January rewind ...

Well, January is officially over and my favorite day of the year is quickly approaching. My 29th birthday is next Monday. The 7th. Write it down. Start shopping. Get ready to celebrate.

Now that we've got that out of the way, here is my recap of January 2011 ...

Miles Planned/Miles Ran: 193/193.96

Rest Days Planned/Rest Days Taken: 9/8

Highest Mileage Week: 1/24-1/30: 51.5 miles

Long Runs Planned/Long Runs Completed: 4/4

Current Book: I just finished Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald, which was sent to me by Marlene. Here I am reading it with Dilly (she's looking to lean up too).

I loved it and have since passed it along to G. Once she is done, it will be making its way to running: the dawn.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I am addicted. And it's pathetic. If there is an open box in our pantry, I am eating a handful (or 12) every time I walk by. I easily eat a box every two days. So sad.

Current Colors: Lime and Pink

Current Drink: V8 - Love that Stuff

Current Song: F*$! You - Cee Lo Green

Current Triumph: My 1:15:41 finish at the Frostbite 15K. The 8:07 overall pace was a HUGE confidence boost headed into the Princess Half Marathon later this month.

Current Goal: Disney. Sub 1:55. Enough said.

Current Blessing: Pretty much everything. And I don't take that for granted.

Current Excitement: Did you already forget that my birthday is NEXT MONDAY?!?! It's pretty much a national holiday and should be respected as such ...

2011 Goals - Status Update:

Personal:

• Clean up my diet - I have lost 3 of the 6 pounds I gained over the holidays and I have been religiously tracking my calories on SparkPeople.com. Thus far - SUCCESS.
• Eat no more than 25 cupcakes - As of January 31st - 2 cupcakes eaten.
  

Financial:

• Pay off our consumer debt by the end of the year - We've set up a strict cash budget and have been sticking to it quite well. We're on the right track.
• Spend $0 on clothing - As of January 31 - $0 spent.

Running:

• Run 2,000 miles - As of January 31 - 193.96 miles run.
• Run a sub 1:55 half marathon - Next race - 2/27, Disney Princess Half.
• Take 30+ minutes off my marathon - Next race - 3/26, National Marathon.

Frostbite 15K recap ...

Location: Richmond, VA
Date: 1/23/11
Temperature: 26 degrees with a feels like temperature of 15 degrees
Official Time: 1:15:41 (8:07 pace) for 9.3 miles
Garmin Time: 1:15:43 (8:05 pace) for 9.36 miles
Place in Age Group: 7/44
Overall Place: 192/636

The Good:

The Company: I was joined by G (who thought this FREEZING COLD race would be a good idea), KC, 3L, D, J and Katye. Having a bunch of my posse at the start (and finish) almost made the temperatures tolerable. And of course we were the best dressed on the course. Here's a shot of me, G, Katye and KC before the start.


The Course: I had not run this race before and had been warned of hills on the course. Richmond Road Runners described the course like this, "The course is out and back beginning and ending next to the Cary Street soccer field. The course goes out Harrison to Colorado, through the neighborhood next to Maymont and into Byrd Park. Much of the course is flat, but there are a few testy hills."

Past experience has shown that if RRRC mentions hills in the course, they are probably worse than you think. Due to this, I was planning for much worse. There were rolling hills during the first two and last two miles of the course, but for every climb there was an awesome downhill which I tried to use to my advantage.

The Pace: My goal for this race (since I had never run a 15K before) was to use it as a half marathon goal pace run. That meant 9.3 miles at an 8:20 pace. It seemed doable, but I questioned whether or not I would crash at the end (as I historically do).

Anyway, 3L, KC and D were all looking to hold a similar pace. We decided to go together and once we navigated the crowds at the start, we fell into a comfortable groove. Through mile 2 we were averaging 8:10s. Around mile 3, 3L pulled ahead. I tried to keep up. It worked and at mile 4, I passed her. That's when I decided to "just run." No watch checking. No obsessing about the pace. I just wanted to run whatever felt comfortable enough to carry to the end, but hard enough that I knew I was pushing it. We looped back around mile 4.7 and I could see that most of the posse was right behind me. It was a total boost to see them. From then on, I just locked in and pushed to the finish. I felt strong until mile 8 (which was slightly uphill and directly into the wind). When I finished, the Garmin said I had an average pace of 8:05. Just the confidence boost I was looking for heading into my Spring marathon and half marathons.

The Post-Race Refreshments: After finishing, we headed to a parking deck (classy, I know) where we were given Diet Coke (my favorite post-run drink), bananas, bagels and oreos. Now, if they had only served Dunkin Donuts coffee, it would have been perfect.

The Bad:

The Temperature: Did I mention that this race is called the Frostbite 15k and that it lives up to it's name? Enough said.

Next race on the schedule: Disney Princess Half Marathon AND a sub 1:55 finish ...