When Coach Dena and I originally mapped out my season, we planned to have me running a fast 5k today, hopefully finally breaking 16 and tuning up for a 10k at USA Outdoor Nationals later this month. As it turns out, I'm not in Portland right now, not toeing the line at the Portland Track Festival. Why not? Well, this month I had a more important race to run...
Last Saturday, I laced up my shoes for a very special race - my Wedding Day 5k! Friends, former teammates, family, and my soon-to-be-husband rose early on June 7 for some pre-wedding morning miles.
Start of the race
We ran quite joyfully through the thin mountain air, donning race bibs plus a veil for me. It wasn't a fast race, I was far from breaking 16, but that didn't matter. It was perfect.
With my groom
Later that day, I donned another veil, and with my best friends by my side, surrounded by my favorite people, in a beautiful place, I said "I do" to the man I've loved for the past 8 years, vowing to run beside him for the rest of our lives.
So the next race I run, I'll be entered as Kaitlin Goodman!
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like my next race will be the 10k at USA's - my 33:14 season best looks like it's going to come up just short of making the cut :-( But even if my time did get me in, it's probably better for me to be cheering from the stands than on the starting line. After a crazy 6 weeks of wedding planning, a work trip, moving out of a house and buying a new one, I'm flat-out exhausted. As much as I'd hoped to race in Sacramento in front of the hometown crowd, it just wasn't meant to be. I'll be there cheering, though!!
For now, I'm taking some time to relax and refresh before gearing up for some big races in the coming months. Look for Kaitlin Goodman on the roads this summer!
