Turkey Trot Race Recap

For the third year in a row, my family started out Thanksgiving Day with a turkey trot in my hometown. My mom, dad and sister did the 2 mile walk and I did the 5 mile run. It was a chilly morning (in the 20s), but nothing compared to the bitter cold we dealt with last year.

I lined up in the middle of the pack, and right at 8 a.m. we were off. The course was different this year, so that offered a change of scenery. I started out a little fast, which I tend to do when it’s cold, but was holding a good pace through the first few miles, so I tried to keep it up the whole way. Part of the course went on to the bike/walk path along the river which was nice to look at, but I’m always skeptical when races use a path instead of the road because it can get so crowded. Luckily, things had spread out enough by that part of the course that it wasn’t a problem.

I crossed the finish line in 48:55 and then the mist started to fall as I made my way over to get my pie. The rain held out for the whole race, and we were so glad. By the time we got back in the car it had turned to a sprinkle, but we were done! We grabbed a pumpkin cappuccino on our way home.

We spent some time relaxing the rest of the day until more family came over for our big Thanksgiving dinner and to watch the Packers take on the Bears. The Packers were not able to pull out a win which made for some sad Wisconsonites, but we had fun watching together and placing some fun bets on the game.

We weren’t done with football yet, as my family and I headed to the Gophers vs. Badgers game on Saturday. It was cold, so we were bundled up. Unfortunately the Gophers weren’t able to pull out a win either (not a good weekend for my teams), but again we had fun cheering them on.

I’m officially in Christmas mode now and got my apartment decorated on Sunday. I’m excited for the holiday season to continue!

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you do a Turkey Trot?

Girls on the Run 5K Race Recap

This past Saturday I ran the Girls on the Run Twin Cities 5K. It was such a great event! It’s so cool to see so many young girls having a good time and being excited about running. They had music, a “happy hair” and face painting before the race.

I registered as a running buddy, so I was paired with a girl to run the race with and encourage her along the way. I got there early to pick up my packet and found the school team my running buddy was on. The team literally gave their girls wings to wear for the race – so cool! They had extra, so I got to wear some too. 🙂

At 9 a.m. we all headed to the start line. When we crossed the line my buddy took off like a rocket! All I could do was hope I could keep up with her. I almost lost her at the beginning when we were weaving around all the people, but I eventually caught up.

I let my buddy set the pace, and she took the walk/run strategy. She did such a good job and never gave up even when she was pretty tired near the end. We got her to start running again as soon as we saw the finish line in the distance and she took of sprinting for a rock star finish! We did the 5K in 40:10 – pretty impressive for a 5th graders first 5K!

We collected our medals at the end and my buddy’s mom found us. Her mom thanked me for running with her daughter and gave me a big hug. It was so sweet!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Girls on the Run, and getting to participate in this celebratory 5k reaffirmed that all of those opinions are right. It was a great morning and a wonderful opportunity to provide a fun, active, and positive atmosphere for some truly spectacular girls.

I hope the 5K entry winner had a great experience, too!

The rest of the weekend was full of cheering on the Gopher volleyball team who took down #1 seed Penn State and getting in a good 4.5 training run at Lake Nokomis for Team Challenge.

How was your weekend?

Disclosure: I received a free race entry and one to give away. All opinions are my own. 

30 Day Challenge + Last Call for Race Entry Giveaway

One thing that I’ve never been great at is consistently incorporating strength training in my workout routine. I go in spurts where I do it a couple of days a week for a while and then it always seems to fall off.

I wanted to do something that would give me a kick in the butt to do more strength training while I’m building up my base again after the marathon and before New Orleans Half training really picks up. So, I decided to do a 30 day challenge of planks, push-ups, and squats! I was thinking about this on Nov. 1, and since there are 30 days in November, I decided there’s no time like the present.

I did a 30 day challenge a couple of years ago, so I pulled out the schedule I used for that.

I’m keeping myself motivated by putting the printed schedule on my coffee table so I see it each day and can cross it off when I’ve done the exercises. I have no excuses – these are things I can easily do in my living room while watching TV or right after a run.

My hope is that getting into a routine in November will carry over to at least doing some strength training a couple of days per week throughout half marathon training.

And don’t forget about the Girls on the Run Twin Cities 5K Giveaway! This is your last call to enter!

Have you ever done a 30 day challenge?

Reminder: GOTR 5K Race Entry Giveaway!

There’s still time to enter to win a free race entry to the Girls on the Run (GOTR) Twin Cities 5K on Nov. 14! Come  support these girls as they celebrate their efforts to train for a 5K.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post from last week.

Who wouldn’t want to be there to see smiles like these?!