KDF Mini Marathon 2015

Saturday was it, the day I had been planning and training for had arrived.  

Let's talk about preparation. There wasn't much I could have done differently.  I followed the training schedule the best I could, not once did I quit due to lack of being able, it was more weather related.  The snow got in our way a few times, Laura went on vacation, baseball for the boys started, life in general got in the way a few times.  My schedule had me training up to 12 miles but that never happened.  After the 10 miler I should have done a 12 mile run, 8 mile run, then the mini.  I never made that 12 mile run, only the 8. I was okay with this.  I've heard plenty of people say they only trained for 10 and since the Papa Johns race is a harder course, I should be fine.  The day of the mini I was going to beat my longest run by 3 miles.  

Now let's talk weather.  Wow, it was all over the place the whole week.  It started off with a 20% chance of light rain and ended up being a 100% chance with possible heavy rain.  By Friday morning I came to the conclusion I needed to accept whatever happened and it would be what I made of it. 

I had my body glide, trash bags just in case I had to wait in the rain before the race, some sports beans for energy... lets do this.

We got to downtown, walked to the start line, waited in line to pee, walked a few more blocks to our corral, they blew the starting gun and then we had about another 15-20 minute walk back to the starting line.  At this point it had not rained, this was a huge answered prayer.  The fact that we got to start dry was huge!

Here we go!

I felt good the entire race.  Pretty much as soon as we started it began to rain, but very light rain.  It stayed like this for over half the race.  It was actually almost perfect conditions.  It kept us cool, we weren't soaked, it kept me from feeling dehydrated.  Both male and female winners finished way before we hit our halfway mark and they both broke a record for this course.  Watching the coverage they said very few people needed medical attention, the light rain was actually really nice.  

Around mile 8 we hit Churchill Downs and the rain started to home down harder.  This is when we got really wet.  Coming out of Churchill was the split for the marathon and there were some with us that split off.  These people had 17 more miles, including hills, in the rain.  For us, it only rained heavy for about 3 miles then started to let up again.  

We got to mile 11 and I got my energy I was ready to go for it.  Laura's ankle and feet were starting to hurt and we were in this together and I wasn't leaving.  I stayed as close as I could and kept my eye on her, we rounded Main St for a few blocks then we made our final turn and there it was... THE FINISH LINE!!  I pulled back and we crossed together.  We had been in this together and we were gonna finish together.

After the race we ran into a girl she grew up with.  I'm not in pain, I had food in my mouth.  We found a tent with trail mix and I think it was for runners who did both the Bluegrass Half last month and the mini, but they didn't stop us :)

I had Steve tape the coverage, I watched it for over an hour and a half until I came across this.  This was right after we came out of Churchill Downs.  This was during our rainy portion.

A few things I'll remember-

The training is the hard part, not the race.  Once you train properly, the race really isn't that big of a deal.  It was one morning, the training takes weeks.  

I had on a long sleeve shirt with a short sleeve over it.  I knew I may get hot but if I wore the long sleeve over it, I would need to re-pin by bib.  So, while running I managed to get the long sleeve off.  Laura helped by pulling on the sleeves so I could get my arm out.  I slid it down my waist and somehow managed to run/jump out of it.  Without skipping a beat.  It could have been a disaster and I totally could have fallen on my face, but I was graceful for once.

After all the water stops and orange slices, I only made one basket when I threw them towards the trash can.  All the others were misses.

I love watching people and wondering what their stories are.  About 3 miles to go we seen two adult kids who were spectators call out to their dad who was running near us. He ran over to them to give them a quick a hug and kept running.  After we finished I turned around and he had just crossed and broke down crying.  I would love to know his story.

Finally... I want to do another. My time was 2:48:22... Ideally I want to finish one in under 2 1/2 hours.  It was fun, I love the energy, and who knows maybe next time I'll have sunshine.  

Life Lately

Not a whole lot new to report in our household.

We had opening day for baseball a couple Saturday's ago. This is Cameron's first time playing and he couldn't be cuter.

Between two sets of pictures and two games we spent 6 hours at the ballpark on opening day.

Just because.

On a trip to Lowe's Cooper sat down and acted as if he owned the place.

Cooper had a great game last Friday.  It's his first year playing machine pitch.  He is still a little timid of the ball but we are working on it.

We used the fire pit for the first time this past weekend, Cameron didn't like the smoke in his eyes.

Cooper was proud of his burnt marshmallow, even though he wouldn't eat it like that.

JJ is doing Spirit Week this week leading up to our walk-a-thon on Friday, today was crazy hair day.  We saved the hair color for future IU games.

