IS IT A COUGAR 5K ?
I found this race a few months back when I realized I would be at a business convention there in June. The race was perfect and has a sentimental meaning to it. Let me explain… The race was called HOT 2 TROT. Now this could be really interesting if its a bunch of 50 year old women chasing around 42 year old men in spandex running shorts but it wasn’t. Sorry to disappoint you all ( cue growl sound).
Basically, Cottage Grove is a small town in the Midwest of our great country. It is 10 miles from Madison. The theme of the race is to support the Cottage Grove Fire Dept.! OMG, once I read that I was in of course. Two very important men in my life are retired firemen…my Dad and my Brother! So I was signing up immediately.
After an amazing week in Madison at my conference and eating every cheese curd in sight, I was ready to knock out state #11. Now I needed an awesome running outfit , right? Well to stick with the theme I called my brother and he shipped me one of his Midland , Michigan FD uniform shirts. I wore it with blue camoflauge running pants and was ready to run!
RACE DAY
Up early for this 7:30am race. Not sure if the birds were even up yet. Grabbed some H2O and a handful of granola and called my Uber. Mark was my driver and better than that an avid runner. He dropped me off at the top of the park and wished me success in my journey . 5 stars Mark!
I grabbed my packet, pinned my number on and made my way to the starting line. Grabbed a great photo with a young firemen and got ready to race. Race itself was very low key. We ran through the park and a few residential streets. Very pretty. I try very hard now to be present in the moment during every race because that is what this journey is all about. Seeing the people cheering the runners along the course always gives me goosebumps. A few actually yelled out, “Thank you for your service”! And of course I yelled back, “Thank You”! (Hey, its my brother’s shirt, give me a break) Ended up with a 10:38 pace thanks to 4 hills. Hills and I have a very tumultuous relationship, trust me.
Headed back to my hotel and was excited that the free breakfast was still in full swing. Ran in, grabbed 4 pieces of protein aka BACON , a cup of robust coffee and headed to my room to unwind and pack to fly home.
Super excited to walk into my house and put that pin into Madison on my map! 11 down, 39 to go. Next up… Elvis Presley 5K in Memphis ,Tennessee in August. Hope its not hot !!!! UGH.