The Shoreline 10k

Tired. Tired. Exhausted. Limp. Thirsty. Sleepy. Lethargic.

Nothing destroys me quite like a summer 10k race!

This morning, Jeff and I ran the Shoreline 10k along the sparkling Columbia River. I can track my energy levels throughout the race by how much of the beauty I remember after the race is over. Today it only took 20 minutes for me to stop noticing the lovely lush park and shining river. Like I said, tired’s the word.

Why do we do these races? I sure don’t know! Habit? Possibly. In college, we used to run races every weekend. Well, whatever the reason for muscle strain and sweat-buckets, we both finished the race.

Jeff ran a 38:10 to place second over all, and I ran a 46:55 and I was the 4th female finisher. We were both first in our age groups! But they gave Jeff a red ribbon for his overall place, and me a blue ribbon for my age-group place. Ah well. At least there wasn’t any sneaky chip-timing.

We both ran nearly 2 minutes slower than we thought we would, but we both felt like our times weren’t too shabby for today. Jeff only started running again 3 weeks ago, so his time is probably the more impressive. I started feeling a bit tingly/woozy around mile 4.5, so I had to slow down. And we’re both slightly sleep-deprived, thanks to children and good books. On our drive home, we talked about our race and our future fitness plans. I love being married to a real runner, because we always like to talk over our races and we understand each other perfectly. We started doing that long before we ever even dated. It’s one of our things.

I love a good early-morning race-date with my husband!

SuperSteph watched Jay and Rose starting at 6:30am when we had to leave to drive to the race. When we got back, Jay and Rose were ultrahappy, as they normally are when they get a couple hours of Stephtime.

Steph painted Rose’s toenails, and Jay couldn’t be left out! (his are pale peachy-pink, thankfully rather harder to see than the dirt around them).

So, who’s up for another sunset?