Run of the Mills 5k 2010

I ran this race last year with my dad and brother. It is a General Mills sponsored run for employees and their families. This year my dad "adopted" my cousin Stephanie for this run as well.

My dad told us that the race started at 8:00 AM and we planned to meet them in the parking lot at 7:30. Stephanie, Andy and I got to the parking lot at about 7:20 and there was like three cars in the entire lot. The year before the lot had been completely full. I had a feeling dad was wrong on the start time so I gave him a call. He said, "No, I'm sure it was at 8:00.". Dad arrives, we get our race numbers on and go in to the General Mills campus. Dad runs off to talk to some of his coworkers and then returns to say, "I made a mistake. The race starts at 9:00." Turns out we had to stand around for a while before the race actually started. This gave us ample time to get pictures with all of the General Mills cereal characters.

Steph and I wore our NF jerseys to this run. We were actually suprised to see another NF runner in the crowd so we ran over to her and talked to her. She had cycled the MS 100 the year before and her daughter had NF. We took a photo with her and then parted ways as the race director was asking everyone to line up.

As Steph and I lined up for the race, another woman came up to me and said, "I like your shirt!". She then asked me where I'd "run that race"? I told her I ran the Twin Cities Marathon and then she said, "No, where did you run the NF race?" I explained that I was a part of the NF Endurance Team that runs for NF and she said, "Thank you for doing that. I have NF." Truly inspiring.

It wasn't long before the race started and I had lost Steph and my brother Joe. Joe had sped ahead of me but I never realized it and thought he had somehow fallen behind me. I knew Steph was behind me because she wanted to run/walk with my dad. The wind was realllllly strong for this race but I just kept charging through it. I made it to the first mile at 9:15 clock time. I felt amazing and was really hoping for a PR (at least on this course!). The race winds through quite a few trails and you never really know when the winding will end and you will see a new mile marker. I started to slow a bit towards the end as I was battling the wind and some side stitches but kept telling myself to push forward for that PR.

When I saw the finish line, I bolted. I couldn't remember my time from last year but I felt like maybe I was faster? It turns out I was a minute slower! My time was 29:09 and last year I ran it in 28 something. GRRR! Anyways, I don't know what the deal is lately. I've been speed training this year and somehow my race times are coming up soooo slow! Well, at least it is the beginning of the year and I still have some time to improve. My little brother Joe, who doesn't run regurarly, finished in 25 minutes! So proud of him!

My dad and cousin Steph came through the finish somewhere around 37 minutes.

Dad,me, Steph, Joe before the race.