Secretariat Festival Big Red 5K 2011

 Although I haven't run in a few weeks and haven't really trained since early July, I stuck with me plan to run the Secretariat Festival Big Red 5K. I had pretty much decided not to run it....I mean, I haven't been training and it's a long drive (an hour) for a race that I don't think I'll do well in. But when I looked closely at the entry form and saw that the run had been moved to Adena Springs Farm, I started seriously considering it again. When else am I going to get the chance to take a run through a beautiful horse farm? So, I sent in my entry and luckily it made it in time for me to get the early entry price..I'm always looking to save a few bucks. :) The shirt was super cute, so you know I was happy!

 

It was a gorgeous fall morning and about 50 degrees which is perfect running weather for me. The scenery did not disappoint although I only saw one horse in the pastures and that was a draft type horse that we saw as we were driving in. It was a super hilly course and I felt my lack of training. I decided that I would be happy if I ran it in less than 38 minutes. Well, I made it in 36:59! Not too shabby for having to walk most of the hills after 1.5 miles. You can see the results here. I also beat my last year's time by 11 seconds. It's kinda sad that Joseph wore the same jacket last year. My skinny little man.

 Michael snapped some pics with his phone.

 I was trying to get Joseph to clap for me. He wouldn't.

The most exciting part of the day was getting to see Giacomo the winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2005. Joseph was being really fussy after the race so I wanted to take him to see some horses. Michael said he had seen some in the barn by where we had parked and no one had told him to leave when he took Joseph back there during the race. So, I walked on into the barn. I saw some workers and just waved at them. They didn't tell me to leave, so I stayed. Joseph got mad pretty quick because he wanted to touch the horses and I wouldn't let him because I knew they were stallions and they have a tendency to bite. One of the workers came down to where I was, but still didn't tell me to leave. Joseph was starting to cry though so I thought we should probably leave. I didn't want to make the horses nervous. On my way out, I saw this gorgeous grey horse and looked at his name plate and saw "Giacomo." Now, I don't follow horse racing closely or anything, but I tend to remember Derby winners. I was like, "nooo...can't be." But it was. I was really lucky to see him too since they shut the doors to the barn right after we left...coincidence, I think not. I'm still pretty stoked about it...that's the closest I've ever been to a Derby winner. 

I guess my next race will probably be the Black Cat Chase in Frankfort at the end of October. It's usually my last race of the year and I'm already making plans for races for next year and am thinking of doing a half marathon next year. Something to think about. Running a race always gives me the race planning bug.