the last post for 2012

The light-up necklace was the coolest part of the swag!

Can the year really be coming to a close already?  Wow!  Seems like it was January 1 just a couple weeks ago.

Hmmmm, I haven't exactly been covering myself with glory fitness-wise these last few weeks.  Again, life has interfered with my well-intentioned plans.  What's the saying? "You make plans, and God laughs"?? Or something like that.  Another saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." You get the idea.  So I'm just going to keep moving forward and see what happens....  I still have to do my all my HBBC update posts.... Yikes.  I'm behind.

Annnnnyyyhooooo.  Let's talk about my last race of 2012. The Jumpin' Jack Frost 5k. It was a good time!

I love 5Ks.  Such an easy distance and I feel like I can just go and run 3.1 miles and not have to train or anything.  Of course, I'm never going for speed. Things might look a little different if I were a serious runner. And by serious, I mean fast. Which I'm not. And I also mean talented.  Which I also am not. But I'm fun!

Pre-race with my running buddy.

So the night before the race, I met up with about 30 of my high school friends, all home for the holidays. It was so fun to see all those folks and catch up on everything that's been going on in the 5 years (give or take) since we graduated from high school. I was super careful about my pre-race fueling, too.  The temple that is my body ingested only the best deep-fried Wisconsin cheese curds and I insisted on 9-grain bread for my BLT.  And my dirty martini vodka of choice?  Grey Goose. I hear it's got more carbs than other vodkas.

Good thing the race didn't start until 4:35 p.m.

I ran with a friend - our first time running together ever - and we had a wonderful time!  We ran pretty slowly (see our splits below) and chatted the entire time.  I always forget how much fun it is to run with someone else! The course is an out and back along the Mississippi River in St. Paul.  We started at dusk; it was completely dark by the time we were finishing up and the city lights shining over the river looked absolutely beautiful.  A nice way to finish the year!

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	31:30.2	3.05	10:21
1	11:00.9	1.00	11:01
2	10:24.0	1.00	10:24
3	9:43.2	1.00	9:43
4	:22.1	0.05	8:03

========================================
And now, let's look at the year in review.

Number of races completed this year: 
23 total - Six 5k (including one Warrior Dash!), an 8k (trail), a 10k, an 8.9 mile (trail), a 10 mile, 8 half marathons, a 25k, a 30k, a 20 miler and two full marathons (Grandma's and Chicago).

Number of PRs set this year:
Six! - 5k, 8k, 10 mile, half-marathon, 30k, and marathon.

Free stuff! 
Remember, I'm cheap frugal, so I LOVE getting anything for free, no matter how it happens.  And can I just say that I love the magic of the internet?
Items won via Facebook:
1. Soleus watch courtesy of Team Ortho, organizer of many of my favorite races!
2. Race entry to a half marathon, courtesy of an Orthopaedic Group that sponsors many races.
3. Sweatshirt courtesy of the Med City Marathon folks, just for "liking" the Facebook page! (The fact that I won a sweatshirt is kind of ironic since the temps in that race rivaled the those in the pits of hell.)

The message informing me that I'm a winner!

5. Race bib belt from Final Stretch running, just for being one of the first 10 folks to sign up for their newest race.  It's called the Chocoholic Frolic.  Guess how long it took me to sign up once I saw the title.... Yeah, about a nanosecond.  That's why I'm a winner, folks!

My cozy sweatshirt....

.....and my cool race belt!

Items won in other ways.....
1. A sweet jacket courtesy of my running club for following their blog.
2. Hotel room at Grandma's Marathon - ok, so I didn't "win" this, but still, free stuff is free stuff!
3. Road ID bracelet for signing up for the Explore Minnesota Challenge.  Sadly, I didn't meet the challenge because most of the races I ran didn't qualify.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll try that one again if they expand the race list....

Progress on goals: 

1. Complete Grandma's again and improve my time. Check!

2. Run a total of 1000 miles.  Nope. 773 was my total mileage for running.

2012 Running Miles

But when you include walking and elliptical, I covered 1123 miles.  Not too shabby!

