5 for 5 ladies and gents!

Yeah, that's right; I've run five races in 2012 and have PR'd in all 5 of them!  I know my streak must end soon and honestly, I was worried it was going to be today.  Alas, it wasn't!  Must have been my awesome PR shoes!! (even if they did get muddy at Martian)

The day started fabulous, being able to sleep in for a change since I stayed at my parents' house last night.  My mother in law came over and we walked up to the race start around 8am.  Their 5K started at 830am so it worked perfectly.  We met my sisters and had daddy snap a quick pic.

Sister numero uno, mom, sister numero does, mom in law and freezing me!

They took off and I wandered around for a bit to find anyone I knew.  Chatted here and there and then used gear check for the first time in my life.  I just checked my jacket and is was super simple and very secure, manned by 6 sheriff dept members.  Apparently my jacket is kinda a big deal :)

The race started at 9am and was fairly uneventful, in a good way.  It was a million times better than my experience at this race last year and the miles passed fairly quickly.  I started off a bit too fast then leveled out and tried to stay sub-10min miles the rest of the time.  I purposely made myself a bit uncomfortable by pushing the pace and it paid off!

Weird thing about this race - I took in no fuel the entire race.  I had my go-to sports beans with me, but never felt hungry or the need to eat them, so I didn't.  Hmmm...

I round the last turn to see the finish line and heard sister numero dos yelling my name.  It was AWESOME!!  I waved to her, apparently while closing my eyes :)

That was just the push I needed to sprint like crazy to the finish line (and chick 3 people!).  I've finally found my kick!  I used to not be able to pick it up at the end and now I can make myself really uncomfortable for the last little bit, which was totally worth it as I stopped my garmin:

2:10:26

almost 2 minute PR from 2 weeks ago at Martian!

I picked up my medal and some water, got my jacket from gear check and headed to see my family, smiling the entire time!

Family with dad and niece included - they all did the 5K.  Daddy placed 6th in his AG with a 1:01 finish!!  He got a PR, too!!

Overall, GREAT day!  I wasn't sure if I would be able to take any more time off my half and am so thrilled with how this race went.  Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support, I  totally re-read them all before the race :)