Cullman Oktoberfest 10K

I survived my first 10K. 

I know. I was shocked too. 

Let me tell you something about good ol' C-town.. it's hilly. You don't realize it until you start running. 

I'm not going to complain-I literally signed up Friday morning for this race and refused to ride the course for fear I would drop out. I knew there was a bad hill. 

Side Note: A lot of you have tweeted, e-mailed, Pinterested me to make sure I have seen this Running Skirt. Yes. I have. I own it. It made an appearance for the Oktoberfest 10K. I'm so glad that when you see houndstooth, you think of me. You don't know how much that warms my heart. 

I got lots of compliments on that and the socks. I really love that Tonia has opened my eyes to the fun of skirts and socks. 

Let's talk about 10K's that are split off from 5K's for a second.

Everything is all fine and dandy until you meet that split marker.. and then? Less than 50 runners ran the 10K. Spread that out over a 6 mile course and you'll be by yourself a lot. With no police escorts or nice volunteers telling you which way to go. It's you all by your lonesome. 

Thankfully, I talked Robbie into running with me-- he wasn't sure he could do it and I assured him that he could. And then?? He sandbagged me. That's right.. he ran off and LEFT me! 

First off-- the Oktoberfest 5K course is the same as the Strawberry Days 5K- which is a tough course. The 10K is terrible. It loops back on itself so much that we ran down the same street 3 times! How is that cool?? It's not. And let's not even talk about Scenic Drive with it's 200 ft elevation. 

Dad and Claire searching for me along this finish line. 

Oh there I am. With no one around me!!

Claire ran across her first finish line and didn't dig it. Karen said the pictures of us running across the finish line were too blurry. So sads.

Look, T! The makings of a Quad are there!! 

Happy to be done. 

My running buddy. The sandbagger. I mean, Robbie. 

Running hills makes my eye stop working. Me, Karen, Claire, and Dad.

We wanted to wait and see the awards ceremony.. just in the hopes that I placed- I knew I wouldn't win the age division because Ashley won the women's part and she is in my age group. 

I DID win a door prize!! A $25 gift certificate to Cummings Sporting Goods. It almost makes up for my race shirt being a size large. 

 The Bugermiester called me back up to the mic to talk about my tweeting habits and give me a shout out and then I requested that I be named Best Dressed on the course and he agreed. He named me "Burgermiester Best Dressed." Holla! 

Anyway.. it took 45 minutes to get through the 5K portion of winners and I had to get to the BBQ Cook Off, so I had to make like a tree and get out of there. 

I placed 4th and last in my age division and 22/26 females. So. This is a slap in the far to start running outside and work on my time-- OUTSIDE. 

My garmin time was 1:08:41. Official time 1:08:42.  First 10K. I'll take it. Just so you know, my treadmill time for a 10K is 59 minutes.. so let this be a lesson to you to get your booty out on the road for an actual run. 

Once I go through the pictures of the BBQ cook-off, I will post some. It was a super fun event that I was proud to be involved in.. even though I don't eat BBQ. I might as well have told those people Saturday that I had 2 heads because they couldn't have looked at me any funnier. 

This week will be kind of busy-- photo session, BBQ pictures, and Addison's 5th birthday party. But I will try to be around! :)

Cullman Rising 5K

It was a hot one. That's for sure. Robbie ran with me, and I didn't want to jinx it, but we were on pace to break a 30min 5K Mile 1 was 9:28; slowed it down a bit for mile 2 10:28; and mile 3 sort of fell apart at 12:07. 

I ran the course Thursday with Stacie, Nicole and Jennifer and I knew the hills were in the beginning, so when we were keeping that pace with the hills, I was feeling good. But it was unshaded and hot and humid, so I won't complain too much. 

The course weaved through where the tornado went through. A lot of stuff is starting to be demo-ed, so it's strange to see broken trees and dirt where houses used to stand. 

I will take my 33:55 time and run with it- and the day I break 30.. I will fist pump and dance across the finish line. :)

Addy says she wants to run the next one with me.. how do you train a 4 year old? Maybe we should just do the 1 mile fun "walk" or should we man up and do the 5K? It's July 23rd.

Bloomin' Festival 5K and our Saturday

Saturday morning started with my very first trail run- The Bloomin' Festival 5K. I only did it because of total peer pressure from Robbie and Kelsie. It was definitely fun with them. My goal was to finish. I haven't run outside since Disney and most definitely haven't been training for hills. The race was described as a trail run in the woods with some gravel with a steep hill at mile 2. Umm. The hill at .25 mile was pretty intense and I'm going to say that at that point I wondered what I had gotten myself into. It had sprinkled that morning, had 98% humidity and was 67 degrees. And I was running in mud, gravel, and pine needles literally in the woods and never had any clue where I was. The race was at St Bernard- the catholic and prep school in our town. I got lost in there trying to turn in my application. No water on the course and we were dying.
We also got to jump over creeks. Fun times.
The finish line was literally running through the goal posts.

The Home Stretch! 

I like the way this girl is eyeing Robbie

Hi. I'm awkward and mess with my shirt while trying to cross finish lines.

Dork. Total Dork. 

Water please. So I don't vomit. 

Um. Not sure. 

I'm just awkward. 

Kelsie is either a cheerleader or Wonder Woman. You decide. 

Me and MeMac

Sadly, I don't have a picture with me and Philly and the girls or with Dad and Karen who also came out to support the race. I'm not going to lie. This race was so small, I actually expected a medal- there couldn't have been that many people in my age group and my time of 33:45 couldn't have been that bad. And then? They didn't give out 3rd place medals. I knew I was screwed then. Which, I didn't get one. 

We then enjoyed a day of shopping and eating with Robbie and Rebecca. Seriously. Love these two. They are going on a cruise next week and won't be around for my birthday. How dare they?? Anyway, Becca wanted to give me my birthday present- which was just perfect. I will reveal all my loot at a later date.

Since Philly's birthday is tomorrow, we are doing dinner with his fam tonight for both our birthdays, since his parents will be out of town during my birthday. I mean, geez. You'd think people would consider my birthday when they plan awesome vacations, but nope.