Peak2Peak 10 mile RACE REPORT

PEAK TO PEAK 10 mile race

 

1:34:25 (9:27 avg) 113/208 overall....45/114 Females...23/52 F30-39

^Awesome swag for this race! Technical shirt, technical hat and a finishers medal for everyone!

This was my first time running this unique 10 mile race. It starts down in Bellevue, near the Peak Performance store and runs along a beautiful trail up to the Peak Performance store in Omaha.
Race started at 8:30 with near 55* temps. Perfect. They were shuttling people from the Omaha store down to the start line on buses but being that I get terribly motion sick if you even MENTION the phrase 'you wanna ride with me?' I thought it wouldnt be a wise idea to make use of this service.
So, my awesome hubby drove me down to the start line and then picked me up after the race was done. What a guy.

So I got there around 8 and met up with some of my Thursday morning running buddies.

^Anna can NOT take a normal picture facing the sun. Proven fact.

Met a couple new friends from Daily Mile so that was fun (*Hi Michael! Hi Lindsy!*).

Race started pretty much on time. We started about mid-pack and at around a 9:40 pace. I ran with Megan and Jennifer (^the two on the left) for the first couple miles to see how I would feel (I wasnt sure what kind of effort I could give today).

^Around mile 2. According to Jennifer. I was too busy people/bird watching and looking for cameras to smile at, to notice any mile markers.
=)
A bit after this I pulled away as I was feeling pretty good.

^Around mile 7ish. Speaking of motion sickness, I actually got slightly queasy running across the wooden bridges in this race! All the people running on the bridge with me, and shaking it up were not doing my tummy any favors. How rude.

I was pretty pooped the last couple miles and didnt have much left for a final kick. The effort on this run felt like a solid tempo run, which is about the effort I wanted to give today. Didnt feel QUITE up to race pace, but I'm cool wi 'dat.  Still a solid effort.

^Coolest chicks around (minus the dork in the pink).

^Sweet finishers medal

Hubs and kiddos came to pick me up and I totally forgot to get a picture of them and I post-race AT the race, so we did it in the driveway. Please excuse their hair as they were running around like crazy people before the picture. Looking NOTHING like their momma when she runs. Nope. No way.

Recovery has been great. Took Sunday as a total cardio rest day-no post race soreness (probably due to my less-than-race-pace effort). Then did some 'llipty warm up, light weights and planks Monday morning.

Got back into the grove this morning with a 5.1 mi run. Kept it easy the first couple miles (10:31, 10:23 pace) and then upped the effort the last few (9:48, 9:03, 8:46, 8:19). 
Topped it all off with with some push ups when I got home (15 x 5 sets).

Today is my oldest daughters 12th birthday. TWELVE!  She was adopted, I'm sure. NO WAY am I old enough to have a 12 year old....

Ted E Bear Hollow 5K! Lots of pics followed by race report

TED E BEAR Hollow 5K August 25, 2012

Time-24:31, 4/18 in my age group, 40/194 overall

^Above picture before the race started. Love to see people milling about pre-race, gets me all sorts of excited to fly past at least 3% of them once the gun goes off.

^Above picture is my buddy Kathleen and I pre-race. We've been friends for over 10 years but anymore, the only time we get to see each other is at the occasional race!

^Above picture is the start line. I am at this time, mentally picking out the 2-5 people that I am sure I can pass in the next 20 minutes...that girl in the green shorts is goin' DOWN, people.

^Finishline pictures courtesy of the awesome Joseph Drugmand! He is at most of the races I do snapping awesome pictures and capturing memories for all of us. 

^Receiving my medal! Placed 3rd in my age group (I was actually 4th but one of the girls who placed in the top 3 overall females was in my age group so I got lucky)  =)

^Photo courtesy of Joseph Drugmand.  The gal on the left got 2nd in our age group. Her and I actually went to highschool together-AND she's pregnant with baby #5!  Kickin' job, Becky!

^ Bunch of awesome ladies. The middle 2 also live in the town I grew up in, which is pretty small, which automatically makes them my best friends now.  We ALL medaled. Representin' P-town like the bosses we are!

