Dopey Challenge Training Week 17 & Weekly Recap

Happy Friday, y'all! This first week back at work after vacation has really flown by and I'm so glad I have another weekend to relax and continue recuperating from our recent travel adventures!

Although I did stay active on my cruise and complete my goal of running three days that week, I didn't complete a "long run", so I'm not counting that week as completely successful. Does the Castaway Cay 5K count? :)

I did however reach my second goal of relaxing and enjoying myself. We made up for any sleep we've lost and although we really missed Brayden, we enjoyed being just the two of us again for a little while. I truly believe that you need that as a couple every once in a while, especially since 9 years of our marriage was spent kid free! Reuniting with Brayden was so amazing, though...and we've been soaking up the moments with him ever since. I am SO incredibly thankful for my parents, Jason's parents, and my friend Kim. They took excellent care of him while we were gone and I never once had to worry. I did purchase a data plan on the ship to keep in touch several times throughout the day and that was also really refreshing to see him throughout the cruise.

Ok, enough about that....now on to my week!

 
Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA

Saturday - Travel Day - I did run the Castaway Cay 5K on Friday
Sunday - I call this a rest day although it truly wasn't - we spent the morning at the park with Brayden, then returned home and finished unpacking our bags from the trip!
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - Squats/Lunges/PT with cross training
Friday - Cross Train

On Sunday morning, we took advantage of our final day off work and slept in as late as possible. After breakfast, we took Brayden to a local park that included a splash pad. HE LOVES WATER and had a ball there!! Once he grew tired of the splash pad, we went over to the swing set to let him swing for a while. He isn't a fan of the slides yet, although I know he will be soon!

Monday afternoon after work, we spent a little time with our friend Melissa (she's training for the Wine & Dine 10K and her first runDisney event) and we completed 3 miles together! 

The weather at the beginning of this week was amazing and finally felt like fall! We even had to pull out a few long sleeved outfits, although we haven't had to use the heater inside the house just yet. Now it's back to humid and blah outside. Sure wish that weather would have stuck around!

I'm pretty sure a trip to the pumpkin patch is in order this weekend!

On Tuesday afternoon, we went for a 4 mile run together. It was another gorgeous day! I didn't try to push myself as I didn't want to overdo it, so we took it nice and easy and enjoyed the run!

Not my best but that's ok! After eating cruise sized portions of food for an entire week, I was ok with this!

Thursday was a lot of fun! Pixie was groomed and after seeing her Halloween bows, I just had to take a picture of her with the pumpkin in our groomer's front yard. Pixie wasn't having ANY of that, though. Oh well.

Last night, we went out to our local college's Homecoming parade. This is a tradition of ours since forever and we really enjoyed it! This was Brayden's second parade outside the womb and his first time to really interact with the lights and sounds!

He LOVED the bands!!

(That's our local university band passing by as a blur in the background...)

Our favorite spot to stand for the parade is in front of the President's house as this is where the judges also sit. The parade participants are always on their a-game here and they usually still have a ton of candy to throw. Oh wait...maybe I'm telling our secret now? Shhhh...keep this between us, k? 

Tonight will be spent cheering on our Astros. They are so close to playing in the World Series and they've had a great season! I am reaaaaally nervous, though! We shall see what happens!

I have a 14 mile long run on the schedule so I'm crossing my fingers all goes well for that! I hope you've had a great week and enjoy your weekend!! :)

Friday Five

I am so excited that it's Friday once again! This week was full of fun activities and this weekend will be as well!

#1 Long Run

Last weekend, I set out to run a long run with my running buddy Heather. We had 12 miles on the schedule and somewhere around mile 5, my knee decided to let me know it wasn't very happy with me. To be honest, I haven't been doing my squats and lunges and PT routine like I should and my knee just isn't having it anymore. Needless to say, our 12 mile run was cut short at 8 miles. I was ok with the decision (and thankfully so was Heather) because our main focus is a 10K next weekend and we both want to have a good time for the race. After weighted squats and lunges and foam rolling all week, I hope the knee is back to being ok - we shall see on Saturday!

Along with my knee, I also took a little break from running this week. I ate something on Monday night that left my stomach very unhappy with me. Needless to say, it all decided to revisit me the following morning and I've felt off all week. Here's hoping that gets better soon, too! 

By the way, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day with amazing weather! I want it to come back!

