Everything below is my own opinion. I did not receive compensation for mentioning any products or services.
The last 10K of the Heartland 30K series was a very VERY busy weekend. I had two races, my daughter’s, Youth Chorus of Kanas City event, my daughter’s first slumber birthday party, and a home Chief’s game to attend. Let’s start with packet pick-ups.
Both packet pick-ups for the Kansas City Zoo Run and the Boulevard 10K were at The Running Well store. The last two 10Ks in this series, The Plaza 10K and the KC Hustle Run, had their packet pick-ups here as well. I kind of wished I could kill two birds with one stone and get both packets at the same time, but no, different races, and different packet pick-up days. Again, no issues finding the store since I’d been here several times in the past. The whole family is either doing the four-mile or one-mile run for the KC Zoo Run. So, I got everyone’s packet with no problem.
We had to get up early the next morning so My Girl and I could make it to the 4-mile run in time for the KC Zoo Run. There is always a big line of traffic into the zoo for this. We also had to bring My Girl an extra set of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. Her choir group, The Youth Chorus of Kansas City, had planned a fun movie day. It was closer to the zoo than home. We planned on dropping her off after the race. There was a little bit of time between the two, so we thought she could get clean-up and we would eat breakfast before dropping her off. I looked ahead and there was a First Watch in between her event and the zoo.
My Girl and I jumped out of the car before Hubby could get parked. It was getting close to race time and there was still a line for cars. We saw a guy in a blonde wig and kind of a Hawaiian shirt. Come to find out it was the KC Cosplay Runner. I think this might be where I wondered if I could keep up or finish before him for the next 10K. Hubby made a point later to tell me that he ended up parking close to the start and that we should have just stuck with them. I’m not sure when he got parked, but we didn’t have much time to make it to the start. I thought maybe I might see someone I knew there, but not at the start. I knew my Olathe Running Club buddy, Jane, might do the race, but I didn’t see her.
My Girl and I started off fine. We saw Hubby and My Guy before we got into the zoo. They said the route would be a little different this year. They took us on a little roundabout before entering and that is where we saw our boys. I knew My Girl wouldn’t run much, but then I realized why I was feeling so frustrated with her. We were in the back of the pack with mostly walkers. A lot of them walk five or six people abreast even if they don’t know each other. My Girl likes to sprint for about a minute and walk for about ten minutes. That’s fine. I’m trying to work on her pacing herself, but today she wanted to stop instead of walking. The way the walkers were spread out or actually not so spread out, made it very hard to get past while running. If we kept walking, we would still be ahead of the group we just passed, but with My Girl wanting to stop and rest, they would pass us and then we would have the difficult task of passing them again. I had to work on my temper and patience during this race.
We saw lots of stuff in this race. Lots of animals were out and doing cool things that they don’t normally do when we are there. There were elephants watching us and coming to check us out. The hippos were out having some fun. We saw parts of the Glow Wilde exhibit. We saw lots of costumes besides the KC Cosplay Runner.
Our time wasn’t great. My Girl did 1:03:25. I did 1:03:26.8. We saw our boys walking to the one-mile start. I asked My Girl if she wanted to do it like I did last year. She said no. My Guy was very nervous. It was really cloudy, and we knew it was going to rain. He was VERY worried it would rain during their race. He was ready to leave without doing his race. Hubby was kind of ready to go as well. I reminded them they would not get their cute otter medals if they didn’t run. That was all that was needed. They were off to the starting line.
My Girl and I looked around the parking lot where the after-race party was. We usually don’t get much or do much. We always stop by the Shatto milk booth. We weren’t there long when we decided to maybe watch the boys finish. We headed back to the finish line, but we ran into them before we even made it out of the parking lot. Maybe the threat of rain made them pick up the pace a bit. Unfortunately, they don’t track the time on the one-mile race. My husband’s Garmin says they did 1.03 miles in 14:04. Not bad.
Our boys went through the Shatto milk line as well where we noticed that the four-mile medals were a bit fancier. Both distance medals were bigger than usual, but the four-mile medal even had glitter. We think it was because it was the 20th anniversary of the race.
We skedaddled out of there before the rain started. Hubby called his sister to join us a First Watch for breakfast since it was so close to them. I was hesitant not because of my sister-in-law or her family or anything negative. It was just my worry that the more people at our table the slower we would eat and My Girl would be late for her YCKC event. My husband assured me later that if worse came to worse one of us could leave while the rest finished breakfast to take My Girl to her event. I agreed as long as My Girl got to eat as well.
It was a bit of a wait to get seated which is another reason I didn’t want a big party. We sat down and had a nice breakfast with only a few issues. I drank water from one of the coffee mugs they set out for me. I don’t drink coffee and they were out of water glasses. So, hey. Do what you gotta do, right? No problem really. They did eventually get more glasses for the table. My brother-in-law didn’t get his food for a while. I think they accidentally gave it to someone else. My food came with the wrong side. The funny thing is that I thought their pumpkin pancakes were not very good if you really wanted pumpkin flavor. It was sweet, but I tasted no pumpkin. My nephew got the same thing. When I looked over to compare, his pancake was a bit more orange than mine. We asked our waiter about it. They brought out a different pancake that looked more like my nephew’s. Oh, man! Like night and day! Much better! I got the pumpkin flavor I wanted.
