Frankenfooter Living Dead Challenge {Recap}

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Apart from speedwork, I prepared for Frankenfooter Living Dead Challenge by sorting out my costumes.  Deciding what to wear is equally important as training for a stunner runner.  For the 5K, I decided to dress as the Sun Drop girl.  Perhaps not my smartest decision, but it was definitely a fun one.  (I even wore it again on Halloween night.)

I really loved my Sun Drop costume, but it was ridiculously hot.  Between the legwarmers and the leggings, I thought I would have a heat stroke once I crossed the finish line.   No doubt it took me a while to cool down.

For the 5K Saturday, we started a minute or two into the race and Chrissy and I paced together trying our best to keep up with Marie.  I had no idea how fast that little mama is!

Chrissy and I really pushed it to finish around the 27:00 mark, but we also observed that we don’t like pushing it that hard.  It’s difficult to enjoy a run when you’re trying to run your fastest.  At least we enjoyed our finish time!

5K
Gun time 28:00.6  
Garmin Time 27:40   
Ave Pace 9:02
Garmin Ave Pace 8:47
Max Pace 6:50

As for mighty fast Marie, she and Bob placed in their division.

The next day, we all ran the half marathon.  The first few miles followed the same course as the 5K and part of the Starkey trail.  It was a cooler, cloudy day than the night before, and the occasional light drizzle was a welcomed relief.

I chose not to wear my fuel belt which I regretted around mile 9 when the water station ran out of water.  We desperately attempted to hydrate ourselves with a few ice cubes.

Chrissy and I were pretty impressed with our pace for the duration of the half marathon.  Even with walking the water stops, we kept our pace around the 10:30 mark.  I conserved my energy for a sprint at the very end and Chrissy and I finished seconds apart.  Not a PR for me, but definitely a personal best, post-baby or what I like to call my “PB PB”.  However, it was definitely a PR for Chrissy!  She shaved 30 minutes of her half marathon time!  Chrissy and I celebrated out achievement with a bit of post-race bubbly served it some dollar store Frankenstein goblets, of course.

Half Marathon
Gun Time 2:15:34.8
Garmin Time 2:15:24
Ave Pace 10:21
Garmin Ave Pace 10:14
Max Pace 7:11

One of my readers, Tommy, ran the race with his son and his son placed in the 5K for his age group. Outstanding!  It was such a pleasure meeting Tommy and his son!

Marie and Bob also won for their age group again!  Incredible!  (By the way, Chrissy and Marie’s matching attire was completely a coincidence.  How funny is that?!)

Despite, the mile 9 water station mishap, the race was far more organized than last year and truly a pleasant experience.   When we complimented the race director and the Gulf High Shool student volunteers on a job well done, she rewarded us with some really cool frosty Frankenfooter mugs!  WOOHOO!

 And for the second year in a row, I won best costume as the Devil With Blue Dress.

Now I have two of these Frankenstein dancing toys, which my kids love.  They especially like to stand the monsters’ hair up which reminds me of Kid ‘n Play, or as I prefer to call it, “Frank ‘n Play”.  When standing face to face, they even dance like Kid ‘n Play.

Frank ‘n Play…Now that would make an interesting costume…

Oh la, oh la, ay.

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

About the author

Denise
From start to finish, Denise is Run DMT, a Tampa Bay homeschooling mom on the run trying to maintain an easy pace through it all between races and raising three beautiful, brilliant adultish kids (ages 23, 19, 14). In 2007, I discovered a passion for running and in February 2015, I completed my tenth marathon. I continue to train for a variety of races and even host annual 5K. In 2023, I became a certified group fitness instructor and teach P.E. in my homeschool co-op.

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