Follow through Friday - 2 week update, not on Friday

Another almost 2 weeks have come and gone since my last update. It’s been a bad two weeks for me. First of all, the 1^st week, we were on vacation for most of it and I had nowhere to run besides outside, and it was too hot and I was too exhausted (5 kids under 4 in our house, is exhausting, even if we were on “Vacation” LOL). We also ate A LOT of junk and drank a lot of beer, and since I wasn’t home on Friday, I wasn’t able to get my weight. I did get one walk in, one morning with the kids, but it was late in the morning and brutally HOT. I made zero good decisions in regards to food, besides some fresh fruit here and there. 

The following week, last week, I was in a funk. I think I was truly exhausted from vacation and has zero energy to do anything besides go to bed right after the kids went to bed during the week. Had I not paid for my personal training session on Thursday, there is a good chance I probably would have skipped that as well. Zero running, other than the 5k Race (Race # 2 of the Cool Summer Mornings 5k Series) I ran on the Saturday before vacation. It was SUPER hot out and I struggled during it, mostly because of the heat I think. I actually started getting the chills, which I think is a sign of heat exhaustion, so I slowed down and walked a little more and listened to my body. My official time wasn’t awful considering the circumstances, just hoping the August race is a little cooler.  

Luckily, I was able to get on the walk station quite a bit at work so that helped. I honestly didn’t finally feel good again (refreshed) until today, Monday, and now I’m ready to tackle this week, which I’ll save for my post next week. So this is short and sweet, and really only being posted to help keep me accountable and for me to look back on.

Friday, July 22nd, 2016 

Weight: 159.2

Exercise from Friday July 8th – 22nd:

Saturday 7/9 - 3.1 miles in 31:39 (10:13 pace) - 5k Race

Wednesday 7/13 - 1.15 mile walk on vacation

Thursday 7/21 - Personal Training Session at HitFit Gym

Walk Station – 7.28 miles (multiple days)

Total Weekly(x2) Running Miles: 3.1

Total July Running Miles: 14.14

Follow Through Friday - a Travel Week

Well look at that, only 3 weeks in and already fell half a week behind on blogging. Better late than never I suppose.

I started off my 4 day weekend by going to the HitFit Gym on Friday for the circuit training and then ran a Virtual 5k (#OrlandoUnited5k) on Saturday with a friend from MRTT. We actually ended up going more than a 5k since we got caught up chatting and forgot to turn around at the half way point. We ran into some other MRTT ladies who were coming back from a much longer run and they asked us how far we were going and we told them and they were like um, well then shouldn’t you have turned around by now and that’s when we realized we went too far. We ended up running back with them so it was nice to have additional company. 

I ended up needing to go to Chicago (well the suburbs) for work that week and took advantage of the nicer weather while there. I got in two nice runs on two different trails. I loved how there were so many to choose from. On Wednesday, I ran a 5k on the Busse Forest Elk Bicycle Trail, which was a really nice trail in Arlington Heights. I loved how shaded it was, made it feel 10 degrees cooler than it was. The humidity was also much less than it is in Florida which makes a dramatic difference. 

The next day I found a trail that went in a nice loop around a the Skokie Lagoon. I always prefer to run in a circle vs. out and back so this one intrigued me. I was a little disappointed with this trail though as the first 1.5 miles were next to a very noisy highway and then I assumed you'd be running next to the water since the trail went around the lagoon but it was pretty overgrown and you could only see the water in a few spots. I mean it was still nice and shaded, I just was envisioning something else. It also had quite a few "hills" that I wasn't expecting since the trail on Tuesday was pretty flat. I ended up walking a lot more than I normally do because of the hills and I was super thirsty (probably because I didn't drink enough water earlier in the day and it was pretty hot out). Over all though my exercise was great this week. And since I didn't get in my Walkstation walks this week since I was out of the office I did get in a nice walk one morning on the treadmill at the hotel. 

I wasn't great with my eating this week though, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a drop in weight on Saturday morning. (I got home Friday afternoon so waited until Saturday to weigh in). I indulged in both the 3rd and 4th as we celebrated the 4th of July holiday and then ate out every meal the rest of the week since I was on the road and even got ice cream one night.

G was up in Chicago for work as well so we were able to meet up for dinner and went out to two nice dinners together (one to celebrate his birthday which also included some drinks).

