Not one but TWO weekend runs!

Friday evening was pretty gorgeous, though chilly. And I was D-R-A-G-G-I-N-G! I planned to get a 3 mile run in after work and was actually somewhat excited after my speedy 4 miler on Wednesday. But alas, by the time the equine were fed, I was trying to find excuses not to go. I had eaten way too much at lunch and was still feeling full. I was tired. It was windy and cold. Blah blah blah. So I said to myself, "Fatty, you ate all that lunch, don't you think you should run it off? And when have you ever regretted getting a run in?" Am I not the most annoying human EVER when I'm trying to be lazy? Sheesh. But I had made some good points, so off I went.... I started off a bit slower than Wednesday, but for whatever reason, I REALLY wanted to be faster. So I kicked it up the last mile and managed to average a few seconds faster. Good work self!

Saturday was pony day. You can read more about that here. But Sunday I planned to run the Leprechaun 5 Miler with some of my running buddies/book club members. (Our groups tend to overlap.) I'm 100% for running races in ridiculous attire, and the Leprechaun 5 Miler is the perfect venue for such silliness.Thankfully, my friends are into it too!

It was CHILLY Sunday morning, and it was a little tough to get moving! I stayed with my friends for the first mile, but they are just getting back into running after the miserable winter, so I asked if it was ok if I went ahead. They didn't mind at all, so off I went. But I have to tell you, this race was a tough one for me! I really was thinking I'd lay down 5 miles at the pace I've been running all week, but for whatever reason I was struggling! Thinking I was averaging about ten minute miles, I was determined to push through the last mile. I just wanted to make it under 50 minutes... And I DID!

I wasn't as fast as during the week, but given the cold and the slow start (we were alllll the way in the back at the start!) I was pretty happy with the time. Besides, my last race was the half marathon where I averaged 11 minute miles, so clearly it's an improvement! The best part about finishing a little quicker, I got to cheer my friends on at the finish AND get photos!

Ashley

Vanessa

Chelsea wasn't in the pre race photo, she took a little detour and was a little late!

And here's everyone, plus one of Vanessa's co-wokers, after the race!

This race is a lot of fun! They have great sponsors which spoil us runners with homemade clam chowder and green bagels at the post race party (all for free)!! I didn't take photos along the way, but we run right along the Long Island Sound with gorgeous views. The hills are minimal, and the miles pass fairly quickly. My only complaint is the water stop locations. The first one isn't until close to mile 2 and the next one is before the 3rd mile. So you have a long waterless stretch at the beginning and end. Other than that though, it's a great time. I missed it last year to run the NYC Half Marathon, but was happy to return this year!

Did you run any races this weekend?

Outside > Inside

After my miserable run at the gym on Monday, I was determined to take things outside Wednesday evening. I was having the most difficult time deciding how far to run and what route to take. Sunday I will be running the Leprechaun 5 Miler, which is certainly an attainable distance given my recent 10 miler with Katie. Yet I hadn't actually run more than 3 since I realized my April half wasn't happening. Finally I decided to run 4 miles. AND I decided to take my advice from the other day and step back a little to regain my confidence. Meaning I wanted to limit the hills and not press too hard for pace. AKA, go out and enjoy the run!

Well... low and behold, I had a GREAT run! There were moments of "whoa, this is hard" of course, but I told myself just slow down a little, catch your breath. I looked a few times at my distance as I had decided to do a few different out and backs. (I wasn't sure entirely of when it was getting dark, so didn't want to ever be too far from home.) I never looked at my pace however.

Speaking of distance... Does anyone else lose the ability to do math while running? By the time I was on my last out and back, I could not for the life of me figure out how far out I had to run. I finally guessed, and luckily it worked out. Running and math do not mix my friends!

When my run was over, I let myself look at the pace:

Do you see what I see?? That's my fastest run since... September I think. Nice work! Granted it was a relatively flat route, blah blah blah. But I'll take it! I was super excited to plug my watch in and see what the splits looked like. Oddly enough, my first mile was the fastest. Even more odd, that was the hilliest mile!

It's really encouraging to have a great run. Finally! Have any of you had a nice run lately? Battling the "I hate running" thoughts?

Stacie and Katie's Not so Excellent Adventure

It's a BEAUTIFUL day here FINALLY! About 55 degrees and sunshiny goodness. Ahhhhh. So what better day to get the long run in, right? Yeah I guess.
Katie was running 15 today, but I needed only 10, so she went out a little early and did her 5, then we met up and drove to a nice flat nearby town to run together. All started out well. We headed out slowly toward the water for a lovely view for much of our run. About a mile and a half in I realized my trusty iPhone was no longer with us. UGH! So we turned around, eyes to the ground hunting for the phone. The positive thing here, is that the 1.5 miles we backtracked flew right by. No complaints about running there! We passed lots of runners, none of who had seen the phone. <<Sigh>> Katie said lets go back to the cars, and she'd call my phone from hers, maybe someone had picked it up. Someone had! Another runner! So off we went again in search of the runner with the red shirt. We found her at about mile 4.25. Yay! How lucky is that? A fellow runner rescued my phone (from the street!) so it wouldn't get run over. Runners are good people. She even tried calling my dad to see about returning it to me before we had called it. Good people runners are. Here's my new favorite runner and I upon my reunion with the phone:

Don't we look happy?!

So we still had about 6 miles left but the road we wound up on would actually dump us out right around the same route we had planned. Imagine that? What luck! Found my phone and still ran the pre-planned course, just backwards. Win!

For whatever reason, the rest of the run was pretty tough. Probably a lot because I have primarily been training on the treadmill. And for Katie because she had already run 5 miles BEFORE we headed out for 10. Rather than let the difficulty get us down, we decided to take some short photo breaks along the way. It gave us a chance to rest briefly and provided great photos for you!

So we did somehow finish the 10 miles. We lost a phone and Katie's gu along the way. But we actually found BOTH items eventually. Crazy. In a good way! The run itself was HARD. There were puddles, mud, and ice along the way. Seriously, look how filthy my shoes were at the end:

But we managed to get it done. Which is always a win in my book. We're equestrians by sport, running is our hobby afterall!
I shall leave you with our final thoughts on the run: