Space Coast Half Marathon Race Recap

I’m so far behind on anything regarding my blog, but I refer back to my race recaps often. So even though there are two other races I haven’t recapped yet, I’m going to do this one while it’s still somewhat fresh in my mind and then I’ll go back and do the others! 

Last weekend was the Space Coast Half Marathon in Cocoa, Florida.  I ran this race in 2013 and really enjoy it (recap can be found here) and was pretty bummed to miss it last year (didn’t have enough time to train after having ABS). I pretty much stuck to my training plan for this race really well, until our vacation. I did get in some good runs while on vacation, but none were that long. Since coming home, I only got in two longish runs of 6 and 8 miles, and gained about 10 lbs (on vacation) so I wasn’t in as best of shape as I was hoping to be for this race. Granted, I knew I was in much better shape than I was for my last half in February,Disney Princess Half where I PR’d at 2:35:24 and set my goal at 2:17-2:22. Training through the summer really helped since the heat helps build endurance!

Before the race, I was trying to determine what kind of intervals I was going to run. I had been experimenting with a bunch of different ones (3/1, 4/1, 3/:30, etc) throughout my training. One of my MRTT friends suggested I look at the pacing groups and I saw that there was going to be a 2:15pace group running 1:30/:30, which is essentially the same thing as my “typical” 3/1s. So I made the decision that I would start with the pace group and run my 3/1’s and keep them in my eyesight, but to stay ahead of the 2:20 pace group.

G was also running this race, although hadn’t ran in 2 months because he got sick, so wasn’t in great shape to be running at all. We got a hotel on Cocoa Beach the night before and went to bed really early and drove over to the start around 5am. Which was way better than driving the 1.5hrs the same morning! In 2013, we had local sleeping arrangements as well, and we liked how easy it was in the morning, so we decided to do that again. We met up with some friends and my local MRTT group for some pre-race pictures. By that point I had already drank 2 bottles of water and really had to pee, but the port-o-potty lines were so long (the marathon was scheduled to start 30 minutes after the half so there were still a ton of runners – and spectators – hanging around). There was no way I was going to make the start of the race if I went to the bathroom, so i held it. G and I split up to start since I was trying to PR and he wasn’t. I found a few of my MRTT friends to start with in the 2:15group and we were on our way to start. 

Since we were all running differently, we pretty much separated within the first few minutes. Since I always start way too fast (yea, I need to work on that) I passed the 2:15 pace group and got ahead to 2:10 pace group in first mile. Because I never made it to the bathroom, as mentioned above, I had to stop and pee when I saw the first set of port-o-pottys. I did the same thing last year, and complained about the same thing in that recap too. If I didn’t have to go so bad, I would have waited until the next set of port-o-pottys as those ended up with no line and the 1^st set had a line. I swear I don’t know what was taking these folks so long, but it was at LEAST a solid 2 minutes of waiting. When I got back out there, I realized I was behind the 2:20 pace group and really pushed it to get back between 2:10-2:15 pace group, which I did by mile 3 or 4. From there on, I just kept running my 3/1's (although sometimes shortening my walks if the 2:15 group was getting too close lol). I started to really get close to the 2:15 paces groups (there were two, one doing intervals and one running straight, that kept playing leap frog with each other). By mile 10 I said, ok I'll drop and run with the 2:15 pacers (1:30/:30) as it was getting annoying (and tiring) to keep cutting my walks short because they were gaining on me. I was obviously not running – or walking – as fast as I had in the beginning so they kept playing leap frog with me, which would have been fine, but both pace groups were rather large and congested so if I didn’t stay ahead of them, they got in my way. However, very quickly, by mile 11 I realized I definitely needed my full minute walk. Their 30 seconds power walks just weren’t doing it for me and so I fell a little behind them and went back to 3/1's for the remainder of the race, albeit a bit slower. I ended just about a minute behind the pacers and beat my goals and established a new Personal Record of 2:15:59! Considering I never made it past 10 miles in my training, and hardly ran the 2 weeks between getting back from vacation and the race, and still beat my goal, I was (and still am) very ecstatic with my finish time!  The best part was, my MRTT friends were volunteering and the finish line, and they got to put my medal around my sweaty neck! 

