Snowman Shuffle 10K: Best Birthday EVAH!

I have been such a bad blogger lately.  I have been meaning to sit down and tell you about how incredibly cool my frunners were to me on my birthday, but I just haven't done it.  You know the standard excuse....busy, busy.....but it is true!  My weeks are flying by at an incredible pace these days. 

Scenes From My Birthday Race

The last couple of years I have strayed from the usual birthday party and have celebrated with a birthday race instead.  Things really got going last year when Mary brought a huge box of red velvet cupcakes out to the race.  A new tradition was born!  I was super excited when I discovered that there was a race on January 19 -- my actual birthday!  I spread the word and soon enough many of my frunners were all signed up and we were ready to go.


Mary is the Cupcake Queen!

As you might remember, I really focused on speed work in the second half of 2012 and that has continued into 2013.  I have not raced a 10K since last March (before speed work) so I was anxious to put my training to the test.  The race weather gods gifted me with a beautiful and cool day and after a short warm-up I was on my way!

It is always a treat to see the Ninja Girls!

I worked hard to be patient and not go out too fast.  A few runners were breathing quite heavily as they passed me and I made note of them, thinking that they could not possibly hold that pace the entire way.  My plan was to run a pushed, but not "all out" pace until around mile 4 and then pick it up with each mile until the end.  I was right on target at the halfway turn around -- isn't it such a mental boost when you hit that turn around?  I continued onward and eventually caught up and passed some of the runners who had passed me early on in the race.  No doubt this gave me a great mental boost to power on towards the finish line.  I knew that a PR would be very close, and I made it with almost a minute to spare (51:35).  I was very pleased when I checked my splits and saw that I had run very consistently with a burst of speed at the end.

Loudest Cheering Section EVER!

The finish line was only the beginning of the fun to be had on my birthday.  Mary did not disappoint with the cupcakes--another huge box of red velvet appeared!  And we had such fun hanging around waiting for the awards to be announced.  It was a great day for the FIGJAM Gang as everyone who ran took home an award--a snowglobe!  I run with a fast crowd, y'all! I got second place in my age group and Mr K got 3rd place in his. 

So Much FIGJAM

After we collected our loot and took some more pictures we headed over to the Taco Joint (a favorite!) for a feast of tacos and beer.  Here I was treated with a birthday tiara, a balloon, and was serenaded with Happy Birthday!  We filled a long table and created quite a scene, I'm sure, in the restaurant.  I took a minute to look around at all the faces gathered there and I felt so grateful that they all came out and celebrated with me.  Yes, the PR and age group award were very nice--but they would mean little without all of these people around to celebrate with.  I can't even begin to thank everyone enough for spending their Saturday morning with me.  I already have a birthday race in mind for next year too -- I can't wait!!


Rowdy Crowd at Taco Joint

Huge Birthday Smile

(Thanks so much to Mama C and Music Mary for being the official race day photographers of my birthday race!)