Ali's 10k

Oh...what a fabulous weekend! 36 hours away was food for my soul! I left Sidney and drove to Denver to meet up with 10 other ladies for our 10k race in Colorado Springs. I was a little nervous about the race, meeting 9 new women and leaving my kids with a friend (thanks Jenni, you rock) for 24 hours since Matt was still at Scout Camp. Once I met up with Kris...my uneasiness vanished and I was ready for a great adventure.

Our van had a HILARIOUS drive down to Colorado Springs. Supposedly I was being "checked out" by male drivers along the highway. I was the only one any drive could see since I didn't have a tinted window. Erica, Kris, Shannon & Micaela thought it was hysterical! I was too chicken to make eye contact...but was laughing my tail off at the possibility. HELLO...32 mom of 4 & married for nearly 12 years! It was funny. Once we arrived, we checked into our room at the Marriott then headed to a YUMMY dinner at Biaggi's to CARBO LOAD! I ate more bread and pasta that night than I have for LONG TIME! I had the
ZITI AL FORNO
Savory shrimp and chicken baked in a lobster cream sauce
with Italian cured ham, red onion and our Italian cheese blend.

Oh my...was it DELICIOUS!!!

11 women out to dinner together=NOISE! It was so fun!

L-R Michelle, Jenny, Cindy, Joy, Alison, Shannon, Kris, ME, Micaela, Erica, Lori & Amy

My new friends Micaela & Erica

We had a fun night with a stop at Target on the way back to the hotel. I organized a "5 favorite things" swap which I was excited to participate in. It was a blast...all the bags were labeled and each person drew a name out of the ice bucket and that is the bag they received. The 'giver' had to explain why the items in their bag were their favorite things. It was nice and a quick way for me to get to know the ladies! There was a lot of chocolate...hmmm

Our room stayed up late talking and laughing, it was so refreshing! It was lights out and an early morning. 5:30 wake up call so we could be geared up for the 7am start for the race. There were about 700 other runners, it was crazy!

Kris, ME & Erica before the race

yes...I am wearing a skirt. A running skirt & they are so cool!!

I had trained for 13 weeks for this race. I am NOT a runner, but amazingly I have really started to enjoy it! I don't have a fancy GPS gadget to time my runs/distance so I was really unsure of how I would do.

6.2 miles is a LONG way to run! The iPod was synced, headphones on, number pinned, laces tied and I was ready. The gun sounded and off we went. A group of about 6 started off together but I broke away and got into my pace. The scenery was amazing. At one point I saw 2 deer cross the river we were running next too. I missed the 1 & 2 mile markers and started thinking to myself, 'seriously, how long is this mile?". Then I saw MILE 3 I was ecstatic! Nearly half way done. When I hit MILE 5 I kept telling myself, 'only 1.2 miles left, no problem'. Right before MILE 6 there was a steep hill that just about killed me. I was jell-o legs after that for a bit. I could see a lot of runners walking around ahead of me and tried to dig deep and finish strong. I started sprinting...thinking that the cluster of people was the finish line. It wasn't. I had to go around the edge of the park and then down into the grass. I stopped sprinting and started breathing. About 50 yards from the finish line I started sprinting...again...or maybe it was just running faster. It felt like sprinting. My finishing time was 1:01:08. That is a 9:51 mile. I was so happy and glad to stop running! I never stopped running during the race, which was my GOAL. I came in 2nd out of our little group and it was so fun to cheer for everyone else as they crossed the finish line! I must say, I WANT to do this AGAIN!

I didn't think I could do it but I surprised myself! HOORAH! The race became less about running and more about accomplishing something that I thought was completely out of reach 13 weeks ago. Something that was emotional to me. Something that became more than I thought it would be. Strange. Clarity is wonderful.

Alison, Micaela, Shannon, Michelle, Jenny, Cindy, Amy, ME, Kris, Erica, Joy

all of the ladies after the race

We went back to our hotel and soaked in the outside hot tub for about an hour and swam in the pool to loosen up our muscles. Then we got ready for the day and checked out and said our goodbyes to the ladies not in our car. It was so awesome to meet new friends!!

Kris wanted me to see the Garden of the Gods. The red rock formations were amazing! We hiked into the "Siamese Twins" formation. We were a little stiff about 1/2 way there and in flip flops...but we survived. Thanks for being my tour guide Kris!

A stop at the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock was a must and I found a few deals. School shopping is DONE, yeah! I finally arrived home about 11:30 p.m...dragging my tired and sore body to the door. Matt waited up for me and was patient and listened to my story of the weekend!

Yes...I will do this again!