It was a chilly, albeit sunny, morning on Saturday and I woke up from a sleepless night filled with coughing and too much nose-blowing. It was my first time ever seriously contemplating a DNS (do not start) at a race. But, c’mon, DNS a 5K? I just couldn’t help but think that I should just run, even if just a jog, or so I thought.

It was the 2nd annual Mustache Dache 5K which I had run last year at the inaugural. Race recap for that is here.

Before I recap this year’s race, just stepping back for a second.

At packet pickup on Thursday evening, I was happy to receive a cool cowboy boot koozie. How awesome is this?

Also got a delivery of the most amazing gummy bears from Indiana’s Albanese Confectionary. A relative had introduced these gummies during the summer and since I raved about them, she sent me them as a reward for running Chicago Marathon. How sweet, literally!

Back to the race — the hubby was a sweetheart and drove me to Magnuson Park and dropped me off with 30 minutes to spare before the race start to find parking. I met a running Twitter bud, Ryan, for the first time. Nice to meet you, Ryan!

With a little bit to spare, it was time to line up at the start. I was happy to sporty Oiselle team singlet, Oiselle-designed Locks Capri for Title Nine in squid ink (purple in Lesley Knickers-like capris) and un-pictured Injinji running socks. All in all, a solid race outfit.

Don’t forget the emphasis on the mustache. I drew mine one with eyeliner. 🙂

Saw some awesome friends at the race start. Clockwise from the top left – Zoe, an awesome mustache duo, Becky, and Erin of Jasyoga.

The Jasyoga gals were def ready with their game faces. Duni, Erin, and Kendra.

I went into the race only wanting to complete it. I’ve never dealt with such a bad cold before any race distance so didn’t think I had any energy in me to run. At all. Despite this, I decided to line up with the 7-8 min/mi “corral” which was just a section with pace markers. Casual.

As soon as the front of the pack started, I was busy fiddling with my iPhone trying to get my Spotify playlist to start – I had it available offline but my phone just would not play. Um, hello, iPhone 5S. What’s up with that!? Alas, no music for me. Was a little bummed that I wouldn’t have any music. I love running to pumped up running songs.

Once I crossed the start line, my legs felt good and fresh cool breeze felt great in my lungs. I finished the first mile in 7:10 which I was surprised about.

Mile 2 was run in 7:37. My body had started to feel drained after just one mile, but I kept telling myself that this was going to be only 3.1 miles. Just keep on going. During this part of the course, I felt happy to have started in the 7-8 min/mile “corral” as last year’s race had some bottlenecks.

By mile 3, my arms were feeling extremely painful. Has anyone else experienced this? It was maybe due to the general lack of running in the past 5 weeks after Chicago Marathon. Perhaps. Mile 3 was run in 7:44.

The last 0.1 miles near the finish line was tough for me – the finish line seemed so far away. Luckily, I saw both Lauren F. and Lauren K. cheering! That perked me up. 🙂

official time: 23:05. Whopping 56 seconds faster than my last 5K, coincidentally the 2012 Mustache Dache, for a PR. Woohoo!

Loved this race and the mustache mania. Who doesn’t love a chocolate mustache?

Or awesome mustache race bling?

Unfortunately, immediately after the race, I was feeling extremely cold and sick, so Joe and I headed out quickly. We stopped at Stumptown for a perfect coffee.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying good beer and food with friends. Perfect ending to a good day.