The Wife's Get in Gear 5K

Today was all about The Wife.  As I've mentioned before, this is the day that she ran her first solo race at the Get in Gear 5K.  Eventually she'd like to do a half-marathon, and this 5K is her first big step. 

The Get in Gear races are a HUGE event.  There's a 2K, 5K, 10K and half-marathon all going on at the same time at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis.  There were over 8,500 racers this year.  Yeah.  It's THAT huge. 

The weather was pretty gross.  Temps were in the upper 50s and the rain was steady.  For someone that was just getting into running, I was hoping that the weather would be perfect for her.  Oh well.

We started by heading over to my mother-in-law's place.  Conveniently, she lives less than a mile away from Minnehaha Park.  We walked over to the park which was crooowwww-ded.  We were there in time to watch the 10K and 1/2 marathon runners take off.  Then we took a little jog down to the start of the 5K.

Here's The Wife getting ready for the race while we dry off under 'The Party Bridge' near the starting line.

I headed a couple hundred yards onto the course so that I could snap a photo of her starting the race.  Unfortunately, I forgot the data card for the camera and had to take photos with my phone. 

I think I did a pretty good job with the camera-phone, all things considered.  Here's the little lady heading heading out onto the course.

That running hat and tush sure are running fast!

After the wife headed off, I turned around and headed back towards the park and the finish line.  On the way, I ran into two of our good friends - Ike and Maggie.  Ike was also running his first 5K, so he had to get onto the course pretty quick.  Maggie and I hung out and got ready to take photos of our loved ones as they returned.

Here's The Wife coming back.  Those are Maggie's hands on the right-hand side, probably taking a better picture.

Here's the best photo I was able to get of her.  Yes.  I actually made her TURN AROUND so that I could take a picture.  *sigh*

Great job honey.  Now go finish so we can dry off.

She was sore when she finished, but still psyched about the 'whole running thing' and is already looking forward to her next race.  Way to go sweetie.  I'm proud of you!

Tomorrow, I'll be riding in the Ironman Bike Ride in Lakeville.  It's supposed to be cool and rainy again.  It's not the best forecast, but I've done this ride in the snow before.  Rainy and 46 degrees should be a piece of cake.