Less than a week and I'm running with Alison Sweeney

Well I don't really think that I will be running side by side with Alison Sweeney, but you never know.  Maybe she is a slow runner like me :)  Sunday will be the day..the day that I become a Half Fanatic..the last of the 3 spring races.  The Marine Corps Historic Half will be taking place this Sunday.  I am starting to stalk the weather forecasts.  There are two things that make me stalk weather reports..a possible snow day and an upcoming race.  Hoping for some cool, rain free running, but really expecting some hot weather.  Not looking forward to the hills of Fredericksburg, but looking forward to finishing the half fanatic quest.  Can't wait to see what my Half Fanatic number will be!  I attempted to run yesterday and it seems that someone put some lead in my running shoes.  My legs felt so heavy.  I hope that is a good sign for Sunday.  Heavy legs now, light legs race day. :)  I'm going to go for a run today after school.  Might have to head to the gym if it keeps raining.

Wonder if George Washington ran at Ferry Farms?

Today was a beautiful day!  The perfect day to run.  I, however, did not run.  I cleaned some and ran some errands and then decided that Riley would probably enjoy a walk and I would like to check out some new potential places to run.  I hate running along the road..I am looking for somewhere to run that is not super hilly and offers some nice scenery along with the option of not getting hit by a car.

We headed out the door and I was looking for a park in Fredericksburg that is a "great place to run and bike" with paved paths.  I headed to old town Fredericksburg and never found the place.  It looked like it was the middle of downtown according to the address.  I guess they do have paved sidewalks, but not really what I had in mind when I read the write up on line. 

So I continued driving and saw a sign for some Battlefields and Ferry Farms (George Washington's boyhood home)  And next to the sign it had Bird Watching trail.  That sounds like it might be a nice place to run.  So Riley and I pulled in to old Georgie's old place.

Gardens..not a good place to run...

Me in the woods..luckily no snakes were spotted..I am not a woodsy person b/c of snake sightings!

Not a lot of places to hike.  Riley and I tried to find some trails. There was one that was a really hilly loop and probably less than a mile..not exactly what I was hoping for.  So George has a nice place to walk, but not so much for running.  I even took off into some fields, but it was  large loop not adding much distance to a run. 

Looks like I may be doing a long run around my neighborhood again tomorrow.  Then maybe I will head back out and try to find those battlefields.  Battlefields are probably pretty well kept up and large I would think.  Why is it so hard to find a great place to run?? 

Eye Spy...Color Me Rad

So this weekend I had a fun 5K.  I headed down to VA Beach to run a family fun 5K with my old college roommate and her family.  We were running the Color Me Rad run! 

I signed up a few months ago to run.  It sounded fun and all three nieces are running it too!  It was their first 5K!  And since there are 3 kids and 3 adults (Me, Kristi and Shawn) I figured our odds of not losing a kid was pretty good. :) 

Saturday me, Shawn and the girls headed over to packet pickup. 

The line was pretty long for packet pick up.  Luckily they had a bouncy house so the girls didn't mind the wait at all!  Finally we picked up our race packet, shirt, and sunglasses and we were off!

The next day we headed to the race an hour early.  We were running at 9:05.  The race is only 15 minutes from Kristi and Shawn's place.  Slowly I was starting to get Hot Chocolate Race flashbacks.  It took us over an hour to park.  People were getting out of their car and heading for the race while the lone driver was left to park.  Umm Hot Chocolate Race??  Kristi then informs me that we are not racing on the road.  There are some trails through the grassy area that we are running.  Which is great..they do not have to worry about keeping roads closed and having runners not able to run b/c they missed their running time. 

We parked the car and headed to the Sports Complex.  Lots and lots of people.  Turns out this is the largest Color Me Rad event so far (although I have no way to know if that is true or the man was just yelling that in the mic for crowd reaction).  We were all ready to run!

We are all so clean!!

