Run All the Races - VIRTUAL RUN!

About a year ago, I posted that I hoped to do a big giveaway when I completed my 50 half marathons in 50 states goal. It is hard to believe that day is almost here. In just a few weeks, on October 14, L and I will complete our goal - in VERMONT. We will have completed a half marathon in all 50 states + DC, and we will have done it together.

I have really enjoyed my journey and have met TONS of great people along the way, both runners, and those that go the extra mile to provide awesome products to runners (and other athletes).

I didn't want to do *just* a giveaway. I have blogged about it a few times already, but I have joined Team AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) to run the Tinker Bell half marathon in January. I am running in memory of my friend Bob, who was lost to suicide two months ago.

So this giveaway is a bit different, and I hope to raise money for Team AFSP while celebrating the completion of my 50 state goal at the same time. So... keep reading:

When: Starts... NOW and runs through midnight MST October 14, 2012
Where: Wherever you feel like racing. #runalltheraces

Here's where the fundraising comes in. 

$5 donation = 5K = 1 entry
$10 donation = 10K = 2 entries
$25 donation = half marathon (13.1 miles) = 5 entries
$40 donation = FULL marathon (26.2) = 10 entries
$50 donation = ULTRA marathon (50K or longer) = 15 entries

HOW THIS IS GOING TO WORK (hopefully):

1. Choose your distance - obviously you can donate the amount you are comfortable with, and extra donations are happily accepted. (Additional entries 1 = $5 donated beyond the amount noted above. Ex: Run a 5K and donate $15, receive 1 entry ($5 for the 5K) + 2 entries (for the additional $10) = 3 total)
2. Click here to donate to Team AFSP.
3. Leave a comment or email me (squirrelgirl44@hotmail.com) with your race distance and donation amount (I will calculate your number of entries, but if you want to include that in the email, it might help me out).
4. Please, please, PLEASE tweet and/or Facebook and/or blog about this! These vendors have very generously donated products for this giveaway/cause and a few shout outs to them would really make me (and them) happy! (copy me on any tweets please!! @squirrelgirl44 )
5. Run your race (or bike, or swim or whatever) take some pictures, write a race report, and email it, send me the link, or comment.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me a comment so that I can get everything logged ASAP.

I'll post a link to all of the race reports once compiled.


Now, the million dollar question....


WHAT do you get out of this?


First off, knowing what your tax deductible donation does:

For every $50 I raise, AFSP can provide educational materials to 25 people, emphasizing the importance of early identification and treatment for those suffering from depression and other disorders that put them at risk.

For every $100 I raise, AFSP can educate a mental health professional or primary care physician about the warning signs of suicide; they, in turn, will reach hundreds (maybe thousands)of people.

For every $500 I raise, AFSP can train a new Survivor of Suicide support group facilitator, and the members of the group will be given a chance to be with other survivors who understand, and will know that they are not alone.

ALSO!!! You will get entered to win some of these cool prizes...


From... TEAM SPARKLE! Your choice of one regular sparkle skirt AND a pair of race legs!! You can find them on twitter @runTeamSparkle

From... PRO COMPRESSION! TWO people can choose from ANY color of the awesome marathon sock. I have FIVE pairs of these. LOVE them. The neon yellow MIGHT be my favorite. You can find them on twitter @procompression

From... ASPAERIS! These truly are #magicpants. If you haven't tried them yet, now is your chance. I put these bad boys on after the Austin marathon and was not sore. Not one tiny bit. You can also wear them under things like... sparkle skirts! Winner may choose any color of pivot shorts. On twitter @AspaerisPivot

From... RAZZY ROO! My favorite headband lady! She is now even doing custom work. Made in the USA, inexpensive, and the best customer service you can ask for. Winner chooses any headband! On twitter @RazzyRooBands (also, she is running a sale right now. 20% of EVERYTHING, use the code FALLSALE at checkout). Look at the cool band she made for Rock 'n' Roll Denver!!

From... NUUN! I have been using Nuun for about 3 years. I use it just about every day. I have tried every flavor (except banana... I can never find it!). Nuun has been kind enough to donate for TWO winners. Each will get 1 4-pack of Nuun and a Nuun water bottle. Sweet!! On twitter @nuunhydration

From... ALLIED MEDAL! Any standard metal rack. What??? Yes!!! These are the best metal racks out there! Anything on their site that is NOT custom and it is yours!! So many things to choose from! I have this one (obviously):

From... RUN PRETTY FAR! I first heard about these AWESOME shirts when I ran Ragnar back in April. These are the most comfortable shirts you will ever wear, hands down. Jenn at Run Pretty Far will donate ONE tank or shirt of your choice! My personal favorite is the "cake" shirt. I'll be sporting a tank at the Palo Duro 50k next month! Find them on twitter @runprettyfar

From... INK N' BURN!! They are generously donating ONE pair of arm sleeves! I personally LOVE the new Halloween line they have out and have ordered the Zombie sleeves for myself. This one is a great one if I have any guys out there interested in participating. Find them on twitter @INKnBURN

 
From FLIP BELT!! They are going to donate one of their awesome flip belts... IN ANY COLOR to the winner. Their website states that it even works with the iPhone 5 (I have tested with iPhone 4, and it worked great). I wore my Flip Belt during the San Francisco marathon, and it held everything I needed for the race. LOVE THESE!! (PS - the nuclear yellow looks AMAZING). On twitter @FlipBelt

From... YMX BY YELLOWMAN!! YMX is generously donating to TWO winners. Each winner has their choice of any classic tank or run top!!! I was lucky enough to win a long sleeve tri jersey from them during a twitter contest last fall. I ADORE IT. They are my go-to brand for stylish tops to wear - especially in winter. The only time I've ever (intentionally) raced in long sleeves, I was wearing one of their shirts. I am PSYCHED to be able to offer this to you! Aren't these beautiful?? Find them on twitter @WearYMX

One winner a day will be selected via random.org beginning OCTOBER 15. Winner will have 24 hours to get in touch with me to select their prize. After the prize has been chosen, this post will be updated to reflect that it is no longer available. (This MAY have to be adjusted... I have enough to give out that this could go on for weeks.) Thanks to overwhelming support from the above companies, I am going to do the giveaway prizes a bit different. I will select ALL the winners via random.org on October 15. If you are selected as a winner, email me ASAP (squirrelgirl44@hotmail.com) and rank the prizes in the order you would want to win them, with 1. being the items you would want the MOST. (On the day winners are announced, I will list the prizes so you can copy and paste - hopefully that will make things go a bit smoother).

Also... I might have a few other things to toss in there, and will add at my discretion. I wanted to get this up and running so that you would have THREE weekends to race!

****NOTE**** If you've already donated, THANK YOU, and there is NO NEED to donate again to join the race. To the two AWESOME ladies that have already donated, I have already set you up with entries.

Disclaimer: ALL of these items were donated to me by those fantastic companies. All of the opinions are my own. I only approached companies that I personally use and love. Let's show some love to these awesome AWESOME companies.

Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, September 22
Denver, CO
Half Marathon #69
Colorado Half #14
Weather - Perfect

I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Denver full marathon in 2011. I fully intended to run it again this year, and that is what I was registered for. Thanks to the stupid knee injury, I simply was not trained to run a full marathon, nor was I sure that even if I *thought* I could run a full, that I could actually complete it. So, a few days prior to the race, my coach (and L) and I decided that I would just try to run a "strong" half.

Expo

Thankfully, I now work downtown, less than a half a mile from where packet pick up was. That meant that I did NOT have to battle the traffic or obscene parking fees to get my stuff. L came to visit me for lunch and we walked over. We say a quick hello to Lesley at the Sport Hooks booth and Cheryl at Razzy Roo. Without even realizing it, my whole hour lunch break was gone. I tell you, it is quite a different beast going to an expo in the middle of the day vs. last minute at night. It was not crowded at all.

Drama ensued later, when L forgot where she parked downtown and it took her over 4 hours to find her car. No kidding.

Race Day

We had the plan to be out the door by 5:30 in order to get parked and walk the one mile to the start line. We parked and got to the start with no problems. We had time to cycle through the bathroom lines twice. We had worn throwaway pants and tops, and we kept them until the last minute. The bike tour (yes, Denver had a bike tour that started 30 minutes prior to the running races) had started at 6:45, and it did not affect the run at all. The start was in Civic Center park:

We started in L's corral, which was 11. The goal was to just take it easy and see how things were going to go. I hadn't run further than 7 miles pain free in almost 2 months.

Mile one cruised by, and according to my mapmyrun app (I am so enraged with my Garmin that I haven't used it in ages), we were running about a 10:30 pace. Perfect. It was slightly chilly, but ideal running conditions. We saw Lesley in line at the bathrooms by the Pepsi Center, around mile 1.

Honestly, I was feeling really good for the first few miles, and I'll admit that I was still wondering... what if... what if I just ran the marathon anyway. The first 5 miles are running up and down the streets of downtown Denver. Then, around mile 5 we turn and enter City Center Park. I think I started to get tired and wasn't feeling that great by probably mile 7. My knee was starting to twinge a bit. Not HURTING, just a tad uncomfortable. We still took it easy, and as best I could tell, we were running a pretty consistent pace of 10:20-10:50 miles.

By mile 8 I knew that there was no way on earth I was going to be running the full marathon. I had still walked only the aid stations, and if I remained pain free, my main goal was to complete the half without walking anything but the aid stations. It was HARD, but I managed to do it.

Around mile 11, I heard my name, and turned just in time to see my friend Jennifer on the course:

The course split in Cheeseman Park just after mile 11. By then I felt perfectly ok with my decision to not run the full.

Around mile 13 just before the chute

Based on the splits I was hearing through my app, we had run all our splits under 11 minutes. Somewhere along the line though, our GPS must have gone all crazy because our official time was quite a bit slower than we expected. A teeny tiny bit disappointed, but I have to say, I am SO HAPPY I was able to run (very very slowly) without any pain.

Also, even though I absolutely loathe the Rock 'n' Roll series, I have done this event twice, and I will definitely be back next year. Both the full marathon and half marathon courses are fantastic. My only regret on not doing the full? No beer on the course :(

The splits did not register, and the course measured VERY long for me. For L, it measured a quarter of a mile longer than mine. Over 14 miles!

L and Me in front of the Civic Center

Post race, we got our free food and beverages. We were a few blocks away from the finish when I remembered that they were handing out the heavy metals AT the race. We had to wait a few minutes for them to be delivered, but it sure beats having to wait a few months for one to come in the mail. FYI, for 2012, I did 5 Rock 'n' Roll events (Arizona, New Orleans, Nashville, Seattle and Denver).

In other news:

• Today would have been my friend Bob's 38th birthday. If you didn't already know, I am raising money for the AFSP to run the Tinker Bell half marathon. I am raising $500 and could use your help. You can donate here.
• Razzy Roo (link at the top of my blog) - is having a sale. 20% off... EVERYTHING. Including clearance items! Use the code FALLSALE at checkout. Discount good through September 30.
• Check back in the next day or so... big announcement coming! (Sorry, no spoilers).

The Knee (and Other Updates)

I really don't have anything to say. I have done a few short runs and *knockonwood* - the knee has been fine. I have been religiously doing my exercises and have been visiting my PT once a week. Today was the third time I had the deep needling done. She says my IT Band doesn't feel as tight. She has been taping my knee and I've run up to 7.2 miles pain free. Other than that... NOTHING HAS BEEN GOING ON.

I have been running 25+ miles a week for years. This low mileage stuff has me in the dumps. I was SO happy to run 7.2 miles on Saturday with no pain. However, I have ZERO stamina left. So depressing. Anyway.

Random Thoughts:

• This weekend is RnR Denver. I am registered for the full. I am 99% sure I will be doing the half instead.
• I get to pick up my heavy medal AT the race. So happy RnR is starting to do this instead of mailing them out.
• My PT let me pick my own tape so I could coordinate with my race outfit. She's the coolest.
• Next week is Bear Chase. I am registered for the 50 mile. I have until Saturday to change my distance. Coach would like to see me try the 50k, but depending on how this weekend goes, that might not be an option, and I may end up doing the half there too. (There is no distance between 1/2 and 50k).
• I've been a good girl and have been doing cross training. Cycling (boring) and rowing (Hey, maybe THAT'S why my arms were sore?)
• Running Skirts has their new fall line available!! I have them on order. If I can't run, at least I can have cute skirts? I have, however, been getting more wear out of my skirts by wearing them on the weekends and as casual wear.
• NOT running related. I have had my iPhone for over 2 years. On Monday I dropped it in the parking garage while getting in my car. Shattered the corner of the screen. I could have dealt with the crack, but unfortunately it broke something internal so none of the swiping/touch screen was working... HELLO, everything you can do on an iPhone. Phone completely useless. "Luckily," I was eligible for an upgrade. Instead of getting the new iPhone 5, I upgraded to the 4S (mine was a regular 4) and got a 32 (currently have a 16). I also got a military grade case that can withstand sand, wind, rain, and BEING DROPPED. Le sigh.

