Monday, April 27, 2015

April Stridebox

I love getting my Stridebox goodies in the mail each month!


~Ultima Replenisher--Electrolyte Powder--Orangey
~Zing--Nutrition Bar--Double Nut Brownie
~Arctic Ease-- Instant Cold Wrap
~Spenco--Gel Heel Cushions--One Size
~Squeeky Cheeks--Body and Foot Powder
~Vega Sport--Endurance Gel--Orange Zest
~Movit--Energy Gummies- Berry and Citrus

Then I got a special surprise today for being an Ambassador.  I was thisclose to buying them anyways so I was super excited to open the box!


*FTC Disclosure: I paid for this Stridebox out of my own pocket and received the socks for being a Stridebox Ambassador

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Weekly Recap- April 20-26, 2015

No race this week!  It seemed so weird!

Monday--rest.  Softball got rained out.

Kory had the day off from work so we had date night at Bonefish Grill!  Yum!  (And Kory even tried an oyster shooter!)



Tuesday--1 mile in 10:41.  It was Liz's birthday so we did our birthday tradition of run a mile then chat at Starbucks!



Faith prettied up our picture with an inspirational quote!


My sister-in-law, Kim (she's married to Kory's twin brother) was in town so we met up for drinks at Trader Sams.



Wednesday--rest.

Meghan and I went to the Gator Gathering.  We had yummy Sonny's food and got to see the new Florida Gators football coach, Coach McElwain, talk.   He's so positive and has a hilarious sense of humor!


Thursday--rest

Today was a good mail day.  I got my tiara visor from One More Mile in.


I also got my Fit Snack Box in!




Later that night, Faith, Heather, and I went to downtown Winter Garden for the Winter Garden Wine Walk.  We tasted lots of different wines and snacks.  We ended the night with dinner at Urban Flats.



Friday--3 miles in 30:51  Mile 1: 10:21, Mile 2: 10:26, Mile 3: 10:08, Average Pace: 10:18

Faith, Ava Joy, and I ran some errands then ended up at the Windermere Food Trucks.  I love food trucks!!  (and how adorable is Ava Joy??)


Kory got off work a little early, about 11:15 and wanted to go to Ale House, so we had a midnight snack of a Mountain Melt!

Saturday--3 miles in 32:11  Mile 1: 10:47, Mile 2: 10:45, Mile 3: 10:36, Average Pace: 10:43.So tired...was supposed to do 9 but since I only got 3 hours of sleep, we dropped it to 3. At least I was able to run the whole time without intervals.

I went to one of my babies' soccer games.  I love going to their events.  They get such a kick out of it and I love seeing them outside of school.


I grabbed some Perrotti's Express for lunch for me and Kory.  Then Bella and I cuddled until dinnertime.


Faith, Cori, and I went to Olive Garden for dinner.  We had a great girl's night!


Sunday--rest.

Total miles this week: 7
Total miles in 2015: 308.75
Total miles: 1915.19

2,015 in 2015 miles: 820.66

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Race # 58- Wine and Dine Half Marathon

Well, the Wine & Dine Half Marathon of 2014 has a nickname--Splash N Dash.  Oh boy.

The day before the race, I hit up the expo to get some goodies, as usual.


I picked up the usual I Did It Shirt, the necklace, sweatyband, and a short sleeve tech shirt since the race shirt is long sleeved.  I don't like the Mickey on these.  He looks weird!

And the race shirt.

Earlier on race day, between the Gingerbread 5k and the Half, I attended a cupcake meetup held by Krissy from Outrunning the Monorail at the Boardwalk Resort.  It was a lots of fun and great to meet up with some friends that I'd made online in the running community, along with others I had met before.


Ashley (The Pavement Princess), her hubby Joe, and I headed over to Epcot for a few minutes.


It was really crowded so we quickly left but I did see these characters with no lines!  They were probably the friendliest and chattiest ones I've ever met!  Fun!







The topic of conversation for the whole day was the weather.  We knew it had the potential to be bad and we were right.  Check out the radar.


That thing was coming right for us.  I decided to stop by the expo again to pick us up visors to help keep the water out of our face.


I ended up buying the Minnie visor that I needed for my costume for the marathon in January, along with a Goofy shirt to wear after I ran the Goofy Challenge.

That night, we hoped for the best.  Our costumes were the aliens from Toy Story.  We had really cute hats to go with it.


But we knew wearing them in the rain wouldn't be practical since they would be waterlogged so we switched them out for our visors.


We met up with Kristin and Adam briefly.  We were supposed to meet up after the race but it didn't happen.





