This morning I got to run Fleet Feet Sports Love on the Run 5K, put on by Elemental Running and Training. I was originally registered for the 10K, but dropped to the 5K for a few reasons:

1. I am a little bit sick with the baby’s cold
2. I knew that with an 8 AM start, there was no way I could be home by 9:15 and showered by 9:30 so my hubby could go to work, and that was already making accommodations for me since he would usually be at work earlier on Saturdays. (He’s a CPA, January – April is busy season!)
3. I got very little sleep last night. Alex was awake a lot for some reason.

The temperatures dropped here in Vegas, just in time for the weekend and the race. I woke at 4 AM to the sounds of the baby crying and the winds howling outside. I didn’t want to be awake at 5, my alarm was set for 5:45… but 4 is what I got!

After it became obvious the hubby wasn’t going to wake up, Alexis and I woke him up so I could get on my way!

What I wore:

• Athleta Base Miles beanie
• Fleet Feet Sports long sleeve tech shirt (by Brooks)
• Agloves Grip Touch gloves
• Nike capris (circa 2008)
• Flipbelt
• WrightSock Running II sock
• Brooks PureDrift shoes

The race starts out uphill and then ends going down. It’s a route I’ve run so many times in all of the weekly Fleet Feet runs that I used to be able to attend every Tuesday night. (I miss that camaraderie!) So I was mentally prepared for the route.

The run felt really good. We kind of ran into the wind on the way out and then got to run with the wind on our way downhill back to the finish. I had a couple of moments where my breath kind of caught as my lungs tried to cough and expel some of this virus. But overall, I felt pretty strong… especially considering the sickness and lack of sleep! Maybe it was endorphins, that I was just so happy I got to do something for myself for a moment!

 

There were a lot of Team Challenge participants from the past there, so it was great to get to see and reconnect with so many of them. Plus I had a few good friends there and we took some pictures together.

 

Post race they had donuts from Pink Box Doughnuts. These donuts (doughnuts?) are not just ordinary box of glazed, they are pretty elaborate. I’m not even entirely sure what all of these were, but I do know there was a S’mores type with marshmallows (that are even toasted), a maple bar with bacon on it, a kind of cranberries and white chocolate chips and others.

 

And yes… I ate a donut. I grabbed the one with cereal on the top. Sadly, right after snapping a picture a gust of wind blew my cereal and dried strawberry off the top! But it was still AMAZING! I’ve been eating gluten-free all week and haven’t felt any difference in my digestive troubles. So I figured I’d just eat the damn donut and see if it made any differences (negative or positive). So far… no change, I feel about the same as I always do. I’m going to assume that gluten isn’t a problem for me.

 

The shirts were cute, if not a little faint and slightly see through. But they are gender-specific cuts! That’s always nice. (I just went through a bunch of my race shirts, took pictures of them and threw them away. I had too many that were boxy, oversized, ill-fitting and just plain ugly.)

 

I did not wear my Garmin. I’ve decided that I’m not going to wear any GPS device for races until Alex is a year old. I just want to let myself go out and enjoy them, no pressure on myself for times. But once I know my time, I’ll update this post. (I hear rumor I won my age group… it was a very small field of participants!)

Once again, just like with the New Year races (Resolution Run and Commitment Day) I am SUPER happy I did this and just getting out for a race has reinvigorated a little bit of the spark inside that makes me feel like ME.