Turkey Day Recap- 35:31PR

Hello blog readers, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!
This morning started early when I got up to eat before our Race, it was Quite Chilly out there, 56 degrees at race time which is a tad chilly for Florida, but it made for great race weather once it started. We got out there early and John finally understood what I was tryinig to tell him yesterday that there were going to be A LOT of people! I opted not to bring the camera, which I am now regretting as this will be a long picture-less post!

So Today was the Outback Distance Classic which is a very popular race here. We chose to do the 6k as we are not yet up to the half marthon, but the next 12 weeks will be here before you know it! We lined up about the middle of the pack, I told John I wanted to start a tad further back and would much prefer to pass people then to get passed, its so discouraging. So off we started about 2 minutes after the gun and we ran into some bottlenecking for the first mile which was where the split took place(1/2 marathons runners went one way, 6k went the other). The bottlenecking was not as bad as it seemed at the time, we passed mile marker one at 10:10 a tad slower than I wanted, but not too bad considering I thought it would be slower. I was able to pick up the pace to the end with my only walking break being through the water station for about 30 seconds total. The last mile of the course was winding through a neighborhood which I feel like slowed me down a tad again. I had gotten mixed messages about the course length and it could have been anywhere between 3.6 and 3.8 miles so I didnt want to pick up my pace too soon and burn out before the end. I kept picking a person in fron tof me to keep up with, but 3 times I passed my self-picked pacemaker which made me happy and I just kept trying to push more. Finally after one curve I saw the sign for 13 miles and knew I only had .1 left so I really picked it up and made it to a congested finish line. My official Chip time is 35:31 which was is a 9:44 pace a definite PR for me, I cannot explain how excited I was/am!!!!! John came in about 20 seconds behind me, at about a 9:55 pace, another PR here too!!!! This got me SO pumped for our next few races AND our Half-Marathon. I want to see if I can find a 10k race before then, I have only seen 5k's in the area b/w now and then so we may have to make a small roadtrip to log 6.2 for a race. THe cool temps definitely helped me to keep a solid pace, I was warm but was never uncomfortanle with how hot/cold so I was able to let me legs do all the work.

After the race we grabbed a banana and some water and headed home. I started in on the dough for the pie crust for my apple pie. Apple pie was my contribution for Thanksgiving lunch (we do lunch not dinner) since I wanted to make sure John had a desser he would enjoy as he is not a pumpkin lover like me, I could eat pumpkin with anything!!!!! After the crust was a quick shower followed by doing the filling, top crust and wrapping it up for the journey.

We ventured over to mom's house at about noon and visited with everyone, finally sitting down to eat a little before 2pm. I was very mindful of my eating today, I definitely had my sampling of everything but was pleased to say I didn't overdo it or go back for seconds. I did take a small bit of leftovers which I have already broken into a bit, and John and I are trying to stay entertained at home tonight- we are both restless and lethargic...an awkward combination.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym to ride the bike and loosen up my legs a bit. We have a 6 mile run scheduled for Saturday morning (early and in the super cold) so I want to be ready for it. I am tempted to do some shopping, but really loathe the crowds, so we will see. Tomorrow afternoon we are headed to Gainesville (round 1) to celebrate my cousin Rachel's 16th birthday with the family. Then back to Jacksonville since I have to work Saturday morning:( After that I will be rushing to G'ville for Timmy's final home game and another Gator Victory (I hope)!
Off to find another snack and glass of wine, Night!

Quick Post

Happy Long weekend to most people, I am getting sleepy and needing to get myself ready for my busy AM. Today worked out in my favor: it was poring rain when the alarm went off, so no run, which the legs will appreciate tomorrow. Went to whole food and to pick up race packet before work- my guess is about 1500 runners for tomorrow's races here in Jacksonville. Work was cut short by 2 hours- NO complaints here! John and I browsed for Xmas presents and are watching a movie and relaxing.
I need to figure out my race outfit for tomorrow now that it appears the temperatures will not be above 56-59 during our race- I think some layering is going to be needed- not entirely sure how to do that best, we dont have too many cold run days here in FL. After the race, home to shower and start the pie making and then yummy dinner:)
We are in for some super cool temperatures this weekend, and I am hoping the cool weather will be here to stay. We have our tickets for Saturday's UF/FSU game and I could not be more thrilled!
Better recap post race tomorrow.