2012 Total Miles

3. Run at least one mile per day every day of the year.  (the "I heart to Run" running streak challenge)
I abandoned this one. Running one mile every day proved much more difficult than anticipated!  The daily donning of the sports bra proved to be the biggest mental hurdle to reaching this goal. Oh well.

4. Purposely move my body 30 minutes every day for the first 100 days of the year.
99/100 days of success!

Missed it by one day. Doh!

5. Attempt eating clean more often than not.
Epic failure. But I did manage to purge Oreos from my diet.  Speaking of Oreos...

6. Keep on trying new challenges and see where this adventure takes me next.
Well, I guess running a marathon on very little training is one way to challenge myself...... but I do keep on trying!

All in all, it's been a pretty good year.  I may not have met all my goals but I still managed to accomplish a lot and had a pretty good time doing it.  That's success as far as I'm concerned.

Happy New Year, everyone!  Looking forward to continuing the journey in 2013!

all we can do now is wait

Peaceful views on today's last training run for Grandma's.
And tomorrow's finish line!

It's here.  Marathon weekend!

The husband and I drove up to Duluth last night and checked into our hotel. We didn't mean to have an extra night in Duluth but I screwed up our reservation by not reading the fine print on the lodging webpage.  After debating about it, we decided we would drive up Thursday evening after all, and then maybe Friday would be more relaxing.

There was a bit of confusion regarding our reservation.
a. January - I booked the hotel for two nights.
b. Confirmation e-mail (received immediately post-booking) states two nights booked.
c. Confirmation letter (received via snail mail one month before marathon) states three nights booked.
d. Call hotel and am informed that there is a three night minimum.  Ugh.
e. Try calling other hotels to see if we can find a room for just two nights.  Yeah, one month before the marathon. We're SOL.
f. Send check to hotel (because they can't just take a CC over the phone, they have to MAIL an authorization form first, that I sign and send back to them.  Huh???  Well....ok, I'll just mail a check then.)  Check is for the entire amount on the confirmation letter, which states three nights.
g. Last night: Arrive at 10:30 p.m., check in a front desk and are informed that we had only reserved a room for TWO nights. You're kidding right? So much for relaxation.
h. Luckily, they did have a room available, and it's directly below the room we'd booked for the weekend so we'd just have to switch rooms in the morning. And we would even be getting some money back because the one night room is a little cheaper than our reserved room. Ok, sounds good.

Post last training run. High humidity. Squinty and sweaty.

i. One night room is quite lovely and right on the harbor.  Jacuzzi,  Fireplace. Very pretty, very quiet and comfortable.
j. Go for a run in the morning, when I get back to our room I see a hotel employee who says our other room is ready, she'll go get keys and we can move as soon as we're ready.
k. Move to the new room which is bigger than the one night room and has a sitting room overlooking the harbor. And a jacuzzi.  And a fireplace.  And a bag of goodies for before and after the marathon.  What a nice treat!!!
l. Phone call to our new room from the front desk: husband takes the call and the hotel is saying we owed for the one night room because we only had reservations for two nights.  (Good thing he answered.  I would have been all, "What???  No f'ing way. That can't be right. I KNOW I paid for three nights!!")
m. Find confirmation e-mail and see that yes, indeed, we did pay for only two nights.  Shiiiiiittttt.
n. Go to front desk to pay up.  Chat about the marathon with the two people working as they help us sort stuff out. Mention the confusion between the online reservation and the confirmation letter.

South Pier Inn. I highly recommend this place.

o. Guy at desk says he looked at the letter he sent and realized he made a mistake when he typed it up. So he's NOT GOING TO CHARGE US FOR THE ONE NIGHT ROOM.  How cool is that?

I love being the recipient of excellent customer service.

Plus, I think this qualifies as Free Stuff which is even cooler.

After getting our room stuff sorted out, the husband and I headed to the expo for packet pickup.  Not quite the clusterf%ck that AJ and I experienced last year, which was nice.

Got our packets and did a little expo shopping.  I got another pint glass (tradition) and another sticker for my car.  I'm not sure I'm going to put another one on the car though.  We'll see.  it might be overkill.

Yay for new Injinjis!!

