Bold in the Cold 15K 2017

Beautiful sky on way to race!

I was able to talk one of our Chinese teachers, Kailin from work to register for the Bold in the Cold 5K.  She states that she loves to run, but since she just moved here she doesn't have a lot of friends.  I told her well now you do!  I love running and would love to have you join my Running Junky Club. I told her my goal is to have one community fun run 5K once a month and run together as a team on Wednesdays too.  She was intrigued and didn't hesitate to register.  I had another friend, Wendy,  a teacher who I used to work with also register for the 5K.  Her husband also ran the 5K with her and it was nice to see them again.  Kailin gets there just in time for a pre race picture with us.

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and our little boy Noah decided he wanted to stay and sleep in.  Our two older boys were home, so they babysat for us till we got back.  Eddie and I leave at 7:00 a.m. to get there in plenty of time to find good parking.  Since this race was cancelled last year due to floods, all the people that registered last year got this race deferred to this year.  So, it was super crowed this year.  I forgot to eat my normal half banana before the race and Eddie stopped at the QT on our way to grab one.  I didn't want to change my routine on race day.  Once we get there, I realized that I also forgot my Garmin watch!!  What the heck!  I always lay out everything for the race the night before, but was rushing out the door, I just forgot to grab it.  I always run with my watch to keep track of my pace.  I always start way too fast and checking my pace keeps me in check.  Oh well, I said now I have to just listen to my body and just run!

I had another friend, Wendy a teacher who I used to work with also register.  Her husband also ran the 5K with her and it was nice to see them again.  Kailin gets there just in time for a pre race picture with us.

It's time!  I turned on my music and took off hoping for the best.  I had no idea of time/pace and just looked at the mile markers as I passed them by.  I started passing up a lot of people in the beginning and didn't feel like I was going fast.  I passed a guy who told me good pace.  I thanked him and I didn't back down my pace.  Half way through I started to strategize a different approach.  I told myself, "see who many girls you can pass up till the finish."  It was RACE ON!  I tried to see how many girls were in front of me, but I couldn't tell.  I passed and counted 5 girls.   I pushed it a little faster at the end and could see one more girl in front of me, but she was too far.  I didn't want to be stupid and hurt myself trying to catch her, so just let her go and felt I did my best.  There were 324 finishers for the 15K and I came in 25 place overall and 4th place for female overall.  And to my surprise, I placed 1st in my age group.....WHOA!!!  I finished 9.3 miles in 1:07:32 which is a 7:15 minute pace per mile.  This is a new PR for me and didn't expect that at all!!

Wendy also placed 2nd for her age group!  I told her, we may be getting older, but we are still kicking it :)!!  Kailin forgot to get her chip because she was running late, but she said her time was 31:00 minutes.  I was very proud of her, especially for that being her first one.
She said she will do it again :)  Cowtown Ultra Marathon you are next up in February!!