First race of 2011: Done and DONE!

2011 will clearly be a year of great success and unbridled fabulocity.

Not only did I finish feeling great, I did so in 47:51. What, WHAT!!

So yes, I did celebrate with reckless abandon, jump up and down, drink an extra beer and say "whoot whoot" many times much to the dismay of my very tolerant huz... Poor guy!

It was a kickass race on the most beautiful New Years day that I can ever remember having. At race time it was pushing 60 degrees, no wind, nice sunshine and fricking MAGIC people!

For once I have nothing to complain about (which is so rare that this day should be marked on the calendar as being epic/unusual...) Things were well organized, we found our way there with very little trouble (thanks to Ashley our Garmin) parking was free and withing easy walking distance, lines for numbers and shirts were well organized and the porta potties were only mildly revolting.

The course was beautiful and mostly flat- a little speed bump of a hill around mile 1 and 4 but pretty much the flattest thing that these old eyes have ever seen. I was thrilled! Even on the dreadmill I push the hill work so to have a flat course is like receiving a late Christmas gift. We were running on a pretty major road for several miles but the traffic was well managed and the crowds were noisy and supportive! Yay!

I held back like crazy for the first mile- it was around 8:30 and was then ready to push it 5K style. I really held back for the 1st half (it was the same course run twice) and my split was 24:52. Needless to say I had plenty of gas left in the tank and zoomed around a lot quicker for the second half. I don't think that anybody passed me after the first couple miles (I leave the 5K-ers to speed along and do their own thing. I knew chasing the bandy legged college sprinters would spell certain DOOM!) I felt GREAT and had enough juice left to pass people right up to the end. Unfortunately missing out on an age group award by 10 seconds (and where that girl was I do not know... She must have been invisible or so fast that she was a white blur of light? Hmmm.)

Anyway, I could not have been more pleased to see the timer reading UNDER 48 MINUTES!!! I thought that with months or years more training I might be able to snag a 48 minute 10K. To do it my first time out was fantabulous! My placing was 97th out of just under 600 which is just fine to me thank you very much.

There was free beer! Really pretty sparkly finishers medals! Free FOOD! A live BAND! I love road racing, it can be such a good fun time...

On the way home I got starving and was ready to chew off my own hand (unwise) so the Huz and I stopped at one of our favorite breweries for that infamous extra beer and I got an enormous spinach salad with a chunk of salmon the size of my head on top. I pretty much buried my face in it and didn't bother to surface for air until I was turning blue. Perhaps I am slightly iron deficiant of something (or maybe I was just crazy starving?) The Huz was quite pleased that a day at the races had turned into a mini pub crawl. He's not too impressed by this race thing. Gotta bribe him with beer.

So Happy New Year's to me, and to all of you out there on the interwebs! Let's all have a terrific 2011 full of health, happiness and good running....