PINK

Today Annie and I ran in a 5K. The race was in Alpine and we had to be there at 7:30 to pick up our packets. We put on our timing chips and climbed onto the bus. While sitting on the bus we were thinking that it is a bit odd that this race was bussing us to the start line when it was only a 3 mile run, typically in smaller races the course is set as an out and back or around several blocks to make up the miles. We sat on the bus for several minutes until the bus was full with girls and then it drove us a little bit up the canyon. We got off the bus and we were waiting for the race to start when we heard another runner telling her friend the time. It was only 8:20 and the race didn't start until 9. We were shocked because we thought that we would get off the bus and start the race with in a few minutes, but nope! we had 40 minutes of standing 3 miles from the finish line and waiting. So what we decided to do was to just start running and finish the race before it even started. So we started that we started running on our own, we ran almost the entire way, it was an easy downhill course and had a great time just running together and talking. We followed the signs and markers for the race so we would be able to make it to the finish line. We ran it in 30 minutes and finished it before it actually began.

But the problem was that we had the chips still on our shoes and we had to turn them in so we wouldn't get charged the fee for keeping it. We went to the finish line and found some volunteers and told them we just needed to turn in the chips. They didn't know what to do with them and directed us to the girl in charge. We were able to turn them into her and told her that we had just run the race course on our own. They gave us the small little ribbon medallion for finishing and when we crossed the finish line to get it the time said 1 minute 39 seconds. They had just started the race. We got in the car and headed home - we stopped at Gandolfo's ate breakfast and then headed back home and at that time the we figured the runners were just about to cross the finish line!! We were both glad we did that- it just seems a little silly to wait 1 1/2 hours just to run 3 miles which only take 30 minutes. We figured we ran the course, got our packets, our shirt, and supported the cause by paying the money to do so and we can call it good. Thanks Annie for running it with me today, now on to training for the 1/2.