piratefest and my first 5k

as most of y'all know, i started training at the beginning of the year to run a 5k. i was using a "couch to 5k" interval program that designed for a 9 week training period. by the time my first run came around, i had made it about 7 1/2 weeks, which was fine with me. i was realistic that i wouldn't probably run the whole thing, but i knew i would run most of it :)

i was able to pick up my packet on friday during my lunch break and checked out all of the information. this was obviously my first time doing a chipped race, too, so it was a little intimidating!

there was A LOT going on that weekend in town--the 5k (which was associated with our alumni group), open house on campus, which meant tons of visiting students and parents (and some responsibilities for my department), the pigskin pig-out--which is an annual BBQ competition and the spring football scrimmage game, AND piratefest, a two-day festival downtown featuring craft and food vendors, lots of pirate-themed activities and the "international festival" that used to be separate event, but has now coincided with piratefest for the past few years. 

shew.

it's the kind of weekend, though, that makes me incredibly giddy because i LOVE that kind of stuff. we headed out to the pigskin pigout friday night and let davis bounce away in one of the inflatables they had there (he's getting the hang of these, though he still doesn't do much more than run down the middle and flop on the ground, laughing and squealing. it's adorable, of course.)

the next morning i got up and ready for the 9 am race start. there were a couple hundred racers, all decked out in pirate gear. the race proceeds were going toward scholarships given by the alumni association, and i pulled out my old "EC scholars" t-shirt that i got when i was a freshman and wore it for fun :)

the next couple of photos were taken during the race by the race photographers. i knew davis and justin were coming to meet me at the finish line, but they had until at least 9:30 or so to get there! the group running evened out pretty quickly, and i felt like i was keeping a good pace for the first mile or so. i would allow myself to walk for about 30 seconds or so after the water table to drink and catch my breath, but tried to keep going.

i knew the timing of the race would be a challenge--i had been running at night, usually around 7:30 or so in the evening, after a full day of drinking water and with the cool night air to keep me comfortable. a 9 am race with the sun coming up and warming things up really quickly made it challenging. i walked after the 2nd mile for a while, setting short goals for myself to run at a certain spot on the course. as i was making my way back to the main part of campus, i heard the marching pirates playing at the scheduled pep rally for the open house. strains of "hey baby" made it out to the road, and it was enough encouragement to get me back to running down the hill and to the finish line. 

as i approached the timer, i picked up speed once more, wanting to make it under 38 minutes. i hadn't really set a time for myself (just finishing without walking most of the way was my main goal) but at the moment, 38 minutes sounded good :)

justin and davis were waiting for me just before the finish line and hung out while i grabbed some snacks and cooled down. as you can see, i was VERY pink!

from there, we decided to go on and visit the piratefest. it had just started and wasn't crowded at all. we strolled down past the craft and food vendors, stopping only to get a bag of kettlecorn (one of our favorite snacks!)

we made it down to the town commons by the river and let davis make a pirate hat. okay, so i made the pirate hat. but he actually kept it on!  he was happy to wander around, people-watching and checking out the boats in the river.

then we saw the jolly trolly driving around and i remembered reading that they would be offering rides around the downtown area. it was completely empty, and my bus-obsessed boy was THRILLED to take a ride! he wasn't real happy to get off, once we had done a full loop, but it was so much fun to see him looking out the window and grinning ear to ear about finally being on (in his mind) a "bus."

eventually, it became painfully obvious it was naptime. justin drove davis home while i picked up some BBQ plates from the pigskin pigout for lunch. justin told me once i got home that davis was asleep in the car seat within minutes! i was pretty exhausted, too :) but so glad that i got to accomplish my goal and do it in pirate-style!