We finally head to the start and have to wait in a really long line.  Thankfully they are starting us off in waves and they are waiting a good amount of time between them so we are not going to be all bunched together.  There are lots of kids and parents with kids in strollers and wagons.  A very family friendly event.  We are off and Ali takes off.  I decided that I would run with her and just let her take the lead in what we would run or walk.  For her first 5K..Ali rocked it!  All the girls did great!  It turned out we each ran with a kid.  We headed to the first color station and we got sprayed with some wet color stuff.  They sprayed it from what you would use to spray weed killer over your lawn.  They did not skimp on the color.  I had what looked like black (but later we would realize it was dark blue) all over the side of my face and the side of my body.  Both Ali and I decided that we did not like the spray.  Soon we came to a bunch of people throwing colored cornstarch at us.  Yeah cornstarch is more our style!  I think it was yellow and orange..in total there were four color stations that we went through.  It was great! 

There was a bit of a Color Me Rad issue...at the last spray station I was sprayed with red.  It got under my sunglasses and I guess in my eye.  It turned my contacts red!  So I ended with one zombie eye!!!  As soon as I got home and took out my contact my eye was fine.  I just have to change my contacts. 

If you are going to run a color run..and you have contacts..wear some goggles...the sunglasses don't always cut it!  It didn't hurt, but it did freak some people out! 

Great day for a run.  The color did come out of most of our clothes.   I have my shoes in the washer right now hoping that they will come clean.  I had to really scrub to get the color off of my skin.  Missed a few spots of extra scrubbing, by tomorrow's shower I should be just like the old Pam :)

Just a little color after the run!

We looked so different at the end of the run!

Hopefully I will get my old shoes back! lol

Kentucky..big fun running the Mini

So it has been almost a week and still no race recap on the Kentucky Derby Mini (a.k.a the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon). 

Megan and I stayed at the Galt House a few blocks from the start and finish of the Kentucky Derby Mini.  Great planning on our parts!  We woke up and I ate my bagel that I brought from home.  This was the only hotel that I can remember that did not have a mini frig.  Luckily I didn't need to refrigerate the pretoasted bagel. 

We walked down to the start.  Megan's parents came to watch us run for the first time!  We had an audience for the Derby!!  We were walking with lots of people trying to find Megan's parents and the bag drop off.

It looked like everyone was being called to their death.  I think the aliens were making us walk towards the ship and we were all going to be goners for sure!

We found Megan's parents pretty easily.  And Bag check was pretty easy too.  Although it was not well ran. Megan said that bag pick up was a nightmare!  One person manning the station and people were just finding their own bags. We said good luck and made our meeting place after the race and we both headed off to our corrals.  I found mine pretty easy.  Now getting to the corral was not as easy.  It was pretty well barricaded..but I found a way in.  There wasn't too much time passing before we were off.  I will say I have never seen so many new runners at a half marathon.  The two ladies behind me were appalled that people were just throwing their clothing on the ground.  The one lady was wondering if people would come back for their clothes.  If I could run and look back at the same time I would have told her that they donate them, but I can run forward and look backwards without dying. 

The first few miles were pretty good.  The weather was great.  I was going to wear my throw away jacket but I didn't need it.  The temps were in the mid fifties...a great day for a run.  When I started running the first few songs on my ipod were playing background music again.  Not sure what is going on there.  It happened during a training run so I just figured it was the headphones.  I bought new headphones and still had the same problem.  How was I going to run 13.1 miles listening to background singers?  Ugh..this is not a good start to my run.  Well a few songs in and I had no problems.  I am thinking that Rihanna did not like the fact that I put her right beside Chris Brown.  But no worries I had my singers back after a few songs. 

No real issues during the first half of the run.  I did later find out if I kept my pace the entire second half I would have PR'd.  GRR  maybe next time I guess.  I did learn that the guy running near me just purchased 25 acres of land for $25,000.  Not sure where it was located, but he needed to take the girl he was running with there to show her.  I love listening to some other peoples conversations as I run!

