dear monday

dear monday,
today is my last monday off of maternity leave. so far its been a good day... coffee, visitors, avacado BLT, afternoon naps while watching reruns of greys, and only crying twice thinking about this being my last week home.

dear henry,
thank you for sleeping for 8+ hours the last 4 nights. mommy and daddy truly appreciate the extra zzzzzz's (although i secretly miss the 2am feeding...)

dear anyone,
join me in making a bad life decision, please? come on, you know you want to...

dear greys anatomy reruns,
thanks for bringing me back to a time when a lot of what you said made sense in my life... "ok, anyone who says you can sleep when you die, tell them to come talk to me after a few months as an intern. of course its not just the job that keeps us up all night. i mean, if lifes so hard already, why do we bring so much trouble on ourselves? whats up with the need to hit the self destruct button? maybe we like the pain. maybe were wired that way... because without it, i dont know. maybe we just wouldnt feel real. whats the saying... why do i keep hitting myself with a hammer? because it feels so good when i stop."

dear CMP,
the extra $30 on the bill this month (mostly likely due to the air conditioner) was the best $30 ever spent.

dear weather gods,
the forecast for saturdays beach 2 beacon 10k looks amazing right now. please keep it that way!

dear marathon training,
for once i have made it 6 weeks and havent missed a training run yet (and feel good! and am sometimes doing cross training!) who am i?!

dear pro compression,
i owe ya. well, i keep buying things from you so maybe i dont owe you, but thank you.

dear tyler,
thank you for all that you have done over the past 11 (plus) weeks (actually over the past 7 years next month...) henry is so lucky to have you as his dad. i (we) couldnt do this without you. we love you!

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back cove series 5k

nothing much to report about this weeks back cove series 5k... i had run 2 miles in the am, ran another 2 miles before the race started, and had planned to take it easy and do 9 min miles. starting out i felt great so i just ran and didnt really care a) what my time was and b) what my pace was. coming around the final corner i saw the clock and kicked it up with all i had left thinking i could maybe hit 24:59...

25:07. bogus.

and that kid blew by me right at the end.

and then my stats werent posted. lovely.

meet katie- running & pregnancy

here is yet another one of my blogging friends that i followed throughout her pregnancy journey... meet katie! i have been super impressed with katie's running, both while being pregnant and after little mikey was born (she just completed a half marathon this past weekend!) i am super excited that katie only lives a few hours away and will hopefully soon get to run with her!

When Danielle asked me to write about running and pregnancy, I jumped at the chance. So first, a little bit about me - my name is Katie and although I was not always a runner (read: I HATED running), it really became part of me over the past few (probably longer) years. I started blogging in early 2013 because I was jealous of people like Danielle who were keeping track of how she felt during races or during pregnancy and I wanted to be able to look back and remember this time as well (and I am so glad that I started because boy, does time fly!)

Before I decided to get pregnant, I wanted to continue running. I could really tell my story of pregnancy through my running... I truly credit my good pregnancy due to running. If I had swelling, I would run and it would go away. If I got emotional, I would run and I could keep my emotions in check. If I got angry at people because they had some sort of judgment of my running during pregnancy, I would likely still be able to beat them in a foot race when I was 30 lbs heavier. I set goals for myself. At first, it was to run through the first trimester and then up until 20 weeks, then 2^nd trimester and once I got past that, I wanted to do as much as I could... as long as I felt comfortable. Oh and I lied, I did not always feel comfortable.  And these goals were carried through until delivery. I only “pushed” for 30 minutes and I truly treated my labor as a race and working out. Contractions... they sucked. They really sucked but so do planks and that’s basically how I treated them. Oh its going to hurt for 30 seconds? I am going to count to 30 seconds then. But then I get a break before doing another plank. And pushing?!?! Yup, I asked the doctor, “if I do that sort of push again, how many more pushes do I need?”. I am a planner. Imagine running a race and not knowing the distance so you didn’t know what pace you needed to run the race at? I treated labor like that. If I knew I had to run 10 miles and I was at mile 1, then I am going to conserve my energy. If I am running a half marathon and I just passed the 13 mile mark, then damnit, I am going to push myself and I will push HAAAAAAAAAAAARD!

