The Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15K & 5K

Sunday was race day! I woke up at 4:50 in the morning and we left the house around 5:20am to drive from my house to Atlanta. The traffic was pretty good until we got to Turner Field, then it was a little backed up, but we had plenty of time.

After parking the car and gearing up, we walked from our parking lot to the race site and did a quick sweep of the area. There was a place to check bags and a few vendors and merchandise tents. I actually did look at merchandise, but there weren't any shirts left that I like. (I have since learned on Facebook that there will be an online store soon!)

I have to admit, this was a very well organized event! They had corral letters on our bibs based on the pace that we entered at sign up which matched ordered gates to stand in. The only thing that took a while was actually starting the race. We were in corral F, which was five from the front. Once they corralled us, we had to wait for the race to actually begin (about 15 minutes). First, was corral A. The horn sounded for them and they took off. Then, we all moved forward in 3 minute intervals, so it was about 30 minutes of standing around waiting to actually race.

The course was hilly, and by hilly, I mean steep hills! The very first one had my calves on fire!! There was a point when my toes actually went numb and I couldn't feel them at all! Once we got to the finish line, we were given Gatorade and then a bottle of water. Then, off to the after party...

There was a tear-off strip on the bottom of the race bib for our "finisher's mug," which consisted of a brown coffee mug with dividers in it. There was a spot for a cup of Ghiardelli hot cocoa, a packet of sugar wafers, two marshmallows, some pretzels, a Rice Krispy Treat and a banana. There was a DJ and SO many people. In fact, there were just over 19,000 (yes, thousand) people signed up for this race.

Here I am with my finisher's mug!

And, Jessica with hers.

It was a great experience and I will definitely repeat it next year. It was well worth the 5am wake up. I had to work right after the race and I didn't get to bed until later last night, so I am super tired. I have logged nearly 8 miles so far this month. I still have a lot to go!

   

Hot Chocolate 5K Atlanta Expo and Swag!!

Today, after work and watching martial arts, the fam and I drove to Atlanta to the GA World Congress Center for the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K Expo and packet pick-up. The race is on Sunday at Turner Field at an insane time of morning!

I have to say, the pick up was extremely smooth moving. There were lots of vendors there. I refrained from purchasing everything I wanted, but I have had issues with my ears being cold a lot, so I splurged and spent 10 bucks on an ear warmer band. I already love it!! I don't know if I'll use it on Sunday, though, because the weather here in Georgia has taken a turn for the crazy and it's 70 degrees outside right now!

Who wouldn't love this?

I met up with my running buddy, Jessica while I was there and we walked around for a few minutes together. We even stopped for a picture:

Yep, this is us, standing in front of a marshmallow man's crotch!

Right next to the "marshmallow man," was a table full of deliciousness:

If you've never tried this before, it's available at a lot of stores and it is like CRACK! You will eat it with a spoon!

After I left the expo, we took the kids through downtown Atlanta to eat at one of the greasiest, yummiest little treasures of the city, The Varsity! They serve hamburgers, hotdogs, chili/slaw dogs and burgers, fries, onion rings, ice cream and the beloved Frosted Orange! It was delicious and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves!

Here is one last pic of all the swag from the Expo. I'll post again after the race on Sunday!

A hoodie instead of a shirt, a hat, a cute bib, a  bag, the headband and the biscoff spread

Tick, Tick, Boom and A Run

My next race, the Hot Chocolate 5K, is in one week. My "training," thus far, has been atrocious. Today, I had one of my "de-stress" runs. I had less than 30 minutes to squeeze in a run and I ran nearly a mile and a half. The first mile was at my comfortable pace of 5mph and for the remainder of the run, I turned it up to 6mph and ran until I was tired. It wasn't too far, but it was sufficient.

I'm not sure how the race on Sunday will go. I am, of course, extremely nervous about it. You'd think after completing a half marathon last year I would be more comfortable with the short races. I think this one has me all wound up because it starts at 7:30 in the morning. That is EARLY for me! That's what time I wake up on the mornings I have to get the kids to school. To even get to the location for this race, I will have to leave my house at 5am and I'll be running at 7:30!! Then....then there is the post party which is an expo of chocolate!!! Not too sure how my body will be handling chocolate that early in the morning.

