Jingle Bell 5k

This morning hubby and I got up to run the US Road Running Jingle Bell 5k here in town. I love US Road Running because the organizer lives one town over from me and plans races that are 5 minutes away! Being I live in the middle of nowhere, that to me rocks!

We got to the race about 8:20 a.m. so hubby could register, then chilled out in the car a bit. When we got hubby registered we found out the course was a loop. Uh oh. In the 5.5 years I've been running, I've determined I do not like loop courses. It just seems mean to go past the finish line, but not be finished. But we lined up at the back of the pack and headed off. Of course, hubby almost knocked Santa down as we started! LOL!

This course was different from the last time we ran a US Road Running race. This time we started at the opposite end of the school complex, around the HS track, then down along the tree line, then over to the one neighborhood, and back to the starting area to run it again. I am in no shape to be running a race. I admit it. But, what killed me was the trail portion. It was all snow, mud, and slush. Once you were off the cement it was killer (at least to me!).

As we got back to the sidewalks on our way back to the start for the second loop, we were lapped by the first four finishers. Grrr... I had hoped we would have been near the finish area before that happened. Though, we may be in the photos they took of the top three finishers because we were behind them when the photo was taken. Heehee!

We ended up walking most the second loop. Eh. We knew we weren't prepped for a trail run and I didn't realize how bad the course would be in the snow. We finished in an awful showing, but again not last. Odd...

It's ok. I'm happy we went and ran it. I wanted to run a Jingle Bell race this season and I got to. I have let myself go and knew it wouldn't be a good race time. It's been a rough week and my mind isn't 100% on anything right now, but I still went, I still ran it the best I could, I still got my medal, and I still had fun with hubby. Overall, a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

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What a great day!

Today has been a crazy day! Let's back up for just a few seconds. I got my January Get Out & Run medal for running 9 miles in January. I'd been wondering when it would arrive and really hoped it would be yesterday. I'm all about the bling these days.

With Snowstorm Nemo or whatever the news people were calling it, I knew we weren't to get much. I did think we would get a little bit and so didn't sweat getting up early to run my 5 miles on Saturday thinking the people where I run wouldn't have shoveled their sidewalks yet. Woke up late, no snow. Doh! All that thinking for nothing.

So it fell to today to run my 5 miles if I was going to at all. I decided since it was 5 miles, I didn't want to figure out a 5 mile course in the neighborhood I normally run in. I have a nice 3 mile course, then I run into Mt. Wolf for longer runs. 5 miles is kinda a pain to finagle. So instead I went to the park I first "learned" to run at and ran there.

When I got there, I had everything I use to run with - Nano, Road I.D., Garmin. I was all set. Until I realized Garmin wasn't charged. 5 miles with no Garmin. Oh the horror! Thank heavens my new Nano had a run function that I could use instead. Phew!

Turned on the run function on the Nano, got the radio on, and ran. In circles. Fun. As I was running I realized Garmin was about .5 miles ahead of me, which is fine since I realized this early on.

I am a run/walk/run lady. I usually run half a mile, walk a minute, repeat. Today, I guess Garmin being uncharged messed with me and I start walking at every quarter mile. I didn't realize this until I was about 3/4 of a mile into my run. But, I think this might have been a good thing. I started seeing that I was recovering and keeping my pace better with those 1/4 mile breaks rather than 1/2 mile breaks. I went with it. Why not?

Turns out that might have been the best thing ever. I was running much faster during the run portions than I remember running before. I was puffing, but that's ok. It happens. It's called running. I had to go with what the Nano said for 5 miles. I'm not 100% sure my final 5 miles are accurate, but whatever. I'm going to take it. Please check below.

So, my Nano says:

5 Mile Workout

February 10, 2013

Duration: 59:29

Start Time: 10:50 AM

Finish Time: 11:53 AM

Pace: 10'44" mi

Distance: 5.54 mi

Cals: 701

Know what that means? The first ever sub-60 minute 5 miler!!!! PR baby! And I'm now in a much better mindset for Shamrock. I still don't think I am going to PR the half, but I might PR the 8k on the Saturday. I'm thinking I can do this! I can run both races and be fine. Woohoo!

And to make this day better? My Higgy cat didn't seem good last night. He slept for more hours than I can count and when we did get him up he cried when we touched him. He was so out of it. He's almost 15 and has hyperthyroid. I was scared he wasn't going to make it through the night. This morning? He's awesome! Bounced back from whatever upset him last night and is his regular ole self!

Then! My Pooka who's legs went paralyzed last Friday took his first unassisted steps today! He walked maybe a total of 20 steps, but that's 20 more than he's taken in the last week!! He is back on the road to walking on his own. So thrilled!!

So today was a good day.

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