An Amazing Weekend!

Brad and I drove up to Cincinnati this weekend to visit with his family and so I could run the Flying Pig half marathon (#4 of 12 in 2012). We left Asheville on Thursday and drove straight through to Cinci, arriving around 130am.

Friday morning we got up and went to Kings Island. It's a big amusement park that we both went to a lot growing up. It was really fun, but we both decided that apparently our bodies are starting to get too old for that stuff!! Those roller coasters beat the crap out of us!

This is us on the Diamond Back coaster. The sun was obviously a little bright!

After Kings Island Brad thought it would be a good idea go ahead and get my packet picked up. I went to the expo while he went and had a refreshing beverage!

This was definitely the biggest expo I've ever been to. SO MANY VENDORS! I loved all the pig statues that were everywhere:

I got my packet then weaved my way through the booths. I noticed the Norwood Chiropractic booth and stopped by. They specialize in ART (Active Release Technique) and Dr. Lydia Ogden spent a lot of time with me and working on my right knee. I've got what we all seem to think is a piece of bone that has chipped off and right where it is I've got some pain that seems to come and go. It's worst when I do squats, but it's not there everytime I do them. When it does hurt it feels like my knee cap is about to pop through my skin, all through that one little spot.

I don't remember all the lingo exactly but Dr. Ogden said it was something along the lines of my right knee not moving in the line it should. Of course there was a medical name for it, but despite my being in the medical profession, I don't don't remember it. She did some ART on my quad and it hurt so good. I have bruises now, but I really think it helped a lot.

After stopping at the Norwood Chiropractic group the expo was starting to close up. I got my shirt, duffle bag, and poster and headed out.

Saturday we headed to the mall (they opened a new Lululemon store there!!), Costco, and the outlet malls. I got some tanks and Lulu, a bunch of stuff at Under Armour outlet and these at Costco:

Oh my gosh. YUM. I'm going to have to separate them into baggies and lock them up. If not I'm going to kill both bags in about 2 days. I also got a big old twist yogurt. Brad bet me that I couldn't finish it. I laughed. Me, not finish fro yo?!?!

He was right, I couldn't do it. Dangit. How wasteful.

Oh and at the mall I got Riley a present:

It's a stuffed pig and it has a rubber band that lets you shoot it across the room. He loves it!!

We had LaRosa's pizza for dinner then I headed home to get to bed for our early wake up call. I laid out all my stuff (and I can't get this pic to rotate):

 That thing in the middle is a pace tattoo that I picked up at the expo. What was the goal time?

My secret A goal that isn't so secret now. Did I get it? Unless you follow me on twitter you'll have to wait to find out!

Lady Distance Classic 10K: Blue Ash, Ohio

We were in the OH this weekend for a wedding and to visit with Brad's parents. I hadn't raced in a while and had a 6 mile LR scheduled for Saturday, so I thought I'd check to see what the racing scene looked like. I found the Lady Distance Classic 5K/10K in Blue Ash which is about 15-20 minutes from where Brad's parents live.

I signed up for the 10K and went into it not expecting a lot [main goal being get the 6 miles done]. It was my first women's only event and it was awesome!

I foam rolled, stretched, and hydrated like it was my job on Friday. We arrived a little later than expected, so Brad's mom picked up my packet from Fleet Feet. We got these super cute lime green Brooks tech shirts:

I layed out my clothes and got in bed early for my 6am wake up call.

Yes I'm charging my Garmin in my gym bag. [I'm what some people might call absent minded, so I have to plan ahead]. I was also way more nervous than usual because Brad and his parents were coming the the race. I've never had "fans" before. Kinda cool, but very nerve-wracking.

We arrived around 630am for a 715am start. I stretched and hit up the porto's.

 Brad was my official race photographer. Here's me walking back from the bathrooms. Niiiice action shot.

 All women event = must have lots of bathrooms

I was amazed at how many women were in this race. There was a 5K and 10K, with running and walking divisions in both. We started promply at 715am.

Can you spot me? Cheesing like a fool. [Easy to do when you're only 2/10ths in] I spent the first two miles trying to make myself slow down. My pace has been way off in races (apparently I think I'm fast when surrounded by other runners) and I've been wearing myself out. I saw the fam around mile 3.

 I'm holding a pack of shot blocks because I'm not smart and didn't realize I had no pockets. They started in my waistband but that lasted about a half a mile before they were sliding into my sweaty capris.

 Best race picture ever. I was really wanting to go left with the 5K'ers.

Running from the POlice.

Saw them again around mile 4.

I took shot blocks and mile 3 and again at mile 5.5ish [water stations]. Part of the course was through a neighborhood around a golf course. Some of the people had set up sprinklers for us to run through (THANK YOU!). There was a good downhill part through mile 5 and then I'll be darned if there wasn't a big @ss mountain hill at 5.5. Rude.

Finally finished with a time of 1:09:21 (11:11 pace). I placed 270th out of 388 10K runners and 27th out of 40 in my age group.

 After the race we went to the festival. We got a lot of free stuff and there were a ton of booths. However the first both was a free bottle of Mr. Clean. Kinda funny. I told Brad it was for him :)

There were massages, PT's doing stretching and injury screenings, all kinds of snacks and food, powerade, flowers, smoothies, and... A DIY SNO CONE STATION. Shut the front door. Don't get me wrong, I love me some fro-yo. But I LOVE tiger's blood sno-cones and I never get them.

Happiest girl in the world. I didn't want to embarrass my inlaws, so I only got one. Apparently double fisting sno-cones is not becoming.

Then we went home to rest up for the wedding. Riley bear was especially tired.

I thought this race was a lot of fun. The atmosphere was great, very 'I am woman hear me roar'. There were a fair amount of spectators and that made it fun as well. I would recommend this race to anyone and would love to run it again.

Oh and I also got a small PR, but a PR none the less.

What did you do this weekend?