Kegs & Eggs 10K - March 14, 2015

This was another race that I registered for in early January.  We wanted to get a longer distance that day, so we got up that morning and went for a 5 mile run.  I was struggling a lot on this run.  The weather was great, no rain even though it was in the forecast.  Still, I cut our distance short. Our plan was 7 miles, but I just didn't have it in me.

Race start time was 11am and location was Party Fowl in the Gulch.  A race that starts and ends at a bar?  Yes, please!

Race started and off we go.  Uphill.  AARGH!
This was a 5K and a 10K race.  The 10K was 2 laps of the 5K course.  That made it tough for me.  I knew that all of the hills we were fighting the first time were going to be even tougher the second time.  There were no big, steep hills, just the long gradual type.  I hate them all, I'm going to have to get used to them if I'm to stay in Nashville (I am).

Official finish time:  1:12:44
Pace:  12:03

The other thing I haven't mentioned before that is making running tougher for me this year - I've cut pasta and bread from my diet this year (with the exception of pizza, less often than usual).  This was the original intent because I tend to overeat those things, but I'm pretty much all low carb without even realizing I was doing it.  I don't know if I'll continue on the low carb diet for the long haul, but I am down 25 lbs since January 1 and I don't get the mid-afternoon slump at work anymore.  I'll be keeping it for a while longer anyhow.

After the race, we drank our free 16oz Shock Top and the small portion of free Hot Chicken.  It was raining at that point, and everybody was huddled under the couple of tents that were set up.  We decided to head home and get dry.  Maybe the Cinco de Mayo race put on by the same organizer will have better weather for the post-race party.

Next race:  Sunday, March 22

Music City Half Marathon

Tom King Half Marathon, or the race that wasn't

Fresh off of my disappointment at Dry Creek, I found out that the Tom King Half Marathon was taking place on March 7.  This one was downtown, only about 15 minutes from home and finished in LP Field.  I love running into a stadium.  I don’t know if everybody feels that way, but it’s a huge rush for me.  The race start time was 7:30am, so I would have plenty of time to make my hair appointment at noon. 

As the week progressed, we had an ice storm on Tuesday, March 3 followed by a couple of very cold days (but sunny).  On Wednesday, they decided to postpone the race time by one hour, to start at 8:30am.  Eek.  It wouldn’t be nearly as much time, but I could still make my hair appointment.

On Thursday, they cancelled the Half Marathon and turned it into a 5K only.  It was warm, 50’s? on Friday but the run took place partially on the greenway system, so they were being cautious.  I can’t believe it!  I didn’t register until just a few days before the race, and now it was CANCELLED!  Aargh.  They tell us they are going to give us a “deep discount” on next year’s race.  That’s not helpful for my goals this year.  G and I decide that we’ll get up early and run a few miles before going downtown and running the 5K.  When the alarm goes off, I basically decided NOPE.  Just so frustrated, we wound up getting up and having a leisurely Saturday morning.  I definitely was not going to run after my hair was done, so we decided to run on Sunday.

Sunday morning, we got up and had a leisurely morning of coffee and breakfast.  The weather was WARM, in the upper 60’s.  We got dressed around 1pm and went out to G’s car to head out to the trail at the park.  The car wouldn’t start.  He drives an hour to an hour and a half each way for work and just started a new job recently.  He needs his car.  My son has a job 40 minutes away from home and just started HIS new job recently.  He needs the Explorer.  I had committed to meeting with the Ops team out at the site, I could not have one of them take me to the office or I would miss that meeting.  I needed my car.  So, we decide to try and change the fuel filter, since that’s what it sounded like to me.  I made the decision that we should do that before we run, in case we need to go back to the auto parts store before they close (Sunday).  So, we change the fuel filter and the car starts up but is still throwing a code (check engine light).  G decides that he’ll just have to call off on Monday and take the car to the shop. 

Now, it’s 2 hours later and we head to the trail and run 10 miles.  Starving, hot, and ready to get home; but the miles are done.

This Spring is conspiring against me, but I will not be beat!

G and I got up early on Monday (0445) and lifted weights and have followed through every day this week except for Tuesday.  The car cost $415.  Ugh.  I just spent $2k on my son’s Explorer in January with the understanding that he will be paying for any additional upkeep on it.  These cars are going to break me!

Next race is tomorrow, 3/14:  Kegs and Eggs 10K. 

The plan is to get up and run 7 miles before heading downtown for the race.  Race start time is 11am.

Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon - March 1, 2015

Back on February 22, the Dry Creek Trail Marathon was scheduled but cancelled due to weather.  The trail was still covered in ice from an ice storm earlier the previous week.  They cancelled it at the last minute but rescheduled for the following weekend, March 1.

