Race number 5 in my 12/12

12 in 2012

And so we have reached the 5th month and I have ran my 5th race at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon!  It was a good race, except for the heat and the flu bug that I came down with the night before which kept me from getting a good nights sleep.

This being my 3rd Rite Aid Cleveland half, I was able to see an improvement in my time over the three years.

• 2010 I ran the race in 2:26:25
• 2011 I ran the race in 2:24:12
• 2012 I ran the race in 2:18:58  122 out of 305 (my age group)

Definetly an improvement, though I had hoped to do better. I think between the fever, sore throat and chest congestion, along with the high temps just really drained me quickly. Which concerns me for the upcoming race I have at the end of June? Is it going to be too hot? and how will I learn to cope with the hot weather? I'm hoping the bigger part of my slower race time was the onset of the flu that weakened my immunity.

We had a great time all weekend long! Spending Friday at the expo and lunch at 100th Bomb group with Chelsea, Kathy and Christy and then heading downtown by 3pm on Saturday to get checked into our hotel, which happened to be right next to the casino.  Something I didn't even know at the time of booking the hotel.

We met some of the most amazing people at the pasta dinner, like one of our favorites.... Marathon Maniac Steve.  Who was the sweetest, kindest, most inspiring runner I have ever met! He told us of his favorites of the almost 200 marathons he's completed, and here found us again when we were heading back to our hotel. I'm definetly looking up some of his favorites for next year, whatever my goals are...

And as usual, my gear of choice... Lululemon capri and top, Chica band, ifitness belt, a playlist made jut for Cleveland marathon and the only thing I wore differently... my Nike running shoes. I need new running shoes and I'm definetly going back to my Brooks!