And I had unfortunately to drop out of the StepBet I was so excited about last week because my Fitbit decided to die. Everyone says they usually only last about a year before they die (you know, right after their warranty runs out) and I've had mine almost 2 years so I knew it was coming. Luckily,they issued me a refund since the game was still in the practice week so I didn't lose my money at least. I'm pretty bummed about it though because I thought the challenge was going to be hard and well, challenging! And now I have to spend money replacing my Fitbit, so that sucks. I think I'm going to switch to Garmin since they tend to be more reliable.

This week we are heading to Destin from Tuesday through Sunday for our annual cousins trip / vacation which means lots of eating and drinking. I also won't have access to a treadmill and it's supposed to be super hot so getting any runs in will be tough but I did bring my running gear in hopes that I manage to log a few miles. We'll see how that goes! 

 

 

Saturday, July 9th, 2016 

Weight: 157.6

 

Exercise:

Friday – HitFit Gym Circuit

Saturday - 3.44 miles in 37:10 (10:48 pace)

Wednesday - 3.10 miles in 32:55 (10:37 pace)

Thursday - 4.50 miles in 50:13 (11:10 pace)

 

Walk Station – none

Regular Walk on Treadmill – 2.5 miles  

 

Total Weekly Running Miles: 11.04

Total July Running Miles: 11.04

Follow Through Friday - Week 2

Week 2 of being back! Yey! Last weekend, I went away for a nice relaxing girls weekend with some friends to Singer Island, Florida. We didn’t do much besides drink and eat and hang by pool/beach and it was perfect. I didn’t go too overboard with the drinking or the eating and was happy to see only a .4 lb. gain when I checked on Monday. I had intentions of running at least once over the weekend, but that ended up not happening but I did swim a little and walked enough to hit 15k steps Friday (despite working half a day and driving 3 hours), 10k steps Saturday and just under 9k Sunday (again with 3 hours of driving), so that’s pretty good considering we only left resort once. After getting home late Sunday afternoon, I was tempted to just relax with G and the girls but I decided to meal prep for the week too so that has helped me be good all week at work and at night for dinner. I did have some treats on Wednesday after I gave blood since they encouraged sugar intake, I definitely probably went a little over board (2 cookies and a Danish) and had to cancel my personal training session for that evening since it’s not recommended to work out right after giving blood. On Thursday, I wasn't very good either though despite running in the morning. We had a birthday at work with some treats which I indulged in and then a going away happy hour for our boss that evening in which I had a few craft beers which wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't come home and eat tater tots and wings for dinner. So it shouldn't be a surprise to me that I didn't lose this week, but I didn't really gain either so I guess that's not as bad as it could have been.

 

Exercise wasn’t that great for me either. I was able to get on the walk station a lot at work too which always makes me happy. I got a relatively slow treadmill run in on Tuesday and then an even slower morning run on Thursday. Thursday’s run sucked. I don’t know if it was the 90% humidity (only 75 degrees at 6am), the fact I gave blood the day before, or that I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, but my body just couldn’t handle it. My legs felt great, but the rest of me kept telling me to stop, so I just did a 2.5 loop around the neighborhood and came home.  I also found a new type of challenge would just help me get back into my running though, its call the StepBet (same company that hosts those DietBets I’m obsessed with). It’s somewhat similar to Diet Bet in the sense that as long as YOU hit YOUR goal, then you split the pot with everyone else who hit their goals as well. So, you wager money (looks like all the challenges are the same with a $40 buy in) that you’ll hit certain step goals each week, for 6 weeks (well really 5 weeks since the 1^st week is practice). The goals are calculated by StepBet (I’m guessing based on your Fitbit – or other tracking device - history) and can’t be changed and you have to hit your active goal 4 times per week and your stretch goal 2 times per week and then have one “free” day without any set goal. I was actually surprised to see how high my goals were (especially since this past month I’ve been slacking on my running which contributes to a lot of steps in my history), which is good since it’s will actually be a REAL challenge to reach them each week. My Active Goal (4x/week) is 13,664 steps and my Stretch Goal (2x/week) is 17,538, which if I hit all of those and did NOTHING on my “free day” (which obviously I’d do more than nothing) I’d have to hit 89,732 and lately my weekly average has been closer to 80-85k steps so this will be challenging.

 

Friday, July 1st, 2016

Weight: 159.2

 

Exercise:

Tuesday – 4.02 miles in 45:00 (11:12 pace)

Thursday – 2.56 miles in 31:01 (12:06 pace)

 

Walk Station – 8.93 miles (multiple days)

 

 

Total Weekly Running Miles: 6.58

Total June Running Miles: 22.93

Follow Through Friday: I'm Back!

