4th of July 8k

Hey all.

Well, it's Monday morning after the 4th, and I feel like I was flattened by a bus. Just totally whipped. Not sure why...it just sort of hit me. I woke up today and moved to get up and...ooyyy. Just exhausted. I didn't even run a long race yesterday - an 8k (never run one of those before...). Despite my fatigue, I'm feeling pretty good about my performance. Let me preface this little report by saying that I believe I hade 3 too many peartinis the night before. We went out for a drink and I ended up having 3. I wasn't hungover the next morning, just a little dehydrated? Ha. So, I feel as if I could have had a better race had I not consumed the alcohol (oh...and the 2 beers after those martinis, oops), and gotten more sleep. That being said, I faired pretty well. The race started at 7am...a little earlier than I would have liked, but fine. I went by myself, which I don't normally do, but Mike had to bring Logan to Grandma's so he could bike for 2 hours. It was kind of nice being there alone. Anyway, so we started off at 7, it was a beautiful day, a little high in humidity for NM. Nothing major, though. I headed out easy the first 1/2 of the first mile, and picked it up once I cleared ahead of the mass of runners. First mile came in at an even 8 min/mile pace. Not bad. I had originally wanted to run 7:45's, and I had based this on the fact that I can run a 5k at 7:24 pace, and my last 10k was at 8:07 pace. I think that estimate was a bit off, seeing how an 8k is closer to a 10k than a 5k....needless to say I ran slower than that. But that's okay. So, I continued running along, and kept an even pace of 8 min. miles for the 2nd mile as well. At this point I had picked off some more people, and was running behind one girl and practically alongside this 18 year old kid. He was big and muscley, and was breathing hard by this point. He stayed with me until about mile 3.5...where we struck up a chat and he was like, "if you would just slow down, I'd feel fine right now. But I'm trying to keep up." Then he asked if I wanted to slow down with him, to which I replied, no thank you! And I took off without him. Nice kid, though. At this point I passed the girl who was in front of me, and I was running alone for the remaining 1.5 miles. I was feeling pretty good, and was super steady at 8 min mile pace. My left hip flexor was beginning to bother me, though, because honestly? I haven't been running as much as I was this spring. And I have skipped track practice for about 3 weeks soooo....I was feeling sub-par. So, the last loop to the finish line came up, and I was pretty much ready to be done. There was a nice gradual half mile hill at the end, and then it flattened out. As I was running down the last stretch, a girl I had passed at mile 1.5 came speeding by me with her short little legs. I know her from the gym, and was like DAMN! I hate those people who have a good kick at the end. I personally don't have a great kick at the end, and so I just continued chugging along. I picked it up a bit when I saw the clock said 39:50....but alas, was unable to break 40 minutes. That's okay. I didn't have a goal for this race anyway, I was just pissed I got passed at the end, BOOO!

So, I finished, walked over to some shade and sat down (after retrieving water), and my heart was beating super hard and I was sweating martinis...err....bullets. Yeah. I think those drinks the night before were pumping their way out of my system. Yeck. I milled around, chewed on some bread offered by a great bakery at the race, and then hopped in my car to head home. Didn't stick around-didn't think I had placed because there were a lot of runners...a lot of women. Anywho, checked the results this AM and I ended up in 3rd in my age group - woohooo! Would have made 2nd if that GIRL hadn't scurried by me at the end. She beat me by 3 seconds. Bahh. But, I'm happy! 3rd in age group out of 18; 14th woman overall out of 128; 72nd runner out of 258.

Not bad! Didn't claim the prize since I left...maybe they can send it to me. If not, whatev.

Nice to know I can hang with the big dogs. Now imagine if I actually went to bed early and didn't indulge in too many beverages? Ehhhhh noooooo. That would just be boring!!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th. We bbq'd afterwards, watched some fireworks along the horizon (since you can see for miles where we live), and crashed into bed around 11PM. Now I am sucking down coffee and shuffling around like an old woman. We'll just veg today. Back to reality tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happiness Journal:

Today I will just HANG OUT as a priority!
I am happy for a good book.
I am happy for swimming pools.
I am happy for the atuo setting on the coffee pot (coffee MADE for me before I get up?!)

