On your marks... get set...go!

Its Drake Relay time again and this year, guess who participated?!

We did!

Drake Relays are a pretty big event in Des Moines and each year they offer some races for the regular Joe's (like us) so we can feel we are a part of the action. Mike and I signed up for the 8K Race on the Road so bright and early this morning we put on our race gear and headed to the starting line. Here's where things got interesting...

pre-race

1. We found our place in line and were so lucky to get a place behind "Gross-Public-Display-of-Affection" couple. They looked normal at first until he bent over and started massaging every part of her leg. I know the decent thing to do would be to distract ourselves but we didn't, we flat out stared at them. After the leg massage, he leaned in for a kiss... which turned into 3 or 4, and before we knew it they were totally making out. Weird and totally gross.

2. The start of the race is always exciting because so many people are around cheering you on. It's so nice of them to encourage us even though we know we resemble feeding time in the pig barns. Every one out in one small opening!

3. Mike and I hit the two mile mark at 18 minutes and thought we were doing really well, until we saw the damn marathon runners who signed up for this race as a "fun run" and were already at mile 4. bummer for us

4. I simply can't tell you how motivating it is to see 14 year olds pass you during a 5 mile race... good for the ego for sure.

5. The last stretch is the best. No matter how you are feeling you see the banner and you hear the people cheering and you get this boost of energy that helps you to the finish line, it's great!

I finished in 46 1/2 minutes and Mike finished at 47 minutes. Pretty good for our first race as a married couple. We were quite proud. It's also pretty amazing for us to see 9:00am on the clock and know that we already have our work out done for the day. On a Saturday, this is almost unheard of!!

post-race and feeling great!