Get Lucky! 7k Race Results

I set my alarm for 6:30am so that I would have plenty of time to get ready for my Get Lucky! 7k. Thursday I started to get a sore throat and cough and I was not feeling 100%. I debated last night on whether I should run or not. I figured with a good night sleep I might feel better. I did not but I wanted my medal and hoodie sweatshirt!! I ate a small breakfast and read a few blogs:) I then went upstairs to wake my hubby up. We drove into Minneapolis and arrived there at 9am:)

It was cold! Here in Minnesota we had been blessed with a few days of temperatures in the 50's and 60's. This morning it was twenty-five degrees and I was whining:( Maybe a month ago I would of been jumping for joy for a temperature of twenty-five....this morning, not so much!

You can see by the look in my face that the wind was a wee bit chilly!

Here I am with Mr. Julie:)

This guy was amazing!!

Here I am at the start line. This is before it got packed with runners and there was still room to move around.

Here are the people who were lining up after me.

Here is my view of the people who lined up before me. They did have pacer bunnies but no pacers. I saw that they had an eight minute mile and an eight-thirty minute pacer. I went back and forth between the two. I have never run a 7k before and really wasn't sure if I could run the eight minute pace. Last year my PR for the 5k was 23:10 which is a 7:27 minute mile. I was also in my prime at that time. I knew I would not be able to do that today:( I decided to start with the eight-thirty pacer bunny and figured it really didn't matter. There were originally 3,000 runners registered for this race but today only 2,591 actually made it! So here is how the race played out for me.....

We all moved up to the start and when the buzzer went off it took a bit for us to shuffle forward. Boy, did it seem like we were moving slow! I absolutely hate the beginning of these huge races because it seems to take so long for me to get to my true start pace. It seemed like I was just lulling along and I was seriously frustrated. Eventually things started to thin out and I felt that no other runner was in my personal space. I was shocked when I saw the mile one marker...I looked down at my Garmin and it read 7:50! Holy crap, I thought that I was moving slow! I just kept moving and tried to stay at a steady pace. I do not remember much of the race other than there were a few bridges that we ran over. The first bridge had a little hill and when I looked down to see my pace I was at 8:50. I really needed to pick it up a bit. After the first bridge I took a right turn and just kept on going. It was here were I took off my hat, mittens and tied my jacket around my waist. I was actually getting warm! There were two water stops and I skipped the first. When the second came up I grabbed a cup expecting cool water but got something blue! Yuck, not what I wanted! I ran a few more feet and grabbed a water. I kept on going keeping it steady and I was feeling pretty good! We came to an area where there was a cobble stone street to run on. I did not like this and was very happy when the road went back to normal pavement:) I knew that the race was going to end on the Old Stone Arch Bridge and I could see up in the distance that people were turning onto the bridge. It was at this point where my husband yelled, "Jules, you are almost done! You have a little less than a mile! He told me to toss him my hat. I was holding my hat so I threw it at him and I also whipped my jacket off throwing it down onto the grass right next to where he was standing. I started to pick up my pace. I did not look down at my Garmin and just ran steady and strong! The bridge finish strip seemed to take forever! When I was lined up before the start, the guy standing next to me warned me about the bridge. He told me that it is looks longer than I would think and to be ready. I kept on taking quick strides and sprinted in the last 400 or so. When the clock first came into view it read 34 something.! I walked a bit after I finished just so that I could catch my breath. I felt pretty good considering I wasn't feeling the greatest! My last two races were half marathons so this seemed like a walk in the park for me!! As I was walking forward on the bridge I heard someone yell Julie! I looked and saw Chris! Chris is also a blogger from Minnesota and I was hoping that I would see him! Chris was there with his girlfriend Lindsey and they both finished a little before me. It was so nice to meet him and chat with him and Lindsey for a few minutes:) Chris, you totally have a baby face! What is it about male runners and their baby faces? I had to wait for my hubby to make his way across the bridge. There was no way in hell he was running it, so I knew I would be waiting for a few minutes.

Here I am being presented with my very cool medal!

In this picture you can see the flow of people still coming from the finish line. I went on line and looked up my stats. They are..... 385/2591 overall, 113/1722 gender, 11/205 for age group and my chip time was 35:08! This turned out to be an 8:07 minute mile pace for me:) This was my first shorter race for the season and I am happy with my performance:)

Here I am with Chris after picking up our very awesome Get Lucky! sweatshirt hoodies! I was very happy to get my sweatshirt since my hubby did not remember to pick up my jacket and mittens:( Grrr! It is a good thing that my jacket was a Champion Target clearance item and my black mittens were one buck!!!

After the race we headed to Kieran's Irish Pub to collect our free beer!

Inside there was an Irish band playing:) They were very fun to listen to!

Here I am with my cold beer! Cheers! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekends!!

Angie is hosting a Chia Seed giveaway!

Suzy is hosting a birthday Starbuck's giveaway!

Marcia is hosting a Runningskirts.com giveaway!

Molly is hosting a God Never Blinks book giveaway!

Misszippi is hosting a Rockin' Refuel giveaway!