Also, I am IN for Tinker Bell this year! I am going to be running as a charity runner for the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) in memory of my friend that died in July. My goal amount is $500, so if you have a few bucks that you can spare to donate, that would be AWESOME. I have a link at the top right corner of my blog, or you can also done here (tax deductible, of course!!)

And, to avoid a picture-less blog:

9/11 Remembrance Run 10k (Race Recap)

Saturday, September 8
Arvada, CO
Weather - Sunny and warm

I ran the 20 mile option of 9/11 Remembrance Run last year. This year, they had added a half marathon option, which I registered for months ago. As the date got closer, I didn't want to have another painful half, so I dropped to the 10k the morning of the race.

Race Day

We had plans to arrive around 7:15, to give us time to park and get to the starting area with enough time for me to change my registration. For WHATEVER reason, in order to change my registration, I had to fill out a WHOLE NEW FORM, swap bibs and shoe tags. ALL IN DIFFERENT LINES. It was super annoying. Had I known it would take so long, I really would have gotten their earlier. Why not just adjust the distance in the computer? Why the theatrics? There were only 4 port-o-potties, but the line didn't take that long. We saw Ruth while we were in line and got her to take a picture of our super patriotic outfits.

Running Skirts, Pro Compression socks (Also, I'm wearing my niece's Barbie sunglasses since I left mine at home)

"Luckily," the race wasn't very organized, and the race started about 15 minutes late. I hadn't bothered to look at the profile, I had assumed the course would be the same as last year. I was wrong. The first 5K of the course was on the parade route. Oh. Did I forget to mention that the race was the same day as the harvest festival? And that with the race starting late, we were running on the parade course within oh, 15 minutes of the start of a 140+ float parade? It's true, that happened.

I lost L and Ruth in the first 5 minutes. I was feeling ok, there was no knee pain, but I was exhausted very early. Apparently, that's what happens when one tries to run after NOT running for practically a month. Anyway, the course was totally bizarre. Somewhere around the first mile, we veered off the main road onto this weird "trail." I walked up that. I was tired. On the turn around, there was a pretty big downhill, but thankfully, it didn't make my knee angry. At the turnaround point, there was a bit of confusion, the volunteer asked "have you been by me before?" Huh? On the other side of the median? Is that the same? Either way, wasted 15-20 seconds trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. On the way back towards the start/finish area, I chatted with a lady for a few minutes about the race.

The 5k point was where we split off and got back on the trail where I remembered running last year. It was hot. At this point, I was REALLY happy that I had dropped down to a shorter distance. I was walking a decent amount, but the great news was that my knee was not hurting. The turnaround on the trail was just after 4 miles. I probably could have pushed a bit more on the way back, but I didn't.

I felt pretty good at the finish, and even though this is my 10k PW, it was about 9 minutes off what I had as my "A" goal for the race, due to how my running has been going lately. I have only run a couple 10ks in the last few years. Not my favorite distance.

Overall, SUPER pleased with my finish. So nice to run so long and NOT be miserable at the end. Maybe the end is in sight? (I hope!)

Bib - 4171
Official Time - 1:06:15
Official Pace - 10:40
Overall Place - 87/139
Gender Place - 53/96
Division Place - 18/35
Garmin Time - 1:06:14
Garmin Distance - 6.19 miles
Garmin Pace - 10:42
Mile 1 - 10:27
Mile 2 - 11:34 (I walked a LOT)
Mile 3 - 10:24
Mile 4 - 10:52
Mile 5 - 10:29
Mile 6 - 10:28
Mile 6.19 - 10:15

Good

• Nice running on the bike path
• Bottled water at the finish (nice change from last year)
• Chip Timed
• Good volunteers on the course

Not so Good

• Late start - it's too hot for that!
• Too many distances starting at the same time in a small space
• Disorganization with pick up and changing distances
• Not enough bathrooms
• Would have liked sports drink of some kind

This is a local race for me, and I liked the addition of the half distance. I will run it again, hopefully they get some of these flaws figured out for next year. I'd REALLY like to see a women's size shirt. I got the smallest shirt I could and it's like a nightgown on me. Annoying :(

Knee (Update - Week 3)

Coming up now on just over three weeks of misery and crippling pain with the stupid knee. To recap, I've been to a chiropractor twice, an orthopedic surgeon once and physical therapy. This morning was my third visit. So far, they have done a lot of poking and prodding, some stretching, ultra sound therapy. Today, I got to try "deep needling." Have any of you done this?? It looks like this:

Yep. Acupuncture needles IN MY KNEE. Then, after they are in, she moves them around to try to make it hurt. YES, INTENTIONALLY. Ow, ow, ow.

