Race Report - Grantsburg 5K

I decided to run a 5K on Saturday because several friends from church were running. And, of course, I'm always looking for an excuse to run another race. This one is nice because, although Grantsburg is across the border in Wisconsin, it's only about 15 minutes from my house. I don't often get to have such a short trip to a race.

I've driven through Grantsburg many times and somehow got the impression that the town is flat. The race course (just a few blocks off the main drag)? Not so flat. It was an out and back course with rolling hills. Large rolling hills. (Why does rolling look like it is spelled wrong?)

About 200 people ran the race. I lined up and prayed for the gun to go off soon because Sophie was standing with my mom on the side of the road screaming. The race started and we were off. We went down a steep hill about 1/4 of a mile in, and for the rest of the race, I was dreading coming back up that hill. After the turn around, I was able to run past all of my friends from church (several of whom were running their first race ever). It was fun to be able to cheer them on and give out high-fives.

Finally, the hill of death was upon me. I pushed up the hill, repeating over and over that it was just a couple of short blocks to the finish. I saw my mom and Sophie (Sophie was standing in the road jumping up and down and clapping for all the runners - so cute) and gave it everything I could. Crossed the line in 25:05. Not a PR, but not too shabby. Especially considering that my pre-race ritual on Friday (which is usually lots of water, relax and early to bed) was replaced by an all-afternoon/evening golf tournament, several of my new favorite drink (UV Blue & Diet Mountain Dew, in case you're interested), and not so much sleep. I ended up fourth in my age group, but I'm calling it first, because at least two of the people who beat me were 20. And I'm about a month away from checking in to a whole new age group. So really, I was first. See how that works?

The best part of this race was the kiddie race, which ended up being Sophie's first race. They lined up on the football field and did a 100-yard dash. Sophie was by far the youngest kid to run. I ran with her and held her hand the whole way. She took last place (but there was one kid who broke down sobbing halfway through who took a DNF), but we finished. The race director was running behind the kids and grabbed her other hand to cross the finish. She showed off her medal the rest of the day. My mom got a couple of pictures that I will have to post when I get them. I've got my future running partner in training!