Finally, a time under 23 minutes!!!

The morning was cool and crisp with temperatures in the low 30's. I struggled getting Sean out of bed. He was changing his mind about wanting to run with me. We got to the race and the sun was shinning and their was quite a bit of participation, so I was confident, well maybe not 100% confident, but confident none the less that I could meet my goal. I have been wanting to break 23 minutes but of course that couldn't be my only goal. Considering this course is "the fastest course in Williamsburg" I knew I had to push it up a notch. I figured if I was under 22:50 I would be pleased.

I started strong, knowing that is the only way I work. My first mile was just over 7 minutes at 7:01. My body stayed strong, and my legs didn't let me down. The second and third mile were a little bit slower, at (I think) 7:23 and 7:20, but not bad considering I usually slow down much more. The last tenth of a mile I knew I had done it and although didn't have a lot left kicked it up a notch. I ended up with a final time of 22:38!

I have been waiting the entire running season to get a time under 23 minutes. I was hesitant that it wasn't going to happen. With the last race of the Colonial Road Runner season I had been putting in extra time at the gym and pushing myself extra hard during interval training. My buddy Jami gave me a final training workout this past Wednesday, and that may have sealed the deal.

I ended up being first in my age group and got a really cool dream catcher as my award. The race proceeds went to the non-profit group Dream Catchers, so it was only fit to have a dream catcher as our award. Jami was 2nd overall. She kicked butt with a time of 19:21, 35 seconds off her PR! It must be her new racing flats that she got. As you can tell from all my posts Jami is my running inspiration. One day I hope to be just like her, good work Jami!

Sean and Ryan (Jami's Fiance) both raced as well and did really well. Hopefully we can get them to continue doing more races with us even though they aren't quite the addicts as we are.

I'm now off to take a nap since we're meeting friends for dinner and a comedy show tonight. Should be a lot of fun!

Softball is over

The rain has finally stopped coming on Fridays, it seemed to have rained most Fridays since softball started, and we were able to participate in our softball playoffs that should have probably happened sometime in October. Regardless, we had good participation especially considering it was about 30 degrees, or maybe colder. The wind was blowing, and it was 9:30 at night.

We played well considering we were a little rusty, hadn't practiced or played in quite some time. We ended up as runners up for the league out of 16 teams, not too shabby.

Doing your part

My sister just recently wrote a blog about one way you can be a little greener. Check out her post about phone books. I know our generation is using the internet more and more and the phone book is basically becoming obsolete. If you no longer use it, then you should add your name to the list so that it is no longer sent to you. Do your part!

8K update

Good news. I contacted the race director and my time was updated. Therefore my official time is 38:20. This kept me in 8th place for my age group, but my overall female place moved to 61. There must have been some other errors, because now it has 2077 females, instead of the original 2027.

nTelos 8K

Saturday morning Sean and I ran the nTelos 8K in Richmond. Our race began at 7 am, therefore we had to get up a little after 4 am to be there on time. Sean always makes fun of the fact that I have no problem waking up at 4 am if I have a race to run, but then struggle to get up at 7 on a work morning. I definitely love my racing.
After finally convincing Sean that he couldn't continue to sleep and that he too had to get out of bed and shower and come with me things went a little smoother. The weather radar didn't look good. 90-100% chance of rain and thunderstorms and the fact that it was already almost 70 degrees (still 4-4:30) in the morning, mind you we are in the middle of November.

Sean continued to tell me that he wasn't racing in the rain, and I accepted it at this point, but told him to bring his stuff just in case. Our good friend Jami was racing the half marathon and was kind enough to drive. She picked us up around 5 am and we drove up to Richmond.

We were a little more than half way to Richmond and the rain slowed up and by the time we got to Richmond it had stopped. We parked, and tried to figure out what to wear. Preparing to run a race in November I had decided on much warmer clothes, but ended up in a tank top and shorts, I still can't believe how warm it was. With no rain Sean had no excuse and had to run.

Sean, me and Jami before the race

The race was fairly flat, with one small hill, and then an end that was all down hill, which made for a strong finish.

I ended up with a time I was proud of even though there is a small time discrepancy with my time and my "official" time. I know it doesn't really matter, but it still bugs me, 4 seconds is 4 seconds. Either way I am happy, because I was under my goal time of 38:30, a 7:45 pace. I placed 8th in my age group out of 377 and 59th for all females out of 2027. Sean did really well too, and finished strong. We all loved the last 1/4 mile downhill!

After our race, we changed into dry clothes and then waited for our friend Jami to finish. Her race started at 7:30 and she was trying to get under 1:38:00. We had some time to kill, so we walked around ate and then found a good spot to watch the winners come in. The first male came in at 1:06:54 and then the first female came in at 1:18:34.

We saw a few local runners and snapped a few shots. We saw Jami and looked at the time and saw she was much faster than she thought she was going to be with an official time of 1:32:16! She ended up getting 2nd in her age group out of 357 and 13th overall for females 2038. Go Jami!

The winner of the the men's half

Sean and I watching from the 2nd level of a parking lot

Rick Platt, the president of Colonial Road Runners

Jami, less than a minute behind Rick

(sorry it's blurry...she was going way too fast)

The three of us showing off our medals with Ronald
(McDonald's was the sponsor of the half marathon)

The winner of the marathon

Greg Dawson, a fellow Colonial Road Runner

We stuck around for a little longer watching the winners of the full marathon and then headed home to enjoy the rest of the day. I checked the weather when we got home and stated the temperature was up to 80 degrees!