Night!

What a Tuesday/ Rainy Wednesday

So Tuesday was not much less than what I expected. Nerves, panic, stress, yelling, you get the picture. Orientation days are never positive you are always sitting their in a nerve-wracked state wondering where the student you just talked to has gone. That being said- I made it through orientation day with no surprises. We also had our potluck lunch yesterday. SOme things were tasty, some were not, and some I specifically avoided all together. I actually managed not to eat too much, I was pleased. I kept the food consumption under control, but had small xervings of several desserts.
Today I actually have to work until 8pm- rediculous I know! So I am trying to decide how to take care of my student who is coming in at 10am when I have NO intention of going in before 10:45am. I need to pick up our race packets for tomorrow, and if I am going to be over there you KNOW I am gonna run into whole foods to pick up something tasty for lunch! It is just after 6am and it is Pouring down rain and has been for the last hour. SO I am thinking soup/chili for lunch today.
Tomorrow is our Turkey Trot and then home to finish the apple pie and get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner, I am quite excited for it now!
Off to do something productive. Happy Wednesday!

Wowza

So despite feeling like nothing happened today, I actually have quite a bit to write about, but I am sleepy so gonna try to keep it short.
Slept in a bit this morning which was nice, and still had plenty of time to make it to work by 8am. The TT who lives at the front desk was absolutely awful today in all respects- would very much like her to go away. AND on top of all else, the A/C was broken when we got to work today, made for a steamy morning, thats for sure. I added some of beloved Goat Cheese to my salad at lunch time today, and by add I mean put the feta on the salad as normal and ate the goat cheese I had brought out of the container with a spoon- no judgement please, it is my weakness!
I came home, John and I were scheduled for 4 miles tonight, but he felt like he was getting some minor shin splints so he took the night to rest the legs and I went to hammer out 4 miles on the revolving apparatus of death (aka...treadmill). I have grown to dislike the treadmill since we have been running outside, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my treadmill experience this evening. I did 2 miles on the t-mill in the Fox News Cardio Room and then did the last 2 miles in the ESPN Room. I was able to do the first 2 miles in 22:48- but at negative 1/2 miles splits. I am really trying to work on the whole negative split thing so I will be able to push through any exhaustion on race days and I also think it helps me to pace myself- we will see tomorrow when we get back on the road. I only took one- 1 minute walk break between mile 1 and 2. After switching rooms I cranked out the last 2 miles (again at negative 1/2 miles splits) in 21 minutes with no walk breaks! I think I was sufficiently warm at this point and was ready to get home and have a yummy dinner!
John and I had a special dinner in mind and with him taking it off tonight I could send him up to the store to get the 1 ingredient we were missing...Pizza Sauce.
After my little baby pizza last night, we decided to make our own personal mini pizzas- SO smart by the way!
John made several with just sauce and cheese on Arnold Sandwich thins- the perfect size!
I had 2 halves: the first was pizza sauce, mozarella blend cheese, onion, ham, and oregano. The second had pizza sauce, goat cheese:) and oregano! Both were fantastic and I am already craving more!!!!!!!
I only have 1 very short chapter left for my calc class this semester and I have 3 weeks (including this one) to do it, so no homework tonight!
Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving Potluck at work, but I am not super interested. Not sure how comfortable I am eating food from some of these people's kitchens (Yes, I am officially a food snob, but if you saw what I do every day you would understand why) but secondly I am trying to save my splurge day for actual Thanksgiving and the Stuffing that is already calling my name!
Bed is calling my name now...Night!

