Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of running a race with my fiancé Joe! We ran the March Forth 10K at Green Lake which was a very well-organized small local race in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The LLS is very near and dear to our hearts, so we were incredibly thankful to run it as all proceeds directly benefitted the LLS.

Race packet pickup was located at the Super Jock ‘n’ Jill, my favorite local running store in Green Lake. With the race bib came a nice race tee.

As the race/fun run was a 10K race, and not a race in which I needed to carboload or follow usual pre-race traditions, Joe and I planned to enjoy a a nice night out with friends.

First things first, though, we went to downtown after race packet pickup to finally do our wedding registry. We were zapping away and quickly found ourselves overwhelmed with all the different categories and things to look throigh

After getting sufficiently tired, we proceeded to enjoy happy hour at Flying Fish in South Lake Union which has a fantastic happy hour daily from 4pm-6pm. During this, they have 50% off all of their small plates and some great drink specials. 50 cent oysters anyone?

We had the calamari, Thai crab cake, Manila clams, tilapia, and the oysters from above.

The Racer 5 IPAs x2 seemed fitting in honor of racing 10K the next day.

A little while later, we met up with Joe’s coworker Josh and his wife Brittany for dinner at The Whale Wins in Wallingford. I was very excited to try this restaurant from acclaimed owner of Walrus and the Carpenter and Boat Street Cafe.

The atmosphere and ambience was very quaint and nice and the food was delicious! In addition to an appetizer of Beechers Flagship Cheddar, pear jam, and Columbia City bread, Joe and I shared roasted local carrots and fennel and roasted Mad Hatcher half chicken. Yum.

On Sunday morning, we got up at a decent time (8am) and got dressed for the race. We were lucky with the start time of 9:30am and living pretty close to Green Lake.

Finding parking wasn’t too difficult to get to the start line located near the Green Lake community center.

We got to the start line and enjoyed performances by the Seattle Sounders FC band and the absolutely gorgeous, albeit chilly, weather.

Joe and I were pumped up to run in honor of his dad, Gary.

Promptly at 9:30am, it was time to cross the start line for the 5K and 10K runners. The start line was located near the basketball courts with the straight path down to the inner loop of Green Lake clockwise. The 5K runners ran one loop including a small incline path up to the outer loop of Green Lake. 10K runners did the course twice.

I felt great during the first two miles and by the third mile was wishing I’d only be running the 5K. In the past few weeks, I haven’t been running as much as we ramp up on CrossFit, so I wasn’t sure how racing would feel.

Luckily, my energy and stamina kicked in and I started feeling great. The only downside from the course is that the course is on a heavily populated walking path and I was constantly dodging people left and right, weaving through, etc.

Once I was half way through the 2nd loop, I zoomed in on an older gentleman who was also running the race but was flying!! Despite having 40 years on me, he kept a steady fast pace in front of me and helped keep me on my feet.

I crossed the finish line with a 48:06, a new 10K PR for me!

I have to mention that I absolutely loved layering the Lux Layer top underneath my race singlet. The lux material really is the most luxurious material. Plus the new Superfly cap made me feel fly. 🙂

Joe also did a wonderful job and finished just shortly after me. Great job!

After sampling some Theo chocolate, we went back over to the finish line to cheer on the age group winners for the 10K race.

To my absolute surprise, they called my name for winner of the 20-29 age group!! I couldn’t believe it. It was my first time winning anything. I received a neat race beanie. Super stoked!

Overall, the race was a wonderful time for a wonderful cause. I would certainly recommend running it next year.

Sometimes the best things end with not so good things though as that evening at 1am in the morning I awoke with the worst sharp shooting pains in my stomach, bloating, etc. lasting all the way until the next afternoon.

I even thought I might need to go to the ER; it was that excruciating. Coupled with some really nasty TMI occurrences, I was so glad to make it to the doctor who diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis. Ugh. I was sick from Monday through Wednesday.

Good thing though is that I’m back to normal and ready to get back to running and CrossFit!