Monday, February 15, 2010

Weekend Roundup!

As most of you are at home enjoying your well deserved day off for President's Day, I on the other hand, am at work :(  No day off for me until April 16th, boo.  I think I may need to find another profession where I get pointless holidays off and calling in sick between February 1st and April 15th isn't a capital crime :)  On to the weekend!

I had a blast of a weekend.  Isn't it funny though, when you leave your job on Friday afternoon, you feel like you have all the time in the world?  And then suddenly it's Sunday night again and you think to yourself, where did the weekend go?  I packed a lot into my weekend and I accomplished a lot.  I got my hair cut, ran a 10K, ran another 6 miles, made a romantic Valentine's dinner for the best running sherpa ever and then tackled a twenty miler all in the span of less than 72 hours!  Wow!

I have to say, the 10K is not my favorite distance.  I had a ton of fun meeting up with my cousin Sarah and her friend Nicole on Saturday morning to run the Campbell Valentine's Day 10K.  The weather was awesome, actually awesome ALL weekend long.  At the start line, I met a couple of girls about my age and we started talking.  They were new to the area and didn't know the course.  I gave them some tips about the two big hills and the rolling hills and said I was shooting for a sub 45.  They said great, that's what we're going for, too.  The gun went off and we hit our first mile in 6:49!  I knew this was too fast for me to hold on to the whole race so I let them go.  I chased their yellow shirts all the way through the race.  My second mile was 7:40 so I slowed down way too much but this is also where we hit the first big hill around mile 2.2.  I lost it all on that hill and never really regained my pace.  From miles 3-5 I was hitting the 7:15 range but I still felt like I had burned myself in those first couple of miles and never felt like I hit my groove.  I finally crossed the finish line in 46:00 flat.  I didn't hit my time goal, but I was so happy to be out there racing.  I chicked a ton of guys in that last mile and reminded myself I hadn't really done any speed work leading up to this.  Plus those hills in there were brutal!  I came in fourth for my age group and felt satisfied with the day.  You couldn't ask for better weather also.  The race was even more special with the fact that Sarah broke 60 mins!  Whoo hoo!  I am soo proud of her.  Her shins were killing her that day but she broke through it all and came in around 59:xx!  Great job Sarah!!!!!!!!!
Me, Sarah and Nicole before the race :)

Sarah and I at the finish!!

The finisher's circle :)

Lilly came out to cheer her mommy on! :)


Enough Mommy!
After we finished up at the race, I grabbed a bagel and coffee and hit up the nail salon.  My nails were in major "crack-ho" status and really needed taking care of.  When I finished up in the nail salon I came home and finished up the day with another 6 miles.  They were slow miles but I wanted to get my legs tired and ready for my 20 miler on Sunday.  I am trying my best to simulate what it will feel like after Boston heading into Big Sur.  And in a way, I think it's going to help me keep my speedy legs for Boston.

Saturday night I fixed my hubbs his requested dinner of Steak au Poirve with champagne risotto and asparagus.  Followed by choco soufflet.  It was very tasty and being the good running hubbs he is, he got me a ton of new sports bras!  Only a runner would appreciate sports bras vs. real lingere :)

The choco soufflet - before we broke into it!

The choco soufflet with homemade whipped cream :)

Sunday came and my legs were tired.  I tried to embrace this and remind myself I did it to myself but it was HARD.  The first couple of miles were painful.  I only had 30 miles on my legs for the week but they were feeling like lead!  By the time I hit mile 8 and had gu'ed, I found my stride.  Miles 16-18 felt like the last 10K of a marathon!  I was clicking off 9 min miles and dying!  But being the good running sherpa the hubbs was, he talked me through them and I finished those 20 strong, in fact, my last 1/2 mile was at 7:00/mi pace!
20 miles  2:43:19  8:10/mi pace.

I was exhausted by noon on Sunday and we both collapsed into a heap!  I took a quick 20 min nap after my shower and ice bath and then we headed out to the dogpark with Lilly for Valentine's day.  Sorry, this post has more pics of Lilly - these are her in the car, on Ari's lap on the way to the dogpark.  Yes, she is wearing a sweatshirt and doggles :)  What can I say, we don't have kids yet!



It was a whirlwind of a weekend but it was a blast.  I am so proud of Sarah and her big Saturday and I am contemplating running the Santa Cruz Half Marathon with her in April to help pace her.  Yes, it's the weekend before Boston but I think 13 easy, slow miles will be just fine even when I am in taper. 

And since this is a post with a ton of photo's, I thought I would share what came in the mail on Saturday!!!

