Pie & Glove 5K

This morning the family & I got up early to run the local 5K. This took a lot of willpower as the temperature this morning was -12C (10F), windy and fresh snow on the ground. It was seriously cold. My mother opted to stay home...I think she was the smart one! Nonetheless, the 4 of us were not deterred! Off we went! We arrived early as we had not pre-registered, quickly got our bibs and headed back to the car to wait in the warmth. That was when I realized that in the scramble to layer on adequate amounts of clothes, I had forgotten my Garmin! Akk! I wasn't too worried because I had my phone and I thought I could use my Nike+ app. Unfortunately, I went out on a warmup mile and only just got to the start on time (I'm pretty sure this is the ONLY time this race has started when it was supposed to!) and I didn't get it set up in time. 

Oh well, time to get running, run by feel and hope for the best. Honestly, I did not feel like I was running fast. I thought I might be in the 9's but really had no idea. In fact, I was pretty sure I was having a sucky run and I'd be lucky to finish under 30. I didn't feel like I was trying very hard and it felt mostly like a tempo training run. 

It was an out and back, so of course I saw Thing 1 & his friends first & had to laugh because the brain trust was shirtless in short shorts! What a crew! They were in about 20th place and clipping along. Next I saw Thing 2, who was sensibly in a touque, sweatshirt and long pants....he was maybe a minute behind his brother. Then SD was just behind Thing 2. As for me, I just kept trucking along. The wind was picking up after the turnaround and mostly I just wanted to get to the finish. I wasn't passing anyone, but wasn't being passed much either. Just the occasional college kid. 

Despite the storm that visited the Northeast the past couple days the streets were pretty clear. Just The side street the race started and finished at was slippery packed snow and ice. I didn't really have much of a kick at the end. I felt a bit queasy coming over the final bridge and then I was just trying not to fall or turn an ankle on the slippery finish stretch. Turns out there was a clock at the finish but I didn't see it because people were standing in front of it. When I found the family I had no idea what I ran. 

They all did well, but Thing 2 did the best because he won a pie for coming in 2nd in his age group! Yay! 

Finally, they started posting results, but the times kept getting higher and higher and I couldn't find my name. Ugg. Thought my chip was broken. Then, just before awards they posted revised sheets and I finally found my name:

26:12!!!!! (That's a 2 second PR, folks!)

12th in my AG

242/~900

All I can say is Hmmmmm....Garmin free? Not at all what I expected. 

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving:)