Crystal City 5K Fridays

Friday after work I met Megan at the commuter lot and we headed towards DC to run the Crystal City 5K.  Every Friday in April the local running store puts on a 5K run in Crystal City.  This was the first Crystal City 5K that I have done.  We parked and then started to look for some running club people.  We found Meagan, Sherry, Brad and Jen pretty quickly.  We didn't have long to wait until the race started.  We started and I was chatting with Brad a bit.  He hasn't been to run club in months and this was his first run back from calf issues.  As I was talking to him I saw the guy I love to stalk.  I don't normally stalk guys but this guy is just too cute not to stalk.  I see him at a lot of local 5K and 10K races.

This pic is from a few years ago. (I told you I stalk him!) How cute is he!  He usually wears read shorts and a red tank..so I call him Red Man.

Well I was talking to Brad and saw Red Man and told him about my love for him.  I want to be over 70 and still be running and winning my age group.  Brad joked about Red Man beating him in the 5K and I took off after him.  I didn't want to lose him in the crowd.

It was a nice night for a run.  I was worried that it was going to rain/thunderstom earlier in the day but it held off and was perfect for running.  As we were coming back I noticed that Red Man had just passed me.  (yes I get passed by 70 year old men! )  I knew there was a photographer just up ahead.  How cool would it be to get a picture with Red Man!!  Yeah those are the thoughts I have when I have stalked a man for the last couple of years.  I won't show up at your work or stalk you at your dry cleaners but when the opportunity for a photo together presents itself I will jump on it!  So I decided that I would keep pace with Red Man for a pic.  He went faster so did I.  He fell back a few steps I slowed down slightly.  I don't think he knew what evil I was up to, which was probably better for him that way.  We got to the photographer and snap snap.  I can't wait to see the pics! I hope he got both of us in the picture!  Yes I have problems, I accept that I just can't help myself! :)

Red Man finished just ahead of me.  I was fine with that.  All I wanted was a picture with my favorite runner anyway. :)  My night was complete!

We all met up afterwards at our run club sign and chatted.  We got some pictures and then headed to a local bar to collect our free beer for running the race.  Such a fun night!

Who wouldn't want a picture with super heroes?

Unknowingly we wore the same shirt to run in. 

Love the Run You're With 5K

So a few weeks ago I ran Love the Run You're With 5k.  I ran while some run clubbers manned the water station.  We then met up afterwards at a bar for some mimosa's and food.  The run starts out with a lovely hill.  I knew there was no hope of a PR because of the fact that the day before I had my 5K PR and  the stupid hill that goes straight up really is not great for a PR.  Which is fine.

Now you can't run a Valentine's Run with out some love.  I had the Love Bug wings and heart headband. It works. :)

People loved the wings!  The best Halloween purchase ever!  I've had those wings for two years and have never taken them

Well this winter has been a rough one.  Last week was only the second week that we were in school for a five day work week.  Monday we are expecting a big storm.  This winter has not helped my running and training.  Tomorrow I have a 10 miler.  It should be interesting since I haven't really been running much.  I foresee a painful ten miles.  The good thing is the storm is not supposed to start until after dinner time.

Let Freedom Run recap

Ran a 4th of July run yesterday.  Let Freedom Run was a family friendly 5K race held at 9am.  Who schedules a race a 9 am in July?  Needless to say it was  a very very hot run.  From mile 2 on I was miserable, but I finished.

Look who we got to run with:

Yep the Statue of Liberty showed up to run.  You would think that it would be her busy time in New York, but she took some time out of her busy 4th of July to run with us! 

Oh she wasn't the only patriotic runner we had in our group.

So great that Ryan and Megan dressed up for the run.  As one random little kid put it, "Cool hair bro!" 

Before the race started we were super happy.  We had yet to experience the heat while running.  If only they would have started it at 8am..the heat moved in around 8:45. Becky and I ran most of the race together until I was mean to her and kept telling her to keep going.  I don't know what it is right now, I just don't want to run the miles..I would rather walk.  I didn't want to hold her back. I have been having a hard time just running.   I do think it has something to do with my hatred of the heat.  I have not really acclimated to the heat yet.  I always end up feeling ill.  I might have to take some of my running inside.  I hate running on the treadmill, so we will see if I can head to the gym a few times a week. 

After the run we had some much needed cooling off treats.

