Thanksgiving Recap

I've been in Florida with my family since Tuesday night, so the idea that I'm going to have to go to work tomorrow for a whole week is not my favorite thing ever.  

However, I am really grateful to have had so much time at home with my parents.  I alluded to it in a post a few weeks ago, but my family is dealing with a lot of bad news right now.  The biggest crisis is that my mom was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in her bones and liver about a month ago.  She was originally diagnosed when I was in college and had been in remission since then.  She's getting chemo again and is feeling ok right now, so that was a huge blessing for our time together this week.  It was hard to leave today, but we'll be back together with them for Christmas in just a few weeks.  In the meantime, I had 5 great days hanging out with her and my dad (with special guest appearances by my brother, J, and my grandparents), so that's the number one thing I was thankful for this Thanksgiving.


 J and I had been planning to be in Columbia this year, and I had signed us up for a Turkey Trot here, but I needed to be in Florida, so we changed our plans.  (I guess that makes my second DNS this month.  Woops!)   Last year, my dad, J, and I ran the Subaru Distance Classic in Jax on Thanksgiving morning.  Given everything that was going on this year, no one seriously contemplated doing that again.  Dad and I went on our own little 5k trail run near the house instead.  We took the pups with us and did about 3 miles.  I got to test out my new trail shoes, burned enough calories to account for like 1/16 of what I ate later, and the dogs were worn out for a few hours while I cooked.  Win-win-win.

Since my mom got her chemo dose on Wednesday (a 9 hour ordeal), I put myself in charge of planning and executing Thanksgiving dinner.  I recruited my Gran to make the turkey and the green beans, but everything else was my handiwork.  Or really, the handiwork of The Pioneer Woman and Cooking Light magazine.  I don't think I can really take credit for just following recipes.  (Apple pie not pictured because it was devoured, but it was awesome.  You should definitely make it.)  I did most of the prep on Wednesday, so all Gran and I had to do was coordinate when the different items needed to go in the oven on Thursday.  It was actually harder than I thought, but eventually dinner was ready, and no one went hungry.

{Plate #1 of 2... that day.}

We also managed to sneak in a few minutes to take Christmas card pictures.  I will show y'all what the cards look like when they come in, but this is the picture my mom ended up using on hers.  With a little cropping, it's definitely a framer.

{J, Me, Dad and Mom, Bro and his GF, plus Charlie, Shellie, and Penny}

My dad, unbelievably, got up at like 6:30am on Friday morning to go shopping.  If you know my dad, you know this is basically the most shocking thing he's ever done in his life.  He hates spending money almost as much as he hates crowds and idiots.  I also cannot deal with crowds (or idiots... the spending money part I am fine with), so my mom, my Gran, and I opted for pedicures instead.  We ended up going into Target for some essentials (Coke and magazines), and I did make a quick stop to pick up one of J's presents while it was on major sale but that store was directly next door to the nail salon, so it wasn't bad at all.  After pedicures, we met up with my friend Jesse and her mom, Gina, for lunch.  Gina and my mom met in a Mommy and Me class when Jesse and I were like 18 months old, and we've all been friends ever since.  It is hard to find friends like that, and it was awesome to see them.  We took pictures in the parking lot of Panera to document to the occasion, obviously.

On Saturday morning, Dad and I did another trail run with the dogs.  This time we did a little over 6 miles.  It's almost exactly 3/4 of a mile from their driveway to the trail head, which we walked in each direction, so it was about 4.5 miles of running at approximately 10:00/mile pace.  My Garmin was dead, so I used RunKeeper instead... this time with the sound off.

The dogs were dunzo for the rest of the day, which was awesome.  The chemo really hits my mom about 2 days after getting a dose, so she was pretty wiped.  We made one quick trip to town for craft supplies, then settled in to make Christmas wreaths and watch football all afternoon/night.  We made these letters, which we (i.e. my dad) then attached to wreaths bought from Home Depot.  I am not usually very crafty, but this was super basic and I think it turned out pretty cute.

I left Florida around 12:30 this afternoon and finallllllllly rolled into Columbia about 7:15.  It is normally a 4.5 hour drive, so, yeah, traffic was terrible.  Of course I turned into our driveway just as my audiobook was getting really good, but c'est la vie.  

If you're still reading after all of this... thanks!  Now tell me about your Thanksgiving!

Did you race?  What did you eat? Do you listen to audiobooks when you travel? If so, leave me a recommendation!