My 2010 Boston Jacket - I received a gift card from my auntie for my b-day and couldn't think of a better way to spend it!  It's awesome, the arms come off and turn into a vest - I'm in love :)

I am off to catch up on blogs and see how everyone's long runs and races went!
Happy Monday and Happy Running peeps! 






18 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my book, a most excellent run!

N.D. said...

great job on the 10k - sucks for people that have to do the jan 1 -april 15 no days off crap.

Jill said...

Ooooo, I heart that Boston jacket, I am going to have to need that. I'll have to wait til July, when they're half price, like I did last year though.

Your dog cracks me up!! When you have kiddos, watch you, you are going to spoil them to the max!! As well you should :).

What a great weekend race for you with your cousin and friends. I thought about you often and hoped you were running strong...and more importantly, happy! Sounds like you hit the mark on both!!!! So stoked for you, chica!!

Yea, I gots me a ton of time off between now and April 16th but don't think it's all so glorious, I don't get paid for it. Wha! But it's now 10:22 and I'm crawling my lazy hiney out of my nice warm flannel sheets finally after playing on the Internet for the past several hours so hey, it can't be all that bad, huh? And yea, time to start making Jilly accountable for her training plan cuz she's really REALLY struggling here. But the good thing is, come Wed, it's Lent and I think that's going to make me fare a little better because if there's one thing I am good at doing, it's being a tiny bit stronger during this period. So no more letting me whine!!! Thanks :).

A huge hug to you!!!!
xxoo

Jen Feeny said...

Great job on the race ladies!

Score on the sports bra and major score on the Boston jacket!!

Katrina said...

Nice run! Your dog is so cute with the doggles on... that shirt she's wearing is "Daddies little...?" Where did you get it from?

Aron said...

nice job on the weekend girl!! you must have been smokin those early miles with an 8:10 avg :) love all the pics and congrats on a great race!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

Busy weekend! You packed a lot into that one.

Great job on the 10K +6. And then to pull a 20 miler! With what 8 min miles. You rock!

Love the jacket and woohoo of sports bras. Only runners!

Denise said...

oooh, can't wait to get a boston jacket, sweatshirt, hat, underwear...anything i can!!

i was wondering if anyone would mention my hotel night w/ my back pain! tee hee!

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

Great race! I love all the pictures!

Funny, I would have loved all the sports bras too!

Check out my latest post, I left you something!

Amanda said...

I just found your blog through tall mom's 1000+ mile club.I've run the Bear Creek Trail run before and it was very challenging and fun!

ajh said...

Great job in the race........and then 6 more miles at home. Wow. You had a busy running weekend. Love the doggles! Too cute. I think getting lots of sports bras rather than VS lingerie is too cute!

Tara said...

Girl! You made homemade whip cream! You went ALL out! Hubbs must be a very special man! And yes, only us runners appreciate sports bras vs real bras as gifts. Too funny.

I love all of the pics of Lilly. She is so cute with her doggles and sweatshirt! I put a sweatshirt on my dog once and she chewed holes in it; she wasn't happy.

GREAT Job on that run girl! Actually both of your runs this weekend!

Hang in there with work. I feel for ya!

Anonymous said...

I am totally grateful for the Presidents AND my day off! It is certainly a perk of working in a school :)

Love the doggie photos!

ajh said...

Visit my blog to see an new award. :)

BTW love the jacket. Some day I want one!

Jo Lynn said...

Hip Hip Hooray for pictures of furry children. So darn cute!! Oh, good run too. LOL ;)

Thanks for continuing to stop by my blog, it's always nice to hear from you.

Jenn said...

Great job on the race and the 20!! Love the pics! I want to come to your house for dinner!! I think we had frozen pizza for Valentine's Day! Totally laughed at the Valentine's gift. Joe bought me running stuff too-I'm not into getting gifts for me-actually for him anyway (lingerie)!!! When I want this I'll buy it for him for a gift..lol!! Your dog is hilarious!!
I was going to order that jacket. I keep trying to decide on the size. I'm 5'8 and I usually wear a medium but I'm skinny on the top half(different story down below-ha!) I ordered a medium Brooks jacket and it was too big. Do they run pretty true to size?!! Anyway, enough rambling-glad you had a great weekend!!

Sarah said...

Love the new jacket!! :)

Had so much fun sharing a race experience with you this weekend! I love all the pics!

And OMG Lils is too cute with the doggles on!!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a busy but awesome weekend!! :) And your rockstar dog made me smile. I love it! Doggles... lol!