Sort of Race Day

Race Day!

The night before we tried to go to dinner at Apizza Scholls but there was over an hour wait just to get a table and it wasn’t even 5:30 yet. Man, I hate Portland restaurant lines. Seriously. I wish more restaurants would allow reservations. Who wants to stand in line that long? Not me. We went to Plan B instead–The Matador. It’s the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner almost a year ago!

There was no line, got a nice table outside immediately and it was much better experience. I got the enchiladas. They were really good–the rice and beans not so much so I didn’t eat much of them (the food is always great at Matador, not sure what happened this night but the rice was like overcooked or day-old or something. Dry and gross. No thanks.)

Sunday morning Michael and I got up early and went out to Laurelhurst Park for our 5k run! It was Michael’s first race. This was my 3rd 5k race and my 5th running race.

It was a really nice morning! The sun was out, it was a little chilly in the shade but nice and warm in the sun and the perfect temperature for a race.

Since my back injury last week, I went in to this race with no expectations. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to run it until Sunday morning. I took 5 days off from exercising, went to the chiropractor a few times, got a massage, went swimming Friday and did a light elliptical workout Saturday. I iced my back, I stretched. And then I just waited to see how I felt.

And I was feeling really good! I’d say my back injury was healed 95% by the time the weekend came. Michael was shocked at my “miraculous” recovery. I guess it was a pretty fast! And considering I could barely walk a week ago, I was really happy I was able to run some of my race!

We got in line for the start. I knew Michael would be leaving me during the race, which was okay with me. He’s much faster than me and honestly I knew I’d be walking some of the race. Like I said, I wasn’t pushing myself or having high expectations.

There were people of all ages, shapes and sizes running. Some were walking. There were families running together. I also saw a little kid running with his little sister, holding hands, and he was telling her to keep running. It was pretty cute.

The race was through the park, mostly on the paved pathways but there was an uphill stretch on gravel. You did the trail three times to make it a 5k. I walked on the hills but for the most part I was jogging slowly and keeping an okay pace.

My back was feeling great–no issues. My knees were feeling good, too. I did a little more walking on that third lap, but overall I’m happy with how I did.

On the last lap I was feeling pretty good and managed to run the last half of it and cross the finish line! Michael was there waiting for me and he snapped a few pictures. 🙂 Here are my calories for the run:

Michael was feeling okay but his shins and calves were sore from the hills (he ran the whole thing). I am glad I took it easy. Jogging and walking was okay with me. And my body wasn’t sore afterward.

Finished! We got our finisher ribbons and then walked around a bit to cool off. There was water, free Luna bars (yum) and bananas. We hung around for a bit for the raffle but didn’t win anything and then we went home. I stretched, foam rolled my legs, did my back PT exercises and iced. I was feeling great!

Official Time

Michael’s Run Time: 29:18

Lisa’s Run Time: 39:41

I had a very lazy day after the race. I ran some errands (grocery shopping) and pretty much spent the rest of the day going between lounging in bed watching Netflix and working on the computer (also watching Netflix). I was SO TIRED. Body still felt great but I just couldn’t shake the fatigue. So I rested.

I have another 5k in about a month!