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!  

2-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins - A Birthday Breakfast

When my friend Jennifer mentioned these muffins earlier this week, I knew exactly what to make for Ryan's birthday breakfast! This is literally one of the EASIEST recipes ever!  Just two ingredients:

1 Can Pumpkin Puree and 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

Directions: Mix Pumpkin Puree & Box Cake Mix together, spoon into muffin tin, and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes!  Top with a dusting of powdered sugar, or if you really want something sweet, maybe add cream cheese icing.   For today, we went with powdered sugar:

The birthday boy approved these with rave reviews!  In my opinion, these are SUPER sweet and could use a little something extra.... maybe cinnamon?  They are also a lot heavier than the muffins I normally make, so a little goes a long way -- I could only eat one.   I'm looking forward to trying this again with some other flavors of cake mix!

Happy 29th Birthday to my husband Ryan! Love you and hope this year is the best yet!

Charleston Half Marathon Recap

Wow, what a weekend!   Late last Friday afternoon, we packed up and jumped in Jenny’s car to head toward Charleston for the Charleston Half-Marathon.  We chugged some bottles of water on the way down.  Thanks to my tiny baby bladder, we had to stop on the way into town for a potty break (consider this foreshadowing).  We headed straight for Burke High School to pick up our packets.  It was pretty chaotic because you had to figure out your bib# and then pick up your bib and double check to be sure your timing chip was working.  The whole place smelled like Fazoli’s and my stomach started grumbling for a breadstick!  We picked up our race shirts…  these awesome long-sleeve tech shirts!

We bought some Jelly Belly Sports Beans from one of the vendors, and then headed back to check in at our hotel in Mt. Pleasant.  I worked on laying out my race gear and pinning my bib onto my jacket and getting everything just perfect for the next morning.  We checked out the menu for our dinner restaurant and looked at the race website for information on the best place for our fan-club to watch us.  Then, we headed to meet Jenny’s parents for dinner at Al Di La in West Ashley.  It was awesome that the race fell the same week as Charleston Restaurant Week, so we were able to enjoy 3-course dinners for just $20 each.  I will absolutely return to this restaurant next time I’m in the Charleston area.  Between the 5 of us, we sampled lots of different items on the menu, and every bit of it was wonderful.  I ordered the Bruschetta, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad for Antipasti, the Strangozzi Spoletina for Primi, and then finished with Strawberry Gelati for Dolci.  And, because it was Italian, we decided it would be OK to have just one glass of wine with our dinner, too. Despite how good the Fazoli’s smelled at the expo, I was thrilled we chose to eat out instead!!

We came back to the hotel and crashed (I slept like a ROCK until about 5:20, and then since my clock was already set for 6:00am, I ended up getting out of bed around 5:30).  After a wake-up shower and getting mostly dressed, we headed downstairs for the hotel breakfast.  We’ve been training a lot in the afternoon/evenings for this race, so I hadn’t established any sort of breakfast routine.  I was hoping to find a bagel for my pre-race fuel, but since there was none, I ate some grits, bacon, eggs and toast.  I was praying this wouldn’t make me sluggish or sick during the race! 

After breakfast, we didn’t have much time left before we needed to head out to the starting line, so we gathered the rest of our gear, and jumped in the car to head back to Burke High School.  We arrived in plenty of time at the start to hear the high school drumline play and the National Anthem before the race.  We chatted with Jenny’s friend Betsy and wound up crossing the start line about 2 minutes after the gun due to the crowd.  Here we are before the start!  (Note to self... get someone else to take your pre-race picture... self portraits are so bad).

The first mile went by fast, and we had both discarded our outer layer of throwaway sweatshirts.  Shortly thereafter, I also tossed my gloves.  I snapped my one and only picture as we started to make our way out to the battery.   

The crowd of runners was pretty thick for those first few miles, and Jenny and I got separated a few times, and she got a ways ahead of me when we hit King Street.   Ryan was watching for us around mile 4.5 and ran with me for about a block (Never underestimate the power of seeing someone you know along the course!)  I caught a glimpse of Jenny up ahead and ran my fastest mile to catch up with her.  We stuck together for the next few miles until my baby bladder wouldn’t let me wait any longer.  I dipped into a gas station during mile 7 for a potty break, and was on my own from there on out.  Luckily, we had made our way out of the city at this point, so the roads were flatter and my ankles weren’t bothering me as much.  We were mostly on backroads with not much to look at, so I turned up my iPod and zoned out to the music for the next few miles.  Around mile 8-9, my timing chip came detached from my race bib, and I had to pick it up and carry it the rest of the way.  (For future reference, if they don’t use the timing chips that attach to your shoe, go ahead and put it somewhere it won’t be dropped – I would’ve been SO mad if it had fallen off and I didn’t notice it).  The marathon split off from us somewhere between mile 9 and 10, and either I never saw the 10 mile marker, or there was none.  I worried for another long mile about missing the mile marker and wondering how I was doing on time.