^Random dog at our race but SERIOUSLY. How CUTE is that face?  I would have tried to sneak him home in my back pocket if he was bout 80#'s smaller....

Proud of my time at this race!  My watch said 24:31 at the finishline BUT it also said 2.98 miles. They SAID it was a certified course, so maybe my watch was just being a clown, who knows. But my avg pace was 8:14 which is pretty rockin' for this slow poke!

Incase you havent been a follower of this blog from the get-go (and if you haven't, what's wrong with you?! Actually I dont even know if I've HAD this blog that long, so you're forgiven), Ted E Bear Hollow was the first 5K I ever ran back in August 2010 after I had been running for an ENTIRE 7 weeks. Yep. I was ready to kill it.  Ran that one in 32:19, then ran it again the following year in 27:xx (coming off an injured knee) and then this year at 24:31 (OFFICIAL results were 24:54 which baffles me as my watch said 24:31 and I started and stopped RIGHT on the mat-but whatev).  It is a favorite 5K of mine and I'll continue to run it as long at they let me! =)

It was supposed to be slightly chilly and drizzly this morning. We got the EVER so slightly chilly but the drizzly came in at about 20 minutes into the race for about 24.8 seconds and that was it-but it was a welcome relief!  The last 10 minutes of the race, I felt like my face was ON FIRE and would melt off my head at any moment! I have never experienced that in a race. I remember trying to fan it off with my hand. Yeah. Not too successful.

The last 4 minutes were TERRIBLY tough. But I got thru them. Finishline was about 20 feet after a SHARP turn which was kind of awkward as you couldnt put your boosters on the last .10 of the race (or for me, the last .03 of the race)  =)

Next race for me is a unique point-to-point race here in Omaha this Saturday called 'Peak to Peak'. It is a 10 miler along a really flat paved trail here that runs from a store in Belleuve to a store in Omaha.  This is the first year I've done it so I'm excited about it AND it looks like the weather will be PERFECT for racing Saturday morning (around 55* at start time)!  I MUCH prefer cold weather for races, than blazin' temps, dont you?  =)

Here I am!

Well, I thought it would be fitting to post here now since its ALMOST my one year anniversary from posting. That has to be SOME kind of record, right? I'm really surprised my blog hasn't rusted over and become inusable. But alas, I can pick it up, dust it off and get it working for me again. Thank you Jesus for technology.

Well, what's happened this year?

I ran The Papillion 1/2 marathon for the 2nd time (and my 2nd 1/2 marathon EVER). Last year my time was 2:08 and change, this year, 1:59 and change!!! I really didnt think I had it in me. This course is pretty hilly and is pretty much all up the hill the last 1.5 miles.  TOUGH stuff. Felt like I was going to 'de-food' so I knew I gave it my all.  Yay me.

Then 8 days later I ran the BoysTown Memorial Day 5 mile which is pretty hilly and WOW was it tough. Hilly, a later race (start time was 8:30) LOTS of spots with full sun AND just coming 8 days off my 1/2.  BUT I did it in under 50 minutes (9:05 avg) so I was cool wid' it.

                                             BOYSTOWN 5 mi run May 2012

And just for added cuteness, here's my little boy running around the track in the fieldhouse after the race. I believe this was lap 3 or 4-he's a MANIAC and I think he's going to be lightening fast like his Papa (cuz the good Lord KNOWS that doesnt come from me!) =)

Since then I have only run one other race. The Siena Francis House 5K/10K (I do the 10K cuz I'm a rockstar like that).  Last year I placed in my age group and my overall pace was around 8:50 I believe. This year I placed again but my overall pace was around 9:50!! Crazy what 80* temps and FULL sun will do to your pace...*irked*  BUT I gave it all I had for that day and that's all I can ask. And hey, I DID get my picture taken with a TROPHY so at least people will THINK I was fast.  =)

Overall though, this has been a hard 4-5 months. I've gotten off the good eatin' bandwagon and have resorted back to my 'anti-portion control' self.  Workouts have been good though. I'm running 3-4 days a week, doing weights 1-2x a week (depending on how often I bike), biking 1-2x a week) and TRYING to get 1 rest day in there. Earlier this year I was up to doing 100 push ups! Ok ok, so its 20 reps x 5 sets, but still. Last year around this time I could BARELY do one push up, so this is quite an improvement! The most I did this year at one time was 40, but then my shoulder felt wonky the next day so I decided I JUST might not be ready for THAT kind of punishment.  Now I am doing around 80 push ups 2x a week.

