Happy Monday everyone!
Tandy - I knew you would be one of the people who were going to do the 3 minutes straight! WTG!! The dough sounds easy enough! I'll give it a try closer to the end of the month (it's more about the time than the calories). Your shoes are probbably dry by now but when I go running in the rain, I've found the quickest way to dry out your shoes is to stuff them full of newspaper balls. And let them sit in front of a fan. Make sure you change the newspaper every so often and your shoes will be dry in no time!
Dave - Congrats on your race! And WTG Team Panda!! You're going to have a nice collection of trophies and medals soon! Did you and Sally celebrate after the race?
Emily - That's awesome that we tried the same food last week! My favourite fish is trout but I haven't seen it in the supermarket I go to lately. I think Mike, Lynn and Scott were talking about a DL meetup but I don't know the details.
Scott - Congrats!!
Lynn - Pulled pork sandwiches after a ride sounds awesome! Was that provided by the race organizers? You guys are getting some tasty grub after these rides. Maybe I should get a bike as well! How are you feeling after getting in the 50 miles? Sorry I forgot about your knees - if there's an exercise you can't do, let me know and I'll suggest an alternative.
Regina - Sorry to hear about the job

But I think that means there's something better waiting around the corner! How long are you in Oregon for? Deep fried Oreos are yummy! You can make them really easily - heat up a pot of oil, make up a batch of Bisquick batter, dunk the Oreos in and pop them into the oil. They don't keep well so it's best to eat them when they're warm.
Mike - Congrats on your PR! And to Liz as well on an awesome time! Awesome RR! Are there any hills or inclines on that course? And I have to say that 2AM is waaay early for a race! It's almost earlier than Disney! Is Robert in full day kindergarten? A lot of the schools here haven't converted and are still half day. The teddy bear picnic sounds like a great way to start off the year
Kim - Missed you yesterday! Just after the 2 hour mark, the announcer said there were still about 70-80 racers still out on course but I noticed that the volunteers were already packing up the food station so I'm not sure if they got anything to eat afterward. Many thanks for the bib! I'll give you the shirt and the "goodie" bag Saturday. The bag had a million flyers in it, one juice box and one sample sized Clif bar.
AFM - I had a great weekend! I met up with a friend for dinner on Friday - she had just returned from a trip to Spain. Lots of fun catching up. Then on Saturday, I met another friend for lunch and went shopping by myself afterward. I bought a really cute dress which I almost think I could use for the wedding if the other dress doesn't end up arriving on time. But it better get here
And then Sunday was the race! I ended up oversleeping because my alarm didn't go off

Next time I'll set a few of them just to be safe. I was suppose to leave at 7:15AM but didn't get out of the house until 7:25AM so it wasn't terrible. Made it down to the start by 8AM and stood in line f-o-r-e-v-e-r for the porta-potties. It felt like the line for bathroom was longer than the drive downtown!
I started in the last coral because I decided I was going to take this race easy and treat it as a training run. The course was 10 miles and was a loop through the streets and a waterfront park. The race was a lot more crowded than it was last year - I heard a lot of the local running groups were running it instead of their Sunday morning training runs. As with all races, I always wish that people wouldn't run 3-4 people wide. Or they wouldn't turn up the music so loud that they can't hear when someone says "On your left". That would be my only complaint about this race.
The sun came out for a bit - I felt like it was there for the first half of the race. It made things HOT! I ran through a misting tent and stopped quite often for water. By the half way mark, the sun had gone behind the clouds and it had cooled a bit again. I decided to pick up the pace a bit and just finish. Around the 15K mark, there was a woman who was wearing a bib and was walking in the direction of the finish. She was holding her daughter's hand and some guy I was running beside yelled out "Come on! It's only another kilometer! You're really close" She yelled back "No, I'm already done. But YOU'RE really close!"

I thought that was cute!
I decided I'd really pick up the pace for the last kilometer (I think it's something like 0.6 miles). There was no one in the finishing chute so I thought it would be fun to sprint ... apparently someone else had the same idea so it was fun having a "race" to the finish. I gave her a high five at the end

My time was 1:40:59 - not a PB but I'm happy with it. I managed to get in a lot of sub 10 m/m intervals. For next Saturday, I'll have to get in a lot of sub 9:30 m/m to get a 3 hour finish. I'm not sure is entirely possible but I'll hope for the best!
I will add up the scores for the challenge when I get home tonight.
Have a great day everyone!
