Unfortunately, it was also the same weekend as the Memphis Half Marathon, so we couldn't actually go up to Cleveland for the run. Not that I would actually go up to Cleveland for a 5k…well, actually I probably would have for this race. Who am I kidding? Anyway, this race offered a virtual option, meaning we could sign up for the race, run the race in Nashville and have the race packet and medal mailed to us. Sounds fun, right?
In fact, it sounded SO fun that a few of us started making big plans for the virtual run. Well, when I say "we," I guess I'm mainly talking about me, but I know others saw my vision of the race. We're talking a special packet pick up, joke race awards, possibly a special screening of "A Christmas Story"…something really cool. I even set up a special Facebook page for the race. It was like I was a race director! Except I'm not. Which is good because while we had the best of intentions for this virtual race, it slowly dwindled down from about 50 people interested to 3 actually running. Why? Well, life for one. People get sick or get busy and can't make it out to run a fake race (shocking, right?). I also did a really poor job of letting people know when the cutoff for registration was. Really poor job. As in - I didn't even know when registration cutoff was. Oops.
But one of the main factors, I think, was that the real race directors sent the race packets directly to the participants rather than to the Team Leader, which was me. So while we had about 10 people actually sign up, there wasn't a whole lot of incentive for people to actually show up. I mean, why run in the freezing cold if you already have the sweet medal?! Who would do that? Well, me and two other people - my FTP training buddy Kathy and our neighbor and fellow triathlete Kelly, that's who.
My shirt and bib number. How cute is this?
Since we all pretty much live in the same neighborhood, we decided to run in a nearby park. The original plan was to run a 10k, but it was freakin' COLD and I had a lot to do that day, so we only ran a 5k. Well, Kelly and I ran the 5k. Kathy continued on and ran a 10k. Overachiever. No wonder why she beats me in every race. And yes, we made some random stranger take our photo when we were finished. Because that's what we do.
Kelly, me and Kathy post "race." I was freezing.
And, the whole point of doing this race - earning a medal of my own.
It's a major award!
Even though the race didn't turned out as planned, the three of us still had a lot of fun. Plus, the swag was cool. Not only did we get the shirts, bib and medals - we also got a finisher's certificate and…OVALTINE! Come on, that's funny.
And, for those who are paying attention - my streak is still alive! Only 14 more days to go!
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