Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I am a failure- I did A LOT this weekend and took basically ZERO photos.

–  I realize I have not updated everyone on the foot.  Every day is better.  It is currently uncomfortable for the first mile or so- and I am happy to report- today (Sunday) it was a non-issue.  I think it is OVER.

The rundown:

Friday- ZERO RUNNING.  However, lots of friend time, wine, farm raised food (yeah CSA!)- and Grey’s Anatomy a day late.

Saturday-  9 Miles… because it was so nice out, and there were so many runners out, I guess I felt like I needed to show off or something??   Because I started all easy … and then started picking off all the other runners LIKE I WAS RACING.  AND OH WAIT.  I am supposed to race TOMORROW.  Splits of: 8:49, 8:37, 9:16….  then 8:18, 8:05, 8:11, 8:12, 8:01, 7:38

We had lunch at b. Good – a midst posters with pictures of the farmers that grew our food I had a kale salad (with roasted brussels sprouts, chickpeas, pine nuts, beets) and Mike had a chicken sandwich loaded with jalapeno stuff/sauce and we “shared” the fries.  (I ate most of them.  Duh).

Saturday night my college girlfriends and I went to the ballet to see Cinderella- amazing!  What athleticism! We got home late-ish (11:30)- so off to bed to prep for the race.

Sunday- up at 7; dry Lucky Charms for breakfast.  However, I can feel that the tacos I had for dinner and possibly the kale salad may not have been a good choice.  The weather suggests that it is going to get colder and windier as the morning goes on- temps dropping from 28 to 21 degrees with 20mph wind with stronger gusts periodically.  Instead of wearing a cute skirt and St. Patrick’s knee socks, I pull on my compression tights, a synthetic long sleeve, a tee shirt, my Brooks running jacket…  and for after the race an additional green fleece and my Northface.

We get out of the car and the wind practically pushes us back- and it whips right through my layers.  Sweet.

The race is super well organized and bib/tee shirt pick up was a breeze.  We hang out in the heated tent for a bit- and about a half hour before the race starts, I head out for a 2 mile warm up.  In this case, I was literally hoping to warm my body up.  I headed out to the 1 mile marker- and noticed the wind was at my back.  The course, however, is a twist on an “out and back” and I realized that this was going to be a real fight just to make it to the end! I ran back to the start area just in time to hit the port-o-potties and get started!

Mile 1: 6:41 : Fast-  wind at our backs, it felt super easy.

Mile 2-3: 7:00- the effort level feels exactly the same as the first mile.  As soon we made it around the bend after the 1 mile marker, we turn into the wind.

Mile 3: 7:38 uphill to the turn around, directly into the wind.  We are standing still.  I try to draft off of people, but everyone has spread out.

Mile 4: 7:00 – wind mostly at our backs.  No one has changed places- I have not been passed in the last 2 miles- I start to work on catching a girl in front of me.  She’s about 40 feet ahead.

Mile 5- 7:30- uphill, into the wind.  I stop thinking about the hill and the wind and go for it.  I catch her on the uphill easily, and sail by.  I start catching more people- the guy at the cone says something about me being 5th woman.  hrmm.  OK.  I thought there were more ahead of me?  I am moving SO SLOW!

Time- 36:10 or so.  Official results are not posted yet.  A personal worst for a race effort- however- the winning lady had a time of 33 minutes or so (which was what I was hoping for!)- which is not exactly super speedy (for a race)- either.  During the awards ceremony I chatted with the top 3 and everyone agreed that this was some of the toughest wind we had encountered- they felt it added about 2 minutes total to the run.

I won 2nd in my age group and came home with a gift certificate to a restaurant in Portsmouth!

I am wearing 7 jackets.  Literally.

Free beer!

We did a lot of cooking and that will be up on here shortly.  After a long day, Mike and Isaac were pooped!

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day!