First 10k - Run for Freedom Warrensburg, MO

Run for Freedom 10k was this morning at 9 am.

This was my first 10k. I was excited and nervous. Anytime I do a specific race for the first time I'm always nervous.

Of course what made me a little extra nervous morning was the fact that I dreamt that I was late waking up and missed the race completely. (First time I have ever dreamt about race, does this make me more of a runner?)

So I usually make shirts for my races to reflect my personality or the race. This go around I made a race to reflect that the race was for the veterans and I have veterans in my family, quite a few.

So this race was dedicated to my family. Grandpa Rapp, Grandpa Walker, Uncle Mike, Uncle Don, Aunt Judy, cousin Carl, and of course my parents. This is for them and I am very thankful I have had them in my life.

So I got up this morning and ate breakfast, something different as I wanted something to give me more energy than the usual cereal, milk and banana I typically eat. So I fixed up some oatmeal, tossed in some protein powder and milk and called it breakfast. It was actually quite delicious and definitely held me over through the race. Which shocked me since I tend to be a ravenous eating machine.

So my wonderful boyfriend who works out there said he would just come after work (10 hour shift from 10 pm to 7 am) and see me off and watch me come in. He was also my camera man.

He likes to try to get candid photos of me which I always seem to catch and make an angry or stony face.

Like me putting my stuff away after grabbing my wallet. Silly man.

Since I knew it was raining I had said something about wearing a long sleeve during the race and Mike offered up his under armor all weather long sleeve which actually fit quite well.

It was nice and sunny when I arrived to pick up my packet but the clouds and rain had followed me and were looming in the distance as we waited for the race to start.

We waited around as some of the directors and local politicians made appearances and announcements. We then followed up with what I think was the SLOWEST rendition of the National Anthem before they announced the 10k runners to line up. It had been raining on and off at this point and I'm not sure if they were trying to stall or if they were just behind. Regardless, you could tell by the sky that we were going to be rained on, regardless.

So they finally blow the horn to go and we are off. About 30 runners for the 10k. Not too shabby and a nice small local race. I'm starting to dig these small town races. They are comfortable and not cramped when running down the road.

The course was relatively level minus the three hills that could have forced less experienced runners to walk. I just controlled my breathing and kept going. While out on the course I got compliments for my shirt from other runners. I also love the community of runners because they can be some of the most kind people you will ever meet. At one point  we had come up our last bad hill and caught up with the 5k people that were in the rear half of runners.

I saw this Army guy with his rucksack and ran up to get beside him. I stuck my hand out for a high five and told him he was doing awesome and that I appreciated his service. He said thanks and that we are all looking like Hollywood today. At that point the rain had calmed down. Around mile 3 the sky had just opened up.

Yes, we were running in this ^

Yes I loved it every minute. :)

The guy I had given a high five (bald) had a buddy he was doing this race with. Mike happened to take this picture of them. Most awesome picture of the day if I do say so myself. I would definitely say this is patriotic.

Mike then also got this picture of them after they had crossed. We salute you men and thank you for what you do for this country.

So I saw these men when I crossed the finish line, they were chatting with people from the Veterans home.

I had felt great during the whole race and had been pacing a gal for the entire race. Then I hit mile 5 and was starting to feel it. Was ready to be done. So I got around where I can see the Veterans home and I am thinking, awesome almost done. Well then I had to run down and around to the back side of the home and go up what is the LONGEST driveway EVER to reach the finish line.

I did reach the finish line and could see Mike standing front and center waiting for me. Then I hear a duck call which makes me smile and laugh as I power out the last 300 meters of the race.

You can't see it but I"m smiling in this picture because I heard Mike blowing on the duck call, which also makes everyone at the finish line laugh. I am also so very glad I wore under armor because a white tee and rain do not mix well. I felt like a drowned rat after the race but didn't feel soaked on my upper body. I will be buying many UA shirts in the future. I am convinced of how amazing it is.

My unofficial time is 51:30 and I am happy with that since I typically pace out at 9 min to 9:30 min miles for longer than 4 miles. I will definitely do this race again. It's a town that's got that Midwest charm and definitely a cause I can get behind. The volunteers are also amazing. They stood out in the rain with signs and encouraging words for the runners. To top it off it's great to see the veterans out and participating with nurses in the poker walk/run and enjoying a great atmosphere that is their home. They are well taken care of there at the MO Veterans Home. Kudos to those that work there and help these people daily.

Stay healthy and keep running.

Temperature and it's Power

As with the rest of society that doesn't necessarily run, there are people who like the hot summer days and those that do not.

I personally am not a hot summer day person. Precisely the reason I get up at 5:50 am or 6 am to go run. I refuse to run in anything above 85 degrees because it makes me sluggish and cranky. 

Cranky like when you're tired and hungry but too lazy to make food kind of cranky.

So this morning my run was glorious, absolutely amazing. 1. I could actually breathe the outside air without feeling suffocated. 2. It was 60 degrees and brisk. AHHHHHHHH!!! Prime running temps in my book.

Autumn, the time of the year runners like myself wait for so that we no longer have to endure 85% humidity at 73 degrees. 

Today I took an easy run as I had maxed myself out yesterday with 3 miles, lunch workout, followed by an intense body pump class after work. So I was quite exhausted by the time I got home after the gym.

