New Camera Take 2 + Tempo Time

Wednesday morning I was a woman on a mission.  Mission:  Replace digital camera.  Well I suppose the mission actually began with some research Tuesday night.  I scoured Walmart/Target/Best Buy for their cheapest digital cameras (as mine seem to have a 4 month life, apparently).  As Slomohusky gracefully put it, "Uh...you're kind of hard on cameras..."  YUP!  Mental note:  Camera's do not like to be dropped.  I was planning on having a fun weekend with the boy toy, and have a race next weekend, so no time to spare before getting a new camera.  Lucky for me, I saw my exact same camera, but 50 bones cheaper. 

Now you may think it's silly to buy a camera that broke after 4 months of use.  Well if you had saw how hard I had dropped the camera on Saturday, you'd be impressed the thing was still in one piece.  "I am She-Ra Warrior Princess!!"  Or something like that.  My logic was:  a) already have a memory card b) extra battery and charger and c) back up parts!  Ok, seriously I hope it doesn't come to C because then I officially suck-o at life-o.  Before work I headed to Walmart to pick up my new BFF.  Did you know that they don't staff the electronic section at 7:30am?  Well now you do.  Of course as soon as I got to my car, I had to check out my pictures from Saturday night's shenanigans that led to said camera distruction.  As promised, please enjoy.

I thought the randomness of this one looked similar to a pic in the opening credits of HIMYM so I played around with the coloring a bit.

Yes, I'm getting bunny ears at the age of 26. My friends are mature. Who am I kidding, if they were, I wouldn't be friends with them. :p

Wednesday night I had a tempo run on tap.  All day long I had thought it was a 7 mile run, silly Jerbear, it's actually 8.  That seems kind of long, no?  Then I got to thinking about it....I completed a full 13.1 miles at a quicker pace.  I should be able to handle 6 tempo miles.  Genius.  

Anyways, I hopped to the gym wearing the least amount of clothes possible that would still allow me admittance to the fitness facility.  Best believe that if I had the body for it, I would be wearing a sports bra and bun huggers a la college track & XC studs to eliminate attempt to eliminate my excessive sweating during these tough runs.  None the less, I did dig out a very light running tank to aid in the not-sweat-so-much department.

My goal pace for the tempo miles was 8:40.  After my warm up, I was off and feeling good.  I don't know what my deal is by lately my tempo runs have been feeling awesome (yes count that up to jinxing my next one fo sho).  I do this fun little trick where I convince myself I have one less mile to run than I really do, since my final mile never "counts" because its the one that I get to go all out in.  Doesn't make sense when I type it out, but it tricks my brain like no other.  The unfortunate part about tempo runs is that after the "I don't quite count final tempo mile" there is still an easy cool-down mile a-creepin'.  Luckily I had a celebrity mag to read while I was clomping along.  Yes, I officially feel like I "clomp" when I run at that speed.  It's attrocious.

I ended up doing 8 miles in 1:11:01 (ten seconds slower and I could've been sooooo cooooool, drat).  My pace for the run was 8:58 and my pace for the tempo miles was 8:36.  Uh..heck yes.  My hammies were tiiiiiiight during that final mile so I made sure to stretch extra well afterwards.

My treat for an excellent tempo run?  Coldstone ice cream.  If I was a food blogger, I would insert my glorious foodie picture here, but instead I just ate it.  Yummy tummy.

Long Run in the 40's? No prob.

Since I worked last Monday (one of our paid holidays off, yet some people have to be in the office, I know, LAME!) I got to have Friday off.  Which worked out perfectly for wedding festivities.  I knew I'd be in no condition to run Sunday morning, and wouldn't have time to do my long run Saturday morning before getting my hair and make up did, I decided to get up early and do it on Friday before the bridesmaid brunch.

When I started the run it was 41 degrees with some winds.  I wised up this time and remembered to bring my handheld water bottle since the fountains are shut off.  I was actually pretty happy about the temp.  I've learned quickly that 40's are good.  30's and 20's...not so much.  :)  I wore running tights under my light yoga pants, an under armour shirt, a long sleeve t, and a fleece with my gloves.  It was actually pretty perfect.  The only times I was too cold was after stopping to stretch.

It took me a while to get going on the run, but after the first couple of miles, my legs decided to just go.  :)  It was nice to do a speedy long run for a change (I've been taking them pretty easy since the half since I was mainly focusing on the 5k that never was).  

I did 10 miles in 1:28:47 for a pace of 8:53.  I was super excited with a mile to go to see my fabulous tri-buddy EO on the trails.  It's always nice to see a friendly face.  :)

1. 9:17 
2. 9:13 
3. 9:06 
4. 8:57 
5. 9:05 
6. 8:54 
7. 8:47 
8. 8:48 
9. 8:31 
10. 8:06 

The only drawback to the run was that I had to pee from mile 2 to mile 10.  Go figure.  Good to know my bladder is that strong.  Hah.

I got home and had the most brutal ice bath of my life.  Seriously.  My body temp had to be pretty low post run just from being outside and sweating, but I was seriously struggling in the tub.  Luckily the ice melted fast and that was my cue to get out of there.  Phew.

I had to quick get ready and beautified for the bridesmaid brunch.  It was at a big wig doc's in town and the house was gorgeous.  The house across the street was literally my dream house.  I did encounter my first...um....issue with being a vegetarian.  The host served some delicious fruit, a salad, and a egg based quiche, with, you guessed it, ham & bacon.  I felt like such a poop just playing with my food and not actually eating any of it.  Oh well, I should've known.....this incident is what I like to call "foreshadowing" for the weekend's events.  :)

After the brunch I decided to go out and buy a camera.  The camera I was using (that broke RIP camera) was Taylor's old camera that I got as a parting gift :p in the breakup.  It's really kind of a crappy camera (no offense if you're reading this Tay) but did what I needed it to do for my limited photos.  I was basically waiting for it to crap out to buy a new one.  And a new one I did.  :)  I actually hate purple (despise...loathe even) but it was on sale, and I won't have to worry about getting it mixed up with other cameras.

While I was at Target I did notice some cold weather running jackets with wind resistant material, an inner warming layer, and water resistant shell for $40.  I'm kind of thinking about getting it.  I'm sure it's not as nice as the $$$ ones, but I'm going to end up layering and layering like a fool anyway, so it'd be nice to save a little cash.  Especially since I just made an impromptu camera purchase.  :)

Friday night was time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  The rehearsal was super fast, and the dinner was at one of the nicest restaurants in town.  I definitely teared up a bit during the speeches (again foreshadowing for the whole weekend).  The bride is second from the right.  We've all roomed with the bride at some point in some mix matched fashion.  We also got some cuuuuuuute Coach purses for our bridal party gift.  Um...yes please.  :)