Running : 5K Challenge!

So I have completed the 3rd week of the Ease into 5K - C25K app on my phone.  Continuing onto the idea that I would like to be able to 'run' for 30-45 minute stretches with out dying, on a regular basis.

I didn't die, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world either. 

After running the 11.29 min mile, I would have to say it at least helped me to push through and run the 3 minute intervals, because I had to have 'run' for 5 minutes at least once, I mean, when I did the TC1Mile last week, I didn't stop running until I had hit the 1/2 mile marker.

I think doing the BodyWorks Plus Abs (mind you, I always step out of the Abs portion, only because I need to get home and get ready for work) helps a bit.  In the class you use hand weights (2.5, 5 or 7.5 lb) and do a lot of reps. 

The Thursday morning class is growing on me.  Yesterday she talked about how she makes us do about 100 reps per muscle move, and how high reps/low weight will help give muscle tone/definition.  She said the other option is to do high weights, and significantly lower reps.  Sometimes I think that would be nicer.

As I was sifting through the Internet blogs on my lunch hour, I came across a Virtual 5K Challenge on the blog page of KTJ Weighing In, and figured, why not?

  

I mean, really, I am doing the Hal Higdon C25K training program(again) anyways.  It happens on June 1st, which is a Saturday.  And I am hoping that while we are camping over Memorial Day, that I will go for a trail run or two, I wake up earlier than most, and plan on not drinking and staying up to all hours of the night, and that should help a little endurance training - right?  And allegedly we will be going on 'hikes' as a group.

I am a little apprehensive of the camping as well, mainly because, well, it is all picnic food! Pasta salads, creamy salads in general, chips, crackers, candy, bacon, eggs, pancakes, buns, you know, the tasty stuff that I have a hard time saying no to! 

I am hoping to bring a fair amount of veggies, fruit, and of course meat choices - chicken, steak, and skipping hot dog night.  Well, that's the other thing, no one plans anything with this camping crew (the Hubster's family and close family friends). 

There will be 8-10 children, depending on if his brother's 1st child from another lady comes, and if all the people make the outing too.  That is a lot of kids, and one brother, is notorious for not having enough food (in general) to feed his family.  At home they must eat like birds, but when in front of others, all bets are off.

What do you do to try to plan ahead for food/exercise challenges?.

P.S. If you are interested in signing up for the Virtual 5K Challenge - go to KTJ's Post, maybe she will let us in even though it might be 'closed'.

Turkey Day 5K!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!  My most favorite holiday of the year!

So, my running friend D and I have done the Turkey Day 5K for 2 years I think?  For sure last year, but I think the year prior as well, I could go through my closet with the pile of Race T's if I wanted, but I am not at home.



Our T-shirts and my personalized bib!

At any rate.  We did it, our 5K. Finished, I think she did better than usual, or I did worse? I didn't have my inhaler (that's my excuse), and neither of us really know when either of us finished. We both donated a bag of food, and once it was done, I zoomed home, and took a shower, and now we are headed north to have dinner and spend the night at my grandparent's house.  A two and a half hour drive, that I wish was quicker.

Turkey Day 5K, 2012

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your family, and you enjoy the fellowship around the table!

TC10Mile, ugh.

First, let me start out with, that was dumb.

I hated it, just about every mile after 5.  I have completed the 10k, and I have finished plenty of 5K's.  But this one sucked butt.

For real.  Yes. I will never do a 10 Mile ever again.  I honestly haven't run that much since the 10K.  I completed the 10K and the 10Mile with the same lady, whom I greatly adore.  I also completed the Color Run in July with her too.

For the 10 Mile, we walked, jogged and walked some more.  From Minneapolis, to St. Paul.  No thanks, next time, I will just jump in my car, catch a bus, or take a cab if I ever need to get from the Metrodome to the State Capital.  For the record, it is also not the shortest distance to the Capital.  I am almost sure of that.

But, I completed it.

I also received my very first medal!! That was exciting too!!

And because my friend is such a good socializer (I am not) she scored us a couple of passes to the special Medtronic Tent.  After we finished, we grabbed our shirts, and our medals, and headed over to the tent for some refreshments, they had sandwiches, and water, coffee (it was darn cold - it was SUPER windy too) and we got some sacks to put our loot in.  While we were there, they awarded the 1st place for men's, women's, and Marathon runners.  Literally like 10 feet away from where we were standing, trying to soak up some sun. So that was kind of cool.

Here is a mash up of some of my photos - notice the hat? My gloves were in my pockets. 

