Sunday was the Autism Speaks 8k! This was the second year they've held the race and our second year to run it! (Here's the post from last year. I'd like to think my legs look better now. ;)) Coffee Bean is the major sponsor of the race, something I'm pretty proud of. I'm a big fan of this organization and am happy we've gotten the opportunity to work with them two years in a row!
The weather was, oddly enough, almost exactly the same as it was last year. Although it didn't really rain this time (it poured last year), it sprinkled on us and it was HUMID as all get out. The good news was that the temp was pretty low and there was no sun! The sun is my enemy when I run. It sucks the life out of me. This course is challenging. It's a loop you do twice. The first section of the loop is lovely and flat and all things nice, but then the second half of the loop is hellishly hilly. There's two big hills and an insane downhill. And then you do it all over again! Last year I ended up walking some of it so my main goal this year was to not walk! And I didn't! Although oh my gosh there was one point on the second loop I was running up a hill and my legs were just like NOOOOOO, but somehow I kept going!
We did the course in 45:30, which is five minutes faster than last year! I don't know how we placed overall (for some reason our stats online are off), but I was 51st out of 198 ladies, and 14th in my age group of 41 chicas. I'm very pleased with how we did. We averaged 9:10 min miles, which is pretty dang fast for us, considering the hills!
We ran it with a few awesome folks from work (and my bosses were there serving coffee, which was super cool! They were so supportive!), and I made the ladies from my store matching shirts! They look a little bit like prison shirts, but whatever.
And following tradition from last year, one of my baristas got third in her age group! This girl is a running rockstar and very much an inspiration! She keeps me motivated!
You can actually SEE the moisture in the air. It was cray humid. But even with the humidity, we had a blast. It was a good race with good folks for a good cause. And I think our last race for the rest of the summer! Just training training training all through the heat!
And I must must must mention my how wonderful Mr. Hogan is as a running partner. Brendon runs MUCH faster than me. By quite a bit. But he runs with me. To stay with me he slows down, circles back, or runs backwards, asking me how I'm doing (my pet peeve, but really, it's kind of sweet). He could finish with much better stats, but he finishes with me. I feel rotten about it, because really, I'm so much slower, but I love that we run together. We're a team! It's so nice to have him by my side and the best motivation. And we always run across the finish line holding hands. Because we're sappy like that. :)
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