Weekly Wish List + Welcome Back Speedy Legs!

Happy St. Patty's Day Lovelies!  You know I'm donned in head to toe GREEN.  You wouldn't expect anything else I'm sure.  I forgot to mention something AWESOME regarding the St. Patrick's day celebration on Saturday.  As I was walking to my car post-races on Saturday (yes, I managed to park in a lot sandwiched between the parade route, go me) I saw some of the later parade entries, and I saw... get this.... Le-pug-cauns!  There was a whole troup of people walking their pugs decked out in green.  Obviously this made me freak out and want to steal one.... but I didn't..... Maybe next year I'll walk in the parade...  (hint hint... someone buy me a PUG!)

And on to my weekly compilation of things I want because I'm a horrible consumer but sadly I'm super poor plus on a spending freeze that I'm not very good at:

Buy it here.

I tend to be obsessed with feathers.  Peacock feathers, bird feathers, pretty pretty.  Love this mirror.

Buy it here.
I'm definitely not a HUGE Twins fan, but if I had to cheer for a baseball team, it'd be them.  I hope to make it to a couple of games this year, and clearly this shirt would need to be worn.

Buy it here.
I've wanted this suit now for over a year.  Or is it two?  I keep waiting for it to come down in price, and it refuses.  Ugh.  I just can't bare to fork over almost $60 for a swimming suit, when I could probably get 3 total for that price.  VS stop toying with my emotions!  I think there was even a twitter debate awhile back about whether I should get it or not.  It's getting ridiculous.

Buy it here.

I've been pretty obsessed with all things yellow lately, and I adore this bag.  Too bad my favorite coat is yellow.  And that I already have a super fab spring/summer purse.  Oh and that I don't have money to spend on a handbag.... that too. ;)

Wednesday night I had my first tempo run (I think) of MARATHON TRAINING!!! on my schedule.  I was a little nervous because I haven't done a lot of running outside of marathon pace (9:00) and long slow pace (uh.... with snow+ice 10:30+).  According to McMillan, I was to shoot for 8:00-8:30 pace for my 4 miles.  I did a nice 2 mile warm up and got to work.

The first tempo mile was...... hard.  I started thinking, "how and the heck am I going to maintain this pace for 13.1 miles the end of April?!?!?!  I'm dying and I'm on mile 1."  After the first mile ticked away I realized I was at mile 3 and still running away from home.  Ooops.  Apparently I missed my turn.  While I started searching for the street sign indicating I should turn, the run started to feel much easier and I got in to a rhythm with my breathing.  And then I looked down at my garmin... 8:15.  Uh what??  8:25 feels like death, 8:15 feels like goody goody gum drops?

Whatevs... and I kept going.  My legs felt great, and I went with it.  I started to do the math to realize that even with my slow warm up, I was maintaining a faster pace than Saturday's 5mile or 5k.  Wheeeeeeeee! At one point when I looked down at my watch during the 4th mile I was averaging a 7:44 pace.  Whoa Nelly.... reign it in a bit!  Since I accidentally added more on to my route, I had an extra 1/2 mile cool down as well. 

The results:  6.5 miles in 56:42 for an average pace of 8:45. 

Tempo miles:  8:25, 8:15, 8:05, 8:00.  Avg tempo: 8:11.

And what did we learn from this?  When you race a 5k make sure to get in a solid 2-3 mile warm up, you ding dong.  5k PR is going buh bye this summer....... :D

And what else did I learn from this?  Figure out why the heck your baby toenails are trying to escape your toenail beds so frequently.  Seriously.... All my socks are going to be blood-stained soon!

And what else else else did I learn?  65 degree temps are my friend.  I heart spring.