Birthday PR

The pre-race selfie...Dodd meant to make a funny face {mine is just because my face is funny}  The the post-race PR picture was photo-bombed by an expert photo-bomber!  My first Grape Jamboree ~ Run for the Grapes 5k was a GREAT experience.  So, here are my secrets:  I used a pre-race energy pack {Advocare SPARK energy pack ~ which I added to water & drank 30 minutes pre-race.  Bought it at the Grape Jamboree yesterday because ~ and I will quote ~ "If you take that, you will PR.  But you have to run fast too."}  I also ran a short warm up {just around the hospital}  I ran with Kelly for about 500 meters & then she took off ~ she was in sight the whole race, but I was not catching her.  Some young man wearing pink hooked himself to my hip & ran with me.  {running a tad closer to me than I would have liked, but I did it right back to him}  It helped so much that he was breathing harder than I was & he was the one trying to keep up with me.  What a motivation!  I lost him at one point, but he fought back.  Being only 17 or so, he had a sprint & finished a few people ahead of me, but he was a great help to me the whole race.

So my official 5k PR time {can't count the 20:01 at the Brewfest} is 22:30!  a 7:15 minute pace. 

Madison XC coaches ~ both placed first
in our age groups!

My obnoxious runner story:  The bib were NOT ripping off well & the guy totally just got the little corner of mine with the number.  I just knew the scorer wouldn't see it on the ring, so I went to the table & she was so very nice in the middle of her working on the scoring to check my number, which was there.{Kelly's wasn't, so it's a very good thing I checked  She says, "Becky?  You were fifth."  My face dropped, because I am aiming for #1 in my age group.  I go back & report to Brenda {also in my age group} that I placed fifth.  We can't figure out how that can be...so she goes to check.  Yeah, I'm such a dork.  I was fifth woman overall!  Not too shabby on my 46th birthday.

a little ADPi love in Geneva, Ohio

I did not run negative splits like I wanted to.  I did not check my watch for pace AT ALL and only looked at it once when I was needing to see that I was past the halfway mark {I was at 1.88 at that point}  I just ran.  Felt good the whole time.  Just wonder if there isn't something I'm leaving in the tank.  I really should start to run sprints...maybe next spring?

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	22:30.6	3.03	7:26
1	7:06.2	1.00	7:06
2	7:39.8	1.00	7:40
3	7:33.1	1.00	7:33
4	:11.6	0.03	6:33

  After looking at these splits, they were negative from 2 to 3, but that first mile was fast.  Would to nice to maintain THAT speed.

I'm getting old.  The time is now to do that.

Other birthday news:  Jacob was my fan at the race today.  And Mike CLEANED the house while we were gone.  AND I found my extra car key {It was in the bin where I keep the dogs' collars & leashes!  I remember thinking, "you want to put that away" and then it must have falling into the bin with the load I had in my hand.}  It is found & now I'm safe if I lock my keys in the car! ~ which I have never done, but was sure to do when I only had one key to the car.

And I have a DQ blizzard cake for dessert tonight. OH JOY