I’m back! I wish I could say I was coming back with the news that I’ve hit all my fitness and weight loss goals, but the truth is, I haven’t and I’m hoping by documenting my journey again, I can get back to where I was and continue down the path I was on last year.

 

When I left off last year, it was October and I had gotten my weight down to 149.6 (actually had gotten it down to 148 in September). I was feeling pretty good about myself, although not where I wanted to be, but had been making some steady downward progress. I was running consistently, getting faster. I knew I had a big trip coming up and that, with a 3 week vacation, there was sure to be some gains. And there was. Despite running 7 times on my 3 week vacation (which I so wish I recapped because I ran in some awesome places across the Atlantic!), I still managed to gain. I had weighed 151 on my 10/24/15, the day we left, and 160 on the day we got back 11/15/16. So 9 lbs. I thought for sure the 1^st 5 lbs would melt off as soon as I got back to my routine. Well it didn’t exactly melt off, but I did lose some and then it came back, and for the last 7 or so months the lowest I got back to was around 153 but up to as high as 165 again, but mostly have been staying around 158-160. Through Winter and Spring, I was doing awesome with my running, I even placed a few times in races, set many PRs and was feeling good about that, but was making no real progress on my weight. My clothes were still snug, the few new things I had bought when I hit the 140’s weren’t fitting and I HATED the way I looked in pictures (still do). I know it’s not all about the number on the scale, but the number on the scale DOES correlate to fitting in smaller clothes and looking leaner and I was neither. I’d been pretty consistent about eating pretty well during the week, but was splurging WAY too much on the weekends. We (or just I on some of them, bridal party/wedding related stuff) also snuck in quite a few weekend trips (Vegas, California, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami) and work trips since we’ve been back from our vacation last fall, and I definitely went into vacation mode with my eating on all of those. When you travel that frequently, you can’t do that. Add in the holidays and just pretty much a super busy weekend life, any progress I would make during the week, would be countered by a weekend of “fun” eating. I can tell you now, with how I feel, mentally, it wasn’t worth it. 

 

After looking at everything going on in my life, I decided maybe this blog was what was helping me stay accountable. It is the only thing that I stopped doing that I was consistently doing last year. I did post some race recaps, but even those subsided, despite running a ton of races this year. I have been keeping my Race Log updated though, I like to be able to look back at previous races and see my times. Maybe I'll recap the ones going forward.

 So what’s new in 2016? I signed up for a 2,016 in 2016 challenge, which there is no way I could do that alone if I was ONLY counting my running since I only logged ~500 miles last year (per RunKeeper) – I think that number is a little low though, as I’m not sure I put all my non-RunKeeper runs into RunKeeper last year, but maybe I did? Anyways, with that said, I joined the 2016 challenge with two friends from MRTT, which means I only need to run 672 miles for the year which is approximately 56 miles per month. I gave myself a stretch goal of 700 miles for the year/~58 miles per month. Through May, I was looking good, with a 5 month total of 308.44 mile ran vs. goal of 290. June on the other hand has been an awful running month, with no races longer than a 5k planned for months, I haven’t been doing any long runs (or really any runs period) on the weekends. So for the most part, really only logging around 6-7 miles per week and have only logged 16.3 miles so far and it’s already the 24^th. Going to start meeting up with my MRTT ladies on weekends again as that certainly helps keep me accountable. I know I’ll have some higher mileage months in the fall when my half training starts up as well, so I’m pretty confident I’ll hit my 700 mile goal for the year (Plus my one team member is killing it and pretty much has me and other team member doubled on her individual miles so as a team we will hit the goal without a problem, but I still want to hit my individual goal). I’m also keeping track of all my FitBit miles as well, just whatever my FitBit miles say at end of each day, which accounts for any running/walking and normal daily activity and am trying to hit 2016 miles with that on my own. I know I lose some steps when it’s charging/dead/forgot to put back on, but for the most part it’s a pretty good measure. Through May, I was up to 583.73 of 840 I should be at, so need to keep my daily miles a little higher going forward if I expect to hit my 2016 goal.

