After dinner - we left the table before remembering to get a picture!We met up with Kelly and Chuck at Luigi's, a fun Italian restaurant. As we pulled into the parking lot, Jeff asked me how would I recognize her - I was all "I've seen her picture on her blog" - and you know what? She looks just pretty in person as she does on her blog! The fun thing is that with all of the blog and email interactions I've had with Kelly, I felt like I "knew" her already...and after preliminary hugs, we fell right into jabbering away. It was a great dinner - she and I ordered the same thing, chicken Marco Polo (go check her blog for a picture...Chuck took one) and the conversation flowed nicely. Chuck is funny and sweet and as my husband put it later, "obviously really likes his wife" - what better compliment could there be? After dinner, we went over to our local frozen yogurt place (did I mention there is no calorie counting in blogger meet ups?) where we had some tasty treats and I finally found someone who would put one of the more perplexing toppings (to me) on their yogurt - Chuck braved the sweetened condensed milk...and liked it! After more laughs and good conversation, we parted ways until Sunday morning.
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And now, the Armadillo Dash recap! First, I have to say that I was a lot less nervous about this run, although I had a moment of panic and started to sweat profusely when I went to pick up my race packet on Friday. But looking at my pretty race t-shirt and bib with the timing chip calmed me down...plus I got some free GU and lip balm - score!After attaching my bib to my shirt and chip to my shoe, I got everything else together - a ziploc bag with some bars (Lara and Luna) for after the race, extra safety pins, lip balm, camera, sunglasses, visor, water bottle and banana (for before the race). I am nothing if not prepared! Then came the sleeping (not). I was like a kid waiting for Santa Claus - I tossed and turned all night! Oh well. Got up at 5:30 am, showered and dressed, and we finally left the house at 6:26 am. Now, we live one mile from where the race was held. The road outside our subdivision was going to be closed on race morning, as well as the entrance to the park on that side, so we had to go about three miles out of our way. Figured we had PLENTY of time to get there and meet up with Kelly and my workout peeps. Well, 2,000 runners converging from three directions onto one little road was insane - it took us 30 minutes to get there! Texting and phone calls were flying - I calmed down a little once Linda said that they had to delay the start of the race last year due to heavy traffic. Next year? We will walk to the race.
As it was, we got there around 7:05 and the half marathoners, which were scheduled to start at 7 am, started at 7:09 am. We had time for a few pictures, and then the horn sounded and we...slowly made our way to the starting line - dang, there were a lot of people there! I think we crossed it close to a minute and a half into the race, but since our shoes were tagged with timing chips, it really didn't matter.
Kelly and Shelley - Blogger Run Day!
My workout peeps - Jeri, me, Karen, Jan, Linda and her son Reagan
Look at the crowd! This is how far back we were from the start line!
We finally crossed the start line and were off!
Kelly, me, Jeri - hitting our stride!The 5K race route had to be changed due to road construction, and while they gave us an updated map when we picked up our packets AND had people directing us, it still got a little confusing. Linda and her speedy son, Reagan, were well ahead of us, and a couple of times we passed each other going opposite directions (it was fun to wave to people you knew). Well, just before Kelly, Jeri and I came across the two-mile marker, Reagan came up from behind us...and as I shouted "Go Reagan, Go!" I thought "wait, that can't be right...he was far ahead of us." I caught up to him and he said "I've seen that sign before" (meaning the two-mile marker) - and I was all ut-oh, you ran this loop again. He then realized that he had made that loop several times already - poor kid! Well, at that point, Kelly and Jeri took a little walking break, so I just ran ahead with Reagan. It was nice, actually - I got to talk with him about baseball (he had practice later that afternoon) and it brought back memories of when my son Sam played. And actually, my pace increased while running with Reagan because he is so fast! I knew Linda would be worried about him, since he WAS close behind her until he got on the runner's roundabout, so I tried to keep up with him for the rest of the race. Here's a map of the route - you can see the last loop could be confusing:
Click to enlarge - the big loop is what I have renamed "Runner's Roundabout"You know what's fun about running with a ten-year-old boy? Hurdles. He jumped every traffic cone on the way back down the road toward the finish line! Love his energy! I got a second wind as we came close to the park, and kicked it into high gear and RAN! I didn't realize it at the time, but there was a mat positioned a couple of hundred yards from the finish line and when I crossed it, my chip was read so they could announce my name - and that was VERY COOL to hear as I ran toward the finish line!
That's Reagan in the white shirt in front of me - I'm clapping - not real sure why!
Woohoo, crossing the finish line!!! My chip time was 38:10; I finished 396th out of 592, was 29th in my age division, and my pace was 12:14.
Finish line - I love the look on my face! (picture taken by Kelly's husband, Chuck)
Right after I finished - no tears this time, just smiles.
Two sweaty bloggers - 5K finishers!
We did it!!!After we recovered a bit with some water, orange slices, bagels and such, we went back to the sidelines of the finish line so we could wait for the half marathoners to come in. The first guy was way ahead of the rest - he must have been flying the entire race! We cheered and clapped as everyone came in, but kept our eyes on the clock...Brad was running his first-ever half marathon, and his goal was to come in under two hours. Finally we saw him - and just in the nick of time as he finished in 1:58!!!
Run Brad, Run!
This is one happy finisher! (photo by Chuck)
Reagan, Linda, me, Brad and Betsy (another workout peep, although she did not get the memo about wearing our purple shirt, lol!)Did I mention how much fun this was? Oh, I did? Well, it really was great! In fact, I noticed a few hours later that I had actually bruised my finger by clapping so much for all of the half marathoners! Good times, yo.
Come back tomorrow for a Blogger Run Day recap - by then hopefully I'll have updates of everyone who ran.
Come back tomorrow for a Blogger Run Day recap - by then hopefully I'll have updates of everyone who ran.
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