Neder-Nederland

Jessica made me get up nice and early on Sunday, so that we could go to the Neder-Nederland running race. As much as I would have liked to sleep in, I was nearly as excited to "work support" for her first event involving a race number. Plus I mean, it's gotta be the least I could do, considering how she supports me during my 50+ race numbers per year! She and Alex had decided just the week before, that the Neder-Nederland sounded like a good way to start the morning. Randy also showed up, deciding at the last minute, to pin on a number, and run the 10k;

Being Ned, you of course had the usual interesting characters;


It was a perfect day in Nederland for running, and the hardest part for me, was to ignore my competitive instincts and jump right into the race, even though I had been planning to just do support. So Neo and I were ready at the start, cowbell in hand, and set to yell/bark at the runners.

I missed Randy at the start, but the girls were looking good, with smiles all around;

It was a pretty cool, though simple course, with the closest thing to a flat road in Nederland, averaging about 8500 feet of elevation for the course.

One mile left, and Jessica and Alex were both looking pretty good!

The girls finished strong, and I was so proud of that wifey of mine! She did her first 5k with basically no preparation, and even finished better than she thought - 8th in her age group! I was so tired after the race, I had to go home and take a nap!