Double Digits!

We did our first double digit run for this training program and it was by the beach!  Yay and an added bonus it was only 10 minutes from my house (thank goodness).  I was worried because I missed the 8 mile run a couple weeks ago so I went from 6.5, 4.5, 4.5 to 10.  It turned out to be just fine.  I wasn't too sure how to fuel before and during to make sure I stay hydrated without having to pee the whole time.  Plus I haven't been taking any supplements during so I took one pack of Gu chomps to test out. I drank 4 16oz water bottles during and shortly after and only peed a little.  I guess my body really needed the hydration!  

We ran right along the edge of the east coast and it was so pretty watching the sunrise.  I LOVED going through all the neighborhoods with the amazing homes.  Ahh the life.  We loved this funky tree!  I was in someones front yard and went all the way to the middle the of street.  Individuality at it's finest :)

The Galloway group did a little scavenger hunt along the route for fun.  While it was cool to stop it was somewhat distracting.  I also thought it was frustrating because we ran a little slower than normal and overtime when we stopped it felt harder to get back going again.  Plus, every time I had to remember to stop my watch and restart it again.  And one time... I accidentally pressed down before the start button which actually saved it and completed the run.  GGRRRR!!  SO I have about 5.5 on one and 4.5 on another. I like everything to be perfect, especially my running stuff so I can't stand that it's split like that.  Oh, well.  Here's the stats: 

I also hate that it doesn't completely add up to 10 miles, I think it's 9.8 but by the time we got to the finish stop and I saw water, there was no way I was finishing that last 0.2.  Maybe next time!  

Happy long run day!

Saturday's Group Run

I become so giddy towards the end of the week because I know that my group training is coming up on Saturday morning :)  I plan my outfit the night before and make sure all of the electronics and water bottles I need are all prepped and ready to go at 5:30 in the morning.  It's especially helpful when you accidentally fall back asleep IMMEDIATELY after your alarm goes off so that you only have 10 minutes to get out the door and even then you'll still be 10 minutes late... whoops!!  

Thankfully, I made it just in time to take off with my pace group.  We had some pretty amazing views and there was a lot of fog which made it almost chilly.  Shocking for Florida.. haha!  

 We did 1 mile warm up at :45 run :30 walk at about 13:00-13:30 pace.  Then we did 1 mile at race pace going 1:00 run :30 walk at a 12:00 pace.  It was good!  I felt great but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep that pace for very long without the real race adrenaline.  And I felt the aftermath on our way back!  But I made it just fine.

I had convinced myself that I was going to run 8 because I had missed last week's long run and only did 4.5 but I was too hungry already by the time I got ready to run again.  Because I've had issues with blood sugar in the past I really didn't want to risk running low on fuel and hurting myself I only did the 4.5... and now I'm panicking that next week we have to run 10!  I'm sure I'm not the first person in the world to skip a long run but man I am a little worried about getting through next weekend.  But hey, it will only make me stronger, right!

In the afternoon I got to spend time with my running buddy at her end of summer BBQ!  And my brother got to join me so it was a great day :) 

Come on, Fall!

This Florida weather is killing me!  I'm getting up and running at 600 before the sun even comes up and I can sweat just as much as the middle of the day.  I can't drink enough water and I'm sweating like a fool by the time I walk into work from my car.  Needless to say I cannot wait for it to start cooling down around here!  

What I do love about living in Florida is having the sunrise start on our coast.  Makes for a beautiful morning, every morning! 

Tuesday morning I met with my running buddy at her house to run.  We did 3.5 miles in about 45 minutes and it was pretty great!  My legs felt good but I got tired fairly quickly.  This morning my running buddy came to me and we did a little less than Tuesday but I felt much stronger... I wonder what makes the difference...?  I also included a few minutes of walking in my time today.  I still haven't figured out the best way to use this watch because I want to count the total distance/time I was active but then it messed up my official times and distances.. hmm...

In other news, I'm finally ALMOST finished with my race states map and I put my markers on the states I've completed.  I hung my interim race medal holder to the right until I get the real one I want at Christmas :) There are a few more states that I want to color in but here's the latest update:

Tomorrow's Friday!  Hang in there!  And don't forget the wine :)

I'm Baack

A long week, a few training runs, and one race later I'm finally home and back to normal!

Here's a quick recap:

Last Saturday I got up early to do 6.5 miles with my Galloway group.  We met about 35 minutes from my house which wasn't fun to drive to but we ran over the river and it was AMAZING that early in the morning!  It wasn't my favorite run since we had to join the group slower than us when our leaders didn't show.  I felt like I was exerting more effort trying to go slower than if I would have gone just a little faster than normal.  Oh well!

Newburgh, IN has beautiful views and very hilly hills!  Monday and Thursday my mom and I walked up and down each street in my family's neighborhood and it whooped our butts.  By the way, the picture below is someone's back yard - can you imagine?!

 
Tuesday we went to the Newburgh waterfront and I got 4 miles in for training.  I was pretty happy with my time considering there were a couple major hills.  But the view was pretty awesome!

The last part of our trip was to Asheville, NC where I was able to check off another race state!  We did the Sourwood 5k on Black Mountain and boy was it mountainous!  We got there pretty early and decided to walk/jog around until the race started to get warmed up so we ended up doing about 1.3 miles.  Our time for the 5k was 41 minutes but my watch says differently because I combined the warm up with the race.  It was TOUGH.  We ended up walking up the hills and running down them and I was only about 5 minutes slower than my normal 5k pace - I'll take it!  I got to check off my 11th state and my momma did it with me so it was even better :) 

Below is the finish line.  Beautiful!!

Have a great week!