Weekend Wrap Up Extrordinaire!

A good weekend was had by all, with (perhaps) the exception of my stomach who was VERY sad after being overloaded with yummy birthday goodies. URGH. (it seemed worth it at the time to eat oysters, sweetbreads, a slab of pan seared flounder, a lemon buttermilk tartlet, a slab of cheese, (and later...) pumpkin whoopie pies, fondue, mushroom risotto ball things, Martha Stewart style beef stroganoff, and so on and so forth.) What can you do??

Needless to say when I woke up pre-race on Saturday I was a little icky. (and I had not even consumed half of said items yet.) Again, WHAT can you do?! I took a few pepto, ate some boring toast, force fed myself a yogurt and was on the fast track to a full recovery.

It was a perfect day for a race! Sunny, low 40's and windy (it is always windy.) I had very different expectations than the last time I 5K'd for a few reasons. Let's review, shall we? (and here shall end my Epic Blogging Week-ish. NO idea how ANY of you manage to pull off a whole month of this!)

-I 5K best if I take it VERY easy leading up to the race. Like, a 6 mile week. THAT didn't happen as the weather was too good to pass up on making quality mileage. STRIKE ONE!

-The race was all on dirt and grass, a medium that I don't run on much. STRIKE TWO!

-Speed work. NOT! STRIKE THREE!

Regardless I had come to the conclusion that I should enjoy myself, run as well as I could on that day (what a novel concept) and know that a PR was not a reasnable goal.

I only have positive things to say about how the race went and considering my typical struggle with the 5K distance (I hate sprinting) and my tendency to run the last mile in like 47 minutes, AND the feeling I usually get that I wish to DIE this is very good indeed. I ran with brutal and honest consistency. (thnks gps) However, the race was NOT brutal and I never wished to lie down and wait for the paramedics even though I was running much faster than I have been able to manage in practice. Even though it was a very small race I passed 10 or so people in the last mile (which accounts for more than 10% of the runners!) The course was a teensy bit long according to the ever honest GPS but that's cool- better long that short so it "counts"!

The one tricky thing about this race was the FOUR hairpin turn-arounds. I found that no matter how I prepared for the little buggers there was NO way to keep a good pace around them. Given the fact that I had the chance to do them FOUR times I tried a variety of things, none of which worked. SLOW. SLOW!

And YES, I (along with everyone) was soundly beated by the State Champ, a skinny, leggy little kid who has legit skills. He runs in the manner of a gazelle, barely skimming the ground as he runs 5 minute miles with barely a modicum of effort. Little asshole....!

In conclusion, to finish in 24:08 was just fine, I won my age division (proving it was, indeed, a very small race) and was thr 4th or 5th place woman. I had to skedaddle before the official results were in but I'm pretty close on the final results!

So, from here I have another 5K in mid-December that I am running with a friend then it will be winter, 2012 and we'll see where the road takes me!

5K today!

I zipped around a 5K today- and by "zipped" I mean I drove in, jumped out of the car and ran the race, ran BACK to the car and went back to work (people were still running, lots of people...)

I am VERY happy with how today went, and most of you will be shocked by that since my recorded finish time was 24:08. (3.14 miles, 24:08 giving me an average pace of 7:43 I think.) (GPS said at 5K I was at 23:57- silly extra 15 steps...)

EVERY mile was completed with the first number being "7" which is incredible considering what I have been managing lately...

MORE tomorrow- including the gory details of off road running,hairpin turns, being lapped by the state champion who runs like a little 17 year old Ryan Hall and my results. Stay tuned!

Today is the day... when I become a WOMAN!

It is my BIRTHDAY! IT ALWAYS RAINS!!

(I shout that thing about becoming a woman every year on my birthday and I AM STILL WAITING!)

I LOVE my birthday. I do not have any issues with aging and I usually enjoy spending the day working per the norm and eating good food (thanks Mom!) I had butterscotch bread pudding for breakfast- need I say more? Then I had a little 5 mile run- the bread pudding did me well and stayed put where it belonged!

It was a solid day. My clients brought me candy and scrub brushes for horse buckets (this was a funny gift!) The Huz is going to take me to dinner tomorrow at the very best-EST place ever.

I am intending to finish up my day, go home and drink a couple of beers to celebrate the fact that I have been able to do so legally for 11 years now. Hooooray to being 32!!

PS: I will continue the streak of blogging thru the Birthday weekend- yes, WEEKEND, I am a CELEB! Longest blogging streak EVER.

Running Haters

Do any of you notice that Running Haters are usually NOT EVEN RUNNERS??!

True, I have a love/hate relationship with running but in the end I LOVE it and try to do it as often as possible, even if I am not the worlds best or fastest.

I was talking to my coach today, an elite rider who is quite a bit better than I.

Coach: I don't know how you do it, you are going to ruin your knees for sure.

Me: You know what I normally say to that? "I might end up with bad knees but you are out of SHAPE!" HAHA! (but she is not, and she knew this was tounge in cheek)

Coach: (sadly) I can't even run two feet....

Me:(helpfully, and stating the obvious) You might be going to fast?

Coach: Maybe, but I really can't do it. I have asthma.

Me: Well. Lots of people with asthma run, and I know some personally so know it can be done, can be done well and you are only a mild case. You could start off really slow, take lots of walk breaks, easy stuff!

Coach: Really, when I try to run to airport terminals I get all out of breath, I just can't run.

Me: (getting sick of conversation) When you run in the airport you are most likely hampered by luggage, running faster than you can manage and under pressure. And honestly, do you even want to run??

Coach: No because I can't. And it would probably ruin my knees.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Running Geek...

Oh My. I am Forrest Gump.

Sorry about the blurry, my Mom took this pic and I imagine that she was quaking from horror (who wouldn't??)

Owww yeah, awwww yeah. I'm sorry but this is Legen... WAIT FOR IT!!!!... DARY!

What am I doing here? Go ahead and guess.

Just barely snuck in today's episode. BUSY!