Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K

Woot!

I had a blast at the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K!

Being my first 5K ever and really not being a runner (despite how much running I've been doing lately), I was feeling pretty nervous about this event. Nervous and excited. I set some tentative goals. I definitely wanted to finish in less than 36 minutes and decided I could buy the Garmin Forerunner I've been wanting if I finished in less than 33 minutes. Seth said he'd buy it for me if I won. :)

We picked up our bibs and tshirts yesterday afternoon. I got #1499 and Seth was #1775. This morning, we got to the IU Stadium about 45 minutes before the start of the race. We watched the kids start their fun run. Then we lined up with a ton of other people for the 5K run/walk (map). Although the morning was pretty chilly, it was warm in the crowd. We situated ourselves pretty much in the middle. Then we were off!

It was crazy being in a mass start. Pretty slow going at first. I figured I'd take it easy and just see how it went. We were really going slower than I wanted to be at first, but eventually we found ourselves behind the IU Ladies Rowing Team. They were all wearing crimson shirts and I figured I'd just follow them as they were easy to see. And they ended up being pretty good pacers for me. :) About 1/2 to 3/4 mile in it started thinning out a little as people needed to start walking or had sped ahead of the crowd. Seth said we reached the first mile marker in 9:05!

The rest is kind of blurred together. I really enjoyed running with 1500 people through the streets of Bloomington. People were outside on their balconies cheering for us. People parked their cars along the way and had their radios going. My favorite was playing "Eye of the Tiger". Also, all the middle schools in the area had their cheerleading teams along the route cheering for us. I thought that was really nice. It was also really touching to see all the people running in honor or in memory of someone they loved who has battled cancer.

There were a couple of water stations. I discovered that it is really difficult to run and drink water out of a solo cup. I had to walk to drink my water. I think next time I'll just take one of my little fuel belt hydration bottles. Other than to drink water though, I ran the whole thing.

We made it back to the stadium and got the finish line in sight. We made the turn into the last straightaway and saw 32 minutes on the clock. We did a sprint and made it in 32:54! I knew I had definitely beaten my goal! And not even just my easy goal! Yay!

This comes out to a 10:37 min/mile pace and placed me 40/95 in my age group. Top half! I was 873/1500 overall. Not too shabby for a first 5K! I will definitely be doing more of these. :)