Cape Cod Canal 10k

I ran my official first 10k today. I ran it with my mom - we both needed to get a proof time for the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon. 

I asked her if she wanted me to stay with her the entire time. At first she said I didn't have to & that she didn't want to hold me back. But she kept up the entire time! And it made the time pass more quickly running with someone. 
Here we are before the start of the race. That's the beautiful Bourne bridge in the background.

The race started at the Bourne bridge and went along a bike path to the Sagamore bridge and then back.  Here's a picture of the Bourne bridge before we  started the race. The Sagamore bridge actually looks exactly the same, but at the other end of the canal!

It was muggy out (100% humidity) but the canal was a beautiful place to run. We were at about 2.5  miles when we started to see a few people already on their way back. There was one guy, who as he passed us, said "Good job! Keep going. You're almost to the turn around." It was really nice & motivating to have another runner cheering us on.
When we finally hit the 3.1 mile mark & turned around, we were going head on into strong wind. It slowed us down a little bit, but we pushed forward, determined not to be last!
We made a game out of counting how many people were behind us - atleast 30 or more. We were happy about that - we just didn't want to be last. lol


We finished the race in 1:11! I was hoping for 1:09 but that will do!!
And we earned a medal - my very first, official, non-virtual, race medal!

After the race we picked up some treats - Zico dark chocolate coconut water. It was amazing! 120 calories for the bottle (probably half the calories of chocolate milk),  helps you recover from your workout faster & cures a sweet tooth... a win, win, win! It might be my new go-to post race item!
And we also had some Raw Rev 100 snack bars and Larabar Uber bar.  The Raw Rev 100 were weird looking but tasty. I heard someone say it looked like animal feces - it kind of did. lol. They're gluten free, dairy free, vegan, no gmo, organic nutrition.
The uber bars were yummy too.

And because I have SO many virtual race medals piling up on my desk needing to be earned, I piggy backed earning a virtual race medal today as well - the Peaceful Warrior medal. I absolutely love this medal! Hibiscus flowers are my favorite flowers and I love how there are so many different colors in the medal - each one is different & unique!

And that's my CCC 10K shirt I'm wearing (after a well deserved shower!)

I'm running mad!!

An 8 mile run was on the schedule for today. So I dragged my butt out of bed at 6:42 am... 3 minutes before my alarm went off (surprisingly)  and off I went. The first 4 miles went by just fine. At the halfway point (4 miles), I turned around and that's when I started to lose steam. But I had 4 miles between myself and my car so I willed my legs to keep going. Yes, I could have walked back to my car but that would have taken longer.
Thankfully,  my legs worked just fine, but it was all a mental game from there on out. When I hit mile 6, I felt myself start to slow down and my last two miles were over a 12 min mile - something I dread! I like to keep below a 12 min mile. Butttttttttt..... I did it! I finished 8 miles in 1:31:50. A pace of 11:29 per mile. And that is now my longest run to date.

I also earned some pretty cool bling - Running Mad! The 3 distances on the medal are 3.1, 6.2 and 13.1.  But I decided that 8 miles would fit the bill of  'running mad', after all, only a crazy person would run 8 miles for fun. 

When I was done, I asked myself.... why am I doing this again??
Oh yeah... #TinkandPrincess, PinkC2C, and #Fortheloveofdisneyandbling

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Home Run Hot Dog Virtual 5K

Tonight I ran 3.1 miles... aka a 5k for the "Home Run Series" hot dog virtual race put on by Jost Running. This race benefits the ALS Association. Participants of this race have their choice of doing this run anywhere from August 4th through the 10th. I chose today because Tuesdays are my normal running day.

I got a super cool, personalize bib with my name on it, emailed to me last week, which I printed out to wear for my run. How fun is that??

Let me start off by saying that lately my pace has been pretty bad due to the hot weather, but today was surprisingly pretty cool so I decided to go for speed!  I finished my 3.1 miles in 33:06! I almost PR'd my 5k time. I was super excited!

I emailed my time in to Jost Running and to my surprise, they posted it on their website (jostrunning.com) just like a real race! As of right now I'm in 3rd place. I had to screen shot it as proof. Not sure if I'll still be in 3rd place by the end of the week, but I'll keep my fingers crossed! Normally  earning a medal is my favorite part of a virtual race, but I have to say, I really like seeing the results posted. It makes it more fun and more like a real race!

And did I mention that I'm going to be earning some super cool BLING for doing this race? That sparkly hot dog you see at the top... YUP, it's going to be mine soon! And once I finish stalking my  mailman for it, I'll post a picture of it, but for now, here's a picture of it from the jost running website.  I mean, who doesn't love a sparkly hot dog??

Overall I had a great time doing this run! I'll leave you with one last picture, for now. And at the end of the week, be sure to check back with me and I'll post the final standings for the race (keep your fingers crossed that I stay in 3rd) and to post a picture of me with my bling!

UPDATE (August 24) - My sparkly hot dog arrived today!
And imagine my (pleasant) surprise when  I opened my package and found a sparkly baseball for the half/full marathon in there as well! And wow, that one is a beauty! A sparkly white ring made to look like a baseball with a spinning (sparkly!) baseball field in the middle!

Both medals are very well made! I love how the ribbons are attached to them. They are both super blinged out with glitter and so sparkly! LOVE that!
I also received a super sweet note from Courtney at Jost Running =)

And as promised, here is a picture of me with my hot dog medal!!

And here's my final results from the race. Sadly, I did not stay in 3d place, but I'm quite pleased with my overall results, I finished in 7th place!

STAY TUNED! Because now I have a super sparkly baseball medal to earn! I don't do long enough runs to earn the half marathon all at once (YET!), so I will earn it after doing a few short runs over the next week or so!

Princess challenge accepted!

Last month, I signed up for the Rapunzel medal from the Princess Challenge virtual race and it arrived in the mail a few days ago. Just in time for me to earn it this weekend!
After seeing the adorable, shiny medal I kind of wish I had chosen to do the entire set.

This morning I set out to do 7 miles, my longest run to date. It seemed like a good idea yesterday, but after eating & drinking a tad bit too much at a party last night, this morning it seemed like the worst idea possible.
But despite that, my first 3 miles splits were great - I came in under the 11 min mark for all of them. Lately, due to the heat, it has been hard for me to get under 11 mins so I was excited. However, when I reached the halfway point I started to slow down a little and by mile 5, I had hit a wall. It took all I had to push through those last two miles and I had to change my walk/run intervals from 4:1 to 2:30.  When I reached the 6.55 mile mark, I wanted to jump for joy - I had just finished a half of a half marathon! My goal is to run two half marathons at the beginning of next year so it felt really great to see that number!
I had hoped to finish in 1:21 and I finished in 1:20:18 so I beat my goal! My overall pace was 11:28. not too bad & I had done it! Finished my longest run to date!

And on top of that, I earned another awesome medal to add to my growing collection!

 Don't mind me - I'm looking like a hot sweaty mess in this picture.