Oh, and I went to the Injinji booth to get some new socks and when they found out that Injinji's are really the only socks I wear, I got a HUGE discount on my purchase.  Score!!!  (Kind of like getting a pair for FREE.)  Too bad I waited until AFTER I paid to tell them I have a link to the Injinji website on my blog.  They just might have paid me to take the socks.  Or maybe not. Yeah, ok, probably not.

I also found the gel I like (Ignite Naturals Reload gel) and Honey Stingers galore.

Tomorrow's weather forecast looks nasty - thunderstorms, moderate heat and 95% humidity.  Should make things interesting. I have no idea how it's all going to shake out.  All things being perfect, I think I have it in me to finish under 4:30.  But knowing how I tend to crump in humidity, if the weather is a huge factor I'll be happy to match last year's pace.  And hey, if I match last year's pace and don't spend 8 minutes in the frickin' porta potty at mile 13, I'll PR no problem!

So..... the training is done. Carb loading has been a success. Hydration has been good. Outfit is picked out and the timing chip is securely fastened on my shoe.  An early dinner and early to bed.  All we can do now it wait for race day and see what Grandma's brings. 

<contented sigh>

I'm ready for tomorrow.

winning and not winning

My cool new TCO shirt and fun extras.

So, remember me blogging last week about how I won an entry into the Get in Gear Half Marathon? Well, I heard from the group that did the giveaway (Twin Cities Orthopedics) and not only did I get the race entry, I also got my choice of su-WEET TCO tech shirt (I went with the long sleeve shirt since I have plenty of short sleeved running shirts). When they sent the shirt to me, they threw a couple of bone-shaped pens and a pedometer into the package too.  AND I found out that in addition to my race entry, I get a complimentary pass to the pasta dinner the night before the race, too.  How cool is that?!  Not sure if I'll go because of the timing/location and my suspicion of "pasta feeds" in general, but still a huge unexpected bonus!  Anywhoo, I guess I should have named that post "winner winner pasta dinner."  Haha, get it?  Yeah, I slay myself.

Apropos of nothing..... here's how I fuel my addiction.
Ummmm, I stocked up.

So.... back to the GIG.  TenacityChris wants me to race it.  (TenacityChris, I should mention, is in Boston this weekend preparing to run some marathon that's happening there. She's my hero.)
Again, back to the GIG....I'm excited to try for another PR, but kind of nervous too. Hopefully I won't choke like I did on the hot, humid day that was the Get Lucky half marathon. (Speaking of hot and humid, the weather for Boston is supposed to be horribly hot.  So hot, that they are offering deferrals to next year's race. Might end up being a tough day for the runners.) Once more, back to me and the GIG........I'm hoping I can redeem myself after the Get Lucky and prove to myself that I do have cojones. Huge ones. Or at least moderately sized ones.

Today's run wasn't too great.  I was supposed to do 16 miles but threw in the towel after 14.5. And I walked the last 3.5 miles.  Not sure what my deal is but I just get soooo tired. It started out pretty good, I ran 4 miles to my parents' house, then took their dog out for 3.5 miles, then headed home again where I planned to nab Jane and head out for the final 4-5 miles. It didn't quite work out that way. I did nab Jane but couldn't do the full 5 miles.  I felt like crap. Might be time to make some changes in my diet (eating clean??  yeah, not so much) and work on getting more rest.  Next week's run will be better.  I'm sure of it.

winner winner chicken dinner

You know how much I love to get free stuff, right?

And how it's even better when stuff is free because I WON it?

And you are aware that I'm kind of fond of running, too, right???

Well, I won an entry to the Get in Gear Half Marathon!!  I saw this post on Facebook and figured the odds were pretty good so I jumped on it.  I was going to enter this race anyway (I've run in some form of Get in Gear race - 5k, 10k, Half Marathon - since 2008) I just hadn't gotten around to signing up for it yet.  And now, because of the kindness and generosity of strangers, I get to run it for FREE!  How cool is that?

The internet rocks.

heading to grandma's, week 6

Another week under my belt!  This week wasn't my best but it definitely reinforced things I knew (but chose to ignore), and provided some learning opportunities.  For an old broad, I sure make some dumb, non-commonsensical choices.

