Sweetwater 420 Fest 5k

OMYGOSHICAN'TBELIEVEIFORGOTTOWRITEABOUTTHIS!!!!!

Fail me. I should have written about this yesterday AFTER it happened, but the day just got out of control. So much to do... anyway...

4 words: 5. K. P. R. Ok, I don't know if any of those count as words, but, you get the idea. Chris and I killed that course in 25:25. That's, like, impossible. Our first mile was 8:01, and I was shocked, but thought we were excited going out of the start and it wasn't too hilly, so we'd had a good first mile and would slow down. Second mile: 7:36. I don't even know how that happened. I haven't run a mile in under 8 minutes since high school. And somehow, despite all that quickness, we still finished the last of it strong in under 9 minutes. I almost cried, literally. There really are not words to express how much this PR means to me. I just always thought I could never be fast, that I was stuck in the 10 - 12 minute mile box and that was fine, I had endurance, so I'd go for distance. But I guess I really was sick, I guess I had a lot of potential I just couldn't reach because of the whole anemia mess. I thought that was just how people were. But now that I'm healthy, I can do speed work, and it works! I feel like I'm not making any sense, like I'm not conveying how excited I really am, but there's just no way. All I can say is it was a glorious moment, and I am so so so thankful to finally be healthy and tapping into my real potential, and of course for having such a great support system and running buddy!

The course was much less hilly than last year, more rolling hills instead of uphill the whole way. The weather was perfect: sunny and warm but a lovely cool breeze, definitely better than the equatorial heat wave we ran in last year. Two other friends ran with Chris and I, and since our race registration not only included an awesome, super soft shirt, but also free entry into the festival and a free beer, we of course stayed after the race to enjoy our well-deserved beer and check out the bands and other festival activities (we tried to convince Chris to ride the mechanical bull, but he chickened out. Lame.).

It was a spectacular day overall, and I couldn't be happier about it, despite my rather painful sunburn. I might have to retire from 5ks now though... how can I ever beat this time? Next challenge: Peachtree 10k in under an hour!

East Atlanta Village Run before You Crawl 5k

Awesome 5k today! Pretty hilly, but rolling hills and not as bad as we were expecting. Randy's first race ever... so proud! We finished in 31:43, which is so great for a first race, especially for someone who's never run. I am really just so proud. It was fun to train with him too. He's even pondering getting some real running shoes and trying to run a little on his own. He's already said NO to any half marathons, so I assume the full is out as well. :-p But I'll make a runner out of him yet!

We had a small group of 14 that showed up to run, including the overall women's winner of the race! Obviously cuz our group is awesome. We had a great range of times and several first-timers, and everyone had a good time and we all met our individual goals, which made for a very happy race ending.

The best part, of course, was the pub crawl afterward. 5k + 5 bars = great idea! If by great you mean hung over by like 3:00 in the afternoon, but... totally worth it! Warning though: eating only two bananas and running 3.1 miles in the humidity makes you a lightweight.

It was good to race again, and this was just a fun race to do. It's not often you can get so many of your friends together to run and spend the afternoon together. We have lots of great pictures... I'll try to get some up soon. Maybe from the marathon too... so you believe me that I'm really doing all this!

Another 5k next weekend... also followed by beer-based festivities... I might have a problem...