53 Riverbank Run 2011 Re-cap

Last week blogger was acting up, my reading list was gone, i couldn't post, it was horrible!  But we seem to be back to normal around here... 

"normal"- hahahahahaha!!  Let's pray that never really happens!

Soooooo, Saturday was the big race that I've been training for: The 53 Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, MI.

I started my day with this, because if it helps you climb a cliff surely it was going to help me run fast, right?

I was awake at 3AM, 4AM, 5AM and....got up at 6AM.  I'm the girl that (when I was about 10) threw up my OJ on the blue shag carpet in my parents "BLUE JEANS" van**if you don't know about "Blue Jeans" you need to read back!** as we headed into Disney... I tend to get a little nervous about stuff.  We met running buddy and followed her downtown, I'm SO thankful for her because she knew where to go, where to park, and where to pee...

In the ally behind this fence- there were great tall grasses and it was a 2 seater (actually about 40 of us could have peed back there).  

We then posed for a pre-race, post-pee picture

I love this gal!! She's a running STUD! 

Did you notice the puddles in the road?  It poured!!!  They started the 5k at 7AM and it was POURING, we started at 8 and by that time it was only misting, but that didn't mean I didn't have to swim across some giant puddles!

My running buddy totally set the pace for us, I can't tell you how thankful I am for her.  I knew if I could stick with her I'd be happy with my time.  Let me give you a play-by-play of my "self-talk" mile by mile

Mile 1 "Oh dear God, why did I do this?"

Mile 2 "OMG I hate this, why in &$*% did I want to do this?

Mile 3 "good grief I'm only 1/2 way done, 6.1 miles, what in the WORLD?!"

Mile 4 "OMG I feel awesome, my lungs feel great, my legs feel awesome, get movin' PSYCHO!" (as I'm running up a HILL, which is a nice touch 4 miles in, don't you think?

Mile 5 "Only 1 mile left, this is AWESOME"

at this point I'm coming back into the downtown and people are yelling and cheering and shouting "you're almost there, the finish line is around the corner"

Mile 6 "WHERE THE HECK IS THAT FINISH LINE??"

Finish Line: "that was AWESOME, I can't wait to do this again!!!!"

The blur in the pink hat, pink skirt and black top.... that's ME!  I finished # 918 out of over 2, 200 runners and was #21 in my age group. My time was 54:24. I wanted to turn around to some of the younger guys I was passing and yell "you're letting a 42 year old woman pass you- HAHA!"

After the race we got in line...

For all my friends that say they'll never run.... doesn't this tempt you just a little bit??

Yes, this is at 9 in the morning, don't judge! My other friend "Weed Lady" who also ran the 10k.

My Big supporter and photo journalist of the day: my Mister.

The Mister was so inspired he's running the 5k next year!  The energy and camaraderie of a race is VERY inspiring... so much so I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of the 25k next year, yep, that's over 15 miles!!

obligatory goof-ball shot

Now this next shot in NOT for the faint of heart, it's gross... I'm warning you....

This is what your foot (actually MY foot) looks like after running 6.1 miles in the rain and then hanging out in wet socks and shoes for over 2 hours...

Somebody get a toe tag!!

Hope you had a great weekend!!  Did you do anything fun?