Avon 5K recap

No...... not the Avon lady! Avon, NJ is a beach town about 30 minutes or so north of where I live. It is a great, flat, fast course and this was my second time running it with my friends.

Last year it was much hotter, so I managed to knock 2 minutes off of my time! Hooray! There were lots of spectators, which I loved, and lots of cheering. I added a day to my run streak as well.
I am feeling wretched today, though, so I guess i am not very chatty. My allergies are nuts! i am super tired, and I spent the entire second mile with a tick at the back of my that and runny eyes. It was crazy bizarre, I am not sure what it was about that mile, other than the trees!
It was a perfect running day, though, and I had a great time with great friends!
A friend of ours won the race, with a time of 17:07 and he is 38! Not bad for an old dude! I think my friend Ryan placed in his AG,  but they only gave prizes to first place, so I am still waiting for the results on that one!
I always say that I want to try new races, but there is just something about repeaters that make me smile!
Next week is my first Girls on the Run race! I look forward to watching the girls I have been coaching finish their first (for some of them, not all) 5K. We will all be wearing tutus, and they will get medals for finishing!

Did you race this weekend? Do you suffer from seasonal allergies?

I'm going to Disneyland!!!

On Tuesday, Disney made an announcement that made me so sad! They announced their newest race series, the Star Wars races! I was so excited, until i heard that they would be in Disneyland!

Oh my heck!

Being an East Coaster, this seemed impossible! Until the hubs told me that flying cross country is cheaper than I thought!

Since our internet hasn't been working, I got the Kayak app for my phone and looked up flights. Only $400 round trip? Sign me up!

Will you be running any Disney races this year or next?

Marathon Training with Pacebands

****I was given a free Paceband in exchange for a review. As always, all opinions are my own!****

My training doesn't truly start until next week, but I have been pre-training with my Run the Edge planner. I even built in a few extra weeks in case a week goes awry along the way!

A couple weeks ago, I started following Pacebands on Twitter and was completely amazed when they contacted me about trying their band in exchange for a review. My contact Jayme said she read my blog, and thought I was a good fit for their bands.

My first, second, and third thought were that I wasn't worthy of being given such a product for free. I am such a slow runner! 

I wrote back anyway, and just put it right out there that I am slow. 

For real, how perfect is Jayme? I was checking out their Facebook page at about this time, and at the top of the page was a meme about the very same thing! I was in love! I am definitely my worst critic, something I need to work on!

So Jayme sent me a code and I went to their site to order my Paceband. They come in half and full marathon. You choose your distance, your pace, and the color of your band.

Distance? No brainer: marathon

Color? Another no brainer: lime green! It makes me smile!

Goal time: ummmmmm my goal is 5:30 but I almost clicked 6:00. I know that if I stick to my training I can hit 5:30, but my inner devil voice was telling me I should shoot for 6:00 for a better chance at hitting my goal. 

I sucked it up, and clicked 5:30. I know I can do it, and now I have the band to get me there!

I am loving the lime green, it always makes me happy!

I love wearing it on my long runs to see how I'm doing! Yesterday's run was a bit slow in the end, but I totally blame the heat! It was in the 80s and very humid! The first five miles were great, with under 12 minutes per mile, but the last three? Ugh! We jogged 6 and 7, and mostly walked the 8th, but we got it done!!

Look at all the salt on my hat! Yikes!

Pacebands are affordable, too, at just $8.99 each!

***** If you click on the link and order a Paceband, I will get a small commission. *****


If you order a Paceband, what color, distance, and time would you get?

Spring Lake Five recap

So sorry it has been so long, but my internet has been down for days! I am doing this from my phone, so forgive me if I miss any typos!!

Saturday was my third Spring Lake Five, and I was so glad to be able to run it with my best running friends!

Cheryl and her mom Ronnie picked me up bright and early and we picked up her brother on the way. 

On our way there, we saw the craziest thing:

This is probably not unusual for many of you, but at the beach in NJ, it really is! I loved seeing it and wish I had gotten a better pic!

We parked right away, which was a huge surprise since there were close to12,000 runners this year! We went to the porta potties and then headed over to the hotel to meet up with our other friends!

After hanging out for a bit, we lined up for the race. The start is always insane, too many runners with many not lining up properly for their pace. Usually, you dish a lot during the first mile. Cheryl and I decided that we would take our time and just have fun. My goal was to finish under an hour.

The first mile was as insane as ever, and it quited down after that. I had to stop and take a pic with my favorite trumpeter:

Anyone who has raced in NJ, from Asbury Park to Spring Lake, has probably heard Dave play! He is such an amazing guy! 

Cheryl knew a lot of the spectators and she was cracking me up shouting out to all of them!

I noticed that at mile 3.5 we bottlenecked again, a lot of the runners slowed down. My guess is that many of them were used to 5k races and the extra two miles were a bit harder on them. 

I watched one boy begging his mom to walk and she kept saying no. It made me sad to watch her push him so hard. It was hard, it was the last mile, and he looked miserable.