First Big Running Race After Baby

This past weekend was my first half marathon after having Logan. Exactly 5 months later! He did not come with us (tear) and stayed with the Mike's mom instead. I missed him like crazy, but it was great to get away for a while. It was in Tucson...I had never been there but it seemed nice! We weren't really there long enough to do anything, but the scenery was beautiful. Apparantley it's one of the
most beautiful marathons in the country.

Aaaanyway...the race was mainly downhill and is a pretty popular Boston qualifier because of this. I'll admit, I didn't really train all that well...missed some key workouts and long runs. Whatever, I still kicked more ass than I thought I would! I avg'd 9:06 min. miles...I was originally hoping for 9:15s and thought even that was pushing it. But, as always, race day for me is always different, meaning, I run way faster than I anticipate! Maybe I don't give myself enough credit, or maybe I just don't train as hard as a could. Who the hell knows.

We started at 7am (ummm hello?) which was way too freaking early. We drove into Tucson (miserable 7 hr drive booo) and so I was still tired from that, and from lack of sleep even without baby in town. I just kept waking up expecting to hear a little Logey crying. The bused dropped us off at our start, and we didn't even get to wait in the bus. They just kicked us out into the cold and sid have fun! At least there were heaters set up outside, even though you couldn't find a spot close enough to warm your behind. Damn Tucson natives are babies to the cold. As usual, the lines for the porta potties were endless. I managed to pee once using the "facility"...and then had to go again (damn coffee...). So, since there was a fence pretty much every where you turned, we all just popped squats next to each other. Pretty funny actually...a group of women huddles together peeing, a guy coming up and seeing us and pretending he saw nothing and discreetley turning to pee on his own...ah the comeraderie....

Once we got running the sun came up. I got to about mile 10 before I started to hurt a tad...but no biggie. I know I started out slow the first half, and really gased it the second half. I passed numbers of people at the end...if only I had run that fast the whole way. Not all that upset, however, since I started with no warmup and fuuuhhhreeeezing. Maybe next time I'll warm up and have some better training under my belt. All I know is that when I turned the corner and saw the clock, I was so freakin' excited to see 1:59! Wasn't expecting that! For those of you wondering, I do not wear a watch. Ever. It makes me anxious and causes me to backfire. I prefer to run based on how I feel, not on the numbers I see. It has always worked better for me.

Anywho, great race, great weekend! Totally pumped.

See y'all next time.

I have a hiccuping baby

Napping with mom - is this really comfy?

My baby seems to hiccup a lot. Is this normal? It's like he is drunk off breast milk. I call him the "boob catcher", as he is always searching around opening his mouth, sucking his tongue...trying to find a boob ANYWHERE! There MUST be one out there somewhere! LOL. He is wriggling around in his boppy chair as we speak.

Boy do I hope this weight comes off fast. I lost about 20 lbs so far...15 when I got home and another 5 this past week. Now I am just left with a jelly belly. It goes down every day, but I know it will take work to get back to normal. I am hesitant to start any running, though. I want to make sure everything is healing well etc etc. Logan and I went for a walk/jog the other day, and it went alright. My lungs are obviously totally out of shape. My abs are also non-existent, which is a really odd feeling for me because mine were always pretty strong and defined. It's all soft now. WEIRD.

Mike and I are planning on a race in December in Tucson. He'll do the full marathon and I'll do the 1/2. So, that gives me five months from when Logan was born to get to where I want to be. I think I'll be able to do it. I probably won't start training for it for a bit, and just ease into it when I do. It'll be a nice "come-back" race for me hopefully! Finishing will be all that matters, this won't be for time. Granted-I have a hard time NOT racing for time, so we'll see. Mike is going to try and qualify for Boston again so we can head back there for the race next April. Boston, being THE marathon to run, has always been so accessible to us! It has been literally in our backyard and been able to watch the runners, so not being there the past couple years has been strange. I know he'll qualify easily because he is speedy :-)

Okay, enough for today, I'll bop back in eventually!