Rosstoberfest 5k 2010

The marathon is about 10-14 days earlier than it has previously been in Wichita. That's fine. My only dilemma was deciding if I could participate in the neighborhood 5K so close to the marathon? Judah wanted to run the kids race and my parents were already signed up. I also kinda wanted to see if I could add to my beer glass collection. I've run the Rosstoberfest 5K every year and 10/2 was the third annual.So against better judgment I signed up for a 5K one week before the marathon. I ran with my group at 6 AM and covered 8 miles. And then I lined up to run 3.1 more miles at 9:30.
I had no plans about how I was going to run, not until I saw I was the lead female.
Since the charming course winds through College Hill, the route loops several round-a-bouts. At the first round-a-bout I saw only men make the loop.
So once more against better judgement I thought, "how many times are you going to get this chance?" I went for it with what I thought was still a moderate pace pulling ahead to win my first 5k.
Rosstoberfest has one of the best local courses, if you like unique features over great running surfaces.

I  ran the brick streets, the looping round-a-bouts, the park paths, and finally off the pavement through the grass and up the College Hill sledding hill straight to the finish line.
When I saw the clock I thought maybe I might set a PR, but I just ran out of gas. I clocked a 19:58. That's 2 seconds slower than my personal record. That's ok, I'm tapering afterall.

Beautiful Morning for a 5K!

I later learned that the next female was minutes behind me. I guess I could have taken it easier. I was just very lucky. Last year I ran one second faster and came in 6th place overall. The fast girls didn't show up this year. The men's division was not so scattered however. New records were set and several  finished under 16 minutes within seconds of each other.
There's a great celebration after the race. Beer and brats for the runners and this year Freddy's Frozen Custard showed up too. I got to see several friends and chat with lots of people. One them being Mrs. Fairweather Runner and parts of her posse. The race actually passed her house twice. Her fan club had nice cozy lawn chairs and a stereo pumping as I passed.

Katie, Beka (Fairweather Runner), and Me

After a bit of chatting and catching my breath the calls for the one mile start were being made. I had to go fish Judah out of the playground and have him dump the sand out of his shoes. (Every runner does that before the big race, right?")
Like a true runner, he did not sport the event shirt at the race. He lined up with several kids and waited for the signal. He wanted to run alone again. We screamed as he passed and then went to the top of the hill to wait for him.

KIDS For Ross 1 Mile

And they're off!

 

Final Stretch up the hill

Judah giving it his all

The kid;s race is always the best part of the day for us. Judah set a new PR by nearly a full minute. We were so proud of him. As he ran the hill we forgot any other parents were watching their kids and screamed and yelled as he passed. Between me, Kenton, and my parents, he had a whole swarm of adults running after him as he finished.

Judah's 9:07 Finish

He promptly crossed the line and got 2 scoops of frozen custard! He's exactly 1/2 of each of his parents!

A "friend" from Daily Mile brought his little boy to run the one miler too. His little guy, Brayden, is about a year younger than Judah. Brayden clocked an amazing 8:37.  He took home first place and Judah took home second.
Before the day was over I was now real-life friends with Daily Miler, Jeremiah, and his speedster of a son, Brayden.

Brayden and Jeremiah

The boys worked hard for these medals. Judah also ate his weight in custard and brats!

My favorite runners of the day!

I was able to take home another beer glass to add to my collection and much to my surprise they paid me for my overall finish. All questions about whether I should have run went right out the window!

I didn't know there was prize money, or a video going. I was totally surprised and very humbled. I know that my time wasn't all that fast for most races. I guess it was just my day.


(Oh and the results and the paper have me listed at 19:45. I wish! The picture, the Garmin, and the original results all say 19:58)
http://runwichita.org/siteadmin/raceresults_file/401.txt
http://www.kansas.com/2010/10/03/1524433/rosstoberfest-5k.html