A NO T-Shirt Race

This is officially the start of summer and I am starting it with a 5K race in Gray - The Longest Day 5K Race. This is also the last day of school where I work. Finally, I can relax and forget about work.

 

Yup, summer starts today. and I am started slow and exhausting. The race took an awesome course in the trail of Gray. It was really a hard course so to speak but organizers and volunteers were great except for "ONE VERY IMPORTANT DETAIL" - NO FREE SHIRT!!! Oh yeah, it's a big deal, you know. Huge! I need the shirt because I have a collection of race shirts! So yes... not really 100% happy about it.
Are you kidding me? Why was there no free t-shirt? Don't they realize that I only run for the "free Tee"? Oh well, too late now to back out. I was there early. The driving condition was perfect - one of the things I consider in signing up for races. The day was perfect - at 7pm the cloudless sky gave me a feeling that it was still 3'oclock in the afternoon. If only there was a t-shirt that has the name of the race printed on it... it would have been a perfect race. [I HOPE ORGANIZERS of the this race will read this post.]

So this is technically my very first "trail" race for this year. The Snowy Egret 5k that I did a couple of weeks ago was not all trail course so this is indeed the real "trail race" I ran to date. The trail is kinda intimidating which justified my 43:55 PR with 12:28 pace. I ranked  126th  out of 150 people who participated.

[Look at me... I was still happy even without the "free t-shirt". LOL]

Despite the "t-shirt issue" I had with this race, I can say that I like the race and will surely do it again next year... if they will provide t-shirt for the race. LOL.

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!

Y Race?

Why do I join races? One good reason I can think of... I have to entertain myself. I need to think of a thing to do that will not involve getting bored. And I need a thing to do to stay away from food. But that is another story.

I started racing at the age of... ehemmmm... [clearing my throat here]... 46. Yeah, I'm a late bloomer.

I started joining races when I got jealous of those runners and figured out that I can do the same. And I was right. I have ran more than a dozen races to date.

The YMCA Fit Fest 5k race is another race I ran with Heather. And yes, we were not late. We came just in time. It was a fun race aside from doing a good cause for the YMCA. I work for the Y in Sanford so the affiliation is the same.

The route is awesome and picturesque. I did a great job I guess since I did not stop jogging/running through the entire race. I clocked in 36:08 at 11:21 pace placing me 461st over 701 participants. That included the walkers too. LOL.

But the best part of this race is the post race where Heather and I went antiquing. LOL we spent the rest of the day at Brunswick flea market and yard sales. I brought home some antique silver wares. Love it.

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.