100 miles more fun then the run

So, this weekend was supposed to be my big showdown with Jason and Gareth at the Irish Jig 5k.

Needless to say, it did NOT happen.

Gareth had to go out of town (conveniently) and I let Jason off the hook.

It wouldn't have been a good race for a showdown anyways. There were so many participants the men and women had to run at separate times. Imagine 3,000 racers trying to run 3.1 miles at the same time...it would have been ugly.

We are going to have a rematch as soon as I find another 5k. This should not be hard seeing that there seem to be running races every weekend, especially around holidays. What's next? Easter? There must be a cadbury egg 5k somewhere around here....

Anyways, back to the race. I met my friends Bonnie and Roxane at the race site in the morning. It was cold out and I was shaking in my running shoes. I thought that I was being creative by wearing bright green shorts (for St. Patty's day!) but everyone else outdid me. They outdid me big time! There were over 1,800 women lined up at least 500 of them were dressed as leprechauns. I'm not joking about this. They were wearing little green hats and everything.

Because I'm a complete idiot I did not warm up. Bonnie and I stood with all of the leprechauns until we could see people waaaaaaay up front running down the street. There were so many people there that the race started and we didn't even know it. Eventually we made it over the timing chip and bam! Complete deadlock. It was a walking start. With so many runners in the street no one could get moving. It was a anticlimactic start, but really cool to see so many women out there racing!

Eventually we got going and I spent the first mile running around people. At one point I was running on a curb, over grass and through a snowbank. At other times I was running diagonally across the street trying to dodge people. It was crazy!!!

I can't believe that I'm saying this, but it was a fun. Once I made it across the finish line I had to keep running as I had exactly a half hour to find my car (I managed to forget what street I parked on) and get layered up for a bike ride. The rest of the day was awesome. My legs felt really good and Juli and I rode our Dos Niners out to Grand Haven. Lynda had me scheduled for a 4 hour trail ride but sadly the trails here are still unrideable. There is still a little bit of snow in the woods, and then we have to wait for the spring thaw to be over. Come on already!!!!

Anyways, I figured that 4 hours on the trail was the equivalent to 100 miles on the pavement. My total tally for the day was 103.1. And I really haven't stopped eating since :-)