March 12:  9 am.  5 miles in downtown St. Louis.  Approximately 12,000 runners expected.

Goal:  to run the whole race under 1 hour

My friend Jen told me she was running it, so I signed up right away!  I had been thinking about it, but didn’t want to run a busy downtown race all by myself.

My trainer Mike was considering it too, and I thought we might see him downtown, but he wasn’t able to find us…oh well.  He probably ran too fast anyway! 

The race was run a little differently than others I’ve done.  They mailed you your bib and then you took your bib to a local store and picked up your t shirt.  I guess that made organization easier for them, and it was easy for me as well.

I went to Big River Running for my t-shirt, which ended up being a WOMEN’S FIT TECH SHIRT(tech shirt means the shirt is made of sweat wicking material and thus better to wear for working out). How fantastic is that!?!

(What is the real color?  Who knows!  I am NOT taking my shirt outside to photograph in the sun.)

Evidently the race is sponsored by Michelob Ultra…yuck!  Supposedly you could get a free one after the race as well…again, yuck.

Jen and I got matching headbands and wristbands in honor of the occasion, plus t shirts from Target.  Unfortunately the Target selection was slim so we weren’t able to match.  I purchased the last pair of shamrock themed knee socks in the store.  Fact about knee socks:  some go up to my knee, others barely make it around my calves.  I don’t know if that is because I have awesome muscular calves, because I am tall, or because these are simply inferior, cheap knee socks.  Perhaps a bit of all three.

We got there about an hour early because we were worried about the crowds and parking…it was super easy at that hour, but quickly the area became VERY crowded. 

I stood up on the wall for awhile to look around.

This was my “I’m king of the world” pose.  I get silly when I’m around Jen, a camera, up early, whatever.  Basically I get very silly when I can.  Unfortunately it was a bit too sunny for this picture to turn out.  I was also looking for Mike while I was standing up there—he had sent a text saying he should be easy to find as he was wearing green.

We met up with a friend of Jen’s named Kristin as well.  Jen said Kristin was a super fast runner (for us 8 minute miles is super fast…) though Kristin denied this.

Soon it was time to line up, and start racing!

 

The gun went off (well, somebody over the loudspeaker counted down) and then we waited 10 to 15 minutes to get going.  And then we were off! 

It was a beautiful sunny day, and quickly I was too warm for my jacket.  We had a tough time running together for the first mile or two as there were tons of people around.  Some were walking, some jogging, some “yogging” as Will Ferrell would say, and some pushing a wagon with a keg of beer in it and blasting music from Top Gun (true, we really saw this).  The race never really thinned out as it was too short and there were too many people, but eventually we got into a good rhythm.  Kristin really kept Jen and I going—we were running 10 to 11 minute miles even UPHILL for a lot of the race—things to remember for the Go! Half marathon is that downtown St. Louis is full of hills—and she kept talking to us.  We probably held her back but she didn’t seem to mind. 

The first 2 miles went by pretty easily but then it was getting quite hot and I hadn’t brought water with me…around 2 1/2 miles there was a water stop which was a bit of a mess.  We actually got split up and I thought I had lost my friends for the rest of the race but then I saw them ahead of me.  I was glad as I didn’t really want to run 2 1/2 miles by myself without my ipod.

The rest of the race was tough, but we persevered and kept running.  When we got close to the end Kristin ran on ahead and Jen and I ran as fast as we could…and finished in official time of 53:58!  I was super pleased, as my goal had been to run in under 1 hour and we more than did that.  We also only walked when we had to stop to get water (and yes, you did have to stop, that is why next time I need to carry my own.)

Can you believe it?  Average speed of 6 mph for the last mile?  Go me!! And weird that occasionally I maxed out at 12.8 mph…perhaps that’s my sprinting speed when I would try to get through crowds without getting cut off.

 

And there we are at the end—not quite as photogenic (evidently sweat makes my zits really POP). We totally lost Kristin because the crowds were ridiculous.  There was a huge line (by line I mean mass of people) to get to where the water (and michelob ultra?) was, so we just headed to the car as it seemed that was closer, and there was water there.

