Racing season is (for me, anyhow) winding down...I normally try to run as many races as I can fit in until the end of November and then pretty much call it a year until March or so. I still continue to run in the winter, but with the Ohio weather it's pretty unpredictable as to how many chances I'll actually get to go outside and run. I have a treadmill in the basement just for that reason alone, although I absolutely DREAD the treadmill and try as hard as I can NOT to use it. Since my running slows down in the winter, I also take up hot yoga in the cold months. It's awesome - I love the heat, I love the sweat....it's amazing to go into class all bundled up on a snowy 10 degree day, and walk out in shorts and a tank top, carrying all the gear, because the cold feels SOOOO good after an hour in that 105 degree room. I usually start up with hot yoga in November, so I'm looking forward to that.
Since my last post, I have only ran one organized race - and it's an interesting story. P, myself and 4 other members of our running club had all decided to do the Towpath Half Marathon in Cleveland, which was to take place on October 13. However - it the event takes place in Cuyahoga Valley National Park - which happened to be affected by the government shut down that played out. We all waited with baited breath until they announced the Tuesday before the race that they were going to cancel the event and reschedule it to a November date. Well, November is a crazy busy month for us, so we knew we couldn't make the reschedule date - but of course that didn't stop us from planning out a half of our own. My husband and brother-in-law had the idea to put together our OWN half marathon on the 13th. P mapped out a course, I busted out my scrapbooking stuff and, using some extra medals we had left over from cross country, made finisher medals. Another runner's wife, along with my brother in law, acted as mobile water stops - driving their vans from place to place along the course passing out water, orange slices, etc. She used my DSLR to take pictures for us too, as our unofficial course photographer. We ended up having a few more running club members join us for the run since it was local.
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| Our group before the run |
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| And we're off! |
The run was really fun....P did a great job mapping it out and it was mostly flat (aside from one horrible, ghastly hill over by Fallen Timbers mall, which was steep but, thankfully, short). Unfortunately, it was P's first long run since being diagnosed with arthritis in his knee, and he couldn't finish. I knew he was hurting when we caught up with him around mile 6 (we were keeping a 10:15 pace, and he normally is around a 9:00 pace for long runs). Around mile 8 he dropped out and had one of our water stop drivers pick him up. While I felt really bad for him, I'm glad he decided to call it quits before he tried to finish and just made it so much worse.
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| Here we are, on our way to the hill...see it up there, around the curve? |
We ran from the south end/Maumee area all the way out to Whitehouse, ending at the Whitehouse Inn for lunch and drinks!
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| We had a lot of fun, as you can see from my "camera-hamming" |
My sister in law and I mostly kept together for the whole race with the exception of the last half mile. She picked up her pace a lot and I just couldn't keep up, so I held back about 100 feet behind her.
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| Neck and neck at the finish! |
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| Here I come! |
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| I made it! |
I crossed the finish line in 2:16 - my best half marathon time yet.
And I had delicious french onion soup, a bloody mary, a beer, and a big glass of water for lunch :)
I've decided to retire my running shoes, which I love SOOOOO much - and get a new pair. I've put a few hundred miles on them over the summer, so it's time. I'm just going to get another pair of the same style, but maybe a different color. They are, however, very meshy and breathable, so I might try the same style in a trail shoe for the winter. That should give me a little more traction and water resistance - but I love the zero drop shoes so much that I can never go back to a "regular" stability shoe!
Upcoming races: I'm shooting to PR for the year at one of the 5K's! Fingers crossed.
8k at 9:10pm on 11/12/13 (AKA "8k.9.10.11.12.13") - 11/12
East Side Turkey Trot 5K - 11/28 (Thanksgiving Day).
Holiday Hustle 5K - 11/30
I was on the fence about running Churchill's Half Marathon, which is in November. This year they held 2 races - historically, it's been held in the spring (for 46 years), but this year they wanted to move it to the fall, so they are also having a fall half. I ran the spring, and at first I thought I wanted to run the fall too, but they changed the course and there's a huge hill at Mile 12. Not that a hill is the end of the world, but I dunno....for whatever reason, I'm not as excited about it as I was before. Plus I will just be coming home from the waterpark with our 8 year old (we do a mother-daughter waterpark overnight every year that week, because the kids always have that Friday off for a teacher work day). So...I'm just not sure. Maybe I'll be there, and maybe I won't.
We went to a Halloween party over the weekend and I just want to show off our awesome costumes:
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| Fifty Shades of Grey, and a Sharknado |
And last but not least, here's what I've been wearing on my nails lately (I've had my polish changed 3 times since my last update....yikes! Really will try to get better at updating more often!).
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| OPI GelColor - Casino Royale |
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| OPI GelColor - You Don't Know Jacques (one of my ALL-TIME faves) |
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| Right now: OPI GelColor - Keep Me Warm |
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