The Go! All American 5k was billed as a downhill or flat 5k.  We were skeptical, as St Louis is notoriously hilly, but it was a one way course, and we thought, perhaps magically, the race organizers had found a way.

The day before the race I looked at the course map.  Nope.  There are still plenty of up hills.

SURE you lose elevation overall, and there are most definitely more downhills than uphills.  But I see plenty of gains in elevation.  I’m only mad about this because the website specifically mentioned flat-downhill course.

False advertising in my opinion.

Nonetheless. 

The race was Sunday morning at 7:30 am.  Steven, Jen, Vanessa, and I were running it.  (We had tried to enlist a few others but they all bailed for various reasons). We parked near the starting line around 7 am.  The race started at 7:30 am, and basically started on time.  It was pretty crowded at the start, since evidently there were about 1500 people running, but there wasn’t too much congestion, especially for a race of that size. 

I was hoping to break 30 minutes, but I honestly still am not back in "shape."  I was doing really well at the beginning, and likely went out too fast as I was running with Vanessa a bit towards the end of the 1st mile (she is much faster than me) but I felt okay at that point.  Shortly after I hit a wall and was having a really hard time catching my breath so I slowed significantly, and then had a moment of cramping where I had to stop and walk (up a huge hill that was seemingly endless) and at that point I suspected I would not break the 30 minute mark.  Oh well.

I finished strong though, and my time was 31:17.  There were finisher’s medals (so funny for a 5k, but a nice medal!) and plenty of bottled water.  It seemed there were bananas and maybe other stuff too but I only wanted water.

The "team" at the finish.  I wore a belt so I could have my phone with me for pictures.  Vanessa mocked me, but I know she was happy.

 

Afterwards we had to take a shuttle back to our cars.  The shuttle was a yellow school bus, and I’ll tell you, nothing is grosser than sitting on those seats when you are completely soaked with sweat.  I felt bad for whoever would be on the seat after me.  (It was not terribly hot but incredibly humid.)

We decided, in grand tradition, to go to Uncle Bill’s afterwards for breakfast.

We were seated next to what appeared to be a rock climbing wall.

I needed my coffee.  I wouldn’t include this picture as I look frightening, except I wanted to show the shirt.  Super cute!  I had changed into it for breakfast since my other top was wet, and then I immediately had to throw that shirt in the wash once I got home.  What a gross and sweaty day.

Overall, it was a very well run race.  And I finished in the top half of my divisions!

I went for a run a little bit ago.

Why would weather.com have the option to "love" or "ugh!" the weather.  Seriously.  Not everything in life needs to be interactive or a poll.  (Agree or disagree?  Vote in the comments!)  The other day I saw you could sign up for a text message if it started raining.  I may be old-fashioned, but LOOK OUT THE WINDOW.  And…if you don’t have a window to look out, that means you are inside, and that is okay if it is raining because YOU ARE INSIDE.  Or ask Siri (ugh, those commercials make so stabby.)

Okay, sorry, I’m evidently feeling very "get off my lawn" this morning.  I actually came here to gloat about my run.  It wasn’t pretty, but I went out there and I did it, and I channeled my inner awesome-ness and reminded myself that last summer I didn’t let the heat and humidity get me down—and I’m not going to let the heat and humidity get me down this summer either.  I’m ready to get back to running, to get better at running, and to feel a little more comfortable running with just a sports bra and shorts…I did it today anyway, but I felt a bit self-conscious at times.  That may have just been last night’s delicious veal marsala at Trattoria Marcella, actually.  Mmmmmm… (sorry I’m not sorry to my more ethical readers…)

 

Hot.

I usually post more flattering pictures of myself, but I thought I’d post a post run picture, so you can tell I really went.  Also, now you can recognize me at the gym—that’s how I look during a workout.  I have a hard time taking a picture of myself with the iPhone—I don’t know where to look, evidently. 

I’m looking for fun races to do this summer—anybody doing anything cool?  I’m also thinking about fall half marathons, and maybe this one in February, if I haven’t spent enough money flying to Phoenix by then.  It looks pretty awesome, and Leslie is thinking about it as well (not sure if she is thinking half or marathon, but either way.)

Ooh, and a sneak peek from our group photo shot last weekend.  Pictures were done by Kelly Richardson (I searched the internet for a website or something, but couldn’t find anything for her.)

