Running into my (27th) birthday

It’s turned into a tradition to run a birthday race. Yes, a race on my actual date of birth. Really, this only works when my birthday falls on a weekend since there are hardly any weekday races.

This year’s race was the ShoreRun 5K along Lake Washington.

I coerced Joanna and Phyllis to run this with me by convincing them that it was “just a short, flat” 5K. I mean, any 5K race is short since all 5K races are, well, 5 kilometers (or 3.1 miles). Not all courses, however, are flat. I didn’t check the actual race route or elevation. After all, this was “just a 5K!” There was one hill, which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that bad, but it still made me cringe. And, hurt a little.

photo cred: my EP events

I’m not sure what I thought about during the race. Not much, I guess. I was caught smiling here because this was before said hill.

Also, Joanna is faster than I am so she was way up front. Phyllis is a beast and had done a 10-mile trail race the day before so she was taking it easy this race. I trudged along with the boys. Yes, all the runners around me were men (or, like a 9-year-old boy).

All the “fast women” were ahead of me.

Oh well. So it goes.

But, that also meant the not-so-fast women were behind me.

I dug as deep as my not-even-a-day-older-than-27 body could muster — and kicked.

I kicked down Madison (Avenue? Street?) to catch the closest runner ahead of me. He definitely felt my presence because he started sprinting too. We were a mere few yards from the finish line and I didn’t end up beating him (boo!) but we did both pass another runner (yay!)

photo cred: my EP events

You know you’re a real runner when you’re not ashamed to post your very photogenic race photos!

Since doing marathons, I always forget how “painful” 5Ks are. You’re, like, sprinting the entire race! (Or, at least I feel like I am even if I don’t look like it).

Phyllis, Joanna and I stocked up on snacks and kids’ juice boxes after the race. (OK, the kids’ juices were just me …)

And, of course forced Bryce to take a photo of us and a real English phone booth! Because, why not? It was my birthday after all!

My 27-year-old self secured a top 3 place finish in my age group (20-29). I won a baseball for that! (Joanna, did too! She was #1 in our age group!)

Final time was 23:17, which is definitely not a PR but it’s faster than my high school-self so I’ll take it.

This girl is not ready to slow down.

It’s my birthday and I’ll run race if I want to!