And this is right before the finish line, like literally 30 yards before I was done. Ugh. Again, never will I ever do another 10 Mile.

Have you ever signed up for something that you perhaps should have prepared a little better for?

Torchlight 5K!

What a fun event!

I will know better for next year.  It was hot (to be expected it's July in Minnesota)!  My good friend D and I did it.  I should have pushed myself more, I would have done better(Duh).  We left my house a little late.  My fault, I wasn't paying attention really.  This run did not loop back to the beginning, which is a little different, and not really a big deal.  We dropped one car off around the finishing area, and we parked another around the start.  We barely made it in time for the starting gun.



My good friend D on the left, and me at the start!



One of the fun things about the Torchlight Run, was that we were able to personalize our bib numbers if you signed up early enough.  Mine was Slow&Steady, and my friend D's was Turtle Pace - she has a thing for Turtles, and they kind of went together, so.. it's funny - no really.  Laugh! Also what was super neat, were the shirts (you can see it a little in the upper right photo).  They were SUPER soft with that vintage-y feel to them.

The finish was just after you crossed the Stone Arch Bridge, which was nice.  I did see a couple of girls literally making out.  Now, I don't care that they were girls, I care that you are SUCKING FACE in a public place.  I hate that - so gross.  Once we finished there were some goodies at the finish, and as a runner/participant, you had a couple free drink tickets to use.

My good friend D and I didn't stick around, she wasn't feeling well, so we basically just went to her car, and she dropped me off at the parking ramp I was in.  I paid at the bottom before returning to my car (like it instructs you to do) and it says you have 15 minutes to exit the ramp.  I took the elevator to my floor, get off, and hear a marching band.  A Marching Band!?

So I went to the edge of the parking ramp and saw a the parade was going on!  Oh man... if I had known/realized that it was going to be just starting by the time I got back, I wouldn't have paid my my parking pass, and would have just gone down to watch it.  The Torchlight parade is one of, if not THE largest evening parade.  And from what I saw briefly - they had a few marching bands, most parades seem to be all about advertising, floats/cars for businesses.  I miss marching bands. 

Next year I will know better for sure!

AMAZING WEEKEND!

Let me tell you about my weekend!  On Saturday night the Boyfriend took me out to Murray's for dinner.  Home of the Butter Knife Steak.  Which we had. We both had cesear salads too - they serve them with a fancy parmesean toasted cheese thing.  It is so good!



The Boyfriend and I at dinner.

Then we went home, it was late, our reservations were for 8 o'clock.  And I had The Color Run the next day!!

It was so fun!  I met up with my work friends in a parking lot, and we car pooled down to the race.  It has been super hot in Minnesota, and today was no different.  It was like 90 degrees fahrenheit.  Too hot to run, so we walked together.  It was nice to catch up with the ladies.  We work at the same company, and we all started in the call center, but now that people have grown in different directions professionally, it makes it hard to just have lunch together.  Every one has moved to different buildings and what not too.

If The Color Run ever makes it to your town, I reccomend you participate.  Each kilo marker had a different color.  Basically what you do is jog/run through the color 'zone' and there are volunteers that hit you with some colored powder.  It was hot, and sticky so- a great deal of it stuck to your skin as well.

At the end of the race, there was a mass color toss.  They did this every 15 minutes or so.  Once you finished - you gathered in with everyone else, and at the count down, you threw the packet of color you got with your packet and threw it in the air.  It was SUPER fun.  Like I said before though - if it comes to your town, make sure you sign up FAST!  Registration filled up super fast for Minnesota, and they ended up opening up more slots.  A total of 19,000 people did The Color Run.  The Minnesota run raised money for Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless.  Quick tid bit - did you know that in Minnesota 1 in 10 families are considered 'food insecure' - meaning they are unsure of where their next meal is coming from?  That is astounding.  And kind of sad.

Color Runner Mashup

After the run, I drove to Hopkins, to watch the Raspberry Grande Day Parade.  This Parade was 2 hours long.  Literally.  And it was hot.  Once I stood up, I realized that my whole back was soaked.  So gross. 

The Hopkins Raspberry Festival is fun.  We missed the fireworks because we were out having dinner.  I had wanted to participate in the 1 Mile run, but didn't make it in time.  And probably wouldn't have been happy had I signed up anyways.  Did I mention it was HOT?!  

I have a special spot in my heart for all the POW/MIA's out there. 
My grandpa was a POW.

