Famous Racing Sausage 5k

 

 

Well it seems I missed quite a few recaps. One of the races I try and do every year is the Famous Racing Sausage 5k put on by the Brewers at Miller Park. I love this race because it is well organized, the racing sausages are there, and you get to run on the baseball field. So many perks! This year we had enough people on our team Tour De Sausage to get our names on the back of the shirt. I was the only one not to wear the shirt because it is was so hot outside!

 

I met up with John, Tracy, and the rest of our team so we could head to the start line. I really wanted to beat my time last year, oh and John also. He beat me last year and I was bitter :). It was warm again this year but not as bad as last year. My other goal was to beat Chorizo. I did manage to pass Hot Dog on the course and give him a little wave as I ran by. I also love, as usual, running through the stadium!

 

I finished in 34:21, not my best 5k but one of my fastest, oh and I beat John but not Chorizo. I did beat hot dog! No medal at this race, but it is worth it to run with the sausages and through the stadium.

 

After the race I headed home to wash up and then the three of us met everyone for tailgating and the Brewers/ Mets game.

John tailgating

Todd tailgating

Beautiful night for a game

Run sausages run!

Chorizo wins!

 

 



Brewers 10k Recap- 2014

 

Saturday I ran the Brewers 10k for the second year in a row and I all have to say is I will be back next year. What can I say, I love this race!

 

#1 It's put on by a baseball team

#2 You getting to run on a warning track

#3 Awesome medal

#4 Very well organized!

 

I drove up to Miller Park on Friday to get my race packet and then went outlet shopping for a bit.  Saturday I had to get up really early for this one, 4:35am yikes! I drove up to the ballpark and hit a little traffic getting into the lot. The roads around were only open until 6:30am so a lot of people were rushing to get in. This year they did something smart and had the 10k start 15 min before the Half Marathon. I think this elevated a lot of congestion at the start and on the course. I was in corral C and quickly got in place by 6:50am.

Starting line selfie



In the corral

Race started promptly at 7am and I crossed the start at 7:01. I was very worried about this race because I had some knee pain all week and some shin pain. I started moving along at a 10 something pace with no pain. Good thing about this race is I knew the course so I knew the hills and where they were. I ran the first mile and 1/2 as I knew the first overpass was right after that. I chugged up with a good run/walk charge. After that it was all downhill into the Miller Brewery. Smells of hops filled the air as we ran through and on to the next huge overpass hill. After that there was one more huge one before it was down hill to the stadium. Once in the stadium it is pretty awesome, you run around the warning track and you are on the jumbo tron. Only down fall is the roof was closed so no GPS. Once you go through the stadium there is only .10 mile left, up the last little hill to the finish. Official time was 1:11:34, with baring recent injuries, I was pretty happy. Especially since I know now I can do my half marathon next week.

 

Post race selfie

Blurry medal selfie

Love the medal

With it's brother medal in the background

Tobi

 



That Time I Spent My Birthday at the Zoo with Daycare

 

This year for my birthday I decided to chaperone the princess's daycare trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. We loaded up the kids in the big yellow school bus, which I probably have not been on in 20 years. It was a long trip to the zoo, almost an hour. The kids did really well. When we got there we spent almost an hour getting all the kids to the bathroom then another 45 minutes eating lunch. I helped pass out the lunches and make sure the kids had all they needed.

 

When all was said and done we probably spent an hour and 1/2 seeing animals. L was so excited as she had never been to a zoo before. Seeing her excitement was worth the trip! TI would ask the kids different trivia about the animals as we saw them. I think they got a huge kick out of that. It was a hot hot day so once it was time to go the kids sure were ready. A lot of them slept on the way back. Once we returned Justin picked us up at Daycare and we went to Culver's for my birthday. It was not a typical birthday for me, but it was a wonderful one! Here are some of the animals we saw:

 



I Guess I'm Only Half Crazy Now...13.1 Done That!

Flat Emily for my half, I love bibs with my name on it!

