Finally...Fairfax Four Miler Recap (2013)

Nearly 3 weeks after the Fairfax Four Miler on New Year's Eve I am finally blogging about it.  I was waiting until the race pictures came out since I hadn't taken any selfies of my glow-stick tricked-out self.  And now that the photos are out, I still have no real pictures.  I am way off to the left in the photo below, having just crossed the finish line and feeling pretty triumphant.  But you can't really see my glow stick bling, can you?  Ah well.

This was my first night race and I was excited to get into the spirit of the event with some fluorescent bling.  Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that I promptly ruined my packet pickup glow stick when I bumped it while shopping in Pacers.  And then I promptly ruined the replacement glow stick they gave me when I bumped it on the door on the way out.  So I headed out to Five Below on the advice of some friends (how have I never been to this store before - I was both impressed and a little afraid...).  There I found glow stick earrings, bracelets, and what I thought were necklaces but turned out to just be sticks.  My assessment is that only the bracelets were functional...the earrings were ridiculous and didn't stay on and the glow sticks without connectors weren't particularly practical for a race.  But I made some nice chains and hung them off my jacket with safety pins.

The energy of the crowd was great and I was amazed by how many families were running a four mile race.  There are lots of young kids out there who are fast and have great endurance! The volunteers were awesome.  It was uplifting to hear so many wishes of "Happy New Year" while running the race.  And one guy was like an auctioneer yelling out race bib numbers and encouragement - he was so motivating!  I was also highly amused by a couple of girls running behind me and discussing their party plans for the evening:

• Girl 1: I can't wait to drink champagne after this.
• Girl 2: I know.  I bought two bottles.
• Girl 1: Did you get this good stuff?
• Girl 2: Yeah.  It's usually $13 but was on sale for $7.

I was not interested in having champagne after the race (we did have the Commitment Day 5k the next morning, after all), but I was definitely looking forward to the hot pizza in the Town Hall and let me say it definitely did not disappoint!  I enjoyed every last bite as I walked through the bubble machine out front and watched the last of the field cross the finish line.

I was pleased to have a new PR for the distance, crossing in 47:20.  My fancy Garmin also alerted me that I had set a new 5k PR during the race, 35:53.  That was especially exciting, and it signals that I better step up my pace for the upcoming Run Your Heart Out 5k on February 9th!