Gretchen Adventures: Wedding Day 5K

Since we met running, when we saw there was a 5K on our wedding morning, we decided we had to sign up! Hey Mom did suggest maybe I should take a run that morning to release any stress before the big day started... so why not do it publicly? The race was a 5K as part of the Three Sisters Marathon... Matt originally suggested we should do the full marathon. Ummm no.

AND wearing adorable t-shirts while we're at it...

In fact I had a whole outfit complete with veil (thanks to one of my bachelorette parties), white running skirt, and a garter I made just for Matt out of an old Nike headband (never really used) and some ribbon (in our wedding colors of green and light blue).

I'd emailed the race directors to let them know they were part of our special day. That meant we were mini celebrities, which was sorta fun. The announcer and photographer were on the lookout for us, and since we dressed up, we were hard to miss.

We ran the race nearly stride for stride... ahhh. It was a fairly small race and we were comfortably in 3rd place nearly the whole time.

It wasn't spontaneous... we'd actually discussed several times that we were going to cross the finish line together, holding hands.

Incidentally it's more difficult than it looks.

We finished in 23:36 according to Matt's phone GPS. That's a little faster than 8 min/mile.

Because we were so far ahead of #4, they had us go back and cross with Matt carrying me. I've never seen the pics from the front.

Also funny, when you finish, you tear off a section of your bib that an official takes and places on a stick, to keep track of the order of finishers so they can later type it up. Matt and I were walking up to that person together and the announcer on a loud speaker said "Now Matt, first lesson in marriage, always let her go first." Haha! The official record listed me as #3 in 24:03 and Matt as #4 in 24:04.

Our groomsman Dave and our matron-of-honor Jenn's husband both ran the race as well, so Jenn was at the finish line with her sons to take pictures. Chase and Ryan were our "ring guards" who walked our dachshunds Zoey & Ellie, who were carrying the rings, down the aisle. Here Chase (what a sweetie!) surprised me with a flower.