Anyways, it didn’t take me long to get pregnant. I basically dreamt about being pregnant and suddenly, I was. I told my college roommate I was “trying” during a race – she was the only person I told and oops, I was already pregnant when I told her. I thought I could be pregnant when I suffered from UNBELIEVABLE THIRST when running (i.e. I could not run a mile without getting a drink of water). I confirmed my thoughts and found out I was pregnant with a pregnancy test (or maybe I took 6 that night) the night before the JPM Corporate Challenge (and I did pretty well). I told my Daily Mile friends early on in my pregnancy (uhm 8 weeks pregnant?!?!) before I told most of my “real” friends. I swear that their motivation helped me out through the entire pregnancy. I got sick a few times during my first trimester – mostly during running and most famously, during a half marathon at week 10 (awesome photo at the finish line).

I had issues with passing out so at 12 weeks, I kept my running indoors (which was brutal but was able to watch some great tv shows while running). I often stay in hotels and got some funny looks while running – maybe it was because I wore short shorts and a fitted top (damn straight – being pregnant was not an excuse for me to wear a tent!). I ran up until the day before giving birth. My miles certainly dwindled...  Check out my mileage for my pregnancy! I gave birth on March 26 so although 29 miles seems pretty lame, I was so proud of those 29 miles! I was a bit slower, but I had precious cargo on board!

So I am not saying that running is for everyone while pregnant, but I do think it is important to find something that you like to do and helps define you and make sure you keep doing it. It was sometimes difficult to look in the mirror and not recognize my body and have all sorts of emotions in your mind and you then question who you are... when I laced up my sneakers and stepped on the road or on the treadmill, I kept my running identity and that was something I was not willing to lose.

Oh and if you are wondering if something is okay during pregnancy, talk to your doctor... although you are carrying precious cargo, it is likely more durable than you think.

So thank you Danielle for letting my crash your blog and for all of our talks during pregnancy and post partum! It truly is wonderful to have shared this wonderful time in our lives together.

henry: two months!

weight
this past week we had a doctors appointment with the urological surgeon and he weighed in at 10lbs 8oz and 22 3/4ths inches long! oink oink.

did someone just call me fat?!

health
everything is looking good. at the appointment we had with the cardiologist a few weeks ago he said the ventricular septal defect they found before henry was born/confirmed after he was born had almost entirely closed on its own. we go back at 1 year of age to just do a check up. we are SO happy with that. as for the kidney reflux issue, we still are giving him an antibiotic every day and will get another ultrasound in october. the potential for surgery after a year of age is still there. (and we are very thankful for the choice of antibiotics the doctor has put him on... along with hannaford healthy savers program... 2 months of amoxicillin and now 3 months of bactrim... FREE. boom.)

clearly not a fan of his ekg

clothes
i had to pack away the newborn outfits last week after i tried two things on him that he definitely didnt fit into (but of course i still made him wear them since i just couldnt bear not seeing him in them one last time!) he fits much better into 3 month clothes due to his length, and many of the 0-3 months onesies are getting tight (the 3-6 month ones are big, but hes worn a few). im trying to make sure we get him into all the outfits that he has at least once before he outgrows them all!

sleep
hes still sleeping a lot during the day but is more alert when he is awake (naps are usually once in the am, midday, and afternoon for about an hour and a half). we've also officially gotten a nighttime routine down, and are so thankful for it (and thank you to meredith for her suggestions with this routine!). between 8 and 9pm we take henry up to his room, close the darkening curtains and turn a night light on. we change out of his "day clothes" and into his "pajamas" (usually just a different onesie haha, although recently with this heat he has just been sleeping in his diaper). we use a nighttime lotion and massage his feet, legs, and belly, while singing a few songs. he may or may not eat at this time (depending on when he last ate). henry then goes in his crib (awake) and the sleep sheep sound machine goes on (the whale sound seems to work best). he tosses and turns a bit, babbles and sometimes cries a little but will fall asleep on his own within about 15-20 minutes. if he starts to really scream and cry (rare), we will pick him up. usually its just because he is wet or decided he is hungry. there are many nights i curse myself for not going to bed at 8 when we put him to sleep, but its nice to have an hour or two with ty sans baby. we are so thankful we got this routine started so early, and were hoping it keeps working! (also, in the am when henry wakes up, we open the curtains to let in the light, and change him into "day clothes" again so that we can differentiate the night from the day. next up we have to start napping in the crib...)

crying
henry is still only crying if hes hungry, wet, or gassy. hes a very happy baby overall.

milestones
while sleeping on his tummy (for naptimes only!) henry has been moving his head side to side. while playing on the play mat with the piano hes almost rolled over, making it up onto his side but not yet completely making the official turn. it will be soon though for sure! hes discovered he has a tongue and loves sticking it out at us. he also tends to imitate someone when were making silly faces at him. his eyes light up and he just smiles and laughs!