The course was the same as it was in the past and despite being a little warmer than I was hoping for, the weather felt beautiful. I think it was in the 60’s when we started. I never once used my sunglasses, and my tank and capris were perfect for the temperatures! I love how involved the residents of Cocoa are along the course. There were a ton of fuel stops and lots of volunteers passing things out and cheering us on. Running up the intercostal is always a really nice way to watch the sun rise! I definitely plan to do this race again next year and hopefully set another PR.

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:15:59 (overall pace of 10:23)

Place: 722 of 3308 finishers

Place: 363 of the 2314 Women Finishers

Place: 33 of 250 in my Women’s Age Division (30-34)

5k Split: 33:11

10k Split: 1:04:00

15k Split: not listed, must have missed the timing mat

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, run off to the bathroom, etc.):

13.44 miles in 2:16:02 (overall pace of 10:07)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 9:59

Mile 2: 11:46 (bathroom break)

Mile 3: 9:55

Mile 4: 9:25 (fastest mile, which ironically was my fastest mile when I ran this race in 2013)

Mile 5: 9:46

Mile 6: 9:49

Mile 7: 9:42

Mile 8: 10:05

Mile 9: 10:01

Mile 10: 10:08

Mile 11: 9:48

Mile 12: 10:26

Mile 13: 10:57

.44 mile: 9:41

Lakeland 10 Miler - Florida 10 Series Race Recap

I'm so far behind on all my race recaps, so this isn't going to be very thorough, but I wanted to at least get it documented. This one is for the Lakeland 10 Miler from October 11, 2015. 

I rode out to Lakeland, which is about an hour away, with my MRTT friend Jill and we met up with a bunch more of the MRTT ladies once we got there.  The race was two 5 mile loops with not much to see and no entertainment. It was really hot that day, and the course offered ZERO shade. They had plenty of water stops, however they ran out at several of them and one was even completely unmanned. A lot of my friends paid very little for the race as they signed up duing blitz pricing, but I paid close to full price for it and was highly disappointed in the way the race was ran (mostly due to the fact that they ran out of water!) and I guess they had some timing issues too (although didn't affect me) The t-shirt however, is by far my favorite non-tech t-shirt from a race ever. It is just so dang comfortable!  There was also a 5 Miler going on at the same time, and I looked at my 5 Mile split time, and had I only ran the 5 Miler, I would have come in 1st place in my age group, which tempts me to run only the 5 miler next year. Granted, if I do it next year, it'll only be if I can sign up during blitz pricing, definitely won't pay full price for it. The race was part of the Florida 10 Series, and several of my friends did the next race in Sarasota and said it was much better coordinated and had plenty of water (they also ran it last year, and said they didn't have that problem either, so I'm guessing it was more of a fluke). The medal was pretty cute too!

Official Chip Time: 1:42:39 (overall pace of 10:16)

Place: 120 of 294 Finishers
Place: 7 of 19 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)
Splits:
Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 9:35
Mile 3: 10:02
.12 mile: 09:31 

Place: 66 of the 216 Women Finishers

My Runkeeper stats:

10.12 miles in 1:42:38 (overall pace of 10:09)

