Official Pictures from Run for the Rainbow

I must have done a good job at hiding because I found several pictures of just my head or half my head.  I do, however, have two finisher pictures from the Run for the Rainbow.  Want to see what death looks like?

We'll start with the 'alright' picture.

I don't know why I care that I was stopping my watch since I had muffed it up at the beginning and it wasn't accurate anyway.

And now for the 'oh my gosh' picture.

This was, I think, the first time I have ever run a race without a shirt and it very well may be my last.  I am the smallest weight I've been since I've had my son, but no matter what I do I'm still going to look a little on the chubby side.  Look, I'm 5'1".  There's not a whole lot of room for anything.  On top of that I'm extremely short wasted so no matter what I do I look a little on the chubby side.  I'm as fit as I've ever been but I'm never going to look like an elite athlete.

It's Here!!!!

Look what came in the mail today?  Isn't she beautiful?????  Isn't she fierce??????  I may finish dead effing last at the world champs, but dang it, I'm gonna look like a badass doing it.

Run for the Rainbow 5K 2016

I went to work on Friday morning and my coworker said, "you running the race tonight?"  Why, yes.  I am.  Game on, Eric.  Game on!

I showed up to the race plenty early.  Dave and Anderson were able to enjoy all the festivities - the race benefited Nationwide Children's Hospital so there was a small petting zoo, free food and goodies, face painting, balloons, etc.  Heaven for a three year old.  I checked in, went to the bathroom one thousand times, and warmed up.  It was a hot one, but the warm up went great and I thought I would be having a good race.  Just a few minutes before the start of the race I went off to a side street to do a few more pickups and then I looked over and the race had started. 

WTF?!?  It was still six minutes until the start of the race!

Who starts a race early?!?

So I took off like a bat out of hell to try to get around everyone and hit the first mile mark in a 6:49.  Now, I should be able to hold that pace but immediately I felt like the monkey jumped on my back.  I felt terrible.  My heart was jumping out of my throat and my legs would not go.  I slowed down and just tried to hold on.  And then I did something unbelievable in a 5K - I walked a water stop.  Yep.  I took in the water, got my stuff back together, and took off again.  Unfortunately, my legs still wouldn't go and I did all I could to get to the finish line.

My finish time was 22:12.  Not bad, but certainly not what I was thinking I would do.  I finished fourth female and first in my age group.  And my friend Eric?  Just 20 seconds back.  Woah. 

And I enjoyed the festivities too.  I got some ice cream and then watched my son man-handle some baby chicks.

 Eric, myself, and his sister.

Official race pictures are supposed to be posted soon.  Hopefully there'll be at least one where I don't look like how I was feeling - death.

May Totals

May was a pretty good month.  I buckled down and got the work done.  I only missed a handful of workouts.

Swim - 24,850 yards ~ 14.1 miles
I wish I could swim more, honestly.  Our daily lives don't always allow us to get to the pool as often as I should/want to.  And I'm no longer able to go to masters in the morning since Dave started a new job in April.  He goes to work WAY earlier now.

Run - 100.51 miles
Yay!  I finally ran 100 miles in a month this year!!!

Strength - 0.5 hours
Well, something's got to give to fit in all the swimming and running and unfortunately, it was strength this month.  MUST.TRY.HARDER.

YMCA Visits - 19
Cost Per Visit - $1.98
(And I'm currently interviewing for a new position/promotion that would make my Y membership FREE!!!!)

Overall, I'm really pleased with how May went.  Things are starting to fall into place.  It's exciting.  I can't wait to move onto June!

Columbus 10K Finish Line Pictures

 As hard as I ran, I deserve to look a little bit like death at the finish line.  Seriously.  Death.

But look at those guns?!  Swimming does a body good!

Columbus 10K 2016

Our weekend was busy.  Dave was out of town running a relay race in Maryland, so I was on my own with the kiddo and dog.  My parents helped out as I had to work on Friday night and Saturday morning, then my sister had a family dinner on Saturday night, and then I made the decision to stay with my parents on Saturday night so I wouldn't interrupt everyone to go run my race on Sunday morning.

That was a dumb decision.

Anderson and I shared a bed, which would have been fine, except he was still awake at midnight and my alarm was set for 6:00.  On top of that, our dog was sleeping in bed with us, which is normal, but she kept hopping off the bed any time I got up and she wanted out at 1:00am.  And finally, my parents' dog, in his crate downstairs, barked all night long.  Needless to say, I did not feel rested and ready to go when I got up in the morning.  AND, everyone in the house was awake and downstairs when I left for the race at 6:45.

It poured down rain as I drove downtown and continued to rain right up until just a few minutes before race time.  I wore a hat because of the rain, which was a total mistake as the humidity was like 1 billion percent and the hat was hot, hot, HOT!!!  My warmup kind of sucked, but I was gonna run it and run it hard. 

And I did.  I started out a little too fast, but held on and ran hard until the end.  The race was highly competitive.  I did my best to hang on and race anyone down I could.  The course was honest with rolls and turns.

My final time was a 45:35, which is a 5 second PR and a 7:20 pace.  I finished 5th in my age group and even picked up a little award.

I have been working really hard on my speed and endurance this year.  It's great to see it paying off.  And I hate to admit it, I'm really loving these short, fast races.  Plus, a new PR after 15 years of running?  Icing on the cake.