Gold's Gym 5k Update

Ok. *sigh* Here goes.

The Amarillo Gold's Gym set up a race series this year consisting of 3 5k's. One was March 24th, one was June 25th, and one was today, October 27th. I ran the first 5k in March, but as many of you may recall, or probably don't, Phillip and I moved to Omaha in May, so I was not able to participate in the second race of the series. That's ok. Not a huge deal. It was a big deal at the time, when I thought about what I was actually giving up in terms of winning a 3 race series, but not anymore. After we moved to Omaha, I didn't think it would be possible to make it back to Amarillo twice more to run the other two races in the series. But things happened, and I was able to come back for the third race.

Which leads me to my story.

TWICE. Twice I was late.

When I ran the first 5k, March 24th, I was in the bathroom inside the gym, not realizing what time it actually was. As I walked out the door to the parking lot, I heard the gun go off. The start line was about a parking lot's distance away, at the end of the block, by a stop sign. I walked out and heard the gun and bolted. I knew I was late. I knew I had to put it in full gear to get caught up to the beginning of the pack. I'd say I lost maybe 30 seconds in the delay. Oddly enough, I caught up to everyone, coming in 1st woman, 7th overall, and with a time of 20:14. So do with that what you will, considering I was late...


And then there was today. The temperature was a bit nippy, 38, with 15 miles an hour wind. But it was still beautiful and sunny. The course would be the same as the first race in this series—out from the gym and back. I purposefully went to the bathroom early, and hearing over the loudspeaker that there was a minute to start, I started walking out to the start line. But let me say this first--when I arrived at the gym, I saw a friend of mine and we went for a warm-up run; therefore, I forgot to pick up my bib number. As I was walking out of the bathroom, I remembered I still needed to pick it up. I picked it up as I headed out the door. When I walked out the front doors of the gym, THIS time I see the gym manager walking through the parking lot. I give her a weird look and she says, "Oh they already started." I was like YOU'RE KIDDING! It happened again???? I started hauling, literally running as fast as I possibly could. This time, however, I was at least .25 mile away from the LAST runner. So, you can see, I lost A LOT of time. I don't know how much, never will, because in the rush I forgot to start my garmin. Oh, and I didn't get to pin my bib on my shirt. I carried it. The whole race. And I just handed it to them at the end. Everyone that was there the first time was there this time (a bunch of runners I know in Amarillo), and they all just laughed and said it wouldn't be me if I weren't late. True, I run late a lot, but never for a race. Only this series, which I am convinced was a curse or something. Just kidding, but really. I was secretly pissed. I mean, I'm competitive. I wanted to win this race too, dammit.

Anyway, I ended up getting 14th out of 64 runners, and I won my age group 20 – 29. Pretty good for starting at least a minute, minute and a half, hell, maybe even 2 minutes after the gun. My time is another story. I finished in 21:04, and I know that's got to be at least a minute off, maybe even two, like I said. I was .25 mile away from the very last runner! For god's sake.

Anyway. I'm just mad at myself. Not so much because of my placement or my time or anything. That's completely my fault and I know it. It's happened before. But the fact that I really, truly, will never know my time because I didn't start my garmin. THAT'S what irritates me to all hell.