Every Mile a Memory: Run Santa Run 5K 12.17.17

I'm trying not to go into full on race report for this race so I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. The Run Santa Run 5K, benefiting Toys for Tots, is a very popular race and is usually a sell out. For whatever reason, the heavy hitters always come out for it so I've learned in the three years I've done it to not expect an AG placing but to try and at least improve where I rank. This year would be no exception. The swag is pretty cool. The local restaurant who is the main sponsor gives everyone a free Christmas Ale after the race, everyone gets a Santa hat, a decent t-shirt, and this year they gave out finishers medals rather than pint glasses.

The course 

I drove the course the night before because I wasn't sure with all the snow we have had if I was going to need my screwed shoes or not. Roads looked find but I didn't take into account the warmer temps followed by below freezing overnight. Needless to say, this made for some very slippery spots and as we were walking to the staging area, I was wondering if I made the wrong choice by not wearing my screwed shoes. I was also worried about Rick racing and falling too and must have told him five times to not try and kill it this race. 

Goals 

Going into the race, my goals were to: 

• 1st and foremost NOT slip and fall during this race which meant taking it slow if I had to
• 2nd to PR the course if possible and beat 25:49 
• 3rd try to move up to the top 5 in my AG. In three years I've gone from 15, to 12, to 6

However, with the knee problems I was having after the Oofos incident, I really wasn't sure how this race was going to go and I told myself getting to the finish line in one piece is all that mattered and would be ok if none of my other goals were met for this race. 

Rather than a play-by-play, I'll just make a few mentions about the race:

• The race is always a major cluster because the staging area is at a local restaurant and the start is on a main road with lots of shopping plazas but little room and little green space so it's very congested. Even though they tell people who are not "racing" or those walking to get towards the back, people don't listen so everyone is all packed in this little area and when the gun goes off, it is almost impossible to get around the slower "I’m just here for the beer" runners. It's not until about mile 2 where it thins out enough where you're not constantly fighting the crowd.
• I realized after my warm up I was completely overdressed for the 30 degree temps, not to mention the earbuds I borrowed from Rick because I couldn't find mine kept falling out, and my antlers that I wear every year and run in without issue kept falling off. So needless to say, I was already annoyed before the race even started and when the gun went off, I was even more crabby and irritated so that pretty much set the stage for the race. At no point did I ever feel "good" like I have the past two 5ks I've done recently. Quite honestly, I was miserable.
• My knees surprisingly did better that what I expected but they still weren't 100% and hamstring was also making it's presence known as well as my hip. It was a good choice to take it easy the week prior because had I not, I probably would have had to walk some of the course.
• I made the mistake of wearing the custom orthodics I just got Wednesday all day Saturday when you're supposed to transition into them gradually and was on my feet pretty much all day so it made for sore feet on Sunday.
• There were slippery spots throughout the course and I decided after I slipped a few times it wasn't worth trying to catch up to Laurie (whom you know from my other races) or a woman from the running club I've gotten to be friends with. She is a real hoot and we stood together joking around while we waited for the gun to go off. She's 10 years younger than me and up until this point, she has had slower times than I have but she has apparently been on a mission to work them down and now has become one of the people I'll keep eye out of for if I want to race with a purpose and not just run for fun. The gun when off and she quickly disappeared into the crowd never to be seen again. I found out after the race she was trying to PR (and she did with a finish time of 24:44) so she was definitely running with the a purpose!
• 5Ks are hard enough but not being used to running in the cold has put me at a huge disadvantage for two reason: my lungs aren't used to the cold and I was WAY overdressed. Both total worked against my mental game. I was sweaty and feeling overheated. I could even feel my feet sweating which always make my hands sweat and I had to take off my antlers and carry them so I was constantly having to switch hands not to drop them.
• My first mile felt super slow because of the herd of cattle, my second mile felt even slower, and my last mile I thought for sure I was practically walking. I did glance at my watch once and only once….at the first mile…and when I saw my pace at 8:25, I thought for sure I'd be in the 26s as I crossed the finish line.
• When made it back to the main road for the final stretch, I could see the arch in the distance and I decided there was nothing left in the tank for a final kick so I was just going to focus my energies on crossing the finish line. All I wanted was for this race to be OVER and it was doomed anyway, right? Well imagine my surprise when I could finally see the time clock and it was still in the 24s! I couldn’t believe it. I didn't have anything left to kick it, even when I saw Paul along side of the road cheering me on, so I just maintained my pace and crossed the finish. This race DEFINITELY ended WAAAY better than it started and I was pretty stoked.

I met up with Paul in the sea of people and the line was so long at the computers with people checking their results and Paul gets texts when I cross the finish line so I had him look since I didn't have my phone with me and sure enough, 25:22, a course PR and not only that, but I moved up the ranks in my AG by placing 5th! This definitely wasn't my fastest time of the year but all three of my goals were met and that, to me, means more than what the time clock said. Rick was technically 4th in his AG got bumped up to 2nd because the top 2 runners in his AG won other awards so he was pretty excited, too.

All in all, a great race with unexpected results even though it started out on the wrong foot LOL...and it was a great way to end the 2017 racing season.

Stats
25:22
181/922 OA 

69/577 Females
5/65 AG

Splits
8:25, 8:23, 8:04
Funny how I thought I was slowing down when actually I was running faster. Guess I had a kick after all. LOL

Being able to race with Rick was the best part of all