The Cowtown 10K that almost wasn't.

Yesterday's adventures at the Cowtown Health & Fitness Expo were followed today by adventures at the Cowtown 10K race.

Now, the weather wasn't really cooperating with us - it was thunderstorming and flashing all sorts of pretty lightning all over the place when we got to downtown Fort Worth.  This necessitated my twin and I to wear very fashionable rain ponchos as we walked to the starting line and while waiting in the packet pickup hall due to the 10K race being delayed by 1.5 hours.

We iz so beautiful.

We also got to traipse through the expo again, hitting up the Bai booth for a quick stupid picture and huge bottles of free water.

As a consequence of having to wait an extra hour and a half to run and bringing no extra snacks with me, I got hungry.  Good thing they were passing out these free boxes of marathon-themed cookies for me to nosh on and take selfies with.

MOO

Anyhoo, the race did manage to go on and then we headed outside into the grey crappy morning surrounded by the intensely art deco Will Rogers Memorial Center buildings and the new Dickies Center under construction.

My goal for the race was to run it in just under an hour, and as you can see below, mission was freaking accomplished.  And you can see that I finally realized in mile 5 that I should slow the you-know-what-that-begins-with-an-F-and-is-a-really-bad-word down because I'm running a marathon tomorrow.

And I also accomplished getting a cool 10K medal with a little guy designed in 1979 that spins around because 40th anniversary.

And for my last accomplishment, some learnings:

• I meant to write this long hilarious post about this 10K, but then I made the mistake of checking my email and was working all afternoon and evening.  We'll never know the post that could have been--so sad.
• This was a well-organized event.  I am impressed as a first-time runner.
• Unlike the Austin marathon, this course is flat with a few hills rather than hilly with a few flat areas.
• I did start out way too fast today, and I'll likely pay for that tomorrow.  It's a good thing I have a small dog to help me recover.

Hooman.  This is how you recover.  Not by
writing stupid blog posts.

Tomorrow's workout: Cowtown Marathon!!

Day 1, Week 9: Sycamore Pumpkin Run Chaos--Taco Dogs Everywhere

The workout on the training plan was for 15 miles.  That didn't exactly happen today because of two reasons:

1) I ran a 10K race this morning way faster than I should have run it, and
2) While the wedding food last night was amazing, it wasn't so amazing waking up early and running a race.  Or 9 more miles after that.  Ugh.

The 10K race, as I mentioned yesterday, is one I like to do with the dogs in costume because, you know, dogs in costume plus running = all sorts of awesome.  Here's a nice pre-race picture for you where neither of the dogs is looking at the camera because we simply gave up trying to get them to look at the camera.  If you take our dogs anywhere but home, the attention deficit starts ramping up to 11 and you can forget about getting their attention at all.

It was in the 30s at the start, hence the hat and gloves.  But holy cow did I warm up that taco costume nicely by mile 2.  The gloves came off at mile 3, and it was all I could do not to rip my hat off by mile 4.  It was only the thought of how crazy my short hair gets when it's been shoved in a hat that stopped me; I didn't want to hurt anyone with the sight of me, after all.  So I sucked it up and ran with my large taco dog, who of course didn't pull me at all like he normally does and upstaged me at every spectator spot.  It was all "OH LOOK AT THE CUTE TACO DOG....and a taco running with him" every. single. time.

The hubbs sacrificed his morning to go to this race with me, mainly to look after the small taco dog while the large one and I were on the course.

But his other job was race photographer, which he dutifully did even though small taco dog took off after his brother at the end of the race and caused the hubbs to fall, tearing up his knee.

This is the EXACT MOMENT all taco hell broke loose for the hubbs.

I heard the commotion and looked back to see the hubbs on the ground and small taco dog running around freely about the course.  So I did what any dutiful wife would do--keep running until I hit the finish and then go check on him.  Priorities, people.

The other thing I had to deal with during this race besides rogue taco dogs and falling husbands was what was going on with my stomach. A combination of last night's wedding food and me having to pee right before the race yet not hitting the port-a-john caused a huge knot in my stomach at mile 2. This knot didn't let up until 3 hours after I got home.  It also prevented me from doing the last 9 miles of my scheduled run, as I kept starting those miles but kept having to turn back after about a quarter of a mile to use my own indoor facilities.  So I decided to listen to my body and stay near a toilet for the rest of the evening.

What did large taco dog do for the rest of the evening?  His usual "it looks like I'm guarding the house with the cat but it's really just a ruse so I can eat the cat's head when he least expects it" activities.

The cat's head is never safe.  

Small dog came home and held his favorite gator captive to tell him all about the fun chaos he caused this morning.

I didn't have time for holding gators captive- I had to look at my splits and say bad words because I ran this way too fast...and I'm feeling it now.

Race day learnings coming your way:

• That costume was not aerodynamic at all and provided you with no peripheral vision.  Sorry, all you runners that I cut off without seeing you today.
• I am so bummed about not finishing the scheduled workout for today.  But my legs are not.
• Small taco dog also slipped his collar after the race started and bolted towards the course again.  Troublemaker.
• You know that runner rule that says "don't eat food that isn't familiar to you the night before a race?"  Yeah, that one is there for a reason, kids.
• Everyone should have a captive toy gator to which to tell their troubles.  The world would be a much nicer place, I'm sure.

Tomorrow's workout:  Upper-body weight goodness.  And I may do some miles to make up for today's loss of mileage due to gastrointestinal crises.  We'll see!

Looking at all of the data.

I did some upper-body weight work today (Muscle Endurance by Cathe) because I thought after racing two races in one weekend my legs needed a day off.

For once I look like a real runner!

I have been concerned about my numbers on my racing bibs, but I have been awash in other numbers lately.  But apparently I have been looking at the wrong numbers.

I have been weighing myself while I am currently ill with this chest cold; today's weight was a 146.2.  I was so ill this morning that I couldn't have cared what the scale said; I just did it out of sheer habit.  After a busy day of sitting and scoring student videos I was a tad more awake (thanks, Sudafed!), so when I came home I got on the scale again.

Now, I know better than  to expect a weight loss between the beginning and the end of the day.  I started weighing myself in the evening to measure my body fat (my scale has that function) about 2 weeks ago, because I know you need all the data you can get to draw viable and valid conclusions.  When I started my eating manifesto, it read 25.2%.

Today it read 22.8%.

I know there's a margin of error with these scales, but there is inaccuracy with any measuring device out there.  But I think a 2.4% drop might be significant; plus, the drop has been consistent over these last two weeks.

Interesting.  I better start looking at all of the data.

I ran a 10K and I'm sick. Bleh.

This morning I ran the 10K at the Rockford Marathon.

This 10K was a lovely flat course that took you right along the Rock River on either side and then finished with a nice downhill to the finish line.  I ran it.  I didn't race it.  I was helping a friend run her first 10K, which she did successfully.  She crossed the finish line strong:

Besides, I couldn't have raced it if I tried.  This chest cold has passed from the merely annoying stage to the "holy cow what did I just cough up" stage.  I was wiped out after running this morning (even if it was just 11 minute miles), and crashed for 2 hours afterwards.  So much for grading student projects; getting my oil changed, grocery shopping, and gassing up the car for the week trumped that.  Oh, and writing this blog post did, too.

My weight loss has kind of taken a back seat while I am ill.  I did weigh myself this morning (146.0), but am thinking this weight loss had to do with my illness.  I kind of ate a little too much today, but I'm not feeling guilty about it.  I'll feel guilty about it when I'm not hacking up things with colors from another dimension.