Diva Dash & Paige's First Race

Well, Sunday marked my 29th birthday and I decided to run the Diva Dash 5K again this year. I really enjoyed it last year, as it is primarily women involved and the cause is great. Girls on the run for Dane County: http://www.girlsontherundaneco.org/

Lots of gals dressed up in their diva attire (one even ran with a full martini glass!) and little girls running in tutus. It's a sight to see.

They also had a one mile kids race, which was awesome. I signed Paige up a few months ago. We bought her a pair of "running shoes" (pink of course), got her the ever-so-desired pink running skirt and a matching bondi band (she loves coordination and accessorizing, just like mommy!). We did a few training runs (some with Jackson in the jogging stroller). She did a lot of huffing and puffing, took off too quickly and got tired and did some boughts of walkign, but ended up doing two one-mile runs the week prior to the big day.

The technical shirts they gave out were aweome this year (girl fit, pink and crowns on the front)!

We picked up our bib numbers that morning and her's happened to be pink and mine turquoise blue -- to match each of our running outfits (how appropriate!). The volunteer at the booth thought that was amusing!

I even ended up getting Big #29, which was pretty amazing, considering it was birthday (coincidence?!).

Paige and I pre-race sporting our coordinted bib numbers!

Paige looking so serious right before the race. I have a very similar picture of myself before the Chicago Marathon!

There were only about fifteen kids participating in the one mile race. Paige decided to start out running hand-in-hand. I carried her pink Nike water bottle in my other hand.

It was an out-and-back course. 3/4 of the way to the turnaround, there was a stoplight. Surprised that Paige hadn't asked to stop already to walk and for a sip or water, I told her we'd stop after we crossed the street. She didn't want to, but we did. She took a sip of water and was off again. I did the same thing on our run back to the finish line.

As we approached the finish line, another girl around her age was coming up behind us with her mom. We saw daddy, Jackson and Grandpa Edge waiting there to cheer us on. I told her to put her hands up in the air in relief, and she looks more like she's flying!!

The other mommy and I ran off into the crowd as the two girls raced to the end. Paige actually picked up some speed, which really surprised me!! It took her just under 10 minutes to run the mile race (which I expect was quite a bit shorter).

Paige was soooo excited and proud to receive her first medal. And Jason and I were so proud of her. She said this was my birthday present. I am so happy we did this together.

I was really excited about my 5K race (a standard 3.1 miles), because I had not run any 5k races since I did this exact race last year. I really wanted to see what all of my marathon and half marathon training had done for me and wanted to see my improvements reflected. I was hoping to finish in about 24 minutes. My previous PR (personal record) was about a 26:30.

I was leading the pack in the top 20-30 the entire race. It was really an awesome experience, that I never ever get. I was feeling great. About a mile in, I was thinking that the course seemed a bit different from the year prior. When I got to the two mile course, I realized that my watch read about 10:30, which was WAY short. I felt good, but I knew I couldn't be going that fast!

I approached Jason, near the finish line, and new that the course was short, as my watch read about 19 minutes. Shortly, it was announced that the lead cyclist missed a turn and the course was short and only 2.33 miles (based on someone's Garmin).

Thought I didnt' receive recognition (top 3) in my age group, I did place really well overall:

overall place: 26 out of 155
division place (20-29 females): 7 out of 22
gender place: 16 out of 132
time: 19:31
pace: 8:23

The race director felt terrible and they were really apologetic. In fact, they are running the race again this Saturday. Though, I don't expect a great turnout and it probably won't be chip timed; I will be running it again on Saturday morning!