Dead Man's 5K Run

the awesome shirt

Saturday started out fine. I did some grocery shopping and made butternut squash soup. I failed in not watching the clock very closely and ended up having to stick the soup in the fridge after cooking and before blending so I could dart out the door for touch football practice.

My Mizzou team isn't doing very well, mostly because no one has been able to consistently make it to the games. Practice started out horribly as I was the only one there, but by 2:40 we had 8 and were able to run routes and scrimmage. At the end of practice we were running a few more routes and the quarterback under threw me. I took a few more steps and sprained my ankle... AGAIN. Horrible timing as I had signed up for a 5K race that night and 10K the next day. It was pretty painful at first and I hobbled home with the help of my friend.

Having sprained my ankle a lot in my life I don't have much patience for it. I iced and elevated it for about a half hour, then dug out my ankle brace.

I signed up for the Dead Man's race because it was in a cemetery at dusk in the month of October. Sounded like a fun race. Also I had suggested it to a friend and when he said he registered there was no turning back.

On the way over to the race I still felt like I would probably just walk the race, but once I got there and pinned on my bib, I knew I wanted to try and jog.

ready to run... or walk

getting artsy

It was a smaller race and some people were dressed up in costume. They also had people dressed up as ghosts and goblins around the course and spooky music at the start and finish.

We ended up running together and started out slow. The first quarter of a mile was through the cemetery, but soon we were out on the Anacostia Riverwalk trail that runs along the Anacostia River. We ran south for a bit then back north towards the old RFK stadium for mile 2. We then backtracked towards the graveyard and ran the last quarter mile in the cemetery and finished back by the chapel. We picked up the pace in the last two miles and ended with a 10:28 average pace for a total time of 32:56.

finish line

 At the finish line we got bananas, granola, and water and got to mingle with the goblins. It was my slowest 5K in awhile, but a lot of fun (For a good cause! Up keeping the historic cemetery).