(really) Short & Sweet Sunday

Final details about the actual race coming, this week. For real. This weekend was especially busy and fun-filled. Just the way I like 'em. You might even get to see some photos of that action, later in the week, too.

(lucky!)

Regular(ish) running resumed, for me, post-marathon. It feels painless and borderline spectacular, thanks to a recent dip in temperature. I had plans to run about 25 miles, total, but scheduling kinks left me at 15. Totally okay with this.

Even better news, thanks to my dear friend, I get to cash in this beauty for a post-race massage.

thank you, Kim! Not as tasty as a margarita but probably more useful

 

Yep. Life is pretty darned good, right now.

 

Tell me something good going on with you! 

Winners!!

So, the whole "Marathon Goals" post I typed up never ended up posting. I'll have to go back to see if I can figure out why, but I really did plan to share all that nonsense very important info.

The Big Fabulous Recap (BFR) is in the works, but all of your kind comments and widely varied predictions need to be rewarded asap.

First, thank you all for your well-wishes. I loved reading them throughout the weekend. It was awesome and encouraging, during the race, too, to know I had old AND new friends to report back to.

According to this cool tool, the winner of the $10 Starbucks gift card is...Kasey! If you email me an address to send your prize to (runningmovesmeATgmailDOTcom), I'll send it your way.

The closest prediction of my marathon finishing time was...Robyne! Her guess of  3:58:10 was only 14 seconds off my chip time. (nice job, Robyne!) Email me an address to send the Target gift card to and I'll put it in the mail.

Congrats, ladies, and thank you all, again, for your entries and support. Come back soon to hear all about the scary-happy smile below!

thank you. for real. 

In Honor of My FIRST MARATHON

...It's my First Giveaway!!

ps : The "first" part of both of those could end up being totally useless additions...

I'll do my best to keep this both fair and simple as possible. There are multiple prizes and multiple ways to win them. I think it will be painless for all involved, though.

Prize Number One : $25 Target Gift Card I was originally going to offer a Running Warehouse one, but I would like for this to be appealing to any non-running readers, as well. If you don't have a Target store, nearby, fear not. The card can be used for online purchases, as well.

fine print: I am in no way affiliated with or sponsored by this store. This prize will be purchased by me and awarded to the winner from the goodness of my kind and loving heart.

How to win it: Predict my marathon finishing time. You'll need to submit an email (one per person) to runningmovesmeATgmailDOTcom, with your prediction. Please include hours:minutes:seconds to (hopefully) avoid too many duplicates. There won't be any need to comment on the blog for this entry, as your emailed prediction will be your entry. Should you choose "DNF" (did not finish) as your prediction, I will accept it as an entry. It will, however, hurt my heart a little. 
I have purposely not stated any concrete goals, for this race, so don't despair if you have no stinking idea when I'll cross that line. I've pre-written a "marathon goals" post, but it won't post until Sunday, 10/21/2012. This means your prediction must be submitted, via email, before 12:00, midnight, EST Sunday 10/21/12. Any entries received after that point will be disqualified.

fine print: in the event of two guesses being equally close to the actual finishing time, the lower number will ultimately be chosen. For obvious reasons. See time restrictions above, too.

Prize Number Two: $10 Starbucks Gift Card Don't like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, breakfast sandwiches, baked goods or (slightly overpriced mugs)? Give it to a friend. :)

fine print : I am also in no way affiliated with or sponsored by this store. I like you. I'd like to give you a present. The end.

How to win it: This one involves commenting. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account, so I can't rightfully expect you to use yours to gain extra entries. Should you decide to blog or tweet about the giveaway or post it to your Facebook, that would be cool. The more friends the merrier, right?

• If you do this, please tell me so in a comment.
• If you already follow me, or decide to do so (only because you like me, no forced internet friendship, here!) you can leave another comment about that
• Gina and Meggan are both running marathons on 10/21/2012, also. Go visit their blogs, wish them luck (you can tell 'em I sent you if you're nervous) and then comment back here, telling me you did so. (one entry/comment for each well-wish, if you visit both of them)
• If you aren't comfortable pimping this giveaway, or being my friend, simply because I'm offering you prizes, a simple "good luck! Hope you don't die during your race!" comment will also count as an entry

fine print: Like the email predictions, all comments/entries must be submitted before 12:00, midnight, EST Sunday 10/21/12

If you win, you must be able to provide an address, within the United States, for me to send the gift card(s) (yes...you can win both!).

this double rainbow wishes you lots of luck

Autumn R&R 5k Recap

Subtitle : Delusions of Grandeur Running aka DOG running

I try to not be a DOG Runner. I really do.

The night before this race, though, my mind was flip-flopping between the logical, rational goals and the truly delusional. I need to find a balance.

"I'm still fresh off an injury. I need to treat this race as a training run with a goodie bag and free t-shirt."

This was, of course, immediately followed by:

"But if I just want a PR badly enough, I'm sure I can magically run fast enough to achieve it!"