Moving on to the not so fun part of this post. The car I drive to work, which is a clunker, has been acting up as of late. We have been trying to brainstorm as to what the problem was with it. On Friday evening, I drove from work over to the martial arts studio to watch my son. After that was over, the four of us went over to Walmart and purchased a few small groceries and parts for the car. We decided to change the spark plugs, the air filter and the oil filter/oil. Then, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. I was almost home, driving the kids in the family car, when my cell rang. It was my husband calling to tell me that I needed to turn around because the car quit running and wouldn't start back up. Great. Just great. Here we are on the way home with parts. Just our luck, right? We decided to have the car towed home the following morning and he would look at it then.

Well, he jacks the car up and comes into the house to get me. "It can't be fixed," he says. Yeah.  I go outside and peer under the car and into a hole about the size of my fist in the engine block. So, needless to say, I don't know what in the world we are going to do. We just spent nearly 500 dollars putting new tires on that car! Happy New Year!!!! It's always something, isn't it?

Running Through Time

Hopefully everyone remembered to "fall back" at 2am today. I was wide awake and embracing the time change. I ran a 5K last night this morning entitled, The Anything is Possible 5K. The race started at 1:50am (10 minutes before the time change), so when you finished, provided it was within an hour of starting, you finished before you even started, therefore giving you a negative time!!! Talk about a PR! I was really pleased with this race as it truly was "fast" and "flat." If you have ever run a race that claimed to be those things, you understand that it never truly is either of those terms. This race truly was. I did not PR, like I had hoped, but I did better than 2 weeks ago with The Spooktacular Chase (which did have a hill of death)!

I ran the race with three of my friends and we had a blast!

Here we are before the race!

I truly loved everything about this race. The ambiance was awesome, the music was great, the racers were all in good spirits and ready to have fun. Not to mention, instead of a shirt, everyone received Old Navy pajama pants!!

The Spooktacular Chase

I have had SO much housework to do since last weekend! Add that to the usual running around and you get me...not blogging. I really need some cleaning fairies to magically appear at my house and stay. I can definitely promise them that they'll never be bored!

This past Saturday, I ran my first race since the half. It was The Spooktacular Chase 5K. I ran it with a couple of co-workers. I won't say that I'm terribly proud of my time. It was actually worse than my very first 5K, but it was a lot of fun and the swag was good, especially the shirt! I'm happy that I now have a long sleeved, technical shirt.

We had been practicing for the race for several weeks leading up to the actual event, using a map provided on the website. Interestingly, once we finally got to running it on Saturday, the course was different from the map! I don't mean different in a good way, either. They moved one turn a street down and, instead of having a gradual incline, it was a steep hill of death!! Let me tell you, that will shave some time off of a PR!!

I finished in 43:12 and ranked 33 of 37 in my age group. Like I said, not the best time and certainly not the best place. Not too shabby considering I hadn't run prior to this for 3 weeks. The reasons behind that are for another time on another day, though.

Source

After the race, we wandered around the goodie tables and picked up freebies, then we headed over to Chick-fil-A for some breakfast. After that, I actually had to go to work for 8 hours. It's a good thing the race was down the street!!

Insomnia and a Run

Insomnia. Difficulty or the inability to fall asleep. Yeah, that's been me all week. Even as I type this post, I should be asleep. Last night, it may have had something to do with the half of a pot of kick-ass coffee I made and drank at work around 8pm. I really need to get back on schedule before Monday morning rolls around and I'm not able to function, let alone prepare lunches and drive around since Fall Break will be over. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before how hectic my Mondays are with school and martial arts AND dance class, so I need all the rest I can get!

My insomnia could also stem from stress. I know, me...stressed? Get outta here! Seriously, though, I have a ton of things going on (as usual) and I usually worry about every single detail. I also have some work stress that I could really do without, but that doesn't seem to ever go away and it won't until the problem is addressed and, since I know that isn't likely, I'll just have to learn to deal. I know, vague, right? Sometimes vague is good when you have a public blog!


Speaking of work, this is my weekend to work at my job. We rotate weekends on a cycle and it's my turn. Not only that, but on my work weekends (weather permitting) I go for a run with friends. It was especially important  today since it was the last time we practiced the route for our next race. It's a very hilly course over near where I work. I hope I can PR, but I haven't in practice yet. I'll just hope that the inevitable race day adrenaline helps propel me up those hills! We'll see in just a little under 3 weeks!

Sorry for the short, picture-less post, but I actually started composing this one last night during my bout of insomnia and I plan on going to sleep in a little while so I can be well rested (for once) tomorrow.

Internet Down!

I have neither fallen off of the planet, nor neglected my blogging duties. Our DSL has been down since Saturday afternoon. Apparently, the good folks at AT&T are wiring up our neighborhood to go live on U-Verse soon and they just start cutting wires with no regard to which ones they are chopping. So, I have a lot to catch up on in bloggy world!

Let's see. Last Saturday was our last long run before the half. We went almost 8 miles at our best time yet! Problem is, my left shin is starting to act up again. I also ran alone on Monday for 4 miles and it did the same thing. I am hoping that by not running until this Saturday, it will be good as new. I really don't want to think about 13.1 miles with a hurt shin. I also don't want to think about causing a stress-fracture. 

On Sunday, we went to pick up our race packets in Roswell. I have to say, I LOVE the shirt!! It not only feels good, it looks great! Plus, we got really cool, glow in the dark "slap" bracelets. (You know, like the ones from middle school??) LOVE it!! We also drove the course. It doesn't look too bad. It's not as "flat" as they say it is, but it's definitely no hill of death! So, check out the swag:

My bib, the shirt and the bracelet!

Since the internet has been down, I have been passing the time reading a book. I really didn't want to start another book until the race was over, but out of sheer boredom, I did. I am reading, Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne. It's the second book in a trilogy (of course) about The Little Lady Agency. It has been SO long since I read the first book that I feared not being able to follow along at first, but it was surprisingly easy to remember the main points once I settled in. I am currently about halfway finished. I probably won't finish it before Saturday, even though every time I say that, I end up finishing whatever I am reading!

I'm working tonight, all day tomorrow and Thursday and then I am "carb loading" aka, going to the local pizza buffet for the kid's spirit day for school on Friday and then going to work that evening. Don't expect too much from me until after the race is over. It's probably best that way so that you don't have to constantly read about my sudden panic and insecurities on the situation!! I can tell you that I will DEFINITELY breath a sigh of relief and relax once this race is over!

Falling Off The Wagon

Vacations always screw my world up. They are much needed, but bad for me at the same time. Every time I go on a vacation, I come back with a serious lack of motivation. I still haven't run since coming back from Florida. I was going to get up this morning and get on the treadmill when Shane got home from work, but I went to sleep at 2am. (I downloaded a new book to read and I had to start it) So, my new plan is, I am going to wake Shane up in a few minutes so that I can run before I take a shower and go to work. I really don't have the luxury of time before the half and I MUST finish that race!!!

I finally mowed the lawn yesterday. It rained the 2 available days I had before vacation, so our yard looked like a jungle! We have baby bunnies in our yard and one of them played cat and mouse with me on the mower yesterday. It was SO cute!! (I probably would have taken a picture of it if I carried my mini camera with me everywhere I went like I should.) We also took Gabriel out to dinner and for froyo for his 5th birthday!! His actual party will be on Saturday, so there will be pictures then.

As I said before, I started a new book this morning last night. It's the latest book in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate called Rapture. It is the final book in a series of 4 about Fallen Angels and the relationship between one of them, Daniel, and a human girl named Lucinda (Luce). I only read 2 chapters last night before falling asleep, but they were good. I was glad that I could remember most of what happened in the previous books and the 2 short stories that go with the series. It should be a pretty fast read. It will be a toss-up to find what I will read after this. I really hate to be "trendy" and read Fifty Shades of Gray. I was also considering Divergence, since I have known several people who loved it. We'll see...

As for now, I am about to go and run. I AM....

5 Miles In A Circle

Shane had to work today until 4pm, so I waited until the afternoon to go for my long run for the week. I decided that he and the kids could go with me to alleviate the "safety concerns." So, we headed to the local high school to run on the track.

There is a reason I am not crazy about running on the treadmill. It's terribly boring. You see the same scenery the entire time (although the treadmill is a MUCH easier run). Well, I can say the same about a track. Running in a circle repeatedly SUCKS!!! I had to run that circle 20 times in order to make it 5 miles. It was an outdoor run, though, and I am grateful for that. I would have been more grateful if my MP3 player hadn't died before I finished the first mile.

My pace wasn't the greatest, but I have calculated that if I can maintain a 15:30 pace throughout the race, I can finish in the allotted time. I am not in this race to win any awards or beat anyone else. I am in it to finish it in time and for myself. The only person I am running against is me. I think if I can keep that mentality throughout the rest of the training and in the race, I'll be just fine. I mean, I ran a mile farther today than I did just a week ago.

I'm almost finished with A Discovery of Witches. At this point, it has me captivated. I enjoy it more and more. I can tell that it will be one of those books that I'll be sad about finishing. I'll probably have it finished by tomorrow, the next day at the latest. I don't know what it is about vampire stories that makes me swoon!!