It's Good To Run Green

Oh, it's been a fun Saturday!  Today was my first (public) 5K since my winter boot-edness.  I have been working so hard for this...it takes a lot of discipline for me to work at something slowly and stick with it.  I want to go in all the way or not at all.  So this slow and steady nonsense really was quite irritating.  So although I'm running farther than a 5K 4 days a week, hopefully this week bumping up to 5 days, it's a different thing (for me) to go run one in a crowd. 

I like the personal space of my treadmill.  I like my controlled climate of 62 degrees.  I like the distraction of the t.v.  I like watching the distance tick by and knowing exactly how far I've gone and how far I have to go.  None of that when you are doing the events!  Today there were 1246 runners.  Not a lot of personal space.  It was dry but an icy wind off the water that just wanted to hang on, the last half blowing against us.  Cold, cold, cold.  There was no t.v, but I must admit some interesting characters to help distract me.

And even so, it was a great run!  We ran in the Tacoma St. Patty's Day Run.  This was the first time that Brad and I ran side-by-side the entire course.  Well, at least when we weren't weaving in and out of people.  I swear we ran an extra half mile just zig-zagging through the sea of greenly clad people.  Okay, that's a bit dramatic.  Maybe an extra .313 miles.

The last hill, going against the cold wind, was tough.  I always speed up going up hill, because I just want to get it over with.  And it's a great time to pass people.  Then I got to the top, rounded a corner, and my stomach rolled in a very peculiar way...let's just say I about had to pull off to the side and make a scene.  So I slowed to a walk for about 20 steps and then we were off again.  The downhill finish was great fun! 

We crossed the line with a time of 27:29.  I'm just a minute and a half off my best time, so I'm happy.  And it felt gooood.  No miserable pain.  No "why am I doing this???" nagging thoughts.  Out of 127 women in my age group, I finished 12th!  Happy result!

There were some crazy costumes at this run.  In most cases, you can tell who's there to have a little fun and who's there to just get the run done.  And all kinds in between.

At one point, we saw a large group of these girls, all dressed in matching green tutus and giant green bows.  There was no way I was letting someone dressed in a tutu beat me, so I sped up and passed them and left them way behind.

These two ladies were quite the fun!  They walked/ran the entire course in these outfits, which had to be quite the treat for anyone behind them who had to dodge those streamer skirts blowing in the wind.  They have decided to enter as many races as possible in 2010 with some other friends.  Last weekend they walked a half marathon, and they are doing a 5K just about every weekend around Washington and Oregon.  Very fun adventure!

Brad and I had decided awhile ago that we were going to consider this a date, and that we did.  It was nice to have a drive up there, lots of conversation that can be hard to find in the daily life.  And after we were able to drive around and find someplace for lunch and just hang out with no set plan.  Loved it.

and, yes, I know I look tired.  I am.

I would just love to tell a story about our lunch, but I just can't do it here.  It involved 2 older ladies, an inappropriate conversation, voices too loud, and they just about spoiled my appetite.  Brad very calmly looked into my eyes and said, "You need to let this go.  Just let it go."  I so badly wanted to go offer those ladies some kind common sense that they were obviously lacking.  If my children had been with me, I would have in a heartbeat.  Actually, Brad probably would have beat me to it.  I resisted, which I found to be much harder than resisting a cookie.  Which I really am craving right now.