Good Effort

Our day of competitions turned out alright today.

The guys were up and out the door a little after 9 a.m. for Carter's Knights of Columbus math competition. He won at district, where only one person could advance to the diocesan level. So today he was competing against all the district winners in the La Crosse Diocese. The top 2 finishers advance to state.

Carter was pretty confident going into this thing. This morning, he said, "Who knew I'd be a math whiz? It's kind of fun." He told me later he felt good about the test when it was done so yes, he was surprised and disappointed not to finish in the top 2. The good news, though, is that he finished 3rd so not only does he get a medal, he is an alternate to state -- just in case.

We are very proud of him! He's already talking about "acing it" next year!

Meanwhile, the Desperate Housewives of Blue Jay Drive were at it again! We bundled up good (thankfully!) for a chilly, windy Point Bock Run.

Every time I have a race, I go into it with 3 goals based on my training and relative preparedness and confidence. A finishing time that will make me Happy (something I can live with but won't brag about), one that will make me Thrilled (doing much better than expected based on lack of training and prep work) and one that will make me Ecstatic (a personal best time for that distance).

Today I told myself I'd be thrilled with an 11-minute mile pace (55-minute finish) because I just haven't been running regularly or far enough. I would have been ecstatic to beat my previous 5-mile time of about 51 minutes (just a hair over 10-minute miles).

This was the biggest race I've ran in terms of participation -- 2,000 runners! When the starting gun went off, it literally took a minute before I reached the starting line! Thank goodness this was on electronic chip timing so we didn't lose anything by starting further back in the pack.

The course itself was pretty straightforward -- out 2.5 miles then back. There was a lengthy slow incline hill toward the turn-around but I was not forced to walk it. There was plenty of wind, though, so I am glad I added one more thin layer before I left the house!

I wasn't totally dying or anything with my legs or breathing, but I had planned ahead I'd walk a half minute every 15 minutes. This is probably what helped me keep going. I shouldn't have had to walk at all -- but in the end, I think that gave me just enough recovery time to finish strong. I was totally surprised -- and Thrilled -- that I finished only a minute slower than my last race! Whoo-hoo! Plus, only due to the number of participants, I can say I finished faster than nearly 400 women (ha). My neighbors Cindy and Niki did well, too, so we were a happy bunch.

The big draw of this race was that runners get free Point Bock Beer after the race -- if you can imagine actually drinking beer after a 5-mile run! People certainly did. After my water and banana, I enjoyed Point Bock Root Beer and that was fine with me.

Several hours later, I got a better treat. I told Carter no matter how we did in our respective competitions today, we'd celebrate with Shamrock Shakes.

Hey, I don't have a shirt that says "I run on ice cream" for nothin'!