Goat Cheese makes everything better!

SO my Saturday in St. Augustine was Fantastic, Laura and I had a wonderful afternoon catching up! I first stopped by her house to see how big her baby Roy had gotten. Wow, he is SO long and is super super soft!



We then went to this cute little Mexican restaurant for lunch, I had the most AMAZING lunch. Chile Rellanos, peppers stuffed with beef and topped with some kind so yummy sauce- I wish I could have finished the whole thing, it was quite tasty!
We then headed to the outlet mall so that I could indulge and browse the Nike Outlet for some quality workout gear. I have decided that since I am running so much and training for a half marathon that it is more than acceptable to invest in some quality workout gear. I am a VERY sweaty girl when I workout and I have a few dryfit shirts and I have come to prefer working out in these because it is not as heavy and miserable when I start sweating buckets. So I now have a fully stocked dryfit wardrobe- enough to enable me for 6-7 runs before really needing to do laundry. I also have invested in some quality running socks, and I will tell you these are the best things I have ever put on my feet. Under Armour makes my beloved sock, I have found them for $2-$3 a pair at TJ Maxx and Marshall's and stock up on a couple any time I see them.
After getting home, John was making burgers, but I was still too stuffed from lunch. We watched the end of a very exciting Ole Miss/LSU game, I am still not sure why Les Miles didn't have his field goal team ready, but a nice victory for the Rebels. Gators had a big win yesterday too, I am very excited for the FSU game this upcoming weekend.
This morning was quite productive, I woke up, ran, ate a super yummy yogurt bowl for breakfast and then started the first of 6 loads of laundry ( which I am about to have to start folding:(
Next came my favoorite part of the weekend, GROCERY STORES!!! First was Costco, we didn't have that much to get at Costco this week: sandwich thins, perrier, milk, almond butter, and apples for the apple pie that I am making for Thanksgiving! Then to publix for the usuals: yogurt and produce. I prefer to get most of our produce from publix, it is fresher and we eat it before it goes bad. I also stocked up on some Larabars and Clif Z-bars since they were on sale!
We made the remaining hamburger patties for lunch with a few fries which turned out to be a nice little lunch!



As I was switiching out a load of laundry I decided to clean out my dresser to make room for my new workout gear but also because its a good thing to do every once in a while and it has definitely been a year since I have attempted to do anything of the sorts. John headed to Lawtey for the afternoon, and I went to see the family for a 2nd lunch- I wasnt super hungry, but I couldn't resist an individual lasagna roll. After that I headed home to do more laundry and relax with the Peach. I made myself a 6:30 snack instead of a full dinner. It is this recipe I found in college, NO idea where, but I LOVE It. Take 1 onion (I only used half tonight since it was a small portion) either white or yellow and slice and carmalize it. Put carmalized onions on a pita (I used Arnold's Sandwich Thins) and coved in crumbled Goat Cheese which I also purchased at Publix today! Bake in over for 10-15 minutes or until pita is crisp and onions and cheese are slightly browned!
If you like Goat cheese, you will LOVE this, it is SOOOOOOOO good! But then again I realized that Goat Cheese makes anything better!!!!!!!!!!
Now I am off to fold all the laundry I did while John goes to procure our FSU tickets for this weekend:)
Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Happy Saturday!

