Racing is a spectator sport. Holiday Half 5K Recap...

Saturday morning, I woke everyone up bright and early for the Holiday Half 5K, that started at 8am.

Oh, except it didn't. It started at 9. So, sorry, family, for making you get out of your toasty warm beds and wait outside in the freezing cold for an extra hour. Sorry 'bout that....

I talked The H, #1, and my BFF and her husband into running the 5K with me, months ago. And then this happened, and I jumped over to the Half Marathon instead, which worked well logistically, because I could babysit my friend's Shady Baby.

And then The Shin happened, and none of that mattered 'cause I wasn't running anything. And apparently I also stopped reading schedules to see what time the race started.
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Anyway, Holiday Half is run by Run Racing, the same folks who put on Long Beach Half. Rock n' Roll should take some notes, because Run Racing seem to be experts at putting on pretty seamless events.

The race started right on time...

I kept an eye out for my runners...

while babysitting Shady. I swear she likes me. She just doesn't know it yet.

Spectating makes me look homeless?

After all the runners passed by, I hopped over to the other side to watch the finish line.

Too much, my friend. Too much.

It was a pretty successful day, for everyone. The H finished in 26:52, after having not run much at all (not that I'm jealous...). #1 finished at 26:30, good for third in her AG. She had a rough day out there - I think she wasn't prepared for the cold air, or something; kind of a bummer, based on her last PR she could have placed in the top 3 overall, but whatever. She's rad and I'm proud.

She looked like she was gonna puke after she finished, but 15 minutes later was talking all about how awesome she is going to be next year. PSYCHED.

We had planned on sticking around for the kids' races with #2 and #3, but Gab was still not feeling great, so we bailed on those.

The shirts are NICE, and the medals are rad. #1's AG medal is hanging happily amongst her other AG wins.

I've heard good things about the Half, as well, so I'm extra bummed that I had to miss out. Oh wells. There's always next year.

Ooops....

I swear, this isn't how I intended things to go.

It started with this...

And then there was this...

And I tried, so hard, to resist....

But there was this....

A girl can only take so much.

"Come Run With Me!" page, updated.

Race redemption... it IS coming.

My race-day meltdown at mile 10.5 hasn't settled well with me.

I have ALWAYS had negative splits in my training runs. Always.

I've done the 13.1 distance 3 times already. I had two 11 mile runs in training, and two 10 milers.

There is no good reason I couldn't push through that nonsense.

Except for me just sabotaging myself all on my own.

I'm scratching my current training plan completely. Well, not COMPLETELY, completely. But I'm certainly changing things up.

Part of that changing is modifying my racing goals through the end of the year.

Tomorrow, I'm running the Chapman 5K with Team Sparkle, and all 3 of my kids. I know, I'm a crazy person. #1 is actually racing (I think), but #2, #3, and I will be run/walking for fun.

On October 30th, I'm running the Richard Leary 6-Hour Challenge, benefitting Tragedy Assistance Program for and Train 4 Autism. This is a 1 mile loop, and you just run until you... don't feel like it, I guess. I'll run whatever distance is on my training plan for the day, slow and easy. Just the way I like my runs. And my men. Just Kidding. Really.

November 6th, I am running Athleta Iron Girl 5K with #1. This one... I am planning on racing this one, hard. I haven't done speed work in a few weeks (one week off for The Shin, and another week for taper... and this week), so I don't know how much I can eek out, but we'll see. It will be a good gauge to see where I stand.

Followed immediately by Mission Inn Half on November 13th. You know that one, that I am pretty sure will kill me because it's sooooooo hilly?? (Chacha, that's for you). This one is strictly a training run. Slow and steady. No PR's will be set on this day.

Holiday Half 5K. This race is put on by the same folks that do Long Beach, so I'm anticipating a stellar race. This is my goal 5K. Speed work and hill repeats will be a strong part of my new training plan in the coming weeks, so I expect great things to happen. If they don't, I might just quit. (that's a lie, I'm too cheap to waste the registrations I've already paid for). The H and #1 are running this with me, along with my Internet BFF and her husband. (Of note, I need to find a baby sitter for #2 and #3 this day.... I don't know what I'm going to do with them while the rest of us are running. Poor logistics, there, me).

Operation Jack Half Marathon, December 26th. I'm toying with the idea of trying to PR here... it's a super flat course, and weather should be faavorable.... We'll see.

The only additional possibility in here is a trail race that I'm considering - 17K on December 11th. I've been itching to get into trail running, and this course is on my favorite hiking trail... hard to pass up. We'll see.

One of these... one of these has to be my magic race.

2012 is the Year of the Full Marathon. True story... that's happening. Multiple times. You can blame this girl for the Crazy.