Here's the recap for the week.  Read and learn from my mistakes..... you know I'm here for you.

Week 6:  March 19-25

Poor colorless day 79.

Monday
Easy run of 4 miles at 11:34 min
Workout note: Felt horrible all day at work, had a low grade fever and chills.  When I got home, I went right to bed.  No workout at all for me, which means my "move 30 minutes every day" streak ended after 78 days. That was a bummer. So I'm starting over again.

Tuesday
Easy run of 5 miles at 11:34 min
Workout note: Worked from home, still not feeling too hot.  Besides being sick, I've been experiencing some heartburn along with TONS of PVCs and they are driving me crazy.  Even though I figured they're benign, the fact that I'd been having runs of them and wasn't feeling well AND had a 15 mile run coming up made me think I should talk to someone, just in case.  I was right, no heart worries, which is great!  But the PVCs are still really bugging me.  My resting heart rate is pretty slow now, so I'm likely just noticing them more.  Got out with Jane and ran 5.07 miles at 10:35 pace.  And though I still felt kind of yucky, it was a nice, easy run. Yay for that!

Wednesday
Workout note: Core work. 150 clam shells, 25 push-ups, 20 crunches, 20 hip thrusts, 20 reverse crunches, 20 bicycle crunches, 20 pendulums, 10 plank reps. Today is Sunday and I'm still feeling the effects.  Ouch.  I absolutely have to do this more often; if I don't, my core strength could end up being my achilles heel. (Get it? Hahaha!)

Remember the jacket I won from the running club? Here
it is!  Sweet, ain't it?  I photographed it in all kinds of
J. Peterman-like action poses, but then you couldn't see the logo.
So there goes my attempt at artistic expression. Dang it.

Thursday
Run 3 miles at 11:34-12:34 pace
Workout note: Met with the running group again (Shoutout to Mary!!) and did 4.02 miles (Monday's distance) at 10:59 pace.
I'm enjoying meeting new folks and seeing some old friends, too!  It was a fun, if rainy run.  We got soaked!
GarminElectra was obnoxious as could be....  beeping and chirping the whole time.  One of the women asked, "What does all that beeping mean?" I explained that GE doesn't like rain, doesn't like being called upon to work, really, and this was how she expressed it.  Oh, and GE showed her versatility, too.  This time, instead of shutting off mid-run, she wouldn't allow me to turn her off AFTER the run, so the miles kept beeping on the way home in the car.  Then, after originally denying access, for no reason all all GE finally let me get to the "Stop Workout" screen.  I have GOT to get a new running partner.  Or maybe figure out what I'm doing wrong with this one. Sigh.

Friday
Workout note: Jane and I headed out for a nice leisurely walk, stopping often so Jane could fully experience all the wonderful/nasty smells of spring. 1.21 miles.

Saturday
Long Run as Follows:
WU for 1 mile at 12:34 pace
Run 14 miles at 11:34-12:34 min
Cool down with brisk walk for 5-10 minutes
Workout note: Holy Hannah, this one was tough.  I take full responsibility.  Read about it HERE.  My biggest concern really is how much my left ankle hurt when I was done running. Feels like the tendinitis might be making a comeback.  I was hoping that switching to Brooks (from the Sauconys) meant I wouldn't need orthotics anymore, but it's feeling like I do so I headed out to get some new ones today.  Hopefully, that will help.  My old orthotics, may they rest in peace, served me well and have now gone to a better place.

Sunday
Workout note:  Walked to the Quickie-Mart with the husband and the dog.  2.64 miles.  I tried my new orthotics and though they felt great support-wise, they are only half orthotics and I'm thinking that seam might just drive me crazy, not to mention cause blisters or other mischief.  We'll see how it goes.

Miles planned: 27
Miles run: 23.97 (What the heck, let's just call it 24! Oh, and I'm including the miles I walked during yesterday's 15 miler.)
Miles walked: 3.85

Happy week to you!

heading to grandma's, week 5

I can't believe I'm done with week 5 already.  Grandma's will be here before I know it!  Here's the recap for you.

