Running Through the Weekend

Today was the first day I have slept past 6 am in I don't even know how long. 'Twas amazing. That being said, I've been pretty busy lately and have been spending most of my mornings running. 

Last weekend we celebrated my honey getting a promotion by running a 5k lakeside. 

We also went to dinner the night before. It's been a while since we have run together on this trail. I'm pretty pleased with how my time has been improving on this little stretch. 

The next day some of the MRTT ladies and I went to run the UCF U Can Finish 5 Miler Distance Dare. The race starts with a 2 mile run around the football field and then you jump right into a 5 mile run through campus. 

There were baseball, softball and ladies basketball teams cheering us on as well as the Glee Club. Running through the campus brought back so many memories and kind of made me miss spending 5 days a week there. 

The medal was pretty cool. The 5 mile medal was a shield and if you did the 2 mile portion you received the sword. I mean, does it get any better?

Again, I was pretty pleased with my times and love that these ladies push me on the course. The race started out fairly cool and then the humidity hit us, so that was not a fun battle to fight at all. Plus, I've been battling a head cold for the better part of 2 weeks and spent almost every walk break blowing my nose (don't you love my Rudolph look in the photo???).

This weekend was kind of a challenge. There was a huge triathlon going on in town and it was using up the majority of the running paths we run on. Michelle and I just decided to head out and see what the course would bring us. Well, the course brought us 8 miles of hills upon hills. You know the kind of hills that race directors will say are "rolling" in their course description. 

The great part about the run was that it was 55 when we left. Yes, 55, no humidity and did I say 55? It was only in the mid 60's by the time we finished. I ran with my jacket on for the first 2 miles. My jacket was also stuffed with tissues because again....head cold. 

My time was not great but I did get to spend some quality time with my friend in some absolutely gorgeous weather. 

Now it's time to get my head in the game for the half I am running this weekend. I haven't done that distance in a while and am actually pretty nervous. I'm fairly behind on my training and need this to be the kick in the pants that I so desperately need. 

I hope all of you have a fantastic week! 

Not So Cool Summer Morning Series Completion: AKA My Face Didn't Actually Melt Off

Saturday was the final race in the Sommer Sports Summer Series. This year the series seemed a little harder, maybe because it was a whole lot hotter this summer. That is not an exaggeration by the way. July was insanely hot and August was not much better. Plus the last half mile of the race is in direct sunlight. It's almost like running directly into the sun. 

Again, not an exaggeration.

Thankfully, I had my MRTT ladies to push me through the series. 

My standings for the series was:

Race 1: 35:57

Race 2: 37:23 (Remember when every day in July was 106+, yeah that was fun)

Race 3: 37:19

Race 4: 35:33

The bonus of suffering through the heat and humidity? A fifth medal!

Thank you to all my MRTT ladies for pushing me through the series! I'm so looking forward to all of the upcoming races we have together!

We've been busy...no really...

We've been busy and it's finally starting to slow down (God bless the end of the school year!).

Let's see... My sister sent me this awesome package for marathon training...

By the way, I'm training for a marathon. I may have forgotten to mention that at some point.

We completed another 5k as a family.

My office had a 5k for our foundations and we all ran the race, just not necessarily together. My friend Chelsie was there (she is now Aunt Chelsie to the kids) and she ran with Jill. Scott ran on his own and Aaron and I brought up the rear. Aaron took off like a bat out of hell at the beginning, so that last 1.5 mile was pretty rough.

We finished another season of baseball.

Aaron did so well this season and I cannot wait to see what happens in the fall.

We've done a whole lot more, but I'll be honest, it's all blurring together. I hope you are doing just as well as we are!

Seasons 52 Park Ave 5.2K

Today was the big day...Scott's first official 5k (well, 5.2K). We chose the Seasons 52 Park Ave 5.2k because, well, we love Seasons 52 and were really hoping one of us would be a 52nd finisher so we could win a gift card.

Scott walked the 5.2k and I ran. I debated walking with him, but he insisted that I run and really stretch my legs to see just how fast I could go. I really had no plan on PR'ing today, I just wanted to run my race and feel good at the end, whatever time that was.

You can read all about Scott's race on his blog, Southern Fried Fat Guy. Not to be selfish, but this post is going to be about me. :)

The race went through downtown Winter Park, which is an absolutely gorgeous area with only one minor problem, brick roads. More about that in a minute.

I took off at a pretty comfortable pace and at one point realized my RunKeeper was on silent, so I wasn't receiving any of my time or mileage cues in my ear. When I finally looked at it I was at .64 miles. I hadn't stopped to walk/run or anything and figured, well just keep going. I ran my first ever straight mile in 11:09.

I know, I know. I'm about to do my fourth half marathon and I've never just run a straight mile! I'm a huge fan of Jeff Galloway's run/walk method and that's what I've always stuck with.

The course itself was beautiful, but like I mentioned before, they had these pesky brick roads (red, not yellow, it wasn't that kind of road).  While they look beautiful, they are quite the pain to run on because they're not exactly even. The girl in front of me almost face planted and then I hit a pocket at one point and thanked the good Lord my ankle didn't roll.

I kept a pretty decent pace the next two miles and was really happy to see the finish when I turned the corner. I knew it was my fastest time and I couldn't wait to cross the finish line and have it official. My 5k time was 37:10 and my 5.2k time was 38:21.  I definitely pictured this in my mind when I crossed:

I sent Scott a text to see where he was and he was almost at mile three. Thankfully, the finish line was not swarmed with people so I waited patiently to see him.

