I can't believe this is my recap from my last race of 2011 - that's crazy! We drove to Oshkosh on Saturday and despite the rain it was a nice drive. Once we got to town we hit the Under Armour outlet store and I got to pick out my birthday present from Dan.. a shiny new water resistant jacket! It's a pretty orange color, it's warm and blocks the wind and I love wearing it. Then we met Brenda and Alex (my sis and bro-in-law) and headed over to the Boys and Girls Club/start/finish line of the race. When it was time to line up it was a little crazy - I thought there were supposed to be separate areas for the runners and walkers but there were no signs so Dan and I just lined up towards the back of the crowd. Then we were off ...
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| Before the race |
The course wound through some neighborhoods and a park in Oshkosh and was really quite beautiful with all the holiday lights and decorations. There were even people standing on the sidewalks with jingle bells cheering everyone on. How cool is that?! I found the night race a little harder to navigate than I had anticipated because I was really afraid of falling. Brenda and Lucinda (Brenda's friend) came back and met us about a mile from the finish and they were apparently talking to me and I didn't hear them at all, though I was also wearing headphones. We were probably about a tenth of a mile from the finish and I looked at my watch and thought, "Oh crap I'm not going to PR and I'm not even going to make sub 50:00.... oh hell no" and I looked back at Dan (he was having some shoe/foot issues) and then I took off running for the finish line.
Yes, I ran. I desperately wanted to finish in less than 50:00 even if I didn't PR. It felt amazing to cross the finish line and I finally have a picture of me crossing the finish line where I'm not looking down was nice too. :)
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| Ok, maybe 2012 will be a better year for photos!? |
So it wasn't a PR but it was a fabulous race because...
1) I got to do the race with Dan (it was his first race so he got an automatic PR - way to go!!)...
2) It was during Christmas so it was awesome to see all the lights and decorations...
and most importantly
3)
Because we raised $1000 for Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services, Inc (CADASI). THANK YOU for supporting me through this journey and for supporting CADASI too.
There is one other little bit of information I wanted to share. On our bibs for the race we'd gotten a coupon for RoadID and given the close calls with cars that Tucker and I have had while out on our morning walks I finally broke down and ordered one. I got the kind that you put on your shoe. Anyway, they sent me a coupon so if you want to order one for yourself, use the following coupon ThanksJen9720463 to save $1 - the coupon is valid for 30 days at www.roadid.com
How was your week?
Way to go, Jen! So proud of you. Congrats on doing the race again!!! Love you tons! Mom
ReplyDeleteYou are positively inspiring...BOTH you and Dan! I went and checked out that RoadID thing you mentioned...cool deal! My only question about the shoe one (and apparently I've read one too many worse case scenario books) but what if you get mauled by a bear and your shoe (with the ID tag on it) gets eaten? You should get one for your puppy(ies) too :)
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that if the bear has eaten my shoe he's also fully consumed me (cause seriously? who would eat a New Balance instead of tasty white girl?) and thus I don't need a name any more. :)
ReplyDeletePS - The dogs have had their own tags since they were adtopted and each tag has multiple phone numbers, and they have a village of PG tag which traces back to us, and they each have a microchip so people could find out who THEY are just not the crazy human who was with them!
I hope you picked up on the full sarcasm in my earlier statement :) You never know! New Balance shoes COULD be more tasty than you! And good to hear the puppies are fully ID'd. You're such a good mom!
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