Trick or Trot 5k

Let me just start off with the fact that I adore races that start in the late morning! Yesterday's race started at 10:30 and today's race started at 11. At 9 this morning, I got dressed and drove to Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch NJ for the Trick or Trot 5k.

I was super early so I had plenty of time to get my bib and tee, stow the swag in my car, and head over to watch the kid races!

 But first, tradition demands that I visit the beach for some photos!

I was testing my Pocahontas costume for Disney today, to make sure it was comfy and wouldn't chafe. The "snow" in the pic is sand blowing in the wind.

The race began along the ocean, on the "boardwalk", which is actually paver stones. It was a gun start, and we started off right on time.

The temps were perfect, around 55-60' but the wind was a bit much. After my speedy race yesterday (which I found out today was a course PR for me!) I wasn't expecting much and I started the race wondering why I did this to myself. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't feeling it at all.

The weather was gorgeous, though, and I was there, so I planned on just doing my best, and not sweating it.

Mile one, about 10:37, which was not much slower than yesterday. Huh? Mile two, around 10:24, which was faster than yesterday. I couldn't believe it! The wind was starting to get to me, and I was getting tired, but we were back on the boardwalk and headed towards the finish. A girl dressed like Super Woman was neck and neck with me, and I was determined to beat her!

I rounded the final corner, and the wind hit me like a smack in the face. I could barely breathe, but I was going to beat her. I did beat her. Barely.

As I approached the finish I realized that I could beat yesterday's time if I just pushed harder, but I couldn't seem to pull it out. I finished in 32:29, which was slower than yesterday but yesterday's course was 3.05 so I actually beat it. Does that make sense?

Lots of trophies but none for me. They had lots of trophies for costumes and even a dog parade. It was lots of fun, but I was freezing! I couldn't wait to head back to my car and put on my long sleeved race tee.

The test was a success, both costumes passed the test, and I won't have any worries going into Wine and Dine. 

Do you test out your outfits before a long race?

Monster Dash 5k

Today was part one of my Wine and Dine costume test. I love running this race, it's my fourth year, and the weather couldn't have been better.

The race starts and ends on the boardwalk in the town next door, and is nice and flat, just the way I like it!

We got there early because the hubs decided to join me last minute and needed to register. While he registered, I got in line for a photo op.

I wish I had taken off my shades, though!

I ran into some friends before the race....

What a mess my wig was in!

Wow, I'm short!

Time to begin. We started by running south on the boardwalk, which is the opposite direction it usually runs. After we exited the boardwalk we ran through town, along the canal, and back to the boardwalk for the finish. There was one water stop, which was just fine because it was very cool out and I didn't really need it sooner.

As we finished the last quarter mile, the spectators were amazing! Lots of cheering and support. At the finish, they had water bottles, oranges and bananas, and bagel halves. They also give you free lunch so we had burgers, fries, and pizza. Score!

Then we stopped at a local donut shop and used one of our race coupons for a but one get one deal. Eat.all.the.food.

Luckily, we had a half cord of firewood delivers and we had to haul and stack it from the front yard to the back. Can't hurt to burn some extra calories!

My race time was 32:24, the best time I have had in a long while, especially after my summer injury.

I have another 5k tomorrow, the Trick or Trot, where I will test out my Pocahontas costume.

Will you race in costume this weekend?

Atlantic City Half Marathon recap

This past weekend was my 13th half marathon in 2014 and my 29th half marathon in 29 months!

Eileen came by an hour early, so we decided to kill some time at the Point Pleasant boardwalk.

It was a perfect day for a stroll, and we walked up and down the boardwalk until Colleen was ready to go. Time for a quick drive down the parkway to Atlantic City.

The expo was at Ballys casino, so we parked there and made our way to the expo so that we could get our stuff and then stroll their  boardwalk.

Packet pick up was super speedy, and I got mine as well as bibs for three of my friends. The expo was very tiny, so we were in and out in less than a half hour. Eileen did score a great pair of shoes at half off but they didn't have my fave shows which made me so sad!

Time for a stroll on the boardwalk! First we stashed our bags in the car so that we wouldn't have to carry them all with us.

It was sad to see the three casinos closed down. And when the sun went down and the boardwalk lit up, there were three dark spots.

Dinner time! Tradition demanded that we head to Carmine's in the Tropicana so that we could carb load one last time before the race.

Eat all the carbs.... And some salad!

And of course, Ragu!

So much food that all three of us ate our fill and I brought enough home for at least two more meals!

Time to meet Lisa and her hubs to hand off their bibs!

I look like the frump queen but I was comfy!

We were staying at a Marriott in Galloway, time to check in!

Our suite was bigger than my first condo! Too bad they didn't do late checkout, we had to check out at 6:30, on our way to the race! Hotel fail!

Time to head back to Ballys and park for the race. 

I love where I live! We took some pics before the race started!

Time to line up! There are no corrals so we just went to the back, where we found some old friends and made some new ones.

The race started and we headed right off of the boardwalk. The first five miles flew by. We were all having so much fun, and the course has some great views. Colleen was the first to break off from the pack, and then Eileen and her friend were next. It was a perfect day, although it was just a bit windy.

