First bling of the year

Shrimp & Grits 5K

January 16, 2016

North Charleston, South Carolina 

I'm back in Charleston on MLK weekend. It must be Sharon Johnson birthday weekend. This year she's turned it up and there are 8 of us that have joined in on the fun. Claudia, Sharon and I learned after last year's race the 5K starts in north Charleston and not Charleston. We were actually staying in north Charleston so that made getting to the start line a few miles closer.

We arrive at north Charleston high school about 7:40am the start/finish of the 5K and the finish for the marathon/half-marathon. Race starts at 8am. As we walk to the start line we meet a TIFL charlotte sister Tulani. She thinks we are from the TIFL Charleston chapter. We respond no we're from Raleigh. RALEIGH in da house. My pre-race jitters are kicking in so I make a beeline to the portable restrooms. I run into Geri, donnela, Maryann and Stephanie from TIFL charlotte. TIFL is deep at this race. Yeah!! I find the rest of my peeps. Our Charlotte sisters find us and the southeastern selfie extraordinaire Geri takes our pre-race groupie. Sharon asks is she she needs her selfie stick. I tell Sharon Geri is her own selfie stick. Say cheese. 

We line up for the race. 8am we start off on the course for 3.1 miles. This is my 2nd time doing this race so I am familiar with the course. I haven't been running in like forever so I just keep walking at all my races. I got my music going on. RunKeeper and Garmin have started. I'm off on to knock out these miles. I pass mile 1 and I check my Garmin. I'm at 21:00/mile pace which is down from my normal 24:00/mile pace. That's what you call progress my friend. I slightly glance behind me to see if I'm the end and there are a few folks behind me. Woo Hoo I'm not the end. The water stops are fully stocked partly due to the marathon comes through part of the course. I pass mile 2 and I check the Garmin and I'm at 42:00 minutes. I'm so excited I've been able to keep up with the 21:00/mile pace. Since I've been moving like Jagger on the course I'm losing water left and right. I'm drinking from my camelback like its the best thing since sliced bread. I know I'm less than a mile to go. I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm coming through the neighborhood. I know I have a few more turns and I'll be in the shopping center near the finish line. As I turn into the main strip of shops I see Claudia mello's husband. He tells me I'm almost there. I notice he has on his medal so I know he's already finished. I make the last left turn. After I turn I spy with my little eye the mile 3 marker. I also spy some nice eye candy course monitors. :-) 

I turn right past the mile marker. I see the finish line Shute up ahead. I make the last right turn and I see the finish line. I hear the race announcer. I hear the crowd cheering. So I'm thinking they are cheering for me. Turns out the first male finisher of the half marathon is coming up right behind me. He finishes in 67 minutes, the same time i finished the 5K. Im super Doppler exited I'm done but I'm also in awe that this guy just finished 13.1 miles in 67 minutes. Holy smokes batman. My 2nd 5K of 2016 is done. I grab my medal since the kids handing them out have forgotten they were supposed to be handing them out. I'm all about the bling. Did I mention as I was headed to the finish line, one of the volunteers who is a member of BGR Charleston walks up to me and invites me to join her BGR group. What is it about folks thinking I don't run when they see me walking. Who knows. I will eventually return back to running. Especially since I am planning to qualify for half fanatics in 2 months. 

First race of the year

Lifetime Commitment Day 5K

January 1, 2016

Cary, NC

                The best way to start off your new year than with doing a 5K. I along with a few sisters from my TRI Tribe decided to do the Commitment Day 5K at the Lifetime Fitness in Cary. Race started at 10am which is a good time since it’s on new year’s day and most folks have been taken part of adult beverages to ring in the new year. I personally only partook in 1 shooter early in the evening on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t even make to see the ball or the acorn drop as I was knocked out before midnight hit. I watched Frodo get on the boat with the elves in LOTR:ROTK and then I was OUT.

                I wasn’t too sure what the parking situation was going to be like so I arrived at Lifetime around 9am. The gym was open for business as usual plus the participants of the race. This is great advertising for the club. It’s what sucked me about a year ago when I joined the new club that opened in Raleigh. It’s about 40ish degrees outside. I have on 2 top layers. I feel a wind hit me as I get out the car and decide I’m going to put on my hoodie. That was a good call.

                I head into the gym to take care of some business AKA pre-race bathroom break. Good thing the race is at the gym so you have REAL restrooms. Oh yeah!! I pick up my fellow amigo Julie Reed’s packet and put it in the car. By the time I come back into the basketball court, more of the tribe shows up. I even see Mary Hicks is here. I haven’t seen her since we did the Richmond half back in November. Good to see you Mary. Claudia and Sharon are picking up their packets. I see Barbara, Beth, Trish and Valerie. I even spy with my little eye Wendy Morris who I haven’t seen since the finish line of Raleigh 70.3

As I tradition, we take a few pre-race pictures. Sharon is never without her handy dandy selfie stick. People are always amazed that I don’t own one. I really can’t say why I don’t. Just haven’t bought one. I am still accepting Christmas gifts.