Anyway, I am hoping to be more consistent in my random jottings here and thereby HOPEFULLY encouraging myself to get back on the right track and leave this 'whole-pack-of-cookies' nonsense in the dust!

Any tips or words of encouragement welcome!!!

The good, the bad and the in between and a RACE REPORT!

Ok, so, wow. It's not that I dont love you running folk. I do. From the bottom of my ever-sweatin' heart. But I was kind of mad for awhile. Not really AT you 'uns. But at the fact that you were all able to run like the wind at any given moment, and here I was. STILL semi-injured. And STILL not being able to run as much as my carefree heart desired.
You could say I was throwing an inner hissy fit.

So anyway, I wont bore you with ALL the details, but if you remember, after my 10K on June 26, I didnt properly recover and was rewarded with some nice achy knees. So I was a good girl and took 1 whole week off of running. Went back into it nice and easy and was fine.
THEN.
The night of the 11th and 12th (July) I went for a HARD 10mi bike ride, (and the morning of the 12th I went for a 3mi run too), and then worked out pretty hard the morning of the 13th.
MAJOR knee-setback. grrrr.
But I was stubborn about it and just tried to do my runs easy and keep the miles low. Well, on July 22, it became apparent that wasnt going to help. So I ran just over 5miles (I was being onery-knew I wasnt going to be able to run for awhile so I wanted to get a longer-ish run in before that happened).
So, I took off another whole week and a day of running (only did VERY light cardio a couple times that week) and seemed to be doing ok. So I went for a run July 30th and felt pretty good.
I kept all my runs easy and kept the miles low and ran a few of the runs on the 'mill.
Things were lookin' good. So on the 12th (friday) I thought of hopping in on the 1/2 marathon plan so that I could maybe run the 1/2 on Sept 25th here in town.
On Sunday following, the plan had me running a 5K. Well I knew I wasnt ready for that, so I just planned a route of that distance, upped the pace JUST a bit and threw in a HUGE, long hill to make up for the fact that I couldnt go all out on the pace.
Welp.
that probably wasnt wise. Knees were pretty achy all day after that run AND the next day. So I took off another 4 days of running. I was getting nervous as I had a 5K race coming up Aug 27th (we'll get to that later). Ran again on the 19th and just kept the miles low and easy. Felt great.
Ran again on the 21st, still good. then again on the 24th. STILL good. Then the NIGHT before my 5K (last Friday) my left hammie was really tight all day. Not painful but REALLY tight.
I.Was.Scared.
I did a lot of praying that night and spent a lot of time in the bathroom (nervous fluttery tummy hit me with a vengance!) and the next morning my legs felt good. (tummy was a whole other story-dont know why I was so terribly nervous!)
Anyway, the lower body weight training has pretty much fallen off the map as I didnt want to risk a set back in my legs/knees. Upper body has stayed consistent and I have worked my way up to being able to do 400 crunches (100x4 sets), as well as 3 sets of planks for 90,80 and 70seconds. I have also switched to doing the 'real' pushups after having done week 6 of the hundred pushup challenge about 742 times in the modified push up form. I am doing 6x 5 sets 3 times a week. I am SO wimpy when it comes to upper body strength.

My weight has fluctuated during the last month or so, but I DID meet my goal of 100 during July and was actually down to 99.8! For one day at least =) I seem to hang around 101-102.8 alot, but I am ok with that (for now)..... =)

Here is a pic of one of my favorite night time snacks. Fresh fruit with a generous dollop of yogurt on top (1/2 plain greek and 1/2 vanilla)

THEN I discovered just how much more AMAZING that combo is when it has some Kashi thrown in. Oh my yum.

