5 Things Friday

1. Autism Awareness 5k on 10/12. I ran in 42:27. I was so sore and tight from ToT ... I probably should have ran in between them. It was basically the same course as Help the HooHahs on 9/27 when I PRed. My boyfriend and his mom ran too. He took off with her and ended up with a PR of 31:13. I'm so proud of him! 

2. Bluffton Seafood and Arts Fesitval 10k on 10/19. I ran it in 1:30:19 according to their time, 1:29:51 by my Garmin. I like that a lot better because my goal was under 1:30. It was a pretty good race. My only complaint is that it wasn't closed to traffic and the drivers didn't seem too happy we were there. 

3. Yesterday's training run. I tried a :30/:30 interval and it failed miserably. I like my 1:00/1:00 but I'd like to build up my stamina to be able to run longer. And I found this! 

4. SparkleSkirts! I know I've mentioned them before but I've gotten new ones that I love so much. There's Everest from my 10k, AmericanGraffiti which I haven't worn yet and Tiffany which is absolutely gorgeous! 

5. The weather! It's gotten so much colder so fast here. It's great for running, horrible otherwise. I just wish there wasn't a difference of being hot in the sun and needing a jacket in the shade. But like I said, it's perfect for running. 

What's been new with everyone else lately?

Lauren

Tower of Terror Recap

I know. It's been over a week. I honestly wanted to give you a great post. But I don't know how. The race itself was great. I was completely and utterly undertrained and had bad shoes. I was in so much pain by the end. I was with the balloon ladies at least half the race. This meant some characters I just took pictures of, not with. My finishing time was 2:50 and some seconds. My Garmin says my moving time was 2:35 and some seconds which I expected to be my finishing time. 

But there was good as well. I met Rachel by my boyfriend completely embarrassing me at the expo. But it was worth it. She's such a fun and happy and adorable person! And her friend Kelly was in my corral so I had someone to hang out with before and at least start with. I finished. I honestly didn't think I would at points. And Ray, my boyfriend, was an amazing support. He kept sending me encouraging texts no matter how whiny I was. I know he just wanted to tell me to suck it up. So I did suck it up enough to go on Star Tours with him after. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. They'll go through the expo and my loot, a couple from Ray doing the 5k and the race. 

And a few of his pictures from the after party. 

PS - that's exactly what I looked like during the race ;) 

Did you run Tower of Terror? Have you ever been overwhelmed by a race so much it was hard to write about?

Lauren

October Goals

I figure hopefully by putting my goals out there, and giving myself a concrete list to look back it, I should hopefully accomplish something!

1. Get back down to a total of at least 10 lbs lost, preferably more.  I was down to 149.8.  Today I weighed in at 152.4.  I see no reason I can't get down to more than the total of 10 lost.

2. Finish my 10 Miler in less than 2:30.  We'll see how this goes in 2 days!!

3. Get a decent 10k time for Princess corral placement.  Preferably around 1:15.  We'll see if that's possible.

4. Get better grades in school, especially A&P.  Yeah...this is a sore spot right now.  I hate not doing well in a class.  I disappoint myself and my parents, and neither are ok.  I need to be doing work I'm proud of, while keeping my stress limit in check.

5. Run 3x a week, minimum.  I'm pretty good with my long runs, but I slack on my maintanence runs, then wonder why I don't improve.  Must stay on top of this!

6. Yoga 3x a week, minimum.  See #4.  Must keep stress level in check.

That's all I can think of right now, and is a fairly reasonable amount to do.

I'm off to pack for Tower of Terror!

What are your monthly goals for October?
Lauren

Help the HooHahs 5k

Yesterday I ran in the Help the HooHahs 5k at the Trade and Convention Center. I think this is amazing cause, all for GYN cancer awareness. They started up this race because it's kind of a taboo subject for many, and they want to spread awareness. I believe the race director lost her mother to a GYN cancer, and got a bit emotional during medals because the top female ran with a pair of angel wings and gave them to the director. It was really sweet. 

I felt really good at the race! It was so cool outside which is very unusual for this time of year. 

I wanted to get a new PR, under 41:22. In the back of my head I wanted to get under 40, but didn't really think it was possible. I went out to fast, as always. When I hit .45 miles I was at 5 minutes. I don't run 10-11 minute miles! I run 13-14! I definitely slowed down so I didn't burn out and finished the first mile in 12:23. 

The next mile had a water stop and my only pet peeve. They advertised it as a flat course but it wasn't. It definitely wasn't any bad hills, I just wasn't mentally prepared. They may not look like much but for Savannah they're big! The other problem is that it was on the race track, and there were a few sections that were banked and my knee was yelling at me. 

You can kind of see in the second picture where we go around and back down the hill, so that was nice. Mile 2 was 13:46. After that it was pretty flat, a little more banking but I got through that mile in 12:46. All this is flying for me! 

And the total...39:52!! I was unbelievably excited about this! The course had actually stopped at 3.08 so I ran in the parking lot. I had to have my best 5k on my Garmin too! I might be slightly obsessive. 

This was also a good chance to try out my tutu for Tower of Terror. It's actually a bit too big so I'll have to make it smaller and try it again. Hopefully the neighborhood doesn't think I'm too crazy!

I also got a new SparkleSkirt courtesy of my wonderful boyfriend! 

Did you race or get any new gear this weekend?

Lauren

Five Things Friday

1. Yoga!  I've recently started doing yoga at Savannah Power Yoga.  Most classes are heated to around 90 degrees.  It's been tough!  I haven't done yoga in a while.  I've never done heated yoga.  I've never done power yoga.  Basically, you're flowing the whole time and don't hold poses static like I'm used to.  I usually go to one of those classes a week, and one gentle class (non-heated and less intense).  I plan on going to meditation on Sunday as well.  This has been absolutely amazing for me the past couple weeks.  I've been super super stressed with school, but once I leave yoga I'm stress free and in a good mood, at least for the rest of the day.  I've also actually noticed progress in just a couple weeks, especially with balancing poses, so I'm really excited about that!

