4:30 - The day starts like any other day. Matthew woke me up at 4:30am, and I was awake until 5:30. And then (my wife) Sharon's alarm went off at 6, so I got a whopping 1/2 hour extra of sleep. Yay.
6:30 - I got in the shower.
6:45 - Out of the shower, nobody's eating yet despite my wanting to leave at 7:30. And the kids are the slowest eaters EVER. I pin on my number and start to get really nervous. Let's just say I'm on a first name basis with the bathroom at this point.
7:45 - We finally get out of the house, and my stomach is doing flip-flops. Sharon drops me off a few blocks from the race and I walk in. Because the race site says parking is extremely limited, she goes to find a meter a few blocks away and will walk in with the kids.
7:50 - I get to the race site and see that about 75 out of 100 spots are still available. Damn.
8:00 - I find Vicky (@veamason) and her lovely family. Her older daughter is wearing a shirt that says "My Mommy is blogging about this," and her younger daughter is eating a plastic giraffe. Her husband, who is a marine (ex, I think), comments that "a 5K is a sprint."
8:20 - We wander over to the start line with the hundreds of other runners there. I'm guessing there were around 400 people running...the race was sold out and last year 383 finished.
8:29 - It starts raining.
8:30 - Run, Forrest, run! Or, because of the cause, rainforest, rain! Heh heh. That joke got me though a couple of kilometers.
8:32 - It really starts raining - as in torrential downpour. Noah begins building his ark.
8:32 to 8:59 - I felt really good during the race, and the adrenaline was definitely a plus. Unfortunately I was with a huge pack of people for about the first half of the race, so I don't know if I was doing my pace or theirs. I know I didn't walk at all for the first 15 minutes, and even during the second half I didn't walk very much. As I prepare to cross the finish line, Sharon takes a great picture of my hat.
9ish - Thank goodness it's over. I don't know my official time, but my watch says I did it in 28:54.
9ish - Vicky approaches the finish line, running STRONG!
9:25ish - It stops raining just as the raffle takes place. I win nothing, despite staying until the very end when they were practically begging for winners to raise their hands.
9:35 - We head back to the car, stopping for a couple of pictures before we get in. Everyone is wet and happy. Well, Sharon and I are happy, Ellie looks miserable but isn't crying, and we got Matthew to stop crying long enough to take a picture by giving him a granola bar. All in all, it was a great morning!
- Bill
Make sure you click the first picture to read the text on it. I'd hate to waste the sarcasm.
Posted by: Bill | 06/20/2009 at 09:51 PM
You're in DC, right? Because I'm in Nova and it rained like a mofo this morning. Have to give you serious credit for running in that misery. Oh, and the fact that you did a 5K...that's cred-worthy too.
Posted by: blooot | 06/20/2009 at 10:51 PM
Yay - sounds like a successful day. Many congratulations!
Posted by: Karianna | 06/21/2009 at 12:03 AM
Congratulations Kristen & Bill! I've been following your progress since April and it's terrific to see how much you've accomplished, both physically and mentally. Great job on the 5k. Hope to read more about your running adventures. :)
Posted by: Sabz | 06/21/2009 at 02:40 AM
YEAH Bill! You finished your first 5K race. What an accomplishment! So when is your next one??
Posted by: Mel @ A Box of Chocolates | 06/21/2009 at 10:16 AM
blooot - I'm in Nova too. Arlington. And yeah, it rained like a mofo. Made us feel even more like badasses.
Mel - the next one? I'm not sure - I wish I could do the Blogher one, but since I'm not going it's a little harder. There are none around here (except for a night one) in the right timeframe so I'll just run on a track that day to see how I can improve my time.
Posted by: Bill | 06/21/2009 at 05:38 PM