This is a common breakfast for me on non-running days. Big bowl of cut up fruit. About 150-200 calories depending on what I put in and I am SUPER stuffed after I eat it, but pretty hungry again about 2-3 hours later. So its the prefect amount of food for me on these days.

I read an awesome book called 'The Raw Food Detox Diet' and this is one of her recipes from in there. A homemade veggie soup w/ Ezekiel bread (with raw honey on top) on the side. This whole lunch was 300 calories (the soup is only 50 calories for 1 cup!) and it left me almost TOO stuffed. I love her book and would love to implement more of her ideas but I dont know how to make that work with my workouts (she emphasizes different food combining rules and eating only fruit til noon-which I like to do, but I feel I need more protein after my runs). I know there are people out there (athletes) who eat this way but my body seems to be more finiky. I may try it sometime though and see what happens.

I also checked out 'The Green Smoothie Revolution' and we liked a few different recipes of hers. I dont remember what all was in this smoothie but I know the veggie was kale and spinach. It was actually really good and my kids liked it too!

Ok, so ON TO THE RACE REPORT!

Ted E Bear Hollow 5K Aug 27, 2011 8:30am

My stats Time 27:20 Placed 3rd in my age group out of 33..... 52 overall out of 223

So I got there around 7:45, picked up my packet and head back to my car to put my bib on. Head back near the start line to wait for a couple of friends who were going to meet up with me

Met some very cute random dogs like this little snookums.

So I met up with my friends (it was their first race) and we chatted for a bit before race time.

This was a 10K and 5K so the 10K folks lined up and set off about 5minutes before we did (they went the opposite way as us on the course).

Then we all lined up and good golly was I nervous. My tummy is in a knot right now just thinking about it-so weird!! Anyway, I lined up WAY at the back like always (love to pass people, hate to BE passed). Heard the gun and we were off!

Due to the fact that I was at the back, it was slow going the first .2 miles or so which I think was good for me as I didnt start out too fast. Once we got on the trail, I started slowly picking people off one by one. (only got passed a few times the whole race). I actually ENJOYED the whole first 1/2 of the race, where as I usually HATE the 5K distance from start to finish as I am pushing it so hard. The back half of the race, I picked up the pace a bit but still felt good. But around 2.80 miles in I started to feel it.

Those thoughts started to enter my head 'Just walk for a minute and catch your breath' or 'who cares if you get passed, just stop' and 'I think I'm gonna pass out'.

So anyway, I powered past all that.

The last .10 there was a kid about 10 years old, just huffing and puffing and groaning and lookin' like a hurtin' unit. So I gave him a 'You're doing awesome! Finishline is just ahead, you can DO this!' as I passed him, and about 5 seconds later he ZOOMED past me like nascar racer! Little stinker =)

I finally felt like I had a kick left in me the last .05 miles so I turned on the boosters and rocketed to the finishline passing one guy as I did (I have a pic of his face looking at me as I did that-so funny, should have posted it)

No I did NOT run a 5K in 4:07, I dont even think I could run HALF a mile that fast, no clue why the clock says that. I give God all praise and glory for this run! No WAY could I have done this pain free with out him. this is over a minute slower then my 5K in April, but I have done NO speedwork for 2 months and have only done minimal, slow, low mileage runs, so I'll take it =)

Hubby surprised me by bringing the kiddos to the race and I got to see them at the finishline! I was BEYOND surprised and thrilled. Love these little guys.

I'd give you my splits and all that fun stuff but that little boy in front of me pushed the button on my garmin that made it start going again and I didnt realize it for a few minutes-little stinker.

Receiving my age group award.

They announced my name as placing 2nd but I really got 3rd. I actually ASKED them before all this if I had placed and if so what place I got, and they told me 3rd. Then they announced me as 2nd. I checked the online results the next day, and sure enough, it has me down as 3rd as well!

Next race on tap is a charity run on the 17th of September for a friend of friend who was in car accident in July (5K) and then the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure at the beginning of October. I am really bummed that I cant do the 1/2 marathon in September, but I just figure given what happened after that 'mock 5K' run I did, God was trying to tell me 'eh eh eh Anna, not gonna happen', so I'm fine with that =)

_____________________________

What races do you have planned for the fall? What races have you done this month?