She finally let him walk and I left them behind.

Cheryl caught up with me after that, after running a bit with one of her students, and we finished strong, meeting my goal with a time of just over 58 minutes!

Ok, this is Eileen and I showing off our Swirlgear. Cheryl and I took a selfie but it was horrid so I deleted it!

I was happy with my race and stopped to take some ocean pics for my buddy's mom.

And then it was time to head home!

I have so many other things I want to write about this week, hopefully this posts and I have internet soon!!

Happy Wednesday!!

Flat Mama Friday, Swirlgear Sale Edition!

Tomorrow will be my third year running the Spring Lake Five, a super popular local race that sells out faster than a Disney race! It runs along the ocean in Spring Lake, NJ and you cannot ask for a better race! Five Miles of beautiful scenery, fabulous spectators, and great weather!

One of my fave parts about this race is that you can pick up your swag the whole week before:

 I am going with Swirlgear because it has camo to honor our fallen veterans. Yes, I raced in this shirt last week, but you can never have too much of a good thing! I am also trying out my new Running Skirts, with magnets in the waistband to hold your bib!

Love my shirt? Swirlgear is having a 60% off sale this weekend on their long sleeved shirts! Stock up for fall or those cool summer nights! These shirts are amazing, so soft and comfortable, fashionable, and long lasting! I wear them every chance I get!

Don't forget to take a minute (or five) to remember those who gave their lives for our FREEdom this weekend!

Dirty Girl Mud Run

I was contacted by Leah at Dirty Girl Mud Run, as a Sweat Pink Ambassador,  to see if I would like to form a team for their New Jersey event!
It is certainly no secret that I LOVE to participate in Mud Runs......

I mean, really, who wouldn't love them? A perfect excuse to get muddy, be silly, and occasionally leap over fire!

Dirty Girl Mud Run is a women-only non-competitive mud run featuring a series of 

obstacles that inspires women to get out of their comfort zones and accomplish 

something new. Dirty Girl is a proud supporter of Bright Pink, the only national non-

profit organization focusing on prevention and early detection of breast and

 ovarian cancer in young women.  

Two of my favorite things joined together: mud runs and Breast Cancer research support!

The NJ event will take place in Pemberton, which is less than an hour from my house! Score! AND it is perfect for mud run virgins!
From the website:

What you will need is Get-up-and-go, Positivity and Sass! Hmm, well looky there…I guess you do need “GPS” after all!

Ladies, a Dirty Girl 5K Mud Run & Obstacle Course is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced in your estrogen-laden world!  It’s loud.  It’s happy.  It’s encouraging.  It’s emotional.  And it is MUDDY!

With obstacles like PMS (pretty muddy stuff), H2OMG and Dirty Dancing, the laughs are limitless and the camaraderie incredible.  Worried about your “time”? Well stop!  At Dirty Girl Events, ain’t nobody got time for that!  We make time for the things that really matter: friendship, laughter, encouragement and fun.  Concerned you won’t be able to make it over one of the muddy obstacles?  You’re killing us!  Walk around the darn thing.  That’s right, hold your mud-caked head up high and tell your friends you’ll see ‘em on the other side.  Are you starting to get the picture?  At Dirty Girl Mud Events, happiness, high-spiritedness, understanding and togetherness reign supreme.  And when all is said and done, you will bask in unabashed, dirty diva glory, as a member of the Dirty Girl Nation. 

I LOVE the names of the obstacles! 

I also love that the walls have helper bars, because I have zero upper body strength! I can use that extra help, that's for sure! I plan to form a team this week, since the event is closing in on us!

So, who is in? If you are interested in the NJ event, email me at kprytherch@gmail.com for the coupon code!

Superhero Half Marathon

Sunday morning, Gigi and I woke up at about 6:30 to get ready for the race. Breakfast would be available at the hotel starting at 7:30 so we took our time!
The breakfast set up was nice, it was a shame I cannot really eat much before a half! I grabbed a bagel, and left it plain, which was probably a mistake. It tasted.... off. I don't know what it was, maybe freezer burn? I choked down about a quarter of it, and called it a day!
We drove to the start, mostly because Gigi twisted her ankle earlier in the week, and we were not sure how she would feel afterwards! The start was less than a mile from the hotel.
There was ample parking, which was a nice treat, and we spotted Eileen and Carol leaving the lot, so we knew that they would be easy to find!

Thank you, random stranger, for taking this pic of us!

It was warm out already, so we ditched our Digital Running jackets right away.  Good thing, because it only got warmer! We made a beeline for the port potty area, so that we could find Carol and Eileen.  We spotted them immediately, and tried to help them find their friend. No luck, though! Eileen's friend Tom took a quick photo of us.

 The waiting area was pretty mobbed, and we waited for the announcement to line up at the Start.

 While we waited, Gigi spotted some minions! I was so excited to see that it was Jennifer from The Final Forty! We stalked asked them for some photos, and they were super good sports about it! I usually only see Jen at out of state races, but we have gotten better at spotting each other at local races as well!

