Nice 9 Miler

This morning I headed out for my 10 mile (or close to it) run.  Next weekend is the Black Earth 10 mile Run - my April race - so I wanted to make sure that I at least had one run longer than 6 miles under by belt before next Saturday.  I was planning on taking Sophie for 5 miles - dropping her off at home and then heading out again.  I asked my son if he wanted to run with me and he said he would (I was a little surprised - I love to run with him - but run quite a bit slower than him)  . . . Joe hasn't been running much lately -  but did run last week and used my garmin.  Check out the 3 minute difference in our avg pace!

JOE - 3.6 miles in 23:49 for a 6:37 avg pace

then the next morning I ran 

ME - 2.5 miles in 24:22 for a 9:36 avg pace.  

Clearly - he would need to run slower! 'cause I can't run that fast! 

It was a sunny but chilly day in Madison.  Temp was 23 with strong 14 mph winds out of the north.  This makes the wind chill somewhere in the 10 degree range . . .  brrrrrrr.  One of these days - Spring will come! 

We headed out - I wasn't sure just how far we should go with Sophie - she has only run 6 miles before.  But she did GREAT.  She just kept running - only having to stop a few times for sniffing breaks - which occurred during mile 5.  

Right around mile 7 we returned to our neighborhood.  Since I wanted to get closer to 10 - I was going to do our neighborhood 2 mile loop, while Sophie and Joe were going to turn off and head directly to our house.  Well, Sophie would have none of that - while I kept going, Joe and Sophie turned left onto our street and I guess she came to a stop - she wasn't budging.  So all of a sudden I hear them behind me - Joe turned around and he and Sophie caught up to me and we finished the loop together for exactly 9 miles.  

Here are our splits:

1 - 8:59

2 - 9:12

3 - 9:45

4 - 9:25

5 - 10:09 - we stopped several times for Sophie to sniff

6 - 9:49

7 - 9:29

8 - 9:37

9 - 9:05

for an avg pace of 9:30.  

Great day!  Great run!  Great time with family! 

Shamrock Shuffle

I have been trying to finsih this post since Sunday evening!  I was exhausted all week - recovering from vacation and I was super busy at work - so I didn't feel like looking at a computer screen all week.

We arrived home from Key West at 3:30 pm on Saturday.  Unpacked - did some laundry - went to bed early - got up Sunday morning and ran in the local Shamrock Shuffle 10k.

I met up with some local running bloggers,  Jamie - HERE, Chelsea - HERE and Kerri - HERE, before the race.  Here is a great shot of the four of us.

We hooked up - chatted - took a few pictures and finally decided it was time to head outside.

Jamie - left to meet up with someone
Chelsea - headed to the start line to try and get "close" to the front - I am sure I would have been that fast if I had started running when I was her age!  LOL!
Kerri and I headed out to the starting line.

There were quite a few people waiting.  We found a little opening and stood there for a couple of minutes. I then "looked" around and made the observation that I didn't think that the people we were standing around were going to be running in the 10k - my guess was that they were either running the 5k or walking the 2 miles.  I asked if they were 5k or 10k and they said 5k . . . we moved up . . . I pushed through asking as I went - 5k or 10k?  until we got to the 10k folks.  By that time there were probably 2 minutes left - There was an Irish prayer and then we were off.

The course is an out and back and includes a run up and down Observatory Hill on the UW campus twice.  WOW oh WOW - that is tough.  I am use to running up the hill heading west - that is often part of local runs - but I have never run up the hill heading east!  Wozer!  I didn't stop - kept my head down and said  . . . just keep running.

It was a great run - I felt pretty strong the whole way!

Finished in 59:15 for a 9:33 pace.
Garmin -
1   9:55
2   9:35
3   9:31
4   9:33
5   9:30
6   9:37
.2  8:26

Pretty consistent!

Tomorrow 10 miles - and temps near 50 - Oh ya!
Peace  

Key West

Having a great time in Key West.  We got here on Monday via the high speed ferry from Ft.Meyers.  Nice relaxing way to get here.  Walked around, had bikes delivered to the hotel. 

Tuesday I ran around the entire island.  I saw the Gulf, Southernmost point - where Cuba is only 90 miles away, the the Atlantic and all the beaches, then up to the north where the highway comes into Key West and then the marina's and back to the hotel for 10.7 miles.  This morning i did a shorter run - 4.5 miles and still caught the gulf, and atlantic.  Next up is jet skiing.  Here is me at Southernmost point.

Cape Coral is lovely!

We arrived in Florida friday at 4 pm.  The weather is great.  Todd's brother picked us up from the airport and we headed to their condo.  Spent the evening chatting, eating and drinking - it was wonderful. 

Saturday morning we woke up early so Todd and Dennis could get to the boat rental by 7:30.  We were planning on renting a 21 ft Hurricane motor boat and drive around the canels and river and maybe out into the gulf.  As planned we woke up around 6:30.  I got ready to run, Todd and Dennis left to rent the boat. 

I headed out the door just after they left, around 7.  It was a beautiful 65 degrees. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  I headed out of the condo towards a river side park and then headed down the road.  It wasn't long and I saw Todd and Dennis driving towards me,  they were supposed to be getting the boat - problem was whoever rented the boat the day before, fried the engine - so there was no boat available.  Bummer. 

They went back to the condo.  I continued running.  I ran 5 miles and it felt great.  We ended up borrowing a sail boat from some of their friends and simply puttered around the canels using the motor looking at the houses and stuff.  I didn't know anything about Cape Coral - it has a canel system, similar to neighborhood roads.  It is awesome to travel around the canels and then out into the river.  We were not able to go out into the Gulf, like we had planned, but it was a great day. 

This morning we are on the Key West Express, a high speed BIG ferry headed down to Key West.  Ahhhhhh

I am loving this vacation.

Peace

Vacation plans

I am sooooo ready to get out of the Great State of Wisconsin.  I love winter, I love snow and I love cold weather . . .  but this year, I am so ready to leave it all behind and enjoy bright sunshine, hot temperatures, sand between my toes and not wearing gloves, hats, scarves and jackets every time I leave the house.  In addition to the weather, another huge reason to get out of here - is the stress of the political climate at the State Capital - it is plastered all over the news - there are so many comments on Facebook - it is in the workplace - it is impossible to escape.  Unless you are living here, it is hard to understand the stress of this situation - and even harder to imagine it ending any time soon.

Well lucky for me - we are headed to Florida on Friday for an 8 day vacation.   We will be spending Friday through Sunday in Fort Myers, visiting my husbands brother and his wife.  We are planning on renting a boat and spending Saturday on the water.  Can you say Sun screen with an SPF of 100+++++!  On Monday, we will travel to Key West aboard a high speed ferry and spend the week.  We will return to Ft. Myers on Friday evening and then fly home on Saturday morning.  I am so excited.  The forecast is 80 degrees and sunny.

Tonight I had a pedicure and manicure - my first . . . ever.  I was a little worried about it.  I have never had anyone touching my feet.  Yikes - at first it did feel a little weird - but I quickly became comfortable and found it heavenly.  Nail color - OPI - Dressed to Empress.  Orange with a little shimmer!  The pedi and mani felt wonderful and I will definitely have another.  I really can't believe I am posting a picture of my toes - ick!!!!

This morning Sophie and I headed out for a 5 mile run.  It was cold.  I only looked at the temperature, which was 17 - I didn't even check the wind - it brought the wind chill down to almost ZERO . . . brrrrrr.  But the run was pretty good - not too fast - but that is OK.  

Heading to sleep - tomorrow is a busy day at work - I have 4 meetings and need to get a lot of things done before I leave for vacation.

Peace