The weekend started Saturday with a wedding in Columbus ~ We got to dress up like real adults & drive 2 1/2 hours in the remains of tropical depression Bill {read: lots of heavy rain} ~ to go to the wedding of a co-worker. It was a fun crowd & we almost got to witness a groom barf on his bride in the middle of the ceremony {but that didn't happen, so it's really a non-story ~ it had the makings of a GREAT story...now it's just a woulda coulda story} The whole group of sped coworkers were sitting & drinking & talking when we saw the bride & groom taking pictures. We agreed that it would be amazing to get a picture with the bride & groom ~ so we all ran outside & said, "let's all take a picture." Yeah, no. So we took a picture of ourselves & the bride and groom so rudely photo bombed us. {can you believe the nerve?}
Today is Father's Day & I am forever grateful for my wonderful father who taught me everything I know & tried to teach me the stuff I still struggle with! I also thank him for being an example of a great man. Because of that, I feel, I picked a great man to be the father of my children. 20 years of being a father...and we've raised two great boys who will be ready to forge their own paths in life & always have a dad who will be there to help them solve their problems. He's also an amazing husband...so I bought him an amazing shirt.
But that amazing man is also amazingly competitive. He's currently #1 in his age group in the NERC grand prix standings {as am I} and he has to "defend my position". Therefore, it's vitally important to run all the grand prix races...today's being Run for the Hills 10k {which, as I noted last year, is really just run a 5k ~ run up a 1/2 mile hill ~ and run another 5k.} Another hot and very humid day ~ about 99% humidity. I got so very sweaty on our very short warm up...and was soaked through by the end of mile 1.
I enjoyed this year much more as I KNEW there was only one massive hill to climb ~ and again, I climbed it like a BEAST! The best part was that Mike and I pretty much ran the race together {at least by each other} He was right ahead of me on the hill {I actually caught him there}. As everyone else is slowing down & walking ~ we attacked. And this year I didn't DIE on the last three miles. There were a few times I started to go to that dark place. {I wish I could put it into words...it's the place where I'm sure I'm going to die. My head gets a fog, my body is heavy, I'm hot...and I'm ready to quit} anyway...I'd start to get that fog & I was able to 'clear it out' and focus on the moment and regain my strong. It was a good hot humid run that DIDN'T beat me.
We passed the 6 mile mark & Mike says, "if you want to win your age group, you better get moving" We turned to the finish next to each other & raced it in. He says he wanted to stroll in hand-in-hand...but he raced me. They gave the win to me, but our time was the same, 50:13. Ironically, the SAME EXACT time I ran last year! I tied my PR, but I don't think that counts for PR ice cream. I was surprised that I didn't run a faster time. I felt better this year and I felt I ran stronger. I'll have to plug in the Garmin & compare the splits.
Dodd came in third in his age group {first time he's placed in a while! GO DODD!} and I placed second. A great race. Glad Mike made us run it.
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