Karyn and I did our 2nd race of the 13 in 2013 Saturday, and it was one of those where we were so glad it was just a 5k. It was cold, and it rained. We sat in the parking lot for about half an hour trying to either force ourselves out or take a nap.

Pre-race:

We are always all smiles before the race, and she said we should start taking pictures after the races when the smiles are gone. You can check out the Miles for Missions race photos on Facebook and find photos of us crossing the finish line and see for yourself the absence of smile and the grimace of beat the clock.

Anyway, that whole race sucked because the combination of rain and cold. It would have been a great race otherwise because while there were a couple long hills, they weren’t steep. Right away I picked out someone and determined that she was not going to beat me. I was going to catch up, and pass. Only she was smoking me, and I wanted to quit. But then this young girl who I estimate was about 10, started pushing me, and pacing me. Now when I say pacing, I mean she would sprint for a while and then walk. Hills, you know. 😉 She was very encouraging, and kept me going. And then the lady I said wasn’t going to beat me, dropped to a walk, and as I passed her, I took the time to say, “Come on, you got this!” That was Molly speaking through me. 🙂 I did end up beating her by a few seconds, but I waited in the rain at the finish line for her to high-five her because she was a trooper. And I picked up one of her gloves that she dropped, and wanted to return it to her. lol And after we made it inside I made sure to find that little girl and thank her for keeping me going. Yeah, she took off and left me during the last stretch. 😉

We were so soaked. Despite my efforts to avoid big puddles, my feet still got soaked. My torso stayed dry(ish) because of the poncho, but that was all that was dry. I didn’t have a chipped bib (registration fail on my part), so my only “official” time was me eyeballing the clock as I crossed the finish line at exactly 37 minutes, which I was trying to beat from the time I got close enough to focus on the clock and see that it was 36:20. I guess my push wasn’t all that. But I had soggy feet. Yeah, that’s it. 😉

2 weeks in a row it has rained on Saturday. I hope we get a dry Saturday this weekend for our 11 miler.