Mile 4: 9:47

Mile 5: 10:23

Mile 6: 10:19

Mile 7: 10:18

Mile 8: 10:17

Mile 9: 10:33

Mile 10: 10:37

Follow through Friday - an Off Week

Another week down and this one just felt “off”, both mentally and physically. I ate decently (other than Saturday when we were at the Food and Wine Festival) but just didn’t feel like really exercising. I also didn’t really meal prep since I made the last two of my Hello Fresh meals (which were delicious!) so ate a lot of crap otherwise, but mostly stayed within my calories, they just weren’t good calories (so I guess not even really decently). I also got my period this morning (awful cramps ugh!) so I’m sure that is contributing to everything as well, especially my mood. Stupid Hormones! I was able to get on the walk station 3x this week, so that is always a nice change up. For the two runs that I did do, I wasn’t in the mood any of the evenings and opted to run in the morning before work both days. Well the first day (Tuesday), I hit snooze one too many times and only had enough time to get 20 minutes in (vs. 30) or else I would have been late for work. Plus I wasn’t really feeling it either. Then on Thursday, I gave myself enough time to get the run in, even though I wasn’t in the mood, only to realize after the fact that I was actually supposed to bump my run up to 45 minutes this week per my training plan. WHOOPS! So not only did I miss a run, I also cut two of them short. I’m going to attempt to get an additional run in today to help make up for it and hopefully better prep me for my race on Sunday It also didn’t help that I got my long run in early last week and didn’t replace the short run so I was overall short one run this week and I could have made it up, but I didn’t. It wasn’t even that I “didn’t have the time” – I just didn’t feel like it. I know I’m not going to love every run and some will feel more forced, especially on a treadmill, but I just hate feeling that way, especially with the Lakeland 10 Miler on Sunday! Normally you are supposed to taper before a race, so maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I wasn’t planning on tapering since this race just kind of falls perfectly into my training plan, but with only 4.6 miles logged this week, it kind of became a taper.

On a positive note, I’ve recently signed up for some 2016 races! There have been some early registration offers going around (I scored a 10k for $6.60!) and so I already have 12 races on the calendar for 2016: four 5ks, five 10ks, and three Half Marathons (Two of them are the Disney Challenges where it’s the 10k on Saturday and Half on Sunday). I’m sure I’ll end up throwing a few more in there as well, I know of at least two more that I’ll be doing that they haven’t opened up registration for yet. I completed 14 so far in 2015 and am signed up for 4 more before the end of the year. Yes, the Race Addiction is real, VERY real!

 

Results for the week (ending 10/8):

Weight:  149.6

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 1.80 miles in 20:00 (11:07 pace)

     Run 2: 2.80 miles in 30:00 (10:43 pace)
     Run 3: didn’t happen L

Other:

   Walk: 2.74 miles combined (Walk Station at Work)

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 4.6 miles
Total October Miles Logged: 13.6 (of 55)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 27.0 lbs

INFLUENSTER VOXBOX #PurelyOrganics #QuenchersAdventures #tastykakeminiwins

Disclosure: This complimentary box was received for review purposes. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received. 

I haven’t been picked for an @Influenster VoxBox in quite a while, so I was excited to get the email stating I was picked! and then a week later, I was picked again! So this review is for both of the VoxBoxes I received! 

For those of you that don’t know, “Influenster is a free-to-join community of trendsetters, social media masterminds, and educated consumers who live to give opinions of products and experiences. The Influenster site is a hub where members meet to learn about new products from our favorite brands as well as review the products they already use in their day-to-day lives! Influenster invites its most active members to participate in exclusive VoxBox programs where members receive complimentary products to test and review. In exchange, we ask our members to do what they already love to do: share their opinions with their friends & followers on social media!” So pretty much, you get a box of free stuff (or sometimes just one item) to check out and review! 

 The first box I received was for Tasty Kakes! I'm a huge fan (when I'm not dieting!) of Tasty Kake Kandy Kakes so getting picked to review their latest item was even more exciting! I received a box of Tasty Kake Minis and I guess different people were sent different flavors to try. I received the Peanut Butter Cupcakes (made with Reese's PB) which was like a match made in heaven as PB and Chocolate are my two favorite (unhealthy) snacks! It appears there are also Koffee Kake and Swirly (cream) flavors. The box came with 8 packs of 3 minis. I really liked how they were smaller portion because having just one pack fulfilled my craving and didn't totally blow my diet. Each pack of 3 has 180 calories, which isn't too bad considering how yummy they are, but does seem like a lot considering how small the package is. I'll have to save them for my cheat days. I also received a party hat, coupons for more and a koozie! I will definitely be using the coupon to buy some more to keep them in the pantry for when I want a delicious snack! #tastykakeminiwins

