#BostonStrongATH - Athens, Georgia

A run for us to unite and show our strength.
A run for those that were unable to finish.
A run for those that may never run again.
A run for us to try and make sense of the tragedy that has forever changed something we love.

Pavement Runner started an incredible movement with the idea of the #BostonStrong run series, for Monday evening, one week since the tragedy in Boston. I quickly emailed the idea to one of our Athens Road Runners board members on Tuesday, and by Wednesday I had a Facebook event invite waiting for me - runners make things happen. The ARR coordinated the run, with further coordination for shirts from the Athens Running Company and a local State Farm agent jumped in for water for post-run refreshment. Community. What a community.

I'd say there were safely between 200 and 250 runners that came out Monday for a solemn 3 miles around Athens - moms, kids, dogs, college students, and some of our area-based 17 Boston Marathoners from this year. An amazing turnout for an event with five days' notice. Humbling, to say the least.

 We started with a 26-second moment of silence for each mile of Boston, followed by introductions of our Boston Marathoners that were able to make it, and a description of the course. ARR won over the hearts of the local police with the promise that all of us (yes, all of us) would obey traffic laws, stop signs, and run on sidewalks. We did... for the most part.

It felt like any other 5K in town - we usually run (most of) the course during our Saturday group runs, in some form or another, so I knew the hills backwards and forwards (mostly forwards), and knew what was coming. I felt great, but knew to back off coming into mile 3, where I started to feel it. Chandler and I chatted most of the way, as I bolted my way through what was supposed to be an easy 3 miles for the day (spoiler: they were too fast for 'easy'!). 

 source | Chandler told me she wanted to learn how to pose like me while running. Win.

The part that got me most was seeing families - parents, their kids, toddlers, and even a set of infant twin baby girls - were out on their porches cheering, like it was an actual race through their neighborhood. I got goosebumps every time I passed one of those houses, thinking of all those spectators killed, injured. They're hurting just as much as we are as runners.

I even got to chat with the press (and more photos I know you want to see here). Afterward, a local bar held a post-run gathering, complete with free hot dogs, water, tea, and Sam Adams for the cheap. Spectacular.

Did you participate in a #BostonStrong run on Monday?

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Race Report: Color Me Purple 5K

Color Me Purple 5K | Athens, GA

March 24, 2013

We all know I like color. We all know I like running. We all know I like combining the two and running any color run I can.  So when I saw the Color Me Purple race, sponsored by our UGA chapter of Relay for Life, and not to mention that it was a whopping $15, I knew this race had to be done. Thankfully, I quickly pulled on board a few friends and turned it into an adventure.

Relay for Life is a really big production here at UGA - it's the second-largest collegiate Relay in the country, and is coming up here in a few weeks. I saw this race just a few weeks ago from one of my students who has been super involved in Relay the last two years. It's a more-than-fun way of just handing over a check or making an online donation - you get to donate and run and play in a little bit of color-clouds. Who's in?

They couldn't even get balloons to stay up it had started raining so hard!

Little did we know what kind of adventure the weather wanted to create for us too. It poured all day Saturday (thereby cancelling  my group run with ARR), poured and thundered all night, and poured until about 5 minutes before go time on Sunday morning. Meh, what's a little rain hurt anyone?

Chandler, her coworker Jane, Paula, and her boyfriend Zack all joined in for the wet, purple fun - and it was a blast. The UGA 5K course is no joke - for the awesome downhills it provides, you're given the equivalent (or worse) uphills in return. But all in a good time; this race isn't one I'd run for seriousness anyway! 

Jane, Chandler, me, Paula and Zack, pre-rain, pre-color.

I don't remember it actually raining during the race itself - it may have drizzled, but I honestly feel like once we were moving, it didn't really continue to storm. Lucky us! There were only three color stations, which made me kind of sad, but had it not been raining, maybe there would have been more. The Relay-ers are a really fantastic bunch and were out there the whole time with posters, cheering, and being really great course support even in the crappy weather. 

