My Sunday morning began at 5am. When my alarm went off, my first thought was I’m exhausted, followed by OMG my sunburn kills! Bry and I went to Wildwood yesterday and the backs of my legs got BURNT. I wanted to do was to go back to bed, but I knew I had to get moving if I wanted to leave the house at 6am. So, I rolled out of bed and looked outside. It was still pretty dark when I woke up!
I was happy that I already knew what I was wearing today when I woke up: my Lucy Cross Country Cutie Tank and Endurance Skirt in the print “lagoon.” A month ago, Lucy Activewear contacted me to do a product review on a few of their products. I knew I’d want to get something for the summer (obviously) and to wear for upcoming races. I never owned a running skirt, and figured there’s no better time than now… just in time for hot summer runs. The thing that I hate about wearing compression shorts is that they tend to ride up. This skirt has compression shorts underneath and they don’t even move! The skirt also has reflective strips, moisture-wicking material and an internal drawcord. It’s SO comfortable. I want to wear it everywhere! The tank is amazing as well. I love it because I don’t have to wear a sports bra with it and it’s moisure-wicking too.
After getting dressed in pain (this sunburn is terrible!), I put on some aloe to ease the burn. It didn’t help much, but it felt good for about 5 minutes.
Breakfast was a banana. I usually have oatmeal before races, but yesterday was so hot that anything warm was the last thing I wanted.
Bry and I left the house a little after 6am and drove down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Traffic wasn’t bad at all and we ended up getting down there around 6:40am. This gave us enough time to find a parking spot, walk to the front of the museum and check in.
Because we got there so early, we were able to hang out around the art museum for a while. The crowds of people didn’t start showing up until close to 7:45. There were a few vendors set up, but for the most part the race didn’t have too many things to eat pre-race. The Race for Hope I ran last winter had much more pre-race food like fresh fruit, animal crackers, and bagels.
About 20 minutes before the race started, there was a quick warmup with a few local fitness instructors… and spiderman. Yes, spiderman. Check out that sunburn on the backs on my legs!
Once the race started, I was feeling pretty good. Mile 1 went by pretty quickly. Right around mile 1.5 when I turned around to head back, I stopped to get a drink of water from the volunteers. This was when it all went down hill. I had to stop around 1.7 to throw up. All that came up was water, so I felt okay to keep going. From 1.7-2.5 I had a KILLER cramp. It was the most painful cramp I’ve ever had while running. Needless to say, I didn’t meet my goal of a 5K in under 30 minutes. When I saw my Nike+ app pass the number 28:00, I almost cried. I didn’t though, because as soon as I started to feel like I was going to cry, I realized it was making it harder to breathe. I still had almost a half of a mile to go and knew that I wasn’t going to cross the finish line before 30:00. I hobbled across the finish line and Bry was there to take some pictures of my not so grand finale.
My unofficial time was 32:40. Take a look at my splits. As I hit mile 1, I knew that I could actually finish in under 30, but unfortunately the heat got the best of me.
After crossing the finish line, I was handed a water and a Powerade Zero. After passing out in the grass for about 5 minutes, I walked over to the Philly Soft Pretzel tent to gobble down a delicious soft pretzel.
Overall, I had an okay time. I was so excited to hopefully have a PR, but that didn’t happen. I am very proud of myself for finishing at all. There were many times when I just wanted to sit on the sideline and wait for someone to pick me up and carry me to the finish line. Although I had to take a lot of walking breaks during the 2nd half, I finished. That is all I could have hoped for.
Hi Nicole,
I work with Jenna Communications, ee did the PR for the Dr. Howard Mazer 18 annual Strides for Stroke 5K Run. I wanted to say congratulations on your time and also say this post is super entertaining! Hope you had a great day!
Matthew Tucker
Thanks Matthew! I had a great time. I hope to do more events with Jenna Communications in the near future!
This is the first summer that I’ve run a few races in the heat, and even in those short distances, it is brutal! Try not to beat yourself up for the missed time- you definitely have it in you. Sign up for a redemption race in September. 🙂
Congrats on finishing the race! I definitely feel your pain with the sunburn (no pun intended). I have such fair skin that I have gotten some horrible burns in my life & I know how painful they can be!
Erica it STILL hurts. haha, its all on the back of my legs, behind my knees and my upper thighs. worst spot ever.