Indy Mini Marathon Race Report

What a great day for a race! 46 degrees at the start, perfect running weather.
The Indy Mini Marathon has just become my favorite half (out of 18) of all time right behind Kentucky Derby Half. Also my time was my 2nd best 1:58:09 (9:02 pace).
It was just the perfect race from start to finish, I loved it!

First and foremost the Marriott (thank you Amy!) that we (my friend Kristi and I) were staying at was in the perfect location. It was between the expo and starting line, literately between the two. Once we parked at the hotel we never had to drive again until it was time to go home after the race.

View from the hotel window.

So at 7:30 the race started with 35,000 participants. We were in corral G and it still took 13 minutes to actually reach the start (the corrals went all the way up to Z). Then we were off!! For the first 3 miles or so i was totally preoccupied looking up at the balloon race (what a great idea), made the time go by pretty fast and it was just neat. I was feeling good trying to maintain my pace and not worrying too much about the fact that i was running in a brand new pair of shoes that i purchased at the expo the previous day, i like living on the edge. Oh did I mention that i loved this race??

By another few miles i was ready for the track, and there it was. I never felt such a rush as when i got to run down the shoot the cars come out of onto the race track, it was a fantastic feeling. Not to mention running on the track itself ,which was 2.5 miles long, was invigorating (the nice smooth asphalt made the miles fly by fast). After the track, it was back on the road to downtown Indianapolis. I absolutely loved this race, and felt good and healthy to the finish. It's weird running this big of a race there is never a moment when you're not surrounded by other runners for the entire 13.1 miles, pretty cool! I ended up with my 2nd best finish of all time, with a per mile breakdown of - 9:20, 8:42, 8:53, 8:44, 9:06, 9:01, 9:08, 8:52, 9:14, 9:13, 8:52, 9:09, 9:01, my slowest mile was the first one. The race was so consistent for me, I'm amazed! This never happens, usually the first few miles are so much faster then the last 3.

My friend, who just had baby Grace less than 2 months ago, did fantastic also and finished in 2:16. Which by the way was faster than my first half marathon and i think even faster than her first half. We will be running the Akron Marathon together again this year, she's going to kick my butt.


Do I dare say that I want to do this race again?? I think I do.

Baby Cocoon!

I knit this baby cocoon thing (a photography prop for a friend) as a test and put baby Grace in it. Well it's more of a new born size not 6 week old baby size but i think it's still kind of cute. Back to the drawing board, will try another one in a different color and a lot bigger, have to hurry before Gracie grows more.

Stuff

So I've been working on my shawl, 400 + stitches on the ruffle part and 9 rows into it i realized that I've been doing it wrong. what!!! so i think i have to rip it out, that's probably like 4 hours of my time gone down the drain, I'm so disappointed and frustrated that i might have to put it away for a little while.
I did start another project a baby sweater. Actually all the pieces are knitted, all I have to do is sew it together which is quite difficult. Hope to have it done soon so i can post some pictures.
And I'm getting ready to leave for the Indy Mini Marathon on Friday. I'm really excited although i still hurt after my 10 mile run on Saturday which was really hard. Not to mention I had this brilliant idea to try out some new shoes. What?? on a 10 mile run, very bad idea, toward the end i had to totally loosen the laces on the right one just so i could continue running not to mention it was 80 degrees out (which is great except it was 40 a couple days prior) and the body just can't take that kind of difference. But I made it and will go for a couple short runs this week and head to Indianapolis on Friday, run on Saturday and drive home. Should be fun plus my friend is coming with me and we always have a good time on these running trips.

Run 4 Home Half Marathon

Yesterday was the Run 4 Home Half Marathon in New Philadelphia, OH. The race started at 1 pm and for me that was entirely too late. I was really hoping to do good at this race, I've trained a lot better than for Disney and my time was 1 minute 44 seconds slower than Disney (2:04:44). It's still a good time but I wanted better, so after the race i didn't even go to the award ceremony because there was no chance that I placed. Low and behold this morning when I checked the results I came in second in my age group. I'm so mad, I want my trophy!


As for the race itself. The course was pretty but there were a few big hills that really slowed me down. The entry was only $30 and for that I got a nice long sleeve dryfit shirt, a nice medal and a pretty nice after the race spread (subway sandwiches, pizza, brownies, cookies, chocolate milk etc). The race was well organized and finish was in a stadium which was nice. Oh, and Miss Ohio handed out the medals at the finish line.

I can come up with many excuses why I didn't do that great i.e. started off too fast, didn't eat enough before hand, and I'm pretty sure that my shoes are done but really it doesn't matter, second place in my age group does make everything better.
Next race is May 1st in Indianapolis, wish me luck!

Smigus-Dyngus

Yesterday, the day after Easter is Smigus-Dyngus Day in Poland. It's a tradition that dates back to the 15th century and basically is about dousing other people with water. The main targets are young unmarried girls, a boy would sneak into the bedroom of the girl he fancied and awaken her by drenching her with water. Most recently, the tradition has changed and it's common for girls to attack boys. But random passers-byes are also targets. It's actually somewhat dangerous to be outside on that day cause you never know when a bucket of water can be dumped on you. I remember this from when i was little (i moved to the United States when I was 12), we would never wear nice clothes on that day and I would get a glass of water and dump it on my grandmother. I also remember my uncle's sister who was very pretty and probably in her 20's wore this really nice suede jacket, got attached by the water bucket and her coat got ruined.

