Hanging up my running shoes

[SarahDisney]

What???? OMG @Chris-Mo that's awesome! Congrats!

 

[FredtheDuck]

 

[girliea]

Way to go @Chris-Mo!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Wow!!! This is great news!! Congratulations @Chris-Mo , Zelly and family! Your school district is lucky to have you

 

[rteetz]

Thanks everybody!

HE GOT THE JOB!!!!

Did I even tell you guys what the job is?? I don't remember. HA! He is the new Superintendent for his school district. It's the job he's worked his whole career to get. It's all sort of surreal right now, but so exciting!!

AWESOME! Congrats @Chris-Mo

 

[Bree]

Congrats @Chris-Mo

 

[FFigawi]

Glad he got the job!

 

[Anisum]

Congrats @Chris-Mo!

 

[Ariel484]

WAY TO GO @Chris-Mo!!!

 

[michigandergirl]

Congrats @Chris-Mo !!!

 

[ZellyB]

Thank you so much, everyone! Not only did he get the job, he also successfully defended his dissertation, so he is now Dr. @Chris-Mo . A banner week indeed!

 

[Ariel484]

Thank you so much, everyone! Not only did he get the job, he also successfully defended his dissertation, so he is now Dr. @Chris-Mo . A banner week indeed!

Way to go @Chris-Mo!!!

 

[ZellyB]

ROCK THE PARKWAY HALF MARATHON RECAP
AKA Who put all these hills here?

​

Rock the Parkway half marathon is in Kansas City and a race we've run one time before. My recollection of the race was that it had some minor rolling hills for the first few miles and then mostly flat before returning to the rolling hills (but mostly downhill) for the final few miles. Chris remembered it to be a very hilly course. Turns out that Dr. Chris was right.



Weather was also not our friend on this race. Starting temp was 42 degrees with a feels-like of 37. Winds were sustained at 15 mph (and COLD) and gusts up to 25 mph. Our hope was a new half PR for me with our old one being 2:12:07. Billy had advised us to run the first few uphill miles trying for between a 10:15-10:30 pace then picking up to no more than a 10:05 pace through mile 6 and then speed up from there.

Lined up for the start.
https://flic.kr/p/2599nEY


This is a pretty big race with around 7000 participants and it is started in waves based on your estimated finish time. We were in corral D and lined ourselves us with the 2:15 pacer. Figured that would keep us in the 10:15-10:30 mm pace and then we could pass them up after the first few miles.
Mile 1: 10:24 It was tightly packed at this point, so we pretty much just did continuous running with the pace group here.
Mile 2: 10:31 In here we were able to start our 2:00/:30 intervals and played some leapfrog with the pace group until we hit Mile 3 where we pushed our speed up some
Mile 3: 10:01 Feeling good here but trying to keep our pace in line with Billy's recommendation of 10:05
Mile 4: 9:45 Oops
Mile 5: 9:57 Oops again
Mile 6:10:21 Consistency is not our strong suit apparently
Mile 7: 9:43
Mile 8: 10:32
Mile 9:10:02
Mile 10: 9:55
At this point we were going straight into a headwind. Chris was letting me run behind him so he could serve as a windblock, but I was feeling the wind for sure. There are also some pretty brutal hills through miles 11 and 12
Mile 11: 10:17
Mile 12: 10:26
The last mile is mostly downhill and we could see the 2:10 pacer ahead, so we really tried to push to catch up
Mile 13: 9:29
and to the finish...
2:12:34. DANG IT! Missed that PR by 27 seconds. But honestly, I was giving all I had at the end and that was just the way it went that day. We collected our medals.



And headed back to Chris' parents house. We took the girls out for lunch at Cheesecake Factory and did some shopping that afternoon.




Before heading to eat dinner at a friend's house to celebrate!


All in all, a great week and weekend. I'll post some follow-up thoughts on completion of our first @DopeyBadger training plan in a bit!

 

[michigandergirl]

Great effort in tough conditions. That's got to make you feel pretty good only being 27 seconds off. You'll get it next time!!

 

[jennamfeo]

Congrats times TWO Dr. Chris!!!

And great job on the race!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

You and Dr. Chris are knocking it out of the park in about every way!! Way to go!

 

[Bree]

You two killed that race!

 

[SarahDisney]

Congrats Dr. @Chris-Mo.

Headwinds are rough. Headwinds + hills = yuck. Great job pushing through and getting close to a PR desite the rough course! You'll get that PR next time for sure!

Congrats!

 

[ZellyB]

Great effort in tough conditions. That's got to make you feel pretty good only being 27 seconds off. You'll get it next time!!

Congrats times TWO Dr. Chris!!!

And great job on the race!

You and Dr. Chris are knocking it out of the park in about every way!! Way to go!

You two killed that race!

Congrats Dr. @Chris-Mo.

Headwinds are rough. Headwinds + hills = yuck. Great job pushing through and getting close to a PR desite the rough course! You'll get that PR next time for sure!

Congrats!

Thanks, all! The race was a nice way to cap off a rather spectacular week!

And, because we are insane, we are already in discussions with Billy to perhaps take another shot at the half PR in a few weeks.