FitOne 9k

This morning I ran the FitOne 9k with several friends from my running club, Moms RUN This Town.  If you are a woman and you like to run, look it up, there are clubs nationwide!

I've been working really hard to get back into my old running shape.  While I ran...ahem...shuffled...my way through my pregnancy it has still been a lot of work to get myself back to the point where I can handle the long distance runs again.  Before Gideon was born I registered myself for the FitOne 9k, knowing that it would force me to get back to training after he was born.  I was excited when they added the 9k option to this 21-year-old 5k and I was even more excited when I saw the course.  It started up at the Old State penitentiary and moved down to the greenbelt where it met up with the standard race course up Capital Blvd and across Americana to end in Ann Morrison Park.  I love a good point to point race, especially in this cooler fall-like weather.

There were 7 people from our local MRTT chapter running the 9k this morning and I started out with 2 of them.  We barely made it to the starting corral in time!

We stayed together for the first mile and then met up again at the finish line.  The after race fare was AWESOME!  The bagged breakfast was fine, but in addition to that there was Chobani Greek yogurt and CHOCOLATE MILK!  In case you don't know, chocolate milk is the perfect post-race fuel out there.

 Eventually we were able to meet up with most of our Moms Run This Town group for a fun group photo.  We had gotten together earlier in the week to make our shirts and skirts for the race.  A perk that I hadn't anticipated, it was so easy to spot everyone after the race because of the bright, sparkly skirts.

It was so fun for me to get to run with these friends here.  They are my fellow playgroup moms.  Our children are all so close and behave like siblings and I'm beyond excited that they have all chosen to take up running!

 Tyson met me at the park with our children since I wasn't going to make it home in time for him to go to work.  It was a rough night, they were all up a lot and early and I was only able to get about 3-1/2 hours of sleep.  I was a little excited when we got home and they were all asleep, I thought that I might just get a little nap.  But that wasn't to be.  The girls stayed asleep as I moved them into the house, but Gideon did not.

  The best part about the race, other than an instant PR because I've never run a 9k before (though I missed my time goal by 24 seconds) was the great medal!  I love getting racing medals.  If you really want to know what I am working my way back to half marathon shape, this is it.  I want to earn more medals for my collection.

My next race is in two weeks, on my birthday!  It was my last 10k before I dropped down to shorter races for my pregnancy and my first 10k coming back.