baby gear love
THIS! the fisher price discover 'n grow kick and play piano gym. seriously, i dont know what i would do without this item. its amazing and keeps him occupied for a long time. i also think its so fun for him to kick (his legs always want to kick!) and play music (which is inevitably stuck in my head all day). the colors are so bright, and he LOVES looking at himself in the mirror and just smile and smile. the sheep sleep sound machine seems to really sooth him when hes falling asleep. the boppy has been really helpful, we sit him in it with us on the couch, and he falls asleep often in it (i dont use it when feeding anymore, im much more comfortable just holding him). another thing i absolutely could not live without (and i have heard that from a few people as well) is the grass drying rack. although it looks small, it really holds a lot (i place the bottles all along the edge hanging off) and it really doesnt take up much room on the counter. the flower is great for the bottle nipples and for the breast pump membranes.

outings
more trips to target (obviously), first trip to the lake, a little dip in the pool, and to grandma and grandpa sterlings for the 4th of july!

diapers
it took a little while to get into it and learn the ins and outs, but we are loving the cloth diapers. henry pees a LOT, and he is apparently so uncomfortable right after he pees that he wants out of the wet diaper... so needless to say we are changing him a lot. im getting more comfortable with the g diapers (i was kinda annoyed at first how to change out the liner) but we've developed a bit of a line change type deal which makes it easier and quicker (although henry loves getting changed so you could take all day if you needed to). im a fan of the AIO(all in one) diapers like the bum genius we have, and wish we had more. im also looking at some shops on etsy for more AIO's and a brand called "thirsties" that arent that expensive. (also, we've only had two blowouts so far knock on wood and both were in a regular diaper. and grandma had him haha, win.)

diet
when this kid is hungry, good lord he is hungry! and holy crap henry is a little piggy! he is eating up to 4oz in one sitting, maybe more, and he is feeding within every three hours. im not always filling him up with just breastfeeding so we have added formula which he loves (and using some of what i have pumped as well). he seems to get kinda gassy still in the evening but its not too bad.

likes
henry loves playing the piano on the play mat, falling asleep on mommy and daddys chest, getting his diaper changed, bouncing in his bouncer seat, hanging out with grandma(s) and grandpa(s), staring at the ceiling (i swear theres a ghost in our house), choo choo train legs (daddys game with him), and like i mentioned above, eating. man this kid loooooves eating (he takes after his mommy haha). he also loves Maurice the moo cow-

dislikes
he HATES being wet. other than that, hes really very happy.

happy 2 months little man!

red hot dogs and a long run

week 4 of marathon training (for MDI marathon) has officially come to an end (as of sunday, were now into week 5. timely blog posts are not my strong point any more). so far so good... i havent missed one run (which is a huge surprise to me!). this past week i was .5 miles short of my long run but i figure since i was a few miles over for the other weeks it all evens out (towards the plus side!) i am happy with how i am beginning to feel on my runs and am hoping to continue feeling that way. last week i was in the mindset that i could care less about running the marathon and really about running in general, but thats kinda passed now. im sure its not the last time ill have doubts... oh the joys of marathon training.

week 1
mon- rest (love when marathon training plans start with a rest day!)
tues- 3 miles
wed- 4 miles
thurs- 3 miles
fri- rest
sat- 6 miles
sun- cross training (eating and changing diapers)
  scheduled: 15 miles
  actual: 16 miles (+ 1 mile)

week 2
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 5.1 miles
thurs- 3 miles
fri- rest
sat- 7.5 miles
sun- cross training (ran 2 miles. really doing well on this whole cross training thing, huh?)
   scheduled: 16 miles
   actual: 20.6 whoa! (+ 4.6 miles)

week 3
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 6 miles
thurs- 6.2 miles
fri- rest
sat- cross training? nope.
sun- 5 miles
   scheduled: 15 miles
   actual: 20.2 miles! (+5.2 miles)

week 4
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 4.1 miles
thurs- rest
fri- 3 miles
sat- cross training... i just have to laugh now
sun- 8.4 miles
   scheduled: 19 miles
   actual: 18.5. lame (-0.5 miles)

marathon training in the summer is awesome. not.