Those were the best Popsicles ever!  And red, white and blue to celebrate the day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th!

summer running sucks

Every year I forget how much I hate running in the summer.  I know I said I do not like running in the cold cold temps, but really running in 95 and above is torture.  I'll take 30 and below any day. 

I have not run in a week because I hate the heat and running. That and I lost electricity on Friday night from the crazy storm that hit VA.  My electricity wasn't back until Saturday night. I know what does that have to do with running?  I couldn't bring myself to die running in the heat to have to come into a warm house.  Then my air was broken when the electricity came back.  That is now all fixed so I went for a brief run this morning. 

I woke up after the first night sleeping in my bed since Thursday.  Ah it was so nice to not have to sleep downstairs on a couch b/c that is the coolest place to sleep.  So after a very restful nights sleep, I got up and got dressed.  It was a beautiful night the previous night so I'm sure that it would be a fabulous morning for running.  Turns out that I was slightly off.  I waited too long to run.  8 am during the summer feels like noon running.  I guess when the humidity is hovering around 50%.  I thought I my face was going to catch on fire for the heat that was coming off of my body.    I guess I need to start to turn on the alarm clock and get up super early.  It doesn't help that we are having a heat wave, but really that is not that new for July. 

Looks like I will be running tonight at run club.  Then I have a 4th of July 5K to run tomorrow.  Sooner or later I guess I may actually get used to running in hell. 

Let Freedom Run

Next race will be on the 4th of July.  I will be running the Let Freedom Run 5K .  The great thing about this race is that it starts at 9am.  So hopefully my Aerosmith concert the night before will not create issues for my run (aka lack of sleep).  The bad thing about the race is that it starts at 9am.  Yeah 9am for a race in July screams HOT...FIRE...DIE!!!  But that is ok, it is only 3.1 miles..so hopefully I will survive :) 

Speaking of the firey depths of Hell..I may try running early tomorrow morning.  Not sure if this is going to work out because we are currently in a heat advisory and it is 91 degrees outside at 8:30 pm..so not sure how "cool" it will be tomorrow morning...but I plan on trying.  As you can see I am trying to dodge the treadmill and the gym.  Not sure how it will work out, but hopefully I will not see the inside of the gym over the weekend :)

Hope everyone stays cool!

The Naked Foot 5K

On Sunday Becky and I took off to Maryland for the Naked Foot 5K.  It was a celebration of the barefoot running movement.  Becky and I both decided to keep our shoes on for this race, but it was great seeing all of the barefoot runners.  You have to have some tough feet to run naked.

As you may recall..I could not remember if I registered for the run or not.  Turns out I was right..I did not register.  I believe I did buy the shwaggle for $17 but I didn't do the next step which was to register for the race and use the shwaggle coupon.  But no problem I ran with Megan's bib since she wasn't able to.  And really it would have been no problem registering the day of the event either. 

The Naked Foot was a very family fun race.  There was no timing the run.  It was just enjoy yourself and run.  I loved seeing all of the kids running (many running sans shoes). 

Becky loves her shirt!

Can't wait to wear this shirt to run club on Tuesday.

The course was well marked and we got to run through grass, pavement, gravel and some wooded paths around Rock Creek Park.  I don't know if I would have liked running on the gravel and through the woods barefooted, but some didn't seem to mind.  Some runners also got piggy back rides over the gravel parts from their shoe'd friends. 

It was a great run and lucky for Becky she was the winner of one of the door prizes (you know how I love a good door prize drawing)!  She won a Road ID bracelet.  Way to go Becky!

 It was a hot day, but a great run! 

Today Becky and I met up at Burke Lake to run the 4.5 mile loop around the lake.  It was perfect weather..some rain was moving in, so it was a bit cloudy.  When it rained a bit we were protected from the rain by all of the trees.  It is always a fun time running with friends.

Two days of running in a row..guess that means I have some half marathon training to do this summer! :)

A Naked 5K coming up..tomorrow

So as you can see from my lack of posts I have not been setting any world records in running.  That all changes starting tomorrow.  Tomorrow, Becky and I will venture into Maryland and run The Naked Foot 5K .  It should be fun.  I am hoping that I actually signed up for the race.  Ever feel like you thought you signed up for a race and then come race day you are not really positive that you did?  Yeah that is the feeling I have right now. I checked email..yeah I actually deleted my emails from the time I think I signed up.   I thought I purchased a sweet deal courtesy of Shwaggle.com  for a ridiculously low 5K rate (either $7 or $15..can't remember the exact price).  Because I remember signing up for a few different races this spring, I am not 100% certain that I filled out the actual race entry after the Shwaggle deal was purchased.  Opps.  (Megan if you are reading this I might be using your bib tomorrow if this turns out to be the case).  Our friend Megan was going to run the Naked Foot 5K with us, but she is back home and we are picking up her stuff.  So if I messed up my race stuff, I may have a race bib in my hands...and it might accidentally end up on the front of my shirt... 

