Girl's weekend...Rockin 'n Rollin
Yes, I know. I am a blogging slacker. Two plus weeks since my last blog.
Lots of things have happened since then, I've lived in a hotel more than at home. New York, Denver, Wichita. So which story to tell first?
The Rock and Roll 10K from last week! (Only because I can get to those pictures quickly.)
To avoid the parking problem in downtown Denver, I got to go on my first ever Uber rider. The only cars available at that time of the morning were black cars so we arrived in style. The sunrise above the capital was amazing!
We loaded up into our assigned corral and waited for our start time. In Phoenix it took our corral an hour to reach the start line. Here they started a corral every minute so it only took about 20 minutes to get to the front. It was a good thing too because Mary doesn't like people and we were packed in fairly tightly. I had to keep telling her it was okay that people were invading her personal space.
We went by the Convention Center with the big blue bear sculpture out front. I love this guy! Jillian and Brian got me a replica last year which I keep at work.
Here's Mary setting her pace for the first three miles with her Darryl from Walking Dead back pack. I found out that Mary and I have very different warm up times.
For the first three miles I was easily outpacing Mary while nicely and gently trying to prod her on and politely trying to slow down to her pace. Then the three mile mark came and she decided it was time to run.
The finish line did a loop in front of the capital and it was really cool because people were lined up on both sides and were cheering us on. It may have been because at that time we had joined back up with runners finishing the half marathon. Anyway, the atmosphere encouraged us to run the last lap to the finish line. My time wasn't what I had hoped for, but all that matters is that we finished! It's required to have the free beer at the finish line even it is only 9:30 in the morning.
The Rock 'n Roll series is fantastic. I'll run it as long as I'm able. The medals are one of the goals and this year the 10K medal was awesome, we had a lot of half marathon runners admiring our medals because they were much better than theirs.
So the really great news is that I wasn't sore at all after the race. After my last 10K I could barely walk so this time I prepared and it paid off. Mary and I even walked around the 16th Street Mall afterwards to do a little shopping before catching an Uber for the ride back.
What's next you ask? Mary and I have committed to a half marathon west of Denver on February 7th. A great way to keep the training up throughout the winter and the dreaded holiday overeating time.
The bad part...I had to go to urgent care this morning because my back is so sore. They gave me an injection of pain reliever and steroids that didn't help a bit. I saw my pain specialist on Monday and he's going to do another procedure on my back to kill the nerves again, I just have to wait for the paperwork to go through. Hoping and praying that they call to schedule it soon!
Lots of things have happened since then, I've lived in a hotel more than at home. New York, Denver, Wichita. So which story to tell first?
The Rock and Roll 10K from last week! (Only because I can get to those pictures quickly.)
Mary and I decided to leave the boys behind (Irv was actually working, we weren't being mean.). This meant a hassle, pout-free visit to Ikea. It was wonderful being able to slowly walk the aisles and look at all the "stuff". We didn't buy much, Mary was happiest about her rolling big plastic tub. We have to get all our glassware from the truck to our display booth at the craft fairs so wheels is a great idea.
After shopping we headed over to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants--the Rio. We loaded up on carbs and had a great dinner. Then it was back to the hotel and in bed by 8:30. Yes, I said 8:30. When a race starts at 7:15 and it's suggested that you get then by 5:45 you go to bed early.
To avoid the parking problem in downtown Denver, I got to go on my first ever Uber rider. The only cars available at that time of the morning were black cars so we arrived in style. The sunrise above the capital was amazing!
We loaded up into our assigned corral and waited for our start time. In Phoenix it took our corral an hour to reach the start line. Here they started a corral every minute so it only took about 20 minutes to get to the front. It was a good thing too because Mary doesn't like people and we were packed in fairly tightly. I had to keep telling her it was okay that people were invading her personal space.
We went by the Convention Center with the big blue bear sculpture out front. I love this guy! Jillian and Brian got me a replica last year which I keep at work.
Here's Mary setting her pace for the first three miles with her Darryl from Walking Dead back pack. I found out that Mary and I have very different warm up times.
For the first three miles I was easily outpacing Mary while nicely and gently trying to prod her on and politely trying to slow down to her pace. Then the three mile mark came and she decided it was time to run.
I thought we were doing pretty good when we caught up with this group of firemen. I don't know if you can tell, but they were in full battle gear including oxygen tanks and masks. Then I noticed that they had the half marathon bibs on. Wow... that's awesome guys! However, does the oxygen give them an advantage? (Just kidding)
After twisting and winding through downtown Denver, going by the Pepsi Center and Coors Field we finally saw this guy. This is a pretty good indication that the finish line is nearby.
The finish line did a loop in front of the capital and it was really cool because people were lined up on both sides and were cheering us on. It may have been because at that time we had joined back up with runners finishing the half marathon. Anyway, the atmosphere encouraged us to run the last lap to the finish line. My time wasn't what I had hoped for, but all that matters is that we finished! It's required to have the free beer at the finish line even it is only 9:30 in the morning.
The Rock 'n Roll series is fantastic. I'll run it as long as I'm able. The medals are one of the goals and this year the 10K medal was awesome, we had a lot of half marathon runners admiring our medals because they were much better than theirs.
So the really great news is that I wasn't sore at all after the race. After my last 10K I could barely walk so this time I prepared and it paid off. Mary and I even walked around the 16th Street Mall afterwards to do a little shopping before catching an Uber for the ride back.
What's next you ask? Mary and I have committed to a half marathon west of Denver on February 7th. A great way to keep the training up throughout the winter and the dreaded holiday overeating time.
The bad part...I had to go to urgent care this morning because my back is so sore. They gave me an injection of pain reliever and steroids that didn't help a bit. I saw my pain specialist on Monday and he's going to do another procedure on my back to kill the nerves again, I just have to wait for the paperwork to go through. Hoping and praying that they call to schedule it soon!
Comments
So sorry about the pain Sis. I hope that you find some relief.