I was thinking the other day that maybe I needed to whiten my teeth.  I’m thinking…no…

Saturday a few of us ran a 5k in Benton Park.  The theme was “Reclaiming the 80’s” and that  meant costumes.  Most of us ran the race last year too—this was the second year.

(The shirt—nice tech shirt, far nicer than last year.)

I haven’t run too many races twice.  We had a fantastic time last year, planning our costumes, getting ready, running, all that stuff.  This year we were hoping for the same fantastic 80’s fun, but everybody was so busy leading up to the race that the build up wasn’t there.  In any case, I managed to corral five people into running:  Jen, Jon, Steve, and Mike.  Chris, Melissa, Laura, and Benjamin came along to spectate, which was nice of them!  We had plans to run the race and then go to Uncle Bill’s afterwards for breakfast.

Steve, me, Jen

It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was HOT.  The high was going to be in the 90’s and it was definitely getting close by 8:30.  I knew I wasn’t going to have an amazing race, as I had barely run in the past 6 to 8 weeks, but I figured it would be fun, and I had an awesome costume.

Steve, me, Jon, Jen, and Mike.  This picture doesn’t show it, but all the guys were wearing those tube socks with the stripes at the top.  We weren’t the most dressed up group by any means, but I guess we did okay.  (Okay, well, Jen, I was kind of disappointed in your costume, particularly your hair, because you have awesome 80’s hair and you didn’t use it…but oh well.  I guess we are all disappointed in our friends on occasions, right?) I borrowed the orange shorts from Vanessa who wore them last year.  They weren’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever wore, and I am honestly not used to wearing something so tight in public, and perhaps showing off sweat marks in areas that nobody wanted to see…but in retrospect some of the pictures were pretty awesome so I’m glad I took the risk.

This little guy just slept through the whole thing.  I’m not sure if those are supposed to be 80’s socks or not?

Anyway, after a few pictures we had to line up to race.  I wish I’d gotten a picture, but the lead car for the race was a Delorean (like from Back to the Future).

We all lined up in the middle…well, except for Mike who lined up at the front.  He’d come in 2nd last year in this race, and he’d already seen the guy who won milling about, so he was ready to go.  (I told him no pressure, but if he didn’t at least come in 2nd again I’d probably have to find a better trainer.)

Then we were off!

I think Mike had the lead here, but sadly he was unable to keep it.

(I left my camera with Chris for the race, so he took pictures of the beginning and the end-)

Pretty brightly colored group of people, huh?  They probably thought I was crazy here, but I was just trying to get everybody fired up.

I figured I’d just run, and see how it went.  I had no real plan.  And my race really reflected that!  I ran my first mile in close to 9:30, and then felt like I was going to die for most of mile two (the heat and sun were ridiculous) and then mile three really was about the same except that I knew I was near the end.  At one point I heard Jon in front of me yelling “I have the power” at spectators (did you notice he was wearing a He-man shirt?  Plus Jon has this really loud deep voice that carries for a long way.)

At one point the course crossed back near where we started, and Melissa and Laura were there cheering.  I felt awful then—I was exhausted and the heat was really getting to me.  I was trying to walk in the shade and run in the sun but that wasn’t working great.  I had no idea how long it had been, but I knew everybody was ahead of me.  Oh well.  Injuries, right?  And most importantly I had the best costume of my group…I had the orange shorts…

I continued ahead, and at one point passed my friend Adrianne’s house—she was outside cheering.  I started to run again, and she yelled “Oh, so NOW you run!” which made me laugh—and then as soon as I was out of sight I started walking again.  Ha.  Honestly I felt like throwing up from the heat.

Finally it was near the end.  When I saw the finish line I started sprinting (I had a bit left in the tank, evidently, especially once I didn’t care if I threw up or not) but had trouble getting around a pair of runners and a lady with a stroller.  Note to race:  do not make the finish line a narrow, uphill sidewalk if you can at all avoid it.

Anyway, I finished in 33:38, one of my worst times (PR is 28:55).  I ran through and was about to collapse but Steve grabbed me and we went to find water (which should have been much easier to find that it was.)  We got pretzel finishing medals (a pretzel on a ribbon) which was pretty funny.  After we got water some of the others found us.

Chris took a few finishing photos:

This was the guy who won.  Also he won last year.  15:51.

Mike came in 2nd.  Time was 17:05.  This is the sort of race picture I’d love to have—completely in the air running!

