Last run of the year

So tomorrow I plan on running not 1 race but 2 races!  Megan and I are running Ringing in Hope a 10K race at 10 am. 

)

Then later that day we will be running the Fairfax Four-Miler at 6pm.  I'm excited to run this one because we get hoodies!  I love hoodies!  We should also see some people from run club, so that is always fun when you get to hang out with friends. 

So looks like we are running out of 2011 and running into 2012.

Blog stats

Some Blog stats for 2011

Most read post : Axel Rose why do you hate me?  I guess a lot of people are hated by Axel Rose.  Who knew!  I knew that Axel and Slash did not get along but I didn't know the feud between Axel and  hundreds of other people.

2nd most read post: Boys and Girls Club Turkey Trot recap  I guess people love a good Turkey Trot

Most traffic:  Thanks to Am I a Runner...or Just Crazy?  you have brought the most traffic to my little corner of blog land :) 
Followed closely behind by Dare to Tri
Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog you all rock!

Top three countries that like to read my blog:
US
Germany
United Kindom

Most common searches bringing people to my blog:

running

axel rose

spongebob squarepants

spongebob birthday

ugly christmas sweater

ugly christmas sweater party

runningslowly2thefinish.blogspot.com

ugly christmas sweatshirts

broken scale

tacky christmas sweater party

A look back through the year in pictures

A look back at the past year...picture style

Heritage Half - New PR!

9/11 Run

Hot Chocolate Packet Pick up

Army 10 miler

Cherry Blossom 10 miler

Cheering the Marine Corps Marathon

Santa Run/Walks the Marine Corps Marathon

Girls Run with Pride

Megan's first Half..my first DNF

last week before the Year of the Half training

This is my last week of being lazy. 



Next week I am supposed to start training for the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon..followed by lots of other Half Marathons.  So next week I am starting my training for all of the half marathons in the Year of the Half Marathon! I hope I am ready for all of the running that is ahead in the year 2012! 

Its a busy time of year so if I don't get to update this blog I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

2012 Running Calendar - The Year of the Half

2011 is winding down.  I haven't been running much, but I have been setting up my calendar for next year.  Next year will be known as the Year of the Half!  I'm ending the year with two races on New Years Eve, a 10K and a 4 miler.  That should take care of not ending the year on a bad race note (Hot Chocolate Race).  Here is how the calendar for 2012 is shaping up:

February- Love the Run Your With 5K
March - Rock N' Roll DC Half Marathon
April - Cherry Blossom 10 miler and Kentucky Mini (Half Marathon)
May - Marine Corps Historic Half (This will be the 3rd Half in 90 days..we will officially be a Half Fanatic after this race!)
September - Rock N' Roll VA Beach Half Marathon

I'm sure there will be some other races thrown in there..but so far this is how 2012 is taking shape.

Not a lot of running this past week..but christmas outings galore

So this past week I did not get a lot of running in.  I did get in the weekly run club.  But no actual running at run club.  I have been fighting off something all week long, so decided to just hang out at run club instead of run.  Turns out I was not able to fight off the head cold later that night.  Tuesday night I was up most of the night with a nose that wouldn't stop. 

Wednesday I had my first facial. If you have never experienced a facial, you must!  I was in love.  Turns out my skin is super dry (could it be from running outside??).

Thursday I headed to the see the national tree with my running girls.  It's not Christmas until I visit the national tree.  Here are some pictures of the night.

My birthplace tree:  Missouri

Megan's birthplace tree:  Maryland

Maryland used recycled products on their tree.

Santa's workshop...think Santa will know if I take a gift??

Santa we have all been good!

Our VA tree!

Lots of fun at the National Tree!

On Friday we added a new event to the Christmas season...zoolights at the national zoo.  Great time too!  I love holiday lights!

I didn't get a lot of running in because of the head cold, but I did get a lot of walking in this week. :) 

What are some of your favorite places to visit during the holiday season??

The worst race on earth..a.k.a the Hot Chocolate Race Recap

It has been a very busy week.  Seems like December is always super busy for everyone.  Sorry about the delay in posting the Hot Chocolate 5/15K race recap.  I'm sure you have been on the edge of your seat waiting for the recap. :)

Last Saturday I woke up at 4:15 am to get to the Hot Chocolate race held in National Harbor Maryland (right outside of DC).  According to Ram Racing we should shoot for getting to the National Harbor before 6:30 in order to avoid the road closures.  They didn't really tell you what roads are being closed so we didn't want to end up S.O. L...we headed over the Wilson Bridge to the one road into National Harbor.  We weren't sure what we would end up facing considering the race was 20,000 people strong and there was basically one road to get to National Harbor.  Ok, not really one road..if your car is able to convert to a boat you could sail in.  Unfortunately I was not willing to add that option to my car when I purchased it, so we were stuck driving. According to packet pick-up you must have at least 2 people in your car in order to park at the harbor.  You could also pay to park and take the shuttle to the race.  This one road situation may be the start of the undoing of the Hot Chocolate Race..more on that later.

