Luke's 5k

Luke did his second ever 5k while I ran the Rochester Flower City half marathon.  He was a champ about it and despite a nasty blister on his foot when he got home was a trooper and did indeed finish the race.  He's been ellipticalling almost daily and while that is good he learned that it is NOT the same as going out there and pounding the pavement.  

I am so proud of my Manfriend.  He was telling me that as he approached the finish the male winner from the half was also finishing.  I told him that it made sense to me, if it took Luke about an hour to walk it and the winner started 15 minutes before he did and could run just over an hour...

photo from D&C online

Later that day I get a phone call from my Momma telling me that the Democrat and Chronicle has a photo online of Luke, kind of blurry in the background of the male winner.  Yup, there is my Manfriend flying the Bills colors in the back left.  Even though I want him to go running with me and do races with me I just don't think that is ever going to be his thing.  I am just happy that he ellipticals consistently now.  We will take that as a win.

Flower City Challenge--awesome!

Luke and I left the house around 6:20am to head over to the start of our races.  My half marathon started at 7:30 and his 5k started at 7:45.  We arrived with plenty of time but I wanted to be safe and not sorry.  As you can see from our walk over to the start it was cloudy and stayed that way for the duration of the race.  We did not see sun until about noon.  

 Before the race I met up with some of the girls from Moms Run This Town, Rochester.  Yes, I joined their group and no, I do not have children but my fur baby counts.  They are super nice and very supportive everyone and their running.

 There were bagpipers on the bridge as we headed to the start.  There was also a bag piper at the entrance to the cemetery (not sure if that was good or creepy).  I had my sparkle pockets stuffed with my camera (for before and after photos), a bottle of powerade, phone, car keys, chap stick, and my honey stingers (energy gels).  My mittens also ended up in the pockets later.

 People lined up in their projected finish time spots and there were a lot of pace group leaders for the event.  I decided to start with the two-hour group but once the race was underway I was feeling great and sort of just pushed a little bit, but not too far out of my comfort zone.

 I was feeling great and cruising along with ease until about mile 7 where we hit the hills.  I kept moving along but was in a funk til about mile 9 (amazing, where the hills basically ended).  Around mile 10 I was ready to be done but I sucked it up and did the best I could, slowing down minimally.

 I finished in 1:45:18 and I do believe that is good enough for some awesome corral placement for Disney in January.  Last year I ran it in 1:53: 24.  I called my Momma to let her know how I did and later in the day I get a call from my Papa Bear all excited about how well I did.  He also caught a pike off the dock that morning so he had a lot to be happy about.

 Luke was exhausted from getting up early and took a nap.  I did take a small nap and made myself a yummy berry smoothie and some pasta for lunch.  The sun came out and I took little Thunder Paws (my fur baby) for a walk in the yard.  She scared the chipmunk that was trying to hide under our grill.

 With me nailing a 1:45 with pushing myself, but not too much I knew I needed to take some time and re-evaluate and re-vamp my training plans.  New times had to be entered so that I can keep improving and having it feel "somewhat easy" and not really out of the comfort zone.  I am never going to be a runner that can go into that staggering in to the finish place.

Pre-race Habits

As runners we have these little things that we do out of habit before races, especially longer races.  In high school I always wore the same scrunchi and would only wear that scrunchi on race day.  Some of my "superstitions" have gone away (most in fact) but now that I run longer races I have developed other habits that set me up for success (with the main hope being a lack of intestinal distress mid-race).

A few days or the night before a race I like to trim my toe nails and paint them a pretty color.  My latest favorite has been "Believe it, Do it."  It's a bright pink color and is "Disney theme" in my personal opinion.  If my feet are going to blister or look a wreck after the race at least my toe nails will be purdy.

Dinner the night before consists of Ramen Noodles.  Not just any Ramen but this specific version--styrofoam cup even if I am at home.  They travel well and it's a "pasta."  I know they do not upset my stomach and the salt content might be through the roof but at least I will sweat out a huge chunk the next day or it keeps me hydrated by making me thirsty.  

 Of course, I always like to have my stuff together the night before or days before.  I picked up my packet the other day with my Momma and I am ready to go.  Love my bib number too--one of my last superstitions that has carried over--even numbers.  If it is an even number I love my bib even more.

The morning of the race will be a bowl of cereal with some milk.  That's how I prep for a big race.

Perfectly Goofy Continues!

After the craziness of the latest runDisney races selling out in about an hour I was extremely worried about not being able to register for Goofy #10.  I spent an anxious 20 minutes last week during early registration for a friend to send us a link for early DVC/AP (vacation club/annual pass) registration.  Once we got the link (we is my mom and I) I frantically typed in all my info and hit submit.  I was officially entered for Goofy 2015.   I was thankful that I did not have to wait for general registration.