When he approached I couldn't do anything else but smile. He worked for this and I am so proud of him.

I'm also glad they called his name as he finished. There is nothing better than hearing your name when you cross, especially on your first race.

I'm beyond proud of Scott for starting this journey and now having the race bug and wanting to continue this. I cannot wait to run/walk more races with him and I look forward to the day we run across the line together.

Thank you to the wonderful people from Track Shack, Seasons 52 and all of the volunteers that made today possible! Another huge shout out to the residents of Winter Park that were basically stuck in their homes until we ran past. Thanks for letting us take over!

The Neon Run "5K"

Last night my friend Michelle and I ran the Neon Run with one of her friends. It took us FOREVER to even get into the parking lot and Michelle and I were genuinely concerned about missing our wave time. Silly us.

When we finally parked and tutued up we heading in looking for chips for our time. It was like we had three heads. This was hands down the most unorganized race either of us have attended. You simply came in whenever and got in line. Then you started, were not timed and had random glow crap sprayed on you.

Let me also mention that the race path was on the grass, that was not lit and full of dips and holes. My ankles took quite the beating on this course and I know a few people went home with twisted ankles.

When we started the "race" I mentioned to the girls that I didn't think it was going to be 3 miles simply based
on the fact that I could see people finished when we were at .6 miles. I was right. The course was only 2.19 miles, so a mile short. It was HILARIOUS though hearing everyone say things like "I crushed my previous time!" or "I totally PR'ed!".  No, no you didn't. The other quote from the evening was the woman that said she hadn't eaten all day but had a few margaritas so she should be good. Glad we didn't finish with her.

Having our photo taken in front of a black light with glow paint on was pretty cool. It felt disgusting, but it was cool.

We left right after the photo and then noticed it was only 9 o'clock. We are three mothers with no children and no husbands with us, there is no way we are going home. The next logical stop was obviously Chili's for margaritas and queso. Glow paint and booty shorts be damned, we were doing it.

When we pulled in to Chili's I was seriously having second thoughts. Dana and Michelle were both in cropped running pants, I was basically in spandex shorts. It was amazing. However, we went in with the attitude that people normally dress like this and clearly they were missing out. Plus, after 2-for-1 margaritas, nothing else really matters.

Even though the race itself was pretty disappointing, we all had a blast. Meeting Dana was fantastic, she's definitely a riot and running with Michelle is always a blast.

I'm looking forward to our next run that does not include people raving or raging or whatever it is that they do and no glow paint.

Trotting Turkeys

Saturday I ran a 5K with my friend Michelle. It was Michelle's first race ever and I am so glad I was able to do it with her!

The course was great, we ran right along the lakefront and caught a nice breeze. When we came up to the finish we had our own little cheering section, which explains my jazz hand wave in this photo:

Do you like my house arrest bracelet? That's what we kept calling our time chip. 

We finished in 42:57 which is actually 6 minutes better than any 5K I've run in any of my half marathons.  I am so proud of Michelle for completing her first race!

The kids were so cute when we finished. As we were coming across the finish line Aaron and Jill were at the ropes yelling "Good job Mommy! I'm so proud of you!".  Seriously, it's the best thing you can hear as you cross.

When we got home Jill even gave me a star sticker because she was so proud of me. They have told me at least a dozen times that they are proud of me. It's an awesome thing to hear.

Congratulations again to my friend Michelle for finishing her very first race! I cannot wait to do the half with her, my sister and my niece!

A little catch up...

I did it, I completed something on my 100 things to do before I'm 100 list. I made my own pie crust and it was crazy delicious! It totally took the potato-bacon torte to an entirely different level. It was so buttery and flaky and just melt in your mouth good. I also added some finely grated Gruyere to the top and Scott about lost his mind. It was seriously that good. Back to the list I have to say it was awesome to be able to check something off, only 99 more to go. I have a lot of the things started, and when I say a lot I think it's like 5.

School is going well, I am in my last week of class so things are about to get crazy. I have a paper due on Sunday that is 25% of my grade, no pressure, right? I'm getting a B in the class so far and I would like to keep it that way.

Training for the half marathon is going. I definitely slacked off over the weekend so I just ran a mile and a half yesterday and it felt pretty good. I need to get out and run the subdivision so I can get use to running on the road. I'm planning on doing a 5K in November and then some more in December and January so I can get use to running a race.

Speaking of half marathon's, Lani is running the Disney Half Marathon again this year and is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society again. She's going to be doing a blog party again with awesome prizes to give away to help raise money. Be sure to check out her blog for more info and her Team in Training Page.

Thanksgiving Thursday

So much to be thankful for this week! I am thankful for:

• Scott having two days off this week! He has been on mandatory overtime lately and while it's nice to have the extra money, it really blows.

• Aaron doing this:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

• Jilly and Mommy time yesterday. We went to Sephora and then to Starbucks, it was a bona fide girls afternoon and I cannot wait for many more!

• A great birthday dinner with Mimi and Paw Paw last night for Mimi's birthday!

• My Dad's accent, it may soon inspire an entire post, it's hilarious the more and more I listen to it.

• My Mom's MOM-isms. They are priceless and would most certainly give the guy from "Sh*t my Dad says" a run for his money.

• My favorite cousin that lives in South Carolina for motivating me to get my bum in shape enough to run a 5K (even though she thinks it's a half marathon) with her.

• A great back to school week. I started classes on Tuesday and am working to finish my degree in Public Relations. I'm only a few credits shy of my degree and cannot wait to finish it!

What are you thankful for?