 

Saturday the 14th I finally ran my first half marathon, the Rock N Sole Half in Milwaukee. My friend Kelly from work decided to participate in the half with me, it would be her first also. I got up at 4:15am that morning and headed over the Kelly's house, we would car pool from there in her car up to Milwaukee. The drive up was pretty smooth until we got about 1 mile from the parking area, where traffic was dead stop. Of course I had to use the bathroom really bad! Kelly pulled some fast maneuvers and got us out of traffic and to a close parking lot. We were able to go in the Italian Center to use the bathroom, thank goodness for a real bathroom!

 

After that we decided to make our way to the start area, the race started promptly at 7am. They had photo people everywhere, which was really fun. My goal was to finish in less than 3:15:00, I was so nervous I would be picked up my the slow bus. I just did not want to slip to 3:30:00.

Love the building for lease sign in the background!

I am hoping we get a coupon for the photos soon as I really want to buy them. We took one more trip to the facilities, where Kelly had a quick panic moment where we thought her ear bud went missing. I found it and saved the day!

 

 

 Finding the corrals was easy, I was in M and Kelly in L. Thankfully my corral was not the last! I met some nice ladies at the start who warned me about mile 9 and assured  GU and was really to go! It only took us 5 minutes to get from our corral to the start once the gun went off. I had some phone issues but then everything seemed to fall into place.

 

Once we started going I found myself getting a little chocked up, I guess I was just emotional from the race! We headed out on the course and I felt good. There were lots of bands playing on the course and tons of people. It was nice because the 10k people and the half people were together for the first 5 miles or so. I just took my time, running the first 2 miles. I enjoyed the sites and the experience.

 

 

Mile 3 is when we started the long, steep climb up the Hoan bridge. I just stuck to the strict run/walk combo I programed into my phone and made my way up. Once I made it up it was a nice quick steady decent where I ran the whole way down. It way great experiencing the bridge, but I was so glad it was done! Once we were over, the 10kers split and headed towards the end. The half continued up to the north. I finally had to stop and use a porto potty, thankfully with the 10k crew gone that really thinned out the crowd. I was in and out in 15 seconds I think. I took a GU and went on my way.

 

 

After that I kept heading up the road when I finally got to the last huge hill which was mile 8. I had to walk up it. I started getting some bad toe pain in my right foot about mile 7. My toes felt broke but I continued on. After making it over mile 8.5 some people yelled "It's all downhill!". I was like yeah right, but they were actually right. Miles 9-11 were pretty much downhill and other than the toe pain, were pretty enjoyable. Mile 10 I looked at my watch and saw I was about 2 hours in and I thought to myself  hey I am going to be under 3 hours for sure! The sites of Lake Michigan were just beautiful! The weather was gorgeous with temps starting in the high 50s and climbed to about the high 60s with a great breeze. Around mile 11 I filled up one of my water bottles from an aid station and only took water to pour on my head after that.

 

Mile 12 was all along a path along the water and beach. There were lots of people and musicians. It was a little deceiving and hard to see the finish but there were signs telling you how much distance was left. I rounded a corner to the SummerFest fair ground and through the finish. I had done it and I felt great, minus the toe pain! I finished in 2:44:49, I was so happy!

I'm a half marathoner!

 I found Kelly almost immediately after the race and we had a few more pictures taken.

 



Close up of medals, we got the one on the right

 I called Justin and found him and L. They were both very proud of my accomplishment. We walked around some to keep the legs moving and then sat down a bit.

Kelly finish only a few minutes before me



Awesome new medal!

Once we finally changed and headed on our way, I put on my new Pro Compression socks. We went to Denny's for lunch and then to Walmart for grocery shopping. I totally forgot I left my car at Kelly's so we had to go get it at 5pm. I found her mowing the lawn, crazy lady! I went home and took a Epson salt bath and relaxed. I hurt some but not as bad as I thought. Oh and so much for the finishers tees, all they had was xl and 2xl left.

 

All in all I loved the half distance and would love to do it again. I loved this course and hope to run this one again in 2016. Well in fact I am running another half this year. I signed up for my second half in late September. I am looking to train harder and shave minutes off my time.