Last Saturday, my friend and early morning workout buddy Edith and I ran a 10K race (6.2 miles).  The Great Race of Agoura Hills is a huge, fun, well-organized local race.  It includes two different half marathons, a 10K, a 5K, and a kids 1 mile fun run.  Last year Edith and I ran one of the half marathons and loved it!  This year we decided to do the 10K, which Runner’s World magazine listed as one of the “Top Ten” 10Ks in the country.
We were a little worried that we were going to have a repeat of Sunday’s downpour at the L.A. Marathon, but thankfully the sun came out on Friday!   However, it was cold, about 40 degrees as we walked to the starting line and waited for the race to begin (an hour or so).  My teeth were chattering by the time we started running, but it was the perfect temp for racing. Here we are shivering at the starting line (next year we are bringing someone to hold jackets/be a photographer!).

I have been adding a lot of speedwork to my workouts lately, trying to beat my own 10K personal record of 51 minutes and 50 seconds, which I ran 5 years ago in Texas.  Going into the race I did not think I would be able to do it, because I hadn’t been able to  finish some of the harder speed workouts, and the course had more hills than I expected.   I didn’t feel like my pace was very fast either,  so I was really surprised when the finish line came into view and I was just under 52 minutes!  I finished in 52:05, only 15 seconds slower than my best.   I have already signed myself up for another race in April so I can try again!

My running buddy finished a little bit behind me at 57 minutes… pretty good for being 6 weeks pregnant with baby #6!  She said, “I only had to stop to throw up twice!”

Natalie gets really excited about my medals (they give them to everyone who finishes) and always asks, “DID YOU BREAK THE TAPE THIS TIME???”

Last weekend we went down to LA to cheer on my sister Jamie as she ran the LA Marathon!  Southern California was experiencing it’s Storm of the Year, which made things extra adventurous.  Andy declared our drive through Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks as the second worst weather he’d ever driven in, after a giant thunderstorm on our first drive to Texas.

There are many awesome Los Angeles landmarks on the course, which runs from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica pier.  I had decided that we should set up our little cheering section in Beverly Hills, based on cleanliness, good parking, window shopping and availability of Starbucks.  It started pouring and soaking the kids as soon as we got out of the parking structure, so we had to head back to the car to re-evaluate our setup.  We rigged an umbrella over the stroller, which helped a lot.  The kids were just happy to be along for the ride, as you can see.

One of the best parts of marathons is the spectators and the fun signs they hold.  My mom makes really good ones so I had to try my best to keep up.

We parked ourselves right in the middle of Rodeo Drive, between miles 16 and 17.  When the rain got harder, we could back up and hide in front of one of the shops!   Thankfully Jamie was texting me along the way so we knew when she was getting closer.

There she is in her rain poncho!  She was having a great time despite the weather.  She said she felt great the whole way, which is awesome.  I felt like that in my Long Beach Marathon.

Sadly I didn’t get pictures at the finish line.  We sped over to Santa Monica but the rain was pounding down, it was freezing cold, and the wind was so strong that it was turning all the umbrellas inside out!  I sent Andy and the kids back to the car and was not about to take my camera out either!  Jamie I did get a picture of you in front of Anthropologie, but I didn’t know if you’d want it posted on the Internet because you looked kind of like you had almost drowned (same as everyone else!).  But anyway… Jamie got her PR of 4:54 on this, her 3rd marathon.  Way to go Jamie!