The 5k Disaster

Last Saturday morning was the Sigma Theta Tau's "Purple Dash" 5k in Sandy (Sigma Theta Tau is a nursing organization who happens to put on various nursing events). So a couple of my nursing friends jumped in the car on Saturday morning and headed up for the race. The purpose of the race was not so much for time, but an opportunity to get together as nursing students from BYU and Westminster College in Salt Lake, so there were prizes awarded for participation or wearing the color purple.

Being the competitive individual that I am, I was out to beat my last time for a 5k (24:21) and when the gun fired I was off. There were about 50-60 people running in the race (quite a few who came to walk), so from the very beginning there were about 4-5 people in front of me. They were pretty fast... I think one of the girls was even on the BYU cross country team... so it wasn't long before I couldn't see anyone in front of me on the small running trail.

Before the race, they had instructed us that when we came across a woman wearing purple, she would direct us off the trail to a loop that would take us back to the trail. I ran and I ran and I ran... but I never saw the notorious "purple lady". I had no one to follow and to be quite honest, when I run I get into the "zone" and don't pay too much attention to much else. Before I knew it, I had come to a road and there was a woman with running clothes on and a purple windbreaker. I asked her, "Where do I go?" to which she responded, "The trail starts back up on the other side of the road". The genius that I am, I crossed the road and got back on my way.

After a couple of minutes on that trail, I did some serious thinking. I could no longer see ANYONE from the run, no people wearing purple, and I was completely alone. I decided to turn around and call it a day. By the time I caught up with anyone from the Purple Dash, I was with all of the walkers! I kept going at my 8:20 minute mile pace, and caught up with my friends who had walked-run as we crossed the finish line. I came in at a whopping 38:12! Unfortunately I wasn't anywhere near beating my time from my last 5k, but I had lots of fun along the way!

I love my nursing friends!

Moral of the Story: if you are ever running a 5k and lose sight of everyone else participating, you may just run 4.5 miles (I mapped it out on mapmyrun.com) instead of 3.1 miles. I'll pay better attention next time!