Hermes 10-Miler

Loved this race.  They changed the course and I couldn't have been more happy with the new layout.  We started at Edgewater Park, which is absolutely clean and beautiful now that the Cleveland Metroparks took over ownership of it.  The course ran along Edgewater Drive, through the Cleveland westside, circling back through Battery Park before slipping us through an underground tunnel and finishing along the lake. I had been running on the dreadmill all winter...especially since this was one of the coldest winters since I moved up here! I wasn't sure what to expect for a time as I didn't really have a benchmark.  I was thrilled with my time as it was just a hair over one minute off my PR at 1:47:28.  I'll take it.  We were treated with beautiful temps, a newly designed course, and wonderful goodies at the finish line.  Great way to get in a long run with about a thousand of my closest friends.

Love the skyline view of Cleveland!

Day of Reading and Racing

Memorial Day was awesome in this house.  B and I started our day out with a nice 5k race at the St. Joseph Academy Jaguars 5k.  While there was no "official" stroller division, the kind volunteers at each intersection announced to B and I that we were the first stroller in the race.  Talk about pressure.  As I rounded the corner in the last half mile of the race, I spied a double stroller gaining on me.  Let me tell you, after pushing my 50 pound daughter for 25+ minutes, I was in no condition to sprint.  However, I am also one who enjoys a little friendly competition so sprint I must! I crossed the finish line only seconds in front of the dad pushing a double - but a win is a win in my book! Best of all, B got her Malley's chocolate bar (a race sponsor) and I got my uhmm water bottle. Gotta love small races and this one might have to be a new Memorial Day tradition!

Later in the day, we squeezed in a movie (Epic) and waited for Greg (who saw Fast & Furious 6) back at Barnes & Noble.  Love this pic of my girls sitting peacefully reading books.  It was one of those rare moments where everyone was quiet and I got to enjoy a magazine!

St. Malachi Packet Pick-Up

Navigating through the aisles at Dick's Sporting Goods, I realized that I was just three days away from my first real race of the year, the St. Malachi 5-Miler.  Here it was - March.  Three months into 2013 and am I ready to run 5 miles? Yikes! Packet pick up made it all the more real.  As Jens Voight so famously reminds himself, so will I - "Shut Up Legs!"

Here we go!