Race Weekend

Ahhh...what a perfect weekend. Israel and I dropped our kids off to our friend's home around 1pm on Fri and drove our 3.5 hours to Salt Lake City, UT (can I just mention I am SOOO over driving?) Moving on...we had enough time to stop at the Health Expo and pick up our Race Packets and activate our timing chips. The chips are plastic circles that contain a computer chip that you lace onto your shoe and as you cross the starting line it starts your time and stops it as you cross the finish line. very cool. Then we met up with our friends, Misty and Glen and their kids for dinner at the Olive Garden. Misty's sister, Irene, was there too with her kids and it was great to catch up. I was a little sad that our kids didn't get to meet, but honestly it was so nice to not have to chase my own children that it felt very relaxing. AND I began my journey on trying new things with the Venetian Apricot Chicken. So worth trying that I just might have a new favorite! After, we went to the hotel, met up with our friends, Justin and Valerie, and enjoyed the hot tub. I was still nursing my shin splints.
(please attempt to ignore my deer in a headlight look. we were tired)
My race didn't start until 7:30am, but Israel, Glen and Misty were doing the 1/2 marathon so we all were downstairs of the hotel at a lovely 4:30am! But, I was so awake by that time. Valerie and I rode Trax up to their starting line (I wish it had been lighter out, I wanted to see the sea of people lining up to race) and dropped them off before getting to our location. We were a bit confused by the "public transportation" but us country bumpkins figured it out...eventually.

You would be surprised by the variety of people you see running races! You see all sorts. I just wanted to beat the baby strollers and old ladies with walkers. The first guy I noticed had long 70s hair with a head band that was red and white striped, his tshirt barely brushed his daisy duke cutoff jean shorts (why, yes, you could see his pockets hanging out the bottom) topped off with fashionable striped tube socks that reached his knees. Looks can be deceiving though this dude came in the top 10!!! Way to go!
This was my 1st race, ever! So it was pretty exciting to be standing there and listening the announcer begin the count downs. 3 min to start.....2 min to start.... 1 min.... 5..4..3..2..1 GO!! The adreleline was so fun! Note to self: Do not...I repeat...do NOT start near the front of a race. It's far too discouraging to get passed by 100+ people during mile 2. It's also pretty discouraging to get passed by a juggler. Yes, folks you read that right. A juggler was running faster than me. I will admit it did bring a smile to my face. I think I beat Spiderman. I didn't see him until later at the finish line in FULL mask and costume. People are a little crazy and so is STATE STREET I might add. I did finish with both goals in mind: #1 - I ran the whole way and did not die #2 - I finished in under 30 min. 29.31 in fact.

Here are the Final Stats of the race: I finished 654 out of 2388 racers. 41 out of 554 in my age division and was running a 9.30 min mile. I'm happy with the results, but I know I will do better next time. I still feel pretty good about finishing before 1734 people!!
And I have to give a shout out for Iz!! This hottie of mine finished 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 48 min!! He was 655 out of 4000+!! That is a consistent 8 min mile folks!! I'm so proud of him! Maggie thinks he won the race because he came home with a finishers medal. I'm holding up my only prize...ear buds to my mp3. She told me if I just try my hardest next time I can win too.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and shopping and shopping (poor iz, he was a trooper though). We had met up with our friends, so they suggested this Brazilian BBQ place and it was really good! So all the new things I tried this weekend were WONDERFUL!! I can't wait to do this all over again in August! All of us, Israel, Misty, Glenn, Irene, Valerie and ME will be running the Mesa Falls Half Marathon!!! I'm starting my training now and can't wait. I can see now why some become a bit addicted to the racing thing.