#2 Grand Opening

This weekend, we also had the privilege of attending the Grand Opening for our church's Mother's Day Out program. Back in December of last year, our church experienced a massive flood (internally) which did a LOT of damage. It also wiped out our entire nursery/Mother's Day Out area. After a lot of time, restoration, and planning, the insides of the Mother's Day Out program is finally back to normal!

They held an official ribbon cutting and celebration this weekend. My dad even had the honor of cutting the ribbon!

One side is themed as "Under the Sea" and the other is nature and local scenes!

I LOVE it! They did an amazing job!

#3 Homecoming Parade

Last night, we attended the homecoming parade for our local college. All of my family including my husband are alumni and it's fun to go back and support them during homecoming!

Aren't Brayden's baby leggings just the cutest?! I loved his little outfit for the parade! 

It's also a tradition of my best friend and I - we have attended this homecoming game together every year since I can't remember how long! When we were in college, we were even in the parade together! :)

Last year, we were about 4 months pregnant (she was 3 weeks ahead of me) and this year, we brought our babies! SO MUCH FUN! Brayden loved looking at everything - the only thing he did not care for were the crazy loud sirens.

#4 The Walking Dead

You guys. Oh my gosh. I still have no words...but you gotta admit, this one's pretty funny right here!

#5 "Haunted" Car Wash?

There's a local car dealership here that "dresses up" their car wash every year for Halloween. It's actually rather funny and we decided to go check it all out for ourselves!

Lined inside this tunnel were all kinds of Halloween themed items. I'm not a huge celebrator of the scary side of Halloween, but this was pretty funny...and a clever gimmick to get people to stop by and get their cars washed! 

This weekend is going to be another busy but fun one! I have a wedding shower that I'm helping host on Saturday morning. That evening, we are going to take Brayden (and his cousin) back to the pumpkin patch in their costumes for pictures (can't wait)! We also have the homecoming football game where we will be celebrating the birthday of another good friend of mine. In all, it should be another fun (and busy) one!

Today, I'm teaming up with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!

Feelin' Like Fall

The weather this weekend was incredible and I loved every minute! When you can feel Fall in the air...yesss....that's absolutely the best! I sure hope it sticks around for a while (wishful thinking)!

Although the humidity was a little high on Saturday morning, the temperatures were in the mid 70's! 

Heather and I met up with the running group on Saturday morning. We did a run/walk combo for 6 miles around town and had a great time!

After the run, I took a nap then went to a family birthday party. It was nice to visit and catch up with the family!

We had McAlisters for dinner, then visited Cowboy Stadium for the first home game of the season! Everyone in my group was McNeese Alumni, so we had fun cheering on our boys! They won, too!! 

Kona Ice was on scene and I couldn't pass up my opportunity! Yum! 

The band!

After the game, the team knelt down for a prayer! I loved seeing this!! 

 

Linzi on my right, sister in law on my left! :)

Oh yes, and we also had a belated birthday/freedom/happy wedding party for a few friends on Friday night. The candle holder above was one of my gifts and I love it! Fall is just the best time of year!! 

Today, I have to have a hole fixed in a tooth. Whomp whomp. On Labor Day, I noticed that a chunk of filling fell out of my back molar and I don't remember when, where, or how. Strange, isn't it? I'm just glad it wasn't hurting or causing me excruciating pain, but I definitely don't want it to get infected. The worst part of it all is the lasting effects of the numbing medication. 

Ah well, it's yet another beautiful day in the south, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible! Have a fabulous Monday!  

How was your weekend? Any long runs/races?

McNeese Cowboy Gallop 10K Recap

Last Saturday, my friend Heather and I decided to participate in a local 10K…one of the only 10K’s in our area, actually! The 10K was sponsored by the track team from our local University (also my alma mater). A huge deciding factor in running this race was the fact that runners finished on the 50 yard line of the football stadium! Say what!

We returned from Disney on the Thursday night before this event to a really cold Louisiana. After checking the weather, I discovered that race-day temps wouldn’t be much better. Lovely! Our University colors are blue and gold, so I attempted to dress accordingly (as close as possible at least)!

Race morning temps were in the “feels like” 32 degrees range, so Heather and I stayed in our cars as long as possible. I did end up foam rolling right before (yes, in the parking lot!), which I think helped me in the long run – no pun intended! :)

As runners began gathering around, I quickly realized something – not many people showed up for the race that morning. I don’t know if the crazy temps drove people away or what, but I was kind of happy to run with a smaller crowd (a nice change from my recent Disney races).

