Yeah, baby!

The weather definitely didn't cooperate this weekend. We headed to Abilene yesterday afternoon for the Balloon Fest 10K today. I signed up for this one for a couple of reasons...1. it was a 10K, 2. it wasn't too far away, 3. they had a kids 1K, 4. they had hot air balloons. Well, we never got to see a balloon! It rained yesterday evening/night so we couldn't see the night glow, which I really wanted to see. However, the hotel had an indoor saltwater pool, so we did get to swim with the kids.

And it was definitely raining this morning! We headed over to Red Bud Park. Hubby was sweet enough to go get my packet so I wouldn't start off wet. Nana and Poppy took the kids to McDonalds while we got all this done. Then Hubby drove me as close as possible to get my chip. But then we had to go park...and then hike to the start line. We huddled under tents. The start was delayed a little, but the rain cleared off for a little bit...just enough for Hubby, Nana, Poppy and the kids to come cheer me off the start with signs and all!

I took two sports beans at the start line with about 2 minutes to go.

And we were off!

Luckily, it wasn't raining for most of the race. There were some huge puddles to maneuver, but it wasn't anything like the CASA 5K in the rain. In fact, I kept my feet relatively dry until about mile 3.

The greatest thing was having a cheering squad at several points in the race! The kids had signs and my mom and husband had the cameras. Dad took my visor at one point when it had stopped raining and had just gotten too hot...then Mom gave it back to me when the rain started up again.

I had two more sports beans at the 2.5 mile mark. I think I've finally figured out water stations, or at least the drinking out of the cup part. They did throw me by having a left-handed water station though.

I hit the 5K mark at about 33...a little slower than I wanted, but I just kept on trucking.

I hit 5 miles at about 52 minutes, I think. I was pumped! My last long run I hit 5 miles at 1 hour and that was after hoofing it to get the last mile in in 10 minutes.

I finished in 1:07:08, about 6 minutes less than my last (and first) 10K! And I felt good. A little shaky for a few minutes, but I was able to head over to the kids' 1K without any problem. They did so good too. SB wanted to walk some, but Ryan just kept on trucking! And it was really neat to see my parents with my kids!

Post-race, we headed to the hotel for a nice warm shower and a little fuel. Then we headed to Rosa's, which was cool because that's what we had after my last 10K. Something about warm tortillas and butter works for a recharging! I wore my compression sleeves on my calves on the way home. They sure felt tight, but they feel better now...now if I just had some compression sleeves for my quads.

Overall, it was a great experience! If it hadn't been for the weather taking away the balloon-watching, it would have been perfect. There was a race here in town, but it was a 15K...I probably would have done it if it hadn't been for the balloons...and since that didn't happen, I was a little disappointed. Still...it was fun and I felt great. That's all I could ask for!