Busy Busy

It was a crazy, busy weekend, but so much fun I'm just recovering now!

We had a birthday party...

a soccer game...

a race...

the circus...

a wonderful weekend with my dad,

William talked about playing Wii with Granddad for weeks.
They are two peas in a pod.

...and I lost my mind, but that's a story for another day...so let's talk about the race!

I was so excited for this year's 10k race (6.2 miles) - Matt missed my first one last year because he was on his way home from Guam, so I was very happy to have him here for this one, and my terrific friend and neighbor Michelle was running with me! Or rather, after running with her a few times pre-race, I knew she'd be waiting for me at the end :) Anyway! In contrast to last year's weather which was perfect for running - low 60's & overcast - this year dawned bright and sunny with a projected high of almost 90 - thankfully the start time was 8:30 am & I knew I'd be eating my post-race popsicle by 9:30.

Me & Michelle, lined up waiting for the gun
And we're off!

Me reaching out to high-five William

Coming uphill on the final mile. This really sucked.

And done!

Funny race story, this 10k is part of a week-long festival in the neighboring town and while there are a lot of serious runners, there are also lots of people out just to have a good time - there were at least 2 in gorilla costumes (one of which was pink), girls in tutus, feather boas, and lots of pink and green to celebrate the apple blossoms. This year there were 2 guys running in jorts and metal band t's while carrying a boom-box. Matt missed me the first time I passed him because he and Rob (Michelle's husband) were so busy watching these two they didn't notice me - William saw me, but being that he's William, he of course didn't say anything :) By the time the jorts guys had moved on, Matt realized that Evie and William had seen me and taken off down the street with the runners, trying to catch up to me. Michelle's kids? Playing in the grass with Sarah and Jason. I told you my kids are different.

Anyway - long story short, at the half-way point I was ahead of my pace from the previous year but it was a pretty warm morning and this course is 'challenging' - this is a quote from the elite runners who actually run these races and WIN. I was feeling pretty good up until the last 1.2 miles but at that point it starts going uphill and it just got hard. I ended up finishing about 18 seconds later than I had last year, which kind of bums me out because I feel like I was better prepared. I can tell you that walking afterwords is a lot less painful this year than it was last :) Although looking at the pictures, it occurs to me that if I'd spent less time searching the crowds for my family and waving, maybe I'd have shaved off those 18 seconds?

I'm actually thinking about maybe trying something longer in the fall - there's a half-marathon in DC in September but it has a 1/2 mile hill at the end called the 'Rude Awakening', so that may not be the one for me - we'll see! If a half-marathon can't get the 6 pounds off my butt, I don't think anything will - and then maybe I can stop talking about it :)

A weekend of birthday cake, good food, a celebratory breakfast post-race and lots of wine and relaxing didn't do much for the numbers on my scale, but they did do a world of good for our harried family - we all had a really, really nice weekend and a wonderful visit with my dad. Sometimes it's fabulous not to have a big agenda full of 'stuff' to get done and just relax and visit with the people who matter to us the most.

Stay tuned for my story about where I've lost my mind...