Anyway, I was reminded of this tradition yesterday and shared it with Vince. So when i got home after my run, he dumped a bottle of water on my head, which was actually pretty funny and since i was wearing running clothes i really didn't care and couldn't stop laughing. He did get my knitting bag wet, which i wasn't too happy about but it was still funny. So he has decided that this is his favorite new holiday and we will keep this tradition going.

Here's a video of what i'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5v9VbTV2Po

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!

We colored Eggs and put Peeps in the microwave which is just hilarious.

The blue one on the end is my favorite.

Baci inspecting the finished product, he approved.


Also we spent some fun time at the park.

My two favorite guys!

Baci trying out some acrobatics!

and Vince's adorable nephews all dressed up for Easter!

As for knitting, since I finished the Forecast sweater, the next thing that I'm working on is a shawl (ravelry link) for my wedding in September. You will have to wait until September to see pictures if in fact it turns out. It's quite tedious work because the mohair yarn that I'm using is really thin and hard to work with so I'm taking a little break from it.

So in the mean time (this past weekend), I made this chocolate bunny for Vince's nephews(pictured above):
and some baby booties:
And lastly about running, my training has been going pretty good, I've ran between 8.5 to 10 the last 4 Saturdays and will be running a half marathon this Sunday. Actually in the next six weekends I'm running 3 half marathons (is that too much?, i don't think so). I'm really looking forward to it. Especially since one of them is in Indianapolis (and we get to run on the race track) and I've never been there before. The great thing about the run this Sunday is that it starts at 1 pm, I've never ran a half marathon that late in the day, will be interesting for sure. Wish me luck!

Forecast Done

It's finished!! Yee Pee!! Actually I can't believe that i finished it. Overall I'm happy with the end result, especially since it was my first top down sweater. It could be a little bigger and a little longer but it's cool and i love the color. After all that work I'm not taking it off until it gets a lot warmer out.

Blanket in Action!

OMG!!!! If that is not the cutest thing you've ever seen, i don't know what is?? Grace Elizabeth born 3-7-09, 6 lb. 15 ounces sporting the blankie that Aunt Margaret made her. Love this!!!!

2009 Race Schedule

My tentative Race Schedule for 2009.

Races I'm signed up for already:
4-19 - Run 4 Home Half Marathon - New Philadelphia, OH
5-2 - Indy Mini Half Marathon - Indianapolis, IN
5-17 - Cleveland Half Marathon - Cleveland, OH
9-26 - Akron Marathon - Akron, OH

Races I'm thinking about signing up for:
6-24 - Seattle Marathon - Seattle, WA
9-13 - Buckeye Half Marathon - Akron, OH
10-18 - Detroit Marathon - Detroit, MI
11-29 - Space Coast Marathon - Cocoa Beach, FL

I know it's pretty ambitious but time will tell and at the end of the year we'll see how many of these I'll actually complete. Also, this would give me 3 more states to add to my 50 by 50 list for a total of 14. So I would have 15 years to get the rest ;)

Sun

On Saturday morning I was driving to meet my friends for a 10 mile run at 7:30 in the morning and this is what the sky looked like. Since I don't go anywhere without my camera I got this great shot.

That afternoon this is the sunset I saw.

Life is too short you never know if you will see the next sunrise or sunset so I captured both that day. It was so pretty!

Disney Princess Half Marathon

7,000 Princesses woke up at 4 a.m. on Sunday March 8th to run the Inaugural Princess Half Marathon at Disney. Tiaras and all!!
What a great time it was with absolutely perfect weather!!
I do have to admit that Disney is not my favorite race simply because a lot of time is spend on the highways connecting the parks and very little time in the actual parks. The highways are boring and there are no spectators on them and the on and off ramps are slanted which just kills. But somehow I keep on forgetting about this because this was my 4th race at Disney. At about mile 9 I had a brief moment where I didn't think i was going to be able to finish but it didn't last long and I pushed through to the end.
For this race especially, most women were dressed in princesses costumes. Not me, I only managed to deal with a tiara pinned to my hat. But it's great looking at all the costumes, people put in a lot of time and effort in their outfits and it shows.
So my time was 2:03:00 which breaks down to 9:24 pace. There were 1047 women in my age group and I finished 125th (12%). It's definitely not my best time for a half marathon but it's my best statistically.
My good friend Khim ran her first race ever and did awesome. She has definitely caught the running bug and has been planing her future races. Now I have to convince her to run a full marathon.

at 5 am, I love this pictures the camera caught some of the car lights

hanging with the characters after the race!

with our well deserved tiara medals!

Last weekend

Last weekend was pretty busy. I ran my 10 miles on Saturday (17 degree weather) yuck! It was a nice run but come on already it's time for Spring.

Then we went to the Home and Garden show and saw Ed Begley Jr. (from "Living with Ed"), what a great speaker he is. He talked mainly about being green, sustainable energy, and his show. Very interesting stuff.
Then my friend Fiovi (God love her!) signed me up for a card exchange (and she will never do this to me again). I had to make 11 birthday cards, I was pretty mad the entire time but somehow managed to get it done. Now I'm suppose to get 11 cards back (some of you might be getting them from me for your birthdays).

these are my 11

The best part of the weekend was when i came down the stairs and saw this going on. I guess I'm not the only one that loves the electric blankie. How cute are my fur kids?? Love them!


So nothing much got done but we sure had fun. Now I'm off to Florida tomorrow (yeepee 80 degree weather), will be taking my Forecast sweater on the plane with me so hopefully i'll finish it and have photos soon. The Disney Princess Half Marathon is on Sunday, can't wait to add the new medal to my wall. Wish me luck!