11th Annual Run For the Pumpkins 5K

10-20 - 6+ Miles (Road) - Warmup, race and cooldown, Pumpkins 5K!

I was slated to help with the setup/breakdown of this race, and as I could hear wind and rain late Saturday night, I was a bit worried about how things would be in the morning.  Woke up to bright sunshine, and a brisk breeze, and things looked perfect weather-wise.

Got to the sports complex and helped unload the cars, and still felt a bit chilly, but the Sun was out and I knew I'd warm up quickly during the race.

I'd decided that one of two things were going to happen:  I'd told Nicole that if she came down for the race, I'd try to pace her for a sub-30 minute 5K, which would be a huge PR for her, and a challenge for me to time it right.  Plan B, if she decided not to race, was to run a solid race and try to PR.  Nicole arrived and the plan was set, but after running most of the course as a warmup, I realized it was pretty hilly and the PR probably wouldn't happen.  I'd done the math, and knew what our numbers needed to be, and set my phone to call out every 1/2 kilometer.  I'm happy to say, everything went according to plan!

We went out faster than the pace we needed, hit the bigger hills in the middle and slowed, and coming in I knew it would be close, but would be a PR either way.  We came into the ball field complex with a little over a minute to go, and had to loop around the field to the finish line...Nicole came across at 29:53, a huge PR and under the 30 minute mark!  With lots of my WTAC friends waiting at the finish to cheer her on, it was a great finish.

So now she's beyond happy and a short time later, during the awards, Jeff calls out the 1st place finisher for her age group, and it's Nicole!  What?  So a PR, and a medal!!!  Great job, congratulations!!!

Bling!  Great race!