Becky, Megan and I got to the Harbor at 5:55.  The race is supposed to start at 7:30.  So we hung out in the car for a bit and then decided to head to the Gaylord Convention Center to use the restroom and find out where exactly the start line and bag drop off is located.

Obviously we are super happy to be up before the crack of dawn for a 7:30 race.

Inside the Gaylord at the Gingerbread House.

The Gaylords Tree hanging from the ceiling.  The Tree weighs in at over 7,000 lbs.

Since we are here so early we decide to make our way to the start and take a look at the harbor.

Ah the sun is starting to come up finally!

 

We start to walk along the bike path along the Potomac thinking that the start will be right down the road.  Well turns out that the start was 1 1/2 miles from where we parked.  Yeah that ten dollars we paid to park at the harbor was so worth it.  So now we are really huffing it to try and make the start.  We still have to drop our bag off too. 

On our way to the start.  Finally we get to the start of the race and the coral situation was crazy and not well organized.  The 15K runners were running the opposite start as the 5 K runners.  The 5K runners were starting first and then a half hour later the 15K runners start.  The only probably is that the coral was so confusing. If you ran slower than a 9 min. mile you were supposed to be on the outside of the coral..looked like you started on the side of the hill..yeah I wasn't do that.  We hung out near the end of the 9 min. mile coral.  Turns out we were hanging out for over an hour because this is what the road looked like into national harbor.

Shuttles were dropping people off on the bridge so that they didn't miss the run.  It was just crazy.

So were were standing around for about an hour waiting on people to get to the race and people to get off of the small bike path that everyone was going to run on.  Yeah I said bike path for 10,000 runners.  And the other great thing was people were walking towards us on the path trying to get to the start line.  Needless to say when the race finally started Becky and I decided to run together..I mean walk together since we couldn't really run with all of the people trying to squeeze together on a path that was maybe 5 feet wide.  Poor Becky had to hear me cursing over and over about how I paid $45 dollars and I am walking the first mile of the race.  And how we paid another $10 dollars to park a mile and half away.  I was not a happy runner.  There were way too many people registered for the race and the course was not able to support the amount of runners that they signed up for the race.  

Finally we finished and found Megan.

We enjoyed some fondue after the race.  My favorite was the banana dipped in chocolate.  Yum

We also got one cup of Hot Chocolate.  Which most people needed because they were freezing after standing around so long.  I saw quite a few 15K runners running the 5K because they didn't want to stand around any long. 

These people were enjoying their hot chocolate and fondue.  What they do not realize is that the Organizers do not like sitting.  They just yelled at some racers for sitting in front of the fondue tents moments before.  Really??  You are going to irritate runners more than you already have and tell them they can't sit and enjoy their bites of goodies and chocolate? 

After running we figured we were not going to be able to leave the harbor anytime soon, so we ended up visiting Ketchup for some brunch.  Yeah that restaurant went with the theme of the day..fail.  I was so disappointed in the race and my breakfast.  I had some chicken and dried biscuits and the worst gravy I have ever ate. 

 

Hot Chocolate Race Expo

Saturday is the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K race at National Harbor.  I'm running the 5K, having some brunch and then I am off to PA so I can head to the Steeler game on Sunday. 


I went to the race expo on Wednesday with Megan. 

I figured less traffic on a Wednesday night than a Thursday.  Which then means there has to be an accident on the Wilson Bridge.  Love DC traffic!  We finally made it to the Harbor and decided to park on the street.  We snagged some on street parking with 30 minutes left on the meter!  Score!  Maybe our luck is changing.  We head over to the expo thinking how great can it be??  Well turns out it wasn't that bad!

We picked up some Feeture socks, buy 2 get 1 free!  I love running socks!  I also picked up some Brooks running tights.  Love that they were on sale too!  Can't beat 30 dollars for some tights! 

While Megan was attempting to pay for her bargains, we ran into Jeff from run club!  He had his hands full with some bargains on shoes. 

We finally head back to the car and are greeted with a lovely parking ticket for 15 dollars!  Really?!  And I am guessing you think that is going to make me want to come back to shop and visit?  We were less than 30 minutes and I get a ticket for 15 dollars??  Ugh!! 

Looks like it is going to be a bit cold on Saturday.  I am thinking the wind off of the Potomac may be my enemy on Saturday too.