Gatorade Is Better

I had a really good weekend filled with running awesomeness.

On Saturday morning, I rocked my long run.  We ended up doing 13.1 miles.  The first 7 miles were nothing.  I didn't even look down at my watch once before then.  I just ran and talked with friends.  Then I made the mistake of looking at my watch, and then I started doing it almost every 5 minutes.  I think that makes the run a little longer for me.  It still was not that bad of a run.  It felt like a lot of the people around me were really struggling towards the end, but I really felt good the whole run.  I did it in 3 hours 9 minutes.  I know a sub 3 is very doable.

Then later that night, I rode with some good friends down to Joplin, and we ran a 5k down there.  I knew I wasn't going to do anything amazing or special considering I just ran a half marathon that morning, but I did do okay.  I did it in 38 minutes.  It had some mean hills and my legs were not fresh by any means.  At 2.6 miles, Allyn came back and got me and ran me in.  He really helped me up that hill that went on forever.  The rest of our group was at the end cheering us on and ran me in the rest of the way.  This is one of the many reason why I love the Nixa Running group.  The support everyone gets at all levels is amazing!  It was a fun 5k and road trip.  I didn't get home till after 10.  I ran 16.2 miles that day!

Then Stefanie, Mike and I decided we would wake up at 4am Sunday morning and play mobile water station for the people running long.  Gatorade is better!  Loved playing waterboy for our friends!  Some went 13.1 and others went 23.  We set up our first water stop at the 5 mile mark.  This was in downtown Springfield.  Springfield isn't very ghetto, but as far as the ghetto goes for Springfield, we were in it.  While we were setting up, about 10 cars pulled up across the street and 4-5 people got out of each car.  One guy started puking, and others were drinking.  It looked like the party was moving to a new location.  We were really nervous our runners would get there while the party was outside.  They all moved in pretty quick, because it was chilly. 

Tiffany, as she was running up to our van, thought I was a hooker.  So that was the highlight of the morning.  $5 love you long time! We were able to take care of everyone and get them hydrated and fed.  Some of the crazier people thought it would be a good idea to finish their run by running from Bass Pro to Nixa.  That is a crazy busy road with monster hills.  Great job everyone!  Lots of people ran distances they never thought they could!

Fun weekend!