so, clearly i need help with the whole cross training thing. as much as i am happy that i didnt drop the $$$ last fall on the bike i really wanted, i do wish i had it now (and def cant justify spending the money right now. who has one for me to steal borrow for the next two months?! preferably a pink one...) sure i could head to the gym but i love hanging out with my husband and little man on my days off, and its just too nice to be inside biking! i might try to get back into the pool at least once a week, and my neighbors have been desperately trying to drag me to boot camp so im hoping to get there sometime as well. i have p90x collecting dust sitting on my tv stand (and make excuses every day as to why i cant do it...), i have weights in the basement, i downloaded a few ab workout apps on my phone... someone come be my personal trainer please!

now this is what i call cross training!

on sunday sarah and i headed out early in the am to try to get 9 miles in before spectating the old port half marathon and 5k. a bunch of our friends were braving the heat (for once sarah and i made superb life decisions by NOT running the race!) so we wanted to cheer them on. we got a bit of a later start than expected but it was still fairly cool and not too humid when we headed out. we parked at east end beach which was right near mile 7 and mile 12 of the half, and mile 2 of the 5k. we ran down towards the start/finish line and gawked at the port-a-potty lines (seriously so long!) we ran along commercial street and at about mile 2 i needed to pee (already?!). we stopped at the gas station and a construction worker was buying a red hot dog. dude, its 7:15 in the morning!! (and its from the GAS STATION!) dont get me wrong i like red hot dogs, but come on...

the sun was out in full force and it was staarting to get hot when we reached the 3.5 mile mark and stopped to cheer on the start of the half marathon. we waved and cheered, saw most of the people we were there to see (3000 people corralled into one lane on the road made for tough spectating so early) and then we continued on back towards the start. we ran right into the crowd waiting for the 5k to start but quickly got ahead of them before the race started. just a little ways ahead of the start was a volunteer and an arrow pointing into a wooded path up a hill. we couldnt imagine this was part of the race, was it?

yup, it was up. and stairs (this pic is looking back down along the path)

clearly i made sarah run up it with me

who puts stairs in a 5k? what is this, ironman nyc?! it wasnt too far but i had a feeling it was going to be very congested as it wasnt far from the start and the path wasnt that big. it then got onto a narrow path which lead to a huge hill straight up. solid life decision not to run this 5k (or it was filled up when i got around to registering, thankfully!) sarah and i ran down towards the half marathon course and got in a couple of more miles before calling it quits at 6 miles and headed up to the half way point to cheer, complete with cowbells. at the top of the hill there was a criss cross of 5k runners and half marathon runners which i am not sure the race director planned very well for, and it showed to be pretty confusing until the 5k runners and walkers were completely through (including a woman walking the course with her cane. way to go!)

after we saw everyone we went back down to the path where the runners would be coming back after running out onto back cove. there was another cluster fuck of half marathon runners trying to come off the downhill through a water stop onto the path going in the opposite direction as the 5k runners coming through on the path towards the finish and also having a water stop. they had delayed the 5k start after the half and i think that if they could somehow start the 5k at the same time or earlier, it would have fixed those problems. but that was the least of the race directors worries that day i think (5 runners went to the hospital with heat stroke, many more needed medical attention, water stops ran out of water/cups, and the finish line apparently had water issues as well... everything is always a learning opportunity, but water on a hot day isnt something to be low on)...

while waiting for runners to come back towards us i took off to get in another two miles since i wanted to get 9 miles in for the day. i could feel that it was getting so hot but i had water and gatorade so i felt pretty good. i watched the lead male and female come in for the finish and cheered the runners on as i ran back to where sarah was cheering. we saw jens husband and brother in law pacing their friend in (complete with a blue sparkle skirt!)

we jumped in and ran a little with another sarah who i know from college, and then again with my cousin kim. we cheered my friend betsy in (while she grumbled something about hating life and wanting to quit all things running), and cheered for gia who was here all the way from nyc! all in all im thinking i got in an extra 0.4 miles, to get to 8.4. fine with me, i was done. just before we left to go home we saw sara and eric coming in through the water stop and we jumped in front of them and cheered REAL loud. who wants to run a hot humid half when you can cheer for all the runners!! so much more fun.

back cove 5k series

last weeks back cove 5k series race was by far the best one for me yet... funny that i told kristal right before we started that i would walk over and meet her at the finish line (aka- not run) or that i was just going to walk the whole thing and she would have to wait for me since i was her ride home haha. funny thing about running though... once i got started i felt awesome! like the best i had felt in a very long time, probably since i started running again. my breathing felt good. my stride and form felt right. when i got to mile 1 at 8:05 pace i felt like i could still keep that pace up for the next two miles and decided to push it a little more. i didnt walk up the mile 2 hill like the week before. mile 2 read 7:57. i pushed it even more on the down hill and to the end, finishing in 25:03. just at 8 min mile pace, with my last mile being 7:50. needless to say i was extremely pleased to have taken my 5k time down another 2 minutes from the previous time of just over 27 minutes, and over the last 4 races i have averaged 8:49 pace (12.1 miles, total time 1:49:26).

