A 5k PR!

Another great weekend weather wise, meant another great weekend outdoors!

It all started with a PR in a 5k. I can't even tell you how excited I am that I was able to do this in my race. I beat my previous time by nearly a minute! But there is a small downside as well.

I iced my groin/inner thigh all afternoon on Friday at work. I was so worried about it that I actually told Luke that I may DNS in the morning. I would still dress but I may not run if it's really bothering me Saturday morning. Woke up Saturday morning though and I didn't even feel the pain. I even got out 3 Advil but totally forgot to take them beforehand and didn't really even feel it too much during the race! Ice helps people!

The race began at 9am so it was a great start time considering that Luke, my friend Wes & I spent the evening before at a bar watching a Beatles cover band. Not the best idea to be standing on your feet all evening the night before a race! All the blood pools in your feet then and swells them!

Wes wore his standard jeans (yes, that's what he does) and I wore leggings and Luke wore shorts. I could see my breath at the start of the race, it was a very chilly morning but the sun was out!

As I picked up my packet, I saw a girl, about my age wearing 26.2 earrings and figured she'll be the one to beat (I usually pick one out in a race to try to beat). I ended up not seeing her at the start but she stopped to tie her shoe about 1/2 mile into the race and I passed her. Then she caught up with me and passed me immediately on my left. But she stayed a few feet in front of me in the race. I was always behind her.

Just after one mile, I saw a kid walking, then he would run again and then he would walk again. I remembered something almost identical to this from the last 5k in Belvidere. He started running as I came up to him. I told him that it's OK to walk and that he can walk until the pain stops and his breathing is good and then he can run again and he'll be faster, I promise. But he stayed with me. And so I kept talking to him. Encouraging him, like I did with my other friend in the 10k. This kid seemed to be keeping up with me. His breathing was a bit tough to listen to though. I kept saying that he can walk but he refused to.

I made him promise me earlier that if he leaves me, he needs to find me after the race but I wasn't going to leave him. At the home stretch, I told him that he can leave me if he feels like it. Then he took off (thanking me as he left :) ) so then I tried taking off as well. And I told him that now he was going to lead me and I'm gonna try to stay with him. but I couldn't keep up too much. I was too worried about him, watching him to really find the girl again but I knew she was ahead of me.

As I getting closer to the row of balloons, I looked at the clock and saw that it just flipped 24 minutes. WTF? Could I really do this in 24 minutes? I've never done that before. Sure enough. 24:29 was my finishing time. Wow. I knew my miles were fast cause of my Garmin but geez, I didn't know it was that fast. Like I didn't do the math while I was out there.

But the kid finished. I saw Wes & Luke at the end cheering me on. I saw them after the race and was telling them about the kid. I saw the kid & his mom and went over there and told him that he did great and the mom was really protective like he's fine, he's fine. I told her that I was helping him along. He stayed with me the entire time. Apparently, he's a cross country runner and his season ended a few weeks ago and hasn't ran too much since then.

We went inside for the food & awards. Luke got 1st place in his age group. That was awesome! The girl in front of me? Got third place in our age group. I wasn't sure by how much though not until they results were posted. So all day on Saturday, I was playing what-if games. What if I wasn't helping that kid and talking so much? What if I had kept my 2nd mile under 8 minutes instead of slowing down for the kid? What if I had paid attention at the end and seen her and given it just a little more? Plus, wouldn't it have been so cool and awesome if both Luke and I placed in our age groups?! Wes also did great, running 22:44. His goal was to run under 24 minutes and he totally beat that by a landslide!!

I did tear up a little bit when I got the text message from Wes saying that I had lost by a second. Yes, seriously by 1 second. (the race posted the results later that afternoon when I was out grocery shopping) She's 25, I'm 29. But he responded back saying that I still got a PR and helped a little kid and I was a better person for it. So I guess that's that.

Luke & I ended up going to Rock Cut later on that afternoon so he can run and I mtn biked behind him. Still couldn't keep up on the bloody bike. I had my Garmin with me. I also took video & pictures of him running. That was interesting to show him how he ran.

Sunday we did the same thing only this time, I was on my own mtn biking. I went my normal route and he did his. Come to find out we had a few of the same routes! And I found out that I split from his at one point, normally, never having gone his way until we went running. It was funny though because since I was on my bike, not following anyone, I went my way and then I looked up and saw that he would normally turn right and I was like whoa. That's weird!

