We had a low-key Saturday consisting of lots of tv, napping, and organizing. The highlight was watching The Running Man. Hubby had been insisting since we saw it that The Hunger Games was a remake of that movie. I'd never seen it, and now I suppose he has a point.
On Sunday, after our "long" run (only 8 miles right now), my local bestie, her sister and I went to their parents' house for the rest of the weekend. They are both going to Germany too to run the Berlin marathon, so my bestie and I spent some time Sunday afternoon playing on our phones with fun German apps. So incidentally, it was great that I'd spent a couple hours on Saturday watching Arnold -- it helped a lot with my German pronunciation!
Monday's highlight was a half marathon. It is a hilly course, and we also had wind (and of course Texas at Memorial Day is hot, but at least it was overcast). The race was really a beating. I planned to go out pretty conservatively, around marathon pace, and then hold steady on the second half of the race, which was very hilly.
Well, that plan didn't work. I went out a little too fast, but pretty close to the goal. But I slowed a lot on the second half. The hills were tough and unfortunately right into the wind. So even on the downhill, when I was working hard and trying to pick up speed, it was still right into the wind, and my pace was nearly a minute slower than I expected -- and of course I expected slow pace on the uphills, and that was also a minute slower than expected.
When I had about 3/4 of a mile to go, I got lucky. Three guys were running backwards on the course and they u-turned right near me and the 2 guys near me. The 3 of them were encouraging us to run harder, that we were almost done. I ended up being the only one of the 3 of us still running who tried to humor them. So I had 3 escorts to the finish line. As we talked, it turned out they had finished first, second and third! The lead guy carried my water bottle for me and told me to tuck in behind him so he'd block the wind. Since he probably weighed less than me and was about 6 inches taller, that was fairly useless, but the sentiment was sweet. We tried to catch the woman immediately in front of me, but that was too much. But I was still thrilled to have the company and to be running fairly hard for the finish. Particularly with my escorts. I was very surprised to see my finish time -- only almost 5 minutes slower than a PR, and good enough to win my age group. Crazy! I guess everyone else out there (at least in my age group) had the same struggles with the heat, the hills and the wind. It was a nice little bonus. And it was a good excuse to spend the rest of the day drinking beer, eating too much, and relaxing in my bestie's parents' pool.
Anyway, here is my belated Friend Making Mondays...
If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!
Summer Fun
2. Do you know how to swim? Mmm, not really. I mean, I can get around in the water, swimming out to a raft or something (and I can even do it with one arm up holding a beer out of the water). But I don't have good form or anything. I hate putting my face in the water -- remnants from when my asthma was much worse as a kid and I was almost always wheezing and struggling for air when I tried to do anything strenuous. But if I'm going to do an Ironman someday, I think I'll have to learn.
3. Do you prefer sun or snow? Sun, sun, sun (unless it's the week of Christmas, then snow please, can't imagine a non-white Christmas).
4. What temperature do you like most inside your home? If it were up to me, I'd say 78 or so. But hubby is more of 76, so we compromise on 77 when we sleep and 78 during the day if we're home.
5. Is it humid where you live? Not too bad most of the year, but May and the first part of June usually are. This morning it was in the mid-70s and the humidity was in the upper 70s. Made for a(nother) tough run...
6. What is your favorite food to put on the grill? As a vegetarian, I'd go with veggies. I love veggie skewers on the grill. I have a recipe I like for grilled tofu, and I love grilled fruit, but my fave would be veggies. Corn on the cob, mushrooms, zucchini, love it.
7. Do you prefer to wear a one-piece or two-piece swim suit? I wore a bikini yesterday but it should be noted that I was just with my friend and her family, not quite sure I'd wear something like that where others could see me, but I didn't care too much around them.
8. What is your favorite summer drink? Tough call. I'm usually in marathon training season over the summer, so water, sadly. In terms of fun drinks, something with vodka and a fruity taste. Made a recipe for "dirty Shirleys" off Pinterest a few weeks ago, very good.
9. Do you prefer the pool or the ocean? I wouldn't complain about either. If I have to choose, I guess I'd go with ocean.
10. What are you looking forward to most over the summer? My 20 year high school reunion is at the end of summer. That will be interesting and there are a few people I can't wait to see.
Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday (a day late)!
I guess I never really paid attention if you ever mentioned your age, but I tend to think of you as much younger than me for some reason. My 20 year reunion was two years ago. I didn't go. Sadly there was really no one I cared to see. We were not a very tight knit class. Facebook has been enough of a reunion for most of us from my graduating class.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your race! I am so in awe of speedy runners.
Nope, we're about the same age! I've been lucky lately on the AG awards, mostly just picking good races without a really speedy field. Fortunately one woman in my age group who competed in the Olympic trials always takes overall female, so she doesn't count in my AG ;)
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