Full Moon 5K and 30 DOT (Day 12)

"30 Days of Thanks"
Day Twelve: Weekends

I know most people look forward to the weekends, but in the past I haven't been much of a person to complain about it being Monday or if the weekend is ever going to get her, etc. Life is too short; we should enjoy every day, shouldn't we?

But, I still look forward to the weekends for many reasons, but right now my number one reason is for this:I am thankful that I have been able to spend time with the BF almost every weekend for the past couple of months, whether he comes here, I come there, or he rides with my parents here or to the cities with us. We have been lucky, busy, but lucky. It seems like there is always something going on every weekend. I dread the winter that will be joining us soon and how it has the possibility to affect our weekend traveling, but we'll worry about that when we need to. :)

---

Full Moon 5K:
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
7:00PM

Pre-race: I picked up my race packet yesterday morning as soon as Go Far Sports opened up shop. Before grabbing my packet, I took some time to look around and drool over all the nice running attire. Fortunately, I kept the plastic in my purse and walked out of there with nothing but my race packet.

For a $25 5K race fee, I am pretty impressed. This includes a timing chip, which isn't always present at 5K of this size (500 or less), a long sleeved technical shirt, and a pair of Fitsocks! Plus, we got a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more at Go Far Sports as well as a coupon for 25% off a Fitsock purchase! Sweet!

Weather: I have been thinking about this all week, especially since I have been fighting this nasty cold. I finally have my voice back to 100% and I can keep the coughing to a minimal now without sounding like a barking dog. But, I still worried about the cooler temps causing me to cough more.

This clip was taken at 4pm. Notice that at 7pm it was expected to be 39 degrees. I was excited for this because prior to 4pm today, it said it was going to be 36 degrees at 7pm for the past 36 hours! 3 degrees is 3 degrees, dude!

Clothing: Oh how I struggle with this, especially this time of year. I wasn't going out to break any PR's or world records, I do these fall/winter 5K just for fun... or insanity. So, I decide just to wear my capri running pants, long-sleeved black shirt, white adidas ClimaMax jacket, black headband, blue softball socks, and red gloves (trying to put a little RED, WHITE, and BLUE in for Veterans Day).

The Race: The start and finish of the race took place at a local middle school, just a mile from my house. It was an out, do a loop, and back race. There were 400 participants and the temperature was actually perfect.... or I was dressed perfectly for the temperature. I ended up taking my gloves off halfway through, which is no surprise because my feet and hands are the first things to get over heated.

It was dark, and the only light we had were from a few houses here and there as we ran through the neighborhoods. The race director warned us of ghosts and goblins, but I thought he was joking. No joke, my friends. There was a werewolf, ghosts, the Scream, etc. Just after the 2nd mile marker, I saw the Scream walking down the middle of the street, but as I was about 3 feet from him he turned to me and screamed. I screamed and was afraid I wet myself.

J and I stayed together for most of the race, running the entire thing. It was a bit slow, but felt good to run the whole thing. She had some knee issues and had to back off a couple times in the last half mile, but I was feeling strong and wanted to finish strong, kicking it up a bit in the last quarter mile.

The Results:

Number: 417

Age: 29
Division: 20-29

Division Place: 74/86

Sex Place: 263/316

Time: 39:00

Pace: 12:33

After thoughts:

• This was a fun race, at a different time, with different expectations. Like most 5K's this time of year, I go out just to do it and have fun - and that's what we did.
• However, I would have like to have done it a bit faster, but I was glad I ran the entire thing.
• The past couple of weeks I have been thinking about marathons and the posibility of training for one in 2011, but after last night I started to question it. Now, this run was a good one, but my right knee wasn't perfect. In fact, it started to bug me a bit 2 miles in, but I focused on my stride and kept the thoughts positive.
• I need to do more running outside, on real roads and end my love/hate relationship with running outdoors.
• I know that there wasn't a full moon last night, and I too have questioned why it was called a Full Moon 5K, but with the orange light from some street lights and houses, it kind of felt like moon light. I will go with that.
• I would definitely do this race again next year!

