Race rewind and recap

Ok, so I usually totally post in chronological order on here. But, I've been slow to post, and I already posted about my St. Louis Relay Marathon last weekend. Then, I had Rock the Parkway this past weekend. But, before I get that up here, I decided to recap all the other races I've done this winter.

I know, I know. How boring, you say! Well, yes, it probably is boring for a lot of you. But, it helps keep me organized in my own head. Plus, I can look back on them and remember them either fondly or not. Really, this is just being purely selfish, you guys. But, oooh, here's something. Just imagine you're a spy, and you're getting to sneakily read the diary of ... me.

The most boring person on the planet.

Ok, that's not incentive. But, well, here goes anyway:

Way back in January, we ran in the Battle of the Bean 5K on January 19th. I actually did this race last year, as well. Last year was the inaugural race, so I figured I'd go ahead and do the second one, too. The premise is all about the battle between coffee and hot chocolate. I am a huge hot chocolate fan. And, as much as I love Starbucks, I don't so much like coffee. Like, at all. So, I was team Hot Chocolate all the way. Plus, they had a Jelly Bean kids run, too. Get it? Jelly BEAN. A hahahaha! Anyway, Cory ran it with me. Well, he was supposed to run it with me, but started out ahead of me and never looked back. I ran by myself and managed to do pretty decent. I got 2nd place in my age, so I got a medal, which you know I love. Especially after Molly had told me the week before that I never got medals anymore.

With the girls, Kelli and Anne, after the race.

With Molly after her awesome performance in the Jelly Bean Run.

Cory left me in the dust at the start line, and I still got 2nd place. He finished in the dreaded 4th place.

Family picture at the finish line.

My dad, ran, too!

Next up was the Chocolate Rush Half Marathon February 9th. Are we sensing a theme here? Put chocolate as my carrot, and I'll run whenever you tell me. This race promised post-race chocolate fountains. Um, yes, please. Plus, it was a half marathon on the trails that I've run all the time. It was practically like running in my own backyard. I took off at the beginning, and then unfortunately had to deal with an annoying girl who kept passing me, then I kept passing her. Almost the whole race. Plus, she was wearing my non-running tennis shoes, and for some reason that stuck in my brain. I have a very steady pace, so I'm completely blaming the constant pass/be-passed-by on her. She drove me crazy, and toward the end, I finally just busted through and finished ahead of her. I may have missed my PR by 2 min, but I beat that girl, and that's all I cared about. Yup, I am that shallow.

Oooh, look at all that delicious chocolate and yummy goodness.

Traditional after-race picture with medal.

Running with girls: Anne, Amy, Amy, Amy and Kelli.

The next weekend was the Sweetheart 4 mile Run. Seeing as it was around Valentine's Day, we made it a couple's race, and I ran with Cory. Well, we ran together for the first three miles, then he took off and left me in the dust again. Anne and Chris, and Kelli and John ran in the race, too. I ended up matching my PR exactly (down to the second) from my Trolley Run 4 mile race from seven years ago. Plus, I got 3rd in my age group. But, it turned out to be a good thing that Cory left me in the last mile, because with those couple extra minutes, we ended up winning 9th place couple division. And, we got some pretty sweet champagne glasses filled with, you guessed it, chocolate!

The gang's all here. Chris, Anne, John, Kelli, Me, Cory.

With our glassware and chocolate.

We finally gave up the chocolate theme with the Diva Dash 5K. It was an all-girls race on March 23rd. This was my third year doing this race. The weather for this race can be completely unpredictable year to year. The first year I did it, it was absolutely freezing. Last year, it was beautiful. This year, it was in between. Cold while standing around, pretty good while running. Molly and Charlotte both ran in the Lil' Princess Fun Run and received tiaras and cupcakes. Chocolate for them. I, however, got an awesome medal. Which is almost as good as chocolate to me. Gotta love those sweet rewards.

Charlotte running.

Molly's race.

Posing with Anne and Molly and Charlotte. Super girly fun!

Last on the list is the Easter Egg 5K race on the Saturday before Easter. I wasn't even sure we were going to do this until the day before the race. My cousin and her family come down to Kansas every year, and last year, we did the race. But, I didn't want to make them do it this year, too. I didn't want to push my race-loving on other people who may not be as *ahem* obsessed as I am. Turns out, though, that their 4-year-old daughter asked to do the race. So, who am I to say no to a little girl wanting to run?

And, I ended up getting 1st place in my age group, which made me beyond the moon excited. The morning started out rainy, but stopped raining right before the start. It was, however, very slick. Cory had originally planned on walking it with the girls, but because of the cold and rain, they stayed in the car with my cousin, Laura. I made him run it with me. We kept a pretty good pace, and even managed to sprint past the girl we were eyeing in the end. (For some reason I couldn't let a girl with a jacket flapping every which way around her waist beat me. I told you, I'm weirdly shallowly competitive that way.)

At the finish line, just past the girl with the rain jacket. 

And, super stoked for my 1st place gold!

So, that concludes your peek into my absolutely boring race diary entries. I was going to squeeze a recap of Rock the Parkway into this post, but it was so awesome, I felt like it deserved its own post. I'll get on top of that one sooner than these other ones. 

And, for those of you completely wearied of race and running related posts, I promise I'll have some other topic very soon. I do have other things going on in my life. Not much, mind you, but there are the occasional other events. You should all just be glad I didn't regale you with stories from my glamorous life of potty-training Charlotte!