Weekend re-cap:
Chapter 1

Ok no the weekend isnt quite over but It is raining and 40 out so why not curl up and do a recap.

Friday I started feeling a bit punkish. I had acupuncture and that helped a tiny bit but finally there was an ah-ha moment and all became clear as to why i was feeling like i had a small earthquake going on in my belly. And no it wasnt Swine Flu. Saturday I didnt know what to expect as I had not felt too much like eating friday night and so was being cautious even saturday. I knew it wouldnt be the end of the world if i had to stop and walk as opposed to being doubled over in pain.

Saturday morning dawned and luckily there was no rain. Cool. But no rain. Sorry but i had about a 2 mile run to the start and with wearing my garbage bags and cap and carrying a few other things i had no place for a camera. I didnt want to risk leaving it and then losing it. So all I got for pics from race day were random ones.
Ok race report, sparing you the parts about my friend Dan being a total life support bc i hate, dont we all.. standing around being cold and trying to warm up just to know you have to go coral yourself with 8000 others for 15 minutes just to get a spot remotely near the front. So we did just that.
Arm Crank riders go off ( wheelchair athletes)
Elite's go off
Then it is the 10k AND the Half Mary runners all together. Ok. Off we go. Beep beep beep. I had decided to NOT be a slave to any sort of timing device just to run what felt like a good pace and to check my HR at each mile and then as the mile and 5k splits were read i would do some math ( Which surprisingly I did ) and try to keep with it.
Coach had suggested that since i had only run 1 FUN 5k in the last...umm...well...a long time, that i start out conservatively and not forget that the 5k wasnt the finish. Mile 1, 6:55. Oops. I didnt feel breathless and it felt easy. Yea I did have to dodge people and I had to find a line, but i wasnt dying. HR was in check. So i am thinking "just mellow out, but i dont want to slow down alot. just run." Mile 2, 7:05. Hmm...that still seems too fast. Lets just see how it is at the 5k and then go from there. I wanted to be into the 5k under 23. 22:05. Ok that seems reasonable and I am not dying yet. There were some hills/kinda hills not Mountain hills, but enough that your HR showed it. Still I seemed to be clipping along and my HR was just rising nicely. I know in my distant running past I used to kinda panic and space out miles 3-5. Saturday i kept thinking "you are doing great, really worst case scenario is that you keep this pace going. and that is just fine. But...can you go a tiny bit faster? YES." And with that and with some straight aways in those miles I was able to start picking off some runners that had been ahead of me for the first 5k. The pain zone started to creep in around mile 4 and that was the hardest mile for me. I was ready for it tho and i told myself when i saw mile 4, I did the math and said "ok, if you run a 7:30 this mile then you will cross 5 miles at xx:xx and that would be great. Just stay steady, just run." So when i crossed mile 5 at 30 seconds faster than that I was like "neat." and then proceeded to suffer the last 1.2 miles. Does anyone else agree that the last 200 m of a 10k is just plain torture?
So anyways I was quite pleased, finished 43:26 and was most in shock that I negative split the last 5k.
And yea Kari, my friend Dan and I both made the members only club for the 2nd time this week.
So we went quickly thru the grub line and got the most important treat of all, the PEARSON Salted Nut Roll.
For those of you that havent had a SNR or a Nut Goodie, I am going to send you each one. Seriously. Send me your address. You need to have one. See below. We got the treat size ones for the race but as you can tell the cost/size ratio doesnt even compare to the Payday. It is just as good as a payday but saltier!
Here I am after the race, all warmed up. And ready to get home for the next chapter of saturday. Yes I ran in the beanie cap. And yes i got all my hair cut off.


Chapter 2

So got home, and waited for Rich to call as we had thought we may go ride. As i said in the last post our weekend forecast has been ominous. MY thought was "Carpe Diem," IF IF my legs feel ok ( and they did) I wanted to ride 3+ hours in light of the fact that I thought the 100 mile option was not going to happen due to rain and my own personal motivation ( lack of) to get out there at 6:30 am ( a 45 min car drive) and have it rain and be cold.
So a quick meal and off we went. Rosemount and points south on the road bike. But first we had to make a stop since i was obviously well hydrated with Recoverite and also for this.

The longest train ever.I think my Powertap shut off 3x. And then I can see the Cabooze and there are two cars left and I can see rich on the other side meeting me and it STOPS. Another 3 minutes...dang. We had to be back by 4pm so we still had 3 hours or more ...great ride, nice temps, a good wind and lotsa hills. I even got in a good sprint sign win over Rich as he seems to daydream while i can see those things coming even when i dont know the course. Hee hee. May be why my quads are tad sore today. ( oh yea and the pavement pounding) It was a super day and I diverted a near bonk at the end and made it home intact. Then it was off to have dinner with Ruby, Rich, and my mom and dad. The only fun pic i have is that i was in all green and decided to share my new awesome shoes you all should get: Yes they are asparagus green and yes they go well with Pink RecoverySox.


Last but not least was the thought of 100 miles. Hmm...I will spare you all the radar checks that I have done in the last 24 hours but just know that Rich is out there. I am not. He and his TeamTT group are all hearty on this ride and they are apt to be doing the 100 miles as we speak. I said "you are going to get wet.." and he said "ok," but for me 40 and rain isnt my idea of fun. So my gift to him was not to be the "Whiner and ball and chain!" So:

Why not do a little educational trainer time? I learned some stuff in this and hope to shorten my tea parties in the T zone:)


So that in a long winded recap, is how i have spent my weekend. I leave you with one last fun pic that Rich and I took finishing our saturday ride: We have never had Chivas Regal. I dont even know what it is, but we liked the slogan:) We both thought that was a perfect end to our ride...thanks Honey for being you! I hope all the racers had successful racing this weekend both locally and in FLA and VA. And those that are training for a race or just for Life... more power to ya!