Harvest Festival 5K Race

On Saturday my sister and I both ran the annual Harvest Festival 5K.  This race is somewhat of a big deal in our area as it is in conjunction with a two week harvest festival. The first weekend is the bike race (which we’ve never participated in) and the second weekend is the 5K race, which we've run several times.

Our dad usually runs this race with us but because he had shoulder surgery this year, we thought it best that he set this year out.  You don’t realize how much you use your shoulders in running until you start to do it!

As soon as we got our bibs, we headed towards the start line and immediately saw our Pap.

My Pap knows I am not as fast as Lacey, so real seriously he says to me before the start of the race “I know she is faster, so I brought you something.”  At that time he pulls an inhaler out of his pocket.  “When you start to get short of breath, just take a poof of this” he says.   I know he meant to be helpful and at 85 years old I guess you can say whatever you want, but I had to tell him that I couldn’t use his inhaler.  I don’t have asthma, I’m just slower!

In all the years I have run this race, this is the first time the National Anthem did not play. It was a 1,2,3, and we were off.   

Here is how our individual races went.

Before the start I eye up my competition (don’t judge, you know you do it too at local races).  We started promptly at 9:30. We had a new race director this year and he put on a great race!  

The first mile I was running way too fast like I normally do (6.38) (6.55) (6.59) average 6.49. I knew I needed to slow down but I was feeling good. So far no one had passed me. After seeing my time I thought well someone will be creeping up behind me soon like they usually do. But that was not the case. Instead I passed a few other runners. I was still feeling good at mile two when my watch clocked in at (6.55) I was wondering if I had enough gas in my tank to keep my last mile under 7 mins. 

About this time I saw my parents cheering for me along with other spectators and that must have gave me an extra boost of energy.  Still no one had passed me and I wanted to look behind me so bad to make sure no one was going to sneak up behind me but I didn’t.  Usually I sprint that last couple feet because I am trying to pass someone, but this time there was no reason to because there was no one behind me. I finished first female overall with an average pace of 6.49 per mile. I received a nice plaque and a gift card to a local shoe store.  My sister has a very different experience with her race.  -L

While Lacey finished her first mile in 6.38, I finished in 8:50. I didn’t feel like it was too fast for me, but it must have been because the next two miles were much slower.  My only goal for this race was to finish in the same time that I’ve been practicing. I pretty much ran my own race, passing a few, and people passing me here and there.  I had passed the 3 mile mark and I was about 200 feet from the finish line when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone in an orange shirt coming up on me. 

I had not seen this person the entire race and I don’t know what got into me but I just put it into high gear and started sprinting to the finish line. I heard the crowd all screaming and cheering and I didn’t know if they were cheering for me to “go” or cheering for the other runner to “pass me”.  My legs were moving so fast that I seriously thought I was going to trip and fall.  I made it across the finish line before the other runner and earned 3^rd place in my age group.  I wondered if me speeding up at the end was sort of a jerk move.  We congratulated each other at the end and I found out that we were in the same age group. -M

It was a great race for each of us! If our dad was running, I'm sure he would have kept up his streak and placed in his age group as well.

The race got a new director this year and he really stepped it up with the awards. Aren't they awesome?  

                                                      We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.