Not only did I improve my time by over a minute, I ended on a 26!!! Just before 2 miles:
The race was AWESOME. I was really stiff and not feeling that energized when we left at 6 this morning for the lightrail. We woke up at 5 and stumbled around to make a mini breakfast. I had a piece of toast with mashed banana, PB & J, plus a drizzle of honey.
And Sarah reminded me of the energizing effects of caffeine before a workout, so I had a TINY cup of coffee with milk –
We left for the lightrail at 6 and ran a nice 1.3 mile warm up to get there. It was dark and cold, but we had adrenaline! My breakfast was sloshing around a bit, but I survived. Sarah and me on the lightrail, which we JUST made because it was 10 minutes early!!
Once uptown we still had 5-6 blocks to walk to the race start. There were TONS of people everywhere and we had to wait in long lines to get our chips. And it was really cold and I was getting stiff. I have no idea how, but our other teammates Melisa and Tom, from Greensboro, found us in the crowd 🙂
And then we were off!!!!!!! There was really bad bottlenecking at the beginning – I was hitting people left and right. I actually ran the first half mile on a sidewalk because the street was too crowded. I feel like I could have gained a few seconds if it weren’t for the crowds during the first mile.
The husband was so fast he didn’t run, he hovered!
Sarah + Melisa. Thanks to Josh and Tom for being the photographers!!
Me at about 1.75 miles, right before a huge hill. Charming photo of me –
The first mile was relatively flat, or at least the hills were short and were over quickly. I felt really fast and strong and did my best to sprint through the crowds. We were in a cool neighborhood too, which made the scenery more fun. But right before the 2 mile marker we headed back into the city and started up a really long low-grade hill. It probably went on for at least half a mile, or maybe even longer! I really thought I was slowing to a 9-minute mile, but I didn’t want to look at my watch. Although I was passing people, I felt sluggish and got a cramp in my side. That hill was KILLER. But I just kept running as fast as I could and soon enough we were rounding the final stretch, which I would guess was about half a mile long. I heard a man say “it’s all downhill from here” and knew I had to start sprinting. I looked at my watch for the first time and saw that I was at 21:23 and could see the finish in the distance. I knew I could beat my record time of 24:48 from 2007 at this point and sprinted the entire way in! I have to say, you guys were on my mind the whole stretch 🙂
At the finish line!!
My official time was 23:26 with an average mile of 7:41.
The husband = 20:39!!!!!!!! With an average mile of 6:47!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was his first timed 5K as an adult and he had no idea how he’d do. I have to say I’m very impressed!!
Sarah was 24:24 – stellar!
Melisa clocked in at 29:30 – a whole 2 minutes faster than her record time!
Let me take a moment to thank you all again who donated on behalf of Team KERF! The $1,367.60 we raised was totally by chance. I just decided to run a race and then found out we could form teams and thought I might be able to raise a few dollars. I never thought we’d have so much success and generosity come from all of you. So THANK YOU once again!!!
Breast cancer has touched a number of my friends and family –
- My Grandma Younger
- My mother-in-law, Karen
- My mom’s writing partner and good friend Lisa Flinn
- And family friends of ours, including both mom’s of my sister’s college roommates who are still battling the disease.
I wore an “In Celebration” sign on my back while I ran
After the race we had some free coffee (I just had 2 sips of the husband’s) and a smoothie from Smoothie King (a tiny half cup). How come there aren’t cool bars like Lara and Clif at MY races!?!?!
We moseyed back to the lightrail and made the trek home, including another 1.3 mile jog back home. All in all, I think we covered about 6.5 miles this morning!!! My legs sure feel it 🙂
Oatmeal Extravaganza
As promised, Team KERF members were treated to a post-race oatmeal buffet!
We made a 6X batch in our huge pot and portioned it all out into an assortment of bowls by weight so that everyone got an equal portion (since the bowls were all different sizes and it was hard to eyeball)
The Guest Batch:
- 2 cups oats
- 2 cups vanilla soy milk
- 2 cups water
- 5 small bananas
- 3 tbsp vanilla
- 5 pinches salt
- About 3/4 cup spelt berries
- Toppings galore!
Dining –
With a tiny bit more coffee
And I’ll end with this goofball sporting a free pink scarf
And…..
We’re off to relax a bit (perhaps take an Ibuprofen) and then head out to Great Grapes by bike!! Let’s hope it turns out better than last year’s non-memory.
congrats!!!! you’re my hero!!!
wowowow! you beat your time when you didn’t even expect to!!! haha the husband sure looks like he’s having fun “hovering”!!
Congrats on an AWESOME race! Have a great time today at the wine fest! 🙂
Wow Congratulations on the awesome race!
I just ran my first 5K race two weeks ago. I’m new to running, and suffer from asthma, so my time of 42 min wasn’t too impressive, but it was such a great feeling to actually finish!
Seeing your stats inspires me to keep training and improving my time. =)
How amazing-you all did great!! Loved Matt at the end-i needed a smile today-Thanks 🙂
What a fun morning! Love the pics! Thanks for running this race. My grandma was just diagnosed and had surgery a week ago, so it means a lot to me!
HOLY CRAPOLA! YOU ARE FAST WOMAN! (-ps- Thelovelymshulia comment on Youtube = Yours truly 😉 )
WAY TO GO! You and the husband are SUCH PRIME ATHLETES 😉 hehe have Fun at the Festival! And don’t worry about it… Just ENJOY it and HAVE FUN!
so exciting, congrats, kath & matt!! And the team entire team- great work for an awesome cause:)
Good job! I’m nursing a foot injury, but hope to be back on Monday.