Also, there was more taping:

Yes, she matched black/white tape to match the black/white dress I have on. She is the best. I've been instructed to take a bit more time off from running (&%!@) and do more cross training. Last night I rowed a mile and rode 12.6 miles on the bike. Sigh. This is all so frustrating.

As for my "homework" - more stretching and exercises to strengthen the hips and gluts, as well as foam rolling and using a lacrosse (or tennis) ball to really get into the crevice of my knee where the pain really is. Groovy.

BUT. The really good news is I was FINALLY able to pinpoint the origin of the pain, so hopefully that will aid in my recovery. I really HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE this.

I have a half marathon on schedule for Saturday. Since it is local, I'm likely going to skip or drop down to a lesser distance - depending on what the knee feels like later this week and what the PT says.

Suck less, dumb knee.

Disneyland Half Marthon (Race Recap)

Sunday, September 2
Anaheim, CA
Half Marathon #68
California Half #3
Disneyland Half #2
Weather - HOT and SUNNY

I was REALLY looking forward to my second Disneyland half marathon. I had such a fun time running Tinker Bell with Heather that I was understandably giddy about another matchy matchy costume and 13.1+ miles prancing through Disneyland. The funny thing, is that Heather and I had decided after running last year that we wouldn't run it again. But then it started to get close to selling out, and I panicked and registered anyway, the day before registration closed. And I'm soooo glad I did!

We carbloaded at Heather's house the night before. That chick can COOK. She made baked mac n' cheese. One kind with bacon, the other with green chili and chicken. SO DELICIOUS. We headed to bed decently early, and in order to get up STUPID EARLY to to be out the door by 4:15 for our first attempt at driving to a Disney race.

Race Day

Alarm for me went off at 4:01. Would I really need longer than 14 minutes to get ready? Once we finalized our costumes (Heather even made us TAILS, which I don't think either of us got a picture of) and headed out the door, we were really only a few minutes past goal time. We ate a tasty breakfast of donut holes on the drive over, and traffic wasn't really that bad. However. We couldn't seem to actually FIND the parking structure. And by the time we DID find it, it was backed up FOREVER. They were actually collecting $15 in parking fees from every single driver. By the time we parked, it was 5:23. We were in "A" corral, and gun time was 5:45. No worries... by this time, there was ZERO line for the bathrooms, we waltzed right up to our corral and actually had to wait for the race to start.

Mile 1 was the only "speedy" mile of the race. It was still dark, and since we were outside the park, there was nothing to look at. We caught up to Dave just before entering the park and managed to get a picture with him before we lost him.

I had warned Heather in advance that I hadn't tried anything further than 4 miles in two weeks, and that we were likely going to have to take it slow. Being experts at the slow, we stopped for EVERY character picture inside the parks, as well as using real bathrooms.

I was feeling ok through the entire park section, but around mile 4, I felt the knee starting to ache. We jokingly had an "A" goal of beating our super slow Tinker Bell time of 3:20. As the race went on, that seemed harder and harder to do. It never hurt as bad as West Virginia, but that is probably because as soon as it started to hurt, I walked. Like before, as long as I was walking, it was fine.

Anyway, the course was the same as last year, and they adjusted the boring section around mile 7 by having classic cars parked alongside both sides of the course for close to a mile. Definitely gave us something else to look at.

Unlike running Tink, there are NO character pictures after you leave the park in the very beginning. So that was a bummer. However, thanks to being so slow, we got to see lots of stuff we wouldn't normally see. We saw Sandy and her husband hanging out on the curb around mile 12, we saw a random chick stop to puke, we saw ALL THE COSTUMES. I think my favorite was a girl dressed as Perry the Platypus. So cute.

The last few miles it got pretty hot, and I really wanted to be done. The dumb knee would not cooperate, so we did a slow jog/walk and finished even SLOWER than Tink. A new PW!! (Or as Kim would say, a new Personal Underachievement).

Please enjoy the pictures the course photographers managed to get:

 

Caption for all of the above pictures: "We are the cutest and most fun EVER."

