A Quick Catch Up

Ummm yeah so obviously I am behind in blogging, Why? Don't really know~ Ha! Just decided to take a break I guess. So instead of boring you with my mileage for the last few weeks I thinks I will just share four quick race recaps!

*July 13- Country Sunset 4miler- This was a tough run! The description for this race read "Are you country strong?" so I didn't really look for it to be an easy race but what else did I have to do with my time on a Friday night, Lol. This race is also part of a second series that I have been doing, if you do at least 7/12 races then you get a long sleeve dri fit shirt that makes it worth it right? It had rained off and on all day so I was expecting it to during the race but the race gods came through and it got very hot and humid instead. It was a night for the 3 H's Hot-Humid-Hills! And bugs this race honestly was in the middle of no where in the country and as the sun was setting the bugs came out in full force! I told the person I was going to be running with I would probably be at 9:15 to 9:30 pace and I was going to do my best not to take off all crazy fast. This was the first race that I actually had to walk a little to get up one of the steep hills! I was pleasantly surprised with an overall pace of 9:00 and a finish time of 35:37!!

Thankful that was over:)

*July 14-Run for Independence 5k- The bad thing about the 4miler race, the very next morning was a 5k that is part of the "Wilderness Trace Serres" and it is another tough course with hills. I thought I would be sluggish and tired legs but I wasn't I did notice though once we took off the first mile is almost all uphill and my hamstrings got tight and achy but I paced myself well and made it up. This race usually has a fairly big crowd (for our area) of at least 100+, this year there was only about 50 not sure why but I'm guessing because no one likes the course. Thankfully I paced myself well enough to pull off a finish time of 26:03 and a PR for this course by a minute and 37 seconds!! YAY ME:)

Thumbs up~ That's how I run

*July 21-Bluegrass State Games 5k- This race was held at the beautiful RJ Corman property in Nicholasville, Ky. (You should google RJ Corman, I think he has an interesting story and a very nice man!) I had done this race in 2009 and haven't been able to do it since. I really like participating in it since it is the Bluegrass State Games which is kinda like the Olympics for Ky.  On this morning I woke up with the dreaded awful stomach GI issues (sorry TMI!!!) I didn't think I was ever going to leave the bathroom but the race gods pulled through for me once again and right before the race started I felt so much better! Several of my running buddies were there and I met a couple of new ones~ Love it my group grows:) I didn't do such a great job pacing as usual and took off way too fast but I did not walk any even though I could have. I had a little young fellow in front of me that kept going side to side, he would slow way down and I would pass him then he would come speeding fast past me, it was driving me nuts, when he saw a race photographer he really went speeding in front of me and finally made some distance ahead of me. It was cloudy and a little bit cooler I was really hoping for a 24 something even if it was 24:59 its been a little while since I have ran a 24 something but at 1.5mi I began having a strange pain in my chest assuming it was due to my major bathroom issues that morning and I had to slow it down a little to regain myself. I am still very thrilled with my 25:08 and 2nd place in my age group!

Told ya Thumbs Up! Why do I look so gigantic??

*July 28-Jingle in July 5k- This was the 9th race in the Wilderness Trace Serres only 5 more to go! During the week before this race for whatever reason I only ran once and it wasn't a great run so in my mind I thought I would be really fresh and ready for that 24 something. From what I remembered about this course it was downhill going out and a long hill at the finish~uggh! And I bet you could never guess that I took off way to fast, why do I do that got to start controlling myself better!! One of my new running buddies told me at the end his watch beeped and said we was at 7:06 pace for a little while, I told him next time to yell at me to slow it down and save that for the end! (Something I will focus on:) Instead of feeling fresh and ready I felt heavy, tired and slow! I truly wanted to walk but my buddy was right in front of me (thankfully) and I told myself not to walk and just keep on going even if its slow! I mentioned to my buddy about the fact that I really wanted to and almost walked and he said "Around me you will never walk! I WILL NOT let you walk!" Oh thank goodness I have someone to pace with and hopefully improve with! I ended up finishing in 25:13 and 1st place in my age group~ guess it wasn't so bad after all I just know I can do better.

Every one in my growing group got medals~ Hooray!

So there is my month of July I have been doing long runs on Sundays and have been VERY pleased with them I'll let you know what the long runs are for soon!