Rooster Runner

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Guess who was up at 4 am this morning?  That would be me.

Today (at 12:01 am) marked the first (and likely only) day of open registration for the Army Ten Miler.  I was fast asleep at midnight, but I purposefully set my alarm for 4 am so that I could get a spot before the race sells out.

Runners are strange.

And sleep deprived.

Never fear, I had another reason to wake early this morning....although not THAT early.  We had our Girls on the Run 5k this morning!

Last spring, when I ran with our neighbor, we left our house at 6am for this race and got stuck in horrific traffic trying to get into George Mason University, where the race is located.  This morning we left 15 minutes earlier and arrived without any traffic issues at all.  Of course, that means we were the first of our group to arrive, at 6:15, which left us with an hour and 45 minute wait until the race began.  Thankfully the rain held off, so standing outside was really quite pleasant.

As a bonus, the early birds get the clean port-o-potties.  Amen.

My camera battery was on the verge of dying this morning so I didn't bring it with me.  I did get a few pictures of Caroline before we left for the race, but they're not the greatest.  She's not a huge camera lover and most of the pictures I get of her look like mug shots.  I have better luck with extreme candid shots, but this morning, with the bad lighting and a dying camera battery, I just didn't have the time.

The obligatory running pose shot.

Clearly, she wasn't in the mood for pictures.

Anyway, the race was fun. 

Sort of.

As I said to Craig in a text:  'there were cramps and complaints of hills galore.'

This course is pretty hilly, but I tried to tell Caroline that hills make our legs stronger.  She wasn't entirely convinced.  The race was a mental struggle for her, but in the end, she sprinted to the finish with tons of energy to spare, like she always does.

The whole ordeal mentally exhausts me.

Physically, I'm exhausted, as well.  Because of the whole getting up at 4 am thing.  Oh and the tossing and turning all night doesn't help much, either.

After the race we stopped by Starbucks for caffeination and now were home; I'm all cleaned up and ready to be a lump.