Niki's Neverending Adventure

Whew! Today has been a LONG busy day!! First, let’s do the race recap!

 

This race was AWESOME!! It always is, this is the 3rd year I have run in it. Before I started school, I worked at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital so I am a BIG supporter!! It was nice to see some of the old patients and co-workers at the race!! So, since I didn’t let ya’ll in on my goals for the race last night, I will now!! I really wanted to go out and run HARD! And my first goal was to run under 29:00. And my second, more harder to achieve goal, was to run 28:xx. Well, I blew both out of the water and ran a 27:23! Wohoo!! I really surprised myself! That is an average pace of 8:48 min/ mile!! I usually have trouble with this race because there are a ton of hills, but since I now live around a ton of hills and train on them, I was really able to tackle this course!

 

Mile 1: I was running with a friend at the beginning so we chatted the first mile or so. This race was really jam packed so we were swerving around people a lot. The first mile went by so fast I couldn’t believe it when Garmie chirped “one mile” at me! I was trying to run the first mile between a 9:30- 9:45 pace and I hit it right on with 9:43 for the first mile.

 

Mile 2: There were a lot more uphill's on this mile but I just chugged a long. My friend dropped back at about the 1.5 mile mark so I turned on my IPod and started jamming out! I was so glad I had uploaded some new tunes!! My mom was able to snap a quick picture of me right at the 2 mile mark.

 

 

Sorry it’s a little blurry but it will do! Look how funny my hand looks! Haha. My time for my second mile was 8:41. I was really pushing it here, especially when I crossed the 2 mile marker and knew I had only 1 more mile to go!!

 

Mile 3-3.1: I was really pushing hard this last mile and was flying past a lot of people! It felt so good to still have a little energy left so I could really run fast!! Lots of hills on this mile too but I knew the course so I was prepared! Plus, I really do enjoy some hills!! I ran my last mile in 8:17! Here are some finishing photos!

 

 

The retarted hand again, I guess this is just how I run! You will notice it in some of the following pics also!

 

 

Here I look like I’m about to fall over sideways!! I was actually running super hard but I felt great at this point!!

 

 

Look at that determination face! I like this one!!

 

 

Just finished!! The clock time said 28:10 but we had a super slow start!! Garmie said 27:23 for 3.1 miles and that’s my official time!!

 

I had a blast today!! The weather was really chilly, like 53 degrees, but felt good by then end of the race!! The t-shirt I wore is my good luck race shirt!! For some reason when the weather gets colder, I like wearing plain cotton t-shirts to run in vs. special dry-fit or cool max running shirts. Weird I know!!

 

They also had some super yummy food afterwards!! I got a Cherry- Vanilla Bagel from the Panera stand and a few orange slices! It was AMAZING! I would definitely eat that bagel again!! They also had hot dogs, pizza, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, donuts, pretty much everything you could think of!! It was a very fun time and I can’t wait till next year!!

 

On to my yard work that I did today…

The rest of the day was spent mulching my yard, building more flower beds, and planting some fall flowers!! So glad my parents were there to help me! Al lucked out and had to work today so we got it all finished without him! Haha :) Here are some pics of our hard work!!

 

 

This is one side of my front yard. Planted all those pansies today! Check out the pretty mums I have back there!! Here is a close up of the mums…

 

 

I just LOVE that color!!

 

 

Here is the other side of my front yard! I am so happy with our work! Now, my next job is to tackle the back yard!!

 

Well, I am spent! I am so ready to just have a relaxing night catching up on my DVR with my Sadie girl!! Here is a cute little pic of her also!

 

 

She is such a sleepy head! Haha!!

 

Hope ya’ll had a GREAT Saturday too!! Please share any fun activities!! :)

Posted in: on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at at 6:23 PM