When I found out that the .US National USATF 12K was going to be on my birthday this year, I signed up right away. I took a chance on the inaugural race last year, and it was a great event.
A few weeks before the race I found out that they changed the course, and I was disappointed. One reason I enjoyed the race so much last year was because it went through a part of the city where I never run. My first reaction to the new course was that it covered the worst part of the GW Parkway Classic course, twice.
Honestly, if it weren’t on my birthday, I probably would have DNS’d it, but I couldn’t resist a birthday race. Plus, I knew the logistics would be easy.
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I set my alarm for 5:00 am, hit snooze a few times, and got dressed in my cold weather running gear. I took Tiger Lilly out for a short walk, had a cup of coffee and my usual pre-race breakfast of a frozen Kashi 7 Grain waffle with peanut butter, and we were on our way by 6:45. I stayed in the car as long as possible, but wanted to make sure we had time to take a few pre-race photos.
Do I look cold? It was in the 30s.
I did one lap around the block to warm up, and decided to hit the pottys before heading to the starting line.
Who can resist a potty line like this 10 minutes before the start?
The starting area was not very crowded, so I kept my down vest on as long as possible before shedding it for one last picture and handing it off to my husband.
I really didn’t have any goals for this race. With all of my recent travelling, I’ve kept up my running, but I have not been training–no speed work or hill repeats! I settled into an 8:00ish pace, and decided I would be happy if I finished with an 8:15ish pace.
The course was mainly flat, with one noticeable hill at the end of the first mile, a less noticeable hill at about mile 1.5, and the same hills in the opposite direction on the way back. While I thought the course would be boring, it was quite pretty with all the trees in their fall colors along the GW Parkway.
I nailed my pace and finished strong!
Yep, the race course was that empty!
I wasn’t sure I would want a beer so early in the morning, but when I saw the beer garden was sponsored by Heavy Seas and they had my favorite Loose Cannon IPA, I couldn’t resist. After all, it was my birthday!
I think everyone deserves a medal on their birthday!
If you haven’t read one of my posts about the year I skipped my birthday (and ignored a dangerous health issue), please do–it could save your life.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Awesome! I must say I had a bit of race envy and kind of wish I had signed up for this one. Maybe next year! Congrats on the PR! Happy Birthday!
happy birthday! you’re right – everyone deserves a medal on their birthday 🙂
Happy Birthday! It was really chilly this morning I was thinking of you. What a great way to spend you birthday.Congrats on the awesome speedy pace! A PR on your bday is the best:)
Happy Happy Birthday!! I tried to spot you on the turn around but even with the small number of people still difficult to do 🙂 I liked that it wasn’t too crowded and thought the course was really peaceful this morning. Hope you had a great day celebrating.
Darn! I forgot to look for you! I was so cold before the start that’s all I could think of!
Hope you had an enjoyable birthday. Read about USATF 12 K on your blog and signed up for it. I really enjoyed it.
Fantastic! I feel like it’s the best kept secret of the local racing community. 😉
napping 🙂
I did that on Saturday. 😉
Yep I agree – everyone deserves a medal on their birthday 🙂 You are so speedy – congrats on nailing your pace! Hope it was a great birthday!
Happy birthday! I LOVE the way you celebrated it! I want to do that race one of these years, both to run it and to see the amazing elite performances out there. Not to mention the good beer at the end…
It is such a nice event – maybe I’ll see you there next year.
Happy birthday! You did a great job and earned that beer haha! Love your running form, glad you enjoyed it!
Wow! Awesome pace, and happy, happy birthday!!
How awesome. I would love to have a birthday race.
Thanks! It was fun!
Happy birthday! Looks like a great run 🙂
Happy birthday – what a super way to celebrate!! A great race followed by a good beer – sounds perfect!!!
Happy birthday and yes, you looked cold! and it is your birthday drink a beer whenever you want! I think it would be fun to do a run on my birthday- maybe I should look to see when my 50th is a plan around that 🙂 Stay warm my friend!
Thanks! It helps to have your birthday fall on a weekend. 😉
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