Giblet Challenge 2009 - A Weekend of Throuple Love!

Okay, so I'm over a week late getting this posted, but better late than never. ;) A couple months ago, Running Dork, Running Lawyer, and I made the Giblet Jog announcement - we were all going to run the 10 Mile Turkey Trot in Wichita on the 21st and the Gobbler Grind Half Marathon in Kansas City on the 22nd. Well, please give some bloggie love to the Running Lawyer - the only one of us that actually accomplished this feat!!! Due to injuries, I down graded to the 2 mile Turkey Trot and the Gobbler Grind 5k, and Running Dork was one of the best Athletic Supporters that a group of runners could ask for!! ;)

Okay, so let me start at the beginning of the weekend. I got off work early on Friday the 20th and headed out for the 3 mile drive to the Dub. I got there around 5pm and met up with Beka at her abode. Kristen showed up a little bit later and we enjoyed an AMAZING dinner with plenty of wine and laughs. And apparently wine is my new pre-race-requisite because I ran my fastest race EVER the following morning. (PS - fastest ever for the running worm is basically faster-than-a-snail-but-still-slower-than-a-turtle.) ;)

Here's a pic of the Throuple on Friday night:

I stayed the night at Kristen's house and we met Beka at the race. The start time was 9:30, which was actually kind of nice since it was pretty chilly out that morning. After a long line for the bathroom, we barely made it to the start in time for the gun.

This race was my first run in almost 3 weeks after being sick and having a lot of craziness in my life. AND, I had only ran 3 times since my last stress fracture, so I was hardly prepared for this race. I was really just there to have fun. I told Beka I anticipated finishing my 2 miles in around 22 - 24 minutes. So you can imagine my surprise when I finished my first mile in 9:30! Now I will say this - being that the race was in Kansas, it was EXTREMELY flat - no hills, barely even an incline here or there. The course was really nice - right along the river, some of it on streets, most of it on a trail, and even part that went through a grassy field - srsly. I was covered in stickers afterwards...which did not feel good when I accidentally sat back on my heels later and got some stickers in the tooshie!

Anyway, if this race had been a 5k, I definitely would have gone out way too fast in the first mile and then ran out of gas at the end. But since it was only 2 miles, I really pushed myself to maintain my speed. Those of that have been following my blog for awhile are aware that I've only been running for less than a year. So when I finished the race in 19 min & some change, I was SHOCKED...and excited! New PR for the Running Worm!!! And after a 2 month running hiatus (other than 3 small runs), I was pretty pumped!

There are no pics of me running this race cuz I told Beka - who was waiting at the finish line - that I wouldn't be done until 22 - 24 min, and I finished several minutes faster than expected, so she didn't have her camera ready for me. ;)

But here is a pic of Beka & me (& Milo!) after the race...and after I changed out of my sweaty running clothes - thank goodness for Beka's ridiculously dark tinted windows so I could change in the car. ;)

We got to see Kristen run by in this trail during her 10 mile race and then we jetted over to the finish line to see her finish. She did AWESOME!!! I only aspire to run that fast one day!

After the race, Kristen and I went back to her place to shower and get cleaned up. We then met up with Beka and Kristen's mom for some yummy brunch before we headed out for the 3 hour drive up to KC. We arrived just in time to pick up our race packets. Then our friend Indi and her husband met up with us and we headed out for a tasty viewing of New Moon, followed by dinner (and drinks of course!) at California Pizza Kitchen, and some amazing gelato at a cute little gelato shop.

Here's a pic of us ladies (from left to right: Indi, Beka, Kristen, Me) at CPK:

That about wrapped up our night. Then we had to get some shut eye before the race the following morning - 8am start time!

Here's a pic of us girls before the race Sunday morning (from left to right: Katy, Valerie -who has a new bloggie of her own that you all should check out at The Coach's Wife-, Me, Kristen, Indi, Beka)

The GG started promptly at 8am and I started of just as fast as I had the day before - big mistake. I wasn't far from the end of the first mile when I felt some crazy pain in my shins and my left knee. I didn't stretch as well as I should have the day before and I was seriously just shuffling along.

Here's a pic of me during the first mile - I was still running faster at this point - notice the blur! ;)

Anyway, the rest of the race was pretty painful. All I really wanted to do was stop and walk, but I knew that if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to run again. I never EVER run 2 days in a row - my body just can't handle it. So racing 2 days in a row had me in a great deal of pain. But I just powered through so I could be done. Didn't stop for water....knew if I did, my legs would refuse to run anymore after that. So I did manage to run the entire race without walking....and somehow, even though I felt like I was at snail-pace, I still managed to PR! I will say this though - this was only my 4th 5k. 2 of those I ran with a yet-to-be-diagnosed stress fracture....and a 6-year-old in tow. The other I ran in August in nearly 90 degree heat with some massive hills. My previous times weren't hard to beat - they were all slow as all get out. So yeah, there ya have it - 2 PRs in one weekend! Not to shabby for the Worm!

After I finished the race, I could barely walk. I grabbed some chocolate milk and hobbled over to a tree where I did some much-needed stretching, which totally helped! Then Beka, Indi, Trevor (Indi's husband) and I went and drove around to try to spot our friends running the half. We were successful - first we spotted Kristen and obnoxiously yelled out the window at her....for a couple blocks. ;)

Here is a stellar pic that Indi took from the front seat featuring me and Beka hanging out the back window yelling at Kristen who is running on the left:

And just a few blocks ahead we spotted Valerie too. Cheering out the window of the car was so much fun....so fun, in fact, that we just started cheering for random names. The best was Lindsay...because some girl perked right up at the sound of her name and started waving wildly back at us and giving us the thumbs up. Ah, good times.

We then headed back to the finish line where we anticipated Runnur Mark finishing in roughly an hour and a half....and he did not disappoint.

Here's a group pic after the race (Mark, Me, Beka, Kristen, Indi):

And what would a race be without some Jazz Hands photos?? Too bad Mark scurried away before this was taken. ;)

After the race, we got cleaned up and headed out for some traditional post-race Chipotle love. Nothing quite screams "celebration of accomplishment" to me quite like a loving bowl of Chipotle - yummmmmmm!!!!

And here's a pic of us ladies after our delicious Chipotle love:

Shortly after this last pic was taken, we all parted ways...sigh. It was definitely one of the best weekends I've had in a LONG time!!! I do believe we plan to make this a tradition....with hopefully some more fun weekends together in between. These ladies are a blast - nothing beats the Throuple. Nothing. Except maybe the Throuple + Chipotle.