Saturday, June 6thI love my weekends... not only do I get to see my family I get to actually do something to my house... so Saturday was a day of cleaning ....grab the Mr. Bubble and go... I was feeling kind bad that I had to miss out on my Philly Masters Track Meet... but it was a good call out on my part.. my shin was still sore and no way I could sprint or throw today... so I decided it was best to stay out of trouble and clean...oh and run a 5k.... the Newtown Square Sandy Flash Dash.. it was a new 5K (3.1 miles)... and was in the afternoon..
..well I should have known better... inaugural events...well... sometimes it's just a surprise on what you get....... now perhaps the almost mile walk from the parking lot to the registration should have been an indication that PERHAPS they had no concept of distance.. or.... perhaps it was when looking at the course map and seeing it was 2 very long loops that maybe... just maybe the course was a bit long ..
The race itself was a lot different than I thought.. it was hilly and mostly cross country style with grass, mud, and dirt...if I had known it was going to be an off road run I would have worn my dang trail shoes..!
I ran with two other woman for the first half... they both appeared to be in my age group and both appeared to be strong.. it was a bit toasty with the late afternoon sun... and my two running mates.. well they dropped back...a thirty something bolted past me while I was having my pre-heat stroke... and I didnt care.. too hot to care, too many hills to care, and my DAMN shin hurts...
I was wondering what kinda hell I was in when finishing the first loop and realized it was almost 2 miles and I still had another loop to go... how is that 3.1 miles!!??
The 30 year old nut ahead of me made two wrong turns running off the course then back on and still beat me.. it was amusing.. I can only assume the heat was getting to her too... .my Garmin picked up 4.3 miles at end... What I didn’t realize is that they hadn’t even measured the course at all.. hello....did ya just GUESS at 3.1 miles or what!!.?? ...Oh lets see... that looks about right.. yeah .... and dang didn’t the director ask me what the course measured since he saw I had a Garmin GPS unit on... and used my Garmin measurement as the official distance.. !!
So any way.. I finished strong.. low 8’s pace... 1st age group...
which was a nice treat...Met some interesting people... sitting on the grass minding my own business and doing some light stretching... and this very unique lady comes over to talk to me.. (contrary to popular belief I actually don’t mind people talking to me )..
...the first thing out of her mouth was, “Are you a real Runner?”
I am like, “huh?”... she asked again if I was a real runner.. . (she proceeds to tell me a whole bunch of stuff about her past life and what she is currently doing)...
....and I am really TRYING to be polite and I am going to poke out her eyeballs...!!.... I am sorry... I couldn’t wait to get the f- away from her... And to walk the mile back to my car...
