My last race with my maiden name

It is officially WEDDING week and I was hoping to start this week off with a bang by running a 15k race.  It was perfect timing as I could run my last race with my maiden name!

All week the weather said 80% chance of rain for Monday morning which was slightly depressing because I did not want to run a race in almost pouring rain.  Sunday night was pretty rainy with lots of lightning but when I woke up just before 6am on Monday there was no rain! Thank goodness!

I wasn't really nervous for this race - I just wanted to go out there and run a good race!  I ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and we were on our way.  For a special treat, Brian's mom and dad came with us to the race.  I was touched that they took the time to come and cheer me on!

We arrived at the race with time to spare and I picked up my bib and waited for my running buddy to arrive.  Somehow I had managed to convince her to run this race and use it as a training run for her half marathon in two weeks!  I was excited to at least have someone there to warm up with and wave to on the out and back course!

Running buddies!

Walking to the start.

Soon it was time to go! With out much fanfare, the gun went off and we were off.  I took off much too fast but the pace didn't seem to hurt and I could not slow down.  It took me almost a whole mile to rein in my pace to just over 7 min/mile.  We had one small out and back portion first and I saw everyone in front and behind me which was a great boost.  The course was right by the lake and it was just beautiful to run by.  Just before mile two I passed my little spectating crew! It was great to see them but sadly that was the last time I saw them until the finish.

Still happy!

The next portion was a long out and back loop and as I continued on, the group I was with slowly began to thin from 10 runners to 6 to 4.  An older man and I ran with each other for almost 5 miles and it was great to have a pacer but I fell behind in the last mile.  The course was apparently a net down hill but there were two long gradual hills from mile 3 to 5 which took its toll on me later.  By mile 8, I just kept telling myself - "one more mile that's 7 minutes, that's easy you can run for 7 more minutes!" 

I didn't realize my time until I turned the corner and saw the finish clock ticking up.  I was so surprised to see it tick just into the 1:06 times.  I sprinted as fast as my legs would take me and crossed the finish line - thankful to be done!  It was an awesome race that really was just a blur for me.  I think I was concentrating so hard on putting one foot in front of each other that I missed many of the details of the race.

Now there is my death face!

To the finish!!

Final Stats
Time: 1:06:21 (a five minute PR - previous time of 1:11:13)
Place: 101/544
Female: 23/246
AG: 5/40

I could not have asked for a better way to start this week!  I cannot believe that I ran so fast today and in just under 5 days I will get to marry Brian!  Basically this is going to be the best week of my life!