Monthly Archives: June 2013
Rapunzel
Earlier this year, I took a much-needed mini vacation to Disney World with five of my girlfriends from Portland for the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Thanks to an awesome cast member hook up, we got the friends and family rate for our “Cars” themed hotel room and thoroughly enjoyed being treated like the princesses we truly are.
Here we are bright and early race day morning (L-R) Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Lilo, Jasmin, Rapunzel.
Ready to race!(walk) this was at the height of the peroneal tendonitis this winter and I finished my first half marathon walk in roughly 3:35. Definitely the most entertaining half marathon I’ve completed!
Well, onto the real reason for the post… At the beach house in Maine a few weeks ago, G. and I were playing with his sister’s princess crown…
… And my coworker Sebastian mentioned that his daughter loved playing princess as well. Turns out E. loves to be Rapunzel.
Turns out I happen to have a spare set of two five foot long blonde braids and a sparkly princess tiara…
Tada! Oh, the cuteness!
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy
First off, I say “the livin’ is easy” because it has been, for the most part. I’ve had some really excellent chances to escape work and get away for the weekend, or meet up with friends, or spend hours quietly (<–key word there) weeding the garden. Work has been busier than ever before because now I'm in charge of a summer student three afternoons a week! Yes, I asked my boss if I could have a student and I knew it would eat a major hole into my productivity at work, but the chance to get some mentoring experience was something I did not want to turn down.
So, it's been a busy summer so far! Busy working, busy playing. The cleanliness of my apartment is definitely suffering, but as the placard above the phone and mail table in my parents' house says "An immaculate house is the sign of a misspent life".
A quick re-cap of what's been keeping me so busy lately:
A trip to Boothbay Harbor, ME with many, many work friends. We stayed with family of one of my coworkers at their summer home right on the ocean. I did not want to leave. It was by far the most relaxing three day weekend I've had in years and reminded me of spending summers "Up North" at my grandparents' house in northern Michigan.
The garden is also taking off! Thanks to the extra sunlight and consistently warmer weather. Also thanks to the wild animals that have decided to stop chewing the tops off of my bean plants and letting them grow. There will be beans this year after all!
My goal as summer continues (and gets even busier and more stressful on the work side of things) is to take a little time out each day to celebrate, to contemplate, to be thankful, or to be in awe.
Happy summer!
C
PR City!!!
My most recent 5K was last March. There were several over the winter and late spring that I missed out on due to the tendonitis. With all the time spent not running this winter, I was beginning to think my new year’s running goals might not be in the cards this year.
My fears of decreased pace and fitness have been squashed several times in the last month. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the “fast” pace I’ve been able to pull out on several occasions.
The most recent pace surprise was this weekend at the First Hamden 5K on Saturday. My previous PR was 27:45. I wanted to beat 27 minutes so I set an ambitious pace into my Garmin of 8:40/ mi to ensure that I’d be over the line before 27 minutes, even if . This pace is about 20s/mi faster than my tempo runs for my half marathon training plan.
As I crossed the starting line, I knew I had to push my pace for the whole race if I wanted to PR. The first mile and a quarter was uphill! What the?! Note to self: pay more attention to the course when setting time goals. My tempo run mantra cycled through my mind. “Push it!”
Just after mile 1 at 8:10 pace, we turned the corner to continue running uphill. Will it ever end? Thankfully, the first short downhill was just before the halfway mark. I made up some time employing my attempts at Chi Running, leaning forward as I ran down the hill, increasing my foot turnover to use the downhill to my greatest advantage. Then another uphill till about mile 2.5.
The downhill finish was a real boost for me. Even so, I definitely wanted to stop. I think that’s a good sign that I was pushing it enough. As I came around the corner toward the finish, my friend Justin yelled “Push it, Carole!”. I kicked it out through the finish and saw a very gratifying 25:07 on the clock.
So much for being under 27 minutes! 25:07?! That’s crazy talk! Talk about satisfying. Note to self: who cares about the course? Don’t let anything throw doubts into your race plan, you may be very pleasantly surprised by your abilities.
New goals:
5K: Sub 25:00
10K: Sub 53:00
1/2 Marathon: Sub 2:00:00
Full Marathon: Sub 4:30:00
What are your race goals for the summer?
National Running Day!
Happy National Running Day!
I’ve really been enjoying all of the running pics up on Twitter today. Some people posted pictures of themselves, others posted pictures of their running route. Whatever the image, it was great to see so many people supporting the running community and encouraging others to join in the fun.
The friendly and infectious peer pressure of my runner friends and the runner-friendly community of Portland, OR got me hooked on running five years ago. The #nationalrunningday campaign (can we call it that?) is a prime example of how runners can encourage a healthier, more active culture. Even the not-so-subtle peer pressure totally works, just ask my coworkers – none of whom at this time last year would have thought that they’d complete their first half marathon before the end of the year.
How did you celebrate National Running Day? Me? I ate a 5K for breakfast:)