The other box I received was for Apple & Eve Juice! I've personally never had this juice, as I typically don't drink too much juice because I try to stick to plain ol' water. I also usually don't keep it in the house since I don't want the kids drinking too much juice either since most juices are full of sugar. I know EMS gets some juice at school and when visiting other people (grandparents, parties, etc), just not typically at home, and I always try to water it down. I received a large 1L size carton of Apple & Eve 100% Juice Organics (no sugar added) Orange Pineapple and 3 "juice box" size cartons of Apple & Eve Organic Quenchers in three different flavors. I'm saving the juice boxes for EMS for when I need to bribe her with a treat (we're currently potty training) so I can't comment on the taste of those, but I did try the Orange Pineapple juice and it was pretty good. It didn't taste super sweet like some juices, but still sweet enough that I would still probably water it down since I don't drink much juice, I always feel like it's too sweet compared to my typical water. The flavor itself was really good, which is surprising for a "no sugar added" product. Usually those taste like they've been watered down or have a bunch of fake crap in them. The nice thing about Apple & Eve  Juice Organics is that it's 100% juice and organic (if you care about that stuff,  too me, that's not the most important thing). I was still surprised to see that there was 30g of sugar in one 8oz serving. Fruit has a lot of sugar in it to begin with, which is another reason I normally water  juice down, but 30g seems like a ton for something that has no sugar added.  I was a little disappointed to see the Quenchers Juice boxes are only 40% juice. I assume they do that so it's less sugar since they are geared towards kids. Guess I don't have to water those down, since they only had 10g of sugar. #PurelyOrganics #QuenchersAdventures

Overall, I'm way more thrilled with the Tasty Kakes than the juice, but still always nice to try out new products and I'm sure EMS will be very happy to have some juice for a treat!

Did you receive a VoxBox recently? What was in it? 

If you'd like to join Influenester, please let me know and I can send you an invite!

Follow Through Friday - Two Week Day Long Runs

What a week! Before we left for our cruise on Friday, I went out and ran my 8 miles, knowing I wouldn’t do it on vacation. I ran with one of my MRTT Mommas who is usually pretty fast (faster than me anyways!) and we did the first 4 miles in under 40 minutes! Overall, we maintained a great pace for all 8 miles and even saw two zebras on a property that backs up to the trail. So random!

I ate and drank heavily on the cruise like usual (but did get a decent amount of steps, like 12k+ each day) but didn’t really slow my roll much all week. I only cooked one night, bought my lunch each day at work and ate a lot of left over birthday cake. Tuesday morning when I weighed myself, I was still holding on to some serious weight and was 156.9. Somehow I got back down to 150.2 this morning. I really need to meal prep for this coming week. I got one free week of Hello Fresh (use code UYWR66 if you want $40 off your first box!) and am excited to try the meals that were delivered. They aren’t very low in calories though but since the portions are pretty large, I figure I can split the meals in half. I made the first one, which was Pan-Seared Chicken Sausage with Tangy Cabbage and Butternut Squash-Apple Puree and it was delicious (even with charring my squash a little)! I was able to split it into 3 meals too! The two I’ll be making this week will be: Seared Steak & Creamy Horseradish Sauce with Rosemary-Roasted Root Vegetables and Roasted Pork Chops with Balsamic-Fig Sauce, Greens, and Rosemary-Roasted Potatoes. I wish this program wasn’t so expensive ($69 for 3 meals for 2 people so ~ $11.50/meal) because I love the concept and love how it all game pre-packaged and ready to go!  Speaking of food this weekend may end up being just as bad as the cruise last weekend since G and I are going to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for date night tonight (we have gift cards) and then doing Drinks Around the World at Epcot tomorrow which since it’s also the Food and Wine Festival, there is a good chance I’ll be eating around the world as well! I’ll be sure to jump back on the healthy eating train 1^st thing on Sunday though!