Fun stuff

So here are some of the highlights from the last month, plus.

June 26, 2011
FIRST 10K race! Siena/Francis House 10K and 5K Run/Walk held at Lake Z, 8am.
>>>>I got an age group award!!!<<<<

I have been pretty excited for this race. It is the first 10K race I've done, AND it was less than a mile from my house. Sweet.
I woke up around 5:30, got dressed and fueled up at 6 with my trash of choice which was a crunchy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. SO yummy. Drank a little water (made sure to hydrate well the day before) and got my stuff together. Bib #, Garmin, tunes, hydration belt and a long sleeve shirt as it was going to ever so slightly chilly and I look worse than a shaved chihuahua when I am chilly. I seriously move the earth when I shiver.

This race was well organized and I would definitely run it again. Lots of pre and post race food (yogurt, several varieties of bagels and cream cheese, large variety of muffins, gatorate type drinks and bottled water and a bushels of 'bars' (nature valley, power bar, wheaties bars etc)...

10K started 5min before the 5K which started 5min before the walkers. SO wish I would have brought my camera.

I feel I ran the race well, going easier at the beginning and gradually picking up the pace as I went. I started out pretty much at the WAY back of the pack. I think that's going to be my starting place in every race I do. I feels SO good to be able to pass people =)

My friend Jody took these race pics. The race photographer has some on his site too, so I am waiting for him to email me the attachements so I can bombard you with more of my dorkiness.

*Right after the first mile and waving the dorky flag with pride.

At the finish. My 'official' time was 55:11, which puts me 11 seconds OVER the time limit to be a select seeded runner in the Corp. Cup 10K race in September (still puts in as a seeded runner though). My soft goal for this race was 65min, my hard goal was 60min, so I was VERY pleased.
HOWEVER, I ran the tangents WELL and still my Garmin showed a further distance. When I hit stop at the finishline, my watch was 55:00 EVEN and a distance of 6.28. Oh well.


After the race I hung around w/ my friend Jayne to see if she placed in her age group (she was in the age group above me) and she got 3rd!! So we were looking at her medal and I thought I heard the announcer call my name. I thought 'Surely they didnt....I'm not even gonna ask cuz I'll be too embarrassed when they laugh in my face'.
Anyway, I braved up and went and asked if they called my name and sure enough, they had!!
They told me I got 2nd, but later found out it was actually 3rd (there were no timing chips, they just ripped the bottom of your bib off quickly after you passed the finishline.)
I was positively GIDDY with excitement. I actually clapped my hands like a 5yr old when I got in the car.

________________________________________
Went biking w/the hubby earlier this month at Wabash Trace in CB Iowa. Gorgeous crushed limestone trail. We biked 22 miles out and 22 mi back. Its an EVER so slight decline starting about 6mi from where WE started ALL the way to our destination (Malvern, IA). NICE for going out but you sure FELT it coming back. Wasn't horrible but we were WORKING it.

We stopped in Malvern and ate at a little cafe there. I think we'll try the one across the street next time as neither of us cared for the food.

*This was a creek we went over w/ what looked like old railroad cars decaying on the banks.

*A picture of the gorgeous trail. The whole thing is pretty much like this so it was nice and cool.

*Queen of Dorks*

*thought this was cool at the time. Cant remember what those containers said on the side...

*rekinky-dinky little town we passed thru

*NEW SHOES! I have pretty much miled my old Nikes out. The back of the heels were wearing down and I was starting to get sore feet and legs after every run. I am VERY partial to my 2010 Air Max's which pretty much NO store carries anymore (dont really like the 2011), so hubby ordered these online for me. AND bought an extra pair!! So now when these decide to poop out on me I have a back up pair.

*The old shoes. You served me well, my friends.

*these are the heels of my old shoes. Not only am I a pretty pronounced heel striker but I notice I scuff my heels alot when running up hill so these have taken quite the beating as I LOVE uphills

*They have no clue what's in store for them....BWAHAHAHA!!!
*Here's my calendar/planner I have been using since January. The highlighted areas are my runs (so I can easily see when I have run and how far). The paper next to it is where I write down the splits from my runs. I mark on here what exercise I did for the day, for how long and what distance. Also mark my weight workouts, sit ups, push ups and planks.