Just after the mile 11 marker, we entered Riverfront Park in North Charleston.  It was really pretty and I enjoyed running through the park, except the 0.25miles worth of gravel at the very end.  Exiting the park, we passed the 12 mile mark and I couldn’t have been happier to see that sign!  We started to see some finishers come back to run with their friends, which was inspiring because we knew the end was near!  As we got into “town”, a lady shouted out “just 3 turns from here”.  So I picked up speed.  My phone GPS had already declared that I had met my goal of 13.1 miles, so I knew I was close and I really gave it all I had left.  However, there were at least 4 or 5 turns… wah-wah-wah.  By the time I finally saw the finish line, I was SO focused on the clock that I didn’t even see Ryan, Jenny and Jenny’s family cheering me on (they tell me they were all screaming and could’ve reached out to touch me).  Jenny snapped this pic:

My goal for the race was to run faster than Georgetown, and I beat my previous official time by 5 minutes and 22 seconds…. Finishing at 2:20:55.  I’ve been whining a lot that if I hadn’t stopped to go to the bathroom, I could’ve broken the 2:20 time barrier, but I didn’t dream that was even possible for me this weekend, so I guess I have a new goal for my next half!   I’ve come a long way since my first half-marathon in Savannah – improving my overall time by 15 minutes 34 seconds.  I’d say improving by 55 seconds for the next one is a goal I can definitely accomplish!

 We skipped the Beer, Shrimp & Grits after the finish (seriously, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted LESS at that moment) and headed back to our hotel for a shower.  We met up with Jenny’s family again at a restaurant/bar called Midtown, which as it happens, is co-owned by one of Ryan’s friends from high school.  I ordered a beer and loaded cheese fries.  Best decision ever!  I would absolutely love to see the city of Charleston allow the race to be reversed and run INTO town instead of OUT of town.  I think it would make for a fantastic finish and bring LOTS of runners to the Charleston area, however this is a race I would love to run again.  The flat course made it easy to meet my time goals and the big crowd of runners was really motivating.  Oh, and not to mention, check out this pretty bling:

on the eve of my 3rd half marathon....

I realized yesterday that I didn’t really tell too many people that I’m running in a third half-marathon in Charleston this weekend.  The first two were such a big deal that my whole family came to watch.  This time around, it’s just me, my running buddy and bestie Jenny, and my husband Ryan is coming to support us.  (Jenny's family is coming to see her cross the finish line too, because they weren’t able to be there for her first half in Georgetown). 

I came across this post…. "Confessions of a Marathon Trainer"  written by a runner who is running a marathon this weekend.  She really expressed a lot of my thoughts about running.  I too have a hard time doing math and simple spelling during a run, and it’s also comical the thoughts and conversations that happen as you get up into higher mileage and your blood  sugar drops so your brain isn’t functioning all that well. 

Also, since I never ever posted my race re-cap from Georgetown (yep, it’s been written for a LONG time), I decided I’d schedule it for a post tomorrow at 8am, the exact time when we will be at the start line of the half-marathon in Charleston.  I promise myself (and you!) that I’ll post a re-cap of our race in Charleston much sooner than the 3 months that have passed since we ran in Georgetown.  Another goal I have for our race this weekend is to capture a few more pictures along the way, so you can see the race from my perspective, rather than just hear a whole bunch of descriptions of what I see J

Also, looking for someone to run in front of us the entire way with this picture pinned to their shirt…. Any takers?

2012 in Review

The year 2012 has been an interesting one to say the least, but we made it through, and here are some highlights!

January

Made some resolutions..... check back later this week to see how I did! 

Ryan started taking a Statistics class at our local tech school 

February

Spent a long weekend in NYC with my girlfriends from work

Celebrated Ryan's 28th Birthday

March

Spent lots of time with my girlfriends Leigh & Leigh since they would both be moving soon!

Celebrated my first-day-of-college friend Taylor's Bachelorette Weekend with my first-ever trip to St. Patty's in 5pts

April

Tour-de-food around Columbia before our best friends moved away! 

