My First Prediction Race (or the weirdest 5K of my life)

Normally I wouldn't share my 5Ks on here because this is not a running blog (unless I do a cool one like the Zombie run!) but I believe this story needs to be shared.

I made plans to run a 5K with my two friends, Laura and Jillian. I was very excited. I love to do 5Ks but its much better when you have a friend or two running it as well.

*** By the way, the organization that put this 5K together is one of the most amazing organizations I have ever heard of. MANNA provides nutritional meals for people with very serious illnesses and their meals are prepared just for them - they meet with a nutritionist and are given their meals based on what they need depending on their illness. The guy who was in charge of the event, Rob, was amazing as well. ***

The weather has been weird all week. Sunny then downpours and tornado watches... and of course, as we drive to the running store the 5K is at, the skies opened up and the rain came down. Hard. It let up though and we managed to get out and get to the inside of the store.

We find out it is a prediction run.

Have you ever heard of a prediction run? I have but had never done one. It's when you predict your time and see if you can come close to that. Sounded interesting.

But get this. Predict your time then learn you're not supposed to have your phone or any watches or anything. Plus you have to take into account safety, traffic, etc etc. We put our phones in the car (mainly because of the rain anyway) and Jill and I surrendered our heart rate monitors (our watches that keep track of time/calorie count/heart rate).

The owner of the store (I think) talked about the course. I soon realized there would be no mile markers and you would have to make sure you knew where you were going or pay attention to the running store employees who would be running the course back and forth to keep everyone on the course.

SO YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS OR HOW FAR YOU HAVE RUN OR HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN RUNNING FOR.

Quite the experience.

I am so glad I did this 5K with friends because we GOT LOST.

In fact, we got so lost the people in charge went to go look for us.

At some point, the runners in front of us went missing, we didn't see any employees of the running store, and we had no iphones (see how much we depend on technology these days!) so we couldn't even bring up a map.

So we ran and walked and ran and walked and tried to find our way back. Luckily, the place we had to go was not TOO far and we were sort of familiar with the area.

Then, Jill trips and I just about had a stroke.

My only thoughts were (after asking Jill if she was okay of course and trying to grab her shirt before she face planted) was "WHAT IF SHE HAD REALLY FALLEN AND NEEDED AN AMBULANCE WE HAVE NO PHONES AND WHAT TIME IS IT ANYWAY AND HOW LONG HAVE WE RUN FOR AND WHERE THE HECK ARE WE".

We finally made it back to the store.

Although we did not do very well time-wise, this is something I am going to remember forever. The situation was not ideal but when you have friends next to you dealing with the same thing, it makes it fun. We didn't give up and we worked together to find our way through the Main Line.

Then we decided to get fro-yo, which is always a plus.

I am so sad I didn't have my phone because I am sure any pictures I could have taken while we were lost would have been fun to share. Maybe I will do another prediction run in the future - the concept is cool but I will need to make sure there are some mile markers next time!


Thank you Laura & Jill for an unforgettable running experience!  When is our next 5K? ;)