Week 5:  March 12-18

Monday

Easy Run As Follows:

Warm up walking 5-10 min at brisk pace

Easy run of 3 miles at 11:34 min

Cool down with brisk walk of 5-10 min

Workout note: 3.1 miles, 11:11 pace.  Easy peasy. (Clearly that's my new favorite saying. Time to find another one.)  I also walked 2.42 miles.

Tuesday

Interval Run as Follows:

Warm up with 1 mile at 11:34 min 11:32 pace

Run 4 x 400 m (1/4 mile) at 8:40 min pace, recover ¼ mile at 11:00 8:42 with 11:06 recovery

Cool down with an 11:30 min mile

Workout note: Millie has rules about pacing and won't stray from what she chooses. This run was surprisingly easy for me!  Much more so than the hill interval run in week 3 that kicked my ass. Yay for that!

Wednesday - Workout note: walked 2.8 miles with Jane.

Thursday

3 Miles Easy Run as Follows
WU w/5-10 mins of brisk walking

Run 3 miles at 11:34-12:34 pace

Cool down with 5-10 min brisk walk.

Workout note: I ran 3.2 miles with the running club (the one that I ran with last fall) in Minneapolis. This time I made sure to introduce myself - funny how if you reach out, folks are pretty likely to be friendly and welcoming in return. I got to meet some nice people and had a good run. I'll definitely run with them again. Oh, and I picked up the sweet jacket that I won! I'll have to tell you about that later.

Friday - Workout note: walked 1.58 miles.  And carb-loaded for the race.  You know how much I hate having to do that. 

Saturday

Get Lucky Half Marathon!!!!

Goal:  2:10:00!!!!!  Let’s aim for this and see what happens.  I think you have it in you and it will certainly give us a feel for how realistic our Grandma’s Goals are for you!!! Pace: 9:56.  Print a paceband at Marathonguide.com – under calculators section.  EVEN SPLITS!!! 

Workout note: Yeah, this one was a complete fail, although I did still get a PR. Read about it HERE.

Some learnings:
1. Wear a hat when it's warm.
2. Look at the number of water stops in the race, and if it doesn't look like enough, carry your own damn water!
3. Maybe, just maybe, when your coach tells you to stick with a SLOW pace on your long run the week before your race, you should do it. Even if you're feeling fine and like you're not pushing at all. Because maybe (again, just maybe) she knows what the hell she's talking about and you should frickin' listen. Did last week's pace wreck this week's race? I don't know, but next time I'll listen to my coach just in case. Oooo, a little rhyme for you! Bonus!

Sunday - Workout note: walked 2.64 miles at William O'Brien State Park with Jane and the husband. It's so beautiful today! There is still a lot of ice on the lake at the State Park and it's very close to the shore. Jane went swimming and then walked on the ice. She was a happy dog.

Jane walking on water.  She's amazing.

23.49 miles running.

9.44 miles walking.

Another week in the bank!  

catching up

I've been a blog slacker again.

Remember when I posted about my job being eliminated?  My last day there was February 3rd.  I took a week off to re-group (and lick my wounds) and started my new job last Monday.  So far so good.  I like the people and the work is interesting.  But it's SO stressful starting a new job, and having to be there 8-5 Monday through Friday is a big change.  I'm used to spending part of most days working at home. On the up side, my new boss does triathlons so we're going to try to hold some of our meetings while running.  I'm excited about that!

The first day of my new job was also the first day of MARATHON TRAINING!!!  Oh, how I love to have a plan!

Here's what was on the plan for last week:

Monday
Easy Run As Follows:
Warm up walking 5-10 min at brisk pace
Easy run of 4 miles at 11:34 min pace
Cool down with brisk walk of 5-10 min
Tuesday
Interval Run as Follows:
Warm up with 2 miles at 11:34 min pace4 x ¼ mile repeats at 8:40-8:50 min pace.  Recover with ¼ mile at 11:34.Finish run with 1 mile cool down at 11:34 min pace. The interval run Kicked.My.Ass.  It was HARD to run that fast but it sure felt good!
Wednesday - Core work and ran one mile
Thursday
Easy Run as Follows
WU w/ brisk walk for 5-10 min
Easy run of 4 miles at 11:34 min pace
Cool down with brisk walk of 5-10 min
Friday - elliptical and ran one mile
Saturday
Long Run as Follows:
WU for 1 mile at 11:34-12:34 pace
Run 5 miles at 11:34 pace
Run last 1 mile at 10:13 min pace. (Goal Marathon Pace!!!) I felt like I could run all day during this one!  Oh, and I ran that last mile in 9:15 and felt fantastic.  Isn't that bizarre????
Cool down with brisk walk for 5-10 minutes
Sunday - walked the dog and ran one mile

Halfway there!  And I still can't color in the lines.

