Baltimore Women's Classic Take Two

This has been a busy weekend. Yesterday, hubby and I ran the Spirit of Gettysburg 5k in Gettysburg, PA. It was hot and uphill, but it went through the battle field, which was awesome, history geek that I am.

After heading home to shower and change, hubby and I headed to Baltimore,MD so I could run in the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k this morning. Yes, run another 5k. This makes three 5k races in 8 days and two back-to-back.

We got up early this morning to be at the festival by 7:25 a.m. I had my race packet and bib, so I didn't need anything ahead of time, but I wanted to get there early to check out the village and get set. While the walk over wasn't bad, standing around the festival village was warm. By the time the race started it was hot. Seriously hot. Which could partly be from the number of people participating, 2,200 pre-registered women and only women. The race announcer anticipated with day-of registration the total would reach 2,500, up from 1,800 last year.

So, at 8:00 a.m., we were off!

I am not visible in the above photo, but I am visible in the one below

The race curved around Key Highway

It was a really hot and humid day.  I honestly wasn't sure I would finish it was so bad temperature-wise.  I stopped at both water stops and walked a tad, which is not usual for me.  I don't train with water stops, so I generally don't stop, but there was no way I would reach the finish line without some water, so I stopped.  The last quarter mile brought us around the Inner Harbor to the finish line.  It was picturesque, but I all I could think of was finishing!

I was thrilled when I crossed the finish line and could say I ran the entire race.  When I finished, I received a COLD bottle of water, a COLD, wet mini-towel and a beautiful orange rose.  A lovely way to end the race.  My time came in under what the clock says, but not by much.  After three 5ks in such a short amount of time, my timing slowed down.  But, you know what?  I don't care.  I ran it.  I ran it in the hot, humid weather.  I ran it after running a 5k the day before.  And I ran the WHOLE thing.

And I failed to mention the FANTASTIC bag you get with this race.  Check it out!  I got a t-shirt AND a bag, plus a boat load of other cool things!

And I'm looking forward to running this again next year - June 26, 2010.