Happy Friday, Y'all. Off to work for a Professional Development Day. Yay...

Weekend in MPLS and the week to come...

This weekend went by super fast, but was fun and relaxing. I left work a half hour early Friday to get on the roads. With a 3.5 hour drive from Fargo to the Twin Cities, I wanted to get as much of it done before the sun set and the temps dropped, and avoiding the chance slippery roads.

Friday night was pretty low key with drinks, conversation, and games at a friend's house. Saturday night we were celebrating a friend's birthday and started the night out with dinner at PF Chang's. Did you know they have the bet chocolate cake dessert there that you can get in a 2 oz. shot glass? Perfect size for an after dinner sweet tooth!

After that, we headed to Downtown MPLS for some fun! We actually had a nice booth/dance area blocked off for us at the bar with "bottle service". With our bottle service we paid for the bottles of liquor (Absolut Citron, Grey Goose, Captain Morgan, and Maker's Mark Whiskey) and they gave us all the mixings we wanted, and we made our own drinks! Can you guess what I drank?

Me... sis.. and birthday girl...

The evening was a lot of fun!

Anyway....

This past week's workouts were good, but not at all like the schedule I had planned or in the order I would have liked. Oh well, at least I was still movin'. fI still didn't get to the pool at all this past week.

A few days ago I posted a workout schedule that I would like to try, but I find myself tweaking it already for this coming week due to some other evening commitments. So, here's the plan for this week:

Monday:
REST -
Pilates - 60 min

Tuesday:

(AM) Run - 3 mi

(PM) Yoga

Wednesday:

(AM) Bike

Thursday:

(AM) Swim

(PM) Run - 3 mi

Yoga

Friday:
(AM) Bike

(PM) BodyPump

Saturday:
Swim (Long)

Sunday:
Long Run

I usually like to do my long runs on Saturday, but I had to shift BP to Friday and didn't want to do that the day after. And, I am going to start my week off with REST day. It kind of feels like cheating, like I haven't earned that rest day yet, but with how hard it is for me to get up in the morning to workout on Monday's (and the fact that I have a hair appointment in the evening) this was my best option! Who knows, I might really like this schedule!

Anything crazy/fun/exciting in your schedule this week? Tomorrow the kiddos don't have school but we have a staff development day. In fact, I am helping in facilatating the morning session... ahh the joys. Also, I am getting a long-over-due haircut and color tomorrow evening. I am finding more and more gray hairs and not liking it at all! yuck.

Girls Weekend Recap

The Britney Spears concert Friday night was awesome! The Pussy Cat Dolls opened up for them and were pretty good as well. I know some say that Britney lip syncs at her concert, but all the dancing and other performances added in were spectacular! The opening of the show was just like the circus! I was excited to see that she did some of her old songs as well!

Yesterday morning we headed to Lake Calhoun and while my sister and mom ran the 3 miles around it, my other sister and I did some serious walking. The rest of the day consisted of some shopping, dinner, watching the movie Twilight, as well as some Tar Heels basketball, per my request! Tomorrow night the Heels take on Michigan for the Final game! the Tar Heels are due for a championship title!

Now that I am back in Fargo, I have to do day 5 of the shred, get in a trainer ride, and then possibly spend the rest of the evening doing some paperwork and getting ready for the work week! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Check back tomorrow for a product review!

Weekend Away

I want to do a quick shout-out to Lil Runner for the wonderful gift I received in the mail yesterday! She just had a beautiful baby boy 2 weeks ago, and since I had the closest guess for when he was going to arrive, she sent me this:I had to try it right away and mmmmm... it is so yummy!

Well, I am off and probably will be away from my computer for the next few days. My parents and youngest sister are leaving the Biz around lunch time today, picking me up after work, and we will be heading to the cities to see my sis! Sunday night we have tickets to the Timberwolves/Lakers game!

Have a great weekend, y'all!