Until Next Time...: 2013 Arch Rivals: Heroes vs. Villains 5k

Well we did it! After training for a month and a half to be ready, L and I ran in the 2013 Arch Rivals: Heroes vs. Villains 5k today! It was a long and difficult training process for me and the conditioning I did required a lot of commitment and discipline. Oddly enough, the hardest discipline I experienced was making myself stop all training the week before the 5k. I was training so hard for a month and a half straight that the strain on my body became loud and I chose to listen to my body to avoid injury and be really rested before participating in the 5k. I was experiencing numbness, nerve pain, excessive fatigue, and soreness that did not feel like a good kind of sore. I took a whole week off to rest my body, research possible changes I could make to my training to protect my body, and just trusted that all my conditioning and hard work would not undo itself over seven days. I was right to take the time off and it was very healing for my body.
This 5k was themed heroes versus villains and everyone that registered got to pick if they were coming as a hero or villain. L and I had to come up with costume ideas! I thought about running jokes about me from friends and family and decided on She Hulk and after thinking over villain ideas, I asked L what he thought of going as Clu from the movie Tron and he was all in! We had to come up with ideas on how to make running friendly versions of these characters for costumes because I was not going to be covered in green body paint or a spandex bodysuit and L was not going to run in leather or rubber like the Tron characters. So we got creative. We found concept pics online as a start:

This one made me laugh because I am engaged and lovin it myself lol.

Clu from the movie Tron from every angle.

I decided that in order to avoid full body paint and the heat stroke of running in a swim suit, I was going to put together a sporty, running friendly She Hulk inspired costume. Then with L I wanted to make it running friendly, but very obviously Clu from Tron. I decided on a black wife beater and black running shorts and L and I decided on lots and lots of duct tape for the design. I knew that She Hulk has some serious hair so I asked my mom to do bandanna curlers the night before and I looked... special lol.

Bandanna curlers.

Once my curlers were in, L and I got some half priced shakes from Sonic and went to making his costume. Today we headed out of town at 6:30 am to drive to Reno and check in for the 5k! We got our packets, shirts, cups, number bibs, and water. Did our warm-up walk, stretched, and got some before pictures:

My very green She Hulk inspired costume.

Striking a pose.

I did the costume and L made his disc.

The back of L's Clu costume.

Ready to go!

I made one simple goal for my 5k run- jog the entire 3.11 miles with no stopping or walking. I got my mp3 player ready and they called us all to the starting line. We listened to the Jimmy Hendrix rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" and they did the countdown. L and I said our "I love you's" and agreed to see each other at the finish line. 5...4...3...2...1...GO! I turned on my music and eased into a steady and solid pace and told myself that I was in this to finish without stopping once, nothing else. L is an insanely awesome runner so I watched as he disappeared into the lead group and I settled into my pace and enjoyed seeing all the amazing costumes ahead and with me.

As faster runners would pass me and I would feel mildly competitive or dismayed, I would remind myself of my goals and also remind myself that no matter what, I was still going fast enough to pass people walking. I never once stopped jogging. I came to the finish line at 32 minutes and 5 seconds! I made place 90 out of 245 people! That was a huge win for me because until today I have never run a full non-stop 5k before and today I crossed it off my list. I ran a 10 1/2 minute mile for over three miles straight! L kicked some serious butt. L completed his run in 18th place with a time of 23 minutes and 56 seconds. He is friggin amazing and I am so incredibly excited and happy that I had him by my side at the start and waiting for me at the finish line.

Once we finished, we got more water and let our bodies cool down until the race results came in for us to see our times and places. This was an amazing and fantastic experience and I am soooo looking forward to the next event we have planned on Friday here in town called the Recycle 5k Run.

L and I post-run.