We appreciate your support of the Weekly Wrap. Our Guest Host Series continues for a few more weeks. Thanks to all of you for making it a success. This week's guest host is the lovely and inspirational Michelle @ Running With Attitude. Be sure to visit Michelle and leave a comment. Please do not just drop a post and run. The sole purpose of this linkup is to support active women. Our next guest hosts will be Madhuri @ Ponder 'N' Wonder on August 20th and Teresa @ Finding Fabulous at Fifty on August 27th.
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If you read last week's Weekly Wrap, you know that Wendy came to visit. In addition to our crazy water skiing antics, we also ran the Shake and Bake 5k. Initially, I wasn't going to do a recap because....well, my performance sucked. I didn't want to sound whiny. But, that isn't fair to the race itself.
The Shake and Bake 5k is a small race with a hometown feel. I've run it twice before and did quite well both times. Located in the shaded, hilly, quaint planned community of Mt. Laurel {note the word mountain in the name} it is the prettiest neighborhood route you'll ever experience. I remembered their nice T-shirts -- in fact I still sleep in one -- and great post race fare. When looking for a race, although small, I knew Wendy would enjoy this one. Please read her excellent recap HERE. Spoiler alert: she smoked it.
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| You never know who the mailbox cam will capture! |
The Shake and Bake 5k is a small race with a hometown feel. I've run it twice before and did quite well both times. Located in the shaded, hilly, quaint planned community of Mt. Laurel {note the word mountain in the name} it is the prettiest neighborhood route you'll ever experience. I remembered their nice T-shirts -- in fact I still sleep in one -- and great post race fare. When looking for a race, although small, I knew Wendy would enjoy this one. Please read her excellent recap HERE. Spoiler alert: she smoked it.
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| The softest T-shirt you can imagine! |
What went wrong? It was hot but we did not have our usual excessive humidity; there was no visible muck in the air. I could say it wasn't my day and leave it at that -- but that is not quite accurate. I have no legitimate excuses. I simply failed to respect the distance and follow my normal routine. Sparing you all my stupid decisions, I'll just mention the worst one -- drinking coffee while driving to the race, which I know from experience is a HUGE mistake. {Yep, I had the side stitch from hell over that cup.} No lie, I thought I was going to toss my cookies when I came across the finish line. I had to sit in the grass for a few minutes and collect myself.
When you boil it down, I got what I put in ... my worst 5k time since my very first one! Shame on me for not controlling the things I could. I threw myself a wee pity party. By the time I had eaten the post race watermelon and a buttermilk popsicle from Steel City Pops, I felt much better. [By the way, we both decided that popsicle was the best thing we'd ever eaten.] After the stop at Peach Park on the way home for peach cobbler, I had decided it was good (yet humbling) lesson learned.
Moving on... Although I wasn't proud of my own performance last weekend, I am incredibly proud of this lady right here!
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| Congratulations, Karen! |
Some of you may know Karen from Fit in France. She has taken a step away from blogging but you can follow her on I/G @ fit_in_france. I am privileged to be coaching Karen for her upcoming Disneyland Paris Challenge. Because she was also registered to run the Beach to Beacon 10k, that's what we concentrated on first. She tackled her speed intervals like a boss! I'm so pleased to report she ran an excellent (yet hilly!) race with a finish time of 56:20. I could not have asked for anything more. I'm incredibly proud of the hard work she's put in over the last months. It definitely paid off on race day.
I ran a couple of times this week, but nothing over 5 miles. With a few half marathons on the fall calendar, the real work will start soon enough. Wanting to increase my cycling mileage for a fall Century Ride, I planned to ride 50 miles on Sunday. I didn't make it. I cried uncle at 33. It was disgustingly hot and there was no shade on this route...except in the gazebo. My total cycling mileage for the week was 79.7 collected from three rides. I'm OK with that.
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| Saturday's "short" and hot ride of 21.6 miles |
I ran a couple of times this week, but nothing over 5 miles. With a few half marathons on the fall calendar, the real work will start soon enough. Wanting to increase my cycling mileage for a fall Century Ride, I planned to ride 50 miles on Sunday. I didn't make it. I cried uncle at 33. It was disgustingly hot and there was no shade on this route...except in the gazebo. My total cycling mileage for the week was 79.7 collected from three rides. I'm OK with that.
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| Taking a shady break on Sunday's hotter ride. |
We are celebrating the Weekly Wrap's second anniversary all month long. Make sure you visit Tricia to enter this week's giveaway! Next week you can find another giveaway right here. Congratulations to last week's winner:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And that's a wrap!
Are you training for a fall race? If so, which one?