I saw Lisa and her hubs at mile 2. 

This was his half fanatic qualifier, welcome to the nut house Frank! I did get to see all of my friends at the turnaround at mile 6ish, and I was running near this dude for most of the race. 

I finally passed him around mile 7. At mile 7.5 a volunteer stopped me to let three cars pull out. I don't blame him for wanting to stop their yelling and honking, but he really cramped my style and it was hard to get going again!

Around mile 8 we got back onto the boardwalk, entering at Revel, which was bittersweet. I miss my favorite hotel!

We had to run past the finish line around mile 9 which is so cruel! One of my friends had just finished and shouted to me and waved as I ran by.

Around mile ten the first marathoner went by. Let's just point out that they started with us. Yeah, that was a little sad.

I put on my big girl panties and cheered for him as he zipped by. Two others passed me before I finished. Amazing!

Mile 11 was the final turn around. Those two miles seemed more like 4, but the final two were much faster. I started doing some math in my head and realized that I might actually finish under 2:45. This has been my goal since my injury in August, which has been hard to swallow since my best is 2:23. I have to be realistic in my goals, though! I plan to aim for that 2:23 next year.

When I hit mile 12 i knew that 2:45 was reachable. My Garmin hit 13.1 early and the time was 2:42 ish and the finish line was in sight! I crossed at 2:44:39! Goal met!

 

The bling was massive! The finisher area had small bottles of water, pretzels, Rita's, bagels, Naked juice, beer, and Power Bars. I really wanted chocolate milk so I went over to Johnny Rockets and got some there.

Back to the finisher area to find my friends, for a finisher photo.

It was a perfect race. The course was very organized, the volunteers were awesome, plenty of water stops. I love walking away from a race with no complaints! I am bummed that I won't be able to run it next year, it is the same weekend as the Monster Mash Marathon, which I plan to run.

Did you race this weekend?

Flat Mama Friday, Atlantic City Half Marathon

The flowers that the hubs gave me, plus the colder weather in the forecast, made me think Fall was finally here! It inspired the outfit for Sunday's race!

 

Are you racing this weekend?

21 Day Fix and Planning for 2015

Wow, I cannot believe I am already planning races for Fall 2015! It's very important to me that I follow my marathon training, so it is also important that I don't register for a short race on a long run day. I know that many people will do the short race and then run extra miles afterwards, but I have not been successful with this yet, so I am not planning anything short on my long run days!

I also hope to avoid too much overnight travel. It is so expensive, and the teenie starts college next fall! Oh my heck, where did the time go?

My calendar is shaping up nicely, and I should be adding two or three new states to my map of half marathons! 

I will be adding Delaware and Ohio, plus maybe one or two more New England states. Maybe. I still have to check my calendar, and my training plan, for good race weekends!

I will be updating the race calendar page soon. I spilled water on my lap top so I am sharing with the boy, which limits my use!

I have started the 21 day fix. I am mostly following the food plan, and have done the first three days of workouts so far! The Cardio Fix killed me, especially since i was still sore from the bicycle scavenger hunt! 

On Tuesday I did  Upper Body which wasn't too terrible. I also ran four miles and walked all over creation and ended the day with 20,000 steps.

Today I did Lower Body Fix.

It was very painful, and I modified some of it, but still got a killer workout! My calves are still very tight, but walking around every little while is helping to loosen them!

Three weeks until Disney, and the Wine and Dine half marathon!

Have you ever done the 21 Day Fix?

Bicycle Scavenger Hunt

Last night the hubs and I participated in a bicycle scavenger hunt at our Beach Club. We invited his sister and her boyfriend to round out our team of four. It was for fun, not fundraising for anything, so it was only $10 per team to participate.

There were about 50 people taking on the challenge so we weren't really thinking of winning at all, just wanting to have a little fun and get some exercise.

We were given our packet, which had pages of pictures to take, videos to make, items to find, and hidden business cards to locate.

You could also spy on the other teams and if they separated, and you had proof, it was worth extra points.

We had two hours.

Our original plan was to find the business cards, but once we got to two locations and missed getting the card we focused on the videos. 

They were mortifying, embarrassing, and basically had us running to local businesses all over town and do silly things. On video.

Did I mention it was mortifying?

We also took some amazing photos.

So exciting!

The hubs and I did this one. Impressive, right?

Finding a house number with a five and a seven is harder than you imagine.

We were supposed to do this at Walgreens but we got creative.

Moonlight at the end of the race.

The only awkward moment? The lady at the Dollar Tree did not like so many teams coming into the store and she called the cops. For real. The poor guy had to tell us to behave better next time but you could just tell he didn't really think we did anything wrong. After he lectured all of the teams, they tallied the points.

I was totally shocked when we won second place! It was super exciting I must say, and we each got a gift card to Dunkin Donuts. 

We all had a really great time, laughed way too much, embarrassed ourselves, and easily covered about five miles during the challenge. 

Have you ever done a scavenger hunt?