Luck of Irish 5K + 30 mi on Trainer

A busy week without a lot of working out usually leads me to trying to make up for it a bit over the weekend.  Friday the weather was the nicest it has been in months, but except for literally taking a walk in the park, I ended up having a couple drinks with neighbors and just hanging out Friday night.  Stupid - gave me a headache and some guilt over no biking outdoors. 

Saturday morning, I got up my daughter up on the early side and we headed down to the Luck of the Irish 5K in downtown Jefferson City.  Weather had turned super cloudy and cool with some wind overnight.  So much for our tiny taste of spring.  We had more than enough time for getting our packets.  We ran into a lot of people we know including Lukas from Team Virtus and some former co-workers and bike friends and neighbors and other friends from school, family members, etc.  Daughter was a social bee buzzing from group of friends to group of friends.  When there was only about 10 min before the race, we headed up the hill to the start line and hung with Susan and her boys and my niece waiting for the gun.

Girls are ready to run.  Mine is on the left and her cousin is on the right.

You may recall last year, she went out super fast and then spent the next couple of miles sobbing about not being able to do the full distance.  Oh what a difference a year makes.  She mostly stuck with me and worked on pacing and holding it together when she was struggling.  My niece ran out ahead at first, but we caught her after about the first mile and she mostly ran with us beyond that pacing with us the same walk/run mixture.  We tried to run the downhills, walk the steeper uphills and a mixture on the flats.  We played "I Spy" and "Run to that next sign" or "driveway" or "light".  We had almost no fussing except one minor side stitch early on.  It was a pleasure sticking together.

I knew running with my soon to be 9 year old would mean no PR though truthfully, my running is kind of sucking lately and there wasn't a lot of the time that I was really slowed down by her.  When she thought we were almost done (she didn't realize that the finish line was about 0.1 mi past the start), she started sprinting and she knocked it out of the park.  The race clock starts with the gun, but there is a sensor at the finish line that records your time at the end.  She finished in 36:47 and I came in right behind her and with my niece at 37:07.  Last year she did 40:04 so a great PR on a hard course with hills.  She may be able to outrun me in another year or two so I'll enjoy sharing this with her as long as I can.

Me and my girl catching our breath at the finish

Susan and I at the finish.  Moms are always stuck carrying everything.

Today nearly got away from me.  Lots of little things (home and work) in the way, but I finally sucked it up to face my 2.25 hours on the trainer.  I had 30 miles on the training plan for Tour De Cure (feel free to donate HERE - I'm almost to my $500 goal!).  I started with watching a movie and was interrupted at 1:29 by a husband who, although he cooks a lot of the time, seemed clueless on how to fry up some turkey cutlets for dinner.  So I got dinner started and let him finish it up so I could get back to the trainer.  Laptop died with about 12 min to go so I listened to a few tunes on my phone and called it good.  I'm feeling it too - husband thought he'd help by tightening the tension a bit.  Ouch.  He bought me a new tire the other day and said he'll help me figure out how to change it when the weather finally doesn't suck (oh, after 70's on Friday - it snowed this morning.  Welcome to Missouri!)

Today I also heard about the loss of a friend from high school.  I spent four years of choir with this guy, but hadn't really kept in touch (though he'd sold me my bathroom and kitchen fixtures when we built our house 10 years ago).  He had a gorgeous voice and a beautiful spirit.  He had just turned 40.  There was a car accident, he got out to check the damage and collapsed and was dead an hour later.  So hard to wrap my head around.  Another reminder that life can be short and I shouldn't put off too many things for "someday".

Kids are off school tomorrow.  Husband is off school all week (spring break).  I'm going to try to get some work done.  They are hoping to go to the gun range with a new purchase they recently made.  Both of my boys are giddy with excitement.  Daughter isn't a slouch at the range either though.  She is getting a bow for her birthday and will probably be outshooting her brother in no time.

YTD
Swimming = 7800 yds = 4.4 mi
Biking = 282.3 miles
Running = 72.2 miles