All in all a good time - you can never go wrong with a little color, a little rain to throw you all off, and friends to look like a fool in a downpour with on a Sunday morning. Thanks y'all for a great Sunday morning!

Post-rain, post color.

Have you ever done a color run? What'd you think?

PS. All photo credit to Chandler.  :)

February Recap

february.

Total run mileage: 45
Highest weekly run mileage:  31 (keep in mind that was the first weekend in february, which so happened to be marathon weekend...)
# Runs: 7
# Rest days: LOTS! 20

# Cross-training workouts: 2

# Races: 2

     - Surf City Marathon

     - Taste of Athens 10K

Favorite run: Surf City, as if you expected any less. I have a lot of post-race and post-race-month thoughts, but that's for another post. I'm a marathoner. And I have Surf City to thank. But even that, it was a personally fabulous weekend, running with an amazing group of women I'm lucky enough to call friends, having them and my family at the finish line, and knowing that I accomplished what I set out to do. You can't beat that feeling!

Most hardcore run: Did you expect a different answer? Nope, sorry. Surf City. :)

Current reads: Working on our Dean's book club read, What the Best College Students Do by Ken Bain. We meet every other Friday for a good discussion - I need to get caught up on reading a few chapters, but digging it so far.

Current obsession: Getting in as much home time as I can. It's been a great trip, it's been great being home and I'm just trying to soak up every minute of it while I can. 

Current drink: Water. It's so funny that for as sick of water as I was post-marathon (and pre-marathon, for that matter), I've been really good about sticking to it at work, and water only. At home, it's orange juice and cran-grape for splurges, but am trying to stick to my 80 oz of water a day, just to ensure I'm still taking care of myself well!

Current song: I never did a January recap, so this:

But also this:

Loving Imagine Dragons and they've made for some great additions to my running music. Check them out if you haven't yet.

Current need: To feel 100% back in this fitness game! Last week I let myself slack a little bit as I was getting back in the saddle, but now that I've got that 'easy' week under my belt, I want to know that I can jump back in and rock things. Ready to get moving and feel like myself again. I know my body needed those 20+ rest days I got in February, but man... mentally? That was rough. Worse than tapering. True story.

Current triumph: Still saying that I'm a marathoner. I don't think that will ever get old. Every time I put on my jacket, or look at the medal or look back through photos (again and again) on Facebook, it seems so real. And yet, very unreal, admittedly. Who knows when it'll sink in!

Current bane of my existence: Lots of up in the air things about what 2013 will bring me! [Insert cryptic statements here.]

Current goal: Work through these post-marathon blues (I can still have them 4 weeks later, can't I?) and getting back on track. Check out my collaborative post on motivation and struggling through it with my dear friend Amma on her blog here!

What are your biggest accomplishments from this month?

Race Report: Taste of Athens 10K

 Taste of Athens 10K | Athens, GA | February 16, 2013

Sarah & I!

Last year, just a few weeks after my first half marathon, I ran the Taste 10K. And conveniently, just a few weeks (all of two) after my first full, Taste 10K was back. Last year, I ran the race with the tail-end of a cold. This year, I ran with the tail-end of my respiratory infection. Eerie enough, the weather was really similar to last year - albeit, we were forecasted to get snow flurries mid-morning, but both last year and this year were chilly, but broke out into a stunning morning.  Tradition in the making? I think so!

Trying to stay warm?

