Race For the Cure 5K (Race Recap)

Denver, CO
Sunday, October 2
A's 4th 5K
Weather - Chilly at start, sunny and warm at finish

I had never participated in a Race For the Cure, but last weekend A and I stopped at Sports Authority and they were dishing out registration forms... A is as much as a sucker for a race as I am, so we signed up. I waited until the last minute to read through all the information about parking and road closures and... well, I blacked out. I cannot STAND going to Denver. I live in the suburbs and I avoid it as much as possible. It is hard to get around, the lots are expensive to park in, there is a ton of construction, lots of one way streets, etc. There was no way to beat the traffic because closures BEGAN at 4 am. FOUR AM. Frick. So, luckily I noticed that there was a $10 shuttle (round trip) that picked up at the high school a mile from my house. COMPLETELY worth it.

So I got up at 5:10, and for the first time on a race day I sorta had to drag out of bed. She is normally pretty pumped and ready to go, but, well, she's sorta been "five" this week. Just sort of whiny and complainy and overall not the most pleasant kid to be around. But, she still wanted to run, so we got ready:

It was still DARK when we got to the high school. We boarded the FIRST bus leaving for downtown... at 5:53 am. The run didn't start until 7, so I was allowing plenty of time. A was pretty psyched about riding a school bus:

With a low forecasted of low 60s, I hadn't brought long sleeves. I was fine. A? Freezing:

There was coffee for adults, but nothing warm to drink for the kids. We didn't know where the start was and everyone was just kind of wandering around. We finally found a volunteer and found out we were headed in the wrong direction. Sun started coming up, which warmed things up a bit. Then A found a vendor selling "pink" and picked a boa. I knew she wouldn't be able to run with it, but she insisted:

Unsure of how many total people were there, but we were probably not even middle of the pack of the first wave (a second one was starting at 8:00). Look how many people in front of us to the start:

I hadn't researched the course at all, and with so many people we weren't really going for any PRs anyway. The course started with about a half mile long uphill.  Which sorta tired A out early and got her irritated with her boa. Which I tried to wear around MY neck. Kept having to adjust. It was hard to get her motivated to run again, but I was able to when the course leveled out a bit when we turned to run down Federal Blvd. A said she had to use the bathroom, and for the first time ever for HER, she had to stop to pee. Took probably 2 minutes. No sense of urgency with this one, we stopped right around the first mile. I immediately saw what I thought was an aid station. It was... only if you have never done one of these, you might not know that the first stations are NOT free, you have to pay for your water. WTH... luckily I ran with my own bottle, AND there was a "free" station about a 1/3 of a mile down the road.

A did pretty good the second mile, but as we rounded the corner past Mile High (Sorry, still can't call it Sports Authority Field) and onto Colfax, she was D.O.N.E. and pretty whiny about it. Whipped out my phone and convinced her to run down the off ramp since it was a good sized hill.

Surprise text from J that he was at the finish line. Two races in a row? That motivated A to run, but not until we went UP the on ramp (decent sized hill). She weepily ran the last .1 to the finish. I turned around to take a shot of the people behind us. This wave of people was about this thick for close to 2 hours. Crazy.

The finishing area was a total zoo. We got our bottles of water, some chips and Yoplait yogurt, and then walked to J's car. He'd had to park over a mile away. Glad I hadn't bothered with it!

The race? Not for racing, everyone had the bib #2011, and it wasn't officially timed. But wow, the Komen foundation raised a TON of money, and it was pretty amazing seeing the support and all the pink. Even saw a few dudes in sparkle skirts :)

Overall Time - 50:05
Average Pace - 15:51
Mile 1 - 17:41 (bathroom)
Mile 2 - 12:42
Mile 3 - 17:21
Mile 3.1 - 14:13