Summer Break Block Party & 5K recap

So Saturday night was my 5K, and I had really been looking forward to this one because 1) it was close to home, only about 20 minutes away, and 2) it was at night and I didn't have to wake up early!  Saturday I did a lot of relaxing and even took a nap.  I had an early pasta dinner since I wanted to make sure my food had plenty of time to digest before the race.  I was even able to convince J that he and Guinness should come and watch (I think telling him beer would be there helped to seal the deal, too).

About 10 minutes before we left the house, it started to rain.  I have not really run in the rain before, but I paid for the race and was ready to do so if it came down to it.  When we got there we met up with Sharon and her husband, D.  Packet pick-up was super easy, and we went to throw our goody bags into the car and put on the glow necklaces and bracelets we bought for the race.  When we started to walk back to the boys, it began to rain...NOOO!!!

 We took turns stretching while the other held the umbrella...that's good friendship :)  It stopped raining before the race started but it was HUMID!  There didn't appear to be a sensor to start our chip time, so that was a bit of a negative (in my books...I like accuracy).  There also wasn't any notification that the race was starting except for seeing all the people in front of me start to run, so we were off.  The race was a nice loop, but more hilly than I was anticipating.  I stuck to my intervals as best as I could, but did quite a bit more walking than normal. 

My cheering section

As I approached the finish line I dug deep and tried to finish strong.  By this time J and G were waiting for me and J snapped a picture as I pushed for the finish

I'm so fast it's blurry :P

My official finish time was 37:11...not my best but also not my worst.  Considering the humidity I did a pretty good job.  I wish I hadn't walked so much up the final hill but hey, what are you going to do about it now, right?  I ran over to get a water and joined J, G, and D to watch Sharon cross the finish.  She beat her previous time by about 2 minutes....go Sharon!!

Once the race was over we hurried to get out and miss all the traffic, but not before snapping a post-race photo

Still smiling!

Overall the race was pretty good but I'm not sure that I would run this race again...hard to say when it's a year from now though :)

I took a few days off and hit the trail again this afternoon.  It wasn't as hot as it has been (around 85 when I got off work) but I know it won't get much cooler for a couple of months, and I'm going to have to run races in the heat, so I need to train running in the heat to acclimate myself.  I follow a lot of blogs and the hot topic at the moment is running in the heat.  I don't care how long my run is, I always carry something to drink.  I am LOVING my Amphipod Hydraform Handheld Pocket Bottle -

It's perfect to put my keys, GU, chapstick, anything like that for my run in the zipper.  It definitely came in handy today.  I tried a new interval setting (2 min run/45 sec walk), trying to find a place where I am comfortable.  I really like the Jeff Galloway method because I feel like I don't burn myself out like I did in my first race...just need to find the right run/walk ratio for me.  Today was a 30 minute run, and I was pretty pleased with myself considering the heat.  I ran 2.66 miles in 30 minutes, which is 0.03 miles faster...woo hoo!  I'll take the small victories.

Done with my run!

 I'm still doing decent with my "Lose a Marathon" challenge.  I've not had a soda in well over a week (big feat for me!) and I'm paying more attention to what I eat and exercising more.

I have one more 30 minute run this week and a 5 mile run scheduled for this weekend.  I think I'll be waking up at around 7 a.m. to beat the heat of the day!

Hi to all my new followers!  I hope everyone has fantastic workouts this week!

Until next time,

Jen