One of the graduate students who works in my office, Chandler, was running this as her first 10K ever. I picked her up Saturday morning bright 'n early just after 7 to get to downtown and the race start to pick up my packet since I never made it on Friday. One pleasant thing about running such great local races is easy parking, easy packet pick up - sure beats the hustle and bustle of big races sometimes! (I said ...sometimes!). We got settled, back to the car to drop off some stuff, and back to the start to get ready to roll. Once we were starting to gather around, I spotted a Facebook friend and blog reader (hiiiii Sarah!) - Sarah and I connected via her husband, who works in higher education as well. While we've been Facebook connected, she and I haven't gotten to meet in person - thanks for letting me creep up on you. ;) 

And soon enough, it was 8 am and start time. I promised HP and Cathryn that I wouldn't race - and I didn't, really. I was planning to run what I was capable of without making my lungs feel as though they were on fire, but that I would do what was manageable.

Look, there I am! [source]

Mind you, this was my first run, at all, since the full. Oops? Anyway, per usual, got caught up in the adrenaline and hustle of the race and ran the first mile in 9:09 - uh, yeah, oops. That was certainly not going to last me 5 more  miles. Just before the mile 3 marker and the series of rolling hills, I stopped to walk, take it easy, whatever. I really felt no pressure, just glad to be out enjoying my run and feeling like I could start getting back in the groove of things. 

The course is identical to last year's, and apparently the only USTA-certified 10K route in Athens. Up some more gradual hills, back down, back through some neighborhoods. Still beautiful. A quiet morning through the residential areas, but all in all, still a great race. I love that this year, the race coordinators established the Golden Fork award - given to the best cheer sections (identified by organization/business) along the race. Runners are given a plastic golden fork at the end to go vote on their favorite cheer squad. So great! 

Just after the mile 5 marker, I hit an emergency. You know the kind. Lucky for me, I still didn't really care about this race (you know that's all a lie) and ran across the street (yup) from the course and into the gas station. Yeah, it was that serious! Ha. Anyway, managed to get out in a decent amount of time, ran back across the street to the course, and came chugging along to the final hill. I knew I wasn't far enough and was super happy to cross the line at a 1:03:50. Hey, that's almost a 30-second course PR, and considering I was at the gas station for just under three minutes .. I call that a victory!

Race #3 for #13in2013!

My lungs didn't hate me, I felt surprisingly great, and am definitely happy I stuck with this even though I wasn't all that certain about my first run post-marathon being a race. Maybe this week I'll finally get my groove back and feel a sense of motivation in getting back into some kind of gym pattern. I feel no sense of motivation right now, and I suppose that's okay, but man. Training certainly holds me a lot more accountable than running just for the sake of it. Runner probs, fo sho.

Anyways. Happy race, decent time, happy lungs. Oh, and Chandler rocked her first 10K - her goal was under an hour and she killed it in 56:33! What a rockstar! Looking forward to more running adventures with this girl for sure. Way to rock, Chandler. So proud!

Did you race this weekend? How'd it go? And any post-marathon motivation tips? I'm struggling...

Race Report: Athens Half Marathon

Athens Half Marathon 

October 21, 2012

Athens, GA

I volunteered at this race last year, had barely started training for my first half, and knew that I wanted to run it come this year. What was better, after seeing the ridiculousness that the course was last year... was the new course for this year and it was awesome. But we'll start at the beginning... 

Expo

Last year the expo was at the New Balance store in town. Yep, one store, one sad little table to get your bag and t-shirt and that was it, so I was also super excited to see that it had moved to the Classic Center, so it had the chance for being an expo. Despite the Center being swarmed with high schoolers on the front lawn and around downtown, it was awesome -- lots of tables with vendors and temptations of things I didn't need to buy. Finally got my RunATL shirt, and half off, woo, at ten bucks. Lots of free stuff too! I really love that AthHalf does their own 13.1 stickers and everyone gets one if you grab one.I met up with four of the grad students, Paula, Michael, Tim and Chrissy (the first three of whom I work with, all running their first half!) and wandered around a bit, shared some advice and things to do on Saturday to prepare themselves. I actually felt like I knew what I was talking about, which gotta say... makes you feel legit! I was super excited for them and still felt the buzz myself. 

After the expo, I went and drove the course. While I knew the majority of the roads, there were pieces I didn't know and didn't want to go blind-sided into. I went blind-sided into ATL and that seemed to work out well, but I've never had the chance to drive the course so I figured I'd take advantage. I'm not sure it helped or not. We'll get to that. Saturday was a stunning day and all I could do was pray that Sunday turned out to be just as beautiful and we'd have a great morning! 

Scenes along the route - Memorial Park, UGA Golf Course, UGA Greek Park Circle and Sanford!

Race

Prefacing this with the fact that I still couldn't decide if I want to go all out for this half or not. I had originally been saying that the ATL half was for fun, and this was for serious. But after how well I did at ATL, I couldn't decide if I wanted to attempt the same here. I figured I'd just run and see how it would go and based it off that... 

Trash bag crew!

My alarm was set for 5:45 am -- the other perk to having the race being in your town! I sprung up wide awake at 5 am. Fail. So I laid in bed, got myself mentally psyched to get up and do this just two weeks after the last one. Half peanut butter sandwich, banana and half a Gatorade later I was out the door at 6:30 and ready to meet the same four on-campus at 6:45. Last year, I had noted how many runners had on trash bags over their gear - that way they didn't have to toss out their sweatshirts or long-sleeve tees, and all you lost was a trash bag! So we did. And, kid you not, we were the only ones. Serious. 

We got to the corrals around 7:05, started stretching and getting the jitters calmed. Chrissy and Tim were hoping to run a 2:15, so we hung out for a little bit (and by a little bit, I mean til mile 1), and the rest hung back and did their thing. I think the best advice I've read, and therefore given, is to run your own race. I told Paula there would be 15-year-olds that would pass her and 45-year-olds, but she couldn't let that get into her head (easier said that done). But it's true! Your race is your race -- do what you gotta do. We took off right at 7:30, just as the sun was starting to hit downtown. Thankfully, the sun was to our backs as it came up and we headed into the first neighborhood. 

The first 5K of this was tough. I struggled with getting my head into it, although loved the energy of the families and folks out on the route, both at water stations and in front of homes cheering on runners. Much like ATL, volunteers really make the experience and this race doesn't disappoint with who comes out to cheer folks on either! 

It wasn't until Mile 4 that I really felt like I was in it and felt decent -- hit the split just under 40 minutes and realized that maybe I wasn't doing as terribly as I thought. Most of miles 3-5 was a casual, rolling downhill through the only thing you can refer to as Greek Row on the west side of campus, where I actually half expected there to be a lot of chapters out cheering on runners - wrong. Ah well. Mile 6 is where I stopped and walked for the first time, only to get my Sport Bean bag out and chomp on a few beans. Despite that fact, had my best 10K split ever -- 1:00:54! Stand-alone 10K PR would have been super significant! Kept rolling until close to Mile 8 where I just needed it again. It was about Mile 9 that I realized that even if I walked the rest, I'd hit close to the ATL finishing time -- it was then I decided that if I could pull out a time that was similar to the ATL time, I'd then know ATL wasn't a fluke. And then I felt motivated (finally!). 

Coming into Tate, Sanford and the finish line.

Miles 10-12 were similar to the 5K I ran on campus last weekend - down on the south end of campus, rolling crested hills, up by the baseball stadium, and then up the main drag that goes up toward the stadium. There's an awesome quick hill that comes up that leads you down toward the stadium, and that's where the crowd started, as it literally sits over the finish line, so you could pick up on the crowd at the finish line and then above on the main road. So exhilarating and even more motivation coming from the buzz! I realized here that I had potential to actually make this count, as here I was about 12.5 miles and just past the 2-hour mark! Holy crap! I chugged along the last crests and thank God the last quarter mile is downhill. I hit the 12.8 or so mark, saw a group of grads I knew, and threw my Nathan at them, I just couldn't handle it anymore and prompted to take off as hard as I could.

Whether you're a UGA fan or not, or a college football fan or not (okay, maybe you need to be a fan to appreciate it kind of), finishing the last .10 of a mile running a loop around Sanford Stadium is probably the coolest thing ever -- especially when they put you up on the Jumbotron! I only wish they had found a way to let people inside to cheer you on. At any rate, I sprinted the whole loop through Sanford just to give it my all to the end.

Have you ever seen such a happy runner? :) [source]

 I didn't even see the clock at the end, just hit stop on my Garmin and worked my way through the nutso crowd at the end towards the med table -- holy cramp in my quad! It wasn't until I grabbed a muffin, got stretched out and headed back towards the corner where the cheering section was and then I saw it: 2:10:00! Holy smokes! I got even more antsy for that official time! I stopped, wolfed down that muffin, banana and stretched while waiting for Paula and Michael to finish -- Tim and Chrissy killed their race in 2:03, Chelsea at 2:05:xx and I had even PRed! Happy morning, everyone! Paula and Michael came in around 2:41, happy to just be done! I'm so excited for all of them!

Still not sure how I pulled that one off, but super excited to know that ATL wasn't a total fluke and that, in fact, I am in a lot better race shape than I even thought. Even with these rough two weeks behind me, I've made some amazing progress the last few months! And it makes me a lot more excited for what's to come with marathon training being officially underway!

Your final result? BAM!

I really am wondering how this happened these last two weeks, but for now... just going to roll with it! My splits weren't nearly as consistent as they were from ATL, but overall not too shabby given where I started 9 months ago.

As soon as I got home, I showered, threw on my compression socks and laid up on the couch. I'm now fully convinced that food-ordering/restaurant apps were made for post-race runners who can't get off the couch to make food for themselves but oh, it was the best decision ever. And I spent the entire day in those socks, even going to play kickball with my students, to the dog park and to bed -- figured it was worth trying! And today... I feel great. Worth it. Looking forward to getting out the door in the morning for a shake out run/jog/whatever it might be!

New PR. Four minutes (nearly) off my time from two weeks ago. And nearly ten minutes off my time from my first half just nine months ago. What a year, what an October... what more fun to come! And next up, it's Disney's Wine and Dine... all for fun!

Wine & Dine: Week 9

Week 9 is done... and lord, October almost is too! Seriously cannot believe that my birthday was nearly a month ago, Halloween is next week (not that I'm doing anything), my cousin gets married in two weeks, and Wine and Dine is just three weeks away! Wherrreeee does time go? Sheesh.

I haven't talked much about it before, especially since it overlaps this training plan so much,  but I'm officially into my full marathon training plan. The calendar started on October 1st, actually (my birthday!), but I've been trying to break it up into  parts (maybe to not make it seem so daunting?), and of course, focused on training for Wine and Dine. I'm running W&D for fun (it's Disney after all) but want to know that I can still get to work when it counts. Given my performance these last two halfs (ATL 13.1 and Athens Half this morning), I know I'm making progress and it feels awesome. With that, I bring you Week 9.

Monday - 
Rest
I'm really happy I moved Mondays to be rest days these last few weeks. Mondays are rough anyway and it's a good feeling to start a rough day with a few extra minutes of sleep. Brilliant decision on my behalf, mmhmmm.

Tuesday - 
Rest
Didn't really want to rest but didn't really want to run either. Settled for a rest day, took it easy and geared up (mostly mentally) for getting back to work on Wednesday. After this mental flop of a day, I was really getting in my own head and wondering what I was doing with all these races lately. Struggled, to say the least! Took it easy, let it go and got ready to tackle the week ahead.

Wednesday -
3.05 miles /28:31 / 9:20 pace
Slowly pulled myself out of bed for this one -- my only thought was that winter training is going to be really tough if I can't pull it together. Realized, though, that I had to at least get out there that morning and see what I could make of it. Beautiful (chilly!) morning and really felt it - went running in a hoodie for the first time already. Whew! Happy I got out and made this one happen and obviously pretty happy with my pace overall. Tempo Wednesday (instead of Tuesday, per normal) success!

Also realizing the need to find some new routes around town -- I have my usual routes (especially for morning runs) but it's starting to wear on the desire to get out and get those few miles in. Uggggh.

Safety first -- early morning reflective vest!

Thursday - 
5.39 miles / 52:36 / 9:45 pace
Set out on this run after work - something normally I wouldn't do for a 5-miler, but I was bound and determined to get in a good run and a decently log one at that! Took me a little bit to settle in, but really found my stride about 2.5 miles in and ran with it (literally!) as long as I could. My only goal was to get to 5 miles and under 50 minutes, just to show I can do a decent long run at under a 10-minute pace (trying to break that barrier!). Hit 50 at 48:xx! Pretty stoked finishing this run up and feeling a little bit better about the half coming up on Sunday.

Happy runner! Finally!

Friday -
2.34 miles / 21:57 / 9:22 pace
Got up to do this before work again and put a last few miles on the clock before the half. Wanted to make it decently shortly, but enough to get some work done! Glad I started my Friday this way -- it's always a great start to the day when you can sweat it out! Love. Feeling a lot better about this race.

Saturday - Rest
Rest
Saturday was the much needed rest day. Well, maybe not super needed, as I really was on a high from the previous 3 days but I knew I didn't want to push it going into the race on Sunday. Ran a few errands, headed to packet pick up and geared myself up (again, mostly mentally) for the fact that I'd be running a half the next morning! Admittedly, a lot of the 'gearing up' was realizing that I wasn't getting up at 3-4 am to go drive into Atlanta for a race - exciting! My alarm didn't go off until 5:45. What a change! I'll take it. Spent the evening on the couch, watched the tail end of a few football games and was in bed before 9. Lovely, love evening!

Such a gorgeous morning -- lucky to have had this on Sunday too for the race!

Sunday - Athens Half Marathon
13.1 miles - Second half marathon in two weeks! 
I felt crazy for even thinking that I could do two in two weeks. Wasn't sure I wanted to push myself for a goal, considering the ATL 13.1 was just supposed to be easy and for fun and I went and PRed. I had originally planned to then run Athens for seriousness. What happened? (Well, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Daily Mile, you know the answer...) ... but you can check out the race report to read  more about it!

Happy last full week of October! Did you race this weekend? How'd it go? 

Wine & Dine: Week 8

Week 8 is over -- I'm more and more stuck on how does time keep going by this quickly? We're officially at the 4-week mark to Wine and Dine! I don't think I've talked about it here much, but although my training plan is set up for Wine and Dine, I'm actually focusing on making the Athens Half my super-serious race this fall. After my showing at the ATL 13.1 last weekend, I know that I can do super work at AthHalf. Check out the elevation charts from the two:

See that? I think there's totally an opportunity to do even better here at Athens. Guess we'll find out next weekend!

My hope for Wine and Dine, really, is that I can just be a support source for Heather as she runs her first half marathon. She started running about 11 months ago, and is already gearing up for her first (and second, at Surf City!) half. I'm super proud of her and hope that I can be a great source of support for her! And really, RunDisney is about fun. I want to stop and take photos with characters, run casually, and just have a god time overall. Totally do-able, yes? Yes.

With that, I bring you this week. It was mostly recovery with a few attempts at runs inbetween.

Monday: Rest
Rest
I rested super happily! My legs weren't sore, just tight, but overall not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I slept a glorious 10 hours on Sunday night (even after two naps on Sunday!) with my knees and quads doused in IcyHot (aaaaaah) and felt pretty good on Monday. It was only the times inbetween sitting and walking at work that I really felt the hurt. Overall, not terrible but a very happy rest day indeed.

Molly's ready for Halloween though!

Tuesday: 40 minute tempo
1.04 mi / 10:49 / 10:24 pace
I thought I felt good enough to at least attempt a jog. I got through about a half mile and thought "Oh, I feel alright! I can do a couple of miles at least!" and then hit one mile and wanted to die. So I headed back home. Yeah... kinda hurt.

Wednesday: 5 miles
Rest
Deemed that one more rest day would do me some good. Wednesdays are my longer days at work (my students have their general body meetings at 5:30-7), so I figured it was in my best interest for both sleep and my legs. I think it worked because...

Thursday: 3 miles
2.37 mi / 22:25 / 9:27 pace
...this morning I felt awesome! It was like my legs never hurt earlier this week, so needless to say, kind of a relief! It was a balmy 48 degrees when I walked out the door, so the new challenge is going to be getting my lungs to adapting back into winter running. I trained for my first half all last winter, and now that we've got marathon training in the works, it's going to be some major work this season too. All in all, an awesome run -- pace could have been even lower, but my lungs took a moment to freak out. Happy day!

Taking the #sweatpink to heart lately. Lots of pink!

Friday: Rest
TBD
And then I did. Again, happily! L0ng day at work followed by our office's largest event so far this semester, BasketBASH, an awesome premier night for the men's and women's basketball teams, filled with foods, events, crazy students (always!), and loads of fun. I was there until 10, so decided I deserved the day off from running around and totally exhausting myself.


Saturday: 9 miles
6.37 mi / 1:01:36 / 9:40 pace
I wasn't sure how I was going to do this run -- I found out about a 5K on Thursday afternoon that was being held on campus. It was the Do It for Broph 5K, an annual race that is dedicated to the Brophy Memorial Scholarship Fund (read more at the link). Anywho, it was only $10, and haven't done a race on campus yet, so I was excited about it. So Friday was dedicated to figuring out how I wanted to run my 9 miles (race at the beginning, then finish 6 more? Race at the end?). I finally decided to race at the end and see how strong I could finish.

I woke up about 7 on Saturday morning, and was out the door by 7:30 to get in my 3 warmup miles -- my new plan had become to run 3, race 5K, then run 3 more. 3.07 warm up miles at 29:15 (9:31 pace), then hopped in the car and headed to campus. This race was itty bitty, maybe 50 people? We also got diverted from the actual course route, so I ran a total of 3.3 (32:21 at 9:49 pace).

#sweatpink... some more!

I called it a day from there - I felt great after the 6+ and didn't want to push myself too much, especially given the half last weekend, but also with the half next weekend. Happy with my totals for the day, and had this been a legit 10K race or so, I would have had a great PR! Good day. Ran a few errands, then back and volunteered for a work dinner too!

Sunday: Cross Train
Rest
It would have been my first cross-training day in a few weeks, but I took it easy again, especially with how busy Friday and Saturday were! However, I spent the entire afternoon building a math garden with my students as their service project for the day! A few elementary school teachers wanted to build a garden with different-shaped beds, and then stepping stones with math problems all over the place. Super fun! It turned out great, and we put in nearly 3 hours worth of work -- so I'm going to count this as my cross-training for the day! Win.

Total miles: 9.78 
Glad I gave myself a few days to let my legs re-coup. It was needed, especially as I head into this next week and the half on Sunday!

7 days until AthHalf and I'm ready to do work! Do you have any races coming up?

Race Report: Earth Fare 5K

Earth Fare 5K - Athens - I just signed up for this race lastTuesday, but quickly learned that there were at least two other 5Ks in an around town. I figured well then, at least a smaller race means fewer people, means placing in my age group? I think yes!

This race was out at Athens' Memorial Park, towards the southwest side of town in a pretty hilly neighborhood. That was all I knew going in, and was already fairly nervous about that part! Seeing the route posted at check-in sort of confirmed that for me. But after Thursday's amaaazing training run, I knew I could push it, give it all I had, and probably make good with it. The course snaked its way through the neighborhood for just over the first mile, and from about 2.25 on, it was entirely downhill until almost to mile 3 when it came back into the park.

This race was definitely small -- which, especially for short races, I think I've decided I like a lot. At the end, I learned there were about 150 runners, give or take a few. Check in was super easy, with zero waiting time; bags included a sweet t-shirt (love the design!), lots of coupons and goodies (I haven't even gotten all the way through them yet, but I do know there's a coupon for a 30-minute massage for $15. Done. Yes please), and a raffle ticket for their dozen or so raffle items they had at the finish. Lots of really cool touches for such a small race.

I checked in by nearly 7:40, but the 5K didn't start until 8:30. The kids' fun run was first, so I was there definitely way ahead of time, but it was nice to just sit, get adjusted, stretch and listen to folks talk about the course (a lady had run most of the course on Thursday and talked about how it snaked its whole way uphill). And before I knew it, it was 8:30. Time to roll!

Knowing I was going to be going straight uphill in the beginning, my plan was to tke it easy until I saw the first mile marker, then when it flattened out and headed downhill to go all out to make up for it. Going through the neighborhood, we'd head north going uphill, then go along the full block on a flat route, then back uphill, then back across... you get the pattern. Not super easy to work with, but I managed to run the full route -- and was super happily surprised to see that at mile marker 1, I was just barely at 9:05! Took me way by surprise, especially given those hills.

Once we hit the main road, it was all downhill from there (route; not my running!). Gorgeous, and totally lined in trees, but enough of a grade that it kept you working. I passed a girl that I had been using as my guinea pig for most of the first mile, who eventually caught up with me and we talked for while. Her goal was 28 minutes, and we were at about 17 at that point; I knew I was in for a good time as long as I continued on the good path I'd started on! Eventually we re-entered Memorial Park, wound up through the parking lot where we parked, down by the gazebo where check-in had been, and were set up to a do a loop around the lake -- at the halfway point of the loop was the 3 mile marker. Perfect -- my runner friend had gotten ahead of me, but I knew I was still doing totally fine. Turn the corner, see the finish line, take off for my full sprint and squeezed in at 27:58. Hells yeah! Race time PR.

 I went and completed my race card, and watched the girl put up my info -- FIRST in age group! Amazing! Now I just had to wait until it was official. After mellowing out a little, I wandered around the larger gazebo to find watermelon (best post-run snack ever!), bananas, iced coffee, Menchie's frozen yogurt (second best post-race ever!), and other random goodies. Earth Fare had their local dog biscuit maker out, so I snagged Molly some treats. Finally, awards time rolled around -- confirmed, first in age group. What a great feeling -- finally!

I was bummed to look at my phone later and see that my MapMyRun app logged only 2.97 miles. Not sure if the trees confused the GPS but regardless, even if there had been that extra .13 in there or so, I'd definintely have a race PR which feels good to say nonetheless! Especially with those hills (for which had none on during my run on Thursday), I am extra proud of that fact -- a solid 2:40 and change off my previous best 5K timing.

Short course?

The cool thing with these small local races are the awards and the personality you can see in each of them. The overall and Master's winners won these awesome gift baskets from Earth Fare, with some cooking stuff, bottles of olive oil, and other neat stuff. The "medals" for age group winners are these cut-out stars, made of some sort of hardened cinnamon, so they smell amazing. All the women got a flower too. :)

Georgia road race #11!

Shirt & "medal."

 Official time: 27:58!

Overall, not a bad way to start the day! I wanted to go get in a few more miles afterwards, but with as hot as it was already, I figured I'd do it later. Mom and dad got to Atlanta Saturday night and we spent all day Sunday in Atlanta, so I had errands to finish and get done before I could justify it -- so I went for another 3.64 miles late Saturday evening. Happy day! I feel great!

What did you do on this fine, fine Saturday? Did you race? How'd you do?