Monument Avenue 10K-April 2016

Hello again!! Sorry I have been so absent lately. Life is crazy and hectic but good. I have such a hard time remembering to keep up with this blog anymore, but I think it's time I got better, so here goes. 

Earlier in the month I ran the Monument Avenue 10K again! I have now run this race 7 times since 2008! Crazy!

I did not feel totally prepared for it this year because while training, the farthest I got was 4 miles. So I took it easy on race day and finished in 68 minutes! Which was only 4 minutes slower than last year and that was almost a PR. It was chilly that morning but once we got running it was perfect running weather and I really enjoyed the race! Although I have a special place in my heart for Monument Avenue, I feel like my love affair  with it has come to an end. My husband couldn't drive me down there this year and I was lucky enough to have a friend drive me so I didn't have to worry about parking. It also gets hard with the kiddo. Since my hubs coaches lacrosse he has games on Saturday mornings so I had to get my mom to keep B. It wasn't a problem, it just adds another level to the stress of it all.
So I think that next year I will be skipping out on Monument Ave. I want to find a less crowded 10K and see if I can finally hit my goal of 60 minutes or less. I think having less of a crowd will help get me closer to that goal. There is a lot of ducking and weaving involved with Monument Ave.

Although, now that they have medals, it will be hard to pass up the hardware ;-)

No races in my future as of right now. Next update will be about my new adventure with a chiropractor. I'll let you know how that goes!

Monument Avenue 10K 2015

I am just now getting a chance to sit down and write about this! Last Saturday was a great race!! True, it was the coldest on record, but once you got running it wasn't so bad.

Friday night I dropped B off at my parent's house and met Rachel from LouLou Belle for dinner. We went to this new place called BJ's Brewhouse and the food was SO GOOD! I got this chicken sandwich that was just ridiculously delicious. The wall of taps was pretty crazy too. The hubby eventually got off of work and joined us. We had a great time.

After dinner Rachel and I stopped at the mall so she could get some better clothes for running in the cold since it was only going to be in the 20's or 30's the next morning. I mentioned my fleece lined pants that felt amazing and she hopped on that bandwagon pretty quick. She picked up a pair at LuLuLemon that she couldn't stop raving about. ;-) Got to love those fleece lined pants!

Saturday morning we got an early start, picked up Rachel and found a parking spot that was an easy walk from the start and finish of the race. C took a backpack and stuffed our coats in there when it was finally go time.

Rachel dropped back and started in my corral. We actually run about the same pace and stayed together until the last 2 miles or so. It was nice to have someone to run with and it was also nice because we were both listening to music and didn't feel the need to talk at all. I like talking, but talking and running is rather tough. We finished about 2 minutes apart.

The first mile took about 11:30. My hopes of a PR were dashed when I heard this through my ear buds...but then the next mile seemed a little easier...and was under 10 minutes. I made myself slow down a bit then, even thought I have been training, I am still not in the best of shape as far as my knee goes, and I did not want to hurt anything. Long story short, I finished that race ONE MINUTE SLOWER THAN MY PR!!!!!!!!! Even though I did not PR, I was so freaking happy and proud of myself. My goal for a long time has been to run a 10K in an hour or less. It's so close I can taste it...

I have 2 small complaints about the race this year...1-it was way more crowded than I ever remember it being. People walked in the middle of the road and I actually yelled at someone to move to the side. 2-There seem to be quite a few people that think it is a social affair. I was running down the street by 9:30AM and there were these chicks running across the race cutting off the runners with Solo cups in hand. And let's be honest, we all know what was in those Solo cups...If you are going to come out and cheer people on, great, but be respectful and stay off the course or wait until there is a good break before you run across the road. Not all of us can run like Kenyans, but that doesn't mean we aren't trying to set a PR.

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to be racing again. It feels so incredible. I am happy the warmer weather is moving back in as well and I won't have to wear so many layers to run.

Happy Spring Ya'll!!