Race of Awesomeness Recap

So race recap time. I was pretty nervous the night before and the morning of, but butterflies aside, I think everything went really well. I averaged less than 11 minutes a mile, which for my training times is a significant improvement as I was averaging about 12-12.30 a mile… First pic taken morning of… there were lots of thoughts going through my head… mostly the thoughts of dont make a fool of yourself, dont trip, dont bust your ass, dont make a fool of yourself. after I got that outta my system, it switched over to thoughts of run your race, run your race, run your race. Then on to thoughts of what is your race? AHHHHHHHHHH and freak out moments occurred.

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Pre race photo. Nervy but excited!

Because this was a Geek Run, I was excited to see some compatriots from NASA Goddard and HQ there. They were moving toward mile 4 as I was moving toward mile 3, but as we passed, we rose fists in the air and cheered for each other.

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Geek trophies!
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Everyone gettin ready for the race
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the start and finish line.

This is where we started and finished. I was pretty jazzed when I saw the finish line. My friend that was running with me was a few feet in front of me and we just both busted ass over the line! it was an awe-inspiring moment for me.

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post race, no sunglasses! sweaty styley

This is me all squinty after the race. I was going to wear a hat but nothing new on race day and the fact that I have only worn it once and didnt like it then made me opt not to and I dont have running glasses. But I am all sweaty and ready to get a bagel here (above).

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me and Sheena, my buddy who ran the race with me.

So this (above) picture is prolly one of my favorites (aside from the action shots my husband got which I will post in the next week or so) because my friends Sheena and Aaron ( husband and wife) came out and ran the 5 miler with me. While Aaron took off and managed an 8 min a mile pace on average, Sheena ran the 5 miles with me. I know she prolly coulda picked it up and done it about 10-30 seconds faster a mile (or more), but she stayed with me and pushed me on my pace. And I forced her to maintain a pace. Once you set one for me, I can generally maintain it. I dragged a couple of steps behind her occasionally but was able to keep up fairly well. I normally run at about 12-13 minutes a mile in easy long runs and only completed one 5 mile run under an hour in all training… normally all runs of that length were about an hour. I set my goal conservatively and made it. My goal was a time under 55 minutes. We talked for the majority of the run down Ohio dr but when we hit mile 4 I could tell Sheena wanted to push harder and if I was going to pick it up for the last 0.2-0.4 miles, I couldnt move faster before then or I would run out of steam. I told her to go ahead and do what she needed to do and silently told myself I would not let her get more than ten steps in front of me. And I stuck to that! I maintained about 5-7 strides behind her. Her foot had been rubbing so when I was starting to speed up for strong finish, she was starting to slow a little and I wasn’t letting her go out like that. She didn’t leave me behind for a solid 4.5 miles, I was not going to leave her behind for the end. So I yelled at her. Told her ten seconds and to pick it up as I was sprinting to the finish. She did as well and I think we finished at the same time or within one second of each other. Either way, I am SO grateful for her companionship and encouragement on this race. Wouldn’t have made my goal without her!

My husband came out for my race (as did my mommy and my aunt who happened to be in town visiting). The three of them provided comic relief and helped me relax a little before the start. My husband took pictures of Aaron, Sheena and I running (I will post within the week). Action shots if you will. We looked at em Saturday afternoon, they looked good! I was so happy that he made the effort to get up and trek over there with me to support me. I think it might have inspired him to start exercising more. He was talking about getting more into cycling or running and I have been encouraging him to do it. My thoughts are that I may be slow, but I still finish and exercise makes me happier than any of the other activities I have the option to do. I want him to feel that happy with me so we decided that this coming weekend we are going to be taking a ride to Mt Vernon this weekend (either saturday or sunday morn). Side note: I also have my first swim lesson for my tri this weekend with my friend Cass. Considering I haven’t swam since I was 13 and I never swam competitively, my friends are all gearing up to help me move my ass in water!

Anywho, my husband saw how passionate I was about running on Saturday morn (I mean he knew I was but SAW it Saturday morn) and wanted to do something really nice for me and had been planning to surprise me with new running shoes, but instead took me and we went looking together after the race :-)!!!! He got me the best birthday gift ever of Mizuno Nirvanas! I am stoked to get out there and run in them! (I have soccer mondays, so I don’t run in the am)

<PLUG FOR PACERS RUNNING STORE IN ALEXANDRIA> No lie, the girl who helped me find shoes here was amazing! She took the time to make sure I had a shoe I wanted that would work for me! If you are in the DC metro area and need new running shoes, go to pacers! AH-MAZING! Super friendly, really knowledgeable and not going to brush you off. She musta pulled every stability shoe they had! (i have bad arches)</END PLUG>

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My birthday shoes! My husband got me new running shoes for my bday!
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My Aunt MaryAnne and Uncle Pat after dinner

My uncle, aunt, brother and brother’s gf (whom I adore) were at Sunday night dinner with my parents this week! We don’t always get together for dinner on sunday nights, but when we can, we do. This Sunday night was great! I laughed my ass off to the point of tears!

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My brother and his girlfriend after dinner

Anyway, family is important. Friends are important. And both my family and friends are top notch, can’t be beat awesome people! Even if they do rag on me occasionally… it is out of love!

Next race up is the MCM 10k! I am stoked! A little inspiration on my way out:

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4 Comments

  1. Jenna says

    Awesome photos and recap! U did a great job!!! Spa love!

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