Run the Bluegrass 7 Miler

Saturday was the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon and 7 miler.  I signed up for the 7 miler since it would be a good race for me and would hit about half way through my half marathon training.  This course is notorious for being hilly.  When the owner of the local run shop says it's hilly, you KNOW it's hilly.

The weather was cooler than I expected and I was regretting my short sleeve shirt at the start, but after we took off I was glad I had made that decision.  I started with my couch to 10K workout of run 4, walk 2.  I was planning on doing that through the whole race. However, I quickly realized when I was running up the first hill, that that was NOT going to work.  My new strategy became walk up the hills and run down them.  I did this for most of them.  There were some that were so steep it took a little while after them to recover.

The sun was actually shining and the course was beautiful going by many of the horse farms in the area.  Around mile 10, the half marathons had joined back up with the 7 milers and I kept looking for some of my friends.  I saw James, John, and Eric first.  I knew Jeremy would be coming soon. About mile 12 he caught up to me.  We had talked about him finishing with me if he caught me but when he got to me he said he was doing good and wanted to know if he could go on.  Of course being the good wife that I am I said "Yeah, go on" and off he went.  After he finished he came back for me and ran the last half a mile in with me.   My friend Emily had also done the 7 mile race and she did fantastic!  She beat her goal time by 5 minutes.  I was super impressed, especially considering those hills!

Me and Emily

 

Jeremy and me

 

 

 After the half and 7 miler was over, they had a kids race that was .9 of a mile.  Jeremy volunteered to run with Anika.  She was so excited about running in a race and winning her medal.  

Ready to run!

Showing off our medals