Shopping

This week has been pretty busy again with work, but I've managed to find a little time to get a few workouts in. Tuesday night, I met up with 2 of my besties and we tackled the Rice loop. It was a really nice night to be running and really great to catch up with friends.

Wednesday morning I finally got my butt up early and hit up boot camp again. It had been almost a month since I'd gotten to attend a class! I can't believe how fast we loose our endurance and stamina while sitting at a desk job all day. One day after boot camp and my whole body is sore. I'm not sure if my butt muscles have ever been so sore!

I got an email from Brooks today mentioning that they were hauling out their inventory to make room for the new Spring line. You all know how much I love my Brooks!

I scored me a pair of Adrenaline GTS 10's and a pair of Infiniti shorts for less than the regular price of the shoes! I actually have a fairly new pair of Adrenaline 11's, but they aren't wearing in as well as my 10's. I figured I needed to jump and buy a pair before they are all gone! I'm really loving that blue color!

Friday Fun

1. In my recent trip to NOLA for the Mardi Gras Half, I got to meet fellow blogger, Christina! If you haven't dropped by her blog yet, go now. She was such a sweet person and she ran a great race on Sunday, so be sure to congratulate her!

2. I have been following Janae for a few weeks now. That girl makes me laugh out loud! She says stuff that I think in my mind but never actually say because I can't seem to find the words (or let's face it - prolly too embarrased to say it!). Anyway, she has this obsession with sugar. I love sweet things, but I've never really been a candy girl. However as I find myself at work late at night, I have cravings for gummy bears and chocolate sprinkles and swedish fish (which I've never even had!). So my mission for the weekend? Hit up a candy store and stock up!

3. I am the captain of my relay team that is set to run the Texas Independence Relay on March 5&6. The team is put together, shirts are ordered, and race fees are paid. Nothing else has been done! I'm so friggin crazy busy with work that I get off at 9pm and go to bed only to wake up and do the same thing over. I'm so worried that we are not going to be organized or ready when the time comes! We don't even have vans lined up yet! Any advice from those of you who have participated in relays? No one on my team has ever done one, including me.

RnR Mardi Gras New Orleans

We arrived in New Orleans late Friday night after a long day of work in Houston. The Hubby and I hit up a few bars for some well deserved drinks and fun. We had a pretty late night, but I managed to have not too bad of a headache the next morning. We woke up to a beautiful Saturday in NOLA and headed for some yummy beignets.

Who says fried dough covered in powdered sugar isn't good carb-loading? I love me some Cafe du Monde!

After breakfast/lunch, we headed over to the Expo to pick up my packet. That convention center must be a mile long and they had the RnR Expo all the way at the end! We walked forever! But the Expo was very well organized, although not as many booths to explore as Houston. I loved that Brooks was the sponser of the event and really wanted to hang around and shop, but Hubby was tired and ready to get back to the hotel. I picked up some Gus and we were off. I was a little surprised that we got our finishers shirts at the Expo and that they were only Men's sizes. Very disappointing.

Clothes laid out the night before! (I LOVE my marathon shirt)

I walked to the start the next morning and it was cold! 45 degrees, but I knew it would warm up. I checked my bag and left my long sleeves behind. At least there were enough people in the corrals to keep each other warm.

I started in Corral 5 next to Captain America. Pretty sure he beat me!

 I loved that there were over 20 corrals to really space the runners out. Houston should really take a note from RnR here and have more than 2 corrals. The start was easy and I was never crowded by people. AND the people starting with me weren't walking into the first mile.

The course started out next to the river and it was cold! My hands and toes were freezing for the first two miles. I was really wishing I had atleast worn gloves. By mile 2 my stomach was killing me. All I could focus on was finding the next porto-cans. I've never had to stop in a race and I was really mad that I was going to have to. I was running this for a PR and I knew stopping would kill my time. Oh well, I had to do it.

The course was flat and fast. There wasn't a hill in sight - which was good because I never once even looked at the course map. The whole thing was a total surprise.

It was also mostly shaded. We ran a lot through old neighborhoods with gorgeous houses. The bands were nice, but they were a little spread out. I couldn't tell you want any of them were playing except for one on the last stretch. The male lead singer was belting out The Climb by Miley Cyrus. I laughed, but I'm not sure any one around me even noticed.

