No longer 5k virgins!

My girls rocked it this weekend! Both not only finished their respective 5k races, but they both came in under their respective goal times! Yahoo!

First up was the Bench Bar Halloween 5k in downtown Cleveland with Kristen. I picked her up at 7:20 AM and she was filled with anticipation (the good kind). The race was also a costume contest, but we didn't dress up (we did match though). My favorite costume was a man in a full Eeyore suit!

Us in matching outfits (we didn't coordinate the red undershirt) and almost matching numbers:



The weather was a brisk 55 degrees made more brisk by the windy conditions. Shortly after we took off, I lost my hat to the wind, but managed to go back and grab it. The first mile included a nice descent, which Kristen commented "I'm not looking forward to going back up that." I told her not to worry. She kept up a nice pace that was faster than goal pace (didn't want to scare her though by telling her that).

Soon enough, we were heading back up that hill. She was breathing hard and I told her just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I informed her that she wasn't allowed to walk (even though I did on my first 5k - it was her goal not to walk a step of it, so I was being a meanie for her own good). I told her that as soon as we hit the top, her breathing would return to normal and we would have the added advantage of the wind at our backs. She never walked, finished strong and came in at 36:15, over 3 minutes faster than her goal time of 40 minutes. Way to go KB!!

After the race, Kristen headed off with her new beau and I worked a few hours at my office downtown (after showering of course). I then headed to Michigan to hang out with my friend Jen and her lovely family. They fed me a yummy dinner (baked chicken, green beans and squash) and then Jen and I danced (kids called it a "dance party") and jump roped with her two kids for about an hour. We settled down to watch the OSU game and then headed to bed.

I am used to Matt being up at the crack of dawn, so it was weird to wake up at the late hour of 6:45 AM and have a house be so quiet. I snuck upstairs, got a bowl of cereal and then headed to the utility room to play with their two new adorable kittens (Minnie and Belle). Soon enough, Jen was awake and we were on our way to the race, which was held at the University of Toledo.



The race directors were from a college fraternity. They showed up 30 minutes later than advertised. The kids were all wearing the same type of outfit - hooded frat sweatshirt, jeans and flip flops. Now, I haven't mentioned yet that it was 35 freakin' degrees out! Flip flops?! Well, young people seem to have different thermometers than us old people. Despite the late start, we managed to start the race mostly on time.

Unlike Saturday's race, this race was sunny, cold and calm on a pancake flat course. I couldn't feel my hands for the first mile. Luckily, they warmed up. Jen was astonished at her first mile split of 10 minutes. It was her fastest mile yet! Race day does do amazing things to the body and spirit. Like Kristen, Jen didn't want to walk either. I tried not to push her too hard, but did make her pick up the pace in the last half-mile as she requested. She sprinted so fast in the last 1/10 mile that I could barely keep up. Her goal time was 33 minutes and she finished in 31:36. Her average pace was faster than any of her training run mile splits. Fabulous job buddy!

Here is a picture of Jen with the popsicle sticks they handed to us to mark our race position at the finish:



Here we are at the finish together (love you Jen!):



I have to say that while I enjoy racing for myself, it was totally a joy to live vicariously through my buddies experiencing their first 5k ever. Now, I'm trying to talk each of them into considering a half-marathon in the next year or two. I'll keep you posted if I make any headway there.

Well, I better get back to work. I'm leaving for Hawaii on Wednesday and still have much to do here. I'll be out of blogland after tomorrow for a couple weeks. Hope all of you have a safe and happy couple of weeks!