Biggest Loser 5K & 15K

Saturday morning Jonathan and I ran in the Biggest Loser race at the Kentucky Horse Park. Jonathan ran the 15K and I ran the 5K and it was a beautiful day for a race. The day started a bit chilly and I decided not to leave my long sleeved shirt at the bag check and although I was freezing, I almost immediately regretted my decision. I ended up running an entire race with a shirt around my waist. Not ideal. Oh well.

They released the first corral of 15K runners at 8:30. Jonathan wasn't able to squeeze into the first corral since we were running close on time that morning. The first corral is supposed to be those trying to win so he was super bummed to get cut off into the second corral. This race was giving cash prizes so when the second corral was release he busted his tail to catch up with the first corral. (Cash prizes are given from gun time and not chip time so he had some time to make up!)

There were tons of 15K walkers (crazy right??) so they held the 5K runners until the first portion of the course was clear. We ended up getting released around 9 so that was a really long time waiting in corrals in freezing cold weather. Thankfully past biggest losers were standing on a platform next to us trying to entertain us so there was something to do other than listen to our teeth chatter. (There were about 6 past contestants that were there and they all looked great!)

This was my first big race that I did not have to weave and dodge people. The corral things should happen for all races!! It was so nice! Of course there were people at the starting line that shouldn't have been there (walkers) but there was enough space to easy run around them. The first portion of the race took us into a horse field. They removed the horizontal portions of the white fence (if you know what Kentucky horse fence look like) and had us enter and run around an entire horse field. Then we ran out of that field and around a second field. They had not given any warning that there would be any off-road running so it surprised me and I didn't love running on the uneven ground. I felt bad for people running with jogging strollers. Thankfully my mother-in-law was watching our kids so J wasn't pushing them. While running those fields I would fluctuate from "THIS SUCKS! I hate running on bumpy uneven ground!! I'm not a trail runner!" to "This is gorgeous! How many times can I say that I have been inside horse fields at the KY Horse Park? I wonder if there's a famous retired race horse that usually uses this field? I love the rolling hills and white KY fence." And for the first mile or more that was my thought process.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Stepping foot back onto blacktop was wonderful and I felt like I could run so much faster on it. There were a few small hills but honestly I felt like running in my crazy hilly neighborhood has conditioned me to hills so they didn't really phase me much.

My goal was to run the race in under 30 minutes. My fastest race (post-kids) has been 30:39. I didn't meet my goal but I did improve my time. I finished in 30:12 - so close yet so far!! with a pace of 9:45 m/mi. I ended up being 10th in my age group and 81st overall.

I was watching the clock and thought I had a few minutes before Jonathan would cross the finish line and while I was about to put my jacket on, Elizabeth (my friend from work who ran it with me - of course we didn't get a picture together!) spotted Jonathan coming toward the finish line. I didn't even have time to get my phone out of the bag we had checked! He was so super fast!

He finished the 15K in 1:00:33. That is insane! He had a pace of 6:31 m/mi! Again. Crazy. He was booking it. Of course we had to stick around to see how he placed. Since I hadn't been able to watch whether other 15K runners had crossed the finish line we had no clue how he did. They finally posted finish times and did awards. He finished 1st in his age group and 7th overall. That is crazy good for a big race like that! I was so proud of him! Too bad he didn't win any cash prizes! (The winning 15K male had a finish time of 48:20 with a pace of 5:12 and was married to the winning 15K female and they had twin boys toddling around! CRAZY!)

How funny that our shirt colors were coordinated with our metals.

 Mrs. Kentucky was there. Looking like I did after the race I didn't want to get a picture next to her since she was beautiful and dripping in jewels. But I decided I should because Adalyn would love seeing a real life princess.

 Jonathan didn't get any special prizes for winning his age group. He just got this ribbon and paper. What a bummer! All winners got a picture with Mrs. Kentucky and Dan (past BL contestant). 

We had a fun time running this race and would do it again! They even had free pony rides for the kids. Too bad our kids were at home:(. And I have to say that this race had the best race shirts! They had tech shirts in men's and women's sizes! (That never happens!) And the shirts weren't just generic Biggest Loser race shirts. They were actually made for the city that the race was held in so it has a horse across the front. I love it! (I wore it to run tonight and it was awesome!)