Weekend Recap

What a great weekend! I started Friday out with a great 4-mile run down Allen Parkway during lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day and only about 60 degrees. I finished the hilly run in just under 48 minutes, but I had a few walk breaks because my calves were cramping up. I spent a good amount of time afterwards on the foam roller trying to work out the knots. One of the trainers walked by and saw the painful look on my face and commented "It hurts so good, doesn't it?" I'm not sure if he knew the half of it - it took everything I had not to scream.

Friday night we drove up to Dallas and stayed at a friend's house. I was determined to get up and run on Saturday morning and not start off my training lazily. I knew I had to be in heels for most of the night, so I kept the run under 3 miles. I ran around my friend's neighborhood and around a couple of roads where I saw other runners. It wasn't a horrible run, but it was super hilly and super duper windy. There were moments when the wind was so loud coming through my ears that I couldn't hear my headphones! My calves were still cramping slightly, but I didn't have to stop for them this time. I finished the workout with abs, pushups and lots of stretching. I think it's time for a massage! I can't ever seem to keep the cramps at bay by stretching alone, but a massage always works wonders.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating, hanging out with friends, and going to a wedding. I took lots of pics of the beautiful flowers at the Dallas Arboretum that I'll leave you with. Happy Monday!

BON Run #19

One of these days I'll run enough Tuesday night runs at Brian O'Neills that I'll earn my awesome pint glass. (It'll definately be one for the picture books!) Last night (after a long hiatus), I ran my 19th run there. None of my friends could make it, so I figured it would make for a good training run. I spent yesterday working on my new running schedule for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon, so I was in the mood. I targeted to run the Rice Loop at a 9:45 pace. I have never actually tried to pace myself for such a long period of time before. I think I looked down at my watch every 2/10ths of a mile or so! I kept catching myself going faster or slower and needing to adjust. I thought I would struggle to keep the pace since I haven't run at all since the 10K, but I got stronger at the end. I felt I could have kept going, but I feel I need to start slow.

Total Distance: 2.91m
Avg Pace: 9:45min/m

I hit the nail on the head with that one! Afterwords I got a text from my old running buddy who said she had seen me running when she drove by. Too funny. I asked her if at least I looked good and she said yes and congratulated me on my pace. Here's to an awesome running season (and no more snow in Texas)!

Bayou City 10K

Even though I haven't been training very much, I tackled a 10K a couple weeks ago. 3 of my friends signed up to do it too. We all started together, but of course there's always one in the group that pulls ahead. As much as everyone thought it would be me, it wasn't. Jersey pulled ahead and we didn't see her for quite a while. E and I managed to stay together and kept a pretty steady 10min pace for the first half. N is just starting to pick up running, so she didn't try to keep up with us. She just wanted to finish without walking. E's goal was to catch up with Jersey and at the turn around at halfway, she was about 1/2 a mile in front of us. We picked up the pace even though the sun was beating down on us and the temperature was rising. At mile 5.5, we headed up the last bridge and at the top, lo and behold is Jersey. We took either side of her and surprised her - she was not happy to see us. She knew she had started too fast but didnt' want us to catch up, she liked her lead. But she was struggling and needed us to pull her through. Me, being the one who usually has the energy at the end, told them both to hold on and just focus on my green shirt - I wouldn't let them stop.  With the motivation of St Arnold's beer at the finish, we crossed the line under 59 minutes. Jersey was so excited to complete her 1st 10K in under 60 minutes. N came in a few minutes later looking great - she had never walked. Congrats to all, and hopefully another one in the future!

Official 10K time: 58:36
1st 5K: 31:51
2nd 5K: 28:02
(I sure know how to pick it up in the end!)

GUR

So I'm a little late on this post, but we had such a great time at the Great Urban Race. For it's first time in Houston, it had a great turn out. Around 450 teams showed up! Let me tell you, there were a lot of crazy looking people running around Houston and filling up the buses. Here's our costumes:

We rocked it! People were driving down the street hanging their heads out their windows and yelling at me. It was really funny. We tried for best costume, but I guess we're just not as outgoing as some of the other teams. All in all, we finished all of the clues in 3:09, but we did get lost finding the bus that we needed to get to 3 of the clues. We think if we would have remembered to bring a bus schedule along, we could have shaved almost an hour off our time (which would have put us in the top ten teams). But, oh well, something to strive for next year (and learn from).