1000 miles + Twin Cities Marathon Expo

My ideal start to a weekend is a Friday off, and cool morning temps for a tempo run.  Ok, just kidding, I will probably dread tempo runs until the day I die, but the cool temps make it not quite so terrible.  Plus, I knew as soon as I was done, it was off to see SUSAN in the Cities!  Yippee!!


I had 7 miles with 5 at goal tempo pace of 8:15.
1. 9:39
2. 8:15
3. 8:11
4. 8:13
5. 8:15
6. 8:04
7. 9:15


7 miles in 59:54 for an average pace of 8:34.  Average tempo pace was 8:11!


Yes, I do think that would be the definition of "killed it."  :)  Usually I lose my mind on tempo runs, so I gave myself a free pass to "pat myself on the back."  According to DailyMile, apparently I had side stitches during miles 2 and 4 but I've already long since forgotten about that, I guess.  Hmm....

When I got home and was logging my run I realized that I had hit 1000 miles for the year.  That’s like icing on top of an already delicious and decadent cake (ie:  right up my alley…..mmm).  Of course I had to google stalk myself to see when I hit it last year….. 8 days sooner.  S.O.B……

After I was showered up and packed it was off to the Cities.  I’m known for getting lost while traveling, and assumed this adventure would be no different.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived at Erika’s doorstep without having to use a single minute of my “30 minute I’m bound to get lost” cushion! 

I finally got to meet Susan, and she’s just as nice/fun/goofy as she seems on her blog, aka she’s a big fun dork like me!  (I mean that as the highest level of complement, Susan, promise!)  We went to find some foooooooooooood and then hit up the Twin Cities Marathon Expo.

When we got to the expo, Susan had wrangled us some VIP passes for the weekend along with invitations to the reception on Friday night.  Race/run with Susan and you become a big deal, good to know!  We grabbed Susan’s bib and were immediately reminded of her running blogger celebrity status when the volunteer asked her if she was Nurse on the Run.  Seriously… it was too awesome.  Not to be outdone, 2 or 3 other readers came up to her while we were at the expo to introduce themselves.  It was seriously so cool.

photo borrowed from Susan, taken by me, so I figure it evens out. :)

After not depleting my bank account (I have no idea who I was this weekend, I didn’t spend $$$$$$$$ it was crazy), we hit up the reception and realized that it was primarily for vendors partnered with the marathon events and elite runners.  I’m willing to bet I have the slowest marathon time of the group…. FYI.  While there we ran in to Hannah who handles the social media for Twin Cities in Motion and asked to take a pic with us “big time running bloggers.”  Thanks for the ego stroke Hannah!  Also, thanks for the new blog to add to my reader!

quick! who has longer hippie hair?  me or susan?!? :)

Saturday we had planned to lounge around to rest up for the big event, so the only thing on our agenda was Susan’s shake out run.  Yikes.  Susan’s “easy” run  = my 5k race pace.  Should be interesting….. :/  She hooked me up with this sweet I <3 Sweat shirt, but secretly I think mine should say I = sweat, so naturally we had to match during our run.

We started off the run and I realized she wasn’t going to kill me, thankfully, and we chatted away.  Until I hit a speed bump.  Literally.  No denying that I’m a klutz.  FYI this is why I’ll never be a trail runner.  I wish I would’ve had the fall on video because I’m guessing it was INTENSE (=hilarious).  We continued on, but I think Susan was afraid I was trying to kill myself to get out of running with her, because our pace slowed a bit.  Ha.

uh...oops.  ouch.

We did 3.06 miles in 27:54 for a pace of 9:08.  Thanks for hanging with me!