept thinking that when we got into the stadium I would be able to pick it up and close the gap.  But.... no go.  My legs were shot.  Marisa took 1st Overall Female, I placed 2nd winning the Grandmasters category (it still hurts to say that!).  Lesley was right behind me taking 3rd Overall and winning her age group.  Deanna was 4th Overall Female and won Masters, and Judy was right behind her placing 5th Overall Female and winning her age group!! 



The Triathlete Girls of Hattiesburg posted a great showing!!!!  I wish I had more pictures, but only got one of us with our awards (unfortunately it's a little blurry too).  Deanna's coach, Chris should be proud - we've all been gleaning off of her workouts!  My tired legs did me well!  I looked up my last 5K results from last October and I'm really pleased with my time.  It was a very hot and humid morning on race day and I was able to run a 23:59.  Back in North Carolina my last two 5Ks were 22:52 and 23:03 but the weather on those days was 50 and 55 degrees!!   Race start temperature on Saturday was right at 80 degrees!!

I'm pretty happy with my performance with all things considered!  This coming weekend is the Gator Bait Triathlon in Vicksburg, MS.  It's an Olympic distance race and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. It's been almost two years and a knee surgery since I've done anything longer than a sprint.  My knee gets very unhappy when I run anything more than 6 miles.  Send energy on Saturday morning!! 

OH!!  I also met fellow blogger Ginny who writes Happy Feet 26.2!  We've met through our blogs but never face to face until race day!!  While I was warming up I saw a couple girls also doing a warm up run and one of them said, "That is Ginger!"  We introduced ourselves before the race and Ginny ran with the four of us and Marissa on a cool down loop after the race!!!  I'm meeting some great people here in Hattiesburg!!