Zooma Zooma Hey

Get it? Like the "numa numa" song?

Whatever.

I ran the Zooma Half Marathon out in Bastrop on Saturday morning - training for it has been such a regular part of my semester that I can't believe it's over. Mom and Kori came to Austin for the weekend to see the race, and it was really nice to have the support. It was motivating around mile 11-ish - when I had juuust about had it with the millions of steep hills, not to mention the crazy woman complaining to her husband right behind me "I think I'm crashing again, my body is starting to feel cold, whinewhinewhine" - knowing that I had people waiting for me at the finish line a few miles down the road. 

The course was set up to run about 6 and a half miles out, then it turned around to come back the exact same way. It was nice on the way back because I was able to see almost everybody from my training group so we could cheer each other on. Spectators were only able to go to one spot on the whole course, and man, those 

final brutal miles are even harder when there aren't any spectators to cheer you on. I kept my mind off of it by listening to the aforementioned crazy woman talk about her body going cold and such. I don't think she realized that she would be less out of breath if she just stopped talking so often, but what can ya do. 

My official time was 02:00:57. My "predicted race time" based on a 2-mile time trial one or two months ago was 01:55:58, but I had no expectations of actually keeping sub-9 minute miles on such a hilly course. My average pace per mile came out to be 9:14, and I couldn't be happier with it.

....Despite how miserable I look crossing the finish line (but remembering to stop my watch, for once).

Heyyy here's a smile.

...And here's my plug for Horizon milk boxes as long-run recovery drinks. I usually roll with chocolate, but any of the flavors are quite delicious. 

So, my quads feel kinda trashed from all the downhills, my hips are really sore, and I've got some blisters and such, but it was a great race and a fun day. 

Oh, and the REAL exciting news from the weekend is that my sugar cookie dough has been chilling in the fridge all night, and I am about to go roll it out, cut out the people shapes, and bake them. I'm going to start the decorating process later today I think. I hope they turn out in real life how they have turned out in my mental image of them... :) 

Hope everyone had an excellent weekend!