Summer Racing Recap

I have been so busy with running and life that I have not been blogging lately. I am working, running, and going to graduate school, and being in a new classroom brings lots of outside of the workplace prep-work that has kept me seriously busy. This is going to be an all-in-one race recap. I would love to devote a whole post to each race, but I will have to settle for putting them all together.

O'Fallon Firecracker Run

I signed up for this race last minute on the afternoon of July 3rd. I got up early despite having a house full of my husband's hungover college friends being sound asleep in every guestroom and on each couch and air mattress we owned. I unfortunately had to walk 2 miles to the start, and thus more unfortunately I had to walk 2 miles back afterward. I didn't run as well as I had hoped at that race because I started off too far back in the crowd, so I had to do the sardine run for the first mile or so.

The Firecracker Run had a sweet home plate finish at
T.R. Hughes Field, home of the Rascals.

I brought all those bums who slept in some donuts.
Plus, I figured I earned some DD.

Hope for Haiti 5k

I ran the Hope for Haiti 5k with my Anything For 10 Sister, Grace. This race was her birthday present from me. It was an out and back course on the Katy Trail with a small loop at the end. We just took it easy and had fun running with each other and talking. It wasn't our best 5k time, but we did something healthy and fun together, and that's what matters.

I wore my VFR Run Happy Hour shirt with a giant beer stein
to the Hope for Haiti 5k... this race is organized by a Baptist Church. #WINNING

Beer and Bagel MO

This race was my favorite for multiple reasons. First of all, I have worked the Beer and Bagel in PA. In fact, the hubs was Sasquatch for the B&B PA last year. I finally got to run the B&B instead of helping with the running of the B&B. I got to see my old boss, Mike, and catch up with him a little bit. This was my first trail/off road race. Boy was it challenging!! It rained and stormed right up until the race started after a delay, so the course was completely soaked, MUDDY, and washed out. But it was FUN. Another great part of this race was doing it with the hubs and some of our friends, Reiner who I've blogged about running with before, Leslie, and Kevin. We got to eat and drink and hang out in the sun that so kindly came out after the race was over. I will be doing this race again for sure.

Socks Post Beer & Bagel

The Oakglenn Winery in Hermann, MO was a beautiful
backdrop for the B&B run and post-race party!

Trails for Tails 10K

I decided to run TFT for 2 reasons. 1) My life would not be the same without my newest running partner, Lucy Girl, who we adopted from a rescue. 2) I have done ZERO long runs in preparation for the KC Half. THIS was my long run. Yeahhhhh, I know I've done this before. Running unprepared is no fun, but I've been running pretty frequently even though I am running short distances. I will likely run just a little further next week, so maybe it will all be ok. I loved giving money to a cause I care about while getting in a "long" run. I had a hitch in my race due to digestive issues, otherwise I was on track to PR by quite a bit.

My new running partner, Lucy! Check out how she makes
her ears all aerodynamic when she runs! Too cute!

Lucy was pretty sleepy after one of her increase runs!
No worries! She slowly builds mileage!

Thirsty girl! Lucy loves going for runs!!

One of my favorite things from all these races was the shirts!! I am happy that 3 of the 4 gave out actual t-shirts. I might be the only person who likes getting t-shirts instead of tech shirts, but I love being able to wear my race shirts around. And I rarely wear tech shirts from races even when I run because I hate having a ton of screen printing all over a shirt that is supposed to be breathable and moisture wicking for running. And the one tech shirt I did get...slash will get because it is getting mailed to me... is AWESOME.