Top Pot 5k
Posted by z on May 18, 2010
Keeping with the new birthday tradition, Susan wanted to do a run for her birthday. We looked around for a half marathon but then the Top Pot Doughnut 5k revealed itself and the case was settled. What could be better than having a doughnut and coffee after a run?
Registration was an anxiety inducing event in and of itself. We went to Jock n’ Jill to register in person and they only took cash, which I did not have. So, we went around the corner to an ATM, paid our $85 service fee and got our cash. I had illegally parked and I know those meter maids lurk just waiting for the opportunity to generate revenue. We went back to the store and I registered for me, Morrie and Marti and Susan took care of herself. We went back to the car and I was ticket free!
The race was actually the day after Susan’s birthday, on a nice Sunday morning. Morrie mentioned that there were supposed to be 3,000 people at the event but there were only just over 2,000. Not that that made a difference. There were still a ton of people there. The set-up was similar to the Iron Girl 10k in that they wanted everyone to line up according to pace. I find that nobody ever abides by this as walkers mingle with the runners. Oh well, we squeezed into the 11 minute milers and called it good.
We eventually started. There were significantly fewer people than at the Iron Girl and I was not nearly as irritated by the walkers. It was still packed with people in the beginning and we had to run off the trail occasionally to pass folks pushing their strollers and/or walking. Eventually the crowd thinned out. I was going along at a pretty good clip. I felt good considering we were out late the night before. Before I knew it we were at mile 1.
I had no idea where Morrie or Susan were. They could have been in front of me for all I knew. There were so many people that I had to watch for kids suddenly stopping in front of me or people stopping suddenly to pick up their MP3 player that they dropped. I couldn’t watch for these people and keep an eye on my friends. I felt strong and was still pushing myself. At mile 2 a very nice volunteer, who, it turns out, was my co-workers son, yelled encouraging words to us. All the volunteers were really nice.
Finally I rounded the corner by the pool and knew the end was near. I entered the finish chute and picked up my stride. The ground here was a bit rolly and it would be an easy, yet embarrassing place to trip. I concentrated on the ground and I glanced up just in time to see my friend Danielle on the sidelines cheering me on. That was nice. I finished strong at a personal 5k record of 29:55. My first sub 30 minute 5k.
I got my chip removed from my foot and went to immediately get a bottle of water. We were to meet over by the porta-potties. By the time everyone had finished I wandered over to get my doughnut and don’t you know they had run out! Can you believe it? Run out of doughnuts? At a run for doughnuts? Well, Morrie had managed to snag 2 of them so we shared. As it turns out, doughnuts aren’t as good as a banana after a run.
We had fun though and the run was a benefit for Childhaven so it’s all good. After we made our way back to the car, we went to Mae’s Phinney Ridge Cafe for breakfast. Yummy!
