The Whoville 5k

So last weekend I did back to back 5k's. On Saturday I ran the Girls on Track Hot Chocolate 5k with Alysha and on Sunday I ran the Whoville 5k with my husband. I had originally wanted to sign up for this race due to the nice Patagonia half zip that you get when you register, and because I knew people dressed up as Dr. Seuss characters and well, who doesn't love that? Unfortunately when I went to register I discovered that the size shirt I wanted was no longer available and with the (what I think is) high price for a 5k, I decided not to sign up. Then my friend who was planning on running the race with her husband contacted me because they would not be able to make it to the race that day and was wondering if Chris and I would like their spots. Yes! And as a bonus they wear the same size shirts we do! Thank you again Libby and Henrik!

We made the trek up to Grand Rapids early that morning in the rain. Really hard rain. So hard I was hoping it was clear there and the race wouldn't be cancelled. We picked up our packets and went back to the car until race time to warm up and check out our new shirts. Mine was a light blue and Chris's was red with gray accents. It continued to rain on and off until race time and still sprinkled hard enough during the race that I had to stop a couple of times to walk and wipe off my glasses so I could see. At least it didn't downpour again!

We lined up for the race and checked out everyone's costumes. We hadn't dressed up due to the short notice, but there were some seriously awesome costumes! I wish I had taken some pictures. Maybe next year? Music was blasting from the speakers and after listening to Gangnam Style (in which I watched a guy next to me dressed as Buddy the Elf do the dance to, ha!) we were off. I kept a pretty decent pace for the first mile even though it felt like I was running through mud. My legs were sore from my race the day before and I wasn't expecting much from myself for this race. However, I was feeling good and since it was a pancake flat course I didn't walk too much and I felt like I would have a pretty decent time. During the course there were signs from The Grinch trying to confuse you about which way to go and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were throwing plush snowballs at everyone. So much fun! I just wish it hadn't been rainy. I ran through the finish line and actually ran about .15 mile farther to make it an actual 5k (I'm weird like that) and when I peeked down at my time I saw this:

I had beaten my PR from the day before and had a new PR! I couldn't believe I had two PRs in two days! Apparently running back to back 5ks really works for me. Who would have thought? I'm hoping I can get down to 30:00 soon.

Chris finished about 5 minutes after I did, which he was not happy about but I was pretty impressed with. For someone who has not really run since our last 5k in July I thought it was a great time. Go babe! Now if only I can somehow get him to run more regularly with me...hmm...

After the race The Whoville 5k posted this video on their Facebook page, I hadn't realized that when the Gangnam Style song was playing that a bunch of the volunteers were dancing to it at the start line. Too funny!

The Whoville 5k is one I am really looking forward to doing again next year.