We set off this weekend for another trip to Minnesota - our second in as many weeks - this time so I could run the Twin Cities in Motion Loony Challenge with Hilary and Holly. To be officially Loony you have to run at 10K, followed by a 5K on Saturday morning, then follow it up with the Twin Cities 10 Miler on Sunday. I was sort of, kind of, pretty well trained for this race, (at least trained enough to cover the distance) but it was hard to know what to expect.
Hilary, Holly and I set off bright and early Saturday morning for our first two events of the day. It was really chilly and a little windy, which frankly aren't the worst running conditions in the world. Huddled in front of the Capitol before the start of the races.... Notice we are all wearing different version of the Twin Cities Marathon ear band? Best race gear every - one of my favorite pieces of winter running gear!
We all ran the 10K fairly conservatively, but I was still really pleased with my time - we had just enough time to get good and cooled off before we lined up for race number 2, the 5K. I swear that 5K went by in about 5 minutes - I've never had a run go so fast. (And not because I was fast!) Because it was cold and windy (and John and Brian had a tee time) we intended to hustle right out of there to get home. I say intended because we had a bit of a glitch in that plan. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle, putting warm clothes on, taking them back off, Hilary lost her car key. John hopped in the car and drove to bring us the spare. On his way back he was sideswiped (minimal damage - no one was hurt). But we still made it home in piece!
Hilary found a Groupon for a corn maze for us to take the kids while John and Brian golfed. We thought it would be fun for the kids, an opportunity to get everyone out of the house. I have to say, we had a bit of a bumpy start to the corn maze. Amelia forgot her coat (48 degrees and windy) so I asked to borrow one from the owners of the venue. She was NOT PLEASED to be wearing that UGLY coat and melted down accordingly. After she was convinced I was SERIOUS that she had two choices (1- wear the coat or 2- sit with me in the car) she gave in and joined the rest of the gang in the maze.
A recovered Mimi - loving with her sister and Mattie by the entrance to the maze....
Scattered through out the large, 6 acre maze were 10 test questions - the kids were given a map to find them. After a slow start the whole gang got very interested in finding the questions.
Gathered around the map....
Matt and Adam holding Amelia - what a lovely day!
Even though it was probably good for me and Hilary to walk around and be outside, I kind of ran out of gas. We chilled out through the rest of the evening, ate pizza, stretched and rolled our muscles, then went to bed early. A 4:45am wake up call was upon us Sunday morning.
This was my first time running the Twin Cities 10 miler, which runs along much of the course for the Twin Cities Marathon. Even though it was a little cold and a lot early, there was so much energy. Four corrals of runners - so many people. Hilary has a great history with this race, pulling out incredible times year after year. She was itchy to run and set off right from the start. Holly and I hung together for the first slow couple of miles, then she pulled away. I finally settled into a groove and realized I was feeling pretty good. I gradually picked up the pace and finished that race in a blink at a overall pace I was proud of... It felt really good to run strong along the part of the marathon course that was so hard for me in 2011.
The Loony girls after the race....
No comments:
Post a Comment