Running with the Boys: Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

I started the road to Goofy today with my first ever back to back challenge at the Frederick Running Festival. The running girls and I headed to Frederick, Maryland to conquer the Nut Job Challenge. (I thought my BRF needed a medal that said Nut Job...it fits. :) ) As usual, we signed up for the race based on the medal and nobody looked at the course map (or elevation map) or the weather....more on that later!

I went up with the family on Friday and the girls came up Saturday. While they were driving, we were having some family fun watching and riding trains. We went to the expo right when it opened. The race company had great signs and were wonderful with traffic control. I felt like a rockstar going to the Nut Job sign to get my bib!! After the bibs, we were directed to another building for shirts. Again, there was a Nut Job shirt pick up, so we only had to go to one place to get both shirts. The expo part was a little disappointing, but the little guy was screaming, so we needed to get out of there anyway. From there we went about our adventures.

The girls and I met up at the Frederick Fairgrounds at about 5:00 on Saturday evening for the first leg of our challenge - the Twilight 5K. My boys dropped me off and went to get some dinner while I did the waiting around thing. I found the girls and we caught up on what has been happening since our last adventure, hit the porta-potty line and then headed onto a dirt racetrack to get into our corrals for the 5K. (I need to interject that the race started at 6pm on Kentucky Derby Saturday. Since we started and ended on a dirt track and I was missing the most exciting two minutes in sports for a not so exciting way longer amount of time in sports, I fancied myself a race horse as I gazelled around the track!)

The gun went off and I shuffled to the starting line and started running when I finally got there. Right around the first curve, I looked over and saw my personal cheering section, back from dinner! I blew them kisses and kept running. I wasn't sure how the race would go. I knew that I had 13.1 the next morning and my IT band has been screaming at me, so I planned to take the 5K easy. I didn't need to win, I just needed to finish. Then, all of a sudden, the wind kicked up and it started raining. (It's not a race with my BRF if it doesn't rain.) That cooled the day off and I started feeling good. I wasn't running fast, but it was feeling like a good run. I have dropped down to 1:1 intervals since my runs have been less than stellar, and that was working for me. This was a HILLY 5K! It was up and down and then up and down and then up and down again. At the halfway point, they had a guy dressed up shouting encouragement from a ladder. (Best quote..."You are not almost there. But you are almost here.") On the way back, I ran a little ways with a man who was pushing his son in a chair. They are not part of Team Hoyt, but the son had read the Hoyts' book and asked his dad to push him. Dad started running. After I left them, or they left me...I don't remember....I started talking to a girl who has done the Disney marathon 4 times...and has done Goofy. We chatted for the last half mile or so, until we got back to the track again and I saw my boys. I finished in 37:57, which is a far cry from a PR, but better than I have seen in a long time. There was no medal for the 5K, but I would get my medal after the half!

This morning came pretty quickly after the race and packing everyone to go home. The girls picked me up from my hotel so I could ride with them to the start. We left in more than enough time, but ran into some traffic on the way. I had terrible flashbacks to the traffic at Diva when we sat in traffic and they delayed the start by 90 minutes. But, I worried for nothing. We got there, got parked, and headed to where we needed to be What seemed like a ton of porta potties the day before seemed lacking this morning. We waited in lines a mile long FOREVER. at 6:55, they started the National Anthem and we were still in line. We got to the corrals at 6:58 and there was a back up to get in, but we finally did. We passed the starting line and the race was on.

I wasn't sure how I was feeling. It was really crowded at the start, with people weaving in and out and blowing past other people with no regard for race etiquette. I ran the entire first mile at a pretty decent clip. After that, I started my intervals, but if there was an incline, I tried to walk up it and run anytime there was a down hill. It was a beautiful run - past the Francis Scott Key statue and through the cutest shops in Downtown Frederick. We ran through a park with a waterfall and little bridges everywhere and past huge, beautiful schools. At just about the halfway point, the scenery switched to residential and got a little boring to the end. There was great race support...lots of people out and about, ringing cowbells and cheering. (Race note - if you thank the spectators for coming out, chances are they will yell really loud for you after you thank them. You're welcome!) I was still feeling okay, but my knee wasn't liking the canted roads or the hills. I slowed down a lot. But, I made some friends!! I met a girl who is married to a wounded warrior. She has some medical concerns herself, but decided to run for her friend who was sick. She sped up and then slowed down, so I kept plugging along. I talked to another kid who was being pushed by a team of runners. We are almost birthday twins and he told me I looked pretty. He was my favorite. Then I met some sisters. One was racing for the first time since she had her baby. They were nice girls. Finally, at about mile 11, I met Beth. Her foot hurt and the tape wasn't working. She was walking, so I walked with her. We were chatting and she is interested in the 50 States Challenge. I enjoyed my 2 miles with her. There was a pretty nasty hill at mile 12.5 (yep...12.5.....who DOES that??). At the end of that hill, I saw my babies. I stopped for a hug and then we started running to the end.

I crossed the finish line at 3:10. Not my best, but not my worst. I didn't push very hard and I talked to a lot of people. It was a hilly race, but the hills weren't impossible or unbearable. (Thanks for making me run the Jordan Bridge, Kris!) I probably could run faster if I talked less and ran more....but talking makes the race fun. If you can't win, you might as well have fun. My IT bands are talking to me tonight, but I sat in a car for 4 hours as soon as I finished the race. Hopefully they feel a little better tomorrow. All in all, beautiful and challenging (but not impossible) run! I needed a good run that felt good, even if it was slow.

It's official...I'm a nut....and so are they: