Roxymama's 5k to Marathon, Time to Collect Another Castle

[Ariel484]

Dang, those conditions are no joke. Awesome job!!

I think i had the same thing happen to me this past weekend that you did - my mind just quit before my body did. So frustrating!!

Love your cute Bears outfit.

 

[roxymama]

Thanks all! And my hubby pointed out the overheard shots were from a drone he saw buzzing around at the start. Makes sense now since I don't remember seeing a blimp. I'm keeping my eye out for any individual pictures since I know I made a point to pretend I was not hot at least twice for on course photo guys.
Last year this race was in October and called Super Bears Shuffle, but didn't go on the field because it was football season. They sent a survey asking if people would prefer racing in the spring instead or during the fall bye week. So I think even they knew how hot we all were.

Tonight is a training night, easy "short" run, hoping the weather stays like it is right now...a nice 68 degrees. Chicago weather is so weird!

 

[SarahDisney]

I think it's easy to get too caught up in the excitement and get ahead of yourself. Sometimes it works and the race environment helps you to do things you never thought you could ... and sometimes it ends up being the biggest mistake ever. Ultimately, you just have to remember that you train the way you do for a reason, and it's important to stick to your plan as much as you can. And when you don't ... try not to beat yourself up and do better next time.

The "giving up" ... that's something I have a lot of experience. For me, it takes a lot of lying to myself to convince myself that I'm not a giant failure and I can do it. I have to remind myself that some days my goal just has to be putting one foot in front of the other, or keeping up with the running ... and even when all of my other goals are unreachable, that's a goal I can always reach.
Basically ... I've found that when I go into any run (race or training), I want to have a "backup" goal - whether that's a super-easy time or a short distance or (more often) just sticking to my intervals with no extra walking. If you go into a race with your backup goal being "keep running the whole time," maybe that will help keep you going even when you think you can't reach your primary goals.

Even if it wasn't the race you wanted to run, you did a great job!
And really, you can't expect to win this race ... "winning" and "Da Bears" don't belong in the same sentence (sorry, was that too mean? )

Also ... it's good to hear that Chicago weather is nice. My parents are there right now and I don't want to hear them whine about the weather when they get home (my mother already complained about walking the Magnificent Mile yesterday).

 

[roxymama]

The weather is gorgeous and should be all week!!!

 

[rteetz]

Awesome job and cool pictures! Those medals look really cool too! I was thinking about doing the Green Bay Packer 5K but its on a day I can't make it.

 

[roxymama]

Haha, to all the Bears being terrible comments. I can laugh about it because I know its true.
My father-in-law is also a big Packers fan @rteetz and so is that whole side of the family. He goes rogue as a "bears fan" for events like these but he was looking in the crowd for anyone wearing bits of green and guessing if they were also undercover cheese-heads. My daughter is gonna grow up conflicted between Grandpa and her Daddy both trying to sway her to their sides

And thanks @Ariel484 for the outfit compliment...I have high standards to live up to in the cool running clothes category when compared to you.

@SarahDisney the getting caught up in the excitement definitely happened to me even though I had done such a good job of holding back during my last handful of races. At least I have a 5k coming up where the game-plan is to take it easy due to the following day's 10k, so sticking to the game plan will be key. No matter how excited I may get, right?
I did find out that hubby and I have identical corrals for both the 5k and 10k so I'll have a corral buddy and we are thinking about doing the whole 5k together. If we are chatting each other up it will prevent us from burning ourselves out for our real goal...PRing our 10k times.

@Waiting2goback I had an every .25 mile updater last year for a long time and I agree it's just too much. So I got rid of that. Now I have my watch updates buzz at me at each kilometer just because I'm weird and like to count down the k's. But the little 6:00 per k or whatever might as well be Chinese to me during a run. (even though right now I know what it means roughly if I think about how long a k is, but...math + running = nope)

@dis_or_dat Thanks! I think I did melt though, haha.

@CheapRunnerMike The medals were so heavy that we all had to take them off on our walk back to the condo. That's when you know you've got a quality medal!

 

[roxymama]

I haven't posted any of my yummy cooking pictures in a while.

Small ribeye Steak (I made only one and split it between hubby and I...big departure from days when we would both eat two ourselves) and lots of peas. Also I only cooked one potatoe...cut up and oven roasted and split between us. Yogurt sauce instead of butter for steak.

These were beef arepas. I hand made the corn cakes and put avocado and radish on top. In a moment of weakness I stole Mac n cheese from what I was making for my daughter. Everyday can't always be super-health day. But I'm trying.

This is purple rice with warm zucchini and cold cucumber in it. It sounds weird but it's yummy and fun to get squishy with crunchy. The wings had a soy glaze and were oven baked. And yes, I only ate those 4 if I had made more I'd have eaten 20.


And finally cous-cous with ground lamb, more zucchini, mint, yogurt and all kinds of fun spices.


Tonight I'm attempting a vegetarian ramen with egg.

 

[Ariel484]

That all looks sooooo good. Especially those oven-roasted potatoes.

Good luck with the ramen! Egg/noodle or egg/rice combinations are winners in my book.

 

[roxymama]

That all looks sooooo good. Especially those oven-roasted potatoes.

Good luck with the ramen! Egg/noodle or egg/rice combinations are winners in my book.

Oven roasted potatoes are so super easy. Here's what I do. Put oven at 475 (425 if you don't want them super crispy, but I like crispy).
Take one big potatoe, wash it but don't peel it. Cut in length wise, then dice it into small squares (or big ones work too.)
Pour olive oil (don't go too crazy), salt, pepper and any other spices you may want to try (I love using cajun ones or paprika and onion salt) and hand toss it around. Put on cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes depending on crispy desire...can go less if you prefer more squish.

Easy and done

 

[Ariel484]

Oven roasted potatoes are so super easy. Here's what I do. Put oven at 475 (425 if you don't want them super crispy, but I like crispy).
Take one big potatoe, wash it but don't peel it. Cut in length wise, then dice it into small squares (or big ones work too.)
Pour olive oil (don't go too crazy), salt, pepper and any other spices you may want to try (I love using cajun ones or paprika and onion salt) and hand toss it around. Put on cookie sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes depending on crispy desire...can go less if you prefer more squish.

Easy and done

THANK YOU!! I am definitely going to try this.

I prefer crispy. I roasted some veggies for dinner last night and they were a little soggy. I was sad.

 

[roxymama]

THANK YOU!! I am definitely going to try this.

I prefer crispy. I roasted some veggies for dinner last night and they were a little soggy. I was sad.

I don't know if this something you are supposed to do, but sometimes after washing and chopping veggies to roast, I will actually dry them with a paper towel. I do the same thing with meat before oil/season it and cook it.
If the taters stick to the pan a bit just loosen them up with the spatula as soon as they come out of oven...or use cooking spray on the pan first.

 

[Ariel484]

I don't know if this something you are supposed to do, but sometimes after washing and chopping veggies to roast, I will actually dry them with a paper towel. I do the same thing with meat before oil/season it and cook it.
If the taters stick to the pan a bit just loosen them up with the spatula as soon as they come out of oven...or use cooking spray on the pan first.

Can you just come to my house and be my personal chef? Please and thanks.

 

[roxymama]

Can you just come to my house and be my personal chef? Please and thanks.

Ok, but then you have to find me more cute umbrella shirts as my chef uniform. And I need to bring my assistant who happens to be 3 years old. She sits and colors and tells me increasingly weird stories while I cook so its not that bad

 

[roxymama]

Just made this. Home made ramen with black garlic and mushroom and soft boiled egg and fun stuff.

 

[roxymama]

I love when races give you free photos but mine came out kind of duds They only got pics of me after the finish line. In this one I've definitely got my eyes locked on where to go for my free water! Guys behind me look how I felt, too

Hubby's is better...and it looks like he was able to beat Santa Claus too!

Grandpa got the best one though...he is actually running and in front of the colonnades too!

 

[Ariel484]

I thought Santa was wearing a bra for a second there

 

[roxymama]

I thought Santa was wearing a bra for a second there

Ahahahaha....now that I see it, it cannot be unseen. Those are the classic Mike Ditka coach glasses. But now I have a brilliant idea to manufacture Ditka glasses bikinis. I'm not sure that the cross-section of people who are Ditka fans and people who wear bikinis is going to be enough to keep my new business afloat though. hahahaha

 

[Ariel484]

Hey, you never know. People buy weird stuff sometimes.

 

[roxymama]

Hi All! Managed to stick to my training despite the very relaxed nature of our long holiday weekend. Nice when hubby is home and we can trade off on our "getting out there" times while the other hangs out with the kiddo.
Tuesday: easy run was easy. Not much else to report Oh other than the weather made a turn for the cooler which extended all week and through the weekend. Not great for swimming or beach summer activities but great for runners.
Thursday: I had a really good tempo run. Confidence boost since after my 5k quit-a-thon last weekend it was a good reminder than I am capable of running at a decent clip and not quitting on myself. Helped that the sun was almost down and the weather was perfect. I fell into the recent habit of running my WU and CD a bit too fast. I mean, not THAT fast, but a lil faster than I should for a warm up or cool down. Will fix that next week.
Friday: Walked to the local parade and back home with the family (kiddo in a wagon.) I'll count it as it was a 2 mile walk and proud of both my parents for doing it with us. Starting to think I should wear my garmin watch more on days I do lots of walking just for fun to track it.
Saturday: Drove to St. Joe, MI for fun with family. Had a nice beach day. Walked around town and wouldn't be surprised if added a few miles here too. Note to self about the garmin again
Sunday: Long Run day! (fun fact: my hubby drove to a local bike trail with bike in tow and did 11.8 miles, then locked bike up and ran 5k and then drove home) Later that afternoon we all walked to our park, then walked to a local sandwich place for dinner and then walked back (kiddo in wagon) that equaled 1.75 miles. Then I put on my run gear and went right back out for my Long run. WU/CD with 4 miles sandwiched in between. I got pretty close to LR pace for those at 11:21 (I was trying for 11:14.) The last two miles I realized that I was going to be on the sunny side of the street and instead of turning around and doing the loop backwards so I could be in the shade I said to myself "Good, let's just get used to this sunny business" Lucky for me I spend 100% of my life covered in sunscreen. I guess being a runner turns us all into masochists. At least it was fairly nice out (high 70's.)
Also I've said it before but I'll say it again...I LOVE when the college campus by me is a ghost town during the summer. The few miles I can run in there seem to go by so quickly compared to the more boring scenery in other parts of the neighborhood.
Yesterday was a run-free day but hubby did his open water swimming practice and kiddo and I splashed around in the freezing shallow end...brrrrrr.

I'd say we were an active bunch this weekend.

CORRALS!
I was assigned Corral 6 for my 5k on 7/16 (last year there were either 10 or 11 corrals and I was in 7.) I think that's a perfect spot for me as I don't remember many if any issues of being too crowded/clogged/walkers from that spot. I am happy to report that they are doing the 5k loop backwards from last year which means the really sunny part that was mile 3 is now mile one and the sun will be at our backs and then mile 3 will be under the trees in the shade (hopefully.) Hope that pans out well. Hubby is in same as me
10k for 7/17 corral is #29 out of ??? There are 10k and half marathon people running at same time so no idea how many corrals. I submitted a 1:15:00 estimate a year ago at the expo and then turned in my proof at a faster pace after that...but looks like it didn't stick or they didn't take it?? Eh, oh well. Just gonna have fun. In same corral as hubby who's 10k PR is 1:19 and mine is 1:07 so let's see if we can pacman chomp our way to something better this time around.
Hubby did say yesterday "UNLESS IT IS HOT!" so we shall see.

Oh hey, accuweather should be starting to have temps...
Saturday 88 high - mostly cloudy and very humid
Sunday 84 high - overcast and very humid
Welp...so that's that. At least Sunday 10k is cooler than Sat 5k. Not surprise, still better than last years 93 degree 5k.

I run tonight, easy run.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I've been meaning to start on your training journals for ages now, and @LSUlakes' QOTD challenge prompted me to do it! Training journals are definitely my jam, because people on this board are definitely my people!

You have had some seriously fun races! I love how varied the themes have been, and it has been awesome to see the progress you have made from your start!

Oh, and all of those meal posts are making me want to put a little more effort into menu planning. Those dinners look delicious!