Saturday, October 18, 2014

Run Local Read Local Halloween 5K

Today was the 5th annual Run Local Read Local 5K which supports the Ivoryton Library. Ivoryton is a small town near me, and also the town my brother and his family live in! This is an especially fun, yet challenging, race as 1 mile of it is a trail run. But that's not my favorite part of it. My favorite is that it is a Halloween Race, costumes encouraged! I love wearing ridiculous outfits!
I have run this race (usually with friends, though not this year) since it's inception five years ago. The first three, my friends and I won best team costume, and last year I won best women's costume. Here are the photos from years past:
Flappers

101 Dalmations (give or take a few dogs)

Past Our Prime Track Team

Witch
What did I dress as this year you ask? A My Little Pony Unicorn of course!


I didn't win best women's costume, but I guess the judges must have liked it as a runner up as they awarded me best purple costume. I'm not sure that's a real category, but I'll take it! This year the awards were glow in the dark skull medals. Awesome!
Ok, let's talk about the race. As we're all well aware, I am NOT FIT! Not at all, not even a tiny bit. My plan was to run the road portion, then maybe take a walk break on the trail since it's quite narrow, and full of roots. And UPHILL. The first mile marker happens just as you enter the woods. I reached that at 8:51. Uh-oh. I don't run that fast ever. This was ok though since I knew the trail would slow me down. Which it did. Mile 2 is just before the trail exit, and I hit that at 19:28. If I could just keep a 10 minute mile I could finish under 30! (My dream considering how out of shape I am.) Unfortunately, it was around this point that I realized why mile 1 was so fast. That was downhill! Mile 3 however, is the same portion, but in reverse (UPhill). Ugh. I admit I had to walk a bit here. I finished in 31.35 (ish) I can't remember exactly what the clock said. Garmin was on too, but I think it lost me in the woods a bit:
So definitely not my fastest, but honestly, I felt pretty good throughout. I ran more of the trail than in years past. I do wish I had a little more in the tank for the last mile, but no complaints given my lack of training. I also committed a racer's faux pas in wearing BRAND NEW SNEAKERS for a race. Why you ask? Because they matched my costume better, duh!
I might as well show you my outfit too, since you're here:
Headband, wings, and tail all came from Claire's:

Sadly, I actually owned the rest of my outfit.
Tank: Hind
Shorts: Nike (OLD!)
Leggings: Aeropostale
Sneakers: Mizuno Wave Hitogami:
I have to tell you, I love these sneakers just as much as my other Mizuno's! They're a little narrower but still just as comfortable. I felt completely stable in the trail on them, and had absolutely not foot or ankle pain at any point. That's amazing!

Are you running this weekend? Do you like to dress up for races or no?

2 comments:

  1. Adorable!

    And congratulations! That's a great time, especially finishing up on an uphill like that :)

    I love the idea of dressing up, but I don't do a lot of themed races (I have one next weekend, but it's a fast course and not a lot of people wear a costume) and I always end up feeling silly.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! That crazy fast first mile helped! If only they were all like that...
      I know, I prefer to drag a friend along in costume so we can look ridiculous together. But I didn't plan ahead this time.

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