Trophy wife - Selma 5K

My little trophy dwarfed by Shannon's

It's just not fair.
Every race, I'm out there busting my ass, squeezing every last drop of energy out, contorting my face into a ridiculous grimace. I try to shave off seconds by running the tangents, constant focus on my form, and even turning my hat backwards to reduce wind drag.

Meanwhile, she's back there lollygagging around, taking pictures with her camera, eating skittles and socializing.

And who gets all the trophies? She does.

On the shelf are four, that's right, four Umstead plaques, a "Duchess of Frost" trophy and countless other awards.

Last week at the Salem Lake 30K we both PR, but she gets 1st place in her age group and I get squat.

This past Saturday we ran the Selma Railroad Run 5K.
It's a very flat, and fast course. Great for a PR attempt.

I rested my legs 2 days before, hoping to PR again. She's packing in the miles, no plan at all.

"You're running now? We have the Selma 5K tomorrow morning!", I said to her last Friday.
"Oh? Really? I guess you told me but I wasn't listening."

Selma 5K start. That's me on the right, throwing up in advance to get it out of the way.

Saturday morning we barely get to the race in time after I make a few wrong turns.
The weather was perfect. Cool, but not cold.

A train whistle started the race and everyone took off at a blistering pace.
I am fortunate to have my Garmin, because it told me I was going way too fast off the line. So I slowed down and didn't try to keep up with the pack of like 20 people.

The course was flat as advertised and it was easy to settle into a steady pace. I got to the the turn-around at the 2 mile mark and saw Shannon cheering and taking pictures. I didn't have a spare breath to answer back. The last mile was straight shot to the finish line, and it took and eternity to reach it. But I got that PR, at the ripe old age of 40.

Shannon crossed shortly after, running her fastest 5K in 10 years. She was 2nd female overall, behind super fast Laura Frey. Shannon got a huge glimmering plastic trophy, which she lorded over my puny age group award.

Everybody gets a trophy! Joey, Rima, Shannon, me, Margherita, and a couple other folks.

Our friend Joey Anderson has much better race report here.