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| Blinging right at you. Look out. |
Three days, five races. This weekend has a race for everyone - young and old, husband and wives, slow runners and fast runners, distance runners and sprinters, dogs and...well, nothing for cats. But the hubbs and the dogs came along so they could get in on the running action, which made the trip WAY more fun because I had someone else in the car to listen to all my inane driving thoughts ("you know what all long car rides need? cheez whiz. that's what" and "why don't dog faces get fat when the rest of their body does?!?").
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| Shut-up and drive, woman. |
Let's break down the weekend by each of the five races, shall we? We shall, because that's what i decided to do.
Race #1: Little Kings Mile - Friday, 8 PM
This race is, obviously, just a mile long, and is part of a larger race series that is sponsored by beer. And lots of it. The mile was flat, I ran it way too fast (8:00/mile) and the beer copious at the finish line, but I was in no mood for beer because a) beer is not my idea of a post-run recovery drink, and b) I had just gotten into town 3 hours before the race, so I needed to go make sure that the hubbs hadn't been overtaken by the dogs in the hotel room (this is the first really long-distance trip they've ever been on). Even though I had to skeedaddle right afterwards, I was happy I got a medal at the end and thought the race was a nice change from always running longer distances.
Race #2: Flying Pig 10K - Saturday, 8 AM
This is a nice little 10K that has you cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and back over some serious, serious bridges at the start, and then takes you through downtown Cincinnati, starting and ending at Paul Brown Stadium. So it's all like, "hey here's some fake bridge hills before we give you the real hills in Cincy" because, you know, this race is nice like that.
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| mmmm bridges. |
At least they slap you with some nice bling after all that.
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| Bling and a distant banana. |
Race #3: Flying Pig 5k - Saturday, 10 AM
So you'd think that the 10k race right before this one would be hillier because, you know, it's like, longer. But the 5k had some sweet, sweet hills, especially one where you came around a corner and basically piled into everyone walking up a nice steep hill except you, because you're the only moron out there on the course trying to run up the damn thing. But I was not the only runner to stop and grab a selfie with this Flying Pig celebrity.
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| He's way better at selfies than my dog. |
Race #4: Flying Fur Run - Saturday, 1:30 PM
It had sprinkled on me during the 5K race, but by 1:30 PM that day it was what you could consider to be "raining." Which is not that great when you have a 2-mile race with both of your furry and hairy dogs, especially when their fur magnifies wet dog smell thousandsfold. But I am extremely happy they even offer this type of race, because then the dogs could stop scaring the housekeeper at the hotel and get outside for once. They also got to see Brown Stadium, the baseball stadium where the Reds play, and the hubbs in this running outfit he picked out and purchased all by himself.
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| Hey guys c'mon c'mon we're RUNNING |
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| Slackers. |
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| They be like WE GOT MEDALS WE WON, RIGHT? |
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| And we're walking in the rain because....? |
I didn't think little dog would make it past the first mile, but then I completely shamed him when an itty bitty Corgi surged past us and got him to finish. Who says parenting is hard?!?
Race #5: Flying Pig Marathon - Sunday, 6:30 freaking AM
I never planned on racing this marathon because of those nasty early miles climbing up the side of a river valley plus all the little rollers you see on the back half. I just love the vibe of this race, and the fact that it's pretty much a 26.2 mile party with its fun aide stations, beautiful scenery, bacon station around mile 16, and cheery volunteers everywhere. I only wanted to run a 4:40 and have a great time.
But I also never planned to take a tour of 8 port-a-johns during the race and chafe really badly by mile 9 in an unmentionable place. After the 7th inspection of the inside of a portable toilet, I decided to revise my goal from a 4:40 to this: See if I could get my slowest marathon time ever.
Mission accomplished, to borrow a phrase. 5:05, baby. You know what really helps you do that? Stopping all the time to take pictures, that's what.
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| Wait...where? |
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| Out of my way I'M MARATHONING |
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| My face says it all. |
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| Oooooh water |
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| ZOMG MORE WATER |
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| Still bringing in the ladies. |
By the way, this was my 30th marathon. Glad I have a PW to remember it by.
All in all, this was still a fantastic weekend. Lots of races, lots of fun, lots of cute pocket shorts, and lots of port-a-johns. What's not to love?
Let's love some learnings now:
- The Flying Fur run gives the humans medals but the dogs little dog tag medals, which is so super mega cool.
- I was proud of hubbs putting up with me for an entire weekend of races when he just came down for 2 of the total mileage.
- Hubbs and I have now perfected our "SHHHHH"es that we give the dogs in hotel rooms. If you need that done for you, give us a call.
- Sometimes, with marathons, you just have races where the best you can do is your worst.
Tomorrow's workout: Cycling! Probably indoors! Suck!
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