Race Day

On Sunday, I ran the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon for the 7th time (and I think that might have been my 10th Half Marathon, but don't know for sure) and it was more fun this year than last :)

David has been out of town at the master's until today (and can I just breathe a sigh of relief that he's back??) so I had my good from Henselface (real name: Laura) come over and spend the night.  She watched Mac in the morning so he wouldn't have to stay in his crib until I got home at 10.   Laura was a real lifesaver and was even understanding that I couldn't drink with her the night before a race.

Since Laura is a real gem, she even helped me watch a friend's infant that night (since, you know, we were going to be at home anyway, right?)... and stayed up with the baby until his parents picked him up.    I went to bed, because I'm cool like that.

I got up at 4:45, ate breakfast, and piddled around until leaving at 5:50.  I realized as I was driving to the race that this was my first year doing it ALONE.  Every year before I either had someone I was running with OR some spectators.  I have never driven myself before.

The race went pretty well.  I didn't have a time goal (since I knew I wouldn't PR) but I did want to do better than last year, when I was not happy with my training or my time.

Last year's time 2:44
This year... 2:10!

Yeah!  I shaved nearly 35 minutes off (that's over 2 1/2 minutes/mile faster!).  It wasn't as good as my all-time PR of 1:55 in 2010, but, hey, I'm a mom now.  Training is TOTALLY different when you have to squeeze it in around a toddler.

After the race, I ran into some people from work, which was nice.  HOWEVER, my family was running the Brew-To-Brew that day and my little sister kept texting me pictures of people that I knew in college and high school and haven't seen for AGES.  AND my family had matching Lyndon Veterinary shirts (that, ahem, no one got me).  Maybe next year I'll do the brew-to-brew and skip the Go!  Maybe, ideally, they won't be on the same weekend.

On a sidenote, yesterday morning I got an email that said race pictures...so I clicked the link to see how I looked.  I don't buy them...but I sure like to look at them.  I got a little down because I looked pretty heavy in the pictures.  Then I realized that I didn't wear a hat this year--they were LAST YEAR'S PICTURES!  Bam!  I haven't seen this years, but I'm around 30 lbs lighter.  I did, however, wear the same shirt both years.  Must be my lucky shirt.