Bring on the challenge!

After being awoken by children at 6 a.m. (oy, gotta love that sunshine in the windows!), I got out of bed and ran 6 miles this morning.  Felt a bit sluggish and my knee hurt a bit, but it was also good to get out.  Haven't had the miles this week I'd like, due to last week of school events and holidays.  Planning on either Jillian in the morning or a short run and then a 10 miler early on Saturday morning, before soccer :)

So, I opted for Jillian this morning.  Decided to give the legs a rest today since I'm doing a long run in the morning.  And, it's not like Jillian is the easy way out, either.  I love how much I sweat when I do her workouts!! :)  Wish I could get into more of a groove with her video and do it more often.  Maybe this summer??

Got up and ran my 10 miles at 6 a.m. this morning.  Still wearing crop pants and a long sleeve shirt.  It is June, isn't it???  Can't wait to start wearing shorts again!  

Shorts today!!  Yeah!!!  It's about time!  

Started out intent on doing my regular 4 miler this morning and decided to switch it up a bit.  Headed "the old direction", the way I used to go, way back when.  Really, I should do this more often, as it requires THE MONSTER HILL.  Needless to say, mile 1 was a bit slower than normal because of that, but I really do need to be doing that hill more often.  On the plus side, coming back down was AWESOME!!  :)  Legs felt heavy this morning.  Don't know if I'm just tired (I'm waking up before the alarm, though) or if I feel like I'm just carrying the weight of the world on me right now.  I think that's it, actually.  Trying to sell a house and single parent, among other things is very taxing on the nerves.  Thank goodness for running, it keeps me somewhat sane!! 

Did Jillian this morning.  

4 miles this a.m.  Back to crop pants and long sleeve shirt this morning, as the temp was in the 40's, according to my phone.  However, didn't feel too bad once I got outside, so I might have been able to get away with the shorts and short sleeved shirt. . . 

Running a 5k this weekend, one that I did quite well at last year.  Not sure how it's gonna be this year.  Feeling really slow and sluggish lately.  Don't know what's wrong other than the fact that I have a ton of stress in my life right now.  Keep hoping the running will make it better, but it doesn't clear it up completely.  Guess it helps, though :)  Wish I could get back to the speed I was at last year at this time.  

Tired this  morning.  Originally planned on 6 miles, then changed my mind to 4.  Then, decided to screw running altogether and just do Jillian again this morning.  All this went through my head in the course of a few minutes after my alarm went off :)  Decided that I needed the full body rather than just the legs this morning.  Plus, I get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes :)  Bonus.

What a perfect day for a race!  I love doing this one because it is close and really a fun event.  Last year, by default, I won 1st place in my age group of 30-39, because the real first place winner won overall, and they decided to not have them place in the age groups also.  This year, they didn't make that distinction, but I got lucky and took the first place all on my own today :)

Wasn't sure how this would go today, as my runs lately have felt a lot slower.  And, I've been tired.  And, I've done quite a bit of emotional eating (you know, lots of coke and chocolate).  So, I haven't been feeling like I've been in my best form lately.  However, I set out to just give it my all, and see where the cards fell.

We started off, and I quickly set my pace, which I knew was faster than normal, but knowing it was only 3 miles, I figured I could handle that.  There is a bit of a hill in mile 1, but once you are past that, it is some gradual downhill and flat.  I got to mile 1 in just under 8 minutes, and was feeling pretty good.  The next mile wound down through some neighborhoods, but there was a lot of short up and down and flat, so it wasn't too bad.  Hit mile 2 in just under 8 minutes, also.  Knowing that my time was looking pretty good so far helped me to keep up the pace, even though I was getting a bit winded.  After hitting mile 2 the course took another uphill turn.  Struggled a bit on this one, but made it to the top.  Then, it was flat and another bit of an uphill, but I knew that was the last, and really, it was mostly all downhill from there.  Once I hit the downhill, I started increasing my pace just a bit.  Then, we hit the turnoff and I started to increase a bit more, but I was holding back just slightly, because I couldn't remember for sure how much farther I had to go and didn't want to kill myself before the end.  Saw the last turn and knew I was almost there.  Then, 2 bad things happened (which I didn't really think about till after my husband pointed them out to me at the end - he was a little irritated for me).  I came around that last corner, turning left,  and there was a car trying to make a right hand turn.  Where the car came from right there is anybody's guess.  It was less than 100 meters from the finish line.  So, I had to dodge the car, instead of being able to keep the momentum going around the corner.  Then, a girl decided to race me to the finish line.  So, I sprinted with her.  However, she managed to cut herself in front of me, instead of staying to the side (there was PLENTY of room to cross, mind you), which also cut into my momentum.  Really, she was going to beat me anyway.  She was obviously younger, so youth was on her side.  But, she didn't need to cut me off.  Like I said, I didn't really think about these things till after, but my husband was pretty frustrated for me.  I guess actually watching it happen puts it into more perspective than being in the action.  

After the race, I found my time and saw that I had placed first in my age group.  Pretty excited :).  I had a good friend with me who had run her second ever 5k, and my son and his friend had also done well on their 5k times.  I was excited for the awards as I had placed so well and had good friends and family there.  So, they announced the winners of my age division:  3rd place was 37 minutes, 2nd was 36 minutes, and 1st was 36 minutes something.  HUH?!?!?  Did I miss something??  Feeling a bit stupid, I walked up to the awards people to ask, if, in fact, that was for my age group.  It was, and I was told to go check with the chip time guys to verify that I had actually won.  I went over there, and was quickly joined by the other 2 girls who were supposed to have won 2nd and 3rd in my age group.  Made me feel a little less stupid :)  Sure enough, somebody made a computer glitch, and we were the actual winners of our age group.  So, back to the front to correct this mistake, they read our names in, had to call the people back that they had incorrectly awarded, and got it all straightened out.  It was all fine, but a bit of a downer on the excitement, having to deal with it that way, and we felt bad for those people that had inadvertently been awarded in our place.  Thought it was interesting, though, that the awards people didn't question the fact that the top finishers in this age group were finishing in the 36 to 37 minute range.  A little strange, don't you think?  

Anyway, it all worked out, it was a fun race, great raffle at the end, and everyone left happy.  Sure gonna miss this race next year.  It really is a fun little fun run.   

4 miles this morning.  Isn't it funny how I was so fast on the race Saturday and yet so slow this morning. . .  

Jillian this a.m.  Couldn't decide till the alarm went off this morning what I was going to do for sure today.  Jillian won :)  It was either that or a short run this morning since I had to be back early to get my oldest off to scout camp.  And, since I was awakened to a thunderstorm during the night. . .well, didn't know what I'd wake up to this morning.  This just seemed easier today.

Ran 4 miles this morning.  Wasn't sure how I'd do since I stayed up late last night and was tired this morning, but actually did okay.  Think I was running off a lot of frustration from yesterday. . . :)

10 miles this morning.  Felt good to get a long run in, seems like it's been awhile.  Anyway, did it in 1:32 this morning, which wasn't too bad.  I thought it would be slower.  Still pretty cool out at 6:30 a.m., wondering when summer is ever going to arrive???