Vernon Mother's Day Dash 5k

Happy Mothers Day!

Whether your children have 2 legs or have 4 and are covered with hair. Happy Mother's Day to you! What a blast!. Sunday was the second of three races I have this month. This race was by far the cheapest at $15, but what it lacked in price it made up for elsewhere. I attached the flyer to the race here. Vernon Mother's Day Dash Flyer. I picked up my mother for the 9.30am start around 8.30am. When we got to Henry Park there weren't too many people and it was still drizzling. Although I don't mind running a regular training run in the rain I prefer to not have wet weather during the race. Luckily as more people showed up the weather cleared up.

There were many pluses about this race as opposed to the Girls Just Wanna Run 5k I did a week prior. First was that I was pleasantly greeted as I approached the table. The girls at the table communicated to me that I would receive a bag with my bib and safety pins in it as well as the race shirt (I totally forgot I got a shirt). It wasn't a tech shirt but it was BRIGHT BRIGHT NEON yellow which is cool. I was wearing pink so I am glad I stood out. 

I wore this shirt from Feed The Breed.com for the race.

This was the race shirt and my bib number. They had the B-Tag on the back. I love that little piece of technology added.

Second was that the Start and the Finish were both clearly marked which I appreciated and helped ease my pre-race anxiety. It also helped me know where my mother would be standing. I lined up fairly close to the start line because of how badly the race prior was when I gave some space. The only dangerous part to being up close is getting carried away with the speed at the start. I thought at one point I went out too fast...yeah I was right... My first mile was clocked in my Nike + app at 8:48...NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I DONE THIS!! When I saw my Garmin beep at 9:06 (discrepancies are frequent) I was so impressed with myself I was able to carry through to the water station which was after Mile 1.5 but right before Mile 2. The hills weren't horrible and it was nice running through neighborhoods, people were sitting on their front porches or in the back of their SUV's cheering the runners on. It was really heart warming to see how the town was enjoying the race too.

About .50 Miles from the finish is when I usually have an energy reserve....but to be honest I was running at a pace that I never had experienced before...I ended up passing 2 people in the stretch home to cross at 30:02 on my Nike + app. The race timing system clocked me at 30:55... either way, I took another 2.5ish minutes off my previous PR. Once I was done the CT Youth Marines handed me water, which was good because I couldn't move. Then I grabbed a delicious bagel and apple and sat down to get congratulated by my Mother. I was so happy to have her with me.

I was so proud of myself I didn't know what to do! I couldn't stop smiling. I'm so shocked every time I do better than the time before. I can definitely say this is a race I will do annually.

It was the best way to spend Mother's Day.