GO! St Louis Halloween 10K, 2014 Edition

This morning was the Halloween 10K, one of my favorite races of the year!  We were out late last night, I had a few minor tweaks to make to costumes then went to bed by about 11:30. My kiddo has her seasonal allergy cough right now, so that woke me up around 1am. Alarm went off at 5:35am. Needless to say, I was TIRED!

It was raining on the drive downtown. Sprinkling, pouring.... we had it all. It cleared up when we pulled into our parking spot, but started again on our walk to the starting line. As you can see, I was soaked before I even started!

I love having the Arch in the background!

I told myself before the race - I just wanted to be better than last year. Last year's results were 1:01:44, so my goal for myself was simply a sub-1 hour 10K. That would require my pace to be even faster than last week, but since I had such an awesome time last weekend at MO Cowbell, I figured I could push myself. This is my last race of the "season" so I knew I could leave everything on the road today.

Crossed the start line and hit the button on my Garmin and started RunKeeper (yes, I use both. I'm ridiculous.)  I kept checking my pacing - I couldn't remember the EXACT number I needed to get to PR the race, but I knew it was faster than last year's 9:57 average... Until about a half mile in when I realized that my pace was there, but my mileage wasn't! I never actually hit START!! I just hit the button that wakes up my Garmin. UGH! So I started that up and hoped that RunKeeper was having an "on" day.

The weather wasn't awesome like last week (Cowbell weather was PERFECTION) but it wasn't awful either. The rain had stopped before we started running and if I recall correctly, it didn't start up again.

One minor annoyance was that they didn't take down the signage from the 5K, so when we were around 2 miles (who knows, my Garmin was wrong! *weeps*) we ran past the sign for 1 mile for the 5K!!  I think they planned the route so that the water station at 1.5m in the 5k was the 2mi water station for the 10K/half marathon. But between that and the Garmin error, I spent the first four miles having NO idea where I was. I just tried my hardest to keep my pacing below 9:40. Obviously, I did ok.

I started rationalizing with myself around mile 5 - I can slow down and still PR... I think. I did the math quickly, I was at 48 minutes at approximately 5.2 miles and got nervous - a 10 minute mile would get me there JUST under the wire - and that's if Runkeeper was still on target (which it rarely is!) Instead of easing up, I gave it all.

Finishing the race with the clock time under an hour was awesome. Finding out my official time was 58:04 - spectacular!!  Such an awesome feeling. FURTHER awesome? Look at the stats - 40th in my age group, 369 overall? That's top 30% of the racers! I've never considered myself fast (and I'm still not ever going to "win" a race) but I know that I can keep improving.

2011

2012

I love comparing how far I've come.  This one - this one is making me a happy camper tonight. 

2013

2014

Costumes all came together. I think my costume only made sense when I was standing with my family :-)  but my little people looked like ADORABLE little Lego characters. The fun run was great (once my daughter stopped crying that her costume broke in the first 100 feet...) I usually run "fast" with my daughter while my husband stays with my son. This year, since hubby was actually a registered runner, I let him take the fast one and I held back. My little guy (3 1/2) did an awesome job. I'm thankful for the mom with the stroller behind us who encouraged him - "You have the piece of resistance!! Run fast, Emmett!!"  My son was thrilled, gave me a high five and ran his heart out. It didn't last long, but it was so much fun <3 We walked a lot of the mile and found my speedy family members waiting just shy of the finish line so that we could all finish together.  I am so proud of my little runners. They are troopers for going out in this weather! And I'm so thankful to my husband that he supports this crazy hobby I've picked up in the last few years.

180.

First FitNut Weigh In: 170
Final FitNut Weigh In: 165.5

4.5 lbs in a month - not too shabby.

