Joe Banks Invite Indoor 5km

After racing the Jingle Bell Run 5km in December, I knew I wanted to race another 5km ASAP. The unfortunate thing about winter is that there are just not a lot of 5kms in Ohio! I guess people don’t want to be out and about in the cold & snowy weather. (Not that we’ve had all too much of it.)

So, I had the bright idea to race a college indoor meet unattached. Hopefully it would be competitive, and I knew the course would be accurate. 25 laps on a 200m track = exactly 5km.

I discovered a meet at Ohio Northern University on February 4 (that’s today!), and emailed the coach to see if I could race. Obviously, he let me, because that’s where I spent the afternoon.

Lined up at the start. I'm second from the right. A little sad to not be sporting the GC orange & black.

I had my eyes on a sub-19:00 5km today. (My college PR was 19:09 back in May of 2010, almost 2 years ago!) I’ve been feeling really strong the past several weeks and was excited to see what I could do.

The race was small – only 5 girls, which was crazy to me. In order to run sub-19:00, I needed to hit 45s and 46s for my laps. We went out right at that pace, perfect! My first lap was actually my slowest of the whole race. Another girl took the lead and settled right into a just above 6:00-minute pace, and I stayed right on her shoulder. We went through the mile in 6:01, still feeling strong. Once we hit the halfway point, it got a bit uncomfortable, but it wasn’t too bad. We went through the 2-mile in 12:04, and kept on truckin’. I felt like I could pick up the pace but I was definitely scared. Finally with about 5 laps to go, I decided to pass the girl I’d been running with and see what I could do. I pushed hard and finished in 18:50! Woot woot! I’m still having trouble believing it.

Look! We're so fast we're blurry!

To be honest, when I was in college, 25 laps around the indoor track seemed like pure torture. Today it wasn’t so bad. It didn’t start to really burn until the last 3-4 laps, which makes me think I could have pushed it a bit harder in the second and third miles. Now I’m itching to run another! Maybe I’ll find an outdoor 5km in March.

Lap #who knows?? I'm just glad they were keeping track.

My Business Man & I have spent the night celebrating with a movie marathon and Domino’s… mmmm cheesy bread. Oh, and of course cake-ball making. What’s a Saturday night without it? ;-)

For Valentine's Day, shaped like hearts. I'll take some much better pics tomorrow in the daylight. :)

Tomorrow’s plans include an 18-mile long run and church. Pretty sure that 18-miler might get cut short. I’ve never tried to run long the day after a race… any ideas or suggestions to make sure it goes well?

The Arrival of Something New...

Woo hoo for the last Friday of the school year! And only one more day of school next week. (And then a couple teacher workshops...) Another reason to be excited? Our fridge came today!! Isn't she a beauty? It is so nice to have a fridge again. You don't realize how much you miss a full-size refrigerator until you go a couple weeks without it. A bit bare... but that can be solved easily. Bottom-drawer freezer, containing the essentials: moose tracks & Diet Dew trying to get cold asap. Anyways, I'm just popping in to share my beautiful new appliance. The baking monster has taken over, and I'm in the midst of making 150 cupcakes for a graduation party tomorrow. First big baking project in the new kitchen! I'm loving all the counter space. Mmm... chocolate buttercream! Making good use of the baking nook! :) Adios!

Boston Marathon, week #3

Last week was a great week for training - lots of easy runs, a V02-max workout, and my first long run that actually felt 'long'. The goal was to get in 50-55 miles, and I ended up with 56ish, so right on target. Saturday's long run was glorious ! Temps in the 50's in January (!) makes me a very happy runner. I headed out for 16-17 miles and ended up with almost 18. And I remembered to bring fuel! I tried out the blueberry-pomegranate Gu chomps, and they weren't my favorite. I ate one every 2 miles once I hit the 8-mile mark and they left a strange aftertaste. Pretty much as soon as the aftertaste went away, it would be time to eat one again. I'm thinking I will try something else next time. This was the week of the 8's... what a monotonous bar graph. I'll try better next week to make it a little more exciting. Weekly Rundown 1.7.2013-1.13.2013 Mon - 8.2 miles easy Tues - 8.3 miles easy Wed - 4x1200m @ 4:29 (4:32, 4:31, 4:31, 4:34);...

Red Velvet Cake... Donuts

So this whole Valentine's Day coming up soon is definitely just an excuse for me to bake ridiculous things. Case in point: Red Velvet Cake Donuts . A few weekends ago, my Business Man and I visited the new Tim Horton's here in the Bean Town for the first time. I'd never set foot in a Tim Horton's before, and was pretty much enamored with all the flavors of donut holes, or "Tim Bits". Instead of just having to settle on one or two donut flavors, I got to pick 10 different flavors for each of the Tim Bits in my 10-pack. (Well, I don't think they had 10 flavors... maybe only 6 but you get the idea.) They came in such a cute little package too! (Yes, I am a marketer's dream...) While I went the Tim Bit route, my Business Man went the traditional route - with an old fashioned sour cream donut. And then he went the not-so-traditional route... with a Red Velvet Donut! And he said it was absolutely amazing. (I had a bite, and thought it w...

Livin' the Dream in Lima

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