Adidas TechFit Long Sleeve T.

I bought this t-shirt from Dick's because it was on sale, and I only have one other long sleeve tech shirt. Turns out, it's the best thing ever.  

It's really soft, with just the right amount of stretch, and it's fitted, but not overly tight.  Here in SC, I rarely ever need more than one layer, and this shirt is thin, but warm. It would be a great base layer if you live somewhere where that kind of thing is necessary.  (I'm sorry.) I got the gray, and I definitely want some more colors.

Carry on.

*PS - This isn't a sponsored post.  I bought this shirt with my own money. I love it, so now I'm telling you about it.  That is all.

Firsts.

I registered for my first trail race tonight, and I am pretty pumped about it.  On December 15, I will be running the Rudolph's Rampage 10K.  Not gonna lie, Rudolph scares me a little.

Last weekend, J and I ventured out to Harbison State Forest (where the race will be) to revisit our favorite trail from this summer.  We bought a yearly pass, but we stopped using it when training for Georgetown started this summer.  It felt so amazing to get back out there.  And I was shocked at how different the forest looked.  Almost all the leaves were gone from the trees, and there is one part of the trail that runs through a meadow, which was gloriously green this summer, and now it's just brown grass.  The leaves that were left were super colorful, though, so it was still really pretty out there.

So, when we went out there, I forgot my Garmin.  I also forgot my headphones for my phone.  This meant that the only way for me record our pace/distance was to use RunKeeper and just leave the volume turned up so I could hear it announce the mileage.  This seemed like a good plan until we got to the first mile, and I forgot that the RunKeeper lady would be talking to me.  I shrieked, very loudly, and jumped a good 5 feet into the bushes because it scared me so badly.  Luckily J had his head phones in and was far enough in front of me that no one heard or saw... because it happened again at mile 2.

About the last third of a mile, I chicked J, and not wanting to get un-chicked, I booked it to the end.  I thought for sure I was going to eat it so hard because we were flying down a rocky, washed out hill, but I didn't, and it was by far the best part of the run.

I was really hoping to get back out there for little bit today (or yesterday, since it's technically Monday morning now), but J had to work all day and I *might* have been over served (umm, by myself) some sangria on Saturday night.

We had some friends over for dinner, and while I was getting the house ready, I realized that I had all of the ingredients for a sangria, so I whipped one up.  I am not normally a "whip something up" kind of girl - this was definitely a first for me.  I usually need a recipe, and I need it to be very specific.  So, obviously, I was quite proud of myself, and ended up going slightly overboard.  In my defense, J and I decided to watch Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer after dinner, and I need some alcohol to make it through.  Even though this morning was rough, it was delicious, and you should definitely make some.

In case you're interested:

1 bottle of champagne

1 bottle of pinot noir

1 shot of 99 Apples liqueur

1 shot of triple sec

1 shot of Patron

1 Honeycrisp apple, chopped

2 cinnamon sticks

*Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher, stir, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.  YUM!

Flashback.

I went on a run this morning.  It wasn't good... Garmin wouldn't locate any satellites even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and then it malfunctioned at some point in the first mile and clocked me in at +12:00 minutes.  Lame.  Then it didn't lap for 2 miles until very near the 2.5mi marker on the path.  Also lame.  Plus I forgot to wear sunscreen, and I worried about it the whole time because I do stuff like that.  Again, lame.

You know what's not lame?  2001.  Check it out.

That's me on the right.  I ran CC during my senior year.  I wasn't really so interested in it at the time.  One of my teachers, who was the CC coach, recruited me really hard to run for him, and I figured it would be a good way to stay in shape for soccer (my jam) over the summer, so I did it.  Also, there was a reallllly hot guy on the boys' team, so, you know.  

I was reasonably fast.  Probably would've been faster if I had some decent running shoes.  Those suckers must have weighed several pounds each.  

Speaking of shoes, these beauties were delivered on Wednesday.  They're the same as my old pair, but in the prettiest color combo that ever existed... orange + blue.  Love.

My First DNS.

Aww, my first DNS.  