i cant run this race next week as were going on a booze cruise (tylers boss's band is playing, ill take beer over running any day!) but i am looking forward to seeing how much more time i can potentially cut off over the remaining few weeks of the series. i know it will be a long time (if ever again!) to get back to 22:xx, but anythings possible i guess.

photo courtesy of maine running photos

(when i originally posted this, maine running photos didnt have any pics up on facebook from the race, so i put up pictures of henry instead!)

hey coach K, weve got your starting center for 2031!

(although coach K will be like 100, so mommys hoping shane battier replaces him!)

someone discovered they have a tongue this week

bath time for this crusty little froggy!

the new babysitter

by far the best form of entertainment... for henry and us. lay the kid down on this and its free babysitting for at least an hour. and youll forever have little bunny foo foo stuck in your head. (buy it here)

seriously, he cant get enough

incase you thought i was joking

meet tiffany- newborn necessities

during my pregnancy i started following a lot of new bloggers who were due around the same time as i was. i really enjoyed following along with their pregnancies as i went through mine. i thought it would be fun to ask a few of them to write guest blogs for me so you all dont get bored reading about henry (i know that wont really happen but i figured i would change things up a bit)... first up is tiffany to write about her favorite newborn items!

Hello ooh breathe, just breathe readers! I'm Tiffany from The Austin Family Diary. I am a new momma just like Danielle is--we actually had our little guys on the same day!

Because we're both still in new momma mode, Danielle and I decided to write guest posts for each other. You can find her post on running while pregnant over on my blog. Danielle thought it might be fun for me to talk about my favorite newborn items. Now that my little guy Elliott is here, I've definitely formed my own opinion on what items work for us.

Blankets:

via

aden + anais are really all they are talked up to be. They are great swaddle blankets and such a light weight material--perfect for the summer.

We've also been big fans of the SwaddleMe blankets because of the Velcro---there's no Houdini-ing out of these bad boys.

via

Swing:

via

We love our mamaRoo! We picked this swing because not only does it mimic our swing motion, but it's so much smaller than your typical swing with the wide arms. We have a small living room area so the space issue was a big concern for me.

Rocker:

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Our Rock and Play Sleeper has been awesome for Elliott to sleep in, especially early on when Elliott was sleeping in our room. Now we use it for him to nap in if we're just hanging out in the living room. Plus it was really convenient to bring on trips. He sleeps great in it.

Wrap:

via

I was super skeptical about whether or not I would need this, but I'm so happy we got a Moby wrap. It's so nice to wrap Elliott up when I can't put him down. He usually always ends up falling asleep in it and I am able to get a few things done.

Jams:

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These jams are the best! My hubs wasn't (and still isn't) thrilled about these jams, but man are they amazing during those late night/early morning feedings. You just slide it right up and change that diaper and you're done. So much easier than trying to snap all those darn snaps!

Diaper Pail:


via

I honestly put a lot of thought and research into our diaper pail since we have a two bedroom townhome. My hubs was super concerned that if we didn't have a good diaper pail, that our house would constantly smell like dirty diapers. The Diaper Dekor has been a great pail and it holds the smell in great. Plus--they now have a cloth liner for the pail for you cloth diaperers :)



Those are my newborn favs so far. Thanks so much for letting me take over your blog Danielle!

llbean 10k

this past thursdays fourth of july L.L.Bean 10k was my 21st lifetime 10k race, and the 4th time i have run this race. for some reason i still keep signing up for this race and around mile 2 i curse myself for being out there. its always hot. its always humid. and those damn hills get bigger each year i swear.

