Montana Women's Run

I ran the two mile portion in the Montana Women's Run.  I have participated before in this huge event but I have always walked the two miles.  I decided to run it this year considering that I'm 50 now.


I wasn't paying too much attention when I filled out my application on line.  I had marked the box saying that I would finish the race in 20 minutes or less.  Like I said wasn't paying attention.


I didn't find out about this until I got my packet with all the instructions.  My boss Sandy picked up my packet for me.  I got my bright orange t-shirt, bib number and time chip.  Boy was I going to be bright wearing the t-shirt and bright blue bib.  That's when I found out that my bib color stated that I would finish under 20 minutes.  Oops.


The weather forecast was calling for rain on race day, but it turned out beautiful.  The sun was shining, a slight breeze and it was nice for a morning run.  Not too hot.  My race stated at 9:00 am.


Gary went with me to Billings as we were going to spend the whole day there.  I had scheduled to get my car finally fixed that afternoon and then we met our friends for dinner that evening.  We left for Billings at 7:00 am and didn't get home until 10:30 pm.  A very long and fun day.


We found a parking space by Tiny's Tavern.  Gary met me there last year after the race, so we decided to go there again.  He would buy me a beer for completing the run.  He then walked with me to the starting line, then we walked to the finish line.


Found a little coffee shop for a cup and a potty break, then it was time to get to the starting line.  The people who ran the 5 mile race were starting to finish at this time. 


Since I made the mistake with my bib, my theory was to be in the back of the blue bibs, but in front of the white bibs, this way I won't get in the way of a faster runner and get run over.  I made my way into the corral and was getting edged towards the front.  I had to keep going back and I wanted to be on an outside.  Didn't want to get caught in the middle of the mob.


We got our instructions on what to do and the end of the race and then we were off.  It took a couple blocks to get out of the congestion and then I made my way down the course.


I need to get in better shape, I did finish the race and I admit that I walked a couple blocks but I did run the majority of the course.  My clock time was 24:55, I was excited to be under 25 minutes.  I had to wait until my chip time was posted.  I was able to scan the code on my bib and got all my information.


I was excited, I finished in the top 50 in my age group 50-54.  My official time was 24:30.  I finished 42nd out of 393 officially.  According to my chip I placed 41 out of 490.  I was 588 out of 5899 in the 2 mile race and was 580 out of 5890 of my gender.  Now I have a goal for next year.


There was a woman from Hardin who finished 4 places before me and she was 45 seconds faster.  We are the same age, in fact I am about 6 months older than her.  My goal for next year is to beat her time.


I am now in training for next year.