Superheroes v. Villains 5k

(10-19-13…was like three months ago…I know!  I know!  Bad blogger, bad blogger!  But, better late than never, right?!)

So while trolling the internet for races (don’t tell my boss, but that’s basically all I do interspersed with some Facebook and Amazon) I happened upon this race.  The race was for a good cause – it was to honor the memory of Mat DuVall, owner of Required* Fitness and to raise money to benefit a scholarship in his honor.  Also, the premise of the race was that you either dressed up as a superhero or villain!  For a good cause and an excuse to dress up like a superhero or villain?  I am SO in.

I circulated the race around to all the usual suspects, begging someone to come along.  I couldn’t go to a superhero themed family friendly race alone – lest I look like some sort of odd ball creeper.  Luckily Swim Bike Mom, the Expert and Kids all signed on!   Yay! I could tag along as the third, large child that they never wanted.

After signing up, I further inspected the website.  It appeared that the prize for overall male and overall female finishers was an all expenses paid trip to Universal Studios with all the fixings.  Then I saw that the first superhero and first villain got courtside tickets to the Hawks game of their choice.  When Pooky heard this he freaked out.  Being a super NBA fan (and even bigger LeBron James fan), he was hell bent on me winning these tickets.  So somehow, out of all the races I was doing and had done this year, this local community 5k had become my “A” race.  Me, the girl who likes to run long and slow and leisurely through the mountains, preferably where candy and potato chips are provided at the aid stations.  But there would be none of that at a road 5k.  Especially a road 5k I was expected to run fast.  Sigh.

Figuring that far less people would sign up as “villains” than superheroes, I emailed the race director and asked to switch to villain.  Figured that would help my chances of winning my man the tickets.

Fast forward to last night.  Friday. Before the race.  About 6pm. And I have no costume.  Shoot.  I had plenty of good ideas but none seemed to lend themselves to running (think Bane, Dark Vader, Storm Trooper, Magneto)…masks would suffocate me and long capes would trip me.  Hmmmmm…

I eventually decided that I was tired and didn’t want to deal with it, and that I would skip it.  Then after Courtney finished my long awaited and MUCH needed massage, I thought, well let me just go look for a costume (mostly because Pooky wasn’t due home until a couple hours later and I was in fear that I would eat everything in sight in the house while I waited for him).

I went to Party City.  I was horrified at the selection.  When asking the woman for a Darth Vader costume, she gave me something that had a short skirt, hooker boots, and this cutesy hat thing. Um, I don’t know if you’ve seen Star Wars lady, but Darth Vader don’t wear no skirt.  Sigh.

I went on to Atlantic Station, Target, and Walmart..  Nothing, nothing nothing.  I was exhausted and about to say screw it again.  Then I thought about it, and I really wanted to do the race, and it was rare that I had a chance to see the Swim Bike Family, so I went back to Atlantic Station.  They had a little boys’ Darth Vader costume which was just a shirt with a cape and a mask.  I smooshed myself into the shirt…now Darth Vader is wearing three quarter length sleeves 😉  It would do.  They even had a lightsaver and it was only nine bucks so I got it too.  In my mind I could totally carry it while running.  Pooky offered to fashion a “holster” for it, but I didn’t have much faith in that idea and passed.

Race morning came and I donned my get up.  Got to the race and met the Swim Bike Family who looked as cute as could be.  About 10 minutes prior to the start it started raining.  I decided at this point it was probably a bad idea to run in a mask holding a lightsaver in the rain.  So I stashed them under a table and went for my usual multi-bathroom trip routine.

Got to the start and there was a guy at the front holding a sign that said “8 minute miles and faster.”  So I thought, well I’m going for faster so let me give it a try.  A guy dressed like Johnny Depp in those pirate movies was next to me and apparently planned to run in his boots.  Good luck with that.  He asked me if I was fast.  And I said, fast for me.  He told me that the front line was only for “fast people.” I told him, don’t worry, I’ll be fast enough.

And we were off like that!  Right at the start there was one girl who went out ahead of me.  She was wearing no costume – only a sports bra and shorts (despite the fact that I was freezing my vader legs off in the 60 degree / rain temps) and she clearly came here not to pretend to be a superhero or villain but to kick butt and win (incidentally, that’s what she did!)

I was ok with her passing me and staying ahead because she wasn’t dressed up.  She was going pretty fast and my legs were still heavy with the hills of Mystery Mountain from last week’s marathon, so I let her go.  She could have the trip – however, my man wanted those courtside seats so I just needed to be the fastest villain.  No problem, right?

However, right out of the gate, there is another lady Darth Vader right next to me!?!? What??!?!  Grumble, grumble, grumble.  She stayed with me for a bit, but she was out of site within a mile or so.  Shewwwww…. Thank goodness.  I didn’t want to have to fight to the finish for this.  Also I would’ve been really p.o.’d that I went to such lengths to dress like a villain to improve my chances when the only girl near me was also dressed as a villain!

So I have to admit something – I really wanted to run this sub-20 minutes.  I know, I know, a ridiculous pipe dream for a lazy long distance runner who’s been doing a marathon or more each month since February and who spends the rest of the time eating tortilla chips and granola and watching Fringe on Netflix.  But after the fast half at Atlanta 13.1 Marathon, I really thought I could do it.

Well, first mile was slightly under 6:30.   Next mile had a hill in it and I started to get tired.  And hungry. And thirsty.  I think my body is too used to getting to eat and drink lots on runs, but sorry body, this is no long distance trail race. Sigh.  I think I clocked the second mile pretty close to 6:30 too, but I’m not sure.

I looked behind me and didn’t see any girls in sight – neither superhero nor villain nor civilian.  This gave me relief because my lungs were burning and I was really ready to slack off.  So I did.

I came around the 3 mile mark and thought I could sneak in under 21.  I didn’t but pulled out a respectable 21:02 for the race, 2^nd overall female, 9^th overall.  Not bad for a sloth of a trail runner out on the mean streets for a 5k.

I was pretty sure that I had got the courtside seats at this point, but didn’t want to jinx it until it was official.  I was winded, so I sat down on the curb and drank my water while I waited to take a picture of the Swim Bike Couple finishing together on their anniversary!  (this is so awesomely cute I can’t stand it)…however, despite my best efforts I didn’t get a picture of this : (  Hopefully the race guy did.

Afterwards, we went and retrieved the Swim Bike Kids from the daycare (they seriously had child drop off for this race – how cool is that?) Then we set the Swim Bike Kids forth for their kids run.  So cute to watch them in action.  Stella totally takes after Aunt Liz – she was smiling and pumping her arms and upon finishing said, “The race was too short.”  Love it. Love it. Love it.

I was loitering around when I noticed the awards were happening so I ran over just in time.  Got my courtside seats!  I would not let my man down!  However, they say which game you get the seats for is subject to first come, first serve, out of the four winners.  So I instantly emailed the woman from my phone from the awards table in hopes of scoring Pooky the courtside Heat tickets in January.  His birthday is right around that time so it would be totally awesome.

I was going to say goodbye to the Swim Bike Family when they called my name again!  Apparently I also got the age group award?!  Random!  And it was $20 cash in an envelope and a car wash.  Awesome.  I never have cash in my wallet and my car is always filthy so this made my day.  It also included a gift certificate for the Rib Shack.  Anybody want it?  😉

…you know, these 5k things aren’t so bad afterall 😉

And although this post was 3 months late, it’s totally relevant because tomorrow we use the tickets I won!

Til we meet again (or until I’m not too lazy to write a report) … Happy Trails!