Last week at Hannah’s bidding (and because Ann was already registered), Brady and I registered for the Medtronic TC 1 Mile. Held on Nicollet Mall (a car-free road that cuts through the heart of Minneapolis), it is the second largest road mile in the country.
Plus, with my foot (and the scratch), 1 mile seemed really…reasonable in the scheme of things.
Since we all know how much I don’t love 5ks, we decided to have a little bit of fun with this one. Hence, the neon and sparkle bands.

Are we not fetching? Sometimes going hardcore thematic is key.
Plus I finally got to meet Carissa (also riding the injured list), since that obviously did not happen in the hypothermic hell that was Get in Gear.
I like to think that today made up for that, because the weather was beyond gorgeous. A little bit hot even. Summery.
I’m kind of hoping that tomorrow’s “prize” will be a tan.
Anyway, there were a number of different “waves” for the race since there were 3200 people registered. You can’t just have that many people running around willy-nilly.
Take for instance, the Friends and Family Wave.

How nice, right? That corral was packed to the gills.
We decided to run in the Open Wave (before the Championship) because we thought that it would be the largest field with, the largest number of hot man-runner-legs best scenery.
Honesty. It’s what we do.
What actually happened. After the Friends and Family Wave we watched the Corporate Team Challenge Wave. And the MN Team Circuit Championship Wave.
At which point we asked ourselves, are we there yet?
By the time that the Masters were queuing up in the corral, we looked at one another and realized that whereas 1,000 people probably ran in the Friends and Family Wave, there were only going to be 100-200 of us in the Open Wave.
If you’re a runner, then while you know that those numbers are GREAT for staying out of traffic, they’re not the best when you’re kind of/sort-of/really counting on a bit of camouflage.
The horror.
So we paraded into the corral with the rest of the leftovers and put our game faces on. Because what else were we going to do, really?
Well, actually, we briefly contemplated joining-up with the Masters Wave. But it just seemed a little bit…inappropriate.
Ann and I decided to stick together (neither of us had a specific goal time or race plan) and I regaled her with a total stream-of-consciousness ramble for the entirety of the 12:15 that we were out on the course.
Like, we’re talking All The Things. It was some seriously intense stuff.
Since we were in the last wave before the Men’s and Women’s Championships, there were a TON of runners from earlier waves out on the course (not to mention the number of people packing the street-side patios at the restaurants on the course).
This resulted in a great deal of cheering (for us, specifically) and a nearly inappropriate amount of pageant waving (the diva heart cannot be tamed).

There are just some situations where more is more.
But, suffice it to say, as far as the Friends and Family wave is concerned? Lesson learned.
Have you ever run a 1 Mile race?



















They say you run 10 miles with your head, 10 miles with your legs and 6 miles with your heart.
Honestly, I don’t get uncomfortably stiff after my long runs. But the moment I crossed over the finish line, my entire body screamed.