2. Avocados.  I just recently tried avocados, and decided that I really actually like them!  I don't like them plain, I will say that, because of the texture.  But I love putting them in all sorts of things, even with chicken mac & cheese the other night.  My boyfriend thought I was weird for that.  Oh well!  I feel like the flavor isn't too overwhelming, and I like getting in the healthy fats I know they have =)

3. Disney.  I've been super into Disney lately, gearing up for Tower of Terror a week from tomorrow.  I'm preeeeetty sure my boyfriend thinks he's dating a child, but it's ok because he loves me and puts up with it ;)  I just really like Disney! haha.  So maybe I am a bit of a child at heart, but it'll keep me from getting old too fast!

4. SparklySoul headbands.  I have a few now (5 I think?) and I try to wear them every day.  They're just so amazing and the first headbands I found that honestly don't slip.  I have so many layers in my hair and bangs that like to sneak out when my hair is up, because I usually don't have time to actually put it up with bobby pins and care.  But SparklySoul keeps all the loose hairs and wispies out of my face through school, yoga, running, anything really!  They're great!  And they sparkle!

5. Life!  I know this is so so cheesy.  And probably because I just had yoga like an hour ago.  But I've been learning to enjoy the good parts of life more.  Sure, some of my classes at school suck and I'm literally failing one...which has never happened in my life.  But I'm learning to look past the bad, and just try to do better going forward.

Past Two Races

I've been slacking with racing information!  I do a lot of races, mostly 5ks, because I find it helps keep me motivated.  I do try to match things up with my training schedule though, so I don't get too off track!

On September 14th, I ran the Tunnels to Towers race in downtown Savannah.  This run is to honor Stephen Siller, a FDNY firefighter.  He was off work when the attacks on 9/11 occurred, but called his wife to tell her that he had to help those in need.  When he couldn't get through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in his truck, he literally ran towards the towers with all of his gear strapped to him.  Unfortunately, Mr. Siller lost his life that day, and now there are Tunnels to Towers runs in his honor, and for the other 343 firefighters that were lost that day.

Sgt. Michael Schlitz ran with us, who was wounded in Iraq.  Proceeds from the race were going to assist in building his smart home.  You can see some of his story here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NceL12VFYeE.

I felt good during this race.  It started out cooler than it has been in Savannah, but warmed up pretty quickly.  I have been working with 1:1 run:walk intervals, as I've mentioned before, but I did manage to run the first .6 miles or so, so I was proud of myself for that!  I ended up finishing with an official time of 41:22, which puts me at an official PR!  For some reason at the end of the race I felt completely wiped out, but after a banana half and a little water I was fine.  I think I didn't hydrate enough the morning of.  I'd love to do this race again next year, for the cause and because it's a nice course. 

Patriotic Minnie Mouse look!

Running up one of the very few hills in Savannah!

Many firefighters from local areas ran in full gear, and competed in teams for the Siller Cup.

Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts lined Forsyth Park with pictures of all of the fallen firefighters.

Coming through the finish line!

All done!

Then this past Saturday, the 21st, I ran in the Tiger Bass 12k in Bluffton, SC.  I wanted to run this so I had a timed 10k+ I could turn in for Tower of Terror.  I finished with an official time of 1:48:58.04, so I don't know if it will bump be up a corral, but it's worth a shot!  I finished dead last overall, but defaulted to 3rd in my age group, so I need to go pick up my medal sometime!  I'm surprisingly ok with finishing last, probably because there were a few times I thought about quitting.

This run was about half trail, which is shown below.  There wasn't a single foot long section of this trail that was flat, and my ankles were not happy with it.  I literally walked the entire trail portion of it, except for maybe .25 mile that was done with small bits of jogging here and there.  This was also my longest race to date, since I've only done 5k's up until now!

I did learn that this whole minimalist shoe deal is not working for me.  I'll probably still use my Nike Free's for short runs and 5k's, but anything about 5 miles or more is killer.  I broke my foot about 6 years ago, I believe.  They think that I also tore a ligament and it healed itself incorrectly.  So now whenever I run 5+ miles, the arch of my foot gets almost unbearably sore.  I think due to compensating for that, I also get knee pain and the worst hip pain!  It's on the inside of my hip, and still hurts now - 4 days later!  I don't want to switch to a new shoe that I can't do a long run in before ToT, so I'm going to push through that race in my current shoes, but as soon as I stop being sore from that I'm going in to Fleet Feet and having them analyze my running, etc.  My other leg, that I didn't break the foot on, is completely fine though.  I'd like to stay with an extremely flexible shoe, etc. but my injured foot definitely needs better arch support.  I'll keep everyone updated on this!

Blurry Savannah Bridge - running up this in December!

Blurry Savannah River at sunrise.

Most of my ToT costume, but SparkleBottoms + tutu instead of SparkleSkirt.

And we're off!

I must admit, the views were pretty!

The bridges on parts of the trail.  They were great to run on.

The trail =( See that soft unpacked sand/dirt? It was like running on the beach.

Highest mile marker I've seen!

Then there were turkeys!

They ran away from me =(

Then decided to ignore me and look the other way! Silly birds.

Overall, I have decided I'm not going to do anymore trail runs.  They just don't work for me personally, as much as I love the idea of them.  I also can't wait to get new shoes!  And I'm so excited for ToT in less than 2 weeks!!

Have you ever realized that something major needed to change in your running?
Lauren