"Be Somebody's Hero" 5k Race Report

Event shirt and goodie pumpkin. Dog not included.

This morning dawned clear and cold, about 50 degrees when I left the house. I picked up my sister and off we went to the Hero 5k, benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Sig couldn't do this event - she's off at the firing range with the Citizen's Police Academy, shooting all kinds of guns and probably holding some of her classmates hostage. Priorities, people!!  :-)

Anyway, I remembered to bring a light jacket but forgot my Road I.D. and my ear buds...and found myself wishing before too long that I'd worn long pants, ear warmers, and gloves. It was freakin' COLD!!

The theme was "Be Somebody's Hero" and we were supposed to dress up like our favorite superhero. I really don't have a "favorite" - to me, they're all pretty cool (except Aquaman - what the heck?) - so I felt bad singling just one out. My first idea was to get a cape and wear a Darth Vader mask, but Sig scornfully gently reminded me that, contrary to popular belief, Darth Vader is NOT a superhero. Sigh. Nothing is easy these days, is it?

Anyway, my sister and I decided to get matching Spider-Man shirts, which at first glance looked pretty cool. However, when I put it on and looked in the mirror, I realized that it...well...you'll see when I post the picture later. 

We got to the event site and there was a pretty good crowd there. As always, the sight of extremely fit people doing warm-up jogs and test laps inspired me, so I carefully stretched my legs...twice...then stood there like a fool without my jacket and slowly froze my...well...you know. I wasn't alone, though - lots of other people were standing around looking cold, too:

The crowd headed across the street to the starting point, where I took a couple of pics just to show that we were actually there:
 

We made sure to stay well to the back since we knew we were going to end up there anyway. Keep in mind, these are not really "races" for us at this point - we're just trying to get out there and be active and help out good causes. We're hoping to be able to run some events next year, though.

I need to remember two things next time I do one of these things in chilly weather - GLOVES and EAR WARMERS. I didn't mind my legs being cold, but my hands and ears were cold to the point of aching. Not fun.

We didn't do a true 5k because we were directed to take a different path than the runners, but we were still pleased with our results. We did 2.26 miles in 00:37:49, which is pretty good considering we usually do about that distance in an hour. I guess it would be considered a PR for me, then! Right??

After we got done and the rest of the people finished, we stood around and waited for them to announce the winners:

Okay, so we hijacked the trophies...but they were just sitting there!

After the race director pried the trophies from our hands (or out from under our shirts, where we tried to hide them), we stood around some more to wait for the door prize winners to be announced. Neither of us won anything, but we had fun watching everyone receive their awards:

Superheroes do more than just fight crime, apparently

We had a few people ask if they could take pictures with us, which kind of baffled me...then it hit me when I realized it looked like we're wearing Spider-Man bikini shirts. THAT'S why they all wanted pics with us! They mistook us for superhero bikini models!

All in all, a very fun morning and good time for a good cause. I'm looking forward to the next event (assuming I find one)!