I picked out the Firecracker 5k after doing a little searching for Fourth of July races at the Outer Banks in NC. I hadn't been running too much since we had just moved but this seemed like a pretty easy race...never ever make that assumption....
Since we were on vacation we picked up our race packet (aka tshirt and bib) on the way to do vacation things and the place was hard to find....hate that. But let me tell you, the way they did their race tshirts was kind of ingenious, instead of a shirt for every race they did one shirt for their whole series. Made sense to me!
They told us about the sharks at the Outer Banks but the not the T-Rexes!!!!!
So here we go race day...since we were Cousin Eddie-ing in our RV in the driveway the bigger princesses slept in the house with their Auntie and we took the tiny princess with us. Loaded up and rolled out, it was a bit of a drive to the race (which was right near the Wright Brothers' Memorial). We got warmed up, found an MRTT (Moms Run This Town - if you haven't heard of it, check it out IMMEDIATELY) friend also running the race, snapped a few pre-race selfies (yes I love selfies, don't judge), and got ready to go. The tiny princess was still pretty sleepy so she was up for whatever.
Pre-race selfie.
The race started fine, the usual dodging the slow folks who think they need to be at the front (which was made extra fun with the added stroller) until we go out and settled in to a pace. Then it came.....the unpaved uphill section, joy. To make it even more awesome, it was an out and back so we got passed by the leaders....and of course the female leader was a skinny hot blonde (I hate you, not really...but kind of). We made it up and back ok, the stroller did pretty well on the trail section. Toward the end of the race you start seeing those runners that don't run often, or think they are immortal and have blown through all of their reserves and start doing the walk/run thing. No judgment, just that they exist. There was one, probably early 20s, gal that was running and then started walking so we passed her...she was not a fan. She sprinted up beyond us again but couldn't maintain it so we flew by again, and then she sprinted again and I thought she had it that time...nope. We flew by and she never passed us again.
We were almost at the end and there is something magical about the end of a race, there are people who don't know you cheering for you as you sprint across the finish with whatever reserve you have left. Running with the stroller seems to earn me a few extras which I don't mind at all. We finished and got our medals and went looking for the post-race recovery food....there was none, WTH! So off to Dunkin Donuts we went!!
Post-race medal selfie!
The tiny princess enjoying her post-race Dunkin Donuts!
I don't remember what my race time was, it wasn't fast I do know that. We had fun, did a vacation run and that's all that matters!! After we scarfed our donuts we headed to the beach (where the aunties and big princesses were waiting) and immediately into the shark infested waters....we figured our post-run stank would keep them away (it did).
Race Date: July 3, 2015
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