Celebrity Status+Sweatfest

The other day while my office ex-hubby and I were scouring the Mankato Marathon site looking for a course profile map for the half course working diligently, a picture of the race start popped up on the site.  All cockily I stated, yeah that's totally me.  And as soon as the little word bubble was floating above my heads with the words in it I realized... huh... that really is me.

ZOMG I'M FAMOUZZZ!

YAYZIES!

GLITTERFARTS!

Ok, totally not, but it made my day for 6 seconds (ok, clearly longer since this happened days ago.  Whatevs.)

(Red pacer shirt, white hat towards the left on the picture.)

Sunday I was supposed to run a 6 mile tempo run.  However, my Garmin has been acting up, and by the time I rolled out of bed, the humidty was at 96%.  Barf.  I decided to do next week's 800m repeat workout instead, and hit the gym, so the treadmill could keep track of my time and distance for me.

I had 4x800m in 3:30-3:40.  After my warm up mile (and thoroughly soaking the treadmill in the process... this oughta be a FUN run... :/), I got after it.  The first one felt *cough* easy *cough*.  I decided to take less of a break in between to toughen up the run.  Er... not necessary.  #2 was tough, but #3 felt like death.  Towards the end I decided I would just call it a day if I could survive the remaining 30 seconds.  When I did survive, I told myself I could walk until my heart rate came down after #3, and then jog the rest of my recovery before I had to start #4.  Of course #4 felt great, even with the speed bumped up a bit.  Silly body.  Second to last is ALWAYS the worst.

3:38, 3:38, 3:38, 3:36.

Probably a good thing I was on the treadmill.  I think #3 would've been 6:30 minutes if I had a choice in the matter.

And just so you don't think I'm kidding about the sweatfest that took place, I was 3 lbs. lighter post-run.  And that's with drinking a 16 oz. water bottle while/after running.  Sweatiest gym-goer of the day goes to:

JERBEAR!

A (Wo)Man with a Fall Race Plan + Sometimes Weekly Wishlist

Thanks so much for all your excellent advice on the fall marathon debate.  I've decided to not run a fall marathon.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I know.  I decided that if I did attempt to train for it, and suddenly became way too busy (definitely a possibility) it would be the least of my priorities.  I can't even bring myself to run a 10k or 5k half-assed, so I would be kicking myself if I had to line up for 26.2 miles feeling un-prepared or worse, dropping out entirely.

To calm my sadness over this decision, I went in to race planning OVERDRIVE this weekend.  Next on the agenda is a local 10k on July 4th.  I did the 5k last year, and it was a blast.  There are also local (free!) Monday night 3k and 5k races for the month of June.  Depending on the weather on June 20th and 27th, I may hop in for those as well.

After the 4th of July 10k, my 10 week training will start up for the Sioux Falls half marathon, my goal race for the fall.  This'll be my 7th consecutive year running this race, yayzies!  I hope to run at least one 5k in July and possibly pace the Minnesota Half Marathon in St. Paul in August.  I absolutely loved pacing the Mankato half last year, and really want to do it again.

If all goes as planned, I may have another shot at PR busting in October in Fargo for the Fargo FM half marathon.  Flat course..... chilly weather.... 13.1 miles..... Fargo redemption?  Yes please!

There's a small chance I could be pacing the Mankato half again in lieu of or in addition to the Minnesota half, depending on what happens.  Let me know if you'll be doing any of these races.  Don't you just love a full race schedule?!?!? :D

Buy it here.

omgenius.

omgorgeous

omiwantone.

omwhydidn'tithinkofthis?

I saw this on Aron's blog and need.to.have.it.  Seriously.  KK, half birthday gift?  K sweet.
Naturally after I drafted this blogpost, I saw Megan tweet that she had got a new hoodie in the mail.  And then saw another tweet from Jenn about the same hoodie.  Hoodie TWINSIES.
Sidenote:  Anyone at first glance think this chick looks like me?  Creeps me out whenever I scroll through this post quick.....

Buy it here.

Buy it here.

I'm always on the look out for a great green dress. 

Holy mother of cuteness.  I've had a mini Hello Kitty lovefest lately.  Still debating getting the HK sleep mask from a past post (my current sleep mask is in a dire state).

Buy it here.

I have this weird obsession with hot air balloons. This is so freaking beautiful.

Buy it here.

Pacing Practice + Mankato Half Marathon Prep

Thursday night I had an easy 7 miles on the schedule and decided to attempt to do them at half marathon pacing pace for Saturday of 9:55.  I did some quick reading on how to change my Garmin to show average pace for the run and I was off.  I magically had a 7 mile route mapped out on runstoppable so I was excited, especially because it went through my old stomping grounds.  It's a bit hilly to get there, and a little hilly to get back home, but it's a great residential area that makes running at night okay (IMO).  Plus there's very little traffic, so I'm able to run on the road for a majority of it.  Win WIN win.

I referenced my watch whenever I came under a street light, but just took the run at an easy pace.  98% of the time the average pace was right on with the 9:55.  I naturally sped up the last mile just because I was ready to be DONE and EAT, so I made myself slow down so I could finish right on the nose.