I also gave Luke my Garmin to wear. We wanted to know exactly how fast he goes on the trails without having to wait for me to get up the hills on my bike or whathaveyou. Average pace of 6:32 for hills. Yea. Have I mentioned how much I hate the guy? :-)

Unfortunately, Luke was never able to go biking because he forgot his clipless shoes in his car while we took my car to Rock Cut. But as I was biking up to the parking lot, I passed a former instructor of mine from Rock Valley. I met her a few times at races around the area so I knew she was a runner. Luke came down and we got to talk about running with her and she has trail shoes that I'm now thinking of going to look for a pair. I mean, if I'm gonna keep trying to kick this trail's arse I might as well get the shoes to do it with! :-) But I do need to know his route a little better before I go out on my own again!

This week it's supposed to snow. So I think this last weekend was the last good weekend we're going to have until Spring time. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'll still be outside when there's snow on the ground but there's just something about sun & warmish weather I adore!

Below are three Bones in Motion stats. The race, me mtn biking with Luke and then Luke's run itself. Still can't get over the splits for his. Sooooo not fair.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 812 ft Location: Waterman, IL Elev. Gain: -6 ft Date: 11/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+62/-68] Time: 09:00 AM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: Fog/Mist 43 F temp; 89% humidity 43 F heat index; winds E 3 Performance Distance: 3.11 miles Time: 0:24:28 Speed: 7.6 mph Pace: 7' 52 /mi Calories: 330 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 7' 33 -0' 19 7.9 +0.3 -26 ft 2 8' 14 +0' 22 7.3 -0.3 +29 ft 3 7' 56 +0' 04 7.6 -0.1 -6 ft end 6' 51 -1' 01 8.8 +1.1 -3 ft Versus average of 7' 52 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 844 ft Location: Machesney Park, IL Elev. Gain: -10 ft Date: 11/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+564/-574] Time: 01:57 PM Difficulty: 3.0 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 52 F temp; 56% humidity 52 F heat index; winds S 9 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:46:50 Speed: 7.9 mph Pace: 7' 36 /mi Calories: 468 Map Elevation (ft) Speed (mph) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 44 -0' 51 8.9 +1.0 +16 ft 2 9' 27 +1' 51 6.3 -1.6 -3 ft 3 7' 07 -0' 28 8.4 +0.5 -92 ft 4 8' 44 +1' 08 6.9 -1.0 +49 ft 5 7' 40 +0' 04 7.8 -0.1 +76 ft 6 5' 57 -1' 38 10.1 +2.2 -65 ft end 6' 22 -1' 13 9.4 +1.5 +10 ft Versus average of 7.9 mph

Posted from bimactive.com

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 846 ft Location: Machesney Park, IL Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 11/22/09 Up/Downhill: [+544/-547] Time: 10:30 AM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Haze 55 F temp; 66% humidity 55 F heat index; winds S 12 Performance Distance: 6.01 miles Time: 0:39:20 Speed: 9.2 mph Pace: 6' 33 /mi Calories: 444 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 27 -0' 06 9.3 +0.1 +20 ft 2 6' 52 +0' 19 8.7 -0.4 +7 ft 3 6' 16 -0' 17 9.6 +0.4 -98 ft 4 6' 50 +0' 17 8.8 -0.4 +92 ft 5 6' 33 +0' 00 9.2 -0.0 +13 ft 6 6' 09 -0' 24 9.7 +0.6 -42 ft end 6' 40 +0' 07 9.0 -0.2 +6 ft Versus average of 6' 33 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Gobbler Gallop 5k, Luke, mountain biking, Rock Cut State Park

Somebody just try to keep up with me!!

Thunderbirds!!

I'm a monster!! Or a ball of energy, one of those planes or just plain crazy.

I went into Chicago for a board game night on Friday night. Came back to DeKalb at 1am because I knew I had a 10 mile run on Saturday morning. I did manage to wake up at 6am when my alarm went off. Which surprised me since I actually was woken up at 2:30a when a huge crashing storm came rolling through and scared the crap about of me and my cats! That lasted for about a half hour.

I actually didn't get running almost 7a when I wanted to start at 6:30am. I had looked for my iPod earlier and that's why I was running late. I jut couldn't find it though. I thought it might be out in my car and I had hit the unlock button on my keychain while I was inside my apartment but unfortunately, it didn't unlock when I went out there so I went off without my iPod. 10 miles with no music. This will be interesting. I also just ate a bagel with some cream cheese, I knew that was going to be enough.

And I managed to do all right. The temp was 67 when I left but at 96% humidity. I did bring a bottle with me. Again, I ran out by the end. Like RIGHT at the end. So I must bring the 4 bottle with me with anything over 10 miles. I also brought some Sport Beans which I ate at halfway (thus why one mile was 12 minutes long).

