Rodes City Run- 10k

Yesterday was the 2nd race of the Louisville Triple Crown races I'm running. This was the 10k (6.2 miles), and as usual, running with Jenn made it a lot easier than it was running that the weekend before by myself. It just helps to have someone to talk to the whole way, plus we run at the same pace and keep each other motivated. Here we are before the race.

Our friend Amy did the race, too.

And here's the start line (we were a little closer this time):

We were lucky to have really great weather. It was in the mid 40s at the start, the sun was shining, and no rain. Not too hot, not too cold...just right! Here are my official results:

Time: 1:12:31

Overall Rank: 5,181 out of 7,301

Gender Rank: 2,402 out of 4,052

Division Rank (Females 20-24): 208 out of 267

I guess I'm slow for my division, but oh well. I was just happy to have run the whole thing! Jenn finished 2 seconds ahead of me. Ben told me that next time I should tell her that her shoe is untied right at the end and then bolt ahead first- ha. Amy did great and only finished 6 minutes after us and she walked most of the time! Shows you how fast she walks and how slow we run!! We met up with our cousin Jason again after the race- Jason's time was 53:22- again, this is why we just meet up after the race instead of running together. :)

Of course, we held to the tradition and Jenn, Amy, and I met up with Ben at Wild Eggs for brunch. I ordered a bananas foster waffle. Oh my.

Waffle with vanilla ice cream and powdered sugar

+ bananas and some sort of syrupy deliciousness

=love

I highly recommend this waffle, but I also highly recommend you split it with someone because it is way too sweet to eat all by yourself!!

Ham & Cheese

When Ben's dad Carl, Ben, and I were in Paris last summer, we ate at this little place near the train station and Ben ordered the most amazing ham and cheese sandwich that we all tried and loved. I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was just Paris...but this sandwich was unlike any ham and cheese we'd ever had!! Last weekend, Carl decided to re-create the sandwich for us.

He paired it with M5, a wine our brother-in-law Noah got him from the Getty in Los Angeles, which was a 10 out of 10. The presentation on the square green plate was a nice touch...and the sandwich was delicious!! Our only critiques to make it more like the original were that the cheese needed to be pouring over onto the plate (can never have too much cheese, right?), and the Eiffel Tower needs to be in the background (not that we're picky or anything)!

YUM!!!

That's all I have to say about that.

Anthem 5k

Today was my first running race ever, the Anthem 5k- first leg of the Triple Crown of Running. I was amazed when we got there at the excitement in the air...there were 8,515 participants, not to mention all the on-lookers and people cheering everyone on! There were some cheerers with funny signs, one that said, "Keep running- people are watching!" and another that said, "Run like someone is chasing you!"

The weather was nice, pretty cold before we ran (low to mid 30s maybe), but good in that the sun was shining! I was there with my sister Jenn and my cousin Jason. Here we are, excited to start the race!

We lined up for the race to start at 8:00, but as you can see we were a ways from the red "Start" archway we had to pass through (you can barely see it in this picture):

We didn't cross the start line until 8:06. The time chip on the number you wear on your shirt doesn't start the time though until you pass through that archway. Jenn and I ran together the whole way (3.1 miles)...Jason, of course, is way faster so we didn't run with him! We started off running really fast, a little overly excited to be running with a mob of people. Then we realized we should probably slow it down a bit if we wanted to run the whole way! The first mile felt great, and it was exciting to cross the first mile marker. The second mile had a slight decline and then incline, and it slowed us down a bit trying to get through all the people who had slowed down a lot doing uphill. The third mile felt like it was longer to me, mainly because I was so anxious to finish. Once we could see the finish line, I was so ready to be done! Jenn wanted to sprint to it, but I really didn't think I could. So she darted like a bullet through some people and crossed, and I got there 10 seconds later.

After the race, the stats are available online. Here's how I did:

Time: 31:54

Overall Rank: 4401 out of 8515

Gender Rank: 1847 out of 4904

Division Rank (Females 20-24): 188 of 356

Jenn's time was 31:44 and Jason's was 25:08 (no wonder we didn't run with him!!).

