2013 Louisville Underpants Run Race Recap, plus Ironman Expo fun!

The Louisville Underpants run prior to Ironman Louisville was this past Saturday.  I have done it the past two years that I have lived here, even though I did Ironman in 2012.  I almost put an "only" in there, except it was such a huge accomplishment for me, I didn't want to diminish it.  What I am trying to say is that this race is fun even if you are not racing Ironman.  This year since my core group of training partners wasn't racing Ironman, I felt a different vibe when I arrived.  I didn't have Jen, or Terri there like I had last year. I declined going on the news this time around as well due to a school conflict and it just didn't feel the same.  Thankfully, Erin was there with Rhonda (who has raced this and Ironman all three years), and Heidi, a newer friend of mine, plus a few other newer friends.  I also had Jascia from Team Aquaphor in town to spectate.  Probably the most interesting person who showed up was pro triathlete and 2008 Ironman Louisville winner Max Longree who was in town to promote his coaching business.  I had the kids with me this year due to a communication misunderstanding on my end.  Thankfully, there weren't really any people in really poor taste that I saw.  The kids didn't ask too many questions.  When I told them what we were doing, they  laughed hysterically and said it would be gross.  Then after it was all said and done, they asked when we were going to the underpants run.  Apparently the costumes attracted enough attention that they didn't really realize that everyone was still in their underwear! 

Its really not a race, but a fun 1.5 mile jog.  This year they had water bottles and tees for participants that donated over $30 for the entry fee, and the money went to the Kids Center for Pediatric Therapy.  Its really a wonderful cause.  Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it!

I had a big debate over what to wear.  I couldn't find anything that said "Fabulous" on it.  That's what I really wanted.  I went to Pink!, Meijer, and Target, and still wasn't impressed.  I finally purchased some wonderwoman underpants, but they had a picture of her on them and said "KaBoom", not the stars and belt or cami to look like her.  I also got a black pair with a pink sparkly batman logo.  Ryan wasn't impressed by either pair.  So I went back with what has always been a crowd pleaser.

 Me and Jascia from Team Aquaphor!

 Landshark Group Photo:

 Me, 2008 Ironman Louisville Champion Max Longree, and Erin

 Erin and I

 Me and Rhonda

 Heidi and I (first Ironman for Heidi!!!), and a photobomb from Erin

 Heidi and I minus Erin

 Action shot of me, the kids, and Erin running together, taken by Max

 I really liked this action shot that Max took.  Its really cool with the bridges.  It might crop into an interesting picture for a fb cover, but I really love my current one.  I don't need to be in my underwear on the cover of my fb.  However, this is the top I wore for the entire run.  And the same socks...The only difference was that I had on shorts for Ironman.

 Me and the kids.  Since Keira was in front of me, Active used this picture as one of their weekend warrior posts. 

 Looking fast!  My signature silly pose of a fake action shot.  I would never look this good in a real action shot because I am purposefully trying to flex everything for the camera!  This was taken inside the Galt house visiting with Becky (more on that later).

After finishing up at the underpants run, we headed up to visit with Becky, another Aquaphor teammate that I have know since 2011.  She raced at Racing for Recovery, my first 70.3, and helped me get through that time before the race starts.  We've been in touch ever since.  She raced Louisville in 2011, and I saw her on the course, then, and then helped me with advice and training questions a lot last year.  We hung out a bit and talked about her training and the race.  She is poised to have a great day.

After we finished our visit so she could finish her preparations, we headed down to the expo (also in the Galt House) to check it out.  It isn't a huge expo, and since it was Saturday and athlete check in was over, it was really low key.  We stopped at the Vitamix booth for some smoothies, and got a photo op at the Louisville Sports Commission Booth! (yes, I changed clothes 4 times today, including my actual workout gear I wore before underpants that is not pictured)

 

We also stopped at the Refuel with Chocolate Milk booth.  I made a video and submitted it for sponsorship consideration.  I am not sure if anything will come from it.  They also made a super cute picture of my kids with their logo, but I am not sure if they had a tech issue on their end, my email ate it, or what.  I received an email back from them stating they had my application video, so I know my information was correct.  I'm just not sure if two emails close to the same time from an "unknown sender" would have both gotten through or if there was some other problem.  I hope they are able to track it down because it was a lot cuter than mine.

Soren also is incapable of seeing a microphone and not speaking into it.  He didn't make a video, but they let him get in the chair and talk. 

I wasn't able to get checked in for my volunteer position on Sunday while I was there today, so we just headed home from there.  It had been a long day.  I ran 7 miles at the gym before heading to Underpants, and we hadn't been home since.  Sunday would also be a long day, even though I wasn't racing.   I'll go into my day spectating and volunteering as a separate post in case people are interested in that but not underpants or vice versa.  I may move this expo part to the post about Sunday if the Sports Commission prefers it, but mentally it seemed easier to keep each day on its own post.