Went thrifting this past month. I *HEART* thrifting. I am like a lion when it comes to the thrill of the hunt.

*Got a bunch of past sof running magazines for .29 each!
*SUPER awesome Nike jacket for $4!! Fits me like a GLOVE.

*Has a sweet little pocket in the back too. No clue what I could use it for, but still. Cool.

On another note, I am almost at my weight goal! I set a goal beginning of March that I wanted to get from my weight of 111-112lbs down to 100lbs which I think looks better on my frame. This morning I was 101!! Getting so close!

I have been running 4x a week after my 1/2 marathon in May (Sun-long run, Tues-easy, Thurs-tempo, Fri-short and easy) and then cross training on other days with the elliptical, bike or a treadmill hike. Doing lower body weights 3x a week and upper body 3x a week. Also going sit ups, push ups and planks 3x a week.

The sit ups/push ups/plank routine takes 30min. I do a routine hubby and a friend made up years ago along w/ the '100pushup challenge routine' (I have been on week 6 for a few weeks now) and for planks I do 3 sets for 70, 65, and 60 seconds. Considering I started out doing them for only 30 seconds, I should say I am improving in this area!)

Trying to cycle my calories. Some days I am around 1,500, other days close to 2,000 and sometimes as high as 2,500! Drinking LOTS of water 7-8 16oz glasses a day.

Here's a sample of a lunch for me:

1/4c cottage cheese (40), 1/2 orange (35), blueberries (20), wrap (160) for a total of 255 calories.

Now if I could JUST resist the potato chips and cinnamon toast crunch, we'd be in business! But ya gotta have a little naughty amongst the nice, right? =)

Crawling back into the bloggy world!!

Still alive and kickin' people!
Sorry to have abandoned this lovely blog for a spell, but life got busy (have I said that before? I think I've said that before)...

Anyway, lots of workouts in the last month but I'll just give you the running low down (and race report!) as I know that's the whole reason you come here. =)

April 5: 4mi 42:06
April 7: 4mi 43:19 (mill run)
Apr 9: 9mi 1hr 35min 04sec this run was tough tough tough!! Never got into a groove and the last 1/2 mile was ALL mental. One of those runs where you are SO thankful its over.
Apr 13: 3.75mi 36:28...1.25mi on the mill 11:50
Apr 15: 5mi 52:35 (mill run)
Apr 17: 10mi 1hr 41min 39sec 10min average pace! This run was WAAAY better than my long run on Apr 9, felt like I could go on forever!
Apr 19: 4.5mi 46:30 (mill run)
Apr 21: 4.75mi 45: 35
Apr 24: 11.5mi 1hr 51min (9:39 pace)...LONGEST RUN EVER! I was very pleased with my overall pace and had pretty negative splits. TOTALLY ran out of gas between miles 9-10 and my pace showed it. Somehow got my pep back at mile 10 and the last 1.5 miles were great!
Apr 26: 3.75mi 34:00 (9:04 pace)...fastest avg pace on a run over 3mi!!!!
Apr 28: 3.1mi 32:56...just giving the legs a nice easy run before my first 5K race of the year!
Apr 30: 5K race....will post in more detail below w/ the pictures, was .1mi short, time according to my garmin: 25:06, according to their finishline clock, 25:36

May 3: 3.2mi 32:50.....3mi 31:14...this was a run to AND from a meeting. First time I have ever done that. It was quite enjoyable!
May 6: 4mi 37:52...last tempo run before my first 1/2 marathon!
May 8: 9mi 1hr 29min 38sec (9:57 pace)...last long run before the 1/2! Splits 1(10:49) 2(10:26) 3(10:01) 4(9:46) 5(10:09-HORRIBLE side stitch) 6(10:06-side stitch has been evicted) 7(9:48) 8(9:25) 9(9:05)...pretty proud of how it ended! Got shin splints the first 1.5miles though...
May 10: 4mi 40:18...nice easy run. Got shin splints the first 1.5 mi AGAIN! This has me concerned about my shoes...they only have about 200miles on them.
May 12: 2.5mi 25:30 (mill run)...no shin splits! YAY! Also ran with a new music player my hubby got me...a sansa disk something or other. Its super petite so I kina sorta idolize it. =)