I was running in my Athletica running skirt.  I had previously ran 5-6 miles in it.  It is a great running skirt for 5-6 miles!  7 or more miles however, not so good.  This is my first half marathon that I had to stop at the medic.  The skirt started to slowly kill me around mile 8.  The Chafing was horrible!  I had on Body Glide, but by mile 8 I'm not sure how much glide I had left.  My skirt is just cutting into my legs and promoting the wonderful chafing that I was starting to feel.  Around mile 8 I was scanning the crowd for a mom with a big purse..she might have some hand lotion that I could beg for.  No mom with big purse was seen.  I then started scanning the area for marathoners with packs that may contain something to help me out..no luck there.  So I suffered through.  We head through Church HIll Downs.  Very cool to run through Church Hill Downs.  I did miss the horses practicing on the practice track..I did see the ambulance calling my name.  I ran over and asked if they had any Vaseline..none..lotion?..still negative.  Looking sad I started to leave when the ambulance man asked if lubricant would work..yes it will!  Thanks!  I rubbed it all over my thighs and was off!  I was feeling much better.  I pulled over around mile 10 or 11 to another medic tent to lube up again.  I should be fine until the end now! 

The run was great!  I felt the best I have at the end.  I walked the least amount that I have walked so far!  So improvement is in the air! 

After the race Megan found me at our meeting place.  We got our beer and headed off for some french toast (I guess that is my go to after half marathon food choice).  We found Lynn's Paradise Cafe.  If you are ever in Louisville, you must eat here!  It was a great find! 

It was great place to eat.  Megan's parents left for Cincinnati after lunch and we headed back to the hotel to shower and decide on what to do for the rest of the night.  We decided to head out and take a walk down Bardstown Rd.  We ended up eating at a place that her cousin recommended and then afterwards we were forced to wait out a really bad storm at Famous Homemade Ice cream and Pie...I was forced to eat some Derby Pie...ah the hardships!

Derby Pie= chocolate chips and bourbon..can you ask for better?

After the rain let up we headed back to the car and back at the hotel.  We were tired..we were going to get up early to head back to VA.  Thanks Kentucky!  Great race and great food! 

The road to the Kentucky Derby goes through King Tut

Well the time has finally come to run half number 2 on the road to becoming  a half fanatic.  This race takes me and Megan to a new state..Kentucky.  Can you say Road Trip?


We set out bright and early on Friday morning for the race that was scheduled on Saturday.  I figured it was going to be a long day, but sometimes you just don't realize how long.  Luckily Megan was trippin' with me so at least we did not have to go it alone :)  We hit WV around lunch time and decided to look for somewhere to eat.  Well it is the age of the iphone, so lets see what Yelp has to offer.  Looking I find The Meeting place..however it seems we already passed it so that is out of the running for our place for lunch.  Next up a place that has gotten great reviews.  4 1/2 stars on yelp.  Want to eat at King Tut?    

Yeah it looks a bit scary...but what a great drive in with great food!  It was so good that we stopped by when we were on our way home to have lunch.  When you pull in the first thing you notice is that the menu is on the side of a large fence.

We didn't really know what to do.  We had never been to a real drive in before.  We watched the locals and figured it out pretty quickly.  The waitress recommend the stuffed potatoes (which most people on yelp recommended too) and some milkshakes along with a nice cheese steak sandwich. 

I'm so glad that we found this great place!  Thanks Yelp!  We finished eating and figured out what we had to do to have the waitress take our tray.  Then we were back on the road. 

 Soon (as in 8 1/2 hours later) we came to Louisville, Ky!  Finally our race city!  We checked in to the hotel and then headed for packet pickup. 

The Expo was a traditional expo.  Nothing outstanding.  We then headed outside and towards the Spaghetti Factory.  I guess we were not the only runners with that idea...the wait was 2 hours long!  I don't think eating at 9pm would work well as a great pre-race meal.  So we headed down the street aimlessly trying to find a replacement.  Finally after asking a local we were pointed in the direction of fourth street.  Thank you local!  You saved our lives!

