The Ugly Sweater 5K got a little ugly

I thought my last-minute decision to run this race was sensible:

• The only reason I even looked up races for this weekend was because I was winning my running club's 2017 Runner of the Year competition, but barely.  One of my short race scores was a lot lower than the others because it was from a 2 mile race that was long.  I realized that if I replaced that score with an 18:30ish 5K, I would raise my overall score significantly.  Only the 7 best short distance races count, but I'd only run 7 short races total -- and I'd only done that many because of this competition!
• It was advertised as a certified course that I knew was flat and out-and-back, because I'd run it before at the Joplin Turkey Trot in 2015.  I even reviewed the course map on the website approximately 100 times to make sure.
• I've historically run well in holiday-themed 5Ks with no pressure.
• My family didn't have any other plans for the day, outside of a little preparing for and a lot of resting up for the upcoming holidays.
• The race offered a half mile that my daughter wanted to run.
• The temperature was supposed to be fairly warm (around 40*), and although it was very windy, the race was mostly east and west, and the wind was south.
• It was only a 5K and my coach okayed it.
• My friend Liz and her extended family were running it, which really sealed the deal because I hadn't seen them since the Joplin Turkey Trot 2016.

I warmed up and watched Albani run the kids half mile, where she came in 3rd girl.  She was pretty pumped to wear one of my ugly sweaters for the race!  She enjoyed the race, she was proud of herself, and I loved watching her.

Perfect form!

As we lined up on the 5K starting line, the announcer told everyone that we wouldn't be running the course that they'd run the year before (the one that was on the website) after all; we would still run an L-shaped out and back, but would turn right instead of left.  I immediately thought, "The course is going to be wrong" -- because pretty much every race in our area that isn't certified is wrong.  I also knew that turning right would mean a hilly route, because I'd run that way warming up for the Turkey Trot 2016.  I wasn't nearly as worried about the hills as I was about the 5K potentially being either 2.8 or 3.5 miles long, making it either ineligible (if short) or not helpful (if long) for my running club's competition score!

For about the first 0.3 mile of the race, another lady was right beside me.  I had dedicated myself to running by feel and without looking at my watch, because I didn't want to get discouraged if I was slower than I thought I should be due to being 2 weeks off of CIM, but like I said, a 6:00 pace 5K would boost my score quite a bit and I felt confident I would do at least that.  The lady dropped off, and then there were 6-8 men in front of me, so I focused on picking them off one at a time.

My watch beeped 1 mile a bit before the 1 mile course marker, but not by enough to worry about.  However, when I started focusing ahead, the turn around sure looked farther than a half mile in the distance.  By the turn around, I'd passed all but two men, and I decided to look at my watch so I would know what the total race distance was going to be, since it was an out-and-back.  My watch read 1.66.  It also read 5:47 on my average pace (after the fact, looking at my splits my first mile was 5:48).

I became much more upset than I should have been when I learned that the course was going to be over 3.3 miles.  Keep in mind that my Gamin often reads short -- it had 26.21 at CIM even when I weaved in crowds, 26.10 at BMO Mesa-Phoenix when I wasn't in crowds, and this same pattern at large well-organized races I am confident were certified and the were the correct distance (and it gave me 3.09 on the old Turkey Trot course that was certified that we should have run for this race!).  I knew this race was going to be of no help for my running club's competition score and that my time was going to be nowhere near 18:30.  So I just completely called it in.  I just couldn't bring myself to keep pushing knowing all of that.  This is not my typical attitude, but I think it was related to me not being completely recovered or 100% mentally focused following CIM.  So what happened is that I ran out at 5:47 pace and back at around 6:15 pace (also known as goal marathon pace!), in the end averaging 5:58 pace on my watch.  I didn't lose any places, which is surprising.  Maybe everyone else gave up at the turn-around too!

I won overall female, and kind of laughed ironically as the announcer made a big deal about the first woman coming in fast (Jon caught this on camera below).  The first thing Jon said to me as I walked away from the finish was, "How long was it?"  I guess my time of 19:49 clued him in!  I told him, "We need a refund", after which we actually went and asked for a refund.  Jon was even more mad about it than I was.

I'll compliment the race director, because although I was very kind about it, I was upset and wanted her to know that it really isn't okay to have a race course be the wrong distance, especially when it's advertised as certified.  We wouldn't have driven over an hour to this race had it not been certified.  She looked into the issue and came back and apologized, told us that the volunteers had placed the turn-around cone and aid station 2.5 blocks out too far (making it 5 blocks too long or closer to 3.35 miles), and refunded my entry fee.  It wasn't her fault, and the other 2 races I've done that were put on by the same company were certified and were spot on.  I told her that she could give the second place woman my award since I'd gotten the refund (she offered to still give me the award but Jon told her we didn't want it, gahh).  Based on that, I was removed from the results, so it is truly like this race never happened, right?

I was still upset about it, mainly because I felt like I'd dragged my family to Joplin for a race that didn't serve its purpose.  I was also mad at myself for quitting mid-way; why didn't I keep pushing and go for a Garmin 5K PR?  It didn't go according to my plan.  Jon and I were both upset about it, and when we were complaining on the drive home, Albani said, "Well, I really had fun" and then I felt worse.  She had a wonderful time running and had no idea what her finishing time was - and didn't care.  She loved the ugly sweater, the medal, the donuts, and the time together.  What a lesson that I needed to take from my 10-year-old.

Mother-Daughter Ugly Sweaters

It also hit me:  I need to stop telling God my plan and listen to His.  I've been better about this in my life recently, but after CIM I've been pretty adamant about my upcoming running plans (which would be:  get that 2:45, or else).  I kept pushing for this little 5K with logic, when I had this feeling that maybe we shouldn't go.  The way it all panned out also showed me that I'm taking it all too seriously, which typically makes me run worse anyhow.  I immediately started praying that God would make His plan for my running clear, including His plan for Houston.

Now I feel bad that I was ugly about this race.  Although I do stand behind that "the only thing worse than a 5K is a 5K that's too long", what's a 3.3-3.4 mile 5K in the big scheme of things?  Especially when my daughter had such fun.  Will I really remember my score in my running club's competition on 20 years?  Doubtful.  Will I always remember the first time Albani wore my ugly Christmas sweater?  Guaranteed.

Liz & I rocked Christmas socks too!