Well Connected

My husband is famous.  So are two of my running pals.  I guess you could say I'm well connected.  And I gotta say I am proud of all three! 

This weekend we ran the Firecracker 5k on July 4.  Jason and I have run this race since the inaugural one, making us 3 for 3.  It is held by the Morningside Baptist Church, and they do a wonderful job.  It is well-organized, fun and all the volunteers are the friendliest you will ever meet.  Sure, race day is always a hot one, but the course is flat and fast, being run mostly on a greenway, and there is refreshing cold water at the end.

The race is steadily growing, and this year the media showed up.  Here is the coverage of the race.  You can see first place overall finisher, Jason Reneau, and the first female finisher, Katie Maehlmann finish their races. They also list the first 5 finishers in each gender category with their finishing times, and that is when Julia's name appears as the second overall female. 

As far as my own performance goes, I did okay.  I finished in 23:12 and was the 7th female to finish.  While Julia and Katie did speed work a few times a week, I continued bootcamping, swimming and cycling with my running, hoping maybe that would translate into some speediness on race day.  It did not, or the heat and a too-fast first mile got the best of me and I was about 40 seconds slower than I wanted to be.

My goal was to beat my PR, which is currently 22:40, but I think I started out too fast.  My first mile was a 7:02, followed by a 7:36 and a 7:42.  I felt my legs start to slow as I tried to hold a 7:15.  I wasn't hurting and I felt like I should be able to push through the heat and fatigue I was feeling.  I tried to consider my training, and I tried to think about Katie and her approach to racing (which is fast and furious and give-all-you've-got), but my legs continued to slow down anyway. 

Despite that, I had a great time.  After the awards, I ran 2 miles with Julia, giving me 7 for the day (I'd run 2 to warm up before the race).  I enjoyed seeing several running friends, catching up and hanging with Jason.  Jason finished his race in 18:04, and that was after running 10 "warm-up" miles.  He hadn't raced in a long time, being smack in the middle of ironman training, so he wasn't sure what he'd be able to do.  I was a proud wife, to say the least.  I am always impressed by what he can do, and just watching him spurs me on to try more myself. 

It was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July, and I was extremely proud of my amazing husband and running pals.  What great company I keep!