The Strawberry Stride

The alarm clock sounded at 5am this morning. Up and at 'em I had to be! Struggling with a good 'ole Springtime cold didn't make me any more motivated than a Star-Nosed mole. However, I had committed to complete it so I was not going to let a little runny nose and head congestion keep me from that task. Zyrtec down the hatch along with a bottle of Slam and a glass of Rehydrate to give me a little energy boost along with pre-hydration. We hit the road by about 615am since we had to drive to Portland (about 50 minute drive) and wanted to be there in plenty of time to confirm registration, get our T-Shirts, etc. The girls and my sweetheart were not nearly as enthused about the early morning breeze and chilly temps but they warmed up to the idea of being there as soon as we made it to the START line.
The START line was also the FINISH line so we went ahead and snapped a couple of pics before it got overcrowded.

As the crowd started to build, I spotted my hero...A man of honor that chose to run in full gear to represent the Fire Department and Emergency Management System of his town. I mean who wouldn't just walk up to a total stranger and ask him to pose with you for your blog. :) Yep, that's me...I thanked him for his service to the community and then asked for his pose.

He finished around 45 minutes running in his uniform and full gear. Heck, he was even outrunning me for a couple of minutes at the beginning :). The best part was not that I ran across the Finish line several minutes before him but that he ran across with a wad of money in his hand. Folks donated along the way as he was running for charity. Awesome!

So my results were not bad overall considering I beat my 5K times that I have been run/walking in the neighborhood recently. However, I didn't doubt that I would beat them by several minutes because I have been training to keep my heart rate in the fat burning zone (135-155 bpm) as much as possible with the training. Today was an all out sort of day with no heart rate discretion along the way. So my full details are linked HERE but my average heart rate was 176 bpm with a max of 188. Now that is one hard working heart if I do say so myself. ;) My splits are detailed below. One of my favorite sayings applies here:  I am not fast but I wasn't last. Not quite the gazelle as my Katie is for sure. Dannah beat me in by about a minute or two, I think. I tried to keep her in my sights most all the way until she turned on the jet fuel toward the end.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	37:29.9	3.10	12:05
1	11:30.0	1.00	11:30
2	12:29.0	1.00	12:29
3	12:22.1	1.00	12:22
4	1:08.8	0.10	10:59

Around 1 1/2 miles, I felt like the road was never going to end. I could still see Dannah in the far distance but couldn't seem to find the energy to catch up. Instead, I just continued to put one foot in front of the other and press on. I seemed to tag team with another lady dressed in Yoga pants and appeared to have just stepped out for a morning stroll. Gosh, some folks make it look way too easy..hehehe

I wanted to share my sweetie's results here as well since it was our first race of 2013. He has not been out running since October of last year. I am so proud of him for being there with me and the girls because he doesn't get near the thrill out of the effort that I do. Now, those results are nothing to be ashamed of for sure!

Farmer's results on his Garmin

One of the best memory making moments of this race was at about 2.75 miles when I noticed a young fella kind of struggling to make it that last quarter mile. We were headed up an incline before the last corner when the Finish line would be in sight. He had been within 50 feet of me most all the last half of the race so there was no way that I was going to let him give up now. I nudged him a little and said, "Come on, you ain't gonna let this old gal cross that Finish Line before you!" He smiled ear to ear and took off running with me. He found the little ounce of energy that he had thought was stolen around the 2 1/2 mile which was just enough to make it to the end and finish strong. So, once again, I had to capture a picture of him to share since I am a believer that YOU MUST BELIEVE IN YOURSELF until the very end but that sometimes it takes someone else to see YOUR STRENGTHS in order for you to realize them. Some folks would say that I am totally weird by asking a total stranger to pose with me but I have a feeling that he realized my passion as evidenced by his smile.

After it was all said and done, I burned about 400 calories. As tradition would have it, we most always head to Cracker Barrel for a good solid meal after the race. Today was no exception. I enjoyed a couple of fried eggs and a sampling of country ham, turkey sausage, and a strip of bacon. The kids laughed since it looked more like a bite or two of each one of those meats but it was still enough fat to make my arteries scream out. I avoided the sourdough "eggs in a basket" that I love since I am into Day 6 of my 24 Day Challenge and going strong. However, I did enjoy about 8 oz of fresh OJ to give me a little lift after I had about worn myself thin at the race given that I am feeling a little under the weather.

I am cooking the Mother's Day dinner for the family (my mom and step-dad, brother and sis-in-law, my sweetie, and the girls) tomorrow so I am super excited to be able to have some good family time at home visiting with everyone. I am so very blessed to be a mom of 2 beautiful girls and 1 step-son. He is spending the weekend with his mom so he didn't race with us today and won't be around for dinner tomorrow; however, he sent me a precious card as a reminder of how I fit into his life. I love him as if he is my own flesh and blood.  Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day with your families.

Just a little taste of goodness for you today: