I run so I can Gobble without the Wobble!

This morning I got up early, yes, on Thanksgiving!! to run a local 5 mile pie race. Yup, you read that right... a PIE run and yes, everyone got an individual size pineapple pie for running the race. Wait, did I say pineapple pie?!?! I had never heard of it before, but it was yummy! And I'm not really a fan of pie, so that's saying something!

This was the first time I ever ran a race on my own... as in, completely alone! I've run a few races by myself before (which I don't mind at all) but I've always had my  husband or someone there to hang out with me before the race & to watch me. But this time I let the kids &  hubby stay home  and sleep in, while I ventured out to my race.

Despite being in the 30's and windy, I wasn't cold at all.... I was bundled up enough & it felt like a perfect day for a run!  I was still nursing an injured hip from my long run on Sunday so I decided to do 2:1 intervals and take it easy. I also did something I don't normally do.. I left my garmin on the walk/run interval screen and didn't look at my ongoing pace at all. I did not want to start obsessing over the pace & push myself too hard, so I just let myself run at a pace I felt comfortable with, without feeling pain. I finished at 56:02 mins with a pace of just a tad over an 11 minute mile. I was expecting worse since I was taking it 'easy' so I was pleasantly surprised by that. And since my 'normal' pace is between 10 & 11 min mile, it wasn't that far off!!

After the race, I headed inside to grab some water & a bagel and they were raffling off bigger pies. My number got called right after I walked in so I snagged an apple pie and then headed home.

Since this race did not give a finisher's medal, I piggybacked it with a virtual race I had signed up for and earned my "I run so I can gobble without the wobble" turkey medal!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Wishing for Sun

There is a 3 part series called "If the shoe fits...RUN" and there is the Princess set 1, Princess set 2 and the Villains Edition. Each set consists of 4 shoes representing a character and each has a cute, catchy little name.

Today I earned the first medal in the Princess set 1 by running 9.5 miles! My longest run to date! It was a cold day (20 degrees) and extremely windy so I thought it was appropriate to earn the "Wishing for Sun" medal because I was definitely wishing for warmer weather.

Normally, I like to run alone, but my friend joined me on this run.  It took us 1 hour & 47 minutes so I was glad to have his company. The first mile was pretty brutal in the cold & wind, but once we warmed up a little, it wasn't that bad. It seemed like we made it to the halfway point pretty quickly, but after we turned around, my hip/side started to hurt. I tried to push through the pain and go as long as I could. We made it to about 8.5 miles and that's about where I wanted to stop. The pain was excrutiating and I just wanted to give up. My friend pushed me to keep going, even if we had to run 2 mins, walk 2 mins, etc... we were going to finish. And we did!
He kept me going at a good pace - normally I slow up a lot in the last few miles, but even with us walking a little more in the last mile, we still finished with a great overall pace of an 11:18 minute mile. That's a pretty good pace for me for a long run, so I was pleased with that time.

I told you I was a Princess!!

Over the last few weeks, I earned some pretty Princess bling from the Princess  Challenge series. Pocahontas, Ariel & the crown/castle bonus medal.

I ran 3 miles for Pocahontas, 8 miles for Ariel & 4 miles for the bonus medal

Will run for... beer!

On Oct 20th,  I ran the Oktoberfest  10k from Jost Running. (sorry, I'm a tad bit behind posting this). It's Oktoberfest, so of course, who wouldn't want to run for beer... even if it is of the blingy medal variety =)


Of course, I had my super cool bib to proudly wear during my run.

The course I chose was mostly flat, just one small hill just before the turn around point. The weather was perfect & cool. I got a personal best of 1:06:08 - landing me in 15th place (just about the middle of the pack) on the jost running leaderboard!!
What a great accomplishment and to be able to celebrate my personal best with a great medal.

The medal arrived today and WOW! I was blown away! Not only by the medal itself but because once again, Jost Running sent me both medals!
The 10k medal I earned is AMAZING! It's so sparkly & glittery and heavy too! LOVE the printed ribbon - that is such a nice touch. And it even has a bottle opener at the bottom - what a great touch! This medal is huge - it's 4.5 inches long!

And then here is both of the medals. The half marathon medal is a whopping 5 inches long! talk about some big bling!! I will be earning that one in a few weeks!

And here I am showing off my amazing bling &  my awesome finish time

I can't say enough about Jost Running's events. The medals are fabulous quality - they definitely do not disappoint! I can't wait to do more races with them!

Be sure to check them out & see what they have planned next!

http://jostrunning.com/