The biggest challenge?  Keeping to that unbearably slow pace. I haven't been able to do it yet.

Goal check-in:
Running at least one mile per day - 46/51 days of success
Moving 30 minutes every day - 51/51 days of success!
Clean eating - I think I'm seeing some improvement there!

In other news: 

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE free stuff?

My sweet new watch! Did I mention I won it?  

Team Ortho, sponsor of many of my favorite races, was doing a week of giveaways on Facebook.  All you had to do was "like" their page and "like" the post stating what the current giveaway is.  They have things like Newtons, watches, jackets, and sometimes even jewelry.  When I see those posts come across I always pounce on 'em like a honeybadger on a house of bees.  Anywhoo, a couple of weeks ago, on a Wednesday, I found out I won a free Soleus watch from Team Ortho and Gear Running Store!!!!  How cool is that?!?!

Then, two days later, I found out that I won a jacket from my running club for being the 10th person to follow their blog.  Can you say "Su-Weet?"?  I haven't picked it up yet, but will do it soon.  I love the internet!

So that's about it for now.  I have more to share but it will have to keep until my next riveting post.  Stay healthy and active, my friends!

securian winter run 5k

Waiting for the race to start.  I failed at self-portraits
today and finally gave in and asked a stranger
to take our picture. But look - my eyes are open!
A little crazy looking, but still...!

I ran two races today: the Securian Winter Race (hosted by the St. Paul Winter Carnival) and the Freeze Your Thorns Off virtual 5k (hosted by Adam@theboringrunner.com). I'll devote an entire post to the FYTO5K, don't worry.

I've had kind of a crappy week, and then got a migraine early Thursday morning.  I ended up leaving work around 9:30 and went home and slept the entire day.  So my "run at least a mile a day" streak ended on Thursday.  I did feel a bit better late in the evening so I took Jane for an airing out - meaning I at least managed to get my 30 minutes of movement in, albeit, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.  Yesterday I was still feeling pretty rotten but improving, although I still didn't feel like running.

 But today I felt pretty good.  The Securian 5k was fun for me!  The husband ran with me, but knowing that since I had a chip on my shoe (as opposed to my shoulder) I would want to go as fast as I could, he graciously gave me a kiss and said, "You run your race. We'll meet at the finish line."  So that's what I did - I ran my race.  It was tough little 5k course!  It wound through downtown St. Paul and along the Mississippi for a little while before heading back along the same route.  So sort of an out and back but not really.

NOT a missed photo op! I
have no idea what he was supposed to be
or represent, but I had to get my picture taken
with him.  He complimented me on my
sweet trail shoes. And notice my awesome
Explore MN Challenge hat!

There were some seriously lonnngggg climbs...... when they became the downhills, I tried to get the most out of them and use that gravity.  My shins were really hurting during mile 2 and I had to slow down a bit.  I have no idea what was the issue and I didn't seem to be able to control the SLAPPING of my feet..... damn, that was annoying.  Eventually, whatever was bugging me settled down and I was able to pick up the pace again.

You gotta love runners: The half marathoners went out first, then the 10k runners, then us (we?) 5Kers.  It wasn't too long before we were running into each other (not literally, a bunch of us running one way on the street, and a bunch running the opposite way) so we must have been passing the 10k runners, and a ton of them were shouting encouragement to us.  "You're looking good!"  "Running strong!"  and we were giving them shout-outs right back.  I love that!

