Last night, we ran in the Foxhunt 5k race, a race that is one of my favorites. It is held downtown, which I love to run through, and after the race they have live music and beers. The concept of the race is also a lot of fun. The girls start running first. Then, after 3 minutes go by, they let the guys go. The point is for the guys to "catch" the girls. I guess it used to be called the "skirt chase race," but later changed to the fox hunt race. My goal last night was to make sure Mike couldn't catch up to me. :) Mission accomplished.
As always, Layne ran with us and she and I actually stuck together for most of the race. She got ahead of me by a few seconds at the end, though. Also, the REAL Elizabeth and Mark were there along with a few other friends. Kind of a fuzzy picture, but here is the crew.
After the race, we all stayed to have our 2 free beers and get some dinner at Natty Greene's. I went with the Top Hat, which was a chicken salad sandwich and french fries. Since I am a major pig, I ate everything except my leftovers before taking a picture. Sorry!
I have now been running in races for a full year, so I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane, to see how far I have come. I ran my first 5k on April 19, 2011, and completed a 5k last night, exactly 1 year later.
My first 5k ever, the NCVAN, 2011:
Time: 33:30
Pace: 10:49
Being my first 5k, I didn't really know what to expect. I remember telling everyone my time, and they were all so impressed. I really liked this race since it went through a fun neighborhood downtown and it was a great feeling finishing for the first time.
Foxhunt 5k, 2011:
Carolyn Time: 34:33
Pace: 11:09
Mike Time: 30:48
Pace: 9:57
This was my worst time to date. I was pretty disappointed with my performance that day, since I actually did worse than my first race. It was a fun run, but you can tell by the picture how out of shape we both were.
Gobblers Run 5k, 2011:
Time: 31:19
Pace: 9:45
I had really trained hard for this run, and my goal was to beat my personal best of 33 minutes. I was really happy I had achieved that goal, and enjoyed every last bite of my Thanksgiving dinner that day. Unfortunately, I didn't run again for a month or too, which put me a little back out of shape.
Miles for Matt 5k, 2012:
Carolyn Time: 28:19
Pace: 9:08
Mike Time: 28:46
Pace: 9:16
Starting out 2012, I set a goal for myself to run a sub 29 minutes 5k. I really didn't think I would be able to do it in my first 5k of the year, but I did. I was certainly ready for this run, and was really, really happy with my time and pace. And that I beat Mike. :)
Cary Road Race 10k, 2012:
Carolyn Time: 54:22
Pace: 8:45
Mike Time: 53:30
Pace: 8:37
Another goal I had for 2012, was to complete an 8k. I went a little above that and completed my first 10k just last weekend. I was extremely nervous for this race, but completely shocked myself finishing with such a great time.
Foxhunt 5k, 2012:
Carolyn Time: 26:35
Pace: 8:34
Mike Time: 25:14
Pace: 8:08
Scroll up to this race from last year... then scroll back down to this time and photo. I am blown away by the difference. Not only do we look SO MUCH DIFFERENT, but our times are amazing. Last night I ran my fastest 5k to date, shedding almost 8 full minutes off of my time. Mike also ran his fastest 5k, dropping over 5 minutes off of his time since last year. If this isn't some inspiration, I don't know what is.
Since we are talking about my New Year's Resolutions, maybe I should look at what else we can check off of that list. Here it is, copied directly from my post in January.
- Get to church more - we fell in love with a church, but just haven't had/made the time to go very often. I would like to make more time for that this year. - we have been really involved with our church this year, we joined and I was baptized. I would say we are doing really well with this one.
- Date night every week for Mike and I. - Sadly, we have not done a very good job with this one. We are going on a date night tonight though! More on that below!
- Shop more - that sounds like a bad resolution, but I have a problem where I won't shop for months on end, then I will be so far behind in the things I need and can't ever get caught back up. I would like to set aside a little money each paycheck to put in a shopping fund. That way, my wardrobe will be up to date. - While I have not really done a good job of creating a shopping fund, I think we have been shopping more this year, and with the weight loss, we have had to go buy new and updated clothes, so this one is iffy.
- Update my iPhone more - now that I have a new phone, I want to keep it up to date and current. - I have been updating my phone every month, getting pictures removed and onto our laptop to keep it clean! Whoo Hoo!
- Stay home more - I have a bad habit of planning tons of mini-trips to see family and friends. As much as I love doing this, we need to spend more time at home, enjoying what Raleigh and our area has to offer. - We spent the entire month of January and February, at home! March was a little crazy, and we have a few weekends of out of town coming up, but we have definitely been better about this one.
- Pay off debt - we have a really great plan for our debt pay-off and I really want us to stick to it.- This has been tough with the massive amount of plane tickets and weddings we have going this summer, but we are still trying!
- Savings - we also have a good plan for our savings, but we haven't been very good about sticking to it, so this year, I hope we can do that.- See directly above.
- Finish re-decorating our downstairs. - We did get some of our wedding pictures framed, collage put up in our foyer, and made some fun art for the bathroom. The rest is still waiting...
- Continue with my goal of losing 25 (now maybe 30) lbs by the end of next summer. Get to the gym more, continue eating healthy. Officially 15 lbs down since the start of this blog, completely out of size 10 pants, and only 10 lbs to reach my goal by the end of the summer. Definitely on track with this one. Plus, Mike is now on board!
- Run a sub-29 minute 5k race - CHECK!
- Run in an 8k race - I see your 8k and raise to a 10k and CHECK!
--
Tonight, Mike and I are going on a date. We do a lot of date nights at home, where we make dinner, get a redbox and just hang out, but it is pretty rare that we actually go out to eat and go to a movie or do anything else without meeting up with friends first. Usually, that is fine with us, but it will be nice to go at our own pace tonight.
We really wanted to celebrate the fact that Mike won the challenge, so we thought tonight would be a perfect night. In true Mike fashion, we are heading to Buffalo Wild Wings (fancy establishment) to eat dinner and then we are going to see American Reunion! I am sooo pumped about seeing this movie!
I feel like the American Pie movies are my generation's Animal House. They are like OUR movies. The characters in those movies were at the exact same stage of life as I was when they came out, and American Reunion is no different. Most of us (hush, Layne and Elizabeth), have either already had our high school reunion or are getting ready to.
I remember laughing so hard at American Pie and American Wedding, so I am so excited to see American Reunion. CAN NOT WAIT!!
Well, I think this blog post is long enough, don't you? Time to get to work, and count down the hours until I get to head home and go on a fun, relaxed date night with the hubster. I think I am most excited that I don't have any reason to get dressed up, since we are going to a casual dinner and a movie. Since this is Mike's celebration, he wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would I.
Hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!
Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 115
Sodium (+) 15
Protein (-) 16
No comments:
Post a Comment