This week's race results

I did my 6th race today. My time is a little longer than the last 5k as it was a 3.5 mile race (as opposed to a 5k.) Statistically, it wasn't my best time ever, but my foot really hurt at the start of the race and it took me about a mile to hit my stride, so overall I was ok with my time. Here are the results of the last 6 races:

• November 20, 2010 (1:02:36.7, 17:53/m)
• November 13, 2010 (53:45.2, 17:20/m)
  
• October 2, 2010 (51:57) (Note -- this race doesn't count. After the race all participants received a message stating that the race organizers messed up the course and it in fact was not a full 5k, which explains the really good time.)
  
• September 12, 2010 (57:44 18:37/m)
• July 3, 2010 (56:25:35 18:12/m)
• June 5, 2010 (1:03:20 20:26/m)

As usual, my cheerleader and photographer was there to document it all for posterity. Click to enlarge any picture:

Today's race was a benefit for the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice. I was thinking of Aunt Cathy and Hiawassee Mom when I signed up for the race. I can't imagine a harder job and deeply admire them both for being able to do that.

The race started WAY too early for my taste. Here I am yawning before it started.

My usual goofy start to the race. My foot was hurting pretty bad at the start of the race and I was thinking that I would not make it through the race and was contemplating just bagging before I had even barely started. Then, about 1/4 mile in, the song "Idiot Heart" by Sunset Rubdown came up on the iPod. The line, "I was never much of a dancer but I know enough to know you gotta move your idiot body around" just made me smile. When it got to the line in the song, "So just move around, move around, move around, move around." I was finally starting to hit my stride and decided to put the song on auto repeat.

The last line of the song is, "I hope that you die in a decent pair of shoes, You got a lot more walking to do where you're going to." I kept the song on auto repeat for about 2 miles. It carried me past the pain, and by the time I finally took it off auto repeat, I was booking it, feeling no pain and felt really really good. I don't know anything about the band, but I think I need to write them a fan letter. This is the first race that I was seriously thinking of bagging, and this song just breathed new life into my tired old bones.

This is me approaching the finish line.
I have decided the Gogol Bordello's "Wanderlust King" is one of the greatest race songs ever. I had a really strong finish, and this song had a lot to do with that. I put on auto repeat about a mile from the end of the race, and I think I would have had a better time if I had started it sooner. "Idiot Heart" is awesome for motivation, but has a slower beat. "Wanderlust King" is a faster, get your blood going song.

 Crossing the finish line.

My cheerleader, photographer and most importantly, my sweetheart, in Starbucks for the post-race celebratory coffee.

Today's freakish it-could-only-happen-to-the-truly-fat injury was that the upper, under side of my arm was stinging really bad. It took me a while to figure out why, but then I remembered that last week when I was making the chicken stew, when I was stirring the crock pot, I accidentally flung a spoonful of really really hot stew on myself, so I had a burn there (as well as other places on my arm). Combined with a wardrobe malfunction, things were just rubbing in all the wrong places and the burn got really irritated. I really, seriously, need to replace Sporti before the next race.