St. Patty's Day Weekend

This weekend I had been gearing up for the St. Patty’s Day 10k. Not only did I want to have a good race and time, but some cash money. I knew the girl who beat me last year was going to be doing the race and has also beaten me in other races. Also, I figured a random fast girl would show up since the cash prize was $500.00.

I took last week really easy with a track workout throw in the middle. I wanted to be fresh and ready for my competition. The girls and I picked up my packet on Thursday and I could already feel my stomach get upset with butterflies. This race is always so competitive and mentally I needed a good race. Not to mention there were 700 people signed up the 10k and over 2,000 for the 5k.

Saturday morning came around and as I was warming up, I saw the girl that beat my last year, Ashley. She is super nice, so we said our hello’s and the have a good race node. At this point I was VERY ready to get the race over with.

We lined up and off we went. One girl, Kimberly, who I have never seen before took off like a bat out of hell and left me in the dust. I continued and soon Ashley was right next to me. We ran together for the first three miles, which I have to admit was really nice having someone to pace me. Around mile three, I had visions of last year when she passed me right at the end of the race. The stubborn redheadness finally came out and off I went. I wanted to put a few seconds on her, because I knew she was going to try to catch me at the end. We passed Ben and the girls, and I didn’t even smile, wave, nothing…I was in the zone. Finally, we reached Devine street, which was pretty much a mile down the street, but the bad thing is you can see the finish line the whole time. I wasn't even looking at my time, all I could think about was getting $250 and not letting Ashley catch me again. All I could do was run as fast as I could and hope to god she didn’t come sprinting past me.

I came in second place, 12 seconds before Ashley, and got a new PR of 38:18. We again did the good job hand shake and went our separate ways. I didn’t even see the girl who won; she was about a minute infront of us, oh well. I was just so happy to have a good race and time, plus $250 always helps!

(ready to get this over with and praying at the same time)

(I was with the super fast girl for about 20 seconds)

After the race I had to quickly cooldown and run another mile or so to get to where Ben and the girls were in the parade. In Columbia, we have a huge St. Patty’s Day parade. Normally we go and watch, but this year we were in the parade. We were on the “Fireball” Firetruck.

Somebody had to many fireballs!

That afternoon I took the girls back down to the St. Patty’s Day Festival. My parents gave us an awesome parking passes and passes to get in. They had a whole kid’s area with rides and food. The girl’s road several ride and eat green ice cream.

It was a very long day, but hopefully the girls had fun. Sunday, actual St. Patrick's Day we played outside all day and ran errands. I cooked them green eggs and pancakes to celebrate!