Packers Training Camp 5k

Packers Training Camp kicked off on Friday and Saturday night was the 4th annual Training Camp 5K.  I have been looking forward to this event for several weeks now for several reasons.  This was the 1st run I was doing in Green Bay in over a month (no traveling this weekend!), this was also the 1st race that I would be running with Matt since the Bellin (he did the Brewers Sausage 5k, but walked with Molly) and the weather was supposed to be perfect!

After the last week, I was hesitant on how I was going to be able to pull this run off.  After camping last weekend, even though I stayed away from John and his summer cold, I still managed to get a cold.  My last run was the Miller Park Sausage 5K last weekend.  I even ended up cancelling my training session at the gym on Tuesday and missed work on Wednesday.  I went out for a walk on Thursday and then again on Friday.  On my walk Friday, I did a little bit of running and it was tough.  I felt fine while I was running , but whenever I stopped running, I would start coughing.  I managed to run the last 3/4 of a mile at a good steady pace and when I got home, I spent 5 minutes coughing.  I told Matt that I was not sure what I was going to be able to to on Saturday.  He reassured me that I needed to do what was best for me and that my health was more important than anything.

Matt and I waiting for the race to start

After a relaxing day at home and a short nap, Saturday evening arrived.  Wendy and Tom picked me up and we were headed to Lambeau Field!  We got to the stadium early and I had time to wander around and find Andrea, who was there with friends, in town for training camp and the run.  It was awesome seeing her again after the Color Run in Madison a few weeks ago!  Once Matt got to the stadium, we headed down to the start corrals.  When I signed up for the run, apparently I accidentally signed up for wave 4 (11:00 minute plus miles) instead of Wave 3 (9:00 to 11:00 minute mile runners).  Matt was in in wave 3.  oops.  We figured that we would see if we could both get into wave 3 so that we could start there... if we got stopped going into the corral, he said he would just join me in wave 4.  No one stopped us so we were in the clear!

As we were waiting for the run to start we were laughing that Matt was actually wearing the same pants and sweatshirt that he wore for the first 5k that we did together - the St Patricks Day 5k back in March - but then it was below freezing!  This was July and the temps were in the mid 50's!  So much for the normal July temps that we had last week!  I, however, was looking forward to running tonight with the mild temperatures!

Finally, we were off!  As soon as we started running, I was feeling great and had a really good feeling about tonight!  I kept pretty good pace with Matt for the first mile and was pleasantly to find that I was keeping a 0:09:39 pace!  The question is, would I be able to keep it up?  I kept pushing on!  Matt did keep his pace even though I slowed down just a little.  However, being the awesome friend and running partner that he is, he slowed down and checked to make sure I was still behind him.  Once he found me in the crowd and I gave him the thumbs up, he would keep pushing on.

During the second mile, my phone started having issues and my app was not recording accurately so was going to have to wait to get my official time at the end since I knew that my time was going to be off because the app kept pausing.  I kept pushing and Matt continued to make sure I was behind him.  I was feeling great!!  Just as I was coming into the parking lot back at Lambeau Field, I could not help but smile - there was Matt waiting for me so that we could run through the stadium and finish together.

We were making great time and just had the last stretch to go!!  We found ourselves slowed down though when we were trying to get into the stadium.  There was a bottle neck at the entrance to the tunnel leading into the field and we were almost at a stand still a few times.  Finally we made it into the stadium and made our lap around the field (of course having to run around people that were stopping to take pictures inside the stadium), then it was back into the tunnel and dealing with another bottle neck getting out.  Once we hit the bottom of the stairs coming out of the stadium, the final push was on.  Matt turned and told me to kick it in... he didn't need to say anything more.  I was going for it!  The hill coming up from the back of the tunnel was tough but that was not going to stop me now!

I am not really sure where that final burst of energy came from but I was on the move.  Hopefully my body was not going to make me regret it later!

When we crossed the finish line, it was a great feeling to know that I just conquered that 5k with everything that I had and did my best!  Time to head to the results tent to see just how well we did...

Official time - 0:30:09!  Missed breaking that 30 minute 5k but 8 seconds!!!!  If it was not for the bottle neck in and out of the stadium, that milestone would have been mine!  However, given the fact that I just finished that run after not running for a week and having dealt with a cold for the last week, I was ecstatic!

I know that I can break that 30 minute 5k barrier!! I give great thanks to Matt for believing in my and pushing me to do my best!  I am forever grateful!!  Together we will run through every goal we set for ourselves this summer!

Post race campfire at Matt and Molly's

Next weekend, Warrior Dash Wisconsin!  Get prepared to get muddy!!