 I couldn't resist a pic of this guy! Who doesn't love Captain Underpants? He was such a good sport, he even posed with a young boy that was a fan of the books! His wife was only mildly embarrassed!

 Time to get started!  The race started off, and Gigi and I started out with her friend Kim. Kim hadn't been training , though, so she mostly walked the race. We parted at around mile 2 or so, and continued on with a 3:1 run/walk. The first 5 miles had a ton of hills, however, so we walked the hills and did out best to get on track after each one. I must say, the scenery was amazing!
At the start, someone did fall and seemed to be in a lot of pain! I hope she was okay!

 At about mile 7-ish, we turned into the park. I couldn't resist stopping to pose! Thanks, Gigi, for taking the pic!

 The park was beautiful, and I remember parts if it, a little, from last year. It was also much cooler in the park, which was nice, because there were a few hot spots out in the real world! We turned at mile 7.5 and a bicycle cop told us we were halfway done. Wait. What? This is a 15 mile race? We argued with him a bit but he stood firm. Mile 7.5 is halfway. Okay. Whatever. We also got a glimpse of the faster runners, who were at about mile 10ish, as they ran by in the other direction.

 We did come out of the park for a couple miles, and just before we turned back in, they opened the roads. Yikes! We were just over 2 hours at that point, I think, and they closed the roads? There were still runners behind us, and I felt bad for them! Maybe 4 cars or so passed by us before we turned back into the park. Ahhhhhh cool temps again! And horses. There were horses.

So we finished. It was a very.... boring finish. We were given our medal but there was no photographer taking finisher photos. There was no water. There was no food. Just 2 volunteers handing out medals.
Huh?
We started walking towards a group of people before realizing the food was at a gazebo in the other direction, about 5 minutes walk from the start. Behind the start, sort of. And no one was directing anyone there. We just missed the costume contest, where one of the winners was the guy who won last year. In the same costume that he wore last year. Really? There were no other costumes as good as the recycled costume?
Okay.
So there was plenty of food. In fact, we were told to take handfuls of everything because there was so much. Water? Not so much. Spectators were walking around with 6 bottles of it, but none for the actual runners.
We went back to the start to wait for Kim, and cheer her in. Gigi even ran back a ways to run in with her. She was so happy we waited!
Someone brought some small cups of water over, so we finally got our water, about 20 minutes or more after we finished.
We had to rush back to the hotel so we would make our late checkout time. We must have smelled pretty ripe, because the manager gave us an extra 15 minutes! Score!
I even managed to climb the Fitbit leaderboard. I usually hang around #8 or so.

 The medal is pretty much identical to last year's medal, except last year Superman was blue.

The race was fun, thanks to Gigi, and beautiful, thanks to Morristown being....well...beautiful.
The race was also poorly run, again, and this will be my last time. Just like last year, I am still hoping for photos, but so far there are none of me or Gigi. I am not optimistic.

BUT
#8 of 14 Half Marathons is done!

Have you ever run a race and just felt.... meh.... about it?

Bay Head 5K Recap

Today was a thin day!
You know what I mean, you are just going about your day, and suddenly realize you are feeling thin. It's not just me, right?
Anyway,  I signed up for this race last minute. I was going to skip it, but it starts 1.5 miles from my house, flat and fast course, and my friends were all running. I rode my bike to the start, and enjoyed the beautiful morning!

 Posing in the front yard in my Digital Running gear!

The bag piper is there every year! He is awesome!

Look at that sky!

 The day was perfect! I kept saying that I would just enjoy the run, and not push. Yeah.....no. I finished the first mile in 10:04 and slowed down a bit after that, to around an 11:00 pace for the second and third mile. There was some wind during the second mile, but nothing crazy. As I was running, I realized that I was feeling good, feeling fit, and having fun!

My slowest ever for this race, but my fastest this year by 3 minutes!

I stayed for the awards because my friend's daughter won the 17 and under female category...

my friend Ryan won his age group

this guy was hysterical, there was a large team of runners who took a lot of AG prizes, he started calling them the Slum Dog Millionaires.

 I had a great view for the ride back! After I showered and packed for Superhero, the teenie and I went to a local restaurant that serves GF and other healthy foods.

Avocado BLT, yum!

 Then it was off to Morristown to get the bibs for Superhero. Gigi from Running on Candy was meeting me there,  and we were staying there overnight. I parked at the hotel and walked the mile into town to pick up our bibs. It was such a perfect day!

 I got our bibs, stopped for some Starbucks, and hit a few stores looking for some squeezable fruit stuff for Gigi. I made it back to the hotel with a few minutes to spare before Gigi arrived.

 We prepped our outfits for tomorrow, and had a nice italian dinner in town....

And now we are getting ready for an early-ish bedtime! I am so excited to celebrate our soldiers in tomorrow's race!

What area you up to this weekend? What Superhero would you dress up as?