Cliff was apart of the running clubs at his school last year and because of this he got to run in a few 5Ks. I went to all of the races and had a whole lot of fun taking pictures and cheering on folks while Cliff, the kids, and his coworkers ran their butts off. It looked like fun so I even decided to participate in the action. Last February we signed up for the Girl Scout Cookie 5K. Actually I signed up for the one mile fun run but later upgraded to the 5K when I realized that only small, small children do these. Embarrassing. I know. That race was pretty awesome as it was super small and we ended up winning cookies...both of us. My heart smiles just thinking of it. Despite my cookie-worthy performance my time was actually pretty terrible. I mean some people could probably walk 5K in the time that it took me to run. As I have said before...I am slow and steady. Anyway, since I have been exercising more I had high hopes for improving my time. Two weeks ago Cliff and I ran a practice 5K at a park so that I could manage my expectations. After two months of working out (workout DVDs and jogging) I was able to shed over four minutes off my 5K time from last February. I ran it without stopping to walk. Big victory for me. While I was excited about that I was still a little embarrassed as my new personal record was still slow. Looking onward to the Shamrock 5K, Cliff was encouraging and Brie was positive that I was going to shed a few more minutes. I was skeptical.
We went up to Portland on Saturday and stayed with Brie at her apartment. We got to meet her three kitties. They are all super cute and have their own little personalities. Cliff was in heaven as one of her cats in pretty much a cat-dog as it is super curious and cuddly. If I wasn't so allergic (I was heavily medicated for the trip) we would have a cat in our apartment as Cliff really likes them. Brie made vegetarian lasagna and after dinner we hung out for a while, prepped for the race, and then went to bed. The next morning we got up early. Anise, Brie's friend, joined our party as her dad was going to run the 15K. It was in the high 30's with rain on and off. It was pretty cold.
We were ready. While we waited at the bus stop we decided to take some pre-race photos. As you can tell I was feeling pretty super. The Shamrock Run is huge. It consists of a 5K, 8K, and 15K. In total there were 32,000 participants. So many people!
Brie and Anise were pumped. Anise wasn't a big fan of the picture taking process but she was a good sport. This was Brie's second Shamrock 5K and Anise's first (she ran the fun run last year). They did a good job telling us what to expect as we waited for the bus.
We gals got St. Patrick's Day socks from Target. I love Target. We wanted to be festive and nothing says 'we are athletic' like themed tube socks.
I bought a St. Paddy's Day headband at Target thinking it would be warm and sunny. Nope. But that's ok as Mrs. Lyddane made me an awesome orange hat for Christmas a few years ago and it worked perfectly with the theme of the day. The hat not only kept me warm but it also helped me stick out. Cliff was able to find us after the race in the huge crowd because of the hat. I was a orange beacon. It was awesome.
The run was a success! Cliff ran ahead of us and had a good race. He ended up coming in 404th out of the 9,059 total 5Kers and 58th out of 469 male runners in his age group. Awesome, right? Seriously. As for me, I ended up cutting over another two and a half minutes off my previous best time! Brie was right! I was so excited and shocked. I finished 4,797th out of the total 9,059 5Kers and 522nd out of 1,037 gals in my age group. I now have an ok 5K time! I can't tell you how excited I was. I'm still excited! I'm kinda starting to feel athletic. It's awesome.
After the race we stopped for a group photo. Brie and Anise were awesome. Brie normally runs much faster but she decided to run with us instead. We girls ran together and so was motivating and fun. It was really wonderful.
After the race we parted ways with Anise and we were starting to get really cold so we went to claim our victory goodies. We started with our free cups of salmon chowder. Holy crap it was good! I know what you are thinking: "Chowder? After a race? That sounds disgusting and makes my stomach turn". We thought the same thing! Not the case. It was warm and smoky and it hit the spot. I wish I was eating it now just thinking about it. Cliff liked it so much that he had to have two at the same time.
After victory chowder we went to get our victory beer. What would a St. Patrick's Day race be without free victory beer? The buddy of the guy taking the picture was being kinda ridiculous so the photo captures all of us laughing at him. Despite the chowder and beer we were starting to get really cold so we hauled tail to the bus stop. After we got home and changed we went out for lunch. It was a fantastic ending to a fantastic weekend.
I wanted to leave you guys with a little thing that I am going to call "Where's Kim?" For those of you who are "Where's Waldo" fans (I am!) you might enjoy trying to pick me out of the end of the race crowd. Cliff did. Happy St. Patrick's Day (a little late) and happy hunting!
Yay!!! congrats on your new PR. That is awesome
ReplyDeleteThanks friend! We miss you when we go running. Alton Baker Park just isn't the same without you.
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