I was supposed to run the Governor's Cup this weekend, but it didn't happen.  I signed up to run this race because my parents have never seen me run, and they were planning to be in town this weekend.  But a lot of stuff happened between when I signed up and Saturday... none of it good.  There was bad news, bad news, and more bad news.  (They say bad things some in threes, so our family should definitely be DONE for a while.)  I ended up making 2 unplanned trips to Florida, which wasn't great for my running schedule, and when it became clear that my parents wouldn't be able to make the trip up here, I dropped down the 8k.  Then on Saturday morning, I woke up, and it was freezing, and I was tired, and bottom line... I just wasn't feeling it.  Running is supposed to be fun, not something I feel like I have to do.  So I want to back to sleep for another hour and a half, and it was glorious.

I did actually go for a run on Saturday (a fast one!), but I went because I wanted to, not because I had to.

And now there are more races on calendar.  Ones that I actually WANT to run, starting with a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.  And what I'm really looking forward to is getting back on the trails.  I'll be running the Rudolph's Rampage 10k in December, and then the Mountain in the Middle Distance TBD in January.  And there are more in the works, as always. :)

Did you race this weekend?  How did it go?

Round 2.

So kind of on a whim a few weeks ago, I registered to run the Governor's Cup on November 3.  This is one of Columbia's biggest running events, and it's celebrating the 40th running this year.  It is not an easy course.  There is a long uphill in the second half and a pretty killer last half mile to top it off, but it starts on Gervais Street right in front of the Statehouse and ends on the other side, at the Horseshoe on Carolina's campus, which is cool.

My parents are coming into town, and they haven't seen me run a race yet.  Since I knew I'd still be in shape from Georgetown, I figured I might as well piggyback onto that training and get one more half marathon under my belt.

This is my plan:

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Rest	Rest	Rest	Yoga	Barre	Easy 3 mi	Easy 3 mi
2	Rest	Easy 4mi	Barre	Easy 5mi	Rest	Rest	Easy 5mi
3	Rest	6-7mi	Barre	Easy 3-4mi	Rest	RACE DAY!

To be clear, this is Week 2.  I had to go home to Florida unexpectedly last week so I didn't make it to yoga or barre, but luckily Pinterest saved the day with some workouts that were easy to do when I only had a few minutes.  I did go out for some easy miles this weekend and felt fine, so I think that's a good sign.  

I am not planning to race-race this race, if you know what I mean.  Running a half is still hard for me... I get that it's not something that is supposed to be easy, but what I mean is that it's the longest I've ever run, and I've only done it twice, so even if I'm not race-racing, it's still a hard effort.  So this time I just want to have fun running through my "hometown" (I do not yet claim Columbia) and finish in a respectable time.

Race Recap: Georgetown Half Marathon

SUB-2 is official!  A week later, and I'm still recovering a little bit, but it was worth it.

Let's begin at the beginning...

J and I headed out of town around 4:30 on Friday, and made to Georgetown in time to scoop up my packet (took approximately 30 seconds... yay for small races) and to meet some friends for a carbo-loading sesh at Pastaria 811 in Pawley's Island.  I'm not sure what they do to the tomatoes that they put on their house salad, but it is magical.

After our delicious dinner, we checked into our hotel, and I laid out my race outfit.  Then I took a shower and straightened my hair.  This is what it's come to in order to avoid the uni-dread.  Anyway, we stayed at a Hampton Inn, so there was free breakfast starting at 6am, so I got dressed and got down stairs ASAP, then J drove me to start line.  We found a parking spot one block away, which awesome. (Again, yay for small races.)  It was windy and a bit chilly, but I was only at the start for 15 mins or so, so it wasn't too bad.  No lines for the porta potties, and I found my friends with no problems.  And then when we lined up, I ended up standing right next to a former co-worker who was running the 5K.  (Can I say it one more time?  Yay for small races.)

{Me, Leslie, Jenny, and Jennifer at the start.}

I knew that if I held at 9:09 pace then I would come in at 1:59:59, so my game plan was to start around 9:20 to get warmed up during the first mile, get it down to 9:00-9:05 at least until the 10K, and then pick it up after that if I could.  The first 2 miles of the course were through downtown, so I saw J right after the start and again just after the first mile marker.

{Thumbs up because I'm only 30 seconds in.}

The first 7 miles of the course are beautiful.  Downtown Georgetown is full of gorgeous old mansions, cute shops, and amazing views of the bay.  The sun was still coming up as we passed along the waterfront and over the first bridge out and back.  The first bridge was super fun .  I was able to hold my pace both ways without feeling like I was pushing myself hard and the view at the top was awesome.  It was definitely windy, but it felt good.  Plus, it was an out and back, so we got to see the leaders, which is always fun.  The first guys came over the bridge (going back) just as I got to the top (going out).  The turnaround was right at mile 4, so I ate half a packet of Honey Stinger chews before we tackled the bridge again.  I saw Leslie, Jenny, and Jennifer a little past the turn around, so that was a nice pick-me-up too.

