Race for the Light 5k Recap

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On Saturday I did the Race for the light 5k.   It has a start time of 4:30 PM and goes through a park that is decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights.   Normally you can drive through the park and pay to see the lights but they shut it down so that the runners can go through and enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas as they run.   I love this 5k.  

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Right off the start it was different though.   When people were lining up to start, no one was going toward the front except a few of the elite runners.   It was very open and so I just went there.   I figured that way I wouldn't have to zig-zag around a bunch of people and I could start off good.   I was wrong.   Before we knew it, they blew the horn and we were off.   The elite runners started so fast that I felt weird instantly falling behind that I started way too fast.   I felt like puking in the first quarter mile...haha.  I slowed it down and was passed by quite a few runners at that point.   Since I started at the front, it was bound to happen.   

Not me....Source

The rest of the race was sort of rough since I started out way too fast.   I felt pretty tired and kept thinking "This sucks.   I don't like this.  I hate being passed.   I suck."   To be completely honest with you, I have discovered I'm an angry runner.   I get mad running.   I am not thinking about daisies and puppies.   I am thinking about how much work running is and how much is sucks that I get bad stomach aches and I feel like I might shit myself.   I hate how my foot gets numb at some points while running.   I hate getting hot.   I hate being tired.  I hate when my lips get chapped.   You name it, I have a lot of hate while running.     Once I'm done though, I am thrilled and on cloud nine and that's why I do it.  

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 So anyway here are the numbers:

Finished in 29:37 @ a 9:32 pace. 

25th place out of 111 females in my age division (19-29) 
128th place out of 527 females

I am happy that I finally got my sub 30 5k :)