Afterward, Jenn, Jason, Amy, Julie (Amy and Julie are friends of Jenn's who did the 5k as well), Scott (he didn't do the 5k, just met up with us :)) and I went to brunch at Wild Eggs. My avacado, cheddar, fried egg, bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich and skillet potatoes were yummy!

My first race experience was a good one, although the first thought through my mind when I crossed the finish line was, "I'll never be able to do the mini-marathon!" This made me realize how much harder I need to train, especially since the 10k (6.2 miles) is coming up in 2 weeks! I am just so glad Jenn is running all these with me because she keeps me going during the race...she's faster than me and motivates me to keep up!

Running

This is how I look and feel after running:

Actually, I look even worse and sooo red, but the lighting in the picture is bad so you really can't get the full effect. I am currently training for the Kentucky Derby Festival mini-Marathon on April 24th. I thought running this would be a good experience and something to motivate me to get in shape. However, with my current busy schedule, I'm finding myself tired all the time and never feeling like I have time to run. When I do run, I haven't been eating right and haven't been cross-training, so running has been a lot harder than it should be.

My biggest stumbling block with running is the mental game. The whole time I am running I am thinking about how miserable it is to run and how I should stop right that second. You'd think running with someone would help that a lot, but I still struggle with that even with a running buddy.

So how do I overcome that? How do I push through and keep running even when I just want to stop? How do you runners out there push through it? I better get my mental endurance built up before April 24th or I'll never make it 13.1 miles!!

Murder Mystery

Amanda and Shelby hosted a joint birthday party for Mom and my aunt Becky last night. Becky's birthday was earlier this week and Mom's was in January, but this was the first chance for everyone to get together. They had us over for a Murder Mystery Dinner with characters from the 50's. Amanda had assigned us our characters in advance, so we came dressed for our parts. The names were all really corny, for example, the murder victim was "Rock N. Roley". Ironically, there was a previous victim they discussed in the game named "Becky Sue", and there we were celebrating my aunt Rebecca Susan's birthday!

There were 8 characters. I was "Dee Deucer", the homecoming queen and then FBI agent in the "Dirty Tricks" division. Dad was "Joe K. Awledge", Rock N. Roley's business manager. Mom was "Pris Teen", the straight A student who was actually bought exam answers from "Rock N. Roley". My cousin Jason was "Cal Q. Later", the nerd, and Becky was "Penny Loafer", the twin sister of "Rock N. Roley". Amanda didn't play a part, but dressed up anyway and facilitated the game.

My aunt Tammy (gotta love those fake eyelashes she has on) was "E.C. Doesit", the cheerleader, and my uncle Chris was "Delbert" (I forget his full character name), the football pro.

Arlyn, a family friend, played the eighth character "Rick", the jealous ex-band member with "Rock N. Roley", in place of my cousin Ryan since he didn't end up being able to come. My cousin Haylee didn't play a part, but she dressed in her poodle skirt (made by Tammy) anyway!

Papa sat and listened to the whole thing, but my guess is that he was even more confused than we were!

It was hilarious as we read through our parts because some people really acted their characters well. Jason used a really funny nerdy voice for Cal Q. Later. Tammy and Becky went with southern accents. The rest of us just read our parts the best we could. :) It was fun reading through our parts and trying to solve the mystery. As it turns out, it was actually a pretty complex, highly detailed mystery that got most of us confused! And no wonder, because the solution ended up being that there were 3 people involved!

So much for me being "Dee Deucer". I didn't deduce anything right!

Game Night Resumes

Girl's game night has been put on hold the last couple months because of Christmas, a wedding, weather, etc. But last night we finally got together again. Jenn, Mom, Sharon (Jenn's mother-in-law), and I like to meet once a month and play a game, all put in $5, and the winner gets the pot and a "trophy" that says "The Winner!". Well, this was the fifth game night and up to this point I had yet to win. This time we played Bananagrams, which is a great game, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something new! It's like a fast-paced, highly competitive Scrabble game, and I love it!

This picture says it all :)