 

I also joined a gym a few weeks ago. I know I can do the majority of strength exercises at home, but the reality of it is, I’m not doing them, and paying for the monthly gym membership is holding me accountable. Due to G’s travel, I can only realistically go one day a week (weekdays that is, they are closed Sunday and on Saturdays we always have things going on/I do my long runs) since my in-laws pick the girls up from school one day a week for me. Which worked out perfectly because they have a 4x/month package. And if I do end up being able to go more than that for whatever reason, its only $6 per session which would still be cheaper than their unlimited package. This gym isn’t like any other gym I had been to, it’s somewhat similar to Orange Theory Fitness, but there isn’t one of those close to my house and it’s double the cost for their 4x/month package. It’s called the Hit Fit Gym and it focuses on High Intensity, Interval Training. They have a circuit set up with 10 zones. Each zone has a video playing on repeat showing you how do the exercise plus there is always personal trainer on the floor during the core hours (5:30-9am and 4-8pm, I think) or at least at the front desk during the non-core hours to help you as well. During the core hours, they PT on the floor also encourages you to do extra exercises on your breaks. You do each zone for 30 seconds hard, 15 second break x 4 rounds and then there is a 45 second transition to the next zone. The whole circuit takes about 35 minutes and is a full body workout. They have a continuous timer going so you can show up at any time and the longest you would have to wait to begin is about 3 minutes for the next round to start. I’m sure there are busier times where you may have to wait to start because someone else is there on the first zone, but it hasn’t happened to me yet but either way its still better than trying to get to a gym at a specific time for a class. They also just opened a second location which is double the size so I’m sure that will help too if this location was getting overcrowded.  They also change up the circuit every few days so you don’t get bored. I absolutely love it. They also had an introductory offer for personal training, which I took advantage of and have been meeting with a trainer for the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately, since I can really only make it there once a week, I haven’t been able to do the circuit AND the PT each week. I did manage to do both last week when I went on my off Friday but that’s not the norm, although G is working from home all next week so maybe I’ll have the opportunity to do both next week. I don’t see results yet, but am really enjoying it and hoping to see results soon. Have to get my eating back on par though if I expect that to happen. I'm also still running 2-3 times a week in addition to going to the gym since I can do that at home while G travels, after I put girls to bed.

 

With that said, I’m back to blogging, hopefully weekly with a follow through Friday update and hopefully this is the motivation I need to get to where I want to be. So I guess this is my NEW Starting Point and my weeks will go Friday through Thursday with my weight being Friday morning.

Friday, June 24^th, 2016

Weight:

159.0

 

Exercise:

Friday – Hit Fit Circuit

Monday – 3.00 miles in 30:59 (10:20 pace)

Wednesday – Hit Fit Personal Training Session

Walk Station – 4.96 miles (multiple days)

 

Total Weekly Running Miles: 3.00

Total June Running Miles: 16.3

Tails & Trails 10k Race Recap

Yesterday, I ran the Tails & Trails 10k. This is my 3rd race in 3 weeks, and 3rd 10k this year. (Can we say race addiction?)  I got in a few good runs this week after the Heart & Sole 10k last weekend, including one in 29 degree, up hill Maryland while on travel for work. I hardly ever run back to back days, but with the Glass Slipper Challenge coming up next weekend, I decided I should do some back to back days and I did twice this week, including Friday night, before this race saturday morning. 

The Tails & Trails 10k was another small-ish local race (not as small as last week though) also held in Clermont. It was held at Lake Hiawatha Preserve, which I had never been to before, and went a little ways along Lake Minneola and then on the South Lake Trail. They had a 5k and a 10k going on and started the 10k 15 minutes earlier than the 5k. They took us 10kers a little different path (along the lake) than the 5kers and we merged around 1.5 milers with the 5k course and we ran the same course until the 5kers turned around and us 10kers kept going until our turn around. I didn't particularly like how they had us merging as this race had a decent amount of kids running the 5k and it was hard to maneuver around them during the merge. Once we got past the initial merge, it was fine, but I do wish they had done it a little differently. I do know the course changed since last year as there was a section of the 10k that was apparently "dangerous" but not sure what that was or if the merging was affected by that since I didn't run it last year. Other than that one small complaint, they put on a great event and the rest of the course was great. It was mostly shaded and the weather was once again chilly at the start (around 50 degrees), but perfect once we got going. It actually did start to feel a little warm in the sunny section of the course, but that didn't last too long. 