My phone chirped about 6:30 Tuesday morning.  It was one of my Best Running Friends Kelly wishing me luck registering for my Goofy.  She will not be joining me for the weekend this year and is going to stick to her Perfect Princess-ing.
Upon arriving home from work today I had to check the stats of Marathon weekend and found that the 5k, 10k and Dopey were already sold out with the half at 86% and the full at about 54%.  Goofy stats were not available--apparently it was not at 50%.  Now that Dopey is sold out I am thinking that Goofy will go quickly.  And I think that with the completion of Goofy #10 my curtain rod will be full and I will need to start another one and work on being the "last one standing."

Go Jen Go!

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of my little sister who has been running a few days a week with her Little Dude in the stroller.  She has sent me a few text messages or e-mails about how far she went and how long it took her.  Jen is doing amazing and I am hoping to convince her to do a race with me over the summer while she is her (ahem, Jungle Jog and Zoo after???).  In the little bit of time she has been running while pushing a stroller she is already in the balloon ladies from Disney aren't going to catch me category.  If you are wondering the balloon ladies maintain a 16 minute mile pace.  Jen is crushing them in the 5k distance so far.
Way to go Jen and happy running!

photo credit Fellow Flowers

Racing Ahead--my planned races

I really haven't done too many races besides Disney and thought to myself, why not pick a few local races this year and really help keep my training more focused over the summer?  Disney is a large expense so I made a serious effort to pick races and distances (ahem, mostly half's) that would be close to home and keep me on track with training.  Of course I am likely to throw in a 5k or 10k here and there because those can be fun with their themes. On a side note my plans are "heavy" in September and October since I am looking at the possibility of qualifying for Half Fanatics.  Nothing special, just bragging rights about running so many half marathons in a time span.

April 27--Rochester Flower City Half Marathon (goal--under 2 hours but we shall see, the weather has been brutal for training with our never ending winter)
July--Shoreline Half Marathon (goal 1:45-2:00 depending on the weather, heard it can be hot and humid)
September--Rochester Half Marathon (goal 1:45--not registered for this event yet)
October 5--Diva's Half in Long Island (goal have fun with my college friend Miss D)
October 19--Empire State Half in Syracuse (goal--not sure if it is race hard or stick with Manfriend if he does decide to run it.  still not registered)
December--5k Wonderful Life/Run in Bedford Falls (aka Seneca Falls) I did this race last year and it was adorable and a great atmosphere
January--Goofy #10 absolutely no goal but to finish and celebrate the whole time--boatload of pictures

Any suggestions on races I should consider?

Half Marathon Outfit

So with the Rochester Flower City half marathon about just under 2 weeks away that means I need to pick out an outfit to wear.  Looking fabulous is important.  I've acquired new sparkle recently and a few t-shirts that I picked out to match them.  Will definitely be wearing a sparkle skirt (gotta have my pockets since I've never had the beverage being offered on the course so I will carry my own until I have a chance to try it out another time).  Of course there are other skirts and shirts in the mix but here is what I am leaning towards:

 Snow Queen with the Fellow Flowers believe t-shirt with my Brooks green silence in black and aqua.

Peacock Emerald with the Fellow Flowers courage t-shirt with my Brooks green silence in white and green.
What do you think I should wear?  I am leaning towards the Snow Queen since it is absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight and I will look like a giant disco ball, plus the fact that it is not an "everyday" skirt because of the glitter.

New Goodies

My mom and I went to "Diva Night" at our local Fleet Feet store a few weeks ago.  I was able to try some nuun and although it was decent I am going to stick with my powerade for now.  The store did a great job hosting the event with cookies, cheese, crackers and other snacks along with quite a few items that they gave away after the spring fashion show. 

 I came home with a few goodies in the form of these lime green fuel belt water bottles.  I love them.  The fit perfectly in the pockets of my sparkleskirts and I can still fit other items in the pockets with the bottles.  I picked up a few energy gel chews in new flavors to try on my long runs.

I also picked up these amazing Quad Sleeves.  What on earth is that you may be wandering.  They are like the compression sleeves that you see lots of runners wearing on their calves to help with cramping and tight muscles but these are for your quads/hamstrings.  I wanted to get a pair while I was in Disney for Dopey but they were out of my size.  They were also sold out at the grand opening of the Fleet Feet store a few months ago but they had them this time when I went.  In love because they really feel great after a long run.