Monday, February 14, 2011

So today was the cupid's chase 5k. Can I tell you how excited I was? I got up super early, iced my knees, had coffee and I was still an hour early for the race. So guess who had a 2 mile warm up before the 3 mile race? Yes, I ran to run. But hey, I got in half my miles I was supposed to be running and if I do it again tomorrow, I will be in the all clear. Although running 10 miles all at once would've been better, its better than nothing.

This is me trying to take a picture of myself at 7am. Clearly I was going to the “I’m a little teapot” look.
These are some of the views from my warm up run. It was right on riverside drive, so you could see over to Jersey.
The path was really pretty:

The finish line was even prettier:
After I "warmed up" I still had a good half an hour to wait until the start and that's when my bright idea didnt seem so bright anymore. I was getting cold and I was wearing cotton (just the outter layer, my runner friends. I know. I know. But everyone was running in their race shirts. I'll explain that later.) I also hadn't eaten but the good news was the start was where the finish was, so I drank one of the promotional vitamin waters and felt better.
While I was waiting, I made friends! Have you ever noticed how friendly runners are? It made this nervous southern belle feel right at home and they don't get annoyed when you talk runner stuff with them. I also met another New Orleanian, spotted by his fleur-de-lis beanie. That also made me happy.
This is me waiting for the start after the freezing weather hit me:

The starting line:

So the race started and I was pumped but nervous I would burn out half way through due to the "warm up". That was not the case. Instead I was motivated by the fact there were no water stations (which I guess you dont really need at a 5K but it wouldve been nice). At this point I was quite thirsty, so I ran the entire last mile just to get to the finish so I could have some water. I'd say it was pretty good motivation. It was definitely "run like you stole something" speed for me.
When I got to the finish they had tons of extra shirts and swag so that was an added bonus and it really helped out later because I changed my clothes 3 times before I got to brunch.

So an explanation about the shirts. Everyone wears them because they have 2 different ones, those for the single people and those for the in a relationship people. On the back of each shirt said either "available" or "taken". Seeing as it was a Valentine race, I'm sure there were many of cupid's arrows flying around. Cute idea, right? If you're interested, you should check it out because they happen all over the country.

After the race, I traveled up to my old neighborhood of Washington Heights to have brunch. I was starving and I haven’t stopped eating since.