It was supposed to start raining early in the evening but luckily it didn't start sprinkling until we were in line for the porta potties.  I had bought us some cheap disney ponchos to wear so we threw them on.  We were freezing too!  We met up with  Kate for few minutes too.


Right after the first corral or so took off, the rain started pouring.  And it didn't really stop for much of the race.  I ran with my poncho on for the first mile or so but it got hot and the flapping was bugging me so I tossed it.  I regretted it later when my muscles were stiff from shivering in the rain and dodging puddles and I slowed way down and was freezing.



Kory and I got engaged at the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights so every year during the race, I have to stop there to get a picture.  But with how much it was pouring, I wasn't about to get my camera out.  I kept hoping it would stop by the time I got there.  And the rain gods were listening.  It stopped just while I was there and then started up again.



But I got my picture!!

I finished wet and miserable.



Boy, I sure stood out!

It was the worst race I've ever done.


But I was still smiling.

Maybe if I stayed with Cori I could have enjoyed it more but I really just wanted it to be over.


I grabbed my medal and high tailed it to the car.


 The plan was for me to change while I waited for Cori to finish, then she'd quickly change and we'd head into the after party like we do every year.  So we both changed, I drove up to a closer parking spot, we walked up some and I just couldn't do it.  I was freezing cold, soaking wet, shivering and just not happy.  I couldn't imagine walking around the after party and eating and drinking food would be difficult while holding an umbrella so we decided to just head home without even entering Epcot.






My official time 2:29:53 (the whole time I was running, I told myself to take it easy but by that I meant to still keep it under 2:30.  I barely made it).  I was 3450 out of 11971 overall which is top third and not too terrible.  I was 1759 out of 7940 for women so I was in the top quarter there and for my division I was 354th out of 1444 so top quarter there too.  I think everyone had a terrible race.



Sad to say, this is the race that I now say was my worst race ever.  The entertainment wasn't up to par because the characters couldn't be out.  And I was just over it from the start.  I know not every race is going to be amazing so I just chalk it up for what it is and look forward to Wine & Dine 2015!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Weekly Recap- April 13-19, 2015

I finally placed in my age division!  And I got first!

Monday--rest.

Meghan had to pick up something for work at Downtown Disney so I met her for an early dinner at Raglan Road.  We had the Garlic Parmesan & Truffle Oil Skinny Chips to start with (these were soooo good!)  Then I had the It's Not Bleedin' Chowder!  It was seafood and potatoes in a white wine infused cream broth.


Tuesday--rest.

Today was a snack day!  I got my Stridebox





and my Love With Food Box in the mail!


Wednesday--2.87 miles in 29:50. Mile 1: 9:50, Mile 2: 10:40, Mile 3: 10:41, Average Pace: 10:23. Ran with Cori.

I had my MRI in the morning.  It was super quick.  It'll be interesting to see the results next week.

I also participated in a Dinner Party Project dinner just for bloggers.  It was so fun to sit around talking with fellow bloggers, all while enjoying some yummy food!  Meghan and Karen were there too!


Thursday--rest.

Kory made us a yummy dinner!


Friday--rest.

Saturday- Florida Hospital Winter Garden 5k.  3.16 miles in 26:40. Considering my first mile was a sub-8 I went out waaay too fast and had to start intervals at 1.5. Not close to a PR but got first in my age group! Mile 1: 7:32, Mile 2: 8:23, Mile 3: 9:24, Mile 3-3.16: 8:32, Average Pace: 8:27.


I was so excited not only to place, but to place first in my division!  And one of my former kiddos placed first in her division (although she's super fast and beat me by 2 minutes!)

Then I rushed over to see 2 of my current kiddos play soccer.



Later Cori and I drove over to Tampa to have brunch with her parents at Samaria (I had yummy corn beef hash).


And we saw the Broadway musical Pippin.  I'm not really sure I got it or if I liked it.


Sunday--Clay Road 10 Mile Loop Run. I was so NOT prepared for the tons of hills! Ran 4 miles then did 3:1s. Mile 1: 10:42, Mile 2: 10:28, Mile 3: 11:09, Mile 4: 11:11, Mile 5: 11:19, Mile 6: 13:15, Mile 7: 11:17, Mile 8: 12:06, Mile 9: 11:29, Mile 10: 11:42, Average Pace: 11:28.  The sunrise was gorgeous but those hills were killer!


I know this picture is in my collage above but it needs to be here by itself too.  I love how in sync Faith and I are as well as the gorgeous background.


I worked in Gangster at the ride later that night and man, I'm not sure how smart it was to do all those stairs at work after doing all those hills during the day.  My legs are tired!

Total  miles this week: 16.03
Total miles in 2015: 301.75
Total miles: 1908.19

2,015 miles in 2015: 787.66