It’s Official!

Suzy, Felice & I signed our names and the registration form is being mailed. We are running a 3 person Marathon relay on February 21st!!!! I can’t wait, I know its going to be an amazing experience. I feel so “at home” with other runners and a sense of pride when I cross the finish line.

Saturday I had grand plans for 8 miles. The temps were around 9 degrees when I had planned to run with wind chills of ‘way to freaking cold’. I know I said I was going to do all of my long runs outside but I just couldn’t do it. I have a fear of getting hit by a car (I was hit crossing the street a few years ago) and the sidewalks that I normally run on are covered in snow & ice. All of these factors convinced me to go to the gym. I rented a movie off of i-Tunes in hopes that it would help alleviate the torture. Not so much. I covered the screen so that I wouldn't be haunted by the numbers. After awhile I allowed myself to look expecting to see 3 miles….Try 2.4 MILES! Ohhhhh the torture. At 6 miles the flipping treadmill turned off without any warning. I am lucky that I just looked at the screen otherwise I wouldn't have know how far I ran. I said a few curse words to myself and start the treadmill back up. 1/4 mile in the stupid thing turns off again!! Any normal person would have taken this as a cue to get off and go home. No, not me. I hop onto another treadmill and complete 7.25 miles for the day. Not the 8 that I wanted but that’s ok. I had to use the time from my HRM since I was on the treadmill from hell. Approximate time it took me to run 7.25 miles was 1:26 (11:26min/mi).

Today was race #3 of the HMRRC Winter Series. The options were 3 miles, 10k or 25k. I did the 25k. ……. Did you even believe that for 1 second? When I left my house at 9:15 the temp was 8 with a windchill of –1. Helllloooooo, can we say frostbite?! In case you were wondering; I wore a pair of running tights with a loose pair of UA pants on top, long sleeve tech shirt, short sleeve tech shirt & nike jacket. I wore 2 pairs of gloves, headband to cover my ears/forehead and my hood. Suzy volunteered for this race so it was great to see her cheerful face at the registration table. Almost immediately Felice spotted me and we all started chatting like we knew each other forever. I’ll say it again; Runners.Are.Awesome! Felice ran the 10k and I did the 3 mile race. Since Suzy volunteered I was on my own. A mile into the race I was hot. Both sets of gloves came off, my headband came down around my mouth and my hood was off. I was really pushing myself. I was alone for most of the race (except for when I was getting passed by the 10k people). There was a point that the 5k and 10k split and as I was heading up a hill I heard someone yell – GO AMANDA!!!! It was Felice :) I knew that I was getting close to the end and I was feeling that puke feeling. You know what I am talking about. I really have no desire to puke during a 5k so I slowed down to catch my breath and get my heart rate down. Luckily for me the finish was right around the corner. I sprinted to the finish and I finished in 28:12!!!!! My fastest 3 miles ever! Can I claim this time as my 5K PR even though it was technically a 3 mile race?! ;)

Garmin Splits – I am certainly consistent!

• Mile 1 – 9:36
• Mile 2 – 9:39
• Mile 3 – 9:26

It was a great weekend of running!

Suzy was nice enough to get a picture of Felice and I. We didnt think to get one of the 3 of us – next time!