Hello hello!
I’m warning you in advance that this post is a little long. I didn’t realize I had so much to say about the Safari Park Half Marathon yesterday.
So hmmm…. at around 7 pm Saturday night my shoulders were sore from trying to scrub off crayon from the wall, I had just lost my toenail
(you’re welcome) and had a minor freak out when I realized the last bag of broccoli slaw I got last week was bad.
I sent STUFT Daddy to Trader Joe’s immediately for 6 bags of broccoli slaw. Yep, that’s it. Nothing else. He’s awesome, isn’t he?
Sunday morning my alarm woke me up from a stupid dream where I was lost on a race course somewhere. It was one of those frustrating dreams where you just feel helpless and frantic. Not exactly the way to start a race morning and let’s just say I was not in the best of moods. Actually, I was pretty much the grumpiest person you’d ever met. I hate it when dreams do that to you.
Luckily after I bit STUFT Daddy’s head off, got dressed and had a couple sips of my mocha in my system, I snapped out of it.
I had the same breakfast sandwich as last week’s race. Maybe a little too close to the race start time though. Oops.
After a short drive to the start and a quick drop off, we found a pretty short porta-potty line. I tried out the whole trash bag to keep warm thing for about 5 minutes.
I whipped it off when I saw these guys.
I didn’t want to look silly or anything, especially in front of that guy on the right. Ha ha.
I was hanging out with my friends Laura and Matt. They’re visiting from Iowa and this was their first half marathon.
I falsely assured them the course was pretty flat the whole way until the end (unintentional of course). How nice of me though. Always looking out for my friends.
Speaking of friends, I also ran into a couple of ladies from YMCA where I teach classes. My awesome race walking friend Kristin (cool name)
and my friend Carrie.
I usually never see anyone, so of course I made them all take pictures.
I got a little ambitious and hung out up with the 7 minute mile pace folks.
They were a little intimidating.
Right before the start I took my little quiet time. I always pray, get a little teary, give thanks for the ability to run and tell myself it’s time to “leave it all on the road” (that’s from Bonnie).
(Good thing I shaved.)
The race started right on time at 6:30 am.
I actually stayed with the 7 minute mile pace group until about mile 7. (Hey, that’s convenient.)
The course was awesome. It was a point to point from the mall to the Safari Park. We ran by a winery, some ostriches, a dairy, a fruit stand, a horse ranch and through part of the park itself. There was a monster hill around mile 6 on dirt that wasn’t fun, especially because it got my Mizuno racing shoes dirty. Beavis.
I hadn’t seen many other ladies on the course the whole time after the first couple of miles so I figured I’d be in the top 10 or so.
I got passed by a cute tiny blonde gal around mile 11. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I knew she was way younger than 35 and I really liked the shorts she was wearing. So I refrained from saying any inappropriate words in my head.
Papap, the boys and Grandma D were at the finish line waiting this time (unlike last week)
so was Carol with Laura and Matt’s cute little guy Donovan.
I’m sure they were all ecstatic to be there. Ha.
Mom even managed to get a couple action shots.
Yay!
Half marathon finish time: 1:32:59
My friend Michelle gave me my medal (she works at the park too).
On the way to meet up with the fam I had to check out just how dirty my shoes got
(I guess they don’t look that bad) and ask a stranger to take yet another picture.
Then I met up with this cute lady,
posed for a picture by the lions and proceeded to get a massive calf cramp.
Laura did awesome for her first half marathon and finished way under 2 hours. She’s a rock star.
Matt rocked it too, especially for only training for a few weeks. This guy is a stud.
He looks happy to see us, yes?
Aren’t they just the cutest? They weren’t even that upset about my false information regarding the hills.
And hey, wouldn’t you know, look who decided to show up for a bit.
He still had to “work”,
but there was no way I was letting him get out of this one. He even scored some medals for the boys with his importance park status and all.
The boys made sure I stretched properly with a little “yoga”
and it wasn’t long before I was having to kiss some boo boos.
These guys are always looking out for mama (and yes, Judah can hold that position for a long time).
After scoring as many freebies as possible I made everyone go to the awards ceremony.
That’s right, the awards ceremony.
I got:
1st place in my age group out of 226.
6th place overall for the women.
I had about 5 seconds of fame until Joaquin made it very public that he wanted to see the cheetah statue.
We got out of there pretty quickly.
I did it though.
I placed in my age group. It’s been my dream for awhile now.
STUFT Daddy really wants me to win some money next time. He suggested I work a little harder.
These guys feel the same way. They’re not too impressed with my medal. Not to mention they think I only ran 4 miles.
After freezing our butts off we headed to go get some grub and ran into a few other friends on the way. My friend Stacey and her mom both ran that half. They decided to run it the night before. Talk about awesome.
Breakfast was good. The cold weather was not. Thank goodness my family had some extra clothes for me.
And well, that’s a race recap wrap.
Here’s the thing about running and racing.
You get tired.
You get sore.
You want to quit.
You ask yourself why the heck you’re doing it (and making your family suffer with you).
You tell yourself there’s a million other things you could be doing.
But…
the very next day you want to do it all over again.
Thanks for being there along the way.
Girl you are freaking amazing. What an awesome time!! Congrats!
Great pictures and time as well. I am planning to run this race in May 2013. Thanks for the cool recap.
Wolfy
I’ll be there too! It’s a fun one!
Congratulations, again, Kristin!!! LOVE this recap!! You don’t even look tired in the post-race pictures. Seriously? Makes me dislike you just a tiny bit (haha). I have no doubt that you are going to be running sub 7 pace with these soon…I think 1:30 sounds like a good, even number =)
BTW – you totally crushed your AG – the next runner was 8 minutes behind you. AMAZING =)
That’s so cool!! Congrats!
