A family race!

Well, yesterday was Halloween...and race day! Hubby, the kids, and I all headed just a few miles from our house for our races. The kids were cold. And tired. (And in costume.)

My not-too-enthusiastic Batgirl & pirate before the races started:


First was the kids' 1K (0.62 mile) race. Zoodle (age 2 1/2) started slow but finished strong...


...while Chickie ran the whole way, keeping this superhero stance for the last quarter mile:


Then a friend of ours took the kids, and it was time for The Engineer and I to start our 5-miler. We won't have any photos of him until the professional ones are available, but he did awesome. He got 3rd place in his age group with a time of 37:03 (7:24/mile)!

Best of all, my IT band did great. I focused on keeping better form based on some stuff I read on the ChiRunning website; massaged the problem areas before the race; and taped it with KT Tape. I don't know exactly what did the trick, but it felt fantastic. I'm still keeping my appointment today because I want to keep this from coming back if possible. The only thing that worried me was that my right arch started hurting again for the last couple of miles, but it wasn't bad. I'll keep massaging it and working on my form (LIFTING my feet instead of pushing off), and I'll ask about it in my appointment tomorrow.

Here I am feeling good and looking weird (with my Vibrams and my crazy KT Tape!)


I placed really low in the rankings; I'm not fast! But I got a PR (personal record) for five-mile time! I was way faster than I thought I'd be, and I was thrilled with my time. Here are my stats:
Time: 50:34 (10:07/mile)
Mile 1: 11:29
Mile 2 & 3: Average 10:37
Mile 4: 9:05
Mile 5: 8:46

Mile 5 was my fastest timed mile ever! That floored me! I love running negative splits (starting slow and speeding up) but I bet I could improve my overall time if my my splits were a little less drastically different.

I got a burst of adrenaline at the end and sprinted to the finish. What a great race!