The Pine Line Half Marathon, Part 2

My last post was my official race report, so scroll down or click here to check that out. This post is about the fun we had with our blogger / triathlon buddies before and after the race. Enjoy!

Pharmie and I were welcomed into Wisconsin on our drive out there on Friday afternoon:

That's WI for ya. ;)

We pulled up to Rural Girl’s house, and Robby B and Stu were already there. So all of us sat down to a GREAT meal made by Rural Girl:

Rural girl tried a new recipe for dessert, and she had some trouble getting it out of the pan:

Finally, Robby helped out with a more powerful tool that's what she said:

And Michelle enjoyed her dessert crumbs on her fancy Barbie plate (that only comes out with the important guest are over):

Rural Girl had picked up our packets, so Robby and I tried on our hoodies:

Things just went downhill from there. I just HAD to bust out my shorty-shorts known as "bowl full of sunshine" because Rural Girl either loves them or hates them. (I really can't tell.) Stu and I ran into the basement, and somehow I ended up on a dog-grooming table, ready to be groomed. I just had to pixelate this before putting it up:

Stu took a lot of photos of me on that grooming table. That's the only one I can show you, and I only can show you this pixelated version. The rest are much, much, much, much, much worse. If you ever see me in person, ask to see them. But only if you're good at bleaching your soul. Because you'll need to be cleansed after looking at them...

Then I hopped on Rural Girl's bike and did laps around the basement:

To see the video of this, click here

And then for no good reason, Stu told me to "lounge" in Rural Girl's bike crate:

OK, enough of that. We all hung out and just had a fun, low-key evening.

Pharmie and Robby (and Priscilla)


We're more fun than we all look in this photo


Robby and Stu ready for some sleep

Pharmie and I slept in the room next to the guys, and we slept pretty good. Saturday morning came, and here's Pharmie waking up:

We had our breakfast and got ready to go:

Robby, Stu, and Rural Girl


Me, Pharmie, Stu, Robby, and Rural Girl

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This is where we headed to the race. I posted about this yesterday. Click here to read my race report and see photos of us all running. I won't repeat that story here.

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There are a few more things from the race that I'd like to mention:

- Pharmie joked with me just before the start. She told me "Just make sure to beat Justin Bieber, OK?..." There was this 13 year old kid (with shaggy hair like Ms. Bieber) who was lining up for the race. That kid actually finished 11th overall with a time of 1:38!!! Holy crap! Nice work kid!

- When running in a race that you're not familiar with, usually 1 of 2 things happen. 1: You don't know where the finish line is, and you feel like it's MILES away, so you slow up and feel depressed. Or 2: You don't know where the finish line is, and you feel like it's not that far up the road, so you keep pushing it hard. This race felt like #2. (No potty jokes, please.) The trail kept gently curving, so I could never see THAT far up the road, so I never thought "oh crap - the next turn is a LONG ways away!" The course helped keep me going strong from mile 7 on.

- That "slow mile" (or "long mile") at mile 11 REALLY came at the right time. At that point, I only had 2 miles left. So seeing my slowest mile appear at mile 11 really helped me push it even harder for those last 2 miles.

- There was an unpleasant "first" that happened at this race: my butt crack was rubbed a little raw. That hasn't happened to me before. It didn't happen on the outside of the cheeks where my shorts rub them. But it didn't happen real "deep" either. It's somewhere right in the middle. It was due to some "cheek-on-cheek" action. Apparently, my non-existant ass can really jiggle! It still hurts to wipe.

- And finally, I want to thank Kevin (the winner) once more. I could NOT have turned in such a great PR if he weren't out there "pulling" me. If he weren't there, I would have been a few minutes slower. Had there been 20 of him there, I would have let them all go, thinking "oh, they're all just better than me." But because there was that 1 faster guy at the race, I always wanted to keep him in my sights. THANKS KEVIN!!

Here are our results from the race:

(Kevin's winning time is 1:21:44)

Pharmie was super happy to place 6th out of 15 in her AG, and 17th out of 45 females! Nice job, Hunnie! And Stu's real name is Stacy, so they had him down as the lead female for a while. He gets that a lot...

As I was walking back to the race after getting my clothes out of the van, I came across some more Wisconsin humor:

When Pharmie finished, Rural Girl was surprised to hear that she ran the last few miles in just her sports bra. She had to see what kind of bra Pharmie was wearing:

I enjoyed some post-race chocolate milk:

Notice the wet hoodie - it had really started raining

We all walked back to the car to head to Rural Girl's place (to have a warm group shower), and you can see how cold Pharmie and Rural Girl are:

On the ride back to the house, Stu told me that my finishing time "gave him a little wood." So on the drive back to MN, I actually took a photo of an exit sign on the freeway for Stu:

"Woodville. Population: Stu."
That's a real exit off I94. Wisconsonites - who knew? ;)

Back at the house, Pharmie and I compared blisters. Pharmie got her first blister since Ironman a few years ago!!

Pharmie's blister and hot-spot


My sorest foot


My not-as-sore foot

Robby called his wife to let her know how the race went:

We showered, packed our things, and we all headed out. Jack, Rural Girl, Josie, and Jordi, thanks for letting us all take over your home for a night!! Pharmie and I headed back to the race site to pick up my AG award. (Remember, there was a full marathon going on as well, so the awards started over 2.5 hours after I finished my half marathon.)

People standing around trying to stay dry / warm


Walking back with my medal


With my AG medal before heading out of WI

We stopped for a bite to eat at a McDonalds, and I realized that I never got a shot of me in a porta-potty at the race!! Being it was such a small race and we just showed up 20 minutes before the start, I actually never had to go in a porta-potty. So instead, I got a shot of me peeing in McDonalds:

Yes, I'm peeing as I took this photo

I drove back as Pharmie napped. I enjoyed the WI landscape:

About 45 minutes from home, I asked Pharmie to drive so I could rest. I put my feet up and relaxed:

My butt crack is still a little sore today. My legs were REALLY sore on Sunday, but I stretched them out (and foam rolled) yesterday, so they're feeling pretty good today. I have an intense track workout planned for tonight (Kevin O'Connor's duathlon workout that I did a few weeks back), and then they'll be some easy workouts the rest of the week as we lead up to the first duathlon of the season on Saturday! Pharmie, her brother (and the other half of "Team Happy Pants") Matt, and I are all racing the Cannon Falls Duathlon just south of the Cities. Should be fun!!

Stu, Robby B, and Rural Girl: it was great hanging out with you this weekend! Thanks for a fun race! And thanks for reading everyone!

p.s. I ripped on WI pretty good in this post. I have nothing against WI. I actually quite love that state. But being from MN, it's my job to make fun of WI and Iowa whenever possible. Now it's Iowa's turn: Q: What do you call a bunch of tractors parked in front of a McDonald’s on Friday night in Iowa? A: Prom.