So this mess is either a sign of old age or that I look at way to many races.  I think it might have also been around the time when I signed up for the color run and had to use a groupon code..so I could have thought I entered for the Naked race using a code, when it was the Color Run...who knows...ugh..

Anyone else ever show up for a race to find out that you never actually registered for the race??

My favorite 5K and the gym

So I have headed back to the gym this week.  I ran a bit on the treadmill and then I headed to the StairMaster.  I think I might start to like the StairMaster.  I figure I can work on my legs and butt.  I then ended with the bike.  Not too bad.  I was very very sweaty too.  I have this weird thing with sweat.  I love to see the sweat on the treadmill because I feel like if it is dripping off of me, I am obviously having a great workout.  Well the sweat was dripping on the treadmill and that poor StairMaster.  So I guess it was a pretty good workout. 

Tomorrow is the Tim Harmon 5K race in Fairfax.  It is a pretty small race.  Last year they had lots of trophy and medals for age group winners and door prizes for those of us non-winners.  I ended up winning a great 30 dollar gift card to a local restaurant.  I LOVE DOOR PRIZES!!!  They also have an oldies band, The Sock Monkeys, playing.  You can't beat the atmosphere.  The only problem I see is that tickets go on sale for Steelers at 10 am so I hope I can get the tickets and still win some door prizes.  This is where an iPhone would come in handy. Shoot my iPhone is not coming till Monday..figures. 

I also made a new play list to run to.  I hope between the different gym routine and the new play list I will get out of my running funk. :) 

Love the Run You're With

So I ran a Valentine's race with Megan this morning.  It was supposed to get up to 50 today but with no sun and the wind...it felt cold this morning.  Once I got running and sweating it was fine though.  Right at the beginning was a huge hill which was no fun at all.  So I walked up most of it b/c the people around me were all walking and there was no going around them...and really who am I kidding...I HATE hills!  Got to see some of the Shirlington Running club handing out water at the half way point, so that was nice :)  Always fun when someone shouts out your name and says Go Pam Go! I did realize that I need to step up my half marathon training.  I have been way too lax.  So I am going to attack the running.  I want a good 10 mile run time for Cherry Blossom and I want a good 1/2 marathon time the after Cherry Blossom.  So this is it. :) 

9/11 5k run

Had a great 5k run...not my fastest but that is ok.  It was a great race though.  I went to the double tree to meet up with Zack, Becca and Zack's parents who were in for the 5k this weekend. 

Becky showed up later and was very excited for her first 5k.  I was very excited for her first 5k too.  If she has fun she may be another running buddy for Kristen and I.  We can always use another person at our 5k's :)

We left the room to head down to wait for the start of the race.  The music was pumping, people were everywhere. 

Contrary to Zack's face, he was very excited for the race.  Although he was whining about forgetting his garmin back in Atlanta...big cry baby! lol 

The race started and it was slow going.  People were everywhere.  There was really no lining up according to pace at all.  I almost was taken out by 4 different strollers throughout the race.  I ran most of the race...I walked a few seconds here and there around the pentagon parking lot..considering that I walked the entire parking lot the year before..not too shabby.

Crossed the mat at 34 mins...slow but steady right?  I am fine with that.  Maybe my next goal will be to finish with a faster pace but really I am always happy that I just finish. :) 

We ran into a friend from high school, Caren.  Funny how you run into people you know in a large crowd of people! lol  Good seeing Caren and she had a great run.  All was great!

Becky has decided she is going to run some more 5k's with us...Success!! :)

9/11 run

Tomorrow I will be running around  the Pentagon for the Arlington Police/Fire/Sheriff 9-11 Memorial 5K.  It is at 6pm.  Looks like the weather should be nice and mild this year too, so that is always a plus.  Last year the run around the parking lot of the Pentagon was just murder.  It was so hot from the sun baking the pavement all day long.  Just thinking about it and I want to cringe.  This year I beleive the highs are going to be in the 80's for the day.