Category Archives: Running

Frostbite Series 10 Miler

Running, , , ,

Happy Saturday! How’s your weekend going? Mines great but going to fast! I’m not ready to head back to reality tomorrow.

Frostbite Series 10 Mile Race

20131228-180050.jpg
We woke up bright and early this morning to head to Forest Park in downtown St. Louis for the Frostbite Series 10 miler race!

20131228-180616.jpg
The Frostbite Series is put on by the STL Track Club. They host a race every other weekend during the winter months. There is a short course and long course. Today’s races were a 2 miler and 10 miler, and I was registered for the long course.

20131228-200137.jpg
We arrived to the Forest park Visitors Center with 45 minutes until race time. Nick and I got my bib and camped out by this cute Christmas tree until race time.

20131228-200454.jpg
We lined up outside with about 5 minutes to spare. I wanted to be close to the front of the pack since it was an air horn start. My chip would track when I crossed the finish but not the start line.

20131228-200733.jpg
And I was off! It was a fairly busy race, but I ran by myself for the most part.

20131228-200918.jpg
The course was painful to say the least. I felt like I was running uphill the whole way, and I was losing steam fast. I literally wanted to stop at the 3 mile mark which is not like me at all!

I pushed through (barely!) and ran the whole route with a 8:26/mile pace. I even got the hang of the water cup hand off thing and got 2 drinks! I thought I was destined to smash that cup of water in the volunteer’s hand but luckily that didn’t happen.

20131228-201545.jpg

20131228-201618.jpg
I was all smiles as I crossed the finish line in 1:25:50. But it faded fast. I was pushing through one of the worst side cramps ever during the last 30 seconds.

20131228-201837.jpg
Cute, I know. That is the look of sheer pain and relief at the same time. I was happy to have Nick greet me at the finish. He’s my number 1 fan!

20131228-202004.jpg
I snacked on some water and pretzels as my cramp subsided post race. And we headed home. I was a little sick from the hills and needing some real food ASAP!

20131228-202151.jpg
Yay! We did stop at the nearest Panera Bread Co. though. More coffee was a must!

20131228-202258.jpg
It was a great experience, and I feel very prepared for my half marathon in January now. It’s on the same route, just obviously 3.1 miles longer. 🙂

Tomorrow we’ll be heading back to Springfield. Back to real life and regular race training. I’ll be looking for lots of hills to train on between now and January!

Have a great night!

Decisions, Decisions

Daily Life!, Running, , ,

Hey there! How’s your Thursday going?? It’s a cloudy/dreary day here in Springfield. I’m hoping we might get a little sunshine tomorrow before all the rainy gross stuff comes this weekend. Fingers crossed I can get out and do a long run on Saturday before the monsoon!

And speaking of running, I’ve been faced with a small dilemma. I guess I should call it more of an internal struggle. One of my girlfriends and old sorority sisters is moving to the east coast in January. She is already registered for the Little Rock Marathon that is March 2nd. She’s offered to transfer her bib/registration over to me.

imagesI’m struggling with the decision to just stay registered for the marathon (and switch my half marathon training schedule over for a full marathon) or to switch the registration over to the half marathon. But I’m not sure I’m going to be ready for a full marathon by March! In the back of my mind, I want to do it. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I’m just really stinkin’ nervous to say I’m for sure going to run my first marathon before I’ve completed my first half!

ecard-marathonPlus, training lately has been difficult with the holidays. I want to eat and sleep and be fat jolly. So it’s been a struggle to get out there and run when the roads are snow-covered and it’s 15 degrees! I haven’t made up my mind yet. Maybe after I get in a nice long run this weekend, I can get a better grasp on how I feel about the 26.2.

Breakfast

I started my morning with 4.1 miles in 35 minutes – woot! So by the time I got to work I was hungry. I decided to try out the Pumpkin Spice Clif Bar today.

photo(125)It was good, but I must say, it wasn’t my fave. It was like a yummy and dense pumpkin pie, which I liked. But what I didn’t like were the large chunks of almonds I kept finding. I like some texture, but it was too much.  And I also had some Greek yogurt on the side for extra protein.

image(17)Yum!

Tonight will be Jazzercise along with lots of mommy and Mac. I’ve been missing my little man lately!

photo(52)I need me some doggie snuggle time!

Have a great night everyone. See you on Friday!

Catching up on Christmas

Daily Life!, Running, , , , ,

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend has been great so far. Mine has been pretty quiet and productive, and I love it!

I was busy at work yesterday and busy last night with Jazzercise and wrapping gifts, so I kinda put off posting for the evening. But I swear I got a large chunk of my gifts wrapped and even started on making out my Christmas cards! After teaching Jazzercise right after work, I spent the rest of the evening ‘catching up on Christmas’ since I’ve been pretty lazy with everything so far. And now that my tree is looking a little more full with gifts underneath, my stress level has gone way down. Win!

photo(140)Mac was super helpful with the whole process. He had his toys in the middle of my wrapping station most of the evening.

Our photo Christmas cards arrived in the mail already (super fast!), and I love how they turned out. I’m in the process of making out the envelopes to my family members and should hopefully get them in the mail by Monday morning!

photo(139) photo(138)Long, Snowy Run

Aside from gift wrapping and card writing, I managed to do my long run this morning!

image12 miles. Woot!! I woke up bright and early to check out the weather. We had a couple of inches of snow fall overnight, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get out for my run this morning. The roads looked pretty covered when I peaked out my window, but I was determined to get my run in.

I set off from my driveway and couldn’t even run out of my subdivision because the snow was so deep and wet. I walked/jogged my way to the main road and set off at an extra slow and careful pace. If I wanted to complete 12 miles in 3 inches of slippery snow, I was going to have to be extra cautious!

I was slipping and sliding all over the road, but I didn’t ever completely lose my footing – thank goodness! I did come back to my house for a change of socks at mile 7. I stepped in a super deep water/snow pile on accident and was in desperate need for some warm socks! Other than that, I took a couple of my Jelly Belly Sports beans along the way to keep me energized and kept on a truckin’ through the slush!

Ugly Sweater Party

Tonight is my friend Carley‘s Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party! I’m so excited! I made some goodies to take along this afternoon, and Nick and I shall be heading out shortly. I love dressing up in my mom’s old Christmas sweaters and drinking egg nog with my old friends. I’ll be sure we take lots of lovely Christmas photos!

Have a cozy evening, and I’ll see you all tomorrow!