Official Time - 3:26:08
Official 5K - 45:43
Official 10K - 1:45:21
Official 15K - 2:30:36
Overall Place - 13098/14829
Gender Place - 7996/9340
Division Place - 1417/1647
Garmin Time - 3:26:09
Garmin Distance - 13.48 miles
Garmin Pace - 15:18 (ouch)
Mile 1 - 9:59
Mile 2 - 11:09
Mile 3 - 15:38
Mile 4 - 33:03
Mile 5 - 14:14
Mile 6 - 13:26
Mile 7 - 14:23
Mile 8 - 14:20
Mile 9 - 15:38
Mile 10 - 15:34
Mile 11 - 15:26
Mile 12 - 12:36
Mile 13 - 14:56
Mile 13.48 - 12:13

We collected our ginormous medals, our cooling towels and our box of random food. Then we made our way to Downtown Disney to get gelato bars. If you haven't had one, try one. They are tasty and delicious.

The Good:

• The bling. I love the bling.
• The characters. Disney really IS the happiest place on earth.
• Our costumes. So freakin' awesome. (Also, other people had really awesome costumes too).
• Running with my BFF! She's the funnest.
• All the aid stations were well stocked, best volunteers ever.
• The change to the middle (boring) part of the course by adding the classic cars. Thanks, Disney!

The Bad:

• The whole parking situation. Heather almost LOST HER MIND. It wasn't too bad for me, you know, since I was gorging myself on tiny donut holes from heaven.
• The earliest races EVER in the universe. 
• The mofo KNEE. (Not the fault of Disney)

Run Disney puts on a kick ass event. I love it. I know I'm paying a premium to run these races, and I do not care. I have so much fun. Cannot wait for the next one.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around, going to the pool, trying to figure out how to cure crotch chafing, and a trip to Yogurtland (aka, my new favoritist place on earth).

 

Bummed, as always, to leave SoCal.

Hyndai Hope on Wheels 5K (Race Recap)

Irvine, CA
Saturday, September 1
A's 8th 5k
Weather - Sunny and warm

We hadn't landed until 10:30 pm on Friday night in Orange County. By the time we got settled and headed to bed, it was after midnight. We had to be up by about 6:30 to get to the race by 7:00, assuming a 7:30 start time.

Race Day

The children, apparently, did NOT need sleep. The first time I heard them moving around it was only 5:00. 5:00!!! We all got dressed and headed out the door to the U. of California at Irvine for the Hyndai Hope on Wheels 5K (raising money with the mission to eliminate childhood cancer). We found parking pretty easily and walked over to the started area. Pretty pleased to see the table of food/pastries. Yum.

Yum.

A and Gabs

The race was supposed to start at 7:30, and we were a bit worried because our friend, Julie, was supposed to be meeting us with her jogging stroller for Gabby. Apparently we had nothing to worry about since the race didn't actually start until 8.

What a bizarre race. First off, the starting area was NOT the actually starting area. We had to walk up a ginormous hill, carry the stroller up stairs (least handicap friendly place I've been ever), before actually arriving at the starting area. The race was chip timed, although we never actually saw any timing mats.

We started in the back and planned on taking it easy. Within the first few minutes, A took off with Heather's oldest daughter. We pretty much didn't see them again until the turnaround. The entire course was marked with electrical tape (why???) and flags. Different colors for the out and back, even though the course was the same. So weird.

Our friend Madison was also running and she was hoping to PR. When we saw that the course was (extremely) short at the mile 3 marker, we knew she would be pretty annoyed.

Even with a short course, A shattered her previous best time of 43ish minutes. The official results had her finishing in 33:20. !!!!!!

Bottom - (Back) -  Julie, Heather, #1, Madison, Me, (Front) - Gabby, A.

Garmin Time - 37:55
Garmin Distance - 2.85 miles (shortest 5k ever!)
Mile 1 - 12:44
Mile 2 - 14:53
Mile 3 - 12:03

Good

• Price - Schwaggle made this about $14 each
• Raising money for a GREAT cause
• Race gave a shirt AND medal
• Bottled water AND food at the start
• Plenty of bathrooms 
• Running with my BFF, Heather AND my Ragnar buddy, Julie!
• Heather's daughter paced A to a new PR!
• The knee was not angered

Bad

• Shortest 5k ever! How do you even measure a course that short?
• Super hilly, pretty crowded for an out and back

Overall, a really fun race. Super glad I got to meet up with two of my Ragnar run buddies for this one. And yay for A and her fabulously new PR!! (even WITH a regulation length course, she would have PR'd here).