So exhausted in fact that I could barely hold up my cellphone to text people back and respond. To the point I was laying on the couch as my boyfriend was leaving for work and he just looks at me and says "why don't you just go upstairs and go to bed?" It was 8:30 pm.......yeah...THAT tired.

Which I of course did go upstairs and lay in bed for about 30 minutes fighting sleep before I gave in and just crashed.

So this morning an easy run where I encountered "Badger" the excitable Rottweiler and his owners who were quite friendly.

Of course as I'm running along the sidewalk I had to duck under some lower hanging branches, because for whatever reason the city/apartment complex that has that property don't care about the look of the area or the insanity that is low hanging limbs in this neighborhood. It's beyond ridiculous at the overgrowth. So as I duck and say good morning to the owners and dog on the street I bump the top of my head on the branch and of course on the actual branch and not just the leaves. Ugh, keep running and pretend nothing happened right?

On my way back on my 1 mile loop I hear this coughing sound coming from the apartment complex that is near my house. They have these little patios that are surrounded by privacy fence. I hear the coughing which turns to hacking and then the sounds of puking. If that doesn't make you run faster I'm not sure what will...I just didn't want to stick around to find out more.

6.2 training miles tomorrow as I have a 10k on the 28th, my first ever. :) I'm excited and it's for the Missouri Veterans. So I am totally cool with where my money is going.

I can finally scratch that race itch as well, before my 5k mud run in October.

Sidelined but Back in the Saddle

When you're a runner anything that prevents you from running irritates you and can drive you to a madness that only runners can understand.

This happened to me this weekend. I woke up Saturday, full intentions to run 6 miles. I had noticed my throat started to hurt a bit on Friday night but figured I could sleep it off. Well Saturday morning Mike came home from work and looked at me (he had asked me to come out and help him unload the truck of palates to use for shelving) and asked if I was ok or just grumpy. I said that my throat hurt and that I had just woken up too. As we got along Mike told me I was to take a rest day and then later that day took my temperature because I seemed warm. Well when that thermometer dinged at me it showed 100.6...yeah, rest day, whether I like it or not.

So I told myself, ok this will take no more than today to break and shake if I rest and stay pretty inactive. I did, ate soft foods, took dayquil and drank lots of water.

By the end of the day my fever had gone down to 98.6 to 99.2. Ok, sleep it off and I can run tomorrow, Sunday's are good running days.

Well woke up and temp skyrocketed and I was told to stay in bed again. :( Now I'm grumpy...no run = grumpy lady.

So I took that on and said, fine, I'll just start back up on Monday, no biggie, one weekend off. Well up until that point other than a fever, headache, and sore throat (which turned up with swollen glands as well) I felt overall fine as far as not wanting to puke or have to stay in the bathroom all day.

Then 2pm hit on Sunday and it was all downhill from there. So yeah, I spent the next 7 hours feeling terrible and not wanting to do or eat anything even though my loving and adoring boyfriend made me eat at least a little applesauce.

After the grand finale of my illness before bed he set up glow sticks in the hall to the bathroom to make sure he knew if I were laying on the floor again should he get up in the middle of the night. I slept soundly through the rest of the night and woke up with glow bracelets on both arms.....yes we have a glow stick problem at our house.

So Monday I started to feel a lot better but began to get bored quick since I wasn't feeling sick and my temperature had gone down. I had wanted to run just 1 mile but wasn't allowed to exert myself beyond walking at the gym on an incline... *sigh*

But hey, walking is better than nothing. I got 1.57 miles in on that treadmill and enjoyed every minute of it despite my love/hate relationship with stationary cardio equipment.

So today was my first day back to normal where I was not limited in my running.

Yes I was this happy this morning, regardless of not being the slightest bit tired at bedtime, due to having a hunters education class last night until 10pm. So even after only about 4 hrs and 50 min of sleep I was stil ecstatic and eager to lace up and get out.

Stepped out and it was horribly muggy at an 80% humidity and only 70 degrees which definitely felt more like 80.

I did 3 miles, which in retrospect probably was too much as my pace was right along the 8:30 per mile. But in my eagerness and ecstasy of being able to get back to running I did it anyway. Realized at about 2.5 miles I should probably walk up the last hill to not kill myself. 

The final thing on my run was that as I was on my block and heading toward the house I heard a cicada that was laying in the road, it was dying and just fluttering and skittering around the road. Well it fluttered and skittered toward me and I completely spazzed out and jumped, ran, and shouted "Oh my God no!"

Me and bugs, yeah don't mix in general. However, cicadas and june bugs are at the top of my list. Along with rather large spiders. Though George, my friendly porch spider has since disappeared on me. Though I have found friends have taken over where he left off. Though they are going to have to learn the rules of not spinning webs across the walking areas. I reprimanded them last night saying that I would spray if they didn't stop it. Yes, I talk to the critters outside and I do literally run like captain jack there when a cicada comes near me.

So back in the running saddle after only 3 days off, at least it was no more than that. No running makes me grumpy and we shouldn't have that.

Plan this week is 3 today, 2 tomorrow, 3 Thursday, 2 Friday, and 6 Saturday with a rest day on Sunday. We will see what adventures come to me between now and the next post - I usually have a few.