Race #1 of the Season: Run For My Neighbors: 5K for Fire Relief

Oooops, I forgot to blog about this. Probably because I went to Tucson right after and didn't write it down in my planner. I swear, as I get older, if I don't write things down it gets disastrous.

As you may have known, right after the new year, some terrible fires raged through Superior and Louisville. Lots of homes were lost (thankfully I don't think any (human) lives), businesses ... it was rough. I had driven past the area literally a few hours before it all started. All those Skirt Sports 5Ks? Yeah, the mesa those are run on got torched.

In any case, 3W Races quickly threw together a 5K in which all proceeds went to fire relief. I had been hoarding some money from a contest I won in order to donate it and hadn't yet decided on *where*, and thought the fires were a great idea. I tried through the actual site, but it didn't allow me to do so (Visa gift cards - my honest thought is that the donation site had a hold and a gift card doesn't allow a hold obviously), but the race did. So, donation done, and oh, great, now I have to race a 5K.

This would be my first race since October ... and also the first race since I got the 'rona (a week or so after that October race) ... and also the first time attempting to run hard since the 'rona.

I got to the race site way too early, as I do, and spent a lot of time in the car beforehand. The course was the same as the Leap Day 5K B and I did before the world fell apart back in 2020, so that was fun.

Alas, this race didn't go nearly as well.

Starting off. 

There's a better view of me.

I somehow managed a good first mile - 9:13 - as well as a decent second mile - 9:26 - but then the wheels fell off and fell off hard. Sub-:30 wasn't going to happen. Mile three? a 10:12.

This just looks painful. AND IT WAS.

Final Stats:
Time: 30:21.9
30/100 AG (F30-39)
89/382 gender
189/644 overall

It hurt to push, it really did. And I was coughing pretty much the rest of the day, which was fantastic (colder weather doesn't help my already crappy lungs). But hey, a lot of the random dudes in the Thornton Home Depot (where I stopped to get more packing boxes) loved the CO socks.