I don't know if it was because I ran the night before or what, but my legs definitely felt tired during this race. I ran 3/:45 intervals and definitely went out too fast to start and overall this run felt "tough". I knew I wasn't going to PR but still wanted to finish under an hour so pushed myself to at least make that happen. We had a large MRTT turnout for this race and because of how the course went (the merging and the out and back), we got to see each other a few times while running. It's always so nice to encourage each other along the way! 

After the race, several of us MRTT ladies (and two kiddos) placed so we all stuck around for the awards. We really dominated the results board with the top 3 female finishers overall, I took 2nd in 30-34, another took 3rd in 45-49, and two others took 1st and 2nd in 35-39 all for the 10k and then 2nd place overall in the 5k and two of the kids placed in their 5k age groups as well! It really was an incredible day for racing for us! 

This is my 3rd official award I've received for placing, guess it's time to put up a shelf above my medals and display them properly! I never, in a million years, ever thought I'd be fast enough to place in a race. I was always happy with just racing against "myself" and trying to improve my pace and PR, but placing really does take the Runner's High to an all new level! I know in larger races my pace wouldn't even come close to pacing, but I love the small local races in general, less congested courses, better race causes, etc and if I have a chance at placing, it makes it even better. 

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 59:32 (overall pace of 9:37)

Place: 41 of 129 finishers

Place: 23 of the 85 Women Finishers

Place: 2 of 13 in my Women’s Age Division (30-34)

1st 5k Split: 29:51

2nd 5k Split: 29:52

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, weaving, etc.):

6.25 miles in 59:33 (overall pace of 9:32)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 8:54 

Mile 2: 9:23

Mile 3: 9:37

Mile 4: 10:08 (where I stopped to refill my water bottle)

Mile 5: 9:44

Mile 6: 9:41

0.25: 8:51

Heart and Sole 10k Race Recap

Last weekend,  I ran the Heart and Sole 10k. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel since I had only ran ONE mile all week after the Celebration Half. I had been hurting pretty bad Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday was still pretty sore but did one mile and it felt pretty tough but I didn't hurt. I took the rest of the week off and woke up Saturday morning feeling great and ready to run! 

Pre- Race Selfie

This race was a 5k and 10k supporting the Central Florida Dreamplex, which is a fitness and recreation center for special needs children. Several of the Mommas in my chapter of MRTT work really closely with this organization (and helped organize this race) and I was so happy to be able to run a race to support them. Several of our MRTT Mommas (and their families) also volunteered at one of the water stops along the course. It's always nice to see people volunteering at the water stops, but especially nice when they are people you know, specifically calling out your name when they cheer you on and taking in action pictures! 

Water Station Cheer Ninjas

This was a pretty small race (this is only the 2nd year they've done it and I know their turnout was much better compared to last year)  only 36 runners in the 10k and 113 in the 5k but they put on a great event! They held it at Waterfront park in Clermont, which is one of my favorite racing venues as the lake is so pretty and lets off a nice breeze. It was pretty cold when it started, mid 40's, but once I got going, I warmed up quickly and the weather was perfect!

Sun rise over the lake

I was pretty sure I was getting a PR in this race once I hit the 5k mark, although didn't go into it thinking I would considering how I felt all week. As I was running, I couldn't remember what my PR was for the 10k, and was thinking it was 58:50 so when I was finishing up around 58:30 I thought I had PR'd but turns out my PR was 58:30 so I was a few seconds off. I did stop to tie my shoe TWICE and refill my water bottle once so I'm sure that was all the difference. I really don't understand how sometimes my shoe comes untied multiple times and other times not at all when I swear I tie it the same every time LOL. I wasn't disappointed in my time though, I felt GREAT during the entire run and really enjoyed it. With being such a small race, they used large age group spreads and only gave awards to the 1st place spot in each of the age groups, so even with placing 2nd I didn't get an award. With only 3 ladies in my age group, it doesn't sound as exciting haha but nonetheless still awesome to get 2nd place! 

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 58:36 (overall pace of 9:27)

Place: 15 of 36 finishers

Place: 9 of the 21 Women Finishers

Place: 2 of 3 in my Women’s Age Division (21-30)

1.55 split: 14:01

5k Split: 29:07

4.65 split: 43:49

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, weaving, etc.):

6.28 miles in 58:37 (overall pace of 9:20)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 8:50

Mile 2: 9:13

Mile 3: 9:33

Mile 4: 9:31

Mile 5: 9:25

Mile 6: 9:41

0.28: 8:27

Celebration Half Marathon Race Recap 2016

Last weekend, I ran the Town of Celebration Half Marathon. Last year, this was my first half after having ABS, and I absolutely loved it and was excited to run it again. (Recap Here). 