This route led us out of the stadium area and onto one of the busier roads in town. One lane of traffic was closed off for us and the local officers did a great job with lane/road closures and keeping runners safe!

During this race, I truly ran my heart out. My prior PR was in the 54 minute range, so I wanted to try and surpass that. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about placing, too…this race was super small, how difficult would it be?

I scoped out every female that passed me – did she look like she belonged in the 30-39 category? If so, I ran a bit harder. I’m not gonna lie, there were several females throughout this course that kept me motivated and pushing hard to finish with a good time. We all stayed close to each other and finished within seconds of each other – I kinda felt like Kara Goucher only WAY slower. Haha! That’s something I love about racing – the competitive side of things. It’s also nice that runners can be as competitive or not as competitive as they like, it’s up to each individual runner. There are some days where I’m just not feeling it and that’s ok – I like to run for fun, too!

As we headed into Cowboy Stadium, we ran down this super steep hill. I actually slowed down a little bit so I wouldn’t fall face first and that’s when the girl in the orange socks passed me. I realized my mistake as soon as I hit the ground (with both feet, not on my face) and I picked up the pace as much as possible but I didn’t have anything left in me. I truly gave this race everything I had.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 51:35 (watch time) and 51:43 (official). Definitely a PR and I was ecstatic!

After crossing the finish line, I grabbed a bottle of water, then walked over to the sidelines to cheer my friend Heather on as she finished the race. She PR’d, too!!

We just had to take a picture of us on the turf. It was really neat being out on the field!

After hanging out and watching the end of the race, we made our way to the Alumni pavilion for the awards ceremony. I already knew that I hadn’t placed and I was ok with that – in the end, my age group was one of the most competitive out of all of them (had I been in any other age group, I would have placed)! I was 6th in my AG and was super happy with my results. A PR is a PR no matter what!

Refreshments were served while waiting on the official results. I grabbed a bowl of the breakfast casserole because it was warm!

We attempted not to freeze to death – I can’t tell you how glad I was that I kept my gloves/ear warmers during the race!

I am incredibly proud of my friend Heather!

She placed 2nd in her age group AND PR’d! What a day!!

We each took home a new track team t-shirt and a hacking cough….but I feel much better now, though. We aren’t used to running in cold temperatures like that here in SWLA!

My one dislike about this race was the fact that there was only one water station on the course – it was at mile 2.5. Thankfully, it wasn’t a warm day…I would have been in seriously trouble if so!

Other than the water stops, I loved this race and can’t wait to run it again next year!

Does your area have a lot of 10K’s? What’s your favorite local race to run?

Homecoming and Fitness Friday

Last week/weekend, my local University held its annual homecoming festivities! One of my best friends and I have this tradition – the homecoming parade. We were in the parades while in school and we’ve been attending them together almost every year since we graduated. I love it! It’s so much fun to see the community on display while rooting together for our favorite Southland Conference team!

Here’s a few of the floats. One of the fun things about this year was the University’s Anniversary….celebrating 75 years!

The tourist bureau always shows a good time, decked out in Mardi Gras gear!

The Clydesdale horses (yes, THOSE Clydesdale horses) were a huge hit for this year’s 75th celebration! They marched in the parade and were on display at the stadium throughout the weekend for everyone to see.

These. Guys. Are. HUGE. For real, y’all. Huge. I was blown away by their size!

Game night!

One of the horses was brought on the field during pregame – look at the size compared to the people around him! Each horse has a name, too…I thought that was cute. :)

Saturday night’s game served as a girls night. I haven’t seen these two ladies in quite a while so we had a lot of fun! Our team won, too…no better way to end a homecoming celebration than that!

We might have also enjoyed one of these at Chili’s after the game! :)

Now that I’ve yacked your head off, here’s my workouts for the week:

Currently training for:
Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon
Louisiana Half Marathon
Rock ‘n’ Roll NOLA Half Marathon
Glass Slipper Challenge

Saturday – 14 mile run
Sunday – Rest Day 
Monday –  3 mile run
Tuesday –  Rest Day 
Wednesday – 4 miles with Jason 
Thursday – Felt bad all day – unplanned rest day
Friday – 3 miles

This weekend I have an 8 or 10 mile run followed by a 6 mile run the following weekend – then it’s taper time for the Wine & Dine Half!! Wahhooo!

How was your week? Any weekend plans?