Corndog Classic 5k

This was Ty and my 4th year running the Corndog Challenge/Classic 5k race and the rest of my family's 5th year. The first year Jeremy won first male in the challenge and used one of his megaride passes he won for Carter at the fair. The next year I won megaride passes and used them for Carter and me (to ride with him at the fair). The race became about winning megaride passes to the fair for me. I was super unlucky the last 2 years (2017 and 2018) and got edged out in the challenge (where you eat a caramel apple and corn dog and drink lemonade or beer) but beat all the women in the regular 5k so I didn't get megaride passes for the kids. My mom thought since I kept getting 2nd in the challenge but beating all the women in the classic, I should switch to the classic this year. I agreed that it was a solid choice. I was a little nervous that this would be the year the results would be flopped, especially because they were offering $250 to the fastest person to beat the course record. For women the course record was 19:51. After my spring season with 3 sub-19:30 races I was super excited to get after speedwork and really race the Corndog Classic, maybe even taking home some cash! But my training saw some bumps and I ended up skipping 3 of my 7 planned speedworks leading up to the race due to calf tightness which I was worried would turn into an injury and then leg fatigue. I didn't feel confident I could run under 20 minutes and was hopeful 20:30 would be possible. Last year I ran 20:15 so I really wanted to be around that time, but I wasn't sure that was realistic. The speedworks I had gotten in were all comparable to my speedwork outs last year so I held onto that.

All pictures but this one were screenshots of a video posted on the event's website so none look as good as this one.

Race morning was windy and cloudy with a chance of rain in the forecast. Thomas ran a 2 mile warm up with me and then I did a couple strides before the race. I ran my strides at what felt sustainable for a 5k and they were both at 6:30. I was hopeful I'd be able to run that in the race. As we were getting ready to walk to the start I noticed my bib showed I was in the challenge and we quickly got it fixed. Part of me wondered if I should just keep it. When we lined up at the start I saw a girl (maybe high school aged) up front with a coach. I was kicking myself when I saw she was in the classic. Right off the bat, I was convinced I would get 2nd in my race again but beat everyone else in the other race. I was already feeling a little bummed before the race even started but I told myself it was possible she just looked fast. Although I knew all the girls on that team I've raced against in the past run sub-20 so I wasn't optimistic over my chances of taking the win.

The race takes off immediately downhill so it goes out fast. I wanted to stay at least semi-close to the girl who was out in front so I could have a chance at the win. About a half mile into the race it started pouring down buckets of rain. I went through the first mile in 6:08 and it didn't feel that fast. I told myself it was possible I could run a fast time. But by the mile and a half mark, I was already wanting to be done. I told myself there was no way that girl was going to maintain pace so if I could hold it together I could start chipping away at her lead. I didn't though and she kept pulling further away from me. It rained so hard and so fast it was hard to see and puddles were created immediately to where I was running through big puddles, making my shoes heavy! I really wanted to give up when it was obvious the girl in front of me wasn't slowing down, but I kept telling myself to shoot for my time from last year. I felt like I was pushing the pace but went through the 2nd mile in 6:41. I really didn't even care how slow that mile was. The first mile has a decent amount of downhill and then the 2nd and 3rd miles are all uphill with lots of twists and turns. I knew I went out too fast in an attempt to maintain contact with the girl out in front. Since my goal was to win megaride passes, I wasn't going to get down on myself for going out too fast.

The race was spread out really early on and other than running beside Jeremy for a short section of the first mile I ran the race mostly alone. My 3rd mile was even slower at 6:46 which actually surprised me because I felt like I was picking up pace, not slowing down. I outkicked a guy in the last half-mile and was so darn happy to see the finish line coming up. I was really hurting. Goodness, going out too fast is so not worth it and makes the second half of the race no fun! I finished in 20:17 which was 2 seconds slower than last year. I was okay with that because although I didn't eat food during the race this year, the conditions were considerably worse with strong winds and driving rain. Plus last year I was actually close enough to the first female to feel like I had a chance, this year it was obvious early on that it wouldn't be happening. The first female ended up running 19:35 which I'm not sure I could have done even in the shape I was this spring when I ran a 19:18 because there are so many darn turns in the race! I was totally okay with not winning because I knew even in top shape, I likely couldn't have pulled out the win. I was disappointed when I walked to cheer for everyone after finishing and saw the first female in the challenge was 3 minutes behind me. I could have walked through all the food stops and still won the race! I just can't ever sign up for the right race to win, darn it! The past few years I always thought I got progressively slower throughout the course because eating and drinking weighed me down. Now that I've run the regular 5k, I think it's actually the course. There are so many turns and there are more hills as the race goes on.

Friday evening before this Saturday morning race everyone else did a 5k while I sat out with the kids. Mom and Ty decided they'd do the 5k with the kids at the Corndog Challenge. My mom signed them up for the challenge so they could eat the food during the race. It would be both of their first full 5ks (not counting the trail 5k where they both ended up getting carried a little bit at the Dark and Dirty Miles). Jeremy was first out of 184 in the Challenge with a time of 19:53 and Thomas was 3rd overall in 21:41 and 1st in his age group. Dad finished in 25:03, winning his division. I was 11th out of 162 overall, 2nd out of 92 females, and 1st out of 14 in my age group in my race. Mom ran with the kids but still placed 2nd in her age group. This year for the age group awards they gave out 2 tickets to the fair. So we ended up with 18 tickets between our race packets and the awards!

I watched dad and Thomas finish and then I ran my cool down out to the kids. I was surprised when I got to them that Elise was ahead of Carter. Ty was running with her and my mom was with Carter. My mom started with Elise assuming she'd run slower and had to trade with Ty because she was worn out from running the night before and Elise was running so fast! She said she ran the first mile and a half all around 10 minute pace before she ever walked. She expected to be doing more walking. The highlight of the race for me was running back with Elise. She was having a blast and ran out of her way to stomp through every puddle out on the course. It really brought the joy back to the morning for me! To top it all off, she was wearing her black lacy skirt so it was even more adorable! Carter came up behind us at one point while we were walking so Elise took off running again to stay ahead of him, it was so cute. I watched Elise and Ty finish and then headed back out on the course for Carter and mom. Everyone was really cheering for Elise because she was so small and was passing so many people at the finish. She got a little overwhelmed and the moment she finished she turned around and raised her arms for Ty to pick her up. It was absolutely adorable! She finished in 44:16. She was 112th out of 184th overall and 4th in the 8th and under age group. I really wished it was 5 and under because I didn't see anyone else even close to her age in the race. Carter finished in 45:05. He was 119th overall and 10th in his age group.