Red Dress Fun Run and 5K

It was a last minute decision, but Sorority Girl and I saw this run and figured it would be a good day to start the weekend. The Red Dress Run is a small local run, put on by Methodist Stone Oak Hospital to bring awareness to heart disease in women and all proceeds go the American HeartAssociation. I think that heart disease is pretty well-known to be the number one cause of death in men and we are all aware of the classic symptoms of crushing chest pain and right arm discomfort, jaw pain. But, for women … people think of cancer … not heart disease. One of every three women will DIE from heart disease which is the NUMBER ONE cause of death in women. More women DIE from heart disease than all forms of cancer combined. Symptoms … vague … shortness of breath, odd sensation of pressure in the chest or abdomen, fatigue, lightheadedness. Symptoms are described as feeling like flu, reflux, or just signs of aging … things I feel every day.  I think it’s an important cause and I’m happy to support it.

 Sorority Girl went to MSOH on Friday to register and pick up T-shirts. Thanks. I don’t really wear a lot of red … for obvious reasons … so I donned something close … Happy Girl Skirt in Aberdeen and Easy Ride Top in Sangria from SkirtSports.

But, it was chilly, so I covered up more with my Skirt Breaker jacket. The air was wet and misty, so I was happy to have an extra layer. Sorority Girl and I met in the parking lot and headed toward the start. We got quite a kick out of the men and dogs in red dresses. We were pleasantly surprised meeting Bev and Jagger.

 After a short talk about the cause, we headed to the start line and off we went. My plan was warm up for about a mile, walk a minute to recover, then pretend it was a tempo run and see how it went. It went pretty well. There were small inclines, and some headwinds, but that’s weather for you. The course was 2 loops around the MSOH campus. Once, we crossed a road and had to wait while police allowed a long-line of cars to pass, but that just gave me a little extra recovery, right? I was nearing the finish of my first lap and the lead runner passed me to the finish. I was in awe of her form … no up-and-down movement, no side-to-side movement, and she didn’t really look like she was running … sort of floating, didn’t look like any more effort than a walk.  I was happy to see us “not-so-fast” folks showing enough respect to stay right so faster runners could pass. She was the only one of the faster group to loop me so I felt OK about it. Started the second loop and was happy that at some of the “out-and-back” sections, I could wave and high-five my friends on the course. As I started my second loop, here comes Fast Girl on her third loop, this time loping along with a guy pushing a stroller, I’m assuming her family.

 I was pleased with my finish time. Bev and Jagger came in just behind me and I walked about a minute to find Sorority Girl and run with her to the finisher chute. She set her own PR. Took 2 ½ minutes per mile off her previous best… pretty impressive since she just started running about 6 months ago and has been plagued with injuries. We picked up our medals (which was really unexpected for such a small race) and Sorority Girl got a breakfast burrito and beer. Celebrated our achievements and headed home to face the rest of the day.  I would call this a great training run and would do it again and recommend it for a variety of reasons.