Greetings everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Mine was fairly busy. Friday night, I ran some errands with the husband and had a nice dinner out. I knew I needed to be home early to get to bed to be prepared for the Celtic Solstice in the morning. The
Celtic Solstice is an awesome 5 mile run through Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. There were lots of guys in kilts and lots of girls in running skirts. If you ask me, I think we were the cutest though!
I got to the race and about 10 minutes before,
Katye found me while she was with her dad and a group of TNT alumni and LLS employees. We found
Liz right as the race was starting (I didn't get a picture of her with us, but she was rocking the red skirt and tights too) and before we knew it, we were off.
This race is amazing. Druid Hill Park can be pretty hilly (they have a race in the summer called the Dreaded Druid Hills if that gives you an idea of what you would be up against) but this race did a great job of finding a relatively flat course. There was a hill at the start, maybe about .3 of a mile long and some winding curves and some slight elevation changes after that. The park offers some really pretty sights and some great views of downtown Baltimore. I was really there to enjoy the scenery and atmosphere and I was scheduled for a 20 mile training run the next morning. Something that struck me and made me feel really awesome was knowing so many people out and about in the race and really feeling as part of the community. As we would run by people we knew, we'd yell, sometimes people would yell for us, but it really felt like I was part of the running community (which is super embracing). About 3 miles in, I felt both sides start to cramp up really bad on me, so I let Liz (who I had been running with, as well as someone from Katye's 5K group from the summer/fall) take off. I ended up doing a lot of intervals, but like I said, I was there to take in the atmosphere and take it easy. I needed to save my legs for the next day. With the uphill start, we had a NICE downhill finish, which made the last half mile fly by.
This was such a fun race, I hope to do it every year. If you signed up early enough and paid for the premium, you got a really nice Brooks quarter zip shirt with the race logo embroidered on it. They also had hot wine, minestrone soup, italian cookies, hot chocolate and coffee (plus the bananas, water, apples and oranges you'd expect) that the finish. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this race!
I had to then hurry home, shower and run to the store because I had a marathon ahead of me. A marathon cooking baking afternoon with my aunt and cousin. We made spritz cookies, chocolate chip cookies, black bottom cupcakes, krinkle cookies and chocolate cookies with mint kisses inside. I attempted to make peanut butter chocolate truffles but they ended up having to be turned in to peanut butter cups (but were tastey and a crowd pleaser at a family dinner the next evening). We had a great time, but were exhausted by the end of it. I came home and was ready to crawl in bed (at 7!!)
The next morning, I got up bright and early to hit the trail at 7:15. It was a a cold day, so I lathered by my chest with glide stick (I have just started to expereince winter chaffing from my sports bra) and a lot of under armour cold gear (fail!!!). I tool the 45 nminute drive all amped up for my 20 miles! I started out with another TNTer beccause we keep the same pace and use the same (or similar) intervals.
I felt great for about the first five miles--strong, and suprisingly happy despite the cold (my braid had icicles forming at the ends--I wish I had taken pictures--it was probably only 25* and the sun wasn't up at all). The problem started shortly after mile 5 when I could start feeling the seam on my tights against the inside of my thigh. Every. Step. I. Took. I made it about 6.5 miles before I decided (at Katye and Dani's urging) that I could track back to my car, get in, cover my areas with body glide and head back out to finish the rest of the miles. In theory, it was a great idea, but I still had to get back to my car. I did my best with shorter run intervals (running seemed to aggrevate it more) and carried on until I hit about mile 9.5. I think Katye managed to catch up with me at this point and said from behind, I was waddling when I walked. It HURT. I did what I could to make it back and realized that no matter how much glide I put on, those parts would still be aggrevated so much that maybe I should finish out the miles later, on a treadmill wearing something without seems in the same places.
I was so bummed and started to feel like maybe I wasn't going to be ready for the marathon. Then I had to remember I had done 5 miles the day before, so I had 17 miles done in 24 hours. I plan to wrap up the rest of my miles tonight on the treadmill, but I had a bit of a panic attack on my way home from the trail, thinking "what the heck am I doing" and "I am so not ready for this--hello sweeper bus". Katye (my wonderful TNT coach) told me that the furthest she did for her marathon was 14 (limping) miles and that had me feeling a lot better. I still have some nerves and apprehension about it, but I am excited to give it a go!
After the trail, I had to again, race home, shower and change to head to my aunt's for a family Christmas get together (I am leaving for Iowa--roadtripping with my brother, sister in law and their three kids--and my cousin and his family are heading to Syracuse) at my aunts house. It was another long, fun filled day, but I came home at 7 and just wanted to crawl in to bed!
It was a busy weekend, a marathon of sorts, but I had a blast. I can't believe I only have 20 days until my first marathon! Where did the time go?
How was your weekend? Do you have any fun baking traditions in your family?
Happy Running!