So I have been looking forward to today all week! Yeah I did get stuck at work:( but I have a fun-filled day planned. The Gator game is only showing on Pay-per view which is not really condusive to me viewing it, so I took that opportunity to head down to St. Augustine to see Laura!
In just 29-hopefully short minutes I will be on the road headed the 30 minutes south to see Laura and little Roy who I've heard just keeps getting longer! My friend Eliza also happens to live right next to Laura, so we may just make a girls day of it. Food is definitely a priority and I really want to go to the Nike Outlet to peruse for some new work-out attire and some possible xmas gifts ;)
We are hoping to also make it to Liza's for girlie TV and wine, but her man is making a last minute trip up to visit so we may not get to see her as planned. Either way, food, shopping, and your long lost best friend is ALWAYS a good combination.
Last night, John and I finally went and did the 3 mile run we had put off, and guess what- we set a new PR, YAY! I know, its not a race, but I think it should stil count if its the fastest I've ever done. I did my first 2 miles at about a 9:45 pace (John was ahead of me so about 9:35 for him) and then I started to fade in the last mile, but was determined to finish in under 30 minutes so averaging a 10 minute mile or less. Well I finished mile 3 in 10:04 putting my total run time at 29:34, YAY!
We talked about our splits as we were walking back to the apartment and I told him I really wanted to focus on doing negative splits for our shorter runs.
After our run, we stretched, entertained the Peach and decided to head to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. It was getting late and we didn't want to have to wait anywhere. I like Ruby Tuesdays as an easy sit down restaurant because they have the salad bar which I enjoy and its super close to our house! I ordered crabcakes minis with the salad bar. I ate 1 mini crabcake, no sandwich, I was getting too full, a few fries and my whole salad. I also managed to help John polish off a quite tasty chips and queso appetizer- Yum! This was the first large meal we have eaten out since trying to be very healthy and picky with all meals. I don't count our anniversary b/c it was a special occasion and I gave myself full permission to splurge. Last night I was happy I kept portions and food quality in consideration, although I probably should have skipped muching so much on the appetizer, but live and learn.
We stopped on the way home to pick up a redbox movie, John wanted to see Star Trek so we got it. It was enough to hold my attention for a bit, but I mostly ended up checking blogs and reading my magazines. I crawled into bed early and left John and Peachie up watching Kirk? defend the univese. Not sure if thats what was really happening, but I think I got it right.

So this moring I set out to do 3 miles on the treadmill because I knew that would force me to run the speed I set it at. Well I managed 3 miles of negative splits today! That being said...Saturdays are our long run day, but this week only called for 3 miles so I told myself it would not be bad to do a slower 3 miles because I have read the goal of a long run should be about completing the distance and actually spending more time on your feet because the race you are training for is typically longer than your training run so taking 5 or 10 minutes longer is probably a good thing. So I did 3 miles this morning in 35 minutes (seems slow now, but a few short months ago this was a goal for me)
So I did my splits in 1/2 mile intervals as to not burn out from doing 2 runs in a 12 hour period but also to keep it interesting since I was on the treadmill. Splits, if you want to call them that, look like this:
Mile 0-.5: 12:00 pace
Mile .5-1: 11:19 pace
Mile 1-1.5: 11:00 pace
Mile 1.5-2: 10:30 pace
Mile 2-2.5: 10:20 pace
Mile 2.5-3: 10:00 pace
Nothing overly impressive, but it was nice to know I could do it and see how it feels to progressively get quicker.

So thankfully the last hour here has now gone by much quicker since I was able to update you on my weekend adventures. About to head out, will be back later with a recap and hopefully a Gator Victory. Sunday will consist of Peachie time, grocery shopping, Laundry, and CLEANING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Gators!

Change of Plans

So tonight we were scheduled for 3 easy miles, but both John and I decided we were not in the mood and are going to stick them in tomorrow morning before work. The "long" run on our schedule this weekend is also 3 miles (this is week 4 of 1/2 marathon training) so we figure we can do 3 miles 2 days in a row. I am actually thinking SAturday for our "long run day" we will do our 3 miles at race pace and then do a mile or so of sprint work. I must say it feels nice to have a rest day and to relax with no schoolwork and no running, good to be home from work early!
Life is quite boring today, but I do have a date with my BFF Laura on Saturday after work to catch-up and have a puppy visit! I am SUPER excited for our Turkey-Trot race next Thursday, hoping to beat my previous 5k time on our 3.6 mile run!
I am off to relax and contemplate the feasbility of negative splits. Night!