Jon, not looking good.  He had a bad race and was really affected by the heat…

Steve, who evidently stayed right behind Jen for most of the race and then sprinted past her at the end to beat her.  She was pissed, and he was gleefully excited.

Me, pinned in by those girls—who were at least fabulously dressed!

I was tired and hot.

I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that Jon got a bit sick.  He was okay for this picture, but he didn’t feel well for a few hours.  In fact, right after the race we all found each other but then no one could find Jon.  I was unclear as to what happened but I think he was lying down somewhere.  At one point Jen went to look for a medic.  She came back with a policeman, who was about 12 years old and didn’t know what Jon meant when he said he had a touch of vertigo.  He was less than helpful, though I suppose if we’d needed an ambulance he could have arranged that pretty quickly.

Anyway, we all hung out until we thought we could take him home, which took longer than anticipated, so Chris and I weren’t able to go to breakfast after all, and Jon and Laura (and Benny) had to just go home as well.  It happens!

Melissa and Steve.  This race did not inspire Melissa to start running, unfortunately.

Mike and Chris, talking about something important, i’m sure.

Laura and Jen.  I probably said something funny.  Behind Laura—do you see the woman wearing the zebra pants?  Awesome.

We inadvertently waited around for the awards ceremony.  It turned out that Mike won his age group (which was funny to him because the guy who beat him was in the same age group, but evidently since he won the race, he didn’t win his age group.)

He got a pint glass and a used VHS copy of Chariots of Fire.  He was posing for me to take that picture, FYI, he just is too cool to face the camera directly.

We were still hanging out waiting to see if Jon felt better, and I figured I’d better get a few iPhone pictures for the internet, and Mike wanted one to send his Mom (that’s what he said, I’m sure that wasn’t why.)

Yeah, we just posed like that.  I think we both channeled our inner Tyra Banks.

Anyway, I don’t know how I can top my costume for next year, but I’m sure I’ll find a way.  It was a fun day, and we’ll do the race again.  I’m hoping next year I’ll be in better running shape and can have a less embarrassing finish time, but like I said, at least my costume was awesome!

Saturday a few of us ran a 5k in Benton Park.  The theme was “Reclaiming the 80’s” and that  meant costumes.  Most of us ran the race last year too—this was the second year.

(The shirt—nice tech shirt, far nicer than last year.)

I haven’t run too many races twice.  We had a fantastic time last year, planning our costumes, getting ready, running, all that stuff.  This year we were hoping for the same fantastic 80’s fun, but everybody was so busy leading up to the race that the build up wasn’t there.  In any case, I managed to corral five people into running:  Jen, Jon, Steve, and Mike.  Chris, Melissa, Laura, and Benjamin came along to spectate, which was nice of them!  We had plans to run the race and then go to Uncle Bill’s afterwards for breakfast.

Steve, me, Jen

It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was HOT.  The high was going to be in the 90’s and it was definitely getting close by 8:30.  I knew I wasn’t going to have an amazing race, as I had barely run in the past 6 to 8 weeks, but I figured it would be fun, and I had an awesome costume.

Steve, me, Jon, Jen, and Mike.  This picture doesn’t show it, but all the guys were wearing those tube socks with the stripes at the top.  We weren’t the most dressed up group by any means, but I guess we did okay.  (Okay, well, Jen, I was kind of disappointed in your costume, particularly your hair, because you have awesome 80’s hair and you didn’t use it…but oh well.  I guess we are all disappointed in our friends on occasions, right?) I borrowed the orange shorts from Vanessa who wore them last year.  They weren’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever wore, and I am honestly not used to wearing something so tight in public, and perhaps showing off sweat marks in areas that nobody wanted to see…but in retrospect some of the pictures were pretty awesome so I’m glad I took the risk.

This little guy just slept through the whole thing.  I’m not sure if those are supposed to be 80’s socks or not?

Anyway, after a few pictures we had to line up to race.  I wish I’d gotten a picture, but the lead car for the race was a Delorean (like from Back to the Future).

We all lined up in the middle…well, except for Mike who lined up at the front.  He’d come in 2nd last year in this race, and he’d already seen the guy who won milling about, so he was ready to go.  (I told him no pressure, but if he didn’t at least come in 2nd again I’d probably have to find a better trainer.)

Then we were off!

I think Mike had the lead here, but sadly he was unable to keep it.

(I left my camera with Chris for the race, so he took pictures of the beginning and the end-)

Pretty brightly colored group of people, huh?  They probably thought I was crazy here, but I was just trying to get everybody fired up.

