For the Tots

I have a flight schedule to the Philippines on Monday, the 26th of June and a birthday party to plan tomorrow. It's crunch time folks but I still have one race to do before I succumbed to panic attack.

I set forth early this morning for the 2nd Annual Trot for Tots 5k at Back Cove in Portland. The place is already familiar so I don't have to set my GPS to get there. I just drove off, picked up my packets, put my number, warmed up and ran. I did pretty good beating a 7 year old kid and his Dad. LOL. I clocked in 36:19 at 11:43 pace and placed 58th among the 79 participants. Not bad. Not bad at all, huh.

Then, timely, the free massage bed was empty on my way to the parking lot and a volunteer Chiropractic came up to me and offered me a free massage. Awesome. She said my muscles are tight. I wondered why? wink*

Then, I went home to bake my very first cake pops for Brandon's birthday tomorrow and blogged this. Tomorrow... the schedule is - packing for my trip back home right after clean up. hayyyy!

What's not 2 LUV?

It was a chilly early spring morning. By this time, I'm more comfortable driving down the Back Cove because this is my 5th [I guess] time I've been there. Three out of five times were races that I joined. And this time this is the 2nd time I did Luv2Run Series, which is the 1st of the 3 Series for 2012.

It was nothing very spectacular except the view. Nothing worth noting but the freezing cold weather. And nothing too special but keeping with my running routine.

The race was small, simple and uncomplicated. It was pure fun and achievable. I clocked in 37:32 with 11:14 pace. I wasn't too impressed though but hey, I did it despite the cold weather. I place 63rd out of 72 participants. And I had a blast shopping afterward. And that - is worth noting... that is spectacular and that is special, indeed. wink

My 3rd 5K

So I ran.

The weather was kinda forgiving this time. It actually rained earlier today but I was not really scared of it. It stopped after an hour. I thought it was awesome because it cooled down the planet just a bit. The temperature today was lower than yesterday which was 98 degrees. I had to hang out at Walmart to stay cool. wink** Thank God.

This race is my 3rd and I was on fire. Well, maybe it was more because of my series of "hot flashes" attacks so nothing too dramatic about it. But yes, I am happy and more optimistic with this run because I am with Heather, my stepdaughter and now my running buddy. Yes, I finally found a running buddy so her father... a.k.a. My Sweetest will not worry anymore whenever I train on the road. And yes, Heather and I have future plans for our succeeding "races". Hurray!

Moving on, we reached the race venue early. And for the update and a little info on today's race... here we go:

1. Weather: Okay. Kinda cloudy but a okay. It felt cooler especially with a little sprinkling here and there. But the sprinkling stopped 20 minute before the race started.

2. Accessibility to venue: Better - Heather drove, that's why. Glad she did because Tom-Tom [my GPS]will surely make me go around in circles again. Whew!

3. Porta-potty Condition: As Usual - Ok because I was the first one to use it so... still clean. Hahahaha

4. Trail Condition: Awesome - It was at the Back Cove Trail, in Portland Maine and we have a great vista of the cove. Though I didn't pay much attention because I was concentrating on my breathing.

5. Speed: Slow. I was just jogging. hahaha well, modesty aside there were some who did just that. I was the 95th finisher. There were 107 registrants. So I was not the 5th to the last. LOL.

6. Time: Unimpressive. I clocked in at 38:52. It was 8 minutes over my PR goal.

7. Attitude: Impressive: I jogged all the way to the finish line. I never stopped to walk but rather I jogged slow and steady from start to finish and that is impressive indeed. It meant so much to me because I know I already built some kind of endurance.

8. Perks: Freebies: I got new shirt and coupons and power bars. Yay. Well, I am beginning to suspect that I am after the freebies than to running per se. What do you think?

9. Future Plan: Run, truly run, for Pete's Sake! Yes, next time I will try to run. Maybe then, I will finally get my PR goal. Well, of course I need to continue training and with that in mind, I need more motivation and determination. So help me God! wink*

Lastly, just one funny inessential thing that happened today - the guy in the registration table where we got our bib got messed up with our numbers. Heather got my number and I got hers. Heather finished 3 minutes ahead of me but when the final result was posted it turned out that I finished 3 minutes ahead of her. Wooohooo! So for my over-all assessment of my performance today - it was simply awesome.

I am looking forward for my 4th race.