Baltimore Women's Classic

Today was my first 5K run post-baby!  Whoot, whoot!  Started the day early.  We got the kids up before 6a.m.  I had a small bowl of oatmeal, and we headed on our way.  The hubs had double duty as I ran today, manning both our rugrats.

Got down to Baltimore about 7a.m.  We found a parking spot we didn't have to pay for - bonus!  I picked up my registration, and turns out they have a Kids Fun Run.  Dominic was super excited, so we signed him up.  He couldn't wait for his race (his was just after mine).  It was for kids 8 and under.  They split the race up in two (6-8yrs and 5 and under).  Dominic is 3, for those of you that didn't know. 

Anyhow, since I ran the Baltimore Women's Classic last year, I kind of new what to expect.  I went up top Rash Field early to get a good spot in the start area.  I had a goal of getting in under 30 minutes - making it a 10 min/mile.  I went up to the sign 8-9 min/mile to try to push myself.  The announcers were preparing everyone, and Matt and the kids went down to the finish line to wait for mommy to finish.  The horn blew, and off I went.

I know I started faster than I normally do, because I felt like I was flying.  I pushed it to gain a good spot in the crowd.  The route was set up different from last year, so the first turn sported a significant hill.  It was rough, but since it was early on - I made it through quickly.  There were moments during the run I thought to myself - I'm running in a race!  And I just had a baby!  I was feeling pretty competitive and proud all at the same time.  It felt great. 

I rounded the first mile and the guy shouted out times for runners to hear their pace - I was at 8:40!  That's fast for me, since lately I'm lucky to get in within the 9 min range.  The second mile was harder, because I pushed so hard the first mile.  Once I reached mile marker 3, I was on the home stretch. 

I crossed the finish line with a net time of 27:06!!!  That's running a 8:44 pace.  Overall, I took 229 out of 2689. 

Here is it in black and white.
http://www.charmcityrun.com/content/results/BWC2011complete.txt

Cool note - they declared June 26th BWC Day in the City of Baltimore today!  So awesome.  All women - all running!  Girls kick a%$!

Here are some photos!

Pinning Dominic's bib #80 on him.

Getting myself ready.  Bib #570

Running Family

My cheering section

Dom's 1st Race (he was actually happy, but he didn't want his photo taken)

He's so bad-ass!

All in all, a great day running.  I am so glad to be back in the swing of things.  Now that I have tackled my first 5K back, now onto contemplating a 1/2 marathon.  Still chicken to do it, but I have the bug!