That Time I Had To Skip Rock n Roll Brooklyn

Ugh
Thursday night my friend Dave tagged me on Facebook to let me know that his parking reservation had been cancelled and to beware that mine might as well. I didn't get an email so i thought that maybe they overbooked and I squeaked by. Friday afternoon I panicked a little and called them. Sure enough, the day before the race, I had no parking. I found the closest available and found that I would have a 35 minute walk to the race, at least. In the dark. In Brooklyn. Alone. Oh joy. In order to get there, park, walk.tonthe bib pickup, and start by 7, I would have to get up by 3:30 in the morning. Omg.
When the hubs found out, he freaked and basically begged me not to go. Since my foot is just healing and I've done 4 miles at the most since recovering, I decided to stay home.
Ugh.
Luckily, there was a 5k race just 3 miles from my front door. I got up at 6:30 and rode my bike there.

Because they had to postpone due to Joaquin, I got to pay the regular fee instead of the race day fee. Score.

I watched the Littles do the one mile fun run, and the it was time to line up. It was basically a hilly out and back, so I went into it with a realistic goal of 36 minutes, and hoping it would be under 38 at the most. I left my watch at home so that I wouldn't push myself harder than necessary, but I did turn on my Nike app and left my phone in my Running Buddy so that I wouldn't be tempted to peek at it.

It felt hard from the start, it was damp and cold and it seemed like everyone was in front of me. It was disheartening, but I decided to focus on my music, and try and pick off one runner at a time.

First was a run/walker who kept zipping in front of me with such speed! I soon noticed, though, that she was stopping closer and closer to me and soon I passed her for good. Next was a pair of runners that started out running, but started to take walking breaks around mile 2. After some leap frogging, I passed them as well. I passed a few more before we hit the final turn back into the park where we started. 

I was so excited to see that my time was 35:36 and I met my goal. Then I checked the app and found that the course was long and my actual 5k time was 34:03. Ecstatic! I filled out my card and dropped it into my age group basket, seeing that there seemed to be 3 cards ahead of me. Figures.

I always try and stay for the awards though, so that I can cheer everyone on. I was shocked when they called my name for 3rd place in my age group!

I think I might sleep with that medal! It's my first ever Age Group medal! I'm still bummed that I missed Brooklyn but it wasn't such a bad change to the day.