2009- 49 minutes flat (apparently i was in some sort of sick shape then) (yes, that is in fact the same year where i went 47:50 at the beach to beacon 10k, a month later. ive never even come close to that again.)
2010- 52:21
2011- 51:31
2012- didnt run, dont know why (oh yeah because i dont like this course and its always hot and humid and they never move the hills like i ask them to! actually ty and i went to foxboro and ran finish on the 50! best race ever! i should do that one every year, right katie?)

but alas, there i was at the starting line last week. i had seen a few friends prior to the race start (although none of them were the friends i had said i would hopefully meet up with pre race!), andy had thankfully picked up my race bib when i frantically texted him on my drive up, and they had a not so great rendition of the star spangled banner before we took off (granted i shouldnt talk, you dont see me up there singing it, but im really more for the traditional play the original band version over an intercom kinda gal).

i didnt wear my watch on purpose... this was my first 10k back after having henry and i just wanted to run the race for me. i only had 3 miles on the training schedule for this day so i definitely wanted to get that in, and then walk the rest if i needed to, i really didnt care. in the first mile i felt pretty good, it was mostly downhill and shady. shortly before the mile marker i saw cindy up ahead of me, one of the people i had tried to find pre race. she had an "idiots running club" bright neon yellow shirt on, you couldnt miss her! i sprinted to catch up with her, then spent the next few minutes trying to catch my breath as we chatted. i then fell back a little and tried to get into a groove.

during the 2nd mile three other friends caught up and passed me (thanks allie, jake, and andrew! just kidding, nice work). pretty much everyone else i knew that was running was stupid fast and way ahead of me so i didnt have to worry about seeing anyone else i knew. i just kept running along, knowing the hills that were coming up and dreading every minute leading up to them. just before mile 3 is a pretty big hill, and i decided to push it up that, then use the downhill to recover and reassess my game plan from there. i crossed the 3 mile marker at 28:30, knowing i was just about 30 seconds behind the clock, and i felt pretty good about that. my body wasnt feeling great though, so i decided to walk a little. the water stop after mile 3 was a mess, so many people stopping for water and the volunteers were frantically trying to fill up cups as they had gotten behind. i didnt care if it took all day, the water from the hoses was so cold and i eventually took a cup and dumped half of it down my front, half of it down the back of my neck. ahhhh, refreshing. a ridiculously horrible hill is right before mile 4, and yeah. i walked up that one for sure. its seriously pure evil.

at mile 4, miley cyrus's song "the climb" came on. this song always makes me emotional (please hold off on all the laughing, i really do like that song), but it really hit me right then and i welled up. ive always had this crying during races problem (it got a little better once where i wasnt crying at every race, but it creeps up on me from time to time). have you ever cried during a race? its really hard to breathe. not so conducive to running. and then i get mad that im crying and yell at myself. and i look like a fool. but whatever, so i was like bawling. i was so happy i was out there despite hating that race course and for that mile i just felt awesome. mile 5 to 6 sucked again (hill) but i made it, and sprinted past a few people into the finish line. i was so happy to be done!

the struggles im facing, the chances im taking

sometimes might knock me down but no im not breaking

i may not know it, but these are the moments im gonna remember most 

yeah, just gotta keep going

and i, i gotta be strong, just keep pushing on

...aint about how fast i get there

aint about whats waiting on the other side

its the climb

the end.

and then i went promptly to my 2nd home

official time: 1:04:00  

pace: 10:19

69th out of 98 age group

988th out of 1359 total runners

back cove 5k series

last wednesday was race #6 in the back cove 5k series. it had been super hot and humid all day... i was really hoping it would rain to cool things off, but the sun stayed out all day and into the afternoon. kristal and i headed out just after 5 (its fun to car pool!) and we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the boulevard and there was a nice breeze. thank you mother nature! (that breeze seemed to die off right around race time, but all in all the race wasnt so bad heat wise). i needed to run 4 miles for training so she and i ran from her car to the port-a-potty then around a small loop, getting in 3/4ths of a mile before heading to the start (we had planned to do half a mile before the race and half a mile after, but this worked out well... i knew i wasnt going to want to run a lot after the race was over). 

we met up with a girl kristen who we had met the week before and chatted with her a little bit before the race started. i felt pretty good starting out and really tried not to look at my watch for pace, just ran again on feeling. i ended up walking a little just before mile 2 (maybe 10-20 seconds), and that helped power me for the last mile. i was kinda annoyed at myself when i crossed the finish line 6 seconds slower than my time in the race from last week, but oh well. im not looking to "pr" all these races, just glad im out there. when i crossed the finish line my watch showed 3.88 miles, so we only had a very small ways to go to get to 4 miles. kristal and i took off and when my watch read 4 miles we stopped and walked to the car. 

the end.

113th out of 166 runners

official time: 27:17

photo courtesy of maine running photos

yup, im the cool kid who brought my water bottle to a 5k. whatever.

(kristal brought hers too so there!)