Race Day

We did it! It was fridged...down right freezing (literally). There was about an inch of snow on the ground at our house when we left and the temperature was around 30 degrees. We were there just 4 minutes before the race was supposed to start and I needed to get my watch on, ipod on, timing chip on, and bib on. When Doug was helping get my bib on (my fingers were so cold they weren't working) the man with the microphone said, "If you're bib #594, we have your timing chip". Yup--me. Well, in true Heather style, I enlisted the help of strangers...I just chose the right strangers! It ended up that the man getting my timing chip on me was the person in charge of the entire race and he determined when the race would begin. So, the 800+ runners who were a little irritated that the race started a few minutes late can thank me.

Well, the race started and I had a few set backs (two bathroom stops--yikes!) and the course was so tough. We ran 6 miles of the golf course with rolling hills--steep up and steep down over, and over, and over, and over.  It was painful and I pushed myself so hard to reach my 2 hour goal, but didn't really come close. I finished in 2:10:84. After training at sub-ten minute miles I kept the tradition alive with an average of 9:59 miles. I figure I lost about 7-8 minutes with my bathroom stops, but what do you do??

Doug met me at the finish line saying "that was a tough course!" and I felt validated. He finished in 1:52 and both of us were freezing once we'd stopped running for 5 minutes. My mom and Christine brought Ethan and Sydney to the finish line to see us (thanks Mom for watching our kids).  I was so excited to see them after such a tough race. Doug's sister Michelle ran the race as well and we had to make sure we got a photo with her. 

After the raffles we found this sign and wanted to take a photo. I was grateful for all my layers (2 shirts, 2 pair of pants) for the raffles.  It was so cold.

Thanksgiving Point gave all racers 2 passes for the day to their Dinosaur museum, Farm Country, and Gardens. We were happy to be indoors at the dinosaur museum and thaw out. We were glad Grandma could join us and play. We had a great time with her.

Sydney was in awe of the huge fish that were on the ceiling in one exhibit.

They both loved playing in the water and sand in the excavating exhibit.

Not sure why I appear to be freaking out in this photo except that I was sore and holding him was taxing. I felt disgusting with dried sweat on me until I showered at 2:30 pm. I even wore my medal the entire time because it was under my jacket (see the green ribbon).

So glad we ran the course and got to share the adventure with Ethan and Sydney. We just wished we could've had them in the jogger. Doug, Michelle, and I all spotted another guy with a single jogging stroller and were frustrated we didn't have our cute kids with us. It was a tough enough course though...Doug might be grateful.