I got there just in time to meet up with all the fabulous MRTT ladies from multiple chapters. Like had to jog from the car to make it in time, which actually worked out well because it was pretty chilly (like 45-50 degrees) and this warmed me up! Our picture is pretty comical since it was still so dark and you can't see anything besides some reflective strips on some of our clothing. We did get a better picture of just our local chapter at least! After I met up with them, I met up with some of my other friends too, stopped to use the bathroom and made our way to the start. Love this race, because even though it's a good 30 minute drive from home, it's relatively small compared to most halfs and that means we don't have to get up super early like Disney races to get there and wait around for hours before it starts. 

Clermont MRTT

Multi Chapter Meet Up

Action Shot

Post Race Selfie, Happy with a new PR!

My set my goal for this race at 2:10-2:15 and was thinking that 2:10 was a pretty big stretch since achieving 2:15:59 at Space Coast just 2 months before took everything out of me, so didn't think I'd really be able to shave off 6 minutes, but I was going to try and knew I'd be happy with any sort of PR, even if it was just a few seconds! They had both a 2:10 and a 2:15 pace group (well technically a 4:20 and 4:30 pace group since they were for the marathon which is the same course for first 12.5 miles) so I lined up with the 2:10 pace group, with the plan to stay between them. I started off feeling great and ended up staying ahead of the 2:10 pace group for the entire race. They got close a few times, but I picked up my pace and stayed pretty steady for me. Usually my slowest mile is towards the end of any race I run, especially half marathons, but it was actually my 1st mile. Although my 11th mile wasn't far behind it. I thought for sure I was going to slow down significantly towards the end like I did at Space Coast, but I felt great the entire race and finished in 2:08:50, beating my previous PR by 7 minutes! And for comparison purposes, last year I finished in 2:37:16 and that was a PR for me at that time. 

Another great thing about this race is the support. In addition to all the wonderful volunteers, there is a town of folks from the Town of Celebration that come out and cheer alongside the course. There are also a ton of great signs posted throughout the race, which I loved last year, and was happy to see again this year! The best support though was a huge group of MRTT Mommas came out again and now that I know them better than last year, having them cheer me on made it even more special. Every time I'd see a group of them, I'd be sure to push a little harder! 

The most incredible thing I saw was this little girl running.  I swore she couldn't have been older than 8 or 9 based on her size and she was ahead of me for most of the run and we played leapfrog for some of the race as I was running intervals and she was running straight through. She was running with a guide, so I wasn't sure what the story was but she was keeping a steady pace around 9:30 and looked like she was loving every second of it. Turns out she was 10 years old, and I believe she had a guide with her just because of her age. She also ran the entire Full Marathon, not just half, which is what I had assumed and was amazed enough thinking that. I saw her finish line picture and she looked so refreshing, not exhausted at all and had a huge smile on her face. I don't know if this was a first or what, but regardless, an incredible feat at any age and her pace was just over 10:00 overall. I couldn't even imagine doing that now, nevermind at 10 years old! 

The course was the same as last year (I believe), but I am happy to report the boardwalks were dry (thanks to no rain) and well marked and freshly pressure washed so nice and clean. I didn't see or hear of any injuries, which was refreshing after how bad it was last year.

The post race festivities never disappoint either. I waited around with some of my friends and cheered on other friends until they finished and then we went and enjoyed the post race food and drinks. They had samples from several of the local restaurants and beer too (although I never do drink the beer LOL) just for the runners and it was all yummy. 

Some water marked pictures from the race photographer, which reminds me, I need to start wearing my bib lower and work harder on getting rid of that belly pudge! 

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:08:50 (overall pace of 9:51)

Place: 548 of 1871 finishers

Place: 255 of the 1226 Women Finishers

Place: 28 of 150 in my Women’s Age Division (30-34)

10k Split: 1:01:03

15k Split: 1:31:30

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, weaving, etc.):

13.62 miles in 2:08:54 (overall pace of 9:28)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 9:51 (slowest)

Mile 2: 9:34

Mile 3: 9:22

Mile 4: 9:18

Mile 5: 9:33

Mile 6: 9:26

Mile 7: 9:30

Mile 8: 9:43

Mile 9: 9:19

Mile 10: 9:17

Mile 11: 9:46

Mile 12: 9:16

Mile 13: 9:37

.62 mile: 8:42