After that, I hopped in the shower (gotta love cold showers now in the summer) and then I packed up for a mountain bike ride in Rockford with a date. What I didn't plan was how long it was gonna take me to get ready and I ended up running late. So much so that I didn't have a chance to eat anything after my run and I was HUNGRY! I did fill up my water bottle once we met up (I was 20 minutes late and couldn't call the guy BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE A CELL PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) with a Propel drink packet and hoped that was going to do.

He had no helmet and his bike was entirely too small for his height (his knees were totally bent, even on extension) but we ended up biking for almost 2 hours as I had hoped we would. And that was about 9.5 miles. I started the Garmin late so I'm sure that we went .1 before I hit the Start button. Yes, I did bring Phil with me just to see the route that we took around the trails & forest of Rock Cut. It's pretty nifty to look at!

I had to end the ride because I just couldn't take it anymore. I was STARVING. It was well after noon. We did go for some pizza after that and I had a few beers (he doesn't drink at all).

I headed home to clean up a bit and then got ready to go to a concert. I was out until nearly 1am that night (went to sleep around 2:30a I think)!! Got up at 8am to hit the road to Peoria, IL where I attended the Prairie Air Show. Got a lot of sun that day. But a great time was had, by almost all, but especially so by me!!!! I LOVE AIRPLANES!!!

Went out to eat at a great Mexican restaurant here in DeKalb and then that Sunday night around 4am, I got sick. Like in the bathroom for over 2 hours. Back and forth, back and forth. I couldn't get warm enough to fall back asleep. I put my PJ pants back on. Nope. I put socks on. Nope. I closed the window. I think that finally did it or just being tired did it. I ended up going into work for 1.5 hours and then took the rest of the day off sick and slept all morning long getting up again around 1pm. I tried eating a yogurt and kept it down. I had nothing else to eat cause I just couldn't bear the thought of it. I thought that the nap was going to ruin my night's sleep. But it didn't. Going to sleep again at 10pm and waking up hard at 7am, not wanting to get out of bed. Today I only had a cupful of dry Cheerio's. This evening I had a PB&J sandwich. I need the energy!

I have no idea if it was food poisoning or just a 24 hour bug (I'm thinking the former). Anyway, I have been very lethargic. So much so that I'm actually driving slow, walking slow, talking slow; everyone can notice. If you have EVER met me, you know that I'm quite high energy (thus my Saturday events) but this thing just knocked everything out of me. As of this writing I am now about a 5 on a scale of 10 energy wise (10 being the highest and most normal).

I haven't ran since the 10 miles on Saturday. Boy, for wanting to get another PR in this marathon in October, I'm so not taking my training seriously!! But I'm going to take tomorrow off again and try running on Thursday morning. Just an easy few miles and then some more on Saturday morning.

Tomorrow I have another outing date (different guy!!). This time luckily, not as rambunctious. It's just playing disc golf here in DeKalb. I already warned the guy of what's going on with me. So we'll just walk the 9 holes quite slowly. But I miss my former self. I need another good night's sleep and then I'll be good to go tomorrow afternoon, I hope!!

Below is my run info and then my bike info.

And before anyone comments, my sickness was not caused by overdoing it this weekend. This is quite within my range of activity easily!! :-)

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 852 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/11/09 Up/Downhill: [+223/-223] Time: 06:47 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 68 F temp; 93% humidity 68 F heat index; winds NE 6 Performance Distance: 10.00 miles Time: 1:40:24 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 02 /mi Heart Rate: 178 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1070 190 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 53 -0' 09 6.1 +0.1 161 +36 ft 2 9' 38 -0' 24 6.2 +0.2 172 -39 ft 3 9' 36 -0' 26 6.2 +0.3 176 +3 ft 4 9' 49 -0' 13 6.1 +0.1 181 0 ft 5 10' 05 +0' 03 6.0 -0.0 182 +17 ft 6 12' 49 +2' 47 4.7 -1.3 176 -16 ft 7 9' 59 -0' 03 6.0 +0.0 182 0 ft 8 10' 18 +0' 16 5.8 -0.2 183 0 ft 9 11' 14 +1' 12 5.3 -0.6 181 +27 ft end 9' 37 -0' 25 6.2 +0.2 184 -27 ft Versus average of 10' 02 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 839 ft Location: Machesney Park, IL Elev. Gain: -19 ft Date: 07/11/09 Up/Downhill: [+738/-757] Time: 10:38 AM Difficulty: 3.4 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 9.39 miles Time: 1:45:18 Speed: 5.4 mph Pace: 11' 07 /mi Calories: 1038 Map Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 10 miles, dating, energy, mountain biking, sick