Race Season!

Fall Race Season has officially begun! And it started off well! 

Monday I did the Fleet Feet Run Into Buffalo 15K. I run with Fleet Feet so it felt more like a training run than a race, aside from the extra couple hundred people. :) This was my first time ever doing a race twice. Though, last year it was a different course, so maybe it doesn't count...

It was nice weather. A little humid but not very hot. I started off running with a friend and we eventually caught up to another friend. The first half was good but it took me about 4 miles to find my groove. After that I felt great and had to say goodbye to my friends. I felt too good to not go with it. At that point I was thinking I could PR. The second half went well, though I lingered too long at the water stops and I know I could have gone faster because I had too much energy at the end. I did PR, barely. My official gun time was 1:26:33 (previos PR of 1:26:59). They didn't provide a chip time for some reason but my watch had 1:26:00. So either way I PRed. It was nice, I definitely wasn't thinking about a PR before the race so it was a nice surprise to be mid-race and think I could do it.

One thing that was weird about this race was the finish line. I love crowd support during a race, especially longer ones. At smaller sized races you might not be able to count on spectators on the roads but you can expect a big crowd cheering you on at the finish line. The finish line on Monday was at the bottom of a small hill and, like I said before, I had a lot of energy at the end. I passed a couple people coming down the hill and was really booking it into the chute. There were a lot of people standing around but no one was cheering. There 
was a man announcing the finishers but when I was coming in he was talking about something else (of course he announced the names of the people I passed). It was pretty surreal. I had just ran as fast as I could to the finish and there was nothing. Oh well. It definitely made me excited for the upcoming weekends with bigger races. 

The rest of my weekend was good but uneventful running wise. Friday I met up with a friend to run at a park alongthe Niagara River. Neither of us had ever been there before but we were told it was definitely safe. It was, there were plenty of walkers, runners, and bikers. We did a nice 5 miles, not too fast, not too slow.

Saturday - I went to the gym for some cross training. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and then some upper body and core work in the weight room.

Sunday - Rest day.

Monday - Race

Tuesday - I was originally planning on going to the track workout but my legs were stiff and my foot was bothering me so I wound up going home and doing some Ballet. Yes, that's right, Ballet. I used to dance, from elementary school to college and I got this DVD for my birthday several years ago. I had never actually done the whole workout before. It was a lot of fun and pretty challenging. It was about an hour long and did strength work as well as the classic ballet moves. 

Wednesday - This morning I went to the gym for some more elliptical. I did 25 minutes. I was planning on doing another 25 minutes on the bike but they were all taken so I headed to the weight room. I did a potpurri of exercises; abs, lower back, leg presses, triceps, mid rows, inside and outside thighs, and leg curls. 

Tonight I have 5K coaching since Monday was Labor Day. They are up to 3 miles, 4 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking! They are doing great. I'm so glad I was able to be apart of this.