mother's day (and the 5k)

There wasn't anything too crazy special about mother's day this year, but I got to do something I love and spend time with people I love, so it wasn't half bad.  Actually mother's day weekend was glorious because Christopher had the entire weekend off.  That hasn't happened in quite a while and it was SO nice.

I started mother's day off with my first post baby race, the same race I ran when I did my first 5k (side note, I laugh every time I read that post, I said I'd never understand the people that love running :o), and the race I PR'ed the 5k last year.  So fitting that it was my first one back.  I was a little a lot nervous.  Really I had no reason to be.  It is such a nice event, lots of happy ladies starting their day off in a healthy way.  No pressure.  But I didn't want to be dissapointed in my time.  I've run over three miles more than a handful of times since Elsie was born, so I knew I would make it, but I'm ready to be faster again.

That morning I almost didn't have Chris and the girls come to the race.  It was chillier, usually Elsie won't nap in her car seat, Chris has seen me run a 5k plenty of times, it was early, the list goes on.  But we all managed to get up on time and out the door and it turned out not to be as cold as I thought it would and Elsie slept in her car seat... and I was so incredibly thankful to have them there.  There is just something about coming around a corner and seeing them there that makes a race so much better.  And Ryann likes race days because Chris always makes her a special 'race day snack', which means Chris sneaks some chocolate chips or marshmallows or sugary cereal into her snack bag.  So we were all happy.

I opted to line up between the 9 and 10 minute mile markers.  I wanted to finish in under 30 minutes, but I was pretty confident I would die if I tried to run under a 9 minute mile.  When the race started I was annoyed with the congestion.  I mean, yes, that is a popular pace area, it makes sense that there were a lot of people packed in there, it just seemed to take a bit for everyone to get moving.  I saw Chris and the girls, gave them a little wave, and then started weaving.  I had to get a little free space in front of me.

The good part about running this race three years in a row?  I pretty much know the course and am comfortable running it.  The bad part about running this race three years in a row?  I pretty much know the course.  And I can't make those mile markers pop up any earlier on the route :o).  The first two miles went relatively quickly.  I felt ok.  But by the start of the third mile I could tell I was running a little quicker than I had been training.  I was getting tired.  It didn't help that I'd gotten maybe 4-5 hours of broken sleep the last two nights.  And then at one point I thought we were at the last little out and back, and I was wrong, there was still another left, and that was pretty defeating.  I was so ready to be done.  People started passing me.  I wanted to pick up my pace but my body was just out of juice.

When I finally saw the finish line ahead of me I gave it everything I had.  I could see the clock hadn't reached 29 minutes, and I was determined to make it across the mats before it did.  So I gunned it, on fumes of course, but I finished strong.  I grabbed a bottle of water and started to scan the crowd for Christopher, but I reached the food tables before I found them so I grabbed some snacks.  I had intended on just getting a banana, but the cookies and brownie bites were calling to me.  They just were.  And the brownie bites were oh so worth it.  :o)  I really took it up a notch by eating a bite of banana followed by a bite of brownie.  Yum.

Elsie woke up just as I was finishing my snacks, so we packed up and headed home.  Chris took Ry to the park, I fed Elsie, we put together a salad and I took a shower.  Then it was off to Christopher's Grandma's house for lunch with his family.  Anita brought Ryann a stomp rocket and it was a huge hit.  I'm loving it because it is an energy burning activity that Ryann can do all by herself :o).  Of course she'd prefer someone to play with her, but she can do it, and she loves it.

Eventually we headed home, had some dinner, did some chores, got the kiddos in bed... a pretty uneventful day.  But I was very happy to be with my family.  Eventually I looked up my official race time.  28:30.  Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.  I finished 215 out of 3,674 overall and 20th out of 351 in the 25-29 age group.  I look forward to running the race again next year, and maybe, just maybe, I could set a new 5k PR!