2 Races in 1 day!

Yesterday I ran in 2 races, the Women's Distance Festival in the morning and the Twilight Festival in the evening. Granted, I only ran the 1 mile fun run in the evening. Marc was running the 4 mile race, so I pushed the jogger and ran the 1 mile fun run to give us something to do while we waited.

The Women's Distance Festival was in town!! And the Twilight Festival was just around the corner. It was nice to run races so close to home. The Women's Distance Festival started at 8 and we didn't leave the house until just after 7. Normally, I'd like to be there by 7, to park, to figure out where I'm going, visit the port-o-potty, etc.

These are all pre-race photos. Marc forgot to take any as I started or finished (but that's ok, I didn't get any of him at his race).

Sofia's Bo-bo scowl. This is the same exact face Marc has when he's getting his hair cut.





We actually got a picture with all 3 of us!


The race didn't actually start at the YMCA. They walked us down to a business complex and we started there. There is a bottle neck towards the beginning so the volunteers were really stressing that you seed yourself appropriately. I lined up with the 11:30 pace group thinking this would be fairly accurate, except I was passing people the whole race! After we looped around the business complex and got through the bottle neck, we were back on the W&OD trail. We turned off the trail to loop around a small, man-made pond (where we passed mile 1), then jumped back on the trail. We turned off the trail again to run through the woods, I think this wooded path is part of the Sugarland Trail. We passed the water stop and mile 2 while in the woods. After we looped through the woods, we got back on the W&OD trail and headed back the way we came. Then we turned back at the Y and were at the finish line....where there was an "Official Finish Line Hugger" (if you enlarge the picture you can see that is what his t-shirt says). I opted for a high five. Official results aren't posted yet, but Gavin the Garmin says 32:57 (10:40 pace).



These are all the goodies I got from the Women's Distance Festival. A pair of socks, a spa robe (thinking I would have rather had a t-shirt, but it is something different), a finishers hat, and a bag to keep it all in!


We ran a few errands and came home to relax. I had tried to nap, didn't really happen. All it did was make me groggy (and I had a headache) and I did not want to go to the second race. I decided I was going to walk the fun run instead of running it, so I didn't dress appropriately. We get there and I get caught up in all the excitment. The 4 miler started and 5 minutes later the fun run started. Of course, I decide to go ahead and run....and I chaffed....boo! But I'm glad we ran, we finished in plenty of time to see Marc come through for his second loop. They didn't do official times for the fun run, but they were calling out times off a stop watch and they said 11:something. I'm pretty pleased with that time, I'd already ran a race that day, I was exhausted from the previous 3 days, and I was pushing the stroller! Marc finished with a net time of 30:32! Way to go! (the stinker ran farther than I did and he did it faster!)

After Marc finished, we went and got free burittos from Moe's. We attempted to get our free beers, but the line was ridiculous and we had beer at home.

I didn't get any pictures from this race. But here is a shot of the Clemson Orange shirt.


This morning was another long run with my marathon training group. 5 miles, 59:49 (11:58 pace). Of course, Michelle was a slacker and didn't come. I probably wouldn't have gone either except I paid a lot of money for this program. (I knew it was a good thing to pay for this! It keeps me motivated to go). I had a busy couple of days....moving furniture, painting our bedroom, moving furniture back, staying out late at a baseball game (read all about it here)....I was exhausted and still am. I think I'll be in bed shortly after the lil one goes to bed.

And I've got a stretching question for all 3 of y'all that read this.....my hips/hip flexors are super tight since I've been upping my miles. Any suggestions on how to stretch my hips? I'm having a hard time stretching them out.

Another morning run

Michelle and I met at 5am yesterday and ran another 3 miles. We met at the Town Center since it's about half way between our houses and we know its well lit. This is a problem we are having. Neither of us have really run in the mornings around here so we don't have any routes planned out that we know for sure are well lit. I have a head lamp, pepper spray, and a reflective belt. But still, it's a little creepy in the dark. Right now we are lucky. Even though the sun doesn't officially come up until 5:45, it is pretty well lit by 5:15 and we feel safe. When we start getting into the longer weekday runs it'll be more of an issue. Hopefully by then, we'll have figured out a few routes that are on busy roads or shopping centers that we feel safe on even in the dark.

