Mayors 5 Miler, Kids Run, and Half Marathon

The Mayors Run was a whole family running affair as we had a total of 6 runners.  Hannah, Justin, and I ran the 5.6 mile run (AKA 5 miler), Auntie Shauna and Owen ran the 1.7 mile kids race, and Uncle Greg ran the Half Marathon (13.1 miles).

The Half Marathon and 5 miler runners started together at 9am and was warm, but not too hot.  Justin ran with Hannah and I for a while to make sure my leg was going to hold up for the race; however, if my leg was going fail, I figured it might be around mile 4...The first two miles went by really fast, but boy did mile 3 go by slow.  When Hannah and I reached mile 4, she got her second wind. Many people recognized us from our other races and we even ran into one of our blog followers...Hannah just loves that :) 

Hannah was able to kick it into high gear up the final hill.  When we crossed the finish line, Hannah asked me what our time was.  I told her our time was 55:18 and she said, "awww that's slower than our last time."  When I told her the race was 5.6 miles, she squealed and started jumping up and down.  Hannah finished 1st place in her age group of 9 and under!

Justin finished the 5 miler (his first 5 mile race) a couple minutes before Hannah and I.  Auntie Shauna and Owen finished the kids race in 22 minutes.  Hannah finished the same race last year in 23 minutes so we might just have another little up and coming runner....way to go Owen!!!  Uncle Greg finished the half marathon in 1:26:46, which placed him 17th overall out of 1800!  It was a great race for everyone :)

Hannah and I have started some serious hill training to work on our speed.  Our next 5K is the Bear Paw race on July 9th.  Our goal for this race is 26 minutes...stay tuned for our race time!

Run for Women

The Run for Women was Hannah's longest run she has done to date.  The morning was absolutely beautiful and we were happy to not freeze before the race began.  We got to wear our pink and black tutus made by Michele at krazykidlets and we fit right in with the Run for Women's pink theme!  Hannah was so anxious to start and checked my watch a thousand times to see how much longer till the race began.  We also really loved how people decorated the port a potties with fabulous pink these...they were fit for a queen!  Who knew they could be so luxurious :)

We were off at 8:45am.  In the first mile we ran into our friend Adele George and chatted for a little while.  We were by Weschester Lagoon by mile 2.  I found I had to do a lot more turning around to see Hannah, which was not fun for my knee.  Hannah was a little more tired than usual and was surprised when I told her we were only at the 5k point.  About 4 1/2 miles, we were both really pushing it for the finish. 

We got sooooo close to our goal of being under 50 minutes.  We finished our first 5 mile race in 50:10!!!
Hannah earned 5th place for her age group.  Only one 7 year old was ahead of her, and the rest were 10 year olds. 

Next up...Mayors Marathon 5.6 mile run on Saturday!

Eagle River Triathlon

Nicole, Shauna, and I did the triathlon relay the morning of the kids triathlon.  Nicole swam and was the unfortunate victim of a violent lane partner who kicked her twice!  She was thankful to be able to finish her swim get out of the pool.  I did the bike leg and realized 2 minutes in that I had not eaten enough the night before.  Thankfully, my thoughtful sister got me some power gel snacks that helped me survive.  Shauna was up for the running leg, which was her very first run without Owen.  She was able to power through the pouring rain and bring it in to the finish!  Team Three Sisters was excited to finish in under 2 hours :)

The whole crew came for the kids triathlon, which was to start at 2pm.  We stood in the sweltering pool area and cheered the final adult racers out of the pool.  Hannah, Owen, and their friend Maddie were able to wait together for their test swim.

Hannah and Owen did the "long" kids triathlon which was 2 laps at the swimming pool, about 2 miles on the bike, and I'm sure a 2 mile run.  I believe the run was longer than they said it was supposed to be.  Owen got to do the bike portion with Grandpa and the run portion with Auntie Shauna.  This was Owen's first triathlon and he was pretty excited about his finish.

Hannah mastered the 2 swim laps and once she got out of the pool, she had her competitive game on.  "Come on Auntie, let's go!" and off she ran to the bike transition.

We got her changed as quickly as you can when you are a wet kiddo.  She was definitely more prepared for the bike this year as she practiced the course several times with Grandpa.  Hannah was kinda nervous with the cones and all the other people that were on the bike course with us, but she was able to finish the bike strong.

Up next was Hannah's favorite part: the run!  We ran a windy, rocky course around the practice fields by the high school and around the back side of the building.  I forgot that we were running to the bridge by the highway and both Hannah and I were disappointed when we had to turn and run the opposite direction of the finish line.  We finally got to the turn-around and headed back towards the finish.  Hannah kicked it into high gear and finished with a sprint.  Our time was about 35 minutes.

The Eagle River Triathlon marked the 1 year anniversary of Hannah and I beginning our running together and it was a happy day.  What a long way we have both come and can't wait to see where Hannah's running leads us next  :)

Skinny Mini 6K

Hannah and I geared up for our first "long" race of the year with the Skinny Raven  Skinny Mini 6K in Anchorage.  The weather was a mixture of clouds and sun and thankfully we didn't get rained on during the race.  Hannah was pumped up to run this race and at 7pm we were off.  The first mile went really fast as we ran it in about 8 minutes.  We were able to maintain about a 9 minute mile pace for the whole race.  About 2 1/2 miles into the race, I looked behind me to check where Hannah was, and there she was chit-chatting with another lady as she was running.  I started laughing and told Hannah to catch up with me.  She told the lady, "Gotta go" and started running faster to catch up.  The last mile was pretty tough as most of it was uphill.  Many people cheered Hannah on and told her how good she was doing.  We didn't know until we crossed the finish line how well she really did.  Hannah was the very first kiddo under age 12 to cross the finish line.  Our time was 34:11, which was good enough for Hannah's very first age group 1st place finish!!  She was soooo excited!

