First things first - hockey. Brandon and I finally got a chance to play hockey again on Wednesday night. Since drop-ins are usually late at night and I typically work early in the morning, it's half-impossible to play hockey. However, it worked out Wednesday.
It was a decent skate (or so i thought - boyfriend thought differently) for being the first time skating in almost two months. I did take a shot off the arm that hurt like hell at first but is fine now - not even that swollen anymore. I tried to get a picture of it to show y'all, but couldn't get a good one.
Anyway, after getting to bed at almost 1am, it's understandable that neither Brandon nor I wanted to get out of bed Thursday morning to go run 4 miles. We almost backed out, but figured since we had already paid, we may as well go. So, we dragged our butts out of bed, ate a small breakfast and headed to Wash Park to join 4,000 of our closest friends in running four miles.
Brandon pre-race prepping.
When we got there, it was understandably crowded (and cooold).
With Gobbles the Turkey mascot.
The line to get free Starbucks. They ran out by the time we got there post-race. Boo.
We decided to go visit the bathroom and then warm-up and stretch out. By this point, we're feeling marginally better about the race.
Not many port-o-potties for 4k people, eh? There was one more cluster near the finish line.
After stretching out and deciding we'd line up for the 4mi run start (as opposed to the 4mi run/walk start), we made our way to the start ... where we sat for about 20 minutes before the stupid race finally freaking started.
Start line ... and people!
Brandon waiting. Obviously not ready to start yet as there's not many people around us quite yet.
Brandon and I waiting for run. Look! We're finally excited!
Some guy's turkey hat. There were quite a few crazy costumes/hats.
After what seemed like forever, the race finally started. Despite having to walk pretty much until we got to the start mat, the race started out pretty well. We started off on a 10:00min mile pace ... but that died soon when my retarded timing chip fell off my shoe. Yeah, the zip ties they gave us were of a really good quality. *rolls eyes*
Anyway, we were a little sore, but we held up okay throughout most of the race. The course was primarily flat with a few "hilly" areas though I really am loath to use the term. We got overheated and our pace progressively slowed some, but we kept, well, jogging along until right around the three mile mark where we gave it up and walked for a few minutes. It wasn't long, however and probably only seemed bad because I stopped to put the stupid chip back on my shoe.
Eventually, we started to see the finish line which meant the end was in reach. Woo! As a result, we decided to be nerds and take pictures of the other running.
Brandon running along.
Go me!
The finish was actually the most disappointing part of this race. Because of the vast volume of people running, the finish line was a complete bottleneck - in short, it was the first race I haven't been able to sprint across the finish line which disappointed me. Even in the tri this year where I about melted and walked the majority of the run section, I still pulled out a sprint finish. So, to not be able to do that sucked. Hard. The one silver lining about it? I was able to get a shot of the finish line.
Finish line. Stupid walk finish.
In any case, we were glad to have run the race, even though we think we may just do a smaller 5K next year because this was just ridiculous. Oh well, it's one of those Denver races that everyone does/knows about so it was fun to do for that reason. Plus we got sweet coffee mugs from Runners Roost which made the entry fee almost worth it.
Oh, and we ran it together, although Brandon's official time has him finishing ahead of me by one second. Loser pants. Anyway, I personally had a time of 48:26 for a 12:06.5 mile. Not great, but hey, it's the longest run I've done to date so I'm okay with it.
Post run.
Besides, running made us feel marginally less ... bad about eating dinner. Although, thinking on it, I really didn't eat as much as I have on Thanksgivings past. Still, it made the deep-fried turkey a little more enjoyable (yes, our family deep-fried a turkey. we also baked one. 34 total pounds of turkey at our house. i know, i know.).
As my brother put it, Kentucky Fried Turkey.
Back again tomorrow when I actually have time to put in a decent workout.
No comments:
Post a Comment