70 Days

70 days until the All Women and One Lucky Guy 1/2 marathon. I banged out 5 miles yesterday with about a 12:50-13 minute pace which is what I'm aiming to try and keep. Though there will be no princesses or prince charming along the way this time. It'll be me and the road and hopefully all my friends at the finish line waiting to pick me up! I'm not nervous like I was last time, but actually following a training schedule is harder than I thought. I didn't last time and I admitted when it was over the most I had run was about 9 miles. So the last 4.1 were all adrenaline, this time I'd like to actually get to the 12 mile mark before the race. I'm doing a lot of short runs in there too and as much as I want to go fast, I'm trying to set pace for the race. I did the Tavern to Tavern 5k last week, all by myself. I got up at 6, drove to Boston, took the T (and didn't get lost) and ran all before 10. Little bummed it was the same medal as last year, but I guess that's to be expected from most races. 

I need to start to work on my bib board and medal rack. Class is officially over this week, so I have 3 whole weeks with no homework and I think after work I shall go to Michael's and start my project. I have to find all my bibs that I still have and print out some pictures to go in there too. 

It's also time for new motivation on the back of my front door. I'll keep the brick wall quote up but I need some new running quotes. I'm past giving up now and no pain no gain. Ok maybe not the whole no pain since my quads hurt today for sure! 

In other painful news, my next class is Economics. Still LOATHE math and will be calling on all my math geek friends, Matt ya hear that? But after that, is one more class! And then I will be done with school FOREVER! And I'll probably still do 5k's but I may be hanging up my running shoes too. Thinking about doing something like kickboxing or one of those fancy fighting classes. Get rid of my pent up anger and tone up. I also started whole food, no sugar again today. Ask me in 3 days if I'm ready to kill someone, hmmm maybe I should start that kickboxing now!


Daily Mantra: You only get one chance at life, do it right and that's all you'll need. 

Color Run!

Dubbed the Happiest 5k on Earth the Trifecta +1 (yay Kathy!) took on this 5k on a beautiful Saturday morning. Thank God for Bill driving as traffic was a nightmare getting there. He was able to drop us off at the start line and we got in the mass crowd. We ran and we walked and in some cases we rolled (in the color of course!) and had a BLAST. The nightmare continued when we were done, it took over an hour for a bus to come get us and had we not got in line when we did it would have been a 3 hour wait from what we read! Deanna, Kathy and I went to Friday's to celebrate and had a few cocktails and food that we had been longing for! I'd do this again if they organize it better but all in all 2 thumbs up!

Daily Mantra: Color makes the world a happier place!

Vegas!

I have to thank social media first and foremost for the post. Had it not been for Myspace I would have never reconnected with my friend Sarah and I wouldn't have been in Vegas this summer! Sarah was one of my very first friends in the 4th grade when I moved to Texas, I moved to PA and we lost touch over the years, but thanks to the magic of the internet we connected again about 6 years ago! She finally found her Prince Charming and planned a destination wedding for Vegas. Really all I needed to hear was Vegas and I was in! Got to spend 4 days there and did more in that time than I have before. My friend Mike went with me and I have to thank him for dragging me on all those thrill rides, though at the time I was screaming "I hate you" and told him if he bought any of the pictures where I look like I'm about to die I'd kill him myself!














We got to go to the Grand Canyon in a helicopter tour and that was awesome! Our pilot was kick ass and the views were AM-AZ-ING! It was so worth getting up early and riding a bus for an hour. There wasn't anyone on the way back that wasn't sleeping! Pool was awesome, great people watching and too expensive drinks but it all comes with the territory.

To finally catch up with Sarah and Bridgette (another Jr high friend) was so much fun and we all said the same thing about not changing since Jr high. Though I'd like to think I changed a little! The wedding was so beautiful and there was so much love between those 2!

Other highlights included: ziplining down Freemont Street, meeting up with my friend Cathy from HS who I hadn't seen in 15 years, watching the train wreck that is Rehab Pool Club and well not being at work!

















Daily Mantra: 

Revolution Run

Another repeat race! It was absolutely POURING before the race started, they practically had to shove everyone out to the start line! But it cleared up just in time for the start. I started slow again only because I know there is a hill at the beginning and I didn't want to start too fast and then burn out at the end! I got stuck with the run/walkers and the people who start to run really fast and then burn out by mile 1. So annoying to me when I'm trying to run around you and you can't decide what you're doing! This year they had COLD water (little further up that last year but still). It was the same medal as last year, which I didn't notice until I re-read my post from last year. BUT I did not get a blister and I tore through the course. The rain before helped and it is slightly downhill at the end and the sun came out so I just REALLY wanted to be finished! I got done and waited for another person I knew to finish as she ran the 10k in prep for her 1/2 marathon training! Got a banana and went home! Made the rounds to some cookouts and ended the night with being able to see the fireworks from my house. Going to work sucked the next day but it was a sense of accomplishment for sure. Foot went numb towards the end, so I adjusted my laces and stride and haven't had any problems since then. Another successful run!

Daily Mantra: Always thankful to live in the land of the free because of the brave!

1 Year Later

My first 5k ever was the Hollis fast 5k. I went back and read my blog from that race. Sure was a lot of thanking to do! This year was a really nice day out and since the outlets were opening I may have taken a day off of work to check them out, so I was rested for the race. I did take a nap before and that affected my legs as they were "cold" when I was stretching. But the gun went off and off we went. I love this race, it's point to point and it's all downhill, so there's only going to be a cut in time from the previous year. 

It was a QUICK run, I felt like I got to mile 2 before I even knew it. I made a new playlist after I got my new iPhone so maybe a change in music helped. I wanted to break 30 minutes, I was actually demanded to break it from a few people (damn non-runners!) and I ran it in 30:22, which in my book is a WIN! I was upset there was no water at the finish line when I got there or there was no cups I can't remember which one and the water back at Alpine Grove was warm, so I ditched that place and went home and got some protein to recover. 

It was also the first time my arches were bothering me in my shoes. They are made to take the impact on the middle of your foot and I'm a heel runner so that may be it. I've had some really good runs and I've had some not so good runs, but I think I'm still breaking them in so I hope it gets better.

Daily Mantra: What a difference a year makes!