That's about it. nothing new, just life.

Papa Johns 10 Miler

Saturday was the final leg of the Triple Crown of Running- the Papa Johns 10 Miler.

This was the race I was the most excited yet also the most scared for. Excited because you get to finish inside Papa Johns Stadium but scared because the hills!   I've never been inside Iroquois Park so I didn't know what to expect as far as the hills go. I just sorta prepped myself for the worst.

Bright and early morning view of the stadium.  It was going to be a long time before I could see this again. 

Laura, Karen, & I all rode over together.  We are about to run 10 miles but first... let me take a selfie.

Right before all these races there is a line 10 miles deep for the porta pottys.  I know they are disgusting but the very last thing you want to do is run with a full bladder, trust me, I've done it and its misery.  Somehow we found a set of pottys without a line, I think because from the look of them it looked like you couldn't get past the gate, I don't know.  After wards we walked past the line of other people so I pointed them in the direction of the empty ones, I like to think I made their day.

The course starts just outside of the stadium, down to the park, run the inside loop of the park, and back to the stadium and around the field.  Honestly, at first I thought it was going to be a terrible race.  It took me a couple miles to really get into it.  Once I found my rhythm I felt great.  The park wasn't bad at all.  A couple bad hills but I enjoyed it. There was also a nice 1/2 mile coast downhill outside of the park, which was very nice.  The worst part was actually the run back since it was a straight shot back.  Karen didn't have plans to run the entire thing, she ended up hanging with us to mile 7. 

Did you know there are super fast people out there, that like run 10 miles in a 5 min pace.  We passed some of those people, a couple guys as they were leaving the park before we even got to it and one girl.  She was booking it!  After we finished I heard she broke the female record for the course. 

I took this right after we crossed the finish line, best site ever!

We did it!!!  

We would have had a long training run anyway today, so why not make it a race and get free pizza.

The Triple Crown is complete.  Next up Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon.  2 1/2 weeks! 

Spring Break 2015

I had every intention of blogging a few days at a time while we were out of school but here I am and our two week break is over and I'm just now blogging.  Let's see if I can remember what we did.

If you follow Jaime Mac you need to hop on over and read her account of the day she came to make peanut butter and chocolate eggs.  My kids were off their rocker wild crazy.  They could smell her fear.  Her take on it is awesome.

The first Monday of Spring Break we went to Luke's for a play date.  It included video games and basketball.  

One day we went out to get baseball gear and somehow ended up with Hulk swim masks.  

That first week we also had Bounce Time with friends and another play date at our house.  We had Brian and Dean over, they are twins from Cooper's kindergarten class.  Sweet kids and a sweet mom, would love to see them together again next year.

That weekend we spent time at home relaxing, searching for more baseball gear, and welcoming my mom mom back from vacation.

The Monday of the second week we headed out to Chick-fil-A for lunch and ended up stopping by the pet store and getting a new beta fish.  His name is Happy.

We went to the zoo on Tuesday that week with our friend Stefanie. Cooper has to have this done every single visit.

Steve was off this past Wednesday since he worked this weekend. we went up to Columbus to the Kids Commons and the indoor playground.
They called this their bear cave.

Don't flush!

 While playing basketball Cooper said, "Watford for the win".

Working those triceps.

This is what I called my Survivor creation.  I was calling out to Jeff to come make sure I was right.  "Jami wins immunity'

We didn't do much Thursday or Friday.   The boys spent the night with my in-laws on Friday since Steve worked and I had my race this morning (more on that later).  After my race I met everyone at Scott's house for a cook out and egg hunt.  He got the boys a Kit Kat and this is how Cooper ate his.  It's a Kit Kat, break that bad boy apart.

Scott also had taken them to get their hair cut.  Now, I knew he was going to get it cut short but I didn't realize Cameron's would be buzzed.  Oh my!!  He's so proud though, he loves his hair and loves telling people about it.  For that reason, I love it for him.  He's cute no matter what.  Steve says he looks like a kid who had to have his head shaved due to a case of lice.

One day we were having good weather and I got to wear my t-shirt I got for Christmas.  It says, "I"m IN love.  Get it?!

Tonight we went out to dinner with friends for Paul's 40th birthday.  I'm sure Gretchen will blog about it, she has all the pictures.  It's always a good time when you get Paul and Matt together.

That's about it.  We kept it low key but still enough to have fun.  My favorite part of the two weeks had to be when the boys crawled into my bed every morning and watched Scooby Doo.  I'm gonna miss that.