Hub Run 5K, Crown Point IN

yeah -- we are nerds :-)

Hmmmmmph, got beat by him, again...... he beat me by A LOT this time!!!!!

but, at least we are strong :-P

Sunday morning: church,

Sunday afternoon: 5K,

Sunday evening: pre-school graduation?!?!?!?!?!

WHAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAt????

Yeah -- wasn't quite thinking straight when I signed us up for this one. It was on a SUNDAY, at 2pm..... this is NOT, and I repeat NOT my prime time to run!!! and this was a super busy Sunday to top it off!!! We had been planning on going forward at church, but Jill was a giant problem child.... and Justin was graduating from pre-school at 6pm that night... so this is a busy Sunday!

Chris's parents came over to babysit for us, and they took the kids to a voyageur re-enactment in Hebron while we were running..... it was really nice to know the kids were busy and happy!

We got to Crown Point and after some hassle (miss Julie forgot to find out exactly where the race was ~~ eeek) we headed downtown to the square and found the gaggle of people running this race. It's a pretty big deal in CP to be at the Hub Run, or (better yet) IN the Hub Run.....

Now, I am a dip. A real dip. I ran an 8.1 mile training run on Saturday morning. It was, in fact, the best run I've ever had in my life, great weather, felt good, came in 4:35 under my goal time, and felt closer to God than I have since my gramma died..... it was just plain an amazing run. but, it WAS 8.1 miles. and I am lazy, so trying to make this ole, fat, lazy body run 3.1 MORE mile about 30 hours later was asking a lot.

It was a nice enough day out -- before we started the run. I had read somewhere that you should dress for weather about 15-20* higher than the actual temp b/c of the heat your own body generates on a run...... the actual temp was 71*...... this means, once well into running, that my body was gonna perceive the outside world as being a staggering 86*. This is HOT. And, I am tired, crabby, and in a funk anyways --- all of this does not add up to a happy, excited Julie, at all!!!!

For as big a deal as this race is for Crown Point, I was sorely disappointed with the organization of it.... some 3,000 runners gathered together and one faulty, hap-hazard megaphone to talk to them. Didn't work -- no one had any clue what the guy was saying, and we only figured we were close to start because he whipped out a gun, yeah a real gun, weird.

So anyhow, the race starts out innocently enough -- well, except for the cop car they parked nearly in the middle of the start corral -- real dumb there folks!!!!!

We headed out into the roads of Crown Point for the first .5 - .75 miles, and all was well I suppose. I was pretty tired, well, not me per se, but I could tell my body was tired from the run the day before. It actually felt like work to run, rather than me working to run -- if that makes any sense......

Then, we hit Ellendale subdivision. My best friend lives in Ellendale, I've been there countless times. No real hills to speak of. PPPPPPPPhhhhhhhttttttt, wait till you run that SOB :-) Holy snots!!! That was rough!!!! Chris was waaaaaaaaay ahead of me, and I actually thought about walking the monster hill, but I kept a (slow) jog through it.

After leaving Ellendale, it was all downhill, but this was also where I started to feel really hot..... the water tables were filled with the idiots who stand IN FRONT of them, so I wasn't gonna bother trying to get water....we were almost done anyhow.

As we rounded a corner at about the 2.5 mile mark, I could see Chris, and I knew there was no way I was gonna finish anywhere near him today, I was actually just hoping I'd finish it running! As sad as it is, I can't really remember anything special about the last part of the race, it was sort-of just a run.... I crossed the finish line, got a ribbon and a water, found Chris.... and headed to the car.

I can say that I am NOT too keen on afternoon races, I like having the race in the morning, and having the day to 'reflect' on it.... and, we get to play matchy-matchy with our shirts -- we sort of felt jipped this time.

I guess maybe we'll give this one another shot next year -- but I am not all hyped about it!

Chris ran a 26:43 and placed 26th out of 103 in his age group

I ran a 27:53 and placed 18th out of 86 in my group

May 8, 2010 ~ Miles for Missions 5K in Valporaiso, IN

Chris showing off his super cool high "quality" sports bag

Really?, really?, REALLY???? ~~ I want the shirt instead!!!!!!

This is a view from the van window before the race... YUCK!!!!

Me on the phone with Jackie to tell her I won my age group!!!!!

Chris -- after he got his medal -- I am SOOOOO proud of him!!!!

