It’s race day!

I got up and made myself a glass of green juice for some pre-race fuel.  I use to eat a bagel or oatmeal before races but now I’m a green believer.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted coffee before the race or not. By the time I decided I did want a cup I didn’t have enough time to make a pot. I stopped on the way and got a small coffee from a coffee shop with a little half and half.

There was a group of us running the race this morning. Our friend Shawn, my girlfriend Sharon and her sister-in-law Tammy. (Not standing in that order… Shawn would be the dude.)

Shawn and I planned to run it together and hoped to maintain a 7:00/mile pace. We warmed up for about a half mile and made our way to the start.

We went out FAST – Shawn’s Garmin said our pace was 5:45! But there was no way I was maintaining that pace for long and I started to fall behind. I told Shawn to go on ahead because he was able to maintain a faster pace than me. Freaking men and their big long legs.

I settled in around 7:00 or so because I hit the first mile at 7:02. I didn’t notice any other mile markers from there and just tried to keep a steady pace. I figured I had probably slowed down but was hopefully running fast enough to beat my spring 5K time of 23:31.

Rounding the final corner and seeing the 3/4 mile to the finish line I picked up the pace. The clock finally came into the view and I saw the time was 22:50, I kicked it into high gear to get in under 23 minutes and finished in 22:56. YAfreakingHOObutOMGIamsodamntiredthankyoubuddduhaitsover. My average pace turned out to be 7:22.

The fam was waiting for me at the finish and Ava said “Mommy, did that hurt?”

Why do you ask? Do I look like I’m in pain?

Sharon set a new PR for her second 5K ever and finished in 26:something.

Here she comes!

Shawn (the fast bastard) ended up finishing in 21:07. Jerk. I mean WAY TO GO SHAWN! Tammy finished in 31 minutes.

We hit up the post-race eats.

Aww yeah now we’re talkin’. I felt kind of bad though because there was only enough for me.

And check out Barbie macking my melon!

Max looks a little concerned. She was probably worried I was gonna kick Barbie’s melon munchin’ rear end.

We waited around for the official results, I finished 2nd in my age group (Females 30 – 34) and Sharon took 3rd! Except it looked like she finished 4th because she and her sister-in-law accidentally swapped timing chips. I saw her finish in 26: so I’m willing to testify in court as a witness if necessary.

I let the girls eat my share of bagels and pizza knowing I had a post race meal waiting at home for me to enjoy.

No way was Barbie getting anywhere near my breakfast cookie. Not without some hair pulling and cat noises anyway.