Weight Off My Shoulders

It's the final countdown ... Danah DAH dun…Dana dat dun da! The FINAL race of 2012 took place on December 2, 2o12!

Race 27-of-27. I can't believe it was finally time for the Yulefest 5k.

(Sorry for the week delay in this post)

I was really looking forward to the Yulefest 5k since I was running with a bunch of friends and Captaining The Slumbrew Humbugs!

Isn't the Santa hat awesome? All 30 were made by Slumbrew Co-Founder Caitlin, while taking care of two kids (including a 2-week old) ... AMAZING!

Thanks to Caitlin for snapping this great pic of my buddy/Slumbrew teammate/Fellow Weight Watcher Success Story Frank and I! :)

Once I handed out all the Santa hats to our team, it was time to make our way to the Start Line.

Well with the sheer volume of people attempting to start their Garmins and Polars at the same time, I started after I originally wanted to since my watch would NOT "acquire satellites."

I basically gave up on getting the Garmin going and just started. It finally kicked off about .2/.25 into the race. But thankfully my watch is pretty accurate on the "accurate pace" reading so I was able to gauge how the run would go.

Prior to the race, I didn't look up the course at all - shocker I know (I never do) ... so I had no idea what to expect.

The course was in Cambridge - starting and ending in Harvard Square - and weaving through the surrounding areas.

It was great. The crowd was lively and the costumes were entertaining, which always makes for a great race!

I was keeping a consistent pace around 7:15-7:30, which I was pleased with since I had done a 6 mile training run the day before with Tedy's Team.

There was a pretty decent hill at the end of the run, which was tough, but thankfully once you made it over you could see the Finish Line in front of you, which ALWAYS makes a hill easier. :P

I officially finished in 22:58 (7:24 min/mile pace). Not a PR, but I was happy with the results. I was the third person to finish on the Slumbrew Humbugs and finished 243rd out of 1,363 overall. The Slumbrew Humbugs finished 17th out of 57 teams - WOO!

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Right after I crossed the Finish Line I ran into my cheering section

My cousins (Hanna, Lena & Kiara) were there with my mom to give high fives! I was pumped to see them!!

After seeing these ladies, I ran off to meet up with the Humbugs - I am so proud to be a part of the Slubrew crew!

Thanks to Cambridge 5k Race Director Eddy for letting us snap this pic! ;)

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What I really love about doing so many races is meeting such amazing runners, seeing familiar faces week in and week out and becoming friends with them.

George is one of those people! He was Captaining The Most Informal Running Club Ever - a group I can't wait to check out...

And Eddy - the fabulous race director for Cambridge 5k and the VERT Race Series

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How can racing season finally come to an end?

What do I do now?

Well, that's easy ... start planning the 2013 season! ;)