I found out that runners could register up until midnight on February 27 and wanted a good long run that I wouldn’t skip.  Never mind that my daughter was coming to town for the weekend, we decided that we could run it in the morning (8am start time, approximately an hour away from the house) and still be back before my daughter was ready to do anything else.  She tends to sleep until noon anyhow.

My daughter is as much (or more) of a procrastinator as I am, so she didn’t show up to the house until around 6pm on Saturday the 28^th.  We decided to cook some burgers on the grill and hang out at the house.  We watched a couple of movies and got to bed sometime after 11pm.  The next morning, the alarm went off at 0500.  Ugh.  I think I finally got up at 0555, since we needed to leave the house before 0615.  Weather was awesome, but the weather man was calling for rain.  I hoped it wouldn’t rain, dressed for it anyway and went out the door.  G had my breakfast ready for me, and I ate it in the car on the way. 

We get to the race, which is waaaaay out in a wildlife refuge northwest of the city.  There were 2 restrooms, and 1 was broken.  Luckily, the turnout wasn’t that great, so the line moved pretty fast.  Picked up our numbers and got ready to run.  It was at this time that we were told there would be an award for, among others, “Muddiest” (ick) and “Most whining” – I was robbed, that one should have been mine. When I heard muddiest, I was questioning my decision to run this thing.  I HATE getting muddy. 

After everybody gets through the restroom line, it’s time for the race to start.  We take off, and we’re dodging ice and puddles through the first 4-5 miles.  After the second aid station, it was a SERIOUS trail and covered in leaves and straight downhill.  I was certain that I was going to plummet to my death.  This is NOT my thing.  That is where every single person passed me.  Around a mile later, we’re back on the regular trail and it’s straight uphill for a full mile and a half.  If they had been monitoring the race, this is where I would have won the award for whining.  At mile 7-8, you get to run right past the finish line for an out and back to the finish.  I contemplated calling it a day and “finishing” then, but we had come all this way.  So, out I go.  M-I-S-E-R-Y.  It rained the entire time we were running, with the exception of about the first 5 minutes.  Not a driving rain, just an annoying drizzle. 

I think it wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been so wet, but I learned that trail running is most definitely not my thing.

I finished dead last with an official finish time of 3:18:26.  I finished.  I’m calling it a win.

Hot Chocolate 15K - 2/14/15

The husband and I ran this race on Valentine's Day.

As always, I enjoyed the Hot Chocolate race.  It was just cold enough that hot chocolate was exactly what I wanted at the finish line.

My official finish time was 1:49:59, or 11:48 per mile.  Temps were in the 40's, so perfect running weather even if I was whining about being cold before the race started.  Ha!

I've waited too long to post, so I don't remember a ton about the details of the day, but I'd run this one again...

Last week was an icy mess in the Nashville area, so we couldn't run outside without being in fear for our lives (from slipping and falling, or from a car sliding into us).  I took the opportunity to sign up for a free week at Anytime Fitness and logged some treadmill miles.  Yuck!  I'm glad I got the miles, but I despise running on a treadmill.
Luckily, this week, it's all been melted away and we're back on the road.  It snowed a little bit last night, but the sun melted it away like cotton candy this morning.  :)

I'm ready for Spring, Can I say that again?

I'm ready for Spring.

The next race on the calendar:  Kegs and Eggs 10K on March 14.
Start and Finish at a bar - should be my kind of race.

Zoo Run Run - 1/24/15 + Frostbite Half Marathon (or not)

The weather here has been so perfect compared to the weather I'm used to in the winter.

January 24, the husband and I had signed up to run the Zoo Run Run in Nashville.

January 23, my 21 year old daughter was giving her roommate's cat a bath and got bit.  The cat was not up to date on his immunizations, and she didn't really know the cat.  She was bathing the cat because her roommate and the roommate's father was convinced that the cats had fleas (they did not).  Trust me, this is a part of the Zoo Run Run story, or my excuse for a poor finishing time.  Ha!
I convinced my daughter to go to the immediate care clinic on Saturday to get the bite checked out and the rash that started all of the problems that was all over her arms and legs.

The Zoo Run Run 5K had a starting time of 3pm, but the weather was just too gorgeous to skip running on Saturday morning.  The husband and I went to the park and ran 8 miles on the trail late Saturday morning at a 12 min/mile pace.  This was a pretty good pace for me right now, working my way to a faster pace.  We actually ran the last mile at around an 8 min/mile pace just to give G an idea of how fast he needs to run the 5K in order to get his goal finish time of under 25 minutes.

