CASA Be A Super Hero 5k - Race Recap

Almost 2 weeks ago I ran a local 5k.  It's the first year the event was held.  Earlier in the week I was actually thinking I wouldn't run this race.  I had been planning on it for months, but then after my marathon the week before I was pretty sore.  I don't mind running a slower race, just for the heck of it, but I was really sore and miserable for a few days.  In hindsight I think I feel this way after almost any big race.  Once I get past day 3 or 4 things look much better.

I really hadn't decided 100% that I would run the race until that morning.  Since it had been at the back of my mind I kind of had an idea of what I'd wear, but didn't put anything together until the last moment.  It was known from the get go that super hero costumes were encouraged.  I'm one who will throw on a costume for no reason at all so I was glad that this was expected.  And even more excited to pull up and see a lot others in costume.  A time or two in the past, even though costumes were encouraged I was still the only one who actually did it.  So I was not the only "odd ball" that day.  Since I had mentally planned what to wear, but didn't actually try it on until right before I left I had to improvise some.  After all, I'm sure this was meant to be a family friendly event so I had to cover up more than what my original costume had to offer.  I don't have a full super hero costume, just a mix match of things, but here is what I came up with:

It was sort of a Wonder Woman-ish outfit.  Again, though, I wasn't the only one in costume:

With Kelly, a co worker & friend, from the Y.

There was a small turn out for the race.  I'm guessing about 50 people.   But lots of spirit and fun!  I didn't realize until right before the start that this was more of a cross country race.  Meaning it was mostly run on grassy & trail areas.  Yikes!  That made me worried, as I didn't want to do anything crazy like twist an ankle.  The course was very twisty and curvy.  When they described it I was confused and lost every easily and I know this park well.  They had an RV leading the way so that helped a little.  I also knew right away that a good fast time would not happen.  Not that I was expecting or planning to PR or anything, but grass/trail & unfamiliar course meant a slower time.  I accepted that even before the gun went off.

Once the gun went off a young pre-teen boy lead the way for about 200 yards and then I took over.  There was in a sense no competition for me.  Usually someone in front of me helps motivate me & pushes me to go faster.  All I had was the RV to follow and even then twice it couldn't go where I ran so it dropped off and then picked up the lead again later on.  It was different to be running hard and yet not really know where I was going.  They had some lines painted and pinwheels out to mark the course, but it had a wide margin of error so I did the best I could to go where I thought I was suppose to.  In the end my gps had it down as 2.96.  So pretty close, but that could have been from how I ran vs. where they marked the course.   Since it was a small, first time race I don't think anyone was being too picky.

I lead the entire race, which interestingly, I've never raced with a cape on before.  I finished with a time of 21:25.  Not too shabby considering all the factors and only being 1 week post marathon.  Overall I had a good, fun time and by racing helped raised some money for CASA.  Can't lose there.

Afterwards with my medal.

And a fun video that one of the sponsors made: