And here we are taking off right at the beginning of the race:
Jeff and Vinny were participating in the one mile fun run/walk, which started once the 5K participants were out of the way, so Jeff was able to take a few pictures of me running:
And here's the youngest race participant, making his way along the track:
Afterwards, there were some fun activities, like a little petting zoo with chickens, goats, sheep, and rabbits:
And an inflatable bouncy castle:
As for the race results, I finished the race in about 41 minutes. This is not as good as my time at work, which makes me suspect that the run at work was not actually 5K. But I did make a few beginner's mistakes that cost me some time.
I was pretty excited to be there and started off running too fast, which wore me out faster than I should have. Next time I will try to ignore all the people around me and know my slow and plodding pace.
Also, I got dehydrated. I didn't drink enough before the race because I was trying to have an empty bladder for the race (all that jostling makes me have to go and I don't have the best control anymore). Then, they were offering water and I probably should have taken some, but I thought I was almost done with the race so I declined. In reality, I was maybe about halfway through.
After we went home, I had a migraine, so I think I really was dehydrated. I still have not figured out how to balance the conflicting objectives of staying hydrated and not peeing in my pants. Any advice from you experts out there is greatly appreciated.
11 comments:
Clearly there's a market for "Sports Depends"! ;-)
In fact, though, if you're sweating enough, does your body produce that much pee? Have you found this when you practice? Because I've found that my body tends to divert water to sweat first, rather than keep on producing pee at the usual rate - and I'm not even running races, just remembering times I was dehydrated.
(You're making me want to tell the story of when i was really dehydrated in Mexico, but knowing me, I've already told you like, 20 times.)
"Depends".
Or am I not being helpful? ;-)
Well done! That is an awesome job for your first 5K!
I ran my first 5K a few summers ago and also did not drink enough. It was a really hot day and I got very dehydrated.
Are you hooked yet? The first one nearly killed me, but the second one I actually got an age group medal (still not very fast) and that was loads of fun. I love the way distance racing accommodates being an athlete wherever you are in your training, because you can always race your own goals, no matter what everyone else is doing.
Rachel and Scott, I was at the store on Friday night, in the "Depends" aisle, and I almost bought some. But I could see that the pads for your underwear would interfere with my movement while running. I was also afraid that the disposable-underwear variety would show under my pants. So instead I just did what I always do, which is wear a panty liner and change my underwear afterwards.
My problem is that even if there's just a little tiny bit of urine, all the jostling will make it come out -- kind of like sneezing or coughing can do. And the panty liner does end up wet, so it's not just an uncomfortable feeling, I'm actually having some incontinence. I was afraid that any more than a trickle would be too much for my panty liner.
Chelsea, thanks! I think my next goal is to be able to run for the entire distance. This probably involves practicing to run further. My fearless coach/colleague wants me to try for a 10K next. If I train up for that, then maybe I'll be able to run an entire 5K.
Congratulations! That is incredibly marvelous. (Not the dehydration part, the finishing a real 5K.)
One poor guy dropped during this race. They performed CPR on him and then airlifted him to Knoxville. I realized that maybe that kind of thing happened quite often at races, and we never hear about it. I wonder if he made it out ok.
Woo Becca! You go girl! (and by go, I don't mean... well, never mind.) Seriously, bravo!
Nice job!
Pacing is so critical under race conditions. In my one and only 10K run, I got caught up in the energy of the crowd (and a downhill start). When I heard the split at the first mile (5:20) I knew I was in big trouble. Really big trouble, because the last two miles were back up the hill. I finished about 8 minutes over my training times, barely managing to walk across the finish line.
The key to water is what Rachel said: match input to sweat output.
Hey, I just popped over from Milkbreath and Me, and thought I'd offer my 2 cents on hydration (lucky you!). I find that the key to good hydration is making sure that you drink A LOT the day before, your body takes a while to really get fully hydrated. Then first thing in the morning when you wake up drink at least two big glasses of water (or orange juice or gatorade or whatever strikes your fancy). Then I always stop drinking (other than tiny sips if I need it) about an hour before race time. That gives the bulk of extra water time to get through your system. If it's a really hot day you should always get water at water stops even if you just take a few sips at each stop. One last thing to consider is to make sure that you get enough electrolytes (again, especially if it's a hot day), don't just chug tons and tons of water. You can eat pretzels or other salty snacks for some of that too.
Hope this helps some for your next race!
Thanks for the suggestions, buttercup. I didn't drink any extra the day before the race, so I bet that did contribute to the dehydration. Next time I'll follow your advice.
Congrats on the race! (And I think I now know who your mysterious coworker is ;) The little runner looks so cute, numbered and all :)
I try to drink more the day before the race (same principle as carb loading), then stop 1-2 hours before the race. I also drink half a glass or so 10 min before takeoff, and don't skip any of the water offers (I think they know well how to space them), but only take a few sips at each. At the end I find that I crave salt/bananas in addition to water/gatorade.
I hope you get hooked on these events - I have really been enjoying them, and it is such a great motivation to keep running!
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