Since I knew we’d be super busy all weekend and after drinking, I definitely can’t run the next day, I got my long run in last night (Thursday). I’d much rather get up super early on a Saturday and run with my MRTT Mommas though, but at least I got it done. After working all day, and thinking it was supposed to rain, I wasn’t feeling very motivated. I had been excited since my in-laws were taking the girls for dinner; I was excited to have opportunity to even run outside. Then when it started pouring on my way home from work, I was dreading having to do 9 miles on the treadmill. Luckily, it cleared up and I was able to get it done outside! Typically I really slow my pace down when I run by myself, especially long distances, but I’m rather impressed with this one. I will most likely be missing my third run for this week, which is just a 30 minute one, and my first missed one this training cycle, unless I feel miraculously good on Sunday after drinking on Saturday, but that is unlikely. Not too bad though, made it 7 weeks without missing a single run. And I got two loing runs done on weekdays, that's impressive in itself! I only made it on the workstation one day at work, but someone didn’t show up so at least I got it for 45 minutes vs. the normal 30. Since I was on vacation Monday, I missed the signups for this coming week, boo!

Since yesterday started a new month, figured I’d set my October Goals. I hit all 3 of my September Goals – I hit and passed the goal of150 lbs (which means I also hit my Dietbet goal, which was September goal #2). Granted I’m a little up again, but I’m confident I can get back down to at least 148.4 this month, and that’s my weight goal to hit before we leave for our 3 week vacation on 10/24, with a stretch goal of 147. I signed up for another Dietbet when we got back from the cruise and it ends October 18^th, and since most of my initial weigh in was cruise bloat, I already hit that goal, but of course that’s a goal to be able to maintain and win my DietBet for the month.  I also made the goal to run 55 miles this month, since I hit 53.9 (vs. my goal of 50 for September). I’m signed up for a 10 Miler race (Lakeland 10 Miler) next weekend and then a 5 Miler + 2 Miler challenge race (U Can Finish 5 Miler) the following weekend.

Results for the week (ending 10/2):

Weight:  150.2

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 8.03 miles in 1:21:56 (10:12 pace)

     Run 2: 2.82 miles in 30:00 (10:38 pace) 
     Run 3: 9.00 miles in 1:32:45 (10:18 pace) 

Other:

   Walk: 2.7 miles combined

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 19.85 miles
Total September Miles Logged: 53.9 (of 50)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 26.4 lbs

 

Follow Through Friday - Weekly Update

As reported last week, I had won my last diet bet. I had been keeping track of all my DietBets since ABS birth, and with the last one that just ended, after all my buy-ins, I MADE $488.87! That’s almost $500 in less than a year for doing what I wanted to be doing anyways, losing weight!. We’re going on a cruise today, so I’m sure I’ll gain a decent amount over this weekend and I’ll join a quick Transformer one on Monday when I get back to incentivize myself before heading out on our big 3 week vacation at the end of October. Once we are back from that (which I’m sure will be a hefty gain), I’ll join what is hopefully my last 6 month transformer, and probably a few kickstarters along the way as I make the final efforts to hit my final goal! I had originally  had a goal to hit 135 by my 30^thbirthday (well by the start of the trip which is October 24^th since I’ll be ON the trip the day I turn 30) but it’s pretty obvious that I’m not going to be hitting that one. If I really buckle down after the trip (and not let the holidays get in the way), I do think I should be able to hit it by our 4^th wedding anniversary in February, assuming I don’t gain too much on said trip. So that is my new stretch goal date, 135 lbs by 2/18/16. 

I didn’t meal prep this week because I was just too busy and didn’t make it to the grocery store, so I haven’t been eating the greatest this week considering how much I’ve eaten from the cafeteria at work. Yesterday was also ABS’ 1^st Birthday and we went out to dinner. We tried out this super yummy, new Mexican place, and I definitely may have went overboard. So between last night and just lunch all week (and I wasn’t very good over the weekend either) I’m not surprised I’m up from last week. 