A local, well-established running store puts on a dozen or so races, every year. They never disappoint. The price is pretty average, for a 5k, ($24 for early registrants) and it includes a free, cotton t-shirt. There are usually a ton of great sponsors at the actual event, though.  We make out like bandits, gathering up all the freebies, afterwards.

bad picture of one of our more useful freebies. Ice/Heat pack, compliments of Florida Hospital. Score!

Another perk : The Kids' races are free and they also get a mini version of the same cotton shirt, (to keep) and to pin their race bibs (just for show...not chip-timed) to. The races are short and all the kids get a commemorative ribbon. Their excitement over that portion of the morning is well worth the $24 and early drive to the event.

There were over 1700 5k finishers. Even with a 7:30 am start time, the conditions are still pretty warm and humid, this time of year. Their Fall and Winter events bring out even bigger crowds.

Since the injury, it's been taking me at least a full mile to loosen up all the aches and stiffness, every time I run. There wasn't a great route for that anywhere near the race area. I ended up doing a bunch of annoying loops around a park and a dead-end street. Luckily, other people were doing the same thing so I didn't look quite as obnoxious as I felt.

The legs felt pretty okay with an 8:41 warmup mile. I didn't do any strides or really push it, at all. It was just a leg-loosener. The problem was, it was already pretty toasty. I avoided most of the really hot Florida Summer weeks by being forced to run in here :

ahhhh

 

While I have been running on land, again, the past couple of weeks, my body's apparently still a bit of a pansy when it comes to higher temps. So, when we lined up for the National Anthem, after my loopy leg-loosener, I was duh-ripping sweat. Like, fingers sliding off my Garmin's buttons sweaty. I glanced around for someone to commiserate with and noticed everyone else was bone dry. I'm pretty sure one guy was even shivering.

 

Nice.

 

We started and I made a pact with myself to not look at my watch. It's never been beneficial during a race. If I see a number that seems too fast, I automatically slow down. If it seems too slow, I get all discouraged and disgusted.

 

I was hoping to start out fairly conservatively, and speed up when I could. The pace felt do-able, but not something I could maintain for another 3 miles. Warning bells started going off at that particular thought. The whole course runs through a pretty, quiet neighborhood and around a big lake. It's all road...no grass, gravel or sidewalks.

 

My watch beeped at what I thought was the first mile (foreshadowing) and I felt a little bit less panicky. It had gone by pretty quickly and I wasn't dying. Yet.

 

Then I noticed I hadn't seen a clock or mile marker. This is highly unusual for Track Shack races. When we finally hit the actual first mile, I realized my watch still had the "virtual partner" setting on, and was just beeping to let me know I was behind my goal pace. Thanks, Jerkwatch.

 

From that point on, I was a loserbaby. I could not shake the desire to come to a complete stop and walk the rest of the race. In a 5k! My mental game is so far from where it needs to be, right now, it's hideous.

 

Mile One :  7:08

 

My second mile is typically slower, in a 5k. (I'm a big fan of positive splits, apparently) In retrospect, I guess I can celebrate the fact that I didn't actually stop running the entire race, because that's ALL I wanted to do.

 

I swore off future 5ks.

Then I swore off future races, altogether.

I mentally wrote up my online ad to sell my marathon bib.

I wanted to curse at all the people passing me and yell "you're not going faster, I'm just going slower!"

 

My legs refused to turn over quickly and my brain refused to push them to do so. I am not exaggerating at how horrible this race felt. I know a lot of people aren't a big fan of 5ks, but I've never had this sort of experience with one.

 

I resigned myself to stop calling this a race, and just think of it as a Tempo run, for training purposes.

 

Mile Two: 7:22

 

I wasn't even trying to do the math to predict my finishing time. My only, pathetic, consolation was that the 10+ miles I was planning to run after this could be slower. You can imagine what a boost that particular thought was...

 

My watch was a bit off, so I knew it'd read the course longer than 3.10 miles. Still, when it beeped at the 3rd mile, I kicked it. I was grateful to be able to find another gear and just pushed out any other thoughts. I usually try to find my family and give them a smile or wave, but all I had eyes for was that finish line.

 

Mile Three: 7:52 (ugh)

0.19, according to Garmin, 6:17 pace

 

Total : 23:33 Not a personal worst, far from my best, and three minutes faster than my time from the same race when I ran it in 2010. So, I guess there's that...

 

5th out of 135 women 35-39

206 out of 1703 runners

 

In other, more exciting news, my family member/friend ran her best 5k, ever!! Go Kristi-Anne!!

 

I found The husband, boys and in-laws and we grabbed our fill of bananas, granola bars, waters and chocolate milk. One of us may or may not have indulged in a free, organic, locally brewed beer. At 8 am.

 

The boys both ran the 400m(ish) race, with the other kids, with giant smiles and speedy feet. The Middlest is really enjoying racing, lately!

 

The rest of the family headed home and I dragged my sweat-soaked self to my next destination to tack on a long run and call it a (difficult) day. I'll spare you the whining details about that. For now.