Rockwall's Rib, Rub, and Run 5K

Let me just tell you about my first official race...

Last night, I went to a Dove Chocolate Party and ate way too much chocolate.  But it was delicious in every way possible.  No regrets!  Obviously, I have no self-control when it comes to chocolate!!!  I am pretty sure I was in a chocolate coma and a sugar high all night long!  I am amazed I even got any sleep at all ;-)

I started the morning with a fried egg.

I hate breakfast foods, unless it involves bacon (dipped in syrup), hashbrowns (drowned in ketchup), and/or cinnamon rolls (swimming in cream cheese frosting)! 

Lesley picked me up this morning at 7:15am and we headed to the race.  We were a bit early so we wondered around and smelled all the delicious meats being smoked and grilled after we picked up out race shirts.  YUM!  (I have moved on from chocolate to BBQ as my new food obsession of the moment, if you haven't noticed).  There were so many people set up early...

And this guy was just rubbing those ribs & he was loving it.  I couldn't help but take a picture!  True love!

I was so excited to see the start.

This is my first race since high school.  And in high school, I hated the races back then, which was 10+ years ago....yikes!  That was a long time ago.  I was so not competitive back then and would just find someone to chat with the whole time.  This time, I already had a running partner all picked out ;-)

(We had to to take a pre-race picture before the race...not sweaty, yet!)

I was super excited to see the finish line...

Not sure on the exact time, but when I was crossing the finish line, the clock read 28:52. Way fast for me!  So, I was excited.  My mental goal was around 31:00 minutes, since we normally run 10-10:30 minute miles. It was hot & humid and the course had more hills than expected and it was very narrow.  But we had fun.  And did I mention all the chocolate I ate the night before?!? 

And we were sweaty, but we were smiling...

Then, we had to walked through the bbq cookers again & oh my, did it all smell SO yummy....

But we settled for a nice cold Octoberfest beer instead (since the BBQ wasn't done smoking yet!).  I mean, it wasn't even 10am yet, who can eat BBQ that early? Besides me!?!

It was a fun race, I hope to do it again next year!  But this was the first of 4 races for me in the next 4 weeks in a row!  Yikes!  I started with a 5K, next weekend is a 10K, then my big Half Marathon, then another small 5k.  I can do it!  I hope ;-)

***  Sorry about all the beer/alcohol pictures lately, but it is football season and I am pretty certain that it has been 4 years since I have been able to drink during Cougar Football!!!  (I have always been either pregnant or nursing!).  So, apparently, I am living it up while it lasts ;-)  ***