Last night I completed the Freeze Out Homelessness 5k benefiting the Rescue Mission of Syracuse, NY. Before I go into any details of such, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donated money in support of not just myself, but the team that I was running a part of – The ROAD. Last glance at the website a little bit ago and they had listed that over $24,000 was raised. I think this is absolutely phenomenal considering it is the first race GLOW race they have done.
I’ve never taken part in a nighttime race before, so it was definitely new to me all around. Having to keep reminding myself that I had a race to run after work was just odd to me. Because I ran the RUNapalooza race in June I had an idea of what the course was going to be, so that was definitely a benefit heading into it. The registration process was very quick because I had pre-registered, but of course I needed to make things difficult by losing my race bib from walking back out to my car, and then back into the Arena. THANK YOU to whoever found my tag and turned it in! First time I have ever had that happen to me, and I am sure that it will be the last because I will make sure to attach the tag before I leave the registration area! They also provided Glow Sticks and Necklaces, but I admit to bypassing those because I figured I would have ditched them somewhere along the race route after getting annoyed with them.
The turnout seemed great for the first annual race. I have no idea what announcements of any kind were made at the beginning because they couldn’t be heard at all from where I was standing.
Just as the air horn went off to signal the start of the race my Garmin GPS watch reset/turned itself because I had set it up too early, so I had to try and get it started again. That wasn’t a great way to start out, but I had decided that I wasn’t necessarily running for a PR because of the extended break I had taken after my last half marathon in the fall, and after that happening I knew it would be tough to PR without knowing what I was really running
I was surprised when cars started driving towards us all on the course because I would have expected the course to be closed off as most courses are. Thankfully we weren’t really dodging cars for too long, but on both loops I was passed by vehicles that probably shouldn’t have been out there
The first lap felt really great, which made me concerned for the second lap and whether or not I would run out of steam at all. It was perfect timing for me because as I was hitting the final stretch of the race, and where I struggled the most heading into the finish for the RUNapalooza, I came upon my ROAD teammates who were walking the course, and they truly helped push me along to a strong finish of 27:41 gun time (meaning from the gun going off to crossing the line, as opposed to actual time meaning when you cross the start line to the finish. I LOVE when races have the actual time for you, perhaps in the future). I immediately headed right back out (in the opposite direction) to find my friend Mandy who was running the race. I eventually found her about a half mile or so back and stayed with her through to the finish. Once she was done I went back out again, opposite direction, to find my ROAD teammates. Again I finished up with them and we finally headed in for the after party. Buffalo Wild Wings had great boneless chicken wings for us to enjoy along with pizza, cake, coffee, and beer. I can say that I have never stuck around outside to the absolute end of the race and I was a bit disappointed in the lack of support for those who were still out there. I do appreciate the two individuals who upon completion stayed at the finish line to cheer on each and every finisher.
In looking up the times I was shocked to find that I finished 4th in my age group (30-39). Most races will do groups of 5 instead of 10, and had they done that I would have actually finished in 3rd, but I believe 4th in my age group is by far my best for any race.
In the end it doesn’t matter to me how long it took me to run the race, or where I finished, but it truly was about the cause that we were raising money for – to end Homelessness. Most people are only a paycheck away from having to rely on services from the Rescue Mission or other such organizations such as this. Again THANK YOU all so much for your support. Please continue to follow along here and on Facebook for future R4R causes.