it's two, two, two posts in one!

It was a blue shirt weekend!

So I'll just cut to the chase:

Last weekend was a two race weekend.  AND a two PR weekend!!!

I'll try to make this (relatively) short and sweet, since I'm so far behind in my blogging.  I really need to catch up on things.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I'm not exactly a pro at brevity. Let's just let it go and see how things end up, shall we?

I haven't done my week 12 training recap yet, but I can tell you right now, "training" was pretty much non-existent that week. I had another SUPER tough workweek - I knew it would be - so I gave myself permission to run or not run, just do whatever I could, and not bitch myself out about it or feel like a failure if I didn't get any running done.

Anywhoo...... Friday rolled around and I hadn't run once. I knew I had a hilly half marathon on Sunday, and I wanted to get a few easy and relaxing miles in on Saturday. And I was really in the mood to run through some mud.  So I decided to run the Down & Dirty Women's 8k Trail race again. I had so much fun running it last year - it was my first ever trail race!

Down & Dirty Hills

Ummm, yeah......it was hillier than I remembered.

That little climber at mile 2?  That was tough!  I just tried to relax, enjoy the scenery and not fall and hurt myself. Success!!

Saturday's Down & Dirty Women's 8k Trail Race.Can you
spot the keys and iPhone carefully concealed in my SpiBelt? 

I had a great time!  The weather was perfect, the course was lush and green, and it was the perfect antidote to an incredibly stressful week. I was a happy runner!

And when I was done, I saw that I shaved 6:20 off last year's time!  How fun is that!?!?!  (48:06 official time. Last year I did this same course in 54:26.) Whoo hoo!!

GarminElectra's report:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	48:13.0	4.87	9:54
1	9:47.5	1.00	9:47
2	10:11.6	1.00	10:12
3	9:57.0	1.00	9:57
4	9:54.8	1.00	9:55
5	8:22.1	0.87	9:40

It was fun to see a bunch of running friends and it was especially fun to be able to go out and have a joyful trail run after a crazy week. My only complaint it that it wasn't muddy enough. I wanted to get dirty!

=======================================

On to race #2:  Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon.

Yeah, this one was kinda hilly, too.

The hills of the Lake Minnetonka half marathon.  

My butt was already feeling the effects of the previous day's race.

Another perfect day for running, weather-wise.  Rain, heavy rain, was in the forecast so I figured I was in for my third soaking wet half marathon in three weeks.  But it turned out that the third time was a charm - it was raining hard when I left my house - and the running gods were smiling upon me as got closer to the start line of the race as the rain lightened to a drizzle and then stopped and stayed away for the entire race! It was an hour drive so I had lots of time to obsess over what I was going to wear - my thriller jacket..... or  a long sleeve shirt...... or maybe I would just throw caution to the wind and go all  crazy and just wear a short sleeved shirt with nothing else to protect me from the elements.  (Yeah, I brought all that stuff with me so I could decide at the last minute.)  Aren't I just so daring and living on the edge and crap?  Wild thing!!

She's almost as tall as I am!
Amazon women.

I ran with a co-worker for part of the race.  We discovered we were running the same race on Friday, realized we run similar paces (although she has a faster PR than I do), and we were both running solo.  We decided to meet up and start together and if one of us was feeling good we'd just run our own race. It was fun to run with her!  We're both new to the company so we had lots of stories to share.  We stayed together for the first nine miles and then I lost her.  I thought she was alongside me but it was some other chick in the same color shirt.  Didn't see her again until the end.  Racing side note: I did some laundry on Saturday (including my running clothes from the race) and pulled things out to wear on Sunday and of course it was the EXACT SAME outfit I wore on Saturday.  Not a huge deal other than the photo ops showing me needing some variety in my clothing....... Yeah, I'm all about the details folks.

Anywhoo, talk about an absolutely GORGEOUS course!  We ran through some beautiful neighborhoods, and of course we ran along Lake Minnetonka, and up and down several hills. There were some hills on that course.  Did I mention the hills?  No?  It was a hilly course.  And though it didn't rain, it was HUMID. I was sweating buckets.  My pony tail was soaking when when I was done.  From sweat.  If it had been hot and sunny, it would have been a totally different race for me.  But it wasn't hot or sunny, and this race ended up being my fastest half-marathon to date!!  2:10:50 official time.  That's a PR, pumpkin!! And I did it in humid conditions and on a hilly course!!!  I kept the wheels on for the entire race this time, too.

I am strong like bull.

