Abby Brinkman 5K

The last couple days have been all about catching up as well as living in the present...

Friday:
Worked from 6:30 am to 3 pm and got off on time!! Woohoo!! Always a plus when that happens.

I had a going away party for some co-workers to attend at 6 pm in Bloomington so I decided the best way to kill 3 hours was to get my run in. I asked around and found some trails to run - nice shady trails! I ran part of the Bloomington Rails to Trails Trail as well as the Clear Creek Trail. I was originally going to run 5 miles, but the Clear Creek Trail was so nice I decided to do more. I was thinking 10, but then the trail just dead-ended on private property so I ran it back to my car and only got 7 in.

Grabbed a shower at the hostess' house and had a great time at the party. By 9 pm though, my belly was full of good food and wine and I just wanted to lay down! Unfortunately, I had to drive an hour home. I wanted to hit the sack as soon as I got home. I had a sinking feeling though that I didn't have any clean running clothes for my race in the morning. Then, I managed to find one clean sports bra, a pair of shorts, and decided to wear the Monumental Mile tank top I had gotten Thursday night. Nevermind that I wasn't all matchy matchy, I could go to sleep without doing laundry!

Today:
Up at 5:30 am and out the door by 6 to drive down to Columbus for my race. This is the race that had the locked bathrooms (read HERE) last year so I stopped at a gas station before I got to the park to take care of business. However, as soon as I pulled into Mill Race Park, I needed a bathroom again - go figure! This time, thankfully, the bathrooms were unlocked... with no toilet paper. Had to make another trip to the car for my fast food napkins!

The weather this morning was perfect. The course was perfect. It was run on the People Trail through the park. I however was not feeling it. My legs felt like lead and I pretty much got my butt kicked.

Mile 1 - 7:58
Mile 2 - 8:33
Mile 3 - 8:27
last 0.1 - 0:51

Official time - 25:49 (8:18 pace)

I ended up 11th overall in the women's race. My first place in the 40-49 age group was pretty much a gift as there were LOTS of fast women today... just not in my age group.

Awards got over at 9:30 am. I jumped in my car and drove like a bat out of hell up the highway to downtown Indy where the Indianapolis Women's Half-Marathon was being held. My friends Trena and Amanda were running. This is Trena's 50th half-marathon. Simply amazing! She was also a finalist in the Indy Women's Runner of the Year competition and I was positive she was going to win.

The winner for this award was going to be announced at 10:30 am. I got parked at 10:15, then discovered I was next to the wrong downtown park and had to run about a mile to the correct park. Luckily, I was still dressed in running clothes and shoes. I made it to the park just in time!

 

Here's my friend Trena. She's the Indy Women's Runner of the Year! I'm so proud of her!

 

 

After lots of screaming and congratulations, we parted ways and I finally drove home... showered and completely crashed. So much for post-race nutrition. I was starving but too tired to get out of the bed I had crawled onto - yeah, too tired to even get in it. I finally got myself up at 2 pm to eat a sandwich.

 

I finally got my second wind and went to Blue Mile this afternoon to buy trail running shoes with the 4 race certificates I'd won from the Memorial Day triple header and today's race.

 

Saucony Peregrine 4

 

Check out those treads! Western States here we come...

 

I just may have to take these for a test run tomorrow morning! Tomorrow is another full day. It's G's dance studio recital. I'll have to get my butt out of bed early if I'm going to squeeze a run in tomorrow.

 

How are YOU living your life this weekend?