Sunday was my first race of the season! Very excited about that.
It was cold but the sun was shining. But because it was cold, it was also very confusing as to how much to wear out on the course. I was going to wear my winter UnderArmor leggings and then my jogging pants over that. I did eventually take the pants off. Then I was just going to wear my winter UnderArmor shirt and a jacket. But once I saw Brent take off his fleece pullover, I was thinking of not wearing my jacket. In the hour of waiting around, I did realise that I was cold and Brent likes the cold so I'm gonna keep my jacket on. We did see guys in shorts & short sleeve shirts. CRAZY!!
Before the race, a guy asked us if we saw the course yet. He said the first quarter mile is all downhill and ice so we should walk it. We find out where the course is at and go check it out. Yep, ice. But we manage to find a bit of snow on the side that will help grip it. Then we realise that the finish is at top of the same hill which means we have to run back UP it at the end.
While waiting for Brent to come back from a bathroom break, a saw a girl a bit younger than me wearing a NIU sweatshirt so of course I said, Go Huskies! And then the mother in front of her turned around and I saw that she too was wearing a Huskie sweatshirt. So we were talking about the event and that we were heading back tonight to go to the Memorial Service at 7pm.
At the start, it's in the shade and I was cold with my jacket on so I don't know how Brent was managing. Then the race started, it was a lot of short steps to make sure that our legs weren't going to slip out from under us. Brent was behind me most of the time going down just because it was single file alongside the road. At the bottom of the hill, it got to be drier and sure enough my iPod said it was .25 into the race. That's when Brent caught up with me and we ran side by side for a little while. I took a few pictures of him. Then I sped up a bit and took pics of him over my head. That was cool.
At one point in the 1st or 2nd mile when Brent was behind me, I patted my butt trying to indicate come and get this! Those miles were mostly clear as they were roads in a subdivision.
At the start of the 3rd mile, I was going to leave him behind and start doing my own speed but I just kept checking over my left shoulder to see if he was still behind me or if he fell down. I couldn't just leave him then. There was a small turnaround and I thought maybe then I could go. But by that time we were back on ice and snow on the bike path. But again, I didn't. I did speed up a little bit, told my body to kick in a little bit. By that time I was getting a little warm but still happy that I had on my jacket and hat. I took off my gloves around mile 2 or 2.5.
Then once the start of the 4 mile began, I decided now was the time to heave-ho. So I got my burn on but it wasn't much of a burn by that time since I spent a lot of energy dodging the puddles, stepping gingerly over the ice. But I did manage to really kick it in the last half mile.
I saw Huskie girl in front of me then but I didn't think that I would be able to catch her but at the bottom of the hill that we began running on, I managed to catch her and then pass her! I thought about saying "Go Huskies!" but I didn't want to egg her on and have her pass me. I also managed to pass another older lady on the hill but man, was it hard to run up it, not the hill part but the snow & ice part. I managed to get to a dry place and then all the snow fell off my shoe but then I ran into slush & snow again and the tread would just get snowpacked again.
I didn't look behind me once I started running up the hill but knew that Brent was not that far behind me. So once I got to the finish corral, I got out the camera again, took a picture of my time, tore off my running tag and then turned to get his picture, after he crossed the line. I hugged him immediately. I was so proud of him that he came in that close behind me!
We stayed for the post race just in case, I was in the top 35. But they started at #35 and when they got to the 20's something they had said a time of 34 minutes so I knew I wasn't in the contention. But the results were posted today. I was number 37!! Just 30 seconds in front of me! Boo to that! Oh well, it was just a travel coffee cup and I have plenty of them and don't drink coffee anyway.
So anyway, there's the race. First of the season and first for Brent ever! Yay for a boyfriend to want to do something with me that I enjoy!
It was cold but the sun was shining. But because it was cold, it was also very confusing as to how much to wear out on the course. I was going to wear my winter UnderArmor leggings and then my jogging pants over that. I did eventually take the pants off. Then I was just going to wear my winter UnderArmor shirt and a jacket. But once I saw Brent take off his fleece pullover, I was thinking of not wearing my jacket. In the hour of waiting around, I did realise that I was cold and Brent likes the cold so I'm gonna keep my jacket on. We did see guys in shorts & short sleeve shirts. CRAZY!!
Before the race, a guy asked us if we saw the course yet. He said the first quarter mile is all downhill and ice so we should walk it. We find out where the course is at and go check it out. Yep, ice. But we manage to find a bit of snow on the side that will help grip it. Then we realise that the finish is at top of the same hill which means we have to run back UP it at the end.
While waiting for Brent to come back from a bathroom break, a saw a girl a bit younger than me wearing a NIU sweatshirt so of course I said, Go Huskies! And then the mother in front of her turned around and I saw that she too was wearing a Huskie sweatshirt. So we were talking about the event and that we were heading back tonight to go to the Memorial Service at 7pm.
At the start, it's in the shade and I was cold with my jacket on so I don't know how Brent was managing. Then the race started, it was a lot of short steps to make sure that our legs weren't going to slip out from under us. Brent was behind me most of the time going down just because it was single file alongside the road. At the bottom of the hill, it got to be drier and sure enough my iPod said it was .25 into the race. That's when Brent caught up with me and we ran side by side for a little while. I took a few pictures of him. Then I sped up a bit and took pics of him over my head. That was cool.
At one point in the 1st or 2nd mile when Brent was behind me, I patted my butt trying to indicate come and get this! Those miles were mostly clear as they were roads in a subdivision.
At the start of the 3rd mile, I was going to leave him behind and start doing my own speed but I just kept checking over my left shoulder to see if he was still behind me or if he fell down. I couldn't just leave him then. There was a small turnaround and I thought maybe then I could go. But by that time we were back on ice and snow on the bike path. But again, I didn't. I did speed up a little bit, told my body to kick in a little bit. By that time I was getting a little warm but still happy that I had on my jacket and hat. I took off my gloves around mile 2 or 2.5.
Then once the start of the 4 mile began, I decided now was the time to heave-ho. So I got my burn on but it wasn't much of a burn by that time since I spent a lot of energy dodging the puddles, stepping gingerly over the ice. But I did manage to really kick it in the last half mile.
I saw Huskie girl in front of me then but I didn't think that I would be able to catch her but at the bottom of the hill that we began running on, I managed to catch her and then pass her! I thought about saying "Go Huskies!" but I didn't want to egg her on and have her pass me. I also managed to pass another older lady on the hill but man, was it hard to run up it, not the hill part but the snow & ice part. I managed to get to a dry place and then all the snow fell off my shoe but then I ran into slush & snow again and the tread would just get snowpacked again.
I didn't look behind me once I started running up the hill but knew that Brent was not that far behind me. So once I got to the finish corral, I got out the camera again, took a picture of my time, tore off my running tag and then turned to get his picture, after he crossed the line. I hugged him immediately. I was so proud of him that he came in that close behind me!
We stayed for the post race just in case, I was in the top 35. But they started at #35 and when they got to the 20's something they had said a time of 34 minutes so I knew I wasn't in the contention. But the results were posted today. I was number 37!! Just 30 seconds in front of me! Boo to that! Oh well, it was just a travel coffee cup and I have plenty of them and don't drink coffee anyway.
So anyway, there's the race. First of the season and first for Brent ever! Yay for a boyfriend to want to do something with me that I enjoy!