Last week I kicked ROYAL butt. I already posted about my Mon/Tuesday/Wed workouts. Thursday I went to a Spin class (surprisingly only burned 348 calories in class - was disappointed in that!!) and Friday I went to my typical Terrie class, the one that kicks my butt the most. I couldn't even do a side plank!!! My feet went numb, I was weak.... Definitely my body telling me ENOUGH!!

Unfortunately, this week was a complete 180.  Monday morning we had a playdate for my little guy. Tuesday, when I planned to do my treadmill run again, my daughter spiked a fever. I started feeling a sinus infection coming on too, so I didn't even get workouts in at home!

Wednesday she was still sick AND had a snow day.  Thursday, still home. And Friday she FINALLY went back to school, but my little guy had been homebound all week (side effect of a sick big sissy!) and I promised him a day at the children's museum. We had a grand fabulous time, but holy cow, I miss working out!

Tomorrow is Sunday. I am really hoping to go and kill it on a treadmill. I want to do the treadmill workout from two weeks ago.

I haven't even weighed myself. I'm not doing great at keeping up with the protein and macros. OMG so hard to get that much protein.

Sooooooo hopefully next time I update, I can add some AWESOME progress or development. Unfortunately no good news this week :(

Virtual Race - FitNuts/September

FitNuts had another virtual 5K! The last weekend in Sept, the day we got home from vacation. 

Not my best time, but it was a huge NSV for me. I was having a horrible awful day mood-wise. Instead of turning to food, I left my house and went for a run. It wasn't my best 5K time - but it was still a victory for me. 



I skipped my run Monday, I knew I wouldn't be able to fit it in with going back to work. Tuesday was just a quick 1.5 miler. I have a half marathon on Sunday 10/5 so I didn't want to push myself TOO too hard.  Tuesday while running I twisted my ankle on a stick on the sidewalk. Thankfully it wasn't a long term hurt but it surprised me and slowed down my pace.  

Wednesday I headed to the Y and did my favorite cardio plus and Circuit classes. I hurt myself (MY FAULT, TERRIE, NOT YOURS! :-) ) so I took Thursday off. 

Friday I took a quick run just to keep comfortable. My hips were tight, my calves hurt and my feet were sore. My lower back was so incredibly sore but I made it 1.5 miles. 


 Saturday my family went apple picking. MAYBE one of my most favorite times of year :-)  We picked over 50 lbs of apples! Insane! I couldn't stop getting them, they were so big and lovely!! 


7/13

High Mileage!!

Well, I call my weeks Sunday to Saturday and if that's how it was calculated at RunKeeper, I'd have a high mileage weeks! I usually do a long run, then take 3-4 days off. Not this week! After my 10 miler on Sunday, I FORCED myself to get out Monday. It was a short run, but I did it!

 I took Tuesday as an off day. Wednesday, I went to the gym. I lifted for 37 minutes, including 110 squats (60 with 12lb weights), 30 side lunges (each side), and many leg presses. I ran a quick mile (9:02!) on the treadmill.

Thursday my legs hurt SO BADLY.  My Thursday and Friday runs suffered QUITE badly because of it. I was MUCH slower than average, but I did make myself go. The weather in St. Louis has finally turned (hopefully for the season!) to fall!  Thursday morning was 60 degrees and couldn't have been more perfect!

Today was one of my favorite days. The Color Run! This year, my hubby wanted to come with me. Kids under 5 can run without paying so my kiddos were all ready to run too. My daughter whined to sit down the whole time, except for when I could distract her with trying to figure out what color was next. :-)  My little guy apparently doesn't like being dirty - we had the rain cover on the jogging stroller and after we came out of the color stations, he would take a bandana and wipe every exposed part of his body off. :-)  

17.59 miles this week!! Whoop whoop !! (not counting the 5K this am, which I didn't track!) 

Of course, I forgot to weigh in this am so I did it after the run, after a lunch of burgers and shakes. And after an afternoon nap. So my weigh in was approximately 162 - Ouch! Taking this week to reclaim my comfy place and weigh in at a normal time :-)