After the Boyfriend and I watched the parade, we went to support the Hopkins VFW and partake in the pulled pork BBQ sandwich plate.  Not a bad deal for $6.50.  We got a HUGE pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, and some potato salad.  After that we came home and both took a nap.

We woke up in time though to start watching FOX's Animation Domination.  I took a shower, and most of the color came off.. It will be fun tomorrow!

Have you participated in The Color Run - do you have any photos to share?

Do you and your mate have any long standing traditions?

Let's Learn about Running

At work, they offered what they call a 'Lunch and Learn' about common injuries related to running, and what I thought, ways to prevent them.

These happen over the lunch hour with the idea of bringing your lunch and learning.  I think it is a good idea, but the thing where they fall short, is they have it set with just chairs, and no where to put your lunch, other than your lap.

This time around - they did have tables, which was great.  Except that based on previous experience, I didn't bring my lunch.

This session was okay.  They talked about the different issues runners have, those shin splints people get, and I have now diagnosed myself with Plantar Fasciitis.  But please note, they acutally didn't offer any solutions to get rid of it.  Thanks WebMD for your help. 

I had foot surgery back in December 2011 for bunion removal where the doc removed a portion of the metatarlsal, and then removed part of my pinky toe and I had him remove some ingrown toe nails on the big toes while I was out  Mind you, this was on both feet, at the same time.  My feet are now super sexy, especially with the scars.  The foot doc mentioned the plantar faciitis on the write up for the surgery.  I honestly didn't know what it was.  But now that I have been trying to run about 3 times a week (putting in a grand total of about 6.5 miles total).  My feet have been hurting a little more than I would like.  I mean, they are sore a lot, but they hurt now.

Basically, I should wear better shoes, and stretch the calf muscles and do some toe lifts/stretches or something every morning.  I really  should do that..

I will look into buying new shoes after The Color Run - the Happiest 5K on the Planet.  I am very much looking foward to doing this!!  My good friend D didn't sign up in time, but I am doing it with some other co-workers, the evil ones that suggested I sign up for the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in October, so I did. 

Do you have any running injuries/pains that bother you?  Have you been cRaZy enough to go through with surgery to correct them?

Are there any races you look forward to participating in - or know of fun ones I should?

Busy Weekend!

Did you see this post's title?

True story.

At work on Friday I was basically office less, as was my boss.  We both left around noon to work from home, which is really nice, since, at the end of the day, you are ALREADY home!

I might have stopped at Old Navy to buy a new pair of sandals.  I have a flip flop issue, well, not an issue, but more of.. and obsession.  You see, flip flops(or thongs..) are TERRIBLE for your feet.  They offer no support what so ever, and they force your toes to constantly flex or something to try to grip the sandal so that it doesn't fly off. 

Speaking of flying off, the Boyfriend bought a pair last year when we went camping, and he was walking in Walgreens and hear him coming down one of the cross aisles, and zoooooom... there goes his shoe, and then he is like hobbling after it.  It was so funny, as he was trying to be quick, but feeling odd about putting his bare foot on the floor. Probably was afraid some paparazzi was after him, and didn't want to get caught walking around barefoot like the Britney Spears incident of '04.

Oh geez, where was I? Oh, so I stopped at Old Navy for a pair of sandals, these ones now have a strap around the foot, making it a little more secure.

But, that quick stop, wasn't quick, I picked up 2 sandals, a swim suit, a blue gingham button down shirt for the Hillbilly going away party that night for a gal on my Softball teams moving to Texas, and a shirt in 2 sizes for the Boyfriend.

Ha, okay back on track, so I made it home after an hour and a half, which is fine, the Boyfriend was going to get a haircut after work anyways, so I could work a little later, and get my time in.

The mail lady came, we have one of those that walk door to door - so neat!  And so I went and checked the box, guess what came?! My LifeTime Fitness Torchlight 5K Run shirt!!

My good friend D is doing this one with me on the 18th too, and her singlet will read 'Turtle Pace'.  When in college she joined a sorority (Delta Zeta) and they have a thing about turtles.

So once he got home, I decided it would be a great time to start painting a design on my nails for July 4th.  LAME.  I was rushed, and in the end after I was done braiding my hair, I realized I had smudged most my nails anyways. 

So we went, made an appearance and left.  The girl's mom did a great job, it was at a bar, she had ordered a bunch of food, there were hay bales set up for sitting on and a photographer.  The girl is 22, and heading out of state to live with her boyfriend of 5 months.  HUGE leap of faith.  I really do wish her the best - she is a great girl.