My Girl freshened up and changed clothes in the bathroom. It rained really hard while we were eating. It let up a bit after some of us were done. Hubby took her to her event while the rest of the family finished breakfast. My brother-in-law didn’t get his food until they were gone. There was a game that day that my husband, nephew, and brother-in-law wanted to watch. Hubby made the plan when he got back that he would leave with his sister’s family and go watch the game with them. Then when I came back to get My Girl, I could pick him up as well. Cool. Okay.
My Guy and I left without Hubby. I stopped at The Running Well store on the way home to get my packet for the Boulevard 10K the next day. Again, no problem. I don’t remember what we did at home before I went to pick up My Girl and Hubby. My Girl grabbed a quick shower before I dropped her off at a friend’s house for My Girl’s first slumber party. She has done a few sleepovers, but not a full-on birthday slumber party. This would be interesting, especially since her father and I had a tailgate to go to the next day right after my 10K. Gotta squeeze all this in, right?
I got up super early the next morning. I wanted a little extra time since I wasn’t sure about traffic in this part of town. I saw that they recommended us to park in some health center. When I got there the parking lot was pretty bare. I guess I got there pretty early since the traffic wasn’t bad and I found it no problem. I wanted to park close but not too close in case I was in the wrong spot. I walked across the bridge to the start which was on Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard. I noticed a parking lot on the other side that was closer. People were parking there as well. I wish I knew about it. It was fine where my car was. I didn’t feel the need to move it. I also noticed a cool-looking park with a nice big fountain. Yeah, another part of town I don’t venture to much if at all. I took some pictures and noticed some of my running buddies showing up here and there. We eventually got Jason from the YouTube channel, The Year I Got The Runs, to take a picture for us. We had Karen, Stephanie, Jennifer, Amy, and Allison to name a few. Some of us semi-joked around about how we were a little confused about the name of the race. This race was called the Boulevard 10K. Some thought this was going to be at Boulevard Brewing Company or there would be Boulevard beer. A no to both of those assumptions. We figured it was named as such because we were racing on Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard.
It was nice to know this was the last race. There were a few group photos. One was of a bunch of people in orange or wearing traffic cone costumes or clothing with traffic cones on them. I saw the KC Cosplay Runner. He was in a suit and looked all fancy. I had a thought of just sticking with or near him, but maybe try to finish first. We lined up and the girls once again did their own thing.
There were a few turnaround points along this race. We ran in one direction, did a roundabout, ran a lot longer in the other direction, did another roundabout, and then finished. We did the whole race on the boulevard (hence the name). I noticed that I was in front of the KC Cosplay runner. I waved at all my running buddies at the roundabouts. Jennifer had her phone out for the cool reels she does for Facebook. Later Karen did a funny Facebook post comparing the professional pictures to Jennifer’s pictures. She looked good and was all business in the professional pictures, but she was smiling, waving, and looked really happy in Jennifer’s pictures. I prefer Jennifer’s pictures.
There wasn’t much else happening during this race. I listened to music again instead of a podcast to go faster. In between songs toward the end, I could hear the KC Cosplay runner’s music and I would pick up my pace a bit. I didn’t want him to pass me. There were a few other people I had my eye on that I would pass them, and they would pass me. If you are a runner, you know the drill. Unlike being in with the walkers though like My Girl and I were the day before, you have a lot more room to do this and most people don’t run four or five people abreast.
I finally made it to the end. The KC Cosplay Runner never passed me, but looking at the pictures, Man! he was close! My time was 1:07:44.6. With the KC Cosplay Runner being really close, he probably beat my chip time. I think he started a bit behind me. Still, that was good for me. Thanks to KC Cosplay Runner for being my unofficial pacer in this race.
Photo Credit: KC Running Company 
Photo Credit: KC Running Company
I saw a long line past the finish and knew it was for the challenge swag. I got water and jumped in line. I took a few pictures of my medal with the fountain in the background. I got my extra medal and a cool hooded running shirt. I then looked around for my goodies. If I remember right, there was chocolate milk, some bananas, power bars, and other things. I saw Lynda again and we chatted before I left.
As I started for my car, I saw a table that had a recovery drink on it. I walked up and asked if it was good for preparing to do some hard-core tailgating. The nice young gentlemen agreed. I took what I remember as a vanilla flavor that was quite nice or maybe it was pina colada. One of the young gentlemen grabbed a nice cold water and put some blue powder in it. He said this would really help with my hydration and tailgating if I planned on having a few brews there. I thanked him for his generosity. I was worried a bit about the color. It reminded me a bit of Windex, but the sample I had earlier tasted lovely. I decided to drink it on my way to pick up My Girl from her slumber party. Woof! It tasted a little soapy too. You know what though? I drank it all just so I would be good and hydrated like the young gentleman said. More on that later.
The nice young men that gave me my extra hydration. Photo Credit: KC Running Company
I picked up My Girl. Bless that little girl’s mom. She was so brave having a slumber party. I’m so not ready for that. Maybe one friend, but not a house full! I get hives just doing a regular party. My Girl got a good report from the Mom though. I rushed us home and jumped in the shower while Hubby got our stuff together for the tailgate. My in-laws came over to watch the game with the kids and we were off.
We had a great time at the Chief’s game and guess what? I didn’t get a hangover or feel bad or anything. That stuff may have looked like Windex and tasted a little soapy, but I think it did its job for recovery and hydration. Next on my list is the half marathon in Hot Springs, AR. I really want to do the Louisburg 10K, but my daughter will be singing the National Anthem at the KC Current game which is the last game of the season. She will be singing with her choir group Youth Chorus of Kansas City. We have not gone to any soccer games even though we have pretty good teams here. I’m kind of excited about it.
Goofy For Twins 