This race is the first of the Explore Minnesota Challenge.  I only have to complete 7 more events (in various parts of the state) and I get a bunch of fun stuff.  Today I earned my first of four pins (representing the four parts of the state) which can be proudly displayed on my EMC banner (I'll have to take a picture of that and add it at some point.)  And I'm digging the hat I got.  For the race, I got a cool mug and a Winter Carnival button.  Holy crap, I am a bling whore, aren't I?  Or maybe a bling hoarder?

I love the race logo - "Embrace Brisk" - I should have
bought one of the shirts.  Dammit.

In addition to the self-portrait fail, my photo documentation of the day in general was a fail.  Several missed photo ops: Klondike Kate, a polar bear (although I did get a fist bump from him when I finished the race), the Abominable Snowman or something like that.  It was white and hairy.  And I missed them all.  Dammit!

Anywhoo, I was pretty pleased with myself for running strong up every inch of each of those hills, and I tried to push it a bit to see what would happen.  And even though it hurt a bit, my body didn't explode!   (I think that's been a secret fear of mine.)  And the best part about today?  I got an official PR!!!  And the run streak is back on!

Here are my splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	29:57.8	3.18	9:25
1	9:25.9	1.00	9:26
2	9:39.9	1.00	9:40
3	9:18.7	1.00	9:19
4	1:33.3	0.18	8:35

Man, I LOVE seeing all those sub-ten minute miles!  Of course, I forgot to turn off Garmin Electra a the end of the race - so I ended up with some extra mileage.  My official time is 29:44.  And that's a PR baby!!  Damn, that feels good.

Next up: the Freeze Your Thorns Off virtual 5K report.

could this be love?

How could I NOT have known that something
so wondrous exists????

Oh my, I have found a cookbook that warms the cockles of my carb whore heart!!


I saw this on Facebook and couldn't believe my eyes.  Just look at what Barnes & Noble has to say about this little treasure:


Enjoy the delicious carbs you love - and still lose all the weight you want...and keep it off! The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook features 150 brand new, quick, easy and totally yummy carb-filled recipes that will fill you up and melt off pounds. In addition to more delicious recipes, this cookbook includes over 300 CarbLovers-approved food items to grab-and-go, 10 special menus that help you prepare amazing CarbLovers meals for the holidays or gameday, PLUS exclusive recipes by carb-loving celebrity chefs like Guy Fieri, Cat Cora, Gail Simmons and Wolfgang Puck! No need to count calories or ever feel hungry: all CarbLover recipes are packed with Resistant Starch, the wonder carb that increases fat-burning while keeping you feeling full all day long. Our recipes are dietitian-approved and good for your heart as well as your hips. Enjoy comfort foods like pasta primavera, cheesy stuffed potatoes and the amazing CarbLovers Club Sandwich! The CarbLovers Diet is the only plan you'll ever need to help keep the pounds off - and The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook is the recipe collection that will keep you full and satisfied for life!


It ALMOST sounds too good to be true, but because it's on the internet (the source of all that is reliable, genuine and good), I'm a believer.  I'm going to order it.  Does this fly in the face of my "clean eating" goal??? 

Oh how I love my free stuff!  And check out the cool metal
box it arrived in!

Another thing I love: my RoadID wrist band.  I have a red velcro Wrist ID Sport version that I'm pretty good about wearing (on my long runs especially); I just think it's such a good idea to have some type of ID on you "just in case."  When the Wrist ID Slim came out,  I thought about ordering one because it looks more comfortable and has some fun colors, but because I already owned one (and I'm cheap frugal), I never did.


So anywhoo, I signed up for the Explore Minnesota Challenge, and as part of my goodie bag for registering, I got a coupon for a free RoadID!  You know how much I love my freebies!  I went online the day I got that coupon and ordered the Wrist ID slim in pink.  And because it was free, I paid the extra $1.00 each for two more bands - purple and green.  It's alway nice to have options, ya know?


Back to training - so far, I have kept up with my "run at least a mile every day" AND my 30 minutes of movement per day.  Clean eating.... better over the last couple of days but still not 100%.  I think I'm going to look at what might constitute an "appropriate" percentage for me to shoot for...  
Anyone have thoughts on that?  
Bueller?  
Anyone??


Happy Sunday, all!