“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” - Walt Disney

Friday, April 29, 2011

Running with Royalty

Well, I was up at 4:45...and nothing else was on...so I watched it.  Yup, I watched William & Kate's wedding while I ran on the treadmill this morning.  I wouldn't normally be running on a Friday morning, but I threw off my schedule earlier in the week and am still playing catch-up.

Anyway, it was fun to see, and it was a nice change from watching the news while running.  However, I'll be glad when all the hooplah is over and it's not all the media is talking about!

Two items of note:
  • Princess Beatrice's hat made me think of that scene in Princess Diaries 2 where she tells the hairdresser she looks like a moose and he tells her "Yes, but a very cute moose! Make all the boy moose go waaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
  • I mouthed the words to "My Country 'Tis of Thee" while they played "God Save the Queen"? I couldn't sing 'cause I was running, but I represented in my own little way...
Anybody else get up to see it?

Today's stats:
  • 10 min. warm-up walk
  • 35 min run; 2.72 mi; 12:52 avg. pace

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

We're not in Kansas Anymore, Toto

Well it has been a crazy couple of weeks around here, weather-wise.  We've had high winds, tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, etc.  They're saying that although it will still be windy, the severe weather should be over for a while, so let's keep our fingers crossed that they're right!

Fortunately, since I recently started running on the treadmill in the mornings, and we were gone over the weekend, the weather hasn't really affected my running much.  Yay!

Today's stats:
  • 10 min. warm-up walk
  • 35 min run; 2.66 mi; 13:09 avg. pace

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Green 6.2: Triply Amazing!

Three amazing things about Saturday's Conn's Green 6.2 5K race:
  1. I set a new P.R. for the 5K distance.
  2. We ran to/from the race venue.
  3. I fell in love with my new skirt.
1.  I shaved 6 seconds off my old 5K P.R.!  The truly amazing thing about it is that it was really hot and humid Saturday morning - high 70's and sunny, with very high humidity.  However, there was some wind to cool us off (is it possible that it was always a head wind?). But, it was a flat course, so that obviously worked to my advantage.  Plus, the race went through my parent's neighborhood, so it was on streets that I know!

2.  Since the race was through my parents neighborhood, and we knew that there would be limited parking near the start/finish line, we decided to run up there before the race and back afterward.  Since I needed to get 5 miles in on Saturday, we measured it out, and, by adding in the distance to/from the house to the race venue to the 3.1 miles from the 5K, it was exactly 5 miles - perfect!  And it worked out great, because it also meant we both had ample opportunity to warm-up/cool-down (maybe that 1.16 mi warm-up helped with the P.R.!)

3.  I've been dipping my toes into the pool of running in skirts.  I bought an "athletic style" Running Skirt brand skirt, have run in that several times, and like it.  I had a small problem with the shorts underneath rolling up a tiny bit, but figured, hey, it happens.  And
there was a little drooping in the back waistband, but I chalked that up to my body type (big hips, smaller waist).  At the Dallas R'n'R expo, Luke's Locker had a Skirt Sports brand "Happy Girl Skirt" on sale.  I tried it on, and bought it, but hadn't really had a chance to run in it.  I decided to wear it for the race on Saturday morning because it was going to be so warm that I felt like even my capris would be too hot.  I LOVED this skirt.  Not liked, LOVED.  It was so comfortable, and I didn't have any of the (albeit small) issues I had with my RS skirt.  I will definitely be buying more of these!  I'm not giving up on RS, but...I might be a SS girl for now.

Saturday's stats:
  • 1.16 mi run; 0:14:14 min; 12:16 min/mi avg pace;
  • 5K (3.11 mi) race; 0:37:39 min; 12:07 min/mi avg pace;
  • 0.76 mi run; 0:09:31 min; 12:31 min/mi avg pace