So the next day, I wake up and take my nail polish off, and re-paint them.  We had the Boyfriend's family reunion. We headed out shortly after 1pm and made the little over the hour drive to it.  It was fun, hanging out with people.  There ended up being a water balloon fight amoung (mostly) just the kids.  Good food, and there were brownies!  They were a tasty treat.

The Boyfriend and I left there around 7 and started heading home.  He took me out to Joe's Sports Cafe in Fairbault, and we got All-U-Can eat Ribs for $10.99.  Such a great deal, my boyfriend LOVES ribs, and it was a great deal, we both ordered it, and it was pretty good.

We had to stop at the grocery store, my little sister's son's 2nd birthday celebration was Sunday - he is a July 4th baby! And I still needed to get the sugar cookies, cream cheese, marshmallow cream and the fruit for individual fruit pizzas.  Well, I still needed to get him a gift too.. but.. that was going to have to wait.

So we stopped, and decided we should pick up a Redbox, He let me get The Descendants to watch.  He figured he was just going to fall asleep since it was already past 9 by the time we picked it up.  It was such a sad/emotional story.  But it was good!  I am not one of those girls who went ga-ga over George Clooney (I LOVED George Lopez--oohhh and Mario Lopez). But George Clooney did a good job. :)

So we didn't go to bed until after midnight.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, and started baking those sugar cookies I bought last night.  I had a tub of Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, so I cooked that up too, since I had the oven going.

Basically to shorten this a little, I baked those cookies, packed them up, watched some Sunday Morning while enjoying my cold brewed iced coffee, made the cream for the fruit pizza's, took a shower, ran out the door with the Boyfriend, stopped at Target and found a super AWESOME toy for my nephew, and was only 5 minutes late to watch sir Payton so my sister could go and set up the picnic area at the park we were going to be celebrating at.

My nephew work up early from his nap, and I was still assembling the mini fruit pizzas, and I am pretty sure he gets snack when he wakes up, so I let him have a cookie and some fruit with his water that he never drank.  Got him ready, and then we were at the park by 3:50pm.  PERFECT! Party starts at 4. Or, uh, does it... yeah, it was hot as all get out today, and super humid, I think it rang in at like 98 degrees fahrenheit, with a feels like temp of 105.  Which is great, for a kid that didn't drink his water.  And the party?  It started at 4:30pm. So my sister had me bring the kid down to the river and drown him.  Just kidding, we went for a hot sweaty walk. 

It sucked.

We walked back and it was almost quarter after, and my sister asked me to take her kid for a ride in my car with the air conditioner on. I thought you would never ask!  Thank gawd. I was thankful.  Poor boyfriend, he was stuck helping my sister set up.

We ate, had cake, and sir Payton opened his presents. Not to brag (uh, yes, actually to brag) my mini fruit pizza's were a HUGE hit, sadly I forgot to take a picture. And sir Payton LOVED the gift I found for $20.  It was a Semi truck, truck/car hauler.  Pretty sweet - also - no picture.

Then we left, and came home, returned the Redbox, picked up some dish detergent, and setteled in for Animation Domination on FOX.

I am looking forward to my 2 day work week - I have the 4th off, and I took Thursday & Friday off too!! I am getting a Hot Stone Massage on Tuesday, going to a Comedy Club with the Boyfriend, AND getting my hair done this week - SO EXCITING!

Oh, and I almost forgot - here is a photo of my July 4th Nails.





HeartBeat 5000!

The 10th Annual HeartBeat 5000 took place today.  The money raised helps support the cardiac care program and efforts at Children's Hospital of Minnesota. 

How did I get roped into this one, and more importantly - how did my good friend D? Well, my company is a partner sponsor, and it was offering free race fee.  I went to the site to see about signing up, and yes, I did fill out the info, but it hadn't asked for payment info.  Which yes, would make sense since my employer said they would pay.  But I wasn't thinking, I hit next, and BAM! I am signed up.  And so I text my good friend D, and says, please tell me you have nothing going on, on this date, and that you are completely interested in participating in two 5K's in 7 days.. told her to use this code to get signed up for free.  She half reluctantly agreed, and signed up to take on the HeartBeat 5000.

Side note: My company is one of the partner sponsors.  I would like to point out, we did not have company t-shirts on.  Which is HIGHLY interesting, as the Big 3 medical device manufactures were present, and 2 out of the 3 were very well represented. 

The HeartBeat 5000 had t-shirts.  So, no worries, I still got one, that I will not wear - ever.