I went to the Nationals game last night and was out waaaay past my bedtime, Sofie decided to get up before 6am this morning, and I'm exhausted. I was planning on doing 3 miles today, but it might turn into a rest day. I have to finish painting the master bedroom today, put all the furniture back in the bedroom, and I have a 5K tomorrow morning.

Swimming

I didn't feel like going to intervals tonight. I was up late (my own damn fault) and this morning was the one morning in 4 days that Sofia didn't sleep in. I have a cross training day on the schedule for Friday, so I thought I'd just switch today's run with Friday's cross train. I headed over to the pool to see if a) I could do the distance and b) how would I feel after the distance.. Our pool is a 25M pool, so it would take 17 laps to get 425M. I did 17 and then I thought, maybe I had miscounted so I did 2 more laps just in case. It took me 14:23. It's no Michael Phelps, that I know. But I'm not sure how slow it is (but I know it's slow) or how it stacks up against others. I think a swimcap would help. I'm still growing out my bangs and they don't stay back in a ponytail just yet. I could breath to the right, but every time I tried to the left my hair got in my way, dripping water. I ended up with more water than air.

Tomorrow is another early morning. Michelle and I are planning on meeting at 5am to get in 3 miles. I'm heading to bed soon!

It's been a week?

Wow, I haven't updated since intervals last Wednesday. What have I been up to??

Thursday was a 3 mile run at lunch time (36:04).

Friday was a rest day, and good thing too! I spent the afternoon at the doctors office with a sinus infection. By now the snot and sinus pressure are gone. The cough is mostly gone, although it sneaks up when I push my pace and work my lungs.

Saturday was supposed to be a 2 mile run, but it was so hot and humid at 7am! Add to that the aforementioned sinus infection, and I just wasn't feeling it. I took my bike out for a quick ride, 3.5 miles.

Sunday, bright and early, 6:30 group run at the running store for 4 miles (48:48).

Monday was another rest day. And today was 4 miles again (48:00). I'm so proud of myself. Michelle and I met at 5am! It's so nice to have my run done with and out of the way. I feel like I got an extra hour in my day. I'm sure I won't feel that way at 9pm when I'm ready to crawl into bed. ☺

I also started the Sit-up Challenge this morning. Week 1, Day 1 down.....

And, in biking related news. My bike has a new chain and new road tires (instead of the clunky old mountain bike tires I used to have). I think new brakes are next on the list, but they are ok for now. I'm all ready to give a triathlon a go. I have found one that is 3 weeks away. I haven't registered for it yet, but I'm really thinking about it. My biggest hang up is the swimming. I can swim, that's not a problem. I did swim team growing up, so I have a fairly decent foundation to build upon. But, I haven't been working on my upper body strength at all and I'm more concerned with covering the distance. Maybe I can head over to the pool this afternoon and do a little progress testing.

It's gone

Toenail is officially gone. Second toenail looks like it might be going too. It's kinda weird how the new toenail grows up from the nail bed and not out from the cuticle.

Wednesday Night Intervals

It was so nice and cool and overcast night. But as cool as it was, it was very humid. And (sorry if any guys are reading) I'm PMSing. So, I've got all that going on. Plus, my cold is not completely gone. It's now a barking cough, a sore throat that comes and goes, and some slight drainage. I was so not feeling intervals tonight. But I went, I did it, and I'm glad I did.

Tonight we did 1200 repeats (3 laps around the track or 0.75 miles). We could do this 2, 3 or 4 times. I choose 3. We were supposed to hit these at about the same pace we did our timed mile, just to teach ourselves pace. We could run each lap of the 1200 at the same pace, start slow and speed up with each lap, or start fast and slow down with each lap. Being that I'm not feeling so hot, I just want to run each lap at the same pace, about 2:30, for a total of 7:30. I ran the first set at 7:31, the second at 7:46, and the third at 7:20.

I did it!

I got up and got out the door and did a run this morning! I only had 2 miles (24 minutes) on my schedule this morning and that was perfect because I didn't allow myself time to go any farther. I had to get back so Marc could get to work. But it should start getting easier and easier to drag myself out of bed and get going. And it's a very wonderful feeling knowing that I don't have my workout hanging over my head later in the day. The only draw back is it takes me a while to fully wake up and my pace was slower to being with.