Here's the view from splitsville:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	2:10:24.9	13.15	9:55
1	10:17.7	1.00	10:18
2	9:55.2	1.00	9:55
3	9:59.5	1.00	9:59
4	9:49.6	1.00	9:50
5	9:46.3	1.00	9:46
6	10:05.9	1.00	10:06
7	9:51.6	1.00	9:52
8	10:00.1	1.00	10:00
9	10:02.6	1.00	10:03
10	9:35.1	1.00	9:35
11	10:09.5	1.00	10:10
12	9:57.3	1.00	9:57
13	9:37.6	1.00	9:38
14	1:17.0	0.15	8:19

So there it is.  (Not a horribly long post, is it??)
Two days, two races, two PRs.  What a fun weekend!! 

first race of 2012

Waiting for the start of the Polar Dash 5k. See the banner
snapping in the wind? Gusts of about 40 mph made for a brisk run yesterday!

Yesterday the husband and I almost missed the first race of the year.  Once again, we signed up for the Polar Dash 5k.  We had our choice of 5k, 10k and Half Marathon, but Minnesota winters being unpredictable as they are, we KNOW we can pound out a 5k in most conditions, but a 10k or Half Marathon if the weather is truly awful?  I know my limits....so we went with the 5k.

We've done this race for the last couple of years.  It's a great way to kick off the New Year and doesn't start at an impossibly early hour after a night of fun.  We did our usual New Year's Eve pre-race prep: fondue (steak, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, green peppers and had two pots going - the husband is a traditionalist and likes to cook his fondue in oil; I prefer my concoction of beef broth, red wine, dried mushrooms, herbs and garlic), I made two yummy dipping sauces: chipotle mayo and creamy horseradish; we also had baked potatoes, cheese fondue with bread and apples, and for dessert we had some Don Julio 1942 and decadent chocolates.  Who wouldn't be able to run a kick-ass race with that kind of fuel in the tank?

I assumed the race start time was the same this year as it has been for the last two years (11:00), and you know what happens when you assume.  Because of the rain/snow/ice we got hit with on New Year's Eve, I decided to look at the website as I was getting ready yesterday morning to see if there were any warnings or changes due to the weather.  That was when I noticed the asterisk:

Polar Dash 5K Highlights

• *NEW 10:15 a.m. Start Time (10K & Half start at 10:00 a.m.)
• Hot Chocolate at the Finish Line
• Unisex Polar Dash fleece
• Stained-glass medal
• Bib/gear mailing option during online registration only -- until December 16, 2011
• Bag Drop/Pick-up
• Shriners Hospital for Children in Minneapolis is the beneficiary for this race.  It does fabulous orthopaedic work for children all over the U.S.

Doh!  So instead of 45 minutes to get ready and head out the door, we now had about 5 minutes.  How we both missed that little detail I have no idea.  I would have been so pissed if we'd gotten all the way over there and then found out we missed the race!!  It's all about planning and preparation, people!

The right shoes for the job.

Anywhoo, we got dressed and were on our way.  Found a place to park and headed for the start line.  It turned out just fine, and as a bonus we didn't have to stand around for too long since the race was starting in just 15 minutes.  Although it was warm out (26 degrees or so) it was WINDY! Gusts up to 40 mph, with a headwind after the turnaround. That made the second half feel pretty tough.  

Because of the crappy road conditions, I wore my sassy trail shoes.  They were awesome on the snow and ice! Last year we had about 2 feet of snow so I wore my YakTrax.  They were good on the snowy portions but sucked where the pavement was clear. The trail shoes handled the transitions much better and you gotta love the way they look!

So, back to the race.  It's a "fun run" which means no chip timing this year.  (Also a change from last year.)  Lots of walkers and first-timers.  Although it can be frustrating to weave through the slow traffic, it's super fun to see them crossing the finish line of their first 5k looking SO excited and you just know they are feeling that awesome sense of accomplishment!  

The race went quick!  I lost the husband after the first mile - I thought he was right behind me heading up the big hill but when I turned around, I didn't see him in the mass of runners. Heartless wife that I am, I just went ahead and ran my race, figuring I'd find him at the finish. And I did.  Garmin Electra kept pace for me and didn't pull any stunts.  It's so nice when she cooperates.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	30:13.1	3.04	9:56
1	10:20.6	1.00	10:21
2	9:55.6	1.00	9:56
3	9:35.5	1.00	9:35
4	:21.4	0.04	8:53

5k finishers!

Check it out: last year's time on the exact same course was 35:25.  I was instructed to go slow last year because I was nursing an injury, but I don't think I would have been much faster even if I pushed it.  This year, even with the ice and nasty headwind, my time was 30:13.  And I wasn't pushing it at all, I was just having a nice easy run.  I'd say that's an improvement!  (Of course now I wish I had pushed it because I could have started the year off with a PR, albeit unofficial.  Dammit!  Oh well.) And maybe if we had fueled the machine a little better the night before I could have run a little faster....nah, that's just me talking crazy.

So anyway, for day one of my challenges: move for 30 minutes - check.  Run at least a mile - check.

Clean eating?  Ummmm, not so much.  But let's not talk about that now.  

How did your first day of New Year challenges go?