 {Sunrise over the bay.}

Right at the the turnaround point, I started to notice something funky happening in my left calf.  Both calves were very sore this week, and I have no idea why.  I took my runs super easy, obviously, and I made a point to wear flats or very low heels to work to give my legs a break.  I rubbed the crap out of both of them with the Stick on Friday night and before leaving the hotel, and actually, the right one was much more sore than the left, so the crampy twinges in my left leg really surprised me.  And once it started, it never went away.  I expected it to go into a full blown cramp at any second the whole way from mile 4-13.1.  It was not a fun mental battle to fight - since it more annoying than painful, I told myself to keep going as long as possible and if it did go into a full cramp, I could deal with it then.  Luckily, this was also the point where I made a running buddy.  We were running the same pace and we stuck together from mile 4 until about mile 12 (when she totally left me in the dust... must work on that for next time), so I just tried to focus on staying with her.  

We went back through downtown for a few blocks around mile 6-7.  I ate the rest of my Honey Stingers, and I saw all of my cheerleaders - Leslie's husband and father, J, and my coworker Ginger.  I went through the 10k right at 55 minutes, so I knew I was on track, and except for the occasional twinges in my calf, I was feeling good.  Just before mile 8, we hit the second bridge, which is the start of the second out and back.  This bridge was terrrrible, mostly because the sign for mile 12 was right at the base of it, so you pass it as you're going out and realize that means you've got to come back over it at the end.  Also, it's steeper than the first one, which is rough.  We did see the leaders again, though, at almost the exact same spot, just as we crested the bridge.

{10Kish.}

Then shit got real.  Miles 9-11 are run within this weird, unbuilt subdivision.  It's all paved and all of the lots are marked off, and you can tell it was supposed to be some kind of really nice development along the water, but there are no houses.  It's really bizarre, and it was totally open to the wind with no shade.  In fact, when we finaaaaaallllllyyyyy hit the turn around at mile 10, the wind hit us head on.  So miz, and definitely not the way you want to start the last 5K.  I was starting to get a little tired, so I tried to take 3 or 4 sports beans, but I couldn't hold them down.  I ended up spitting them out, which is weird because I did fine with them last time and had no issues on my training runs.  But, whatever, lesson learned... next time I will make sure I have more options in my fuel belt.

So Mile 11-12 means you have to go back over that damn bridge.  I passed mile 11 almost exactly at 1:40:00, so I knew I was going to be cutting it close for sub-2.  I told myself just to keep it steady and get up the bridge as fast as possible.  This is where my race buddy took off.  I don't know how she had it in her to get up that bridge so fast, because when I finally made it up, my watch said I was at a 9:53 pace.  I thought I had lost my sub-2, and even though the downhill helped me make up some time, I was DONE.  My calf was seriously unhappy, and my hips were throbbing, and I really just wanted to cry, but there was no way in hell I was stopping at that point.  I went through Mile 13 and my watch said 1:58ish.  I could see the finish and hear people (J) screaming at me to go sub-2, so I somehow managed to keep moving to the finish.

The clock said 1:59:47 as I went through, and I just lost it in the chute.  I was already out of breath and my calf was freaking out, so the crying didn't help.  I managed to grab some water and immediately scarfed down a banana, and calmed down a little bit.  Only then did I remember to stop my Garmin.  Runner fail.

Nevertheless, my official chip time, and NEW PR, is 1:59:34. 

The post-race festival included music by Bil Krauss, who is an institution in the beach bars along the SC coast.  J and I went to see him play the night we got engaged, and we try to see him whenever we're down at Pawley's.  He's a runner too, and he actually ran the course earlier in the morning.  We got a little shout out while he was playing, so that was fun.  We couldn't hang out for too long because J wanted to get back to Cola for the Carolina/LSU game.

So just like that, race weekend was over!  But lucky for me, I'll be running (not sub-2) the Governor's Cup on Nov. 3.  My parents will be in town, so that should be fun.  I will post my turnaround plan later this week, and I could definitely use some advice about how to pull it off.