On Saturday I ran the Redheads Rule 5K, it is the second race in the “It’s Jus Hair” series from local race company Jus Run. I ran the Blondes race earlier this year and I will run the Brunette one in January. Once I’ve done the whole series I’ll get an extra medal!

Friday afternoon, I took A with me to packet pickup. I really like the shirt from the Blondes race, it just fits well, so I was pleased to see the shirts for this event were the same cut.

The packet bag also had a bunch of flyers for different events/businesses and a few samples included.

I debated taking the stroller, but I haven’t been running with the stroller all summer (too hot) and I wanted to let my kid sleep in a little. I would have had to wake her up to go. So I got a couple of hours on my own!

The race started off with a “wheelchair division”…. kind of. The organization Light of Las Vegas – My Team Triumph was there with several disabled participants getting the opportunity to ride along for a race. After we sent them off, the rest of us got to line up and countdown to start our race.

I really wasn’t planning on pushing the pace at all, I signed up for this a long time ago and with the hip pain I’d been experiencing, I knew I was just having fun. (Who am I kidding… most of the time when I enter a race I’m doing it to have fun. I’m not a competitive runner!) It was fun to see people dressed up to support the theme. I briefly contemplated putting some temporary red hair dye in my hair, but then never followed through.

I was pleased with how the race felt and crossed the finish line with a smile. I went to grab a banana and water, then I went back to the finish line to clap for all the runners coming in.

I ended up finishing 26th out of 124 runners overall and 8 out of 39 in my division. So even with some lingering pain and lack of running over the past several weeks I did alright.

Honestly, it was just fun to get out and be amongst other people. I rarely run with others these days because I run so early in the morning with very little wiggle room to go somewhere or to socialize before needing to deal with getting the kid ready and starting work. So it was fun to feel like I’m not isolated in my home for a while!

I’m looking forward to the January race, which I’ll have to run with the stroller because it will be my husband’s busy season at that time. (He’s a CPA, I rarely see him January through April.)