I did get in all my runs though! I got up way before the sun on Saturday morning to knock out my 7 mile run before G left for the UCF game. I met up with him later once we had a babysitter available for the girls. On Tuesday I had a doctor appointment so finished my work day from home, which gave me the opportunity to run outside (rather than waste the 30 minutes commuting home from work) before doing the day care pick up. It’s still pretty hot in Florida at 5pm, with feels like temps of 90+, but overall that run felt great. I can’t say the same for my run on Wednesday night. I could barely get going (I’m sure my slight headache didn’t help) so decided to do a 10 minute walk to warm up. Which I know I should do anyways, but I never do. After that, I felt a little better and knocked out my 30 minute run. It honestly felt really tough. So weird how the same duration and distance can feel so different on different days. Really hoping my 8 miles today feels much better. I’m running today (or probably already ran, depending on when you read this) since we’ll be on the cruise this weekend and I definitely don’t want to do 8 miles on the treadmill if I don’t have to (I’ll be stuck on the treadmill for some of my longer runs in November as it is). I’ve also started using the walkstations at work this week. It’s basically an adjustable height desk with a computer that allows us to remote into our own computer, with a treadmill under it. The treadmill has a max speed of 2.0 mph and we are only allowed to use it once a day, for 30 minutes (so 1 mile). Which is a nice break in the day, and sure beats sitting at my desk all day. We only have 2 to share between a few thousand people, so the reservations fill up pretty quickly. I did manage to get in 3 out of the 4 work days this week but only once for next week, boo! We can only book a week out and if you don’t get in there first thing Monday morning, you pretty much don’t even have a chance of getting on the calendar.

Results for the week (ending 9/25):

Weight:  150.6

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 7.00 miles in 1:15:15 (10:45 pace)

     Run 2: 3.03 miles in 31:11 (10:17 pace)  
     Run 3: 2.96 miles in 30:00 (10:08 pace) 

Other:

     Walk: 3.72 miles combined

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 12.99 miles

Total September Miles Logged: 43.05 (of 50)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 26.0 lbs

Follow Through Friday - Transformer Winner and Personal Records

How convenient that my 6 month Transformer Diet Bet ended on a Friday, perfect timing for a Follow Through Friday post! Well technically it ended yesterday, but today was the weigh in and I’m so happy to report I hit my goal! The last two weeks I’ve been consistently below the goal (150.7) but then last weekend I went a little overboard (all you can eat Mac and Cheese Competition and then a weekend with family and lots of Dunkin Donuts will do that to you!) and jumped back up to 154 so I was a little nervous I wouldn’t hit it after all my hard work! But I did, and I feel so great about it! I won’t know the final payout for a few more days, but it should be around $225-$250 (about $125 profit since it was a $125 buy in). Overall I have lost 19 lbs. since I started this particular Diet Bet 6 months ago, and it definitely has kept me motivated. I hit my goal only 4 of the 6 months (would have won another $60 had I won all 6 months). Here are my before and after pictures (which aren’t the best quality since I didn’t put a lot of effort into the before picture LOL).

Now, I can’t believe I missed posting last week since I hit a new low! After we got married, I gained a bunch of weight on my honeymoon, and the lowest I got down to before getting my positive pregnancy test (within a month from returning from honeymoon) was 149.6 so this is technically the lowest weight I’ve been since I’ve been married!  It’s crazy though, some days I feel skinny, and some days I feel huge still. I know I’m smaller, I can see it most days, but sometimes I just still feel so blah and gross. I really hope I can reduce the number of those gross feeling days as I continue to lose and get more in shape.

This past weekend, I also finally hit my goal of running a sub 30 5k in an actual race! I had done it on the treadmill a few times, but never in a race. Well, back in 2010, I technically did, but the course was short so I never liked to count it. The closest I ever came was 30:34 and my official time was 28:54 for the race! Since G was out of town, I had my father in law watching my kids, so I left right after the race ended. I never stay for awards, but my friend was pretty sure she placed so had I had more time, I would have stayed for her. Little did I know, I placed THIRD for my age group! I never even thought I had a chance to place. It was super exciting to hear that news, but I was little bummed about missing my chance on the podium. Luckily, my friend was able to bring home my award for me (which was just a logo glass). You can read all about my race here! I can’t wait to see what I can do in future 5ks now that I know I’m capable of running a 5k under 29 minutes. (I never came close to that on the treadmill – it was always like 30 minutes on the dot). I think my next 5k goal will be to hit 28:30! So over the last two weeks, I got in some good runs and some not so good runs (they just felt tougher), but overall am happy I am sticking to my plan! And how weird is it that all 3 of my runs this week were he same exact distance? Wasn't even tying! My eating can always use a little work. It’s so easy for me to go back to eating all the bad stuff and eating way too much of it but overall I’ve been doing pretty well and hit another new low this week!