Congratulations on your #1 placement!!!!! That’s amazing!!
SO proud of you, Kristin! Way to go! I did 1.25 miles on the treadmill yesterday. Felt good to get back to trying!
AND you did it all with one less toenail! Ha
Congratulations!! That is so awesome. Loved your recap and agree, you don’t even look fazzed after the race. BTW – your boys are adorable!
I’m so impressed and proud of you – you are awesome!! I think you’re my running hero now.
I’m so stinking proud of you!! You deserve all of these rewards – God is SO good!!
Love the recap and all the great pics. Congratulations on your wonderful achievement.
So fun to run around an animal park, too.
This gave me chills…all the way from the toe to that smile on your face! You are a machine. What an inspiration. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me! I think you are incredible and I’m so happy for you! Many hugs to you! Congratulations my friend!
Congratulations! You should be very proud! Not only is your time AMAZING, you got a FIRST PLACE medal!! That is awesome! I like that when I mention you I can say, “You know, the girl who is super fast and wins races, on and gets FREE entry into marathons!” You are going to do great at RNR San Diego! I can’t wait to see the results! Hey, what’s our boyfriend doing lately anyway?? I did the workout with him AND his trainer Friday, I pretty much couldn’t sit down on the toilet all day I was so sore! Ia m out of shape! Congrats again! That is a great family picture too!
Way to go! Awesome job! How wonderful that your family was there to experience it with you!
Love the yoga poses;-)
Congrats Kristin!! That’s awesome!!
So awesome. Those medals rock!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! You are such a rock star!! You have totally inspired me to start training, I want to TRY and do a 1/2 marathon in September.
Totally unrelated– Trader Joe’s here discontinued the sugar free dark chocolate baking chips!!! did the discontinue them near you!?!? I’m so sad….
Congratulations! You’re so fast!
You are absolutely disgusting….which is why I love reading this blog. Showing a pic of my toenail falling off is totally something I would do. And great job on the race!
CONGRATS!! What a fun race and you performed awesomely! LOVE LOVE LOVE the fun medal too!
Awesome job!!! I haven’t yet experienced the black or falling off toenails. I thought I would with marathon training.
What a fun race! They should’ve let the animals out to chase you and everyone would’ve PR-ed! I’m sorry about your toenail. I hope it grows in nice and straight for ya!
Way to go! So proud of you. You totally kicked butt out there. Do you ever post your training plans? Just curious because I want to copy whatever you are doing!:)
Wow congrats!!!! My goal is to get into the 1:40′s you rocked it!
Incredible time, Kristin! You keep shaving minutes off left and right… way to go!! You have a lot to be proud of. And you got your age group award, first place!! Congrats to you on setting a high goal and achieving it!
That’s so exciting!!! Congrats on the place!
You are a rockstar!! Congrats
. I’m not sure i’d enjoy my toenails falling off haha..but I think I would like the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a race!
You are amazing. Congrats on winning first in your age group!! Sounds like a great race! So proud of you lady!
WOW! I am seriously impressed! What a neat accomplishment, especially when you weren’t expecting it!
Loved the race recap, time with friends at the race, and family presence! Oh – and thanks for the shout-out – way to leave it on the pavement, friend! REALLY proud of your hard work – it’s so clearly paying off, you racing machine!
Poor piggy nail! Looks like you really rocked that race girl- great job!!
Way to go, girl!!!
Love the toenail shot
AWESOME! congrats on getting first in your age group..that is sooo impressive!!
sorry about the toe…but sounds like it was worth it..you have 9 other toe nails right? hah no big deal if you’re missin one
Woo hoo! Have been following your blog for a while and am thrilled for you, well done!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! First??? That’s amazing and you should be so proud of yourself. How exciting it must have been to be part of the award’s ceremony.
I love all the photos. The yoga stretch is especially cute.
Those photos rock… well, accept for that first one where your toe nail decided it wanted a vacation. Ack. That photo may haunt my dreams. If I dream of a rogue toe nail with fancy nail polish chasing me in my dreams at a wicked fast pace, it’s yours.
Congrats on the finish. Congrats on the AG award and those medals are pretty sweet.
That looks like such a fun race! CONGRATS on your time and placing #1- that’s awesome
Great job Kristin!!! You are amazing!!!!
of course the boys are not impressed, they got a medal for just showing up! one day they’ll understand what a rock star mom is…
YEEEEE! congrats, my friend, first place is awesome, and overall awesome time too! XO
Nice job!!!! And your boys are so super cute. Love that yoga pose held forEVER!!!! LOL
Way to go, speedy lady!! You are an inspiration!
Seriously amazing!! (minus the toenail pic!) CONGRATS!!!!!!!
Congrats. Love all the pics. StuftDaddy is really handsome! I think that is truly so lovely that you won. What an accomplishment that you’ll always cherish. Cheetah Roars for you!
LOVE , LOVE , LOVE all the pictures you gave us and the (almost) play by play of your day and race…this wins for cutest post yet….I am sure you were going for that medal too right? ha!
Did I miss it? Does S.Daddy work for the park? The boys and grandpa looking all safari(ed) up fit in perfectly…too cute once again.
Congrats on the awesome time and placing first! WOW!
omg! congrats on the WIN! you are amazing.
btw: great pic of the two of us, can you post on facebook? want to add to my photos.
and although i did not win my age group, i did PR, with only my second time getting under 2 hours, 1:59:06, and i was walking some o’ those hills… but i loved the signs with the jokes as you were ascending, they kept my spirits up, especially the one, “what do this hill and an elephant’s trunk have in common? they both suck!”
Congrats Kristin!!! You are awesome! Hope to see you at the staff party at Laurie’s on June 8th.