Not so rainy 8 miler

I'd apologize about not writing but I'm pretty sure that no one reads this. If you do, I love you and I'm sorry. So the forecast for today was rain, rain, rain. I actually had fun last night reading tips for running in the rain and putting together an outfit. I got up pretty early hoping to beat the rain, and I did. I ran in a nice, hot (considering the past winter), humid misty fog. The run overall was good. I was really proud of my negative splits: 11:59, 11:55, 11:15, 11:10, 11:21, 11:16, 10:20, 10:06 (11:13). it would have been nice to hit that 10 mark but I'm happy with it nonetheless.
Also GRAZE (graze.com) is awesome! I had the super berry detox right before my run, and it was amazing. If you don't know what graze is: http://www.graze.com/us/about and check out my friend code to get a FREE (no strings attached ) box! (https://www.graze.com/us/p/HOLLYR45U)

First Post Race Run/ASB

So I had my first post-race-run yesterday after the 8k on Sunday. My shins were still kind of sore but my friend and I did 2 miles around the Boy's and Girl's Club that we are staying at. We had about an 11:30/mile pace with a couple of stops/street crossings. Volunteering has been amazing, but knowing that I have a funeral to go to this weekend is looming over my head. I'm also cold and tired of eating heavy food. Breakfast and lunch are fine but dinner is all carbs and impossible to eat vegan. I also don't like eating so late...I always end up eating too much. I want to run more and eat fruit! I guess it just goes to show for difficult it is for families in poverty to buy healthy food. Speaking of, we went to Baltimore last night for a dinner, but seeing the city was so sad. We also did a program called "walk a mile" and it was surprisingly emotional. I really want to work with these poverty stricken people. Probably more on this later....I have homework to do!

My First Race!

Today was my first race, the Saint Patrick's Day 8k in Washington, DC. My friend and I got up at 5 am (yes it was Spring Ahead) and packed everything up. We managed to leave Richmond by 6 am after a quick stop at Dunkin' Doughnuts. I got a plain bagel with butter. The drive took a little over two hours by the time we parked. We headed over to the packet pick up, got our bibs and t-shirts. I was kind of nervous but super excited. We decided to line up in the 11:00-11:59 pace zone, figuring that it was a little slow, but we wouldn't be overwhelmed.

Before the Race

The race course was nice, and pretty flat. The only hard part was all of the hairpin turns. The atmosphere was great, though most of the people cheering were the volunteers. I ended up doing fantastic! According to MapMyRun, my splits were 9:36, 9:13, 9:15, 9:52, and 9:28 (my final sprint to the finish was an 8:57 pace). According to my app my distance was 5.15 miles and I had a 9:31 pace. Officially I had a 9:45 pace and did the 4.97 miles in 48:27. I was happy and very surprised with my times. My friend, who doesn't train like I do, did about 3 minutes better than me. My super competitive self let it get to me and for a while after the race I was upset. Once I remembered how awesome it felt to sprint across the finish line, I felt much better.

I got a granola bar and water after the race and then we got our results. I finished 2,092nd out of 3,668 runners and 1,004 out of 2,165 females. I was also 28/47 in my division (females, 15-19). I'm proud and I think I now have a nice base to work off of and I think that I'm well on my way to a sub-60 6k. I also want to run more races and train right now! My legs are super sore though (we did a lot of sight seeing after) and I'm doing an alternative spring break program this week so it's going to be hard to fit running in. I think tomorrow is going to be a rest day for sure.

After the Race

Tempo Run! But not really...

SO after seeing the new snow on the ground, I went back and forth on what I was actually going to do this morning. I ended up running a mile out and a mile back (on snow) and I'm so glad I did! My mile times surprised me so much I stopped after my first mile, 8:04 and 9:31 (8:51)! I had no idea I could run like that...I'll have to make sure I start pushing myself harder. I'm super pumped for this 8k on Sunday, I am running it with a friend who never runs more than three miles so that should be interesting. I'm headed out to Richmond this afternoon and then tomorrow will be rest day so I'll be fresh for the race! It will be interesting to see what kind of workouts I'll get in next week, I'm on Spring break and volunteering with United Way in DC so I don't know what I'll have as far as free time and such. We shall see!!

Track Workout #2

My track workout was much better today than last week! I did 4x800m and my times were 4:03, 4:10, 4:11, 4:09 (4:08 average). I also did abs, arms and legs. Also, I think I'm going to do the Shamrock 8k in DDC on Sunday...my first race! I'm super excited, but tempo run tomorrow...ickkkk.

Back Outside

I was back running outside this morning, though there were some icy spots. I was slower today but I also left earlier in the morning. My splits were 12:12, 11:12, 10:59 (average 11:32). Nice negative splits though!

More Snow. Yay.

It was 65 degrees here yesterday and today we got a snowstorm! Classes were cancelled so I had plenty of time to spend at the gym (I did so much homework this weekend!). I ended up only staying long enough to run my scheduled three miles, there's been some pretty terrible things going on recently and I've sort of been on an emotional roller coaster. Anyways, I hate treadmills and they really make the crease between the top of my foot and my leg hurt. My set times were 10:20, 10:00, and 12:00 but I walked a little and I finished with a 1/3 of a mile 9:40 pace. I was kind of all over the place, but I guess it happens. Hopefully the snow melts enough by Wednesday that I'll be able to get back outside.

Long Run, March and Other Things

So yesterday was my long run (5 miles) and it was terrible. I did ten last weekend and thought that this would be a piece of cake but I was just tired and sore and uninspired from a long week, especially running four miles on Friday. My splits were 10:23, 12:11, 11:53, 12:00, and 11:39 (average 11:37). It just didn't feel good.

I also can't believe that it's March, like what? I feel like this semester is flying by...it's basically halfway over! I also found out last night that Hart of Dixie doesn't come back on until March. SO annoying. The three shows I keep up with are Hart of Dixie, Reign, and Dance Moms (I haven't missed an episode in four seasons!) What about you, what shows do you watch? Do you have any guilty pleasure reality shows?

Finally, I'm working on a video project for my dance composition class and I'm pretty excited, maybe I'll post it up her!