That Totally Awesome Dam Night Run

So, if you missed it, I did this route as a practice run already and you can see the post about that here.
But last night was the official 5k and before I even begin, let me just say that it was a really fun time and I did great!

Several of the girls from Bootcamp joined up to do this run together, and I had a great group that I sort of hung out with and ran with! Honestly, I think the group dynamic was the best part of the whole race.

The theme was 80s and here I am rocking that haha.

We had to get there about 2 hours early for parking. This race had record numbers this year, and it had rained the day before so we heard parking was going to be brutal, so we went early.

My friend, Spencer, rode with my mom and me to the race and we met our friend Cheyenne there! We busted out some delicious like energy jelly beans (which, seriously may have given me the extra boost I needed lol), got our chips and shirts, took pictures with all our girls, and definitely hit up the bathrooms before the race.

We people watched in the car for a good hour and just talked before the race started. Once it was about time we loaded up on these huge trucks and set on stacks of wood (can I just say... unsafe?!). Anyway, we get pulled up to where we need to be and I'm like waiting for the stairs to climb back down....and they never come. I have to jump off this truck that is seriously like up to my face... Terrifying. Had a little help then bounced right off that thing.

We walked to the end of the line, the chip doesn't start timing until you hit the mat, so we didn't care to be in the less congested back.

Once the race started we took off at a steady pace, just like the practice run. I was definitely feeling it, and the next thing I know, Spencer was like "I'm thinking we can run this whole thing" to which I was thinking "Are you freaking kidding me right now?!". Mom kicks it into turbo gear at mile 2, I've been running non stop, and I'm like sweet jesus this is happening.

We were about 2.5 before I started feeling like I neeeeeeded to stop, but at that point, I wasn't going to be the only one in our threesome that was lame, nothing was just like really hurting, and I knew I could do the 3.1 without stopping. So I slowed down, steadied my pace and breathing, and knew that if I could stay calm and get down the hill, the next thing would be the .10 mile stretch, that I was determined to sprint.

And that's what I did. I felt good going into the sprint, there was a girl a little ahead of me (luckily) and my competitive nature flaired up like a jungle cat in the wild. I took off in probably the fastest sprint I've ever done in my life, and passed her and one other girl to bring it on home for the finish. 3.1 MILES WITHOUT STOPPING. NOOOOO STOPPING!!!!

Official times here.

Next for sure run - The Jingle Bell Run in December!! Post about last year's Jingle Bell Race here.