Overall it was a fun morning and although it's been a lazy Sunday I'm glad we raced. I signed up today to run the Richmond Half Marathon next year. I of course wanted to save money, and by signing up by midnight I got a good deal.

I have my final Colonial Road Runner 5k on Saturday and so I need a good week of training so I can hopefully break 23 minutes.

Wish me luck!

"Meet the Fockers" weekend

The last week has been very busy, and I obviously haven't had time to log on and blog.

Thursday evening Sean's parent's flew in from NY. Sean and I both drove to the airport to pick them up and then went for a nice relaxing dinner just the four of us.

Friday I wasn't planning on taking off from work, but since I was laid off on Thursday it worked out that I was able to spend the morning with Celeste (Sean's mom) while Sean and his dad played golf. Friday afternoon/evening the four of us went and looked at Tux options and walked around the mall. Nothing too eventful.

Larry and Sean pose with a panda at the mall

Saturday morning, mom was supposed to fly in around 10 am, but of course flying through JFK she was delayed and I wasn't able to pick her up until about 1 pm, the airport is about an hour away so we got back around 2 pm. Dad and his wife Patti drove up and got to our house around 1:30 pm.

Sean and I decided it would be fun to go to the Williamsburg Winery because seriously, who doesn't like wine? Apparently it was a large tourist weekend, because there were so many people. We had to wait a little over half an hour for our tour, but this just gave everyone a chance to hang out and get to know each other.

Outside of the Williamsburg Winery

All 7 of us

After the wine tour we went down to Duke of Gloucester street so that everyone could take advantage of the free samples at The Peanut Shop. It is our absolute favorite! We tried not to eat too much, since we had dinner reservations at our favorite restaurant, Cities Grill. Dinner was a lot of fun and our moms especially seemed to hit it off chit chatting the entire time.

Anyone have any tomatoes?

Sean and the two moms

Dad, Patti, Larry, Celeste and Mom

I couldn't resist, both moms sharing photos off of their cameras

A group shot at dinner

A rare shot with both mom and dad (thanks guys)

After dinner we headed back to the house, where we informed everyone that we would all do the customary Irish Car Bomb. We then sat at our dinning room table and played Imaginiff for a few hours. We laughed the entire time, and I think everyone had a lot of fun.

Dad wearing Larry's funny hat

Mom, Sean and I, Dad and Patti (oh yeah car bombs lined up too)

No one refused the delicious drink

The aftermath

Playing Imaginiff

Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast together and decided to go to Jamestown Settlement and walk around. We lucked out with perfect weather.

The boys with their guns

Larry, Sean, Mom, and Celeste

Dad was excited to see so many hides

Another group shot at Jamestown Settlement

Sean and I in our armor

Dad and Patti

Sean with his snake...he hates snakes

Dad and Patti left around 2 pm, so Sunday evening the rest of us relaxed, watched the Giants beat the Eagles and munched on some appetizers.

Monday morning Sean's parents left before we woke up.

My mom stayed until this morning and we were able to spend Monday and Tuesday together just the two of us.

I've had a busy week, but it has been so much fun and I'm so glad that our families got along so well.

Halloween & Rams Head

This past weekend Sean and I drove up to Sterling, VA to go Trick or Treating with two of his nieces Anna and Lucy. We had a fun time and since they are young enough we were able to steal their candy afterwards. Perfect!

Here are some of the pictures I "stole" from Amy (Sean's sister).

Anna and Lucy pose for a photo

Lucy is the cutest lady bug ever!

Anna the bumblebee

I brought Anna a glow stick and she pretended it was her stinger
(See how surprised I am)

Sean and his Goddaughter Lucy

Lucy and I

Back at the house Anna rolls in her candy

Saturday Sean and I drove up to Maryland and met with potential florists. Well actually I met with them. Poor Sean was sick as a dog and I let him sleep in the car. It worked out well since most florists wanted me to describe my dress.

Appointments went well and it ended up being a bunch of good brain storming sessions. We'll see how everything pans out once I get the quotes.

Saturday evening we went to dinner at Ram's Head Tavern, our favorite place to go and hang out in Annapolis. We used to go all the time. We then saw a concert there a few hours later. Ari Hest with Marianne Keith opening and Julian Velard playing alone and with Ari for a few songs. We had such a good time, and although Sean was still pretty sick sleeping during the day helped and we were able to stay for the entire concert.

Sunday I met with one other florist and then we drove back to Virginia. Sean still didn't feel well so he went straight to bed when we got home (it was only about 1:30) and he slept until about 5:30 or 6. This gave me plenty of time to do numerous loads of laundry, do dishes and catch up on a couple lifetime movies.

Sean is feeling a little better but he's continuing to rest up. He wants to be well rested for this weekend, especially since it's going to be our "Meet the Fockers" weekend. Sean's parents fly in Thursday-Monday, my Dad and his new wife Patti arrive on Saturday-Sunday and my mom flies in on Saturday-Wednesday. Should be a fun weekend. We are excited and will post pics and an update after the weekend.

Back to the election coverage....