Last Saturday was hubby's birthday - and our first race of the year (other than coaching). This was my second year running the Green County YMCA's Celtic Run Before You Crawl 5K (HERE). This was hubby's third year competing. This was also his very first 5K event a few years ago - I still can't believe how far he's come. It's scheduled the same weekend as their pub crawl.
We traveled down to Monroe, Wisconsin, hubby's hometown to run the race and celebrate his birthday. The race started and ended at the Green County YMCA and many runners were dressed in their best green running gear for this event always held the weekend before St. Patrick's Day. The weather was pretty decent and we didn't have to dress in too many layers.
I ran into Stacey W, who was one of my virtual coaching clients last year. She lived about 20-30 mins in the opposite direction, and it was great to meet her at this race - finally.
I hadn't charged my ipod before we packed up our bags at home, so of course it was completely dead. I managed to stream my iTunes from my iphone, which I stashed in my pocket and didn't mess with it during the race.
One thing I love about being married to this guy, is that I've moved way up in the alphabet and we always get the highest bib numbers (just kidding). We got to the startline and were OFF shortly after 9am. I was familiar with the route - and the hills - but still managed to go out way too fast. We headed up the first hill and around the corner. A lot of the snow had melted and caused puddles and then it froze over night. They had asked runners to stay towards the middle of the road for safety and avoid slipping, but that didn't help. There was no way of avoiding the slick, icy conditions. The roads looked wet, but they were pure ice much of the time. I tipped toed over the ice and managed not to fall. Others weren't so likely. I saw two runners fall backwards during the 3.1 miles.
I saw my mother-in-law cheer us on from the sidelines - that was a pleasant surprise. My first mile was 8:20 and my second mile was 9:20. That first mile was a little too fast for me - especially with all of those hills that I knew were waiting for me. I ended up finishing the race with a decent 25:28 and finished 8/59 in my age group. I told hubby that I was hoping to finish with 25 and some change, and I did just that. So I was pretty happy. I felt completely spent as I crossed the finish line. Tired and exhausted. That first race of the year is the hardest for me.
We finished our day out with some friends and family and enjoyed some local rootbeer, cheese and chili and toured the Minhas Brewery again (I love the Chocolate Bunny beer - and I am not one to enjoy beer!) and also used our Groupon to tour the distillery and sample sample sample. We even ran into some other 5K runners that recognized us from the race. We enjoyed some coffee, did some window shopping and had a tasty pizza at the Swiss Haus before turning in early for the night.
Awesome job!
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