It was virtually a 10k!

This was my first experience with a virtual race (I was racing for both the Jog for JS 10k and Running Diva Mom's 10k). I gotta say, it was pretty fun. I signed up for my virtual races a couple of weeks ago, so even though my calf is still not 100%, I knew I was committed so I was going to have to suck it up. The plan was to come home from work, get suited up, and run a 10k planned out by Adorable Wife (I made her double check her route after the Jog for JS debacle). The original plan was for me to go on a route that would take me up a hill with about an 8% incline for about half a mile...fail. A bit of debate and one reroute later, I was ready to get my race on.



See what I mean about the Lederhosen!



Adorable Wife, being the adorable wife that she is, made me a wonderfully stylish race bib. The first idea I had when I learned I would be doing a 10k where the race bib had stylish implications, I wanted to go naked sandwich board style with big boards and rope and the whole bit. A little more thought and a little less material prompted a more conservative approach. Adorable wife was able to preserve the spirit of the sandwich board style race bib (although I think we ended up with an odd combination of bra strap and lederhosen). The straps on top got a little in the way so they had to go about 100 meters into the race, but the rest of the bib held up very well.



Now on to the race. It is a bit odd talking about a race that I was running by myself. I don't know that it felt like a race. I started pretty well, it took me a while to get into the run because it had been a while since I had run this far. It was about after the first couple miles that I was able to get into the run and hit my groove.



Tressa got Brady to do a cheerleader kick for me



The best part of the race by far was having my little cheering section follow me around on the course and give me little bits of encouragement on the way. It was especially great when Tressa would say something like "go hot legs" and then Peyton would echo "go hot legs," not necessarily something you want to hear from your 3 year old, but I'll take all the encouragement I can get.

Adorable Wife did a fantastic job of finding spots on the course so she could continually cheer me on. I don't think I went more than a mile at any one time without having a good "go Jesse" or "you got it honey" or "nice butt."

Overall the race felt much better than expected and I felt good enough to get a pretty good kick at the end of the race. My final time was 46:06, which happens to be a PR. It's going to have Barry Bond's esque asterisk next to it due to Adorable Wife and Daily Mile's questionable mapping skills.

  

Peyton... My biggest cheerleader



My first virtual race ended up being a lot of fun and I will definitely do it again. Certainly makes training runs a lot more interesting...