Results for the week (ending 9/11):
Weight:  148.8

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 5.30 miles in 1:06:55 (12:38 pace)

     Run 2: 6.30 miles in 1:10:43 11:13 pace)   
     Run 3: 3.06 miles in 30:00 (9:48 pace) 

Other:

     Walk: Wednesday – 1.0 miles

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 14.66 miles

Total September Miles Logged: 20.67 (of 50)

Results for the week (ending 9/18):

Weight:  148.4 <- NEW LOW!!

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 3.13 miles in 29:02 (9:17 pace)

     Run 2: 3.13 miles in 34:51 (11:07 pace)   
     Run 3: 3.13 miles in 30:00 (9:34 pace) 

Other: none

Total Weekly (Running) Miles Logged: 9.39 miles

Total September Miles Logged: 30.06 (of 50)

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 28.2 lbs

Cool Summer Morning 5k Series – Race #4: Hawaiian Beach Party Race Recap

(source)

Over the weekend, I ran the last of my races in the Cool Summer Morning 5k Series. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes and to get a new PR. So happy to report, I crushed that goal and have a new PR of 28:54. Back in 2011, I did have a PR for 29:23 but I know that course was short (by a pretty decent amount) so I always hated “counting” that race as  PR so I’m glad this once even beat that time so I know I have a true legit PR on an accurate course! Nothing new to report about the race itself other than the theme. It was Hawaiian Beach Party themed and they did a great job with the décor around the start and post-race events. A few people got in character and wore coconut bras and grass skirts for the run. As I was running, I kept thinking about if I was going to be able to PR or not. I was feeling SO amped about it, which definitely helped me push through! After my first two miles, I saw that without a doubt, even if I slowed down to a 10 minute mile, I’d still hit my 30 minutes goal, I kind of slowed down a little bit, but overall I just felt SO great during the entire run. Tired sure, but great! Running and racing are both very mental activities, and I was in a great mental mindset that morning. I had been feeling great about my weight loss journey and how I felt and looked and even with going to bed super late (for me) the night before the race, I was able to have great results!

I met up with a few of the MRTT Mommas that I knew before the race (one who I’ve ran with a few times since Race #3, I met her shortly after and she’s awesome!). Proud to say she, another girl, and myself (daughter of one of our Mommas) all took 3^rd place in our age group divisions! We didn’t know it at the time, but we have taken this picture together right after the race. 

the 3rd place girls

Unfortunately, I never thought I’d come close to placing, and I had someone watching my kids that morning so I left shortly after finishing. Because of this, I missed my chance on the podium! My first time ever placing and I missed receiving my award (which was just a glass stating division winner) and my glory of standing on the podium. I’m a little bummed about that, but still feels pretty dang awesome to get 3^rd. 

my podium shot that I'm missing from

Next summer I’ll be in the 30-34 age group, and looks like if I keep it up, I should have the opportunity to place next year! One of the many things I love about small, local races is the fact that there is less competition in the age groups! My first race in the series I came in at 33:14, so reducing my time to 28:54 is a huge improvement in 3 months!

Since this was the 4^th race in the series, and I completed them all, I also got an extra medal! My medal collection for 2015 is huge, so far I have 15!

I have absolutely loved this race series and am sad to see it end. I cannot wait to do it again next year (and see even more improvements!)

Official Chip Time: 28:54 (overall pace of 9:19)
Place: 89 of 359 Finishers

Place: 41 of the 233 Women Finishers
Place: 3 of 22 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

My Runkeeper stats:

3.13 miles in 29:02 (overall pace of 09:17)
Splits:
Mile 1: 9:10
Mile 2: 9:16
Mile 3: 9:42
.13 mile: 07:14 <--finish line sprint