***First 1/2 marathon is coming up on Sunday! However I think I may be getting sick. Froggy throat, a little coughy etc. I am PRAYING its just some type of allergy thing (which I usually dont get), and am taking loads of C, zinc, ACV, etc...***


I have been counting calories alot lately to try to lose some extra baby flub on my tum tum. It's working!! I am down a few pounds and can fit into some of my jeans that were shoved in the back of the closet incase I ever got the stomach flu again, or was blessed with a tummy fat eating bug...

Incase you were wondering, here's what an ounce of potato chips looks like (on a plate next to a CD for a better size comparison) This is 150calories...

The sandwich that dooms me-the BLT. Seriously, you could slap bacon on anything but candy I would CHOW. IT. DOWN

My new favorite lunch. Life Balance tortilla shell (120), mustard (0), buddig ham (30)-ok so its not healthy but it gives it a good flavor =) and some lettuce and tomato (about 20cal)...baby carrots (15), pretzels (70) = 255 cal. Low cal and its actually very filling! sometimes I will have a cup of yogurt w/ fresh fruit in it for an extra 130 calories.

My oldest and myself enjoying the FAB weather last weekend. Which abruptly ended today. Boo.

*drumroll please*.................................

First 5K of the season!!!! LifeGate 5K Run/Walk

I actually got to run this race with some wonderful friends of mine which made it THAT much more enjoyable. I finally have running friends!! HOORAY

Well, the morning started off pretty chilly. The pic of above is pre-race. It was overcast too. Bleh. But thankfully it cleared up during the race and the sun came out!

This was a women/girls only race-fairly small as they only accept 200 participants. This race is in its 2nd year. Very well organized and lots of prizes given at the end. No timing chip though, only a finishline clock.

So we got started and lined up according to what we were doing. 5K runners at the top of the line, run/walkers next, walkers after that and the 1mi walk/runners after that.

So. We get started and literally not more than .05mi into the race my hydration belt comes FLYING off and all the bits and bobbles I have on it go with it (it has NEVER done this before). So I stop to pick it up thinking 'I'll just hold it and run' and then I thought 'are you nuts lady? You cant run holding on to all THAT!'

So I stop off to the side and get all hooked back up again (which is why there is such a difference in my watch finish time and the finishline time)....

As I am getting hooked back up, I see everyone FLYING past me and I am thinking 'this can not be happening, this can NOT be happening!!' So I get all set and then go FLYING past most everyone to get back up to the head of the line. This was a big mistake as it pretty much DRAINED me. I looked down at my watch at the 1.5mi mark and it said my avg pace was 7:55!!! That is INSANE for me. So I knew I was in trouble.

the photographer caught me at that moment and I was a HOT. MESS. I didnt get my belt hooked up right so it was hiking my shirt up, along with my bib and had settled right under my rib cage making me look like SUCH a tool. HERE it is if you want to see it. (I seceretly hope that link doesnt work)

Oh and what else totally stunk was the last .2miles or so was ALL up hill, like a GOOD sized hill. Wow. Totally kicked my tushy.

Splits were OBVIOUSLY very positive, and not in a good way =)

Mile 1(7:33-what the??) Mile 2(8:58-dying a slow death) Mile 3(8:38-SO glad its over)

Everytime I run a 5K race I think 'What on EARTH am I doing here?? This is the WORST experience EVER!!!!' and then when its over and that pukey feeling passes I think 'WOOHOO, whens the next one???' =)

**When you give your camera to a random guy and ask him to take pictures 'of us', you should specify that you want the WHOLE group....

HERE is a link to me after the race was done, trying SO hard not to puke


The hard work is paying off! Just this week I was able to fit into these size 0 Aeropostale capri's that I havent worn since having baby #5 (nursing a baby was an AWESOME calorie burner).

The dime-store-water-pistols that I am trying to trade in for some BIG guns! That's the most intimidating face I got. I'm workin' on it!!