CPOA Memorial Run

This is the first time I have ever done two 5k's back to back. I passed up this run last year because it's a trail run and at the time I had never done a trail run. Thanks to a few races with Brazen I felt confident. And since Scott was on vacation and the run benefits the California Peace Officers Association, it was a must for us.

It started out with some confusion over start times. CPOA was advertising a 9am start for both the 5k and 10k but On Your Mark was advertising 9am for the 10k and 9:45am for the 5k. Much to my disappointment the 5k started at 9:45am. I am not accustomed to starting a race that late in the morning, so at about 9:30am my stomach was grumbling and it was getting warm at Shadow Cliffs. Although it was fun to get to see the first 10k runners coming in before our start. Before we knew it we were off. Two minutes into the run you face the largest hill on the course, um, way to wear me out before I even get started. I sucked it up and ran up the entire hill. The course was a series of rolling hills with some flat stretches. I was able to run up about half of the hills and was sure to take advantage of the downhill portions by running all of those. There were about 3 other woman that I played cat and mouse with through out the course. The course looped around quite a bit, so it was difficult for me to get an idea of how much further I had. As we approached what I was guessing was the last hill, one of the women I had been playing cat and mouse with was at my side, she looked like she was going to run up the entire hill (which was about the equivalent of the first hill), I said to myself if she runs up it, so am I! And we did, we even managed a conversation as we ran up the hill (that was a first for me!) I felt a huge sigh of relief as we reached the top and then saw the finish line and the large downhill. Once again, I took advantage of the downhill and left my buddy behind. All of a sudden I hit pavement, my body has never been so relieved to hit pavement. As we came around the bathrooms a husband dropped into the run his wife in, this was another woman I had been back and forth with. Damn, they passed me. As we reached the grass, I knew it was now or never, I sprinted like I have never sprinted before, I passed her and her husband and crossed the finish line strong. This is evidenced in the photo that On Your Mark captured of me crossing the finish line, I obviously did not care about what I looked like as I crossed, so I will spare myself the humiliation, you'll just have to take my word for it.

28/74 in my age group. Scott came in 4th in his AG, so close to the podium! I'm going with my time of 36:17 as OYM doesn't chip time, and I don't think their time is accurate :)

We finished up the race with BBQ from Outback, which tasted so good! And it was a great day of networking for my own upcoming event.