Celebrated Taylor & Peter's Wedding Weekend in St. Simon's Island, GA

May

Celebrated Mary Elizabeth & Gabe's Wedding Reception after their return from their wedding in Jamaica!

Celebrated my little brother's graduation from Clemson

Celebrated Elizabeth & Billy's Wedding in Charleston

Convinced Ryan's parents to adopt a goldendoodle half-brother of Beaufort's  

June

Spent a few days at our family beach house in North Litchfield, SC

Celebrated my nephew Cooper's 2nd Birthday

July

Spent a little more time at the beach

Visited our friends and my uncle in D.C.  

FINALLY decided to run in my 2nd Half Marathon  

August

Spent a week at Folly Beach and went to the PGA Championship Golf Tournament in Kiawah Island

Celebrated Hilary & Kyle's Wedding (the same day we missed Jessica & Mark's wedding)

Ryan started taking some more classes at USC

Fall 2012 Football Season began with another Thursday season opener for the Gamecocks!

September

Lots of football watching going on!

Continued training for my half-marathon, hitting a few bad runs 

October

Ran my second half-marathon in Georgetown, SC and met my goal of running under 2.5 hours, setting a new PR at 2:26:17

Hosted a pumpkin carving party!  

November

Helped throw a SURPRISE party for my sister's 30th b-day

Visited the local corn maze with some friends from our Sunday School Class

December

My niece Elliott was born December 1st 

Celebrated our 3rd anniversary

Hosted a Favorite Things Christmas Exchange 

Celebrated Christmas and my 28th birthday with family and friends

Ended the year with a few extremely relaxing days at the beach!

First day...

It's been a while since I had that first day of school feeling, but as I got ready this morning, I couldn't help throwing out a thousand reminders as I walked out the door.

Well, today is the first day of class for my hubby, going back to school. He’s taking two courses that I took (gasp) NINE years ago. It seems impossible that it could’ve been that long, but I guess if I spent 6 years in college and I’ve been out in the working world for 3 years, I guess that adds up to 9. More than likely, I’ll be doing lots of tutoring, so let’s all pray that I can remember everything, or that I can catch up in a hurry!

This morning Ryan told me that he thinks I’m more nervous than he is, and I believe that he’s right! Here’s hoping for a wonderful semester and baby steps toward a new and much more rewarding career path.

And, he's not going back to kindergarten, but I'm sure he'll be doing plenty of reading, just like Cocky!

Back Yard Re-do..... And so it begins!

Today marks the beginning of a big undertaking for us.  We're FINALLY getting started with our backyard re-do!  In fact, as I type, Ryan and Todd are off at Lowe's shopping for supplies for our new deck addition.  We currently have a back deck that leads down into the yard, but it isn't really big enough to hold both a grill and seating area.

We once thought that we wanted to put in a patio, but based on the way the ground slopes, we determined it would be much easier, and less expensive, to add on a lower level deck.    The weather isn't really cooperating, the forecast is calling for rain around lunch time today, so not sure how much progress will be made before it rolls in.

I'm going to try and document the whole process here on the blog, so here are some "BEFORE" pics of the back yard:

Side view of current deck 

The new deck will be in the dirt area off the steps of the current deck.  Hopefully then we'll get the grill moved down onto the new deck and purchase a table and chairs to enjoy our new back yard!

View from top back corner of yard

View from front corner down to shed (added 2 years ago after the fence extension)

We plan to add a bed with some shrubs down the side fence seen above.

View from shed of back of house

 Once the new deck is added, we plan to put a bed around the bottom of the current deck with knockout roses and some shrubs over to the right of the deck where the yard slopes down a lot!

View of other side fence and top back corner

View of back fence from deck area

 Also, going to add another bed and plants along the back fence.  AND, need to paint the shed gray with white trim to match the house.

And, a cute face that loves to play in the yard :)

He'll be glad when all this work is done an he isn't trapped in the house!!

Menu Planning - Husband Style

So, this week, I put Ryan in charge of planning our menu.  Quite frankly, I was feeling lazy, half the time I ask him to pick out some of our meals anyway, and I think he did a great job! Here's what we will be eating for WEEK 7 :)

2.12.11 - At the beach, ate out at Landolfi's, one of our favorite places
2.13.11 - Random dinner - Cereal for me, B.L.T for Ryan
2.14.11 - Grilling Steaks & Spicy Sweet Potatoes
2.15.11 - ?? Plans with friends -- backup meal is Chicken Spaghetti
2.16.11 - Date Night Out before or after Bible Study
2.17.11 - Venison Chili
2.18.11 - Grilling Burgers