Date Night

It had all the makings of a great date night: parents in to babysit, a drive in the convertible, the promise of watching the sunset together, live music, a horse, a pasture, and the right running shoes to help us on our 5k! Not terribly romantic, but Doug and I had so much fun being together, just the two of us, running (nearly a mile apart time wise) in the Springdale 5K @ Sunset in Camden on Saturday night.



This race was a perfect precursor to the Mud Run because it's not run on pavement, but on the Springdale Horse Track. It was so pretty out there - the grass was so green (no doubt from our daily downpours) and the rest of the landscape just made you feel like you were in the country for sure! There was a quarter horse out there that was the pace horse and anyone who could beat the horse won a medal.

I haven't done an organized race since the Turkey Day 8K back in November but I've been running some to get ready for the Mud Run and I just started playing indoor soccer again last Monday so I am on the road to getting in shape!

The race started with a bubuzela which I thought would be terrifying to the horse, but perhaps that was the point to get the horse moving. I also thought I was doing a good job keeping up with the horse because I kept getting slightly spit on, but then I remembered horses don't spit, camels do, and this wasn't a camel, but a fellow runner who was chewing gum thus increasing her saliva and decreasing her awareness of those running around her. I went ahead and passed her but it winded me severely!

The grass was so high on the course so runners were told they wouldn't have any PR for this race - but not being a real runner, I had no idea what a Public Relations team or a Press Release or Puerto Rico had to do with running. Apparently it means personal record - and the height of the grass would prohibit even the avid running from getting one. But I had a PR that night in that I had my best time for ever having run on a horse track - and that should count for something even if it was my first time ever too.

I passed by the 1 mile mark water station with a bit of arrogance and disdain for those in front of me who stopped and then threw their cups in the air only for me to deflect them with my hands. And by the time I got to the 2 mile mark water station, I sheepishly paused for water thinking WWBD (What would Barret Do?) or WWAT (What would Adam think?). But then I reminded myself that this race was being run at 6:45pm in heat and humidity that only a native Columbian can really understand. It's amazing what 1.5 ounces of water will do for your system, but it was just enough to give me the strength to push on for the rest of the race. That and the shot to my ego that Doug had probably already finished at this point and I still had a mile to go. (Here he is in the middle of the pack of a runners - he's in the grey Clemson shirt)


In keeping with the horse theme, I have a little bit of Seabiscuit in me that makes me try to be just a bit faster than the person next to me. Most of the time I can't keep it up for any length of time because I get too winded but with this just being 3 miles, I did alright. I stayed right in line with one girl for the 3rd mile of the race and as we neared the finish line, I turned on the sprints. I tried my hardest to get past her but as the picture shows, she saw me coming and turned it up too. The official race results show us having the EXACT same finish time and pace time, yet she got 25th place among women and I got 26th. Go figure. Alas my dreams of placing in the top 25 of anything ever are gone.


Doug finished in great time too although his run sounds less eventful than mine probably because I have a flair for the dramatic and he just merely ran and didn't write blog posts the whole time in his head about the people around him.

We enjoyed the typical race freebies of gatorade, fruit, chips, tshirts, and recylable bags. We left shortly after we crossed the finish line and put the top down in his car and headed to the Taco Bell drive thru. Then it was back to reality at home to put Katie to bed and "pay" my parents for watching her - we gave them our reusable bags from the race. My mom couldn't have been happier!

And I can't help but post this last picture - My bib for the race has my age at 29 - which is correct - but only for another 15 days! The big 3-O is just around the corner!