Most of the run actually sucked for me. After the bathroom break, I thought I'd be fine and able to really pick up the pace. Wrong. I had side stiches throughout the entire race. As soon as I worked one side out, the other side would start hurting. And trying to go faster only made it worse. By mile 9 I wanted to quit. I started to walk, but this guy on the street started yelling at me to keep going and just eat a Gu. So I did. I wasn't planning on taking one so early, but I used it as an excuse to keep walking.

Once I started running again we were in downtown and passing my hotel. There were only 4 miles left and I figured I had to give it all I had. I looked at my watch and knew that if I didn't, I had no chance of trying for a PR (it was already a slim chance).

At the 10 mile marker, these 2 guys started trying to pep up the other runners by telling them there was only a 5k left. I joined in with them and kicked my legs into high gear. I started picking people off and told myself I could puke when it was over.

I crossed the finish line in 1:59:02. A 13 second PR!

I had given it everything I had. My last 3 miles were 8:30s! I know if I hadn't had the bathroom break or the side stiches, I could have crushed my time. But oh well, not every race can be a good race. Although, I'd much rather prefer weather to slow me down than what I had!

Love the medal!

After a shower and a humongous poboy, we hit up Pat O'Brian's for hurricanes.

 (I know, I was eating/drinking some horrible food for someone who considers themselves a serious runner!)

And then we got to watch some street performers. I got to be the assistant during the magic show. I love New Orleans and can't believe it's been 6 years since I've been there. I may or may not do the race again, but I'll definately be back for some Hurricanes and Hand Grenades! :)

Aramco Houston Half Marathon 2011

I'm finally getting around to writing my race recap for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon on January 30, 2011. (Sorry about the delay - life just gets busy)

The morning started off pretty good. I slept fairly well and woke up quickly. I had laid out my clothes the night before, but I still hadn't quite decided what to wear. Why not? Because the weathermen said it was supposed to storm. The race directors had been emailing for the last several days discussing the procedures to vacate the course if lightning was in a 10 mile radius. They also kept changing their minds about the temperature and how warm it was going to be. So before I put my clothes on, I turned on the TV to check the weather. Was anyone else aware that at 5am there is no weather on TV? Not even on the weather channel? I finally just walked outside with the dogs and decided on capris, short sleeve shirt and a hat. It was around 55 degrees and no rain had dropped yet.

I picked up V on my way to the start to meet up with everyone else. C and I headed to the start line to line up in the first wave with 20 minutes to spare. For some reason, Houston never has had good directions to get to the respective waves. We found ourselves in the middle of the black wave when we needed to be in green. So we spent those 20 minutes cramming through people to get into the green wave just in time for the gun. Talk about a hectic start.

As per usual with a race this size (22,000 people), the start was crowded. Usually though, the crowd starts to disperse around mile 3-4. No such luck this year. It was super packed all the way till the Half turn around. C and I managed to stay together until around mile 4 where I lost her behind me in the crowd.

Great pic of me at mile 8. I had to dump the hat it was so hot, but then of course it really started raining as soon as I did that. We had a group of non-running friends come out to cheer us on. Really, they just wanted an excuse to drink early in the day. I said hi real quick and then took off again. I'd see them again in a little over 2 miles.

I'm now done with 10 miles and N and D have just made it to mile 8. Perfect timing for a meetup :)

A few goofy pics and they were off! At the turn around, I spotted C and she looked beat. I decided to wait at the spectating tent for her and help her to the finish line. Her legs were cramping and she was hurting. I just kept telling her we were getting closer and it'd be over soon. She was so happy when we finally made it.

Final time: 2:15:03

Definately not a PR for either of us, but I helped a friend and had a great time and that's what matters most.

D, N and I spectating at mile 25.5. We were cheering in all the marathoners that needed that extra push.

These girls were awesome. They were jumping on the course and running with the people that were walking. It made a lot of people laugh and smile and most of them started running to the finish. My marathon trainging buddy was running the full here and we cheered her onto the finish. She rocked it in 4:27!

We finished the day with an afternoon of beer, pizza and goofy pics. This one is definately getting framed!

All together now. New shirt and new medal! Half marathon #5 done and done.