Bloomsday 2012

Bloomsday morning started early. We woke up around 5:30 am and I made coffee and breakfast to wake us up and give us much needed energy for the morning.

We headed out around 7:15 am. We parked at the Northtown Mall and proceeded to take the shuttle that took us downtown. We walked about a block to our starting line {Yellow} and after a quick pit-stop  to the *Honey Buckets*, we stood and waited in our group where there were already about 5 rows of people lined up. 

Hubby and I both wore our "throw-away" sweats --- the weather was chilly but sunny, around 31 degrees at the starting line. I decided not to wear my Garmin but I did have my ipod and my Spibelt (to hold my phone and lip balm). I wore capris instead of shorts. About 30 minutes before the start, I ate a mini Larabar.

Ready -- set -- go!

Hubby and I quickly lost each other.  I saw him again around mile 2 and he was ahead of me. I felt like I was going so slow, but I tried to enjoy the atmosphere, the people and the race in general with no expectations whatsoever except to finish.

When I got to Doomsday Hill, I thought..."well maybe I can run half of it and walk half of it".

I ran the whole hill --- slow and steady!!! It took me 4.3 minutes to get up the hill according to their new timing chip.

Then I knew I had a fairly flat road towards the finish. My knees started bothering me around mile 2. It wasn't bad enough to stop --- just enough to let me know to be cautious. I knew that if I stopped to walk, I may not be able to start back running again so I just kept my comfortable pace until the finish.

I crossed the finish line at around 1:11 and waited for hubby who crossed it around 1:16. We were so glad we finished it!

We got our shirts and met up with a few friends including my SIL.

Officially:

I finished at 1:06:05 --- a PR!!!!

Placed 4,928 out of 47,481

Average Pace of 8:51 per mile

Placed 87th among 865 of the same age

Placed 147th out of 2,533 in my age group

(coconut water for recovery)

I had NO expectations at all except to have fun and finish. I'm so shocked and HAPPY that I PR'd (about 4½ minutes faster than last year's) even with *bum* knees. Hubby also PR'd - 1:10:48 and I am so proud of him!!!!

Goes to show you....if you keep working hard and believe in yourself, you'll reap the rewards!

Check out last year's Bloomsday.

Any races in your near future?