Race Recap: Main Street Crit

So, it might be hard to tell since my posting on here is pretty sporadic and lame anyway, but I haven't been running much in the past 2 months.  I've talked a couple times about my family situation, and I actually received the first bit of bad news like maybe 20 minutes after crossing the finish line in Georgetown.  Since then I've lost count of how many trips I've made back and forth to Florida, plus things have been very busy at work, and mostly... I just haven't felt like running.  I'm tired and stressed out.  I'm also getting fat, so thankfully my motivation suddenly reappeared this week.  

Just in time, because I raced last night!  

A few weeks ago, J and I decided to run the Main Street Crit.  This was the inaugural running, and it's really a unique race - at night, in downtown, 8 loops of a 1k course, with elite runners and prize money.  J and I are really big supporters of Columbia's Main Street, which our mayor has/is working really hard to revitalize.  We live downtown, and we both work on Main Street.  We also really try to support local businesses in the area, and the pastor of our church (which is also downtown, of course) was one of the organizers for the race.  There was also the Willie Nelson concert in town, so I debated which one we should do (I LOVE Willie and have never seen him live), but in the end, running and supporting Main Street won.

It was billed as an 8K, though the course ended up being short (about 4.3 mi).  I actually wasn't sure I had run the correct number number of laps because my Garmin was showing me 4.29, and I was expecting 4.9ish.  Turns out I did run all eight, and I ended up finishing in 35:29; J finished in 33:31.  I only had 2 goals: (1) finish under 45 (I was expecting 5 miles, not 4), and (2) don't get passed by J.  Done and done.  I did get passed by the guy who ended up winning... twice.  But overall I felt really good.  I thought there was no way I could run 8:20ish pace for that long, given that I've taken about 6 weeks off-ish, but even if I had needed to run another lap, I felt like I could've kept it up, so I was very pleased.

There was also a team competition.  You could sign up as many people as you wanted on each team, and the top 4 times were totalled up - lowest total time wins.  The team from J's Crossfit gym took first, and the Cola Run Club took second.  I actually ended up being the fourth person on the CRC team, so that was cool.

After us "regular" runners were finished, there was an elite race, with $8000 in prize money up for grabs.  Holy Guacamole, those peeps are faaaaast!  The top guy came in at just over 21:00, and the top girl ran just over 23:00.  I also had my first celebrity runner sighting - the second place female finisher was Alissa McKaig, (look on page 32 of the January Runner's World).

Even though the course was a little short, the rest of the race was really well done.  It was pretty cool to be running downtown and at night.  There was a band on every corner, and because the course was confined to such a small area, there were lots of people cheering you on.  It was a really fun event, and we would definitely do it again.

Next weekend is my first ever trail race, and then it will be time to start training for the Columbia Half coming up in March!  Taking this downtime was the right thing to do, but I'm really glad to be running and training again.  

2013 is gonna be big! 

Christmas cheer.

We had some grand plans to put up all of our Christmas decorations this weekend, and uhhh that did not happen.  We went to Festivus on Friday night, and ended up being mostly useless on Saturday.  All of our inside stuff is up though, and I think the tree looks pretty darn good.

I also put up our stockings.  Penny and Charlie's are the big ones on each end, obviously.  

This picture would be so much cooler if there was a fire in that fireplace, but we don't actually know how to work it (it's gas).  Lame.

I told y'all about the Pinterest project my mom and I made when I was home for Thanksgiving.  This is the finished product on the front door.  I think maybe it needs a big bow.  What do y'all think?

J is working on getting the lights up outside.  Target was out of garland for the porch, so that project is stalled for a few more days.  Thankfully, I finally bought matching lights for the porch and garage.  One string was warm white and the other was that LED blue, and it drove me crazy for the past 2 years that they didn't match.  This year, we also finally sprung for a tree skirt.  Movin' on up!

I feel like such a real adult... I have a Christmas tree, with a tree skirt, and stockings, and matching Christmas lights.  Yikes!

Are your Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus decorations up?

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?