5th Annual Go the Distance for Crime Victims 5K Race

Saturday, April 16, 2011 in Marion, Iowa didn't turn out to have nice weather as I had hoped for.  In fact it was horrible weather for April.  Stephany and I met at 7:30a.m. in North Liberty to go to our race.  It was raining pretty steady.  When we were 15 minutes into our drive the rain looked like snow.  Sure enough what looked like snow was.  It wouldn't have been so bad without the wind. However the wind was 20-25m.p.h. and the snow became larger and larger as the minutes drew on.

We arrived at our race at 8a.m. and by then it was snowing pretty heavy.  We quickly picked up our packets (which had in them a couple pens, lip balm, granola bar, biofreeze sample, our shirt and some coupons) and then we headed for the car.  We didn't want to take our Before pictures outside because it was THAT cold.

So here in the car we are taking our before pictures and we stayed in the car until 15 minutes before the race. Only then did we exit so we could find a bathroom and line up for the race.

Stephany and I in the car waiting for the race to begin.

Another before picture in the car, this time with our race numbers.  Notice the car windows and how icy they appear.  I should have taken a picture of the outside.  There was at least 2 inches outside and the snow wasn't stopping.

After our race, sitting in the car once again.  I had worn that green ugly poncho for the entire race, it was hard to run in, but kept me dry.  I also wore an ear guard headband, a hat (shown above) and gloves.  

Stephany and I again.

Here is a picture where the race started.  This was taken a half hour after the race ended and the snow was already starting to melt fast.  There had been so much more that covered the streets and grass.

Here is a picture of the shelter we were in, since there were no walls it was so cold and people just grabbed food and left.  The race director announced before the race that it was too cold to hold awards after so he would mail them to everyone and to just get your post race food and leave.

Eventually while running I warmed up, but it took me about 2 miles before I took my gloves off.  I never took my poncho, hat, or headband off, those stayed.  I had stepped in several deep puddles so my shoes were soaked and the first mile my feet were freezing.  I was thinking that I'd never warm up, but after about a mile my feet were warm the entire time.

Because of the severe wind, everyone seemed to be slower than normal.  Both Stephany and I didn't have the greatest times, in fact my time was 4 minutes slower than last week's 5K race.  My time was 31:13 when I crossed the finish, although the race report says my time was 31:15.  Either way,  I felt lucky to finish at all.  I'm glad I did because I proved that I can run in anything now.

I was 34 out of 78 Female finishers, 83 out of 146 total finishers and 9th out of 32 in my age group.  My age group of 30-39 was the largest age group to show up, so I feel great about being 9th place.

Funny thing, the person who placed 1st in my age group had a time of 27:10  That was my time last week, so if only I could have done that again then I would have placed in the top 3.

My next race is in two weeks and I'm praying for better weather with no snow or wind.