Sorry Mother Earth, I tried

(or, oops, I did it again)

Miles Run: Saturday 5K; Sunday :10.3 miles

Saturday was the Historic Mooresville 5K. This is the third year, that we've be in NC, but only the first time I was getting to do it. The first year was Johane's turn and she came in second in her age group, and last year we were both sick.

This year, through the good graces of our friends the Marino's (and their daughter Alyssa), someone watched Julia, so we could both run.

The race started at the Mooresville Public Library, where we greeted by the following sign:

The best part is that the race was at a LIBRARY!  I mean come on people, turn around, walk back inside and get the dictionary out.

Anyways, the race started and I was right behind Jo.  So, I got these "special" shoelaces.  I got them for earth day, and they're colored green and made of recycled materials.  I thought I was helping out.  However, within the first 1/2 mile, my DOUBLE-knotted laces untied.  I spent about 20 secfonds getting them tied, while watching Jo head off into the distance.  Started going again, and around the 2 mile mark, the other shoe untied.  Double knotted again.  So Jo finished almost 2 minutes ahead of me.  Now, granted, she is running better than me these days (and has been for a while), and it was a hilly course, but I was not happy.  After the race, i stopped at run for your life to pick up some new laces.  So, sorry Mother Earth, I tried, but i can't have laces untying;  The race was nice, but a bit hilly.  Who knew that NC was so hilly?  Still finished faster than the greek festival race, which was pretty flat, and didn't have to stop to tie my shoes.  Got to hang with our friends at the end, and got to meetup with some of the Davidson Area Running Team.  Glad I started running with them.  Even something silly as knowing other people at the start and finish is nice.  So that was Saturday.  I briefly considered running home for the race to do my long run, and get it out of the way, since it was low humidity and clear, but i was tired from the race, so i waited until Sunday.

As far as "oops....", we finished the race, checked the results and saw that Jo came in fifth in her age group, so we thought nothing of it and left. Well, one of the wonders of road racing is the fact that if there are people in your age group that finish in the top 3 overall or top 3 masters (for us old people), they are removed from the age group pool. I guess the point is that way they can't win 2 or more medals, and the wins are passed around. So there was one woman in Jo's age group who was in the top 3 overall and 2 who were in the masters top 3 overall. So Jo wound up second in her agre group. Which we only found out when Laurie called us to let us know that Jo had won, and she picked up her medal! Of course, Jo also got a door prize of a free road id, but we weren't there to collect (d'oh!)




Of course Sunday morning came around to great me with 94% humidty, my favorite.  So i headed over to the point.  I planned on doing a 9.5 mile run that i had mapped out (below):





But instead by the end it wound up being 10.3.  I didn't map out going back to the car twice to call Jo, to tell her to come over to do her run!.  Anyways, again, i was surprised at how hilly NC is.  Tried something new this time, by using GU halfway through the run instead of at the beginning.  Not sure if it worked, but I made it through, so...not going to argue.  Got to see some HUGE houses, some nice views of the lake, and a LOT of pavement.

Overall, considering it's been at least 3 years since a run this long, not bad.