I did 7 miles in 1:09:26 for a pace of 9:55.  Hurrah.

So tomorrow I head to Mankato MN to spend some time at the race expo and meet the other pacers for the Mankato Marathon and Half Marathon, and meet up with Miss ALYSSA!!!  She's pacing the 1:55 group because she's speeeeeeeeeeeeedy.

Now it's time to unpack my suitcase from the Twin Cities 10 Miler (yes it's still sitting on my kitchen floor not fully emptied yet) and fill 'er up again!  I love race weekends.  :)  And I of course mean that I plan to do all of this at the very last minute tomorrow when I get off work, because I'm sleeeeeeeeepy.  :)

Pacer Jerbear

Whilst perusing the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon expo, a random guy inquired on the pace bands that Alyssa and I had snatched up at a previous booth.  We explained that neither of us were doing the TC marathon, but were grabbing them for our next marathon in Vegas BABY Vegas!  Ahem....  He explained that he was pacing the 4:00 group for tomorrow, and I got super excited and starting badgering him with questions, mainly:  how do you become a pacer?  To which he responded, you talk to me.  (!!!!!!!!!!!!)  We chatted with him and briefly explained our running backgrounds.  One of my new years resolutions/yearly goals was to figure out how to become a pacer (in the half marathon distance, mind you), so I was beyond excited to meet up with him (and so was Alyssa) and beyond excited is an understatement, let me tell you.


After talking more, he let us know that he had a couple of openings for pacing opportunities for the Mankato Half Marathon.  It didn't take much convincing for Alyssa and I to jump on the chance.  You are hereby reading the blog of the official 2:10 pacer for the Mankato Half Marathon.  Woohoo!  I'm so excited!  And it should actually fit in with my marathon training well, as I'll have to tack on another 7 miles post-race.  I hope the pacing goes well, because this is something I would truly love to do on a more frequent basis.  Rest assured, I'm already having nightmares about performing badly.  Crazy brain. :p

Thursday morning I hopped out of bed bright and early to get in a quick and easy 4 miles before I had to head to work.  I expected my legs to feel like trash after running a tough tempo run not more than 12 hours before, but they felt fresh as daisies.  Whatevs, I'll take it.  With a mile and a half to go on the run, I noticed what looked like smoke from a fire off in the distance.  As I got closer I realized that there was a truck spraying white smoke along the bike path.  I jumped to the road to try to avoid it, but of course there was a southern wind blowing it right to where I was.  Remind me of October 7th if I end up with lung cancer/bronchitis/etc.  Parks and Rec FAIL.

Despite getting gassed, I did 4 miles in 39:03 for a pace of 9:46.

And lastly (but obviously most importantly) I've recently been given an award.... TWICE.  Yes, alert the presses....somebody's a big deal.  psssst..... it's me.
The rules are as follows:

*Thank and link back to the person(s) who gave you this award.
*Share 7 things about yourself
*Pass the award along to others who you think are fabulous

Sarah is seriously super mom who is a new mommy and is already back to running, racing, and getting back in to shape!  Tres impressive.  ;)

Danielle is my 5k arch nemesis/virtual rabbit/running buddy.  We both have a 5k goal of hitting 22:xx.  We may have come up short (or technically I should say long) this summer, but next year it is ours.  Muhahahhaahahahha.  Ok, the Dr. Evil laugh was a bit much.

And for my list of 7 things:
1.  My eye color is some what of a mood ring.  It varies from blue to green.  Blue = happy as a lark.  Green = pissssssssssed.  It's really too bad because they're the prettiest when they're green.
2.  I almost always go to bed with socks on, because my feet are always freezing.  Once my feet warm up, I chuck them.  There have been times when I've woke up with my socks in my hands nuzzled up on my face.
3.  I have one older brother, and he's the crazy good athlete of the family.  We're talking state champion in basketball and football his senior year, and a college football scholarship.  But he didn't go to state in track, and I did, so neener neener, yes? :)
4.  I have this weird thing with dating left handed guys.  I think there's been one guy I've dated seriously that's been a righty.  So bizarre.
5.  My favorite sport growing up was basketball.  I played hundreds of hours of basketball every summer.  My best friend Nikki and I would live at the gym in the summer.  Sadly, the sport I was the best at was volleyball, which was my least favorite (behind bball and track).  Makes me wonder what I could've done if I put some effort in to it.  Oh well.  :)

6.  I was a cheerleader in college.  Gooooooooooooo Vikes!  I cheered for football my sophomore and junior year.  I hated doing it my junior year because all of my friends were getting playing time and I couldn't see the game from where we had to stand.  So I didn't try out my senior year.  Tailgating was more fun. :)
7.  I have a birthmark on my shoulder that is 5 indentations, and if you were to connect them it would be in the shape of a star.  My parents had plans to name me Montana Star (if you know my last name, you will understand how truly atrocious this would have been).  Yes they were hippies, and yes, I'd probably be blogging about my stripping career instead of my dabblings in running if this had gone through.  Luckily my parents didn't take it as a sign, and instead named me after my daddy.... Jerry Lee and Jeri Lee.

And now I nominate:
Slomohusky
Jenn
Alyssa
Cynthia
Susan
Glenn