Sunday, March 17, 2013

Keep Calm & Green On - 10K Race Recap

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This guy has been sporting his St. Patty's bandana since last week.  I just love how festive it makes him look....

On Friday night, I decided that I needed to buy something new and green to wear for the race on Saturday.  After hunting around a little bit, I found this sparkly long-sleeve T-shirt from Old Navy for $9.  We've had fairly cool weather this week, so I figured long sleeves would be nice for the race.  We got down to Five Points at about 7:15am, and it was pretty breezy, so it turned out to be an OK decision.  I only got hot toward the end of the race, and once we were done running, I was glad again to have on long sleeves.  

The Get to the Green 10K was a first annual event, and also my first official 10K.  The 5K race is a really popular event that occurs every year in conjunction with the 5 Points St. Patty's Festival and parade. and I was excited that they added on the longer distance this year.  Throw in a tech shirt and free admission to the festival, and that was a deal of a race!  

Going in, I was dreading a few things.  First, the race was a double loop, and I do not love running the same loop twice in a row.  Then, the 5K started exactly 30 minutes after the 10K, and the routes crossed paths a few times.  The 5K had 2-3 times as many runners as the 10K, so it got really crowded for us just after mile 3.  The roads were really crowded and I felt like I wasn't keeping a good pace, especially when the 5K runners joined us.  There weren't any mile markers for the 10K and my GPS wasn't working, so I really had no idea.  Ryan ran with me the whole way until we had about a quarter of a mile left.  He ran ahead and was able to finish about a minute ahead of me.  Turns out, I was actually keeping a pretty good pace, finishing at 1:05:25.  Going in, I was hoping to beat 1:10, so goal accomplished!  

One of the cool things that happened was the winner of the 10K (along with his police escort to help get him through the crowd) passed us at about mile 3.  All I can say is, WOW.  He was booking it, going at a pace about twice as fast as ours.  It was cool to look down the hill an actually see the winner finish the race... not so cool that we still had 3 miles to go!  


Here we are after the race -- Deedee, Russ & Jennifer met up with us at the finish after running the 5K.  

I think it is safe to say that I'm going to be hooked on the 10K distance race.  It was long enough to make it feel worthwhile to pay the money, but not so long that you have to do any major training leading up to it.  Also definitely a distance I feel like I can work to improve my time.  The next race on the books is the Heart & Sole Women's 5-Miler on April 27th.

The weather was really nice so we came back to the festival later in the day to enjoy some Bluegrass and Shag music -- stayed just long enough to get a funny sunburn..... aaah the joys of early Spring!  




Saturday, March 16, 2013

bye bye Google reader

Google reader is going away.  I can't tell you how sad that makes me.  Luckily there are some other good reader options out there, which I'm trying out and seeing which I like.  I just tried out BlogLovin' and it was super easy to transfer all the feeds from Google reader, so that's a major plus.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Currently....

Here's a few snippets into life currently....

Reading... Just finished our first book club selection, Serena by Ron Rash.  I liked it just OK.  It was a difficult read as Rash is incredibly descriptive.  It wasn't what I would call a page-turner, but I definitely had to keep reading to figure out what evil thing Serena would do next.  I'm pretty excited to see what the other book club grannies think about it.  Also, the movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper is coming out this September!


Watching... Of course tonight I'm watching The Bachelor finale.  This show is my number one guilty pleasure.  I hope he picks Lindsay, and I hope she shows up in an even more beautiful wedding dress to accept the final rose than she did on the first night!  I mean, how cute are they together???


Planning... to make a gallery wall behind our TV... this is my inspiration picture....  I absolutely love the look of a gallery wall and have wanted to make one in our house for a while.  The new TV set up and moving our giant tall entertainment center out of the den and into the bedroom have left me with the perfect blank wall for the project!


Listening... to my Bible-in-a-Year reading plan on the YouVersion App.  I’ve just completed the first 70 days!  This is farther into the plan than I’ve ever made it in years past, and I think that’s highly due to LISTENING to some of the law books from the Old Testament rather than trying to just trudge through them.  Plus, it gives me something to do in the car when I’d otherwise probably be listening to junk radio.  

Loving... the official race shirts for the St. Patty's Get-To-The-Green 5K & 10K for next weekend.  Also loving that my hubby is joining me for the race!  




Friday, March 8, 2013

TGIF



Wow, thank goodness the weekend is finally here.  Actually, kicked it off last night meeting some friends at Hunter Gatherer Brewery for jazz night.  HANDS DOWN, this is the BEST thing to do in Columbia on a Thursday night. If you ever feel like this city doesn’t have anything cool to offer, think again.  Jazz night was not only an amazing display of musical talent, but also of community, diversity, and a whole lot of fun.  My one regret?  Too tired to stay all night.  Next time, I’ll take a nap first.

Tonight, a bunch of my college girlfriends are coming to town.  Over the last few years, we’ve had a million weddings, showers, and bachelorette parties… but things on that front have settled down and now we’re just getting together to have a weekend to hang out. Dinner, maybe a concert, brunch, and baseball are all in the picture for the weekend.  I can’t wait to catch up with everyone….. can someone locate my floozie coozie? 

Also on the books for the weekend (quite a busy one).... a run with Jennifer this afternoon (getting ready for the Get To the Green 10K next weekend)… dinner club Saturday night (making these yummies for dessert)… and taking dinner on Sunday to our friends with a new sweet baby girl.   It’s crazy weekends like these that go by way too fast, but also are the most fun.  I think I’ll schedule a nap for Monday afternoon!

Friday, March 1, 2013

March Monthly Menu


Wow - check out all the *New Recipe's* for March!  It's gonna be a fun month of trying some new stuff.  Luckily, most of these new recipes have ingredients common to things I normally make, so if all else fails, we can fall back on an old faithful!

Week 1: March 1-2
-          Girl’s Night at Pasta Fresca
-          Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Spinach, Tomatoes, Goat Cheese (never made in February)
Week 2: March 3-9
-          Buffalo Chicken Pizza
-          Crockpot Beef Gyros *New Recipe*
-          Baked Ziti
-          Leftovers
-          Dinner and Jazz Night at Hunter Gatherer
-          Burritacos *New Recipe*
-          Supper Club
Week 3: March 10-16
-          Baked Potato Soup (Taking to friends with new baby!)
-          Grilling Out
-          Homemade Calzones
-          Soup/Salads/Sandwiches
-          Baked Chicken Parmesan
-          Crockpot Pork Chops and Apples *New Recipe*
-          Out to Eat
Week 4: March 17-23
-          Freezer Chicken Burritos (made in February)
-          Grill Out
-          Spicy Sausage Pasta *New Recipe*
-          Sesame Chicken Tenders and Rice *New Recipe*
-          Shrimp Scampi *New Recipe*
-          SURPRISE!
Week 5: March 24-31
-          Chicken Alfredo Roll Ups *New Recipe*
-          Leftovers
-          Soup/Salad/Sandwiches
-          Grill Out
-          Cheddar Ranch Chicken *New Recipe*
-          Leftovers
-          Out to Eat
-          Cheesy Taco Soup *New Recipe*

Happy March!

Forgot to type up my monthly menu last night so check back later today or tomorrow for the whole monthly menu and lots of new recipes that have been catching my eye this month!

Meanwhile, have a great Friday!