Sisterhood of The Traveling Skirt

For those of you who know me, you know I have a new favorite running accessory, a Team-Sparkle skirt! When I was perusing their site, I noticed that they have a traveling team-sparkle skirt {the skirt is sent to women all over the country to race in!}so I quickly contacted the girls of Team-Sparkle and let them know my race schedule.  The skirt was available on April 14th, and I couldn't of been more excited to wear it for a local race, the Pear Blossom.  

The Pear Blossom truly is a community wide event {with a 1 mile fun run, 5k, 10 mile & a parade}and is a race that I look forward to every year.  I ran it for the first time in 2006, and have participated every year since.  I love how everyone comes out to support, encourage and cheer on one another one.

Nicki: Such an inspiration to me! And we meet before the race every year :)

It's a tradition for us to take a picture together every year!

My dad: The reason I started running

"The Group"

I went into this race feeling confident, and was aiming for a PR, which would mean beating my time from 2 years ago {which I was really proud of!!!}

Megan & I: 1:29:35 in 2010

Heidi, Lindsey and I all smiles and excited for the race!

I started off the race with Heidi & Lindsey, and told them my goal was to negative split, so we were going to   go out at about a 9:15/9:30 pace and eventually be right under a 9:00 min pace. We were holding that pace and I felt great!! At the 5 mile turn around, I was definitely feeling tired, so I took some sport beans, drank some water, and hoped that once I went back up and over the only hill in the race I would feel good again.  Well that never happened! At this point, I was going to keep the same pace, and wait to kick it in until about mile 7, but I completely hit a wall...legs were tired and I had nothing left! I continued to push, and remembered that I was wearing the travel team-sparkle skirt and didn't want to disappoint.  While I do believe sparkle = speed :), on April 14th sparkle = stamina {power to endure fatigue}

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement {I was fighting back the tears}, but I never gave up and another Pear Blossom is in the books! I can sit here and list several excuses {I ran 35 miles the week before, had an extremely busy/stressful week, etc} but bottom line is that not every race is going to be a PR and some days just aren't made out for it.

Love his expressions!!!

Dana passed him at the very end...just like she said she would!

So happy to see the finish line! 

The BAD: I have managed to add almost 6 minutes to my Pear Blossom time in 2 years

The GOOD: In those same 2 years, I have taken 8 minutes off of my half marathon time & I loved hearing people yell "Nice Skirt" as I pushed through those 10 miles.

The BEST: After the race I received a call from a friend to thank me for encouraging, challenging {after dragging her feet for quite a while, she finally gave in and started doing speed work!} motivating & helping her to reach her goal of finishing in the top 100 females.  

I WILL redeem myself at the Portland Rock N Roll Half Marathon!!!