Not really sure what my deal is, I do not want to do a race with out a t-shirt, or other fun little perks.  But I have no care to actually put the t-shirt on.  I figure eventually, I will take that collection of technical and t-shirts and make one of those fancy shirt quilts.  Let me just say, I have never made a quilt.  But it can't be that hard, right?

So did the race, used my handy Couch to 5K app on my nifty iPhone.  And according to that map of my 'run', it puts the distance at 3.43 miles, which is .33 miles too far that what I signed up for.  My average pace was set at 12:53/mile - so that was pretty cool!!! :)  *for a non runner*  But it was warm.

I am not going to lie, the end - SUCKED.  It was on the Stone Arch Bridge, and it was still open to the public, which included, a pack of bicycles, and a Segway tour.  So freaking annoying.  Dodging random pedestrians, bikers, dogs, leashes, Segway tours.. are you kidding me?  Really annoying.

AND also, there were warm waters available at the end.  SUPER!

The view from the bridge.

On a high note though, on the walk back to my friend's car, there was a garage sale.  I 'heart' garage sales.  Many a stories of riding around in my grandma's station wagon garage sailing. :)   BUT - at this garage sale, there was a double papasan chair!  And I had seen this on the internet, where you change the papasan chair into a canopy! WAY cool.  We were in my good friend's convertable, so we put it on it.  I scored the chair frame for 3 dollars. Super cool!

What's not cool, is that it turns out that chair would not fit in my car, no matter how we tried to work it.  The chair is wider than my car.. oy.. BUT, crisis averted, as my friend drove me to my house to drop off the frame, and then drive me back to my car so she could get back to her place and continue on her way.

So, one day, I will get around to making the canopy... but for now it takes up space in me and and the Boyfriend's basement of the duplex we rent.

We will see when I get around to it.. sorry Boyfriend.

Flash Run 5K!

Today I participated in a Flash Run - I am sure you have heard of a Flash Mob by now.  Unless you have been hiding under a rock. 

If you have been hiding under a rock, the idea of a 'flash mob' is a bunch of people coming together at a pre-determined time in a public place, and busting out in dance (sometimes choreographed? that part I am fuzzy about).  Generally someone will have a boom box, or something for music. 

But enough of that.  This was basically a bunch of peeps getting together and starting at the same time, to run roughly 3.1 miles.  I went with my good friend D.  (please note, she and I would like to be runners, but lack a little *okay a lot* of the drive and determination)  My friend D and I walked the course for the most part, there were some bursts of jogging, but for the most part it was walking.  She had been at an Aerosmith concert the night before, so she was feeling peachy keen.

Side note:  Generally she and I do not travel the distance of the course together.  We will start together, and meet up after completing the course.  BUT  I had foot surgery on both feet back in December, the foot doctor told me that I might be able to do the Valentine's Day 5K in February(duh).  Well that was a lie.  But my friend and I had done this 5K the year before, and we signed up (me and my wishful thinking) and she was kind enough to walk with me, in February, in Minnesota, when the temp was 1 degrees above zero,  around a lake, with a wind at 15MPH which is roughly 20 degrees below zero faherenheit (without the lake effect).  It took literally about an hour and a half.  It was too freaking cold to be walking.  But she did it with me, so I sucked up and walked with her.

Okay - so the walk (sometimes 'running') wasn't so bad.  We finished in like 50 minutes or something (allegedly - there was no time clock).  I used my Couch to 5K app on my nifty iPhone, and that's what it timed us at.

But the nice part about the day, aside from driving up to her house, getting her out of bed on a Sunday that seemed way too much fun, driving down to Minneapolis, I got to see the Stone Arch Bridge.  Well, AND 'run' across it. 

And as it turns out.. I had been on that bridge previously, with the Boyfriend, after eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which is more hype than anything else, so you can go ahead and skip that restaurant, and make noodles, use Prego at home, mabye some garlic bread, and enjoy it more.

Let me show you a photo of the Stone Arch Bridge - and the Famous Grain Belt Beer sign.

(learn more about Grain Belt here.)

Oh, and I quite enjoyed the B1G1 at Caribou Coffee with my friend too, and sitting in her backyard chatting it up talking about everytihng and nothing, and then heading home to the boyfriend.  :)

In the rare case that you were noticing that this day was Father's Day and I do not mention hanging out with my Dad.. I hung out with him the day before for the Patriot Ride(sponsored by Dennis Kirk) at his house. :)