I would definitely run this race again, and go even crazier with my costume.  It was fun to run with so many people, plus the price was good and the tech shirt was a great bonus. 

And, yes, it’s a PR (personal record) as this was my first 5 mile race!  All in all, a great day.

Wooooo!  I did my 5 miles in (garmin time) 53:54.  Much faster than I had thought I would…thanks to some friends pushing me through

before…

after….

Can you believe I ran 12.8 mph on occasion?  Now that’s awesome…or a glitch…

I’m exhausted, and now I have Suzuki Group class to teach, followed by (hopefully) a nap and then our first opera performance.  Complete race recap will come later.

It’s raining all day, and I’m tired of it.  I also got some news today (nothing serious) that makes me feel very dreary on the inside as well.  Sometimes the unfairness of life just really kicks you in the face (or stomach), you know?

On the bright side, the SLSO got a good review in the New York Times for their recent Carnegie Hall concert.  Though it’s a very short review, it’s still a positive one.

I picked up my race shirt for this weekend’s race, and was pleasantly surprised that is a tech shirt (made of special fabric to wick sweat away) AND that it came in a “ladies’ fit”.  It’s funny that the normal shirts are known as “adult” and then you can have a “women’s” or “ladies” fit, as if we aren’t actual adults.  Then again, with some of the politics you hear these days, women aren’t adults, and are treated as if they can’t make adult decisions.  I’m finding that I have to turn off the news more and more lately because it just makes me angry, and I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.

That said, the race should be great fun—5 miles with my friend Jen, wearing awesome outfits…

I saw this today—I couldn’t help but giggle at the acronym “bro”.  And I also couldn’t help but take a picture. 

I ran 9 miles today.  I found a loop that goes around the park and then the botanical gardens and is approximately 4.5 miles.  Perfect!  Part of the loop was on a dirt path by the gardens and that was a nice change.  I ran most of the way, only walking to drink some water or nuun.  I feel pretty awesome right now! (and my calves are sore.)

Tall Mom started this challenge for the month.  I added up the mileage for my training plans for the month and I should surpass that if I manage to follow it (unlikely, but there’s wiggle room), so I signed on.  9 down!  It works out to 3 miles a day—walking or running.

I got part of the outfits Jen and plan to wear for the St Patrick’s Day race—obviously there will be pictures later, after the race.  I’m trying to convince Chris to come cheer us on, since it’s downtown, nearby and all.  And also trying to convince more people to run the race.  Anybody want to join us?  Should be great fun! 

I like having two pairs of running shoes to trade out and my original Mizuno Nirvanas are totally worn down.  I did a little online research and discovered that the shoe has been upgraded plus is now a lovely shade of blue which has a hint of purple in it.  So I ordered them, and they arrived this afternoon.

I did NOT wear them out for my run this afternoon as I want to wear them a few times inside before getting them dirty.  I DID realize that the insoles I had had in my second pair of Mizunos were different than the original insoles the store recommended (I evidently lack reading comprehension).  I moved the insoles over, and voila!  they are a bit more comfortable.  I ordered another pair of that brand of insole for my new babies, and I should be good to go.

What’s the upgrade? At first glance the bottom looks just a bit different and the heel is slightly more rounded.  I never land on my heel anyway so that should make no difference—I really just run on my tiptoes and attempt to hit mid-foot.  I’ll probably wear them for my next indoor run to see how they really feel.  I’d love to wear them for my next half.

This morning (wee hours) there was a bit of freezing rain, which caused a 26 car pile-up on I-64, which caused me to almost be late for teaching.  Ice on the roadways is a major problem.  I can’t wait for spring.

Here’s one other fun thing I did recently.  I read some other blogs, and one of them recommended a company, YouBar, where you can create your own energy bars.  I’m (too) addicted to bars, so I couldn’t resist.  Look what finally showed up yesterday…

Yes, a whole box of “HANNAHVIOLIN”.  How awesome is that?  And they taste really good…there’s one ingredient I would do differently next time, but otherwise I’m very pleased.  I’ll have to try not to eat them all this week.