Us at home, with our usual Chris's first place, and my 2nd place fingers.... *sigh*

Cameron snapped this pic of us and our medals, the kids are so very proud of our medals!!!

Saturday, May 8. 6:00 am. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP..... my Saturday morning alarm goes off. This alarm is just for my Saturday L-O-N-G runs. normally. Today it is my wake up alarm for the 5K. I peek through the blinds to look at how my flag is blowing and to see if it 'looks' cold (cuz, you can tell from looking, right?!??!?!?!?!) I am astounded to see that my flag is blowing HARD, and not only does it look cold, but it's also raining. Great, just great. I have a head cold already..... my allergies have been acting up all week!! And, to add to that, Chris's work schedule has been crazy -- so I haven't gotten to run at all this week, plus, our 1/2 marathon is 5 weeks and 1 day away, and I really need to focus on my long runs... NOT 5K races!!!!! I am NOT excited about today's run, at all!! Fortunately, I am not at all worried about my lil monsters, they are in fabulous hands... my awesome sister spent the night to be here with the kids for this morning! 6:35 -- we are out the door. It turns out, IT'S FRE-EAKIN COLD!!!!! BURRR!!!!!!

We got to the church that is hosting the run at about 7:10 am, went and got our packets....... ugh. I really like race tee's. I am still relatively new to this, and we have a 'thing', we wear our race tee's all day, it's our cheesy way of playing matchy-matchy and 'bragging' (in an oh-so-subtle way) that we are 5K'ers. But, this race gave us "quality sports bags"... yeah -- you read that right, "quality sports bags" ... you'll get this once you see the pic of our "quality" sports bag. Anyhow...... after we get our packets and such, we head back to the van, where it is warm and dry! We contemplate driving somewhere for coffee, but ultimately decide to stay put and wait. Chris is brave and gets out of the van several times to use the bathroom (in the church) and we watch the weather get stormier and stormier as more and more cars pull up. Sudden;y it occurs to me that I am not only going to freeze, but I just may come in last -- like absolutely last. The ONLY people who show up to run in this crummy weather are the 'real runners' you know, the 6-7 minute mile people....... uh-oh. Now I am really panicking. At 7:45, we decide to last minute pee, then go mill around near the starting line. We wind up talking to a fellow who is a hard core runner, usually finishes a 5K in the 17 minute range, and is a bit bummed at having come in 6th place overall at the Ramp Run (which he ALSO says was NOT 3.1 miles).... yup, my suspicions are now confirmed. I am doomed to last place today. doomed.

8:00am. The pastor of the church leads us in a prayer, and we are off. 39 degrees, 35-40 mph winds, and raining, and I PAID someone $15 to let me run this race. Irony, sheer irony!!!!

The course is bizarre. It is a mix of mowed fields, pavement, mowed back yards, driveways, and sort-of-used-to-maybe-be-a-path ways. The first mile is fun and a good mix of grass, gravel and pavement. There are only 71 idiots who actually showed up to run this, I am 2 people behind Chris, and we are in the definite front of the pack. Then we go through lots more grassy areas and the pack breaks up substantially. This is also where the 13-18 year old track teams start to walk, so it breaks things up a bit. About the 2 mile mark, I am right behind Chris and I am trying to tell him we should buy the house that we are running past, but he is in some serious runner-zone. Turns out he is outrageously sore from a rough Taekwondo class last night, his thighs are killin him from a mountain-climber/push-up interval blast they put him through. I am right behind him through one of the last turns and I slowly caught up to him and I am now running beside him. I can see the church in the distance, we've only got about .5 miles to go -- and he says "I think you got me this time, baby"... and, I know full well that this means his pride is injured because I finally caught him in a race. Then, outta nowhere -- he takes off. And he kept going!!!!! He didn't think his thighs were gonna hold up through the grassy sprint at the end, so he gave 110% to just get through to the finish. He finished a full 10 seconds ahead of me, that's how fast he was going!!!! After we both finished, we got some post-race food and the results were being printed and brought over..... so, we were nosy. After some serious searching and making sure we read it right, we discovered that Chris got 3rd in his age group, and I got 1st!!!!! We stuck around for the awards, then rushed home to get the boys to their T-ball game!!! All in all, it was a fun run, and I am definitely willing to repeat this one again next year -- but, I'll pass on my "quality" gym bag.

Chris finished in 26:41 (3rd out of 6 in his age group) and I finished in 26:51 (1st out of 5 in my age group)