I figured I’d just run, and see how it went.  I had no real plan.  And my race really reflected that!  I ran my first mile in close to 9:30, and then felt like I was going to die for most of mile two (the heat and sun were ridiculous) and then mile three really was about the same except that I knew I was near the end.  At one point I heard Jon in front of me yelling “I have the power” at spectators (did you notice he was wearing a He-man shirt?  Plus Jon has this really loud deep voice that carries for a long way.)

At one point the course crossed back near where we started, and Melissa and Laura were there cheering.  I felt awful then—I was exhausted and the heat was really getting to me.  I was trying to walk in the shade and run in the sun but that wasn’t working great.  I had no idea how long it had been, but I knew everybody was ahead of me.  Oh well.  Injuries, right?  And most importantly I had the best costume of my group…I had the orange shorts…

I continued ahead, and at one point passed my friend Adrianne’s house—she was outside cheering.  I started to run again, and she yelled “Oh, so NOW you run!” which made me laugh—and then as soon as I was out of sight I started walking again.  Ha.  Honestly I felt like throwing up from the heat.

Finally it was near the end.  When I saw the finish line I started sprinting (I had a bit left in the tank, evidently, especially once I didn’t care if I threw up or not) but had trouble getting around a pair of runners and a lady with a stroller.  Note to race:  do not make the finish line a narrow, uphill sidewalk if you can at all avoid it.

Anyway, I finished in 33:38, one of my worst times (PR is 28:55).  I ran through and was about to collapse but Steve grabbed me and we went to find water (which should have been much easier to find that it was.)  We got pretzel finishing medals (a pretzel on a ribbon) which was pretty funny.  After we got water some of the others found us.

Chris took a few finishing photos:

This was the guy who won.  Also he won last year.  15:51.

Mike came in 2nd.  Time was 17:05.  This is the sort of race picture I’d love to have—completely in the air running!

Jon, not looking good.  He had a bad race and was really affected by the heat…

Steve, who evidently stayed right behind Jen for most of the race and then sprinted past her at the end to beat her.  She was pissed, and he was gleefully excited.

Me, pinned in by those girls—who were at least fabulously dressed!

I was tired and hot.

I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that Jon got a bit sick.  He was okay for this picture, but he didn’t feel well for a few hours.  In fact, right after the race we all found each other but then no one could find Jon.  I was unclear as to what happened but I think he was lying down somewhere.  At one point Jen went to look for a medic.  She came back with a policeman, who was about 12 years old and didn’t know what Jon meant when he said he had a touch of vertigo.  He was less than helpful, though I suppose if we’d needed an ambulance he could have arranged that pretty quickly.

Anyway, we all hung out until we thought we could take him home, which took longer than anticipated, so Chris and I weren’t able to go to breakfast after all, and Jon and Laura (and Benny) had to just go home as well.  It happens!

Melissa and Steve.  This race did not inspire Melissa to start running, unfortunately.

Mike and Chris, talking about something important, i’m sure.

Laura and Jen.  I probably said something funny.  Behind Laura—do you see the woman wearing the zebra pants?  Awesome.

We inadvertently waited around for the awards ceremony.  It turned out that Mike won his age group (which was funny to him because the guy who beat him was in the same age group, but evidently since he won the race, he didn’t win his age group.)

He got a pint glass and a used VHS copy of Chariots of Fire.  He was posing for me to take that picture, FYI, he just is too cool to face the camera directly.

We were still hanging out waiting to see if Jon felt better, and I figured I’d better get a few iPhone pictures for the internet, and Mike wanted one to send his Mom (that’s what he said, I’m sure that wasn’t why.)

Yeah, we just posed like that.  I think we both channeled our inner Tyra Banks.

Anyway, I don’t know how I can top my costume for next year, but I’m sure I’ll find a way.  It was a fun day, and we’ll do the race again.  I’m hoping next year I’ll be in better running shape and can have a less embarrassing finish time, but like I said, at least my costume was awesome!

I’m just going to throw this out there.  I need to stop taking pictures with my iPhone that I’m not immediately planning to text to someone, because honestly they are terrible.  But that’s a picture of me.  Last night, after running 2 entire miles without stopping.  I was sweaty and HAPPY.

You may say, what’s the big deal, haven’t you run half marathons and such?  Not lately.

I haven’t run two miles without stopping in at least two months.  I’ve run in that time period, but not without stopping to stretch, or to hold my shoulder, or to struggle to breathe, or to struggle not to throw up, or all kinds of ridiculous stuff that I have been dealing with since probably the beginning of March.  In fact, March 1 was my last good run, according to this blog. (If you are new, you can read about my troubles here, here, here, here, and here.)

(And I had Taco Bell for dinner on Saturday night.  I’m not going to lie.  I think it may have fueled my successful workouts. Mike may disagree, but I’m going with the assumption that he’s not reading this.)

All day Monday I knew I was going to run Monday night.  I didn’t know how well it would go, or how hard it would be, but I knew I was going out there.  I was going to run a 2.5 mile loop from my house (.5 mile warm up/cool down is how it usually works). Oh, and the weather had finally cooled down from the 90’s into the acceptable range, so I had that on my side.

About halfway through my run I just started GRINNING.  I took it easy, and was going pretty slow, I think.  I didn’t wear my watch.  I just ran and tried to stay relaxed with good form.  I ran down a hill, up a hill, turned around, and ran back.  I think I could have kept going, but I didn’t want to push it, and I had run exactly as far as I planned.  It was AWESOME.

(No, I didn’t get a medal for my 2 mile run.  But it felt like as much of a success.)

I got home and texted the good news to a few people.  Mike was pleased for me and said it wouldn’t be that hard to get back to where I was.  (He did not make his joke about how where I was was still slower than walking…sometimes he is actually kind and positive…I think he just picks up on my sarcasm when I’m around.)

Last but not least.  After yesterday’s post “Concerning Blogging” I got a lot of comments (So exciting!!  Keep it up readers!!).  I get email notifications of comments and every time I read “Concerning Blogging” I thought of “Concerning Hobbits” from Lord of the Rings (of course, my title inspiration) and would start singing or whistling the music.  This is kind of a problem, as the music from LOTR is a pretty constant earworm ANYWAY.  Chris gets angry sometimes because I’ll be singing it, and he doesn’t understand why.  (I don’t fully understand either, though yesterday was logical…I guess I’ve just seen the movies and listened to the soundtracks too many times…)

Postscript:  this is the week of getting back into shape.  I’ve felt out of sorts without my 6 workouts a week…and I feel weak.  I don’t like either of those feelings, so I’m declaring this week the RETURN TO THE GYM and we’ll see how it goes.  Let’s hope my body can handle it.  Remember, May 19 is fast approaching—Benton Park 80’s 5k time!!  I’m not going to go two days without a workout again for awhile.  I don’t like that.

Today I expected to wake up sore, tired, and still a little bit proud of running a half marathon yesterday morning.  Instead, my cat woke me up (yes, thanks) around 8 am. 

(I fell asleep last night around 11:15 pm, only to be woken up by Chris a bit later telling me that he was going over to our friends’ house to help them with their flooding basement.  I don’t know what time he got home, but sometimes I burst with pride over the sort of man I have married, the sort of man who doesn’t think twice about going out in the middle of a night in a thunderstorm to help out a friend.  These are the times I’m glad I married somebody like my father 😉 I am the luckiest.)

But I feel wonderful today.  I have very few aches and pains.  My arms are feeling somewhat back to normal, and my shoulder is…dare I say a bit better?  Some common movements that I keep accidentally doing are not hurting quite as much.  There’s still a sharp pain on occasion though, and I’m not kidding myself that it’s near healed.  I am hopeful that I am on the path now.  I’m icing it right now, as I blog and wait for my "overnight" oatmeal to set (quotes because I just put it together 30 minutes ago rather than last night.)

So, when I decided to DNS the race, my friend and running partner Jen had a little bit of a panic attack.  I told her, not to worry, I would be there cheering her on and supporting her.  I’d never watched a race before, and it sounded like fun.  We made plans to meet up with our friends Melissa and Steve, since Steve was also running the race.  Here’s where the less fun part came in.  We made plans to meet them in Soulard at 6:15.  That meant Jen was picking me up at 6 am, and that meant waking up at 5:15 am…not even to run a race, but to watch one.  CRAZY, right?

(Is it more crazy to wake up at 5:15 to run or to support a friend?)

I packed a bag with a sweatshirt, an umbrella, wet wipes, and brought coffee.  Melissa had a folding chair and a sign.  We did not bring cowbells, which we wish we had. 

