Third 5K of the summer

Rolling out of bed at 4:45 this morning, before the sun was even peeking out, proved to be tough. I hit the snooze, but knew that we had to be pulling out of our drive by 5:15. We were headed to the Strassenfest 5K in Jasper, which is an hour from our house. Because of the time difference, the race began as 7:00 our time. I must say, the fact that it was a beautiful, cool morning made waking up a little more worth the effort, although I was still tired and not in any mood to converse as we drove north.

One idiosyncrasy of my personality is that I have some social anxiety. This was passed down from my mother, who totally avoids crowds at all costs. Though my anxiety didn't really rear its ugly head until my late thirties, my daughters (yes, all of them) already suffer some of the effects. When we attended the Big Ten basketball finals this spring, we were in the middle of a crowd watching the band and cheerleaders, I looked back at my 17 year old, and she had tears streaming down her face. I had to guide her out of the crowd to get some air. Morgan gets panicked if Walmart is over-crowded, and Addison tries to avoid crowds. Even family functions on her dad's side can cause her stress because his family is so large. If you have never had that type of anxiety, it is difficult to understand. In my head I know that it makes no sense, but I just can't control the feeling of panic. I think that all four of us have to see a path out of a crowd, and if we can't, we begin to panic. My chest gets tight, breathing becomes labored, and I just have the fearful feeling - it's awful. Sometimes it doesn't bother me at all, but others I completely freak out and have to leave. This morning was not a good morning.

I don't know how many runners were in this 5K, but I would guess at least 300 (just checked - there were 385!). As we gathered at the starting line, I could just feel everyone close in. I tried to stick it out, but had to move to the side of the road where I at least had a few feet around me. I was near tears, but was not going to back out of the race at that point. I knew that once the starting gun fired, the crowd would thin as the fast runners shot out, and the walkers held back. It seemed to take several minutes for that to happen. The first mile was pretty uncomfortable; everything just got on my nerves, from people talking and laughing, to someone who was just too close to me breathing heavily. So, physically I felt really good, but emotionally I wasn't quite so good. As we approached the halfway point in the run, I heard music - contemporary Christian music - which is my favorite. I then remembered that my good friend Paul Alvey told me that the church he works for would be providing music during the race. That few minutes of focusing on their songs erased all of the stress I had been feeling. I was ready to complete this race.

My pace was slow starting off: 10:24 miles. I had run 10:04 in Owensboro, but there were no hills in that race (yeh, I can justify anything!). Once I reached the last 1/2 mile, I decided to try to speed up. It was flat ground, and I could begin to see the finish line (I also just wanted to pass whomever I could!). I kicked it in and began passing some people. There was one lady left that I wanted to get by, and as I confidently strode by her, I could sense her speeding up. I literally sprinted the last 2 blocks, and so did she (picture two older ladies sprinting toward the finish! I am sure that some of the spectators got a good laugh.). We raced to the end, and I beat her! I was feeling pretty smug, when she came up and thanked me. She said she was glad that I had pushed her, and that she had her best time ever! I was, of course, gracious, and told her I needed the push too. I think my time was just over 31 minutes, but I didn't see it officially.

My husband also had a good run. He beat his Owensboro time, and came in under 40 minutes. Our granddaughter, who was the one who wanted to run this race, did well for her first race. Her time was around 38 minutes. We were proud of her for finishing!

My next race is the 2-mile Schweizer Fest run. Two miles should seem rather easy. My goal is to run it in under 20 minutes. I would love to be able to run the 6-mile, but just don't quite feel prepared for that. Next year!