Engineers Without Borders 5k

I did not want to get up when my alarm went off at 7:20 this morning.  It took me a second to remember that I had a race to go to.  I got ready quietly, eating a banana and a granola bar.  I threw my running stuff together, put on some warmer clothes for the ride over, then hopped on my bike.  Due to my lack of preparation, I forgot my race number belt and had to pin on my number like Abe Lincoln did.

On the way to the race, I saw a dead dog in the road.  It had a collar on, so I stopped and called the owner.  I felt bad delivering that news.  I hoped it wouldn't funk me out of the race.  The girl cried when I told her about her dog and I felt bad for about 2 miles.  I figured that it would be better to get that call than to keep looking for a missing dog only to find it later and more decomposed.

When I got to the race, there was only one other bike on the rack.  Later on, some single speed pulled up with Christmas lights on the bike.  Nice.  I went to get my number and was amazed that I could pick any number on the table.  Also, when I told them my name, I noticed that the list of preregistered runners was not alphabetized.  I picked #22 and got ready for my race.  Just as I was removing my warm-up pants about 4 minutes before the scheduled start, there was an announcement that the race would start 10 minutes late.  Boo.  At least the weather was perfect.  It actually started 13 minutes late.  I led the race for about the first 1/4 mile or so then was passed by the man who would go on to win it.  I tried to stick with him.  When he pulled away, I planned to reel him back on the hills.  He didn't drop at all on the hills.  He kept opening his gap on me just as I kept opening mine on 3rd place.

I was 2nd overall and first for the tri team.  We won the team division with strong finishes by other members:  Bobby in 3rd overall, Alex in 4th overall, and Alexa won overall for the women.  Riley and Wren showed up too.  Chris was race directing, and Maggie and Peter manned the water station.  I won a $15 RoadID gift card in the raffle!  Add the free shipping coupon from the race number and that's a cheap item from RoadID.  BTW, if you don't have a RoadID, you should get one and wear it.