Alas, no PR today (22:31), but it was a good race and my hopes of having fun were fulfilled.  Nick was such a huge sweetie/supporter, insisting on driving me there, then happily sitting in the car and reading Rolling Stone for most of it, until the end when he got some finishing shots.

All last night and this morning, I kept going back and forth over what to wear because it was going to be cold (final temp: 29, wind chill 22), so I wore two jackets in the car and even brought a third (indecisive much?) leaving a myriad of outerwear options at my disposal.

Despite carrying this closet with me, I decided after my warmup to wear no jacket at all, just my half-zip top, tights, gloves and a hat.  I was strangely warm at the start while all around me people were bouncing for heat and aside from one big wind gust mid-race, I was comfy throughout.

This race was in the same town as the Turkey Trot and as soon as we parked, I saw my nemesis from that race (and several local races) doing her warmup.  After the gun went off, I kept my eye on her jacket for as long as I could, and though I lost her eventually, the fact that I had her in sight as long as I did told me I was doing ok.

I had my Garmin auto-lap on because when I emailed to ask if there were any clocks on the course, the person who replied told me no, just start and finish.  Turns out there were clocks at miles 1 and 2, as well.  The weird thing about that area of Jersey, though, is that my Garmin consistently measures shorter there, rather than longer, as in Philly.  But this was a certified course, so I had no problem ignoring Garmin and relying on the clocks for pacing info instead.

The course was not as flat as the Trot, but not hugely hilly either, just rolling.  While in the midst of it, there was a funny guy who tried to chat some, but in a 5K all I can get out is “I. can’t. talk”, so that’s all he got from me until afterwards when we exchanged a few words.  Also, in the last mile, a woman in a white jacket (tiny thing) slips past me, zooming ahead and I had a feeling she was in my age-group, so that wasn’t very happy-making.

The course ends after an uphill, yet I managed a strong kick, passed a couple people before the finish and arrived just 1 second behind white jacket woman.  She ended up winning third, so no AG award for me.

But the high point of the race was meeting the Turkey Trot nemesis.  I should mention that she is actually not my nemesis and won’t be for a while because she’s a 20:xx runner, but I like calling her my nemesis, anyway.

She has a couple girls that usually race with her (and place all the time, too) but today she was alone, so while we were waiting around I introduced myself and told her she’s my nemesis.  She couldn’t have been cooler.  We ended up chatting for about 40 minutes and when she got her first place award, I was really happy for her and not wanting to trip her, unlike that sneaky white jacket woman (I keed, I keed).

So, I left with a solid race behind me and a new friend.  Also, I have concluded that losing a little weight is definitely in order.  The one thing all the faster women have in common (besides being faster than me) is they are thinner than I am, and I can afford to lose a few pounds.  To emphasize my point, I leave you with a parting shot to compare white-jacket’s chicken thigh with my own, far meatier sample.  Don’t worry, no aspirations to be as tiny as her, but it is interesting to note that two of her legs equal one of mine.

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