We parked near the start for just $5.  This is Jen, looking pretty nervous.  I was in serious inspirational mode and was really trying to pump everybody up.  (I think I was trying to make up for the fact that I really wished I were running…)

Melissa and Steve.  And yes, that sign says Go Hannah…on the back it says Go Steve.  It’s an old sign.

We headed to the race start, and after waiting for a porta potty for about 20 minutes, it time for the runners to make their way to their corrals.  Melissa and I gave them hugs and high fives, told them to show us the meaning of haste, and then they left us to our "spectating".  We decided to find a place along the start to watch for them.

This is where we ended up.

It wasn’t long before the race started.  And wow.  It’s crazy to stand there watching everybody go by—first the super fast elite runners, then everybody else, so many people!  There were supposedly 12,000 for the half marathon, plus the marathoners as well.

I did see my trainer—he’s in the middle with the yellow shoes, white shirt, hat.  He was towards the front.  His goal for the day was 1:28.  I would put up a shot I cropped for a close up but that might be creepy 😉

After about 7 minutes we saw Jen and Steve!

And then they were gone.

Close up!  I think they saw us, since they were smiling!

After the start we had figured we’d mill about and then watch the finish.  However, we didn’t realize the race came right back near where we were again, around mile 5/6.  We went to the car, grabbed the lawn chair, and set up again.

Melissa was seriously ready to cheer!

By the time we set up, a few of the leaders had ALREADY passed this mark.  Seriously fast.

I was a bit confused by who I was cheering for.  And please don’t comment on my hair, or the disgusting-ness that is my violin mark. (For those of you who don’t know, that’s what you see on my neck near my jawline.  It’s where I hold my violin against my neck, and it varies as to how gross it gets.  Usually it’s just a dark, rough patch of skin, but right now it’s painful and bumpy from last week.  Gross.)

We had a nice spot, right near a corner, so we had a pretty good view.  Saw my trainer again, who thinks he’s Richard Nixon.

He had both hands like that shortly before.  (When I asked him about it later he said he does it because the crowds really respond.  No comment.)

Then we finally saw Steve!  (I don’t mean finally as in what took him so long, but as in, wow, there are a ton of people running this race and we were starting to go cross eyed and crazy.) 

Close up!

Then we waited some more but finally decided we must have missed Jen.  It was weird, I knew probably at least a dozen people running the race, and at this corner saw THREE of them.  (Well, one girl saw me, I didn’t see her at first—I’ve done that for sure.) 

We headed towards the finish line next.  By the time we got there, Mike had already finished, and he was happy to have met his time goal.  I borrowed his medal to see how it would have felt.

Heavy.  Like I shouldn’t have been wearing it.  I gave it back.  I would have taken a picture of Mike but he got strangely camera shy.  Maybe because he wasn’t wearing a shirt and was concerned he would end up on the blog? 

Melissa and I headed for the finish line, hoping to catch Jen and Steve there.  We found a bus stop bench to stand on so we could see over the people in the front.  It was a really exciting atmosphere, with the announcer calling out names and times as people were finishing.  The marathoners started to finish too—I saw the winner finish—just flying by the half runners at that point.  CRAZY.

We saw Steve!  Once we saw him running in, I started screaming at the top of my lungs, but it turned out he still didn’t hear me.  Several people around us did though.

 

He was looking strong! 

And again, we never saw Jen.  We waited a little while longer, not sure if she would have been behind or ahead of him, and then we headed for the agreed upon meeting place (most important, ALWAYS make a meeting place plan…be specific and precise.)

Then we found Jen sitting down!  I guess she was a bit ahead of Steve, and we just didn’t see her.  Ever.  I blame her black tank top—there was so much black in the race plus the roads being dark that it was just hard to find her.  Too bad since I was taking pictures!

So proud!!!

How they felt…

And then we went to Uncle Bill’s for brunch.  That place is awesome.  I had to remind myself that I hadn’t just run 13.1 miles so I needed to take it easy.  Still managed to eat all my bacon and sausage, but I only ate half the pancakes 😉

So there you have it.  My race "recap".  It turned out that Jen only missed her PR (personal record) by 4 seconds, when she thought she was totally unprepared and shouldn’t even bother running.  Steve felt good about his race too, though he had some knee issues.  We are already making training plans for the summer on how to get faster (though for me, step one is of course, heal up.) 

All in all, I’m really glad I went downtown to cheer.  It was great watching my friends accomplish their goals!