I have been dealing with IT band syndrome and am trying to stave it off so we can run our very first 5 mile race at the Run for Women.  We can't wait to run with a group of  more than 6,000 women.  On June 11th you can check us out wearing our pink and black tutus made by our friend Michele at Krazykidlets  https://www.facebook.com/#!/krazykidlets  :)

Anchorage Heart Run 5K

Hannah and I had quite the crew joining us for the Heart Run.  Auntie Shauna and Owen were going to run the 1.3 mile kids run and Justin (daddy) was joining us for the 5K.  Nicole (mommy) came as cheerleader for all.  Hannah wanted this race to be our fastest race ever and we were hoping to finish in about 27 minutes.  Hannah and I lined up at the very front to avoid being caught in the race congestion typical at the beginning of races.  The gun went off and off we went.  Hannah was in high gear the first quarter mile and was running a 6:30 mile pace, we slowed down a little and finished our first mile in 8 minutes. Our second mile we finished in 9 minutes, and our third mile was about 10 minutes for an overall time of 27:35...our fastest time ever!  That last quarter mile sure as a killer for both of us and we were both happy to be done.

Justin finished about 1 minute in front of us.  Auntie Shauna and Owen started their race just as Hannah and I finished.  After about 30 minutes we started to wonder where they were.  They finally came across the finish line and all of the cheerleaders were frozen.  It was such a cold morning and poor Nicole had forgotten her jacket and was wearing flip-flops because she had an 11:00 pedicure scheduled since it was the day before her graduation!  Auntie Shauna and Owen ended up running a surprise 5K as well because the officials didn't have people turn around in the right place.  Well at least they got a good work out!

Shamrock Scramble

Hannah and I ran in the Shamrock Scramble held at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage on Saturday, March 19th.  When I woke up and looked at the temperature, it was a cold COLD 10 degrees!  We were both grumbling about how cold it was, but we were still ready to race.  By the time the race started at 10am, it warmed up to 17/18 degrees which felt surprisingly better :) 

Pre race goofing around

The sun was shining and we could even feel a bit of warmth from it...yay for spring!!!!  Everyone waited inside until the very last minute, and the race people had to tell everyone it was time to head to the start line.  We walked out as a group, had a brief introduction to the course, and we were off!

Grandma, Suzy-Q and Owen hanging out inside waiting for Hannah and Jennie to come back :)

This race reminded us of the Jingle Bell 5K we did back in December as we were running on a lot of snow.  Hannah and I were huffing and puffing just 10 minutes after beginning our run.  When we reached the 2 mile mark, I realized the race had been shortened due poor trail conditions and now was not a 5K!  We crossed the finish line in 25:15 and the race ended up being 2.16 miles, not bad for a snow-covered trail.  Hannah was the only kiddo running this race and many people cheered her on as we ran.  We are looking forward to running the UAA Spring Break Up run on April 9th!

Coming into the finish line

Way to go Team 5K in 50 States

Truffle Shuffle 5K - Overland Park, Kansas

Hannah, Ava, and I arrived in St. Louis on Thursday after spending a week in Disney World.  I repacked for our trip to Kansas the next day.  We set out at 10am on Friday for the 4 1/2 hour drive to Overbrook, Kansas.  Quite the undertaking with a 7 year old and a 1 year old :)  We ended up driving through a midwest thunder and lightning storm for 1 1/2 hours.  It was raining so hard that we had to yell to each other in the car just to communicate! We could even hear the thunder over the rain while driving down the interstate.  This was Hannah's first time seeing lightning.

We went to the new American Girl store in Kansas before going to pick up our bibs.  The ladies at the American Girl store gave Hannah a cool poster, calendar, and magazine.  They loved hearing her talk about running her races.  I think Hannah wants to visit all of the American Girl Doll Stores...good thing we plan on running in all 50 states. 

The race coordinator was distributing bibs and was so excited that we had chosen the Truffle Shuffle as our Kansas race.  It is always fun to share our 5K in 50 state mission with the people we meet at each race!

Saturday, the morning of our race was a blustery 22 degrees.  We also had cold midwest winds blowing through.  Hannah and I geared up in every layer we brought and prayed it was going to be enough. Having just come from running in Florida, the 22 degree weather seemed really cold.  Our black and pink tutus sure got us a lot of attention!  Everyone was asking us how many states we have done and where we are from.  The people at this race were so friendly.  We trecked out into the cold at 8:30am, and off we went.

The race photographer got some awesome action shots of us while we were running.  There was a little girl wearing blue and pink who was our pace setter for a while.  Hannah would pass her, then she would pass us.  We passed her and stayed in front a little past the second mile.  The last quarter mile was tough as our faces and legs were getting numb and cold.

Hannah and I crossed the finish line in 32:33 while the DJ (named BJ) announced us crossing the finish line!  We were glad to be done and go inside to thaw out.  More people came to talk to us after the race and to tell Hannah good job in the race.  The race coordinators gave both Hannah and I a gift certificate for Road ID.  We had a lot of fun at this race and are so glad we picked it to be our Kansas race.

Hannah was in a large age group for this race, females ages 15 & under.  Her time was good enough to place 2nd!!  She was so excited.  Below is a picture of her with her 2nd place certificate.  Thank you Truffle Shuffle for a fun-filled race!