Fourth street was great!  A band was playing in the middle of fourth street and all of the restaurants and bars had their large windows open so it felt like you were right up front listening to the music.  We headed to a bar that had a small bowling alley in the middle of the place.  It was here that I had the pleasure of meeting a young drunk rugby player..Doug I believe is his name.  He was drinking long islands like they were water.  He was curious about my race bag.  Once he found out we were running the half ("its pretty respectable I guess" says Doug)  He tells us about his 25K that he runs.  First he warns us about all of the blisters that we are going to get on our feet.  Megan informs him that we have run a half before and we do not get blisters.  Maybe when you run a bunch of 25k's you get blisters. :)  I quickly figured out that drunk boy was going to be fun to talk to about racing!  He then proceeds to tell me that he usually wins his races..well except when the Kenyans win.  Well..hello...everyone finishes behind the Kenyans! lol  He doesn't remember what place he usually finishes, but he is fast.  And really if you are not going to finish in the top 16 (why he picks this number is beyond both Megan and myself) why race?  Also he advised us on how to run.  You must go all out so that you die at the end.  If you run half way and then just finish there is no point in running..you must die at the end!  I loved Drunk Doug!  He was so entertaining.  Unfortunately the night had to end early because we had a race to run in the morning.  Fingers crossed that we both come in the top 16.

As we head out of the bar I notice a wonderful man in a white suit..in Kentucky who would of thought that I would get to take a picture with the man himself!!!

 I love people dressed in costume!  Thank you Colonel for being there...you brought such a smile to my face. :)

We headed back to the hotel and went to sleep early.  Dreams of placing the top 16 ran through my mind. 

Race Day Recap coming next!

Is it Runners tan or Runner's farmers tan..either way I'm getting one

I set out on a long run today..only made it to mile 5.  I guess I will try again tomorrow :)  I just waited too long in the morning..it was getting hot on that last mile.  I did run a bit naked..only the garmin came along for the run.  I have yet to decide if I want to run the Kentucky Derby Mini with just the garmin or do I want to also run with the ipod.  I'm almost leaning towards no music.  Sometimes running with my ipod and the garmin I feel a bit electronic heavy on my left side.  I have a week to decide if the ipod is in or out.  I will say if I do not get new headphones, that choice will be really easy to make :)

I did notice that on today's run I was starting to get a bit of a runner's tan (or runner's farmers tan) on my arms.  I know I should put on sunscreen.  I just sweat so much that I never put it on b/c I usually end up sweating it off.  I definitely do not put anything on my face prerun.  The sweat stinging my eyes is about all I can handle.  I don't think I could do sweat and sunscreen.  So I am starting to get some color on my arms and legs..as long as I do not wear any tank tops or cute strappy dresses soon it will look great with my shorts and tee's. :)  Maybe I will break out the tank tops to run in so I can break  up the crazy tan lines I am slowly developing. 

Thankfully my tan lines are not this bad :)

One week till the Kentucky Derby Mini...I'm getting a bit excited!  I've never visited Kentucky before!  And Eddie Money is playing a concert the evening of the Mini..I believe he has two tickets to Paradise for me and Megan.  Other than that I do not know any of his songs! lol  But a concert is a concert. :)

Pitter Patter of my running feet

I came home on Friday and decided that I must run..must run because in two week I have my second half marathon in Kentucky.  Normally I am pretty tired from work (I know I only worked 4 days this week, but still tiring).  But I came home and it was a beautiful afternoon, so I decided to lace up the running shoes and head out.  I put some music on and headed out the door.  I think I grabbed my old headphones because all I was getting was the background singers singing..which is pretty annoying.  So when I ran past the house I ditched the tunes and just ran to the music of my own two feet.

 I didn't run that far..just a few miles but it was a great afternoon for a run.  I loved hearing my own feet hit the pavement and watching the kids in the 'hood out running around.  My last mile I stopped and picked up Riley.  He's ten years old but still loves a good "run".  Now to be fair I don't think he really runs that much when I run..I may be a bit slow for him.  So we both got to enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

After the run I headed out to see my friend's boyfriend's blues band.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.