The Big D 5k -or- The Day I Took A Nap

This past Sunday, Melissa and I braved the thunderstorms and ran in the Big D 5k at Fair Park in Dallas.  Leading up to the race was a time of training that proved somewhat comical, at times frustrating, and always rewarding.  Sometimes the reward was really tight hamstrings.  Maybe one day I'll take you through the finer points of my training experiences. But I digress.

AWESOME THINGS ABOUT THE 5K

• I am related to the person who crossed the finish line fourteenth out of about 900 people.  Coincidentally I am also the person related to the person who finished top of her age group at about 22 minutes, who also happened to be the third female to finish.  Bravo, sister.
• It didn't rain.  Well, it did.  But it rained before we started and after we finished.  Not so awesome for the half-marathon and marathoners.  But they're crazy anyway, so I'm sure a little bit of freezing rain didn't bother them.
• I finished faster than I had been training, thanks to being stuck at the front and starting out like a bunch of crazy hamsters let go from their cages.  See also "Not Awesome Things About The 5k"
• Melissa waited for me at the finish line (she may have ran the course again, I don't know) and said she almost didn't see me cross the line because she was looking for a "small white girl running really slowly in a white hat".  What she wasn't looking for was a tiny woman with a backwards hat running like a maniac for the finish line, and thus nearly missed my triumphant ending.
• Hearing about Melissa grabbing one of those little water cups from the sides and pouring it all over her head, only to realize it was red Powerade.
• Winning first in the category Melissa and I invented for myself.  I'll let you know what it is as soon as I've worked up an important-looking certificate.

NOT AWESOME THINGS ABOUT THE 5K

• Starting at the front.  This is bad because a.) the front people take off like a stampede of escaped mental patients (including my own mental-patient of a sister) and b.) I don't belong in the front.  For the full first mile, 197 people passed me and I passed not one person.  This depressed me for awhile.  It's not good to be depressed during the first mile of a three-mile run.
• Two of the 197 people to pass me were nine year old girls, and they stayed past me.
• Watching people throw away the little water cups in the wind (I know they're supposed to) so that the cups blew away where no one would probably pick them up... and knowing I shouldn't stray from the course to pick them up myself.

AWESOME THINGS ABOUT THE WEEKEND

• Spending it with sister.
• Seeing Belinda Williams.
• Seeing the ghost of the Red Rider.
• TAKING A NAP.  
• NYLO Dallas-Las Colinas.
• Food choices other than Mexican.  Though I still picked Mexican one day.  It's just nice to have the option.
• Coming home to see my family.