Day 89 + 90

ANOTHER PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But before we get to that I need to play catch up, so here's a rewind to yesterday. I'm sorry this is going to be a reaaaaaally long post. Please read it though! It gets better as you go. :-)

Friday: Today started with what will now be a regular Friday 10am meeting for the rest of my life. :-( It was over at Eastman and I was not expecting it to be very great (it wasn't) BUT the most amazing thing happened. While one of the ladies was pulling her lap top out of her bag, she also pulled out some of her lunch... she was just reorganizing things... but as she was doing this, out came.... A single serving bag of Tim's Cascade Jalapeno Chips. Now readers - right now some of you are going... uh... ok. But there are other's out there that will gasping because you know 1) how delicious these chips are, and 2) how rare they are away from the Pacific Northwest. I obviously had to ask where she got them - and five questions later I realized she is from the same town I grew up in!!!! The meeting was still lame, but afterwards we reminisced about Costco, Ikea, Fisher Scones at the Puyallup Fair, Almond Roca, and Market Spice Tea. If that weren't enough to bring a huge smile to my face.... she gave me her bag of Tim's chips. BEST MEETING EVER!

After work I ran a bunch of errands, including a trip to a local running store to find out if there was something I could do to help my knee issue. Even though I chose not to run that day, my knee was still causing lots of pain just walking around. I ended up getting help from one of the workers who not only hooked me up with a knee strap, but who also had done the Marine Corps Marathon and he was FULL of good information. Here's some of the stuff I can remember (I honestly wish I'd had a notepad while he was talking).

1) Bring toilet paper to the race (this is now the second time I've gotten this advice... those VIP porta potties are looking better every second). He suggested taking a roll from my hotel. 

2) Don't start too fast no matter what (I have read and heard this about 1,000 times now) 

3) Don' try to weave in and out of everyone at the beginning... it will be really congested and that could waste a lot of energy. Instead, stay in one lane of the road, and only worry about getting around those people. 

4) Wear socks for mittens and a trash bag or old sweatshirt if it's cold - that way you can toss them to the side once you warm up and won't care what happens to them. Also, if you wear an old sweatshirt, cut the neck hole bigger so it isn't so hard to take off while running. 

5) Divide the race into three sections. During the first 10 miles, relax and enjoy. For the next 10 miles, start to focus. And finally know that the last 10k is going to be hard and really hurt - he said the mental part would be more challenging than the physical, but you just have to keep going. 

6) Be prepared for a major hill at the very end of the course. Whoa what?!? I knew there was an incline at the end, but when he compared it to Cobbs Hill (some of you will know what that means) I was shocked. That is not cool. 

7) Since I'm flying, pack everything I want for my race in my carry on. Better safe than sorry. 

8) And lastly, he told me to try my hardest not to freak out during my taper. That if I could do 20 miles, I'd be just fine.

Thank you mystery running store worker. That was all great advice!

Friday night ended by celebrating Alyssa's birthday. Happy Birthday Alys!!!! Andy and I went together (he's finally back from a two week trip to Canada in case some of you were wondering why he disappeared from my stories). It was not only fun to hang out with Alyssa, but it gave us a chance to see friends we hadn't seen in awhile, including Lisa Shaw!!

Lisa, Alyssa, and Babs

Now, onto Saturday!

My morning started dark and early, and I was NOT happy to see it was pouring rain. I was signed up to run a 5k this morning to represent job number one. Thankfully a little (or a lot) of rain didn't scare off Sarah, Katie, or Scott (Katie's boyfriend) because we all still got out there. Actually by the time the race started, the rain was pretty much gone. I sure get lucky with race weather!

Sarah, Babs, and Katie - ready to run!

Earlier in the week I was curious if I could get a PR, but as the week went on and my knee felt worse and worse, I didn't think it would be possible. I decided to give it a good effort, but that I wasn't going to kill myself or my knee. With the help of my new knee strap... I actually felt almost normal while running, so I tried to keep a good pace. As the race went on I realized my knee wasn't going to give me problems - I went for it! I'd say I ran fast enough that it was tough and I was working hard, but not so hard that I felt like I was going to puke. Towards the end I pretended I was doing one of my strides and sprinted through the finish. My official time was 27:08!! That's an 8:45/mile pace!!!!! YAAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!! Sarah - our resident cheetah - smoked it and finished in 23:15 (7:30 pace). And guess what... She came in 4th place again!!!! Noooooo!!!!! Katie did a super awesome job too, finishing in 25:27 (8:13 pace). I'm so proud of my fast friends.

The second best thing besides running a PR with friends to see me finish was the post-race food tent! Sarah and I did a little grocery shopping. Hey... gotta get back some of that registration fee!

I got 2 yogurts, 2 granola bars, 1 bag of trail mix, and 1 bag of popcorn. Score!

I couldn't stick around long because I had to rush to work at job number two. I wish I could get a PR every morning before work - I was in a great mood during my shift. :-)

Sorry this has been such a long post, but I need to write about one last thing. While I've been training for my marathon, my friend Sheena (in Chicago) has been training for a race of her own. Sheena has been into crew since college and hooked up with her friend Courtney to do an erg marathon relay. Basically that means she and Courtney traded off back and forth on a rowing machine until they covered 26.2 miles (barf). Well today was the big day, and Sheena did it!!! I'm really proud of her. :-)

Way to go Sheena!!!

Tomorrow is long run day, and Andy and I are finally going to venture out for 20 miles in one shot. Holy Cow. I better get started on making some pasta. I can't wait for the day when I get to eat pasta for dinner and not have to run over three hours the next day. It will be here soon enough!

Total Miles Run: 316.23
Total Weight Change: -8.1