                We see people spilling out so we head outside as well. It’s a little chilly outside. Yep good call on the hoodie. We head to the start line. Race announcer makes a few pre-race announcements. Then the race starts. Did I mention we start slightly uphill? The good thing about that is there will be a slight downhill finish, nothing like the Richmond finish. I head out with the tribe. I am walking like I normally do. I am really planning to step up my game this year and get back to run/walk intervals. It’s just not happening at this EXACT moment. We turn left onto Regency. They have the lane closed off from traffic. Very nice. I heard a lady near me mention that’s she doing the indoor TRI. I ask which one. She’s says Cary. I tell her me 2. This is her first one. I wish her good luck. As I’m walking down Regency I see folks already on Swift Creek greenway. They are booking. Someone mentions there are probably folks already on Kildaire. I’m thinking to myself there is probably someone already headed to the finish. I have seen some of these super-fast dudes finish 5K in like 15-16 minutes. I’m still heading towards mile 1. I have learned to accept that my race, my pace. I see these 2 ladies. I ask them if they did Jingle Bell Run in Raleigh. The daughter tells me she thought it was me. Let me explain how we met, I walked with them during jingle bell run about a month ago. After we finish the race, the daughter tells me this was her mom’s first race who is visiting from Brazil. She tells the mom that I’m the lady from jingle bell run in her native language which I’m going to assume is Portugal because it didn’t sound like Spanish. Then again I understand and speak semi-little Spanish. The daughter tells me the mother had asked her how much we had walked because the mother is about ready to be done. I so can relate. It’s always like that for me at EVERY race. We hit mile 1 while on the greenway. Greenway is not as bad as I thought it would be. There are a lot of wet spots but nothing real torrential. I forgot my beats headphones at the house. I’m really glad I did because without the distraction of music I really get to take in the scenery of nature on the greenway. It’s really pretty. I can tell I’m starting to get tired because my pace is slowing up and the group I was hanging with has left me. I’m cool with that. Just me, myself and I. I see a turn coming up and a course monitor volunteer. He tells me to watch it as I exit off the greenway because the path is kinda slick. I have a pretty good sense of geography of Cary as I worked there for 16 years up until October 2015. I’m really trying to figure out where on Kildaire we are. I’m thinking we would pass the Wal-Mart shopping center. We turn left into a neighborhood and there is the water stop. They are still there and there is still water. Will wonders never cease? My race experience has taught me to bring my own source of hydration because I have come to water stops/aid stations and they have been OUT. I take the cup of water the volunteer is offering. It is like heaven in a cup. I am sweating like a hooker in church. I know I need the fluids. I keep walking past the water station. I pass mile maker 2. I think I only have 1.1 miles left to go. I can do this. Of course I can, that is where my car is parked. I also have committed to doing the IRONKIWI challenge for January I need all mileage. The road through the neighborhood is slightly hilly. I take it 1 step at a time. I come up on the next turn, I see Cary PD there along with course monitor. They tell me I don’t have that much to go. I thank them and keep on going. PMA (positive mental attitude) is on deck. I pass a few businesses and I see cars. I keep forgetting it a normal business day for some business even though it feels like a Saturday. I start to smell food and it is smelling good. I know I must be near the turn onto Tryon because Lucky 32 is coming up. I want to make a beeline in there but A. my money is in my car B. I will still have to walk to the car first. I bypass making the detour. I head towards Tryon. Course monitor tells me to stay on the sidewalk. I turn left onto Tryon and I’m getting really excited because I know I only have 2 turns left. I turn left back on regency. They still have the lane closed. I see some people are leaving the race. This one car passes me and yells out “Black girls run dot com”. That’s probably the funniest thing I heard. I’m assuming they think I don’t run because I was walking. I digress on the reason they felt the need to tell me about a running group that I am well aware. I just nodded my head and kept walking. I’m heading towards the last turn. The volunteer is there who I passed at the beginning. She comes up to me and tells me “you are amazing, you are out here doing it and some folks haven’t even gotten out of the bed yet” It’s not about how fast or how slow you go. It’s ALL about you making the decision to get out there and DO it. That’s what I did. I crossed the finish line. As I was heading toward the finish line, I was very happy to see it was still up. I spy with my little eye one of my TRI sisters Wendy Morris is near the finish line. She comes and cheers me on. I tell her I’m so glad she was here and that the finish line was still up. My 1^st race of 2016 is complete.