And…I also made acorn squash last night. I stuffed mine with quinoa.
Sounds like everyone had a blast! Congrat’s on your time…that’s great!
The oats look delish as always!
Congrats to everyone!
Kath, I see you got a new food scale? I have the small roundish Salter one you recommended earlier, but I think my [travel] and general non-gentle abuse may be causing it to go buggy (randomly says negative #s when it shouldn’t/is not touched, adds a few grams randomly, etc.) Is yours a new one? Brand? Is it any better? Please advise. Thanks!
Congrats on your time and raising the money.. looks like a fun day and great friendships made throught the blogging world. Glad we can all be some inspiration to you. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.. nice voice hubby!
Congrats, you should all be pleased with those times – they are great. Thank you for doing this race, I feel very strongly about raising money for various cancer research. Breast Cancer running (Race for the Cure to be exact) is how I got started. It’s hit my family hard, my mom is a 2x survivor, as is my grandmother but we’re currently waiting for results on a biopsy since it looks like she may be facing her 3rd battle with the disease. Anytime I hear about people doing good for a cause like this, it just warms my heart!
Big congrats to you all! What an amazing pace!
Congrats on your race! And all of the money you were able to raise to help find a cure for breast cancer. 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for running for such a good cause 🙂
Haha, congratulations! Looks like you had a lot of fun.
awesome, awesome time! you and hubby smoked your records! yayyy!
Congrats, that’s fantastic!
Congrats Kath! You ran for a great cause. Have a wonderful day.
Congrats on such a great race! Hope you enjoy the wine festival and gathering tonight!
hey kath –
can i ask again about your exercise routine? is there a reason why you want to bike after running 6.5 miles this morning? have you “upped” the amount of calories you burn through exercise since you stopped counting calories? because it seems like you are doing a lot more than before…
This post just made my day! Congratulations to TEAM KERF on a very successful race!! I love all of the pictures and ESPECIALLY love those videos – thank you for including those! Helium voices are the best 😉 I am so happy for all of you!
oops!!! i clicked post too quickly…i also meant to say congrats on the new race record! perhaps more importantly, we all admire your efforts to raise so much money for charity too…
HELL YES, KATH!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Congrats to you all on your awesome racing times! And hurray for running for such a good cause!
The oatmeal looks delish! Love the pic of the oatmeal buffet setup!
Wow! I bet you feel very accomplished – hope your body replenishes itself soon so you’ll feel better.
Excellent Work Kath….You did great. Congrats to the KERF team in general…. great to see
Wow that’s great! I too shaved some time off my 5k time. The last race I did my time was 23:04 and the year before same race I ran it in like 27 and some change.
Wow – awesome times for everyone!
Glad the weather held up for you too – looks like a beautiful day!
Off to play catch with my daughter.
Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!
Wow, what an amazing race!! I aspire to run that fast!! It’s hard though but i am really pushing!!
You look super great in the video of you running!!
Congrats!
What can I say, our races are yust cooler to be sport the free larabars? 🙂
Congrats on beating your previous time!
Great job!!!! That’s an amazing time!
Congrats on your faster time! All in all it sounds like a perfect Saturday.
Awesome job, team KERF! You all had great times! And way to end on a 26, Kath! 🙂 The race and oatmeal breakfast look like so much fun! AND wine tonight?! Perfect day…
That’s incredible! Great job to all of you!
Kath, We ran into your first grade teacher last night. She was pleased and surprised to see you in Shape Magazine. She posted the article outside of her classroom, with a note that you are a former student.
Woo Hoo… what a great time for a 5K. I love that you made a huge batch of your oats for the whole gang. 🙂
Congrats on the time, Kath!!! And congrats to everyone who ran. You all did awesome.
Matt… lol. That’s really all I have to say.
WOOOOHOO! Great job both for getting an awesome time and helping a good cause. :]
PS the video at the end made me REALLY laugh!!
Wow, I’m super impressed by your time. Congrats!
Amazing times, great job to you both and for supporting a worthwhile cause!
Hey Kath,
congratulations! I’m proud of y’all!
Great pictures, it looks like you had a super good time… and that post-race oatmeal looks delicious. 😉
I know it’s been said already but AWESOME job, Kath!
Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments on the race!!!!!
Stacey M,
We got this one a while back from Amazon. I like this one fine. It’s another Saltar. I think all scales go buggy after a while, which is why we got a new one.
smilesara ,
You often seem to want to find a calorie motive in my actions. I would encourage you to look at the bigger picture. ALL of the exercise I did yesterday was done for a reason other than burning calories. We ran to and from the lightrail for a pre-race warm-up and because it didn’t make sense to drive a mile. We ran the race for a good cause and for the fun of it. We biked to the wine festival because we obviously didn’t want to drink and drive, but also because we’re trying to use our cars as little as possible on the weekends. There is so much more to these activities than burning calories.
Kath
Cute video and great time!!! I really like 5k runs, because they’re the shortest (!!) so you can really run all out and feel like you’re FLYING… sounds like that’s what you did!
Congrats on a great race, Kath!!
what a fun race! You did great:) Love the videos!
Awesome time Kath!! Great job, you’re really fast!