After we finished the 8 miles, we scarfed down some snacks and headed over to the zoo.  The starting line was way too many people and not enough space.  Strollers were welcome and did not start at the back of the pack, nor did the walkers.  So, getting started was a nuisance, weaving in and out of the walkers.  I was not too bothered by it, since I didn't really have a goal except to run hard.

About 0.25 mile into the race, RING RING goes my phone.  It was my daughter, so I answered.  I knew she had been at the urgent care clinic and wanted to hear what the doctor said.  When I answered, she was in tears and could hardly talk.  Ugh.  So, I talked to her for about 10-15 minutes and walked.  Rabies shot required since she didn't want to turn the cat in for observation.  The rash was eczema.  The roommate did not believe the doctor because apparently she knows better than the doctor.  Nobody here is on my side.  I'm miserable here.  Blah blah blah.  So, my daughter has some choices to make, long story short.  Anyhow, talking her down took some time, but it needed to be done.  She has not been in a very good place, and she's in Indiana alone right now.  My finish time was affected, but I think it was still a respectable time...  That's OK, there will be other races.

Finish time:  37:08
Pace:  11:56/mile


On to the Frostbite Half Marathon, February 7.
I didn't run it.  :(
I've been feeling a sense of general malaise the past 2 weeks.  Last week, it culminated in some stomach ickiness.  I thought it was the way I was eating, finishing up the Super Bowl snacks last week. Now that it's gone, I think it was a bug of some kind.  I slept half the day Saturday (the best weather of the year) and feel like a different person ever since.

However, if you were to look up my results online, you would see that I ran the HM in 1:59:18.
The husband decided that since I did all of the training with him, I should get a finish time too.  He carried my bib in his pocket while he ran.  Hopefully, I'll come close to that pace at the Music City Half next month.

Next Race:  Hot Chocolate 15K, February 14

Mid-January Update

I'm getting better at this blogging.  At least it hasn't been months (years?).
My intent is to post something at least once or twice per week...

Last year ended with a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate my daughter's 21st birthday (3 months later), straight to my parents house for Christmas and home to bake cookies and eat junk food on NYE.  Our plans were to go downtown Nashville for NYE, but the 20* temps kept us inside where it was warm.

No idea what's happening in this picture - Las Vegas 2014

January 2, I started out the year in a "Biggest Loser" competition.  I'm running 3-4 days/week, doing an exercise video (Piyo) 2-3 days per week and tracking every single bite.  Yeah, I've been consistently working out 6 days / week for 2 weeks in a row. This has to be some kind of record.  I'm eating 1,700-1,800 calories per day, so trust me I'm not starving myself.  I had a lot of quick, water weight to lose the first week, but as of this morning, I'm down 14.4 lbs for the month.  I'm in first place.  :)
Now, to keep the momentum going (although not quite that fast).

Since I've been concentrating on this silly weight loss contest, there hasn't been a ton of news around here.  We got new bedroom furniture (yay!) and a sofa for the bonus room (yay!).  And, we've stayed home a lot.  We went for brunch exactly one time to meet a friend from out of town.

I have one race scheduled for January, a 5K next Saturday.  This will be the first 5K since last summer. I have to somehow learn how to push a little harder and see what my current 5K time really is.

Happy 2015

To make "New Year's Resolutions" or not?

While I hate the idea that I can make a big change in my life because of the magic of January 1, I do get it.  I've recently had a lot of time off work and gotten out of the habits that were going to get me to my goals.  The beginning of the year is a good time to get back into consistency because there are no holidays for a while and who wants to waste 2015's vacation days so early in the year?

So, my Resolution this year is "Consistency"

Consistency in working out.
Time to stop being hit-and-miss.  I have got to make myself do it.  I have a bad habit of creating a plan and then letting myself get away with ignoring the plan on days when I just don't feel like it.  Of course, there are situations where you have to give yourself a break, but this is rarely my problem.

Consistency in my eating.
This is pretty self-explanatory.  I am hit-and-miss here, too.

Consistency in spending.
A good salary will hide a lot of bad habits.  I don't have debt.  I do save, but I could be saving so much more if I planned ahead.  One of the biggest habits I have to break is going out to eat several times a week.

Consistency in sleeping time
I've been coming to work later and later, and I need to stop.  Early to bed/early to rise and I can leave work early, too.  Since the husband goes to work earlier than I do, my sleep in the morning isn't all that restful anyhow.  My intent is to force myself to get up and work out when he gets up for work.  This is a 2 hour change.

Happy New Year!