Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sunday night reflections...

Well hello there! Finally home and staring at Mount Everest of dirty clothes but blogging instead...

Weekend was fun! We almost never get to travel as a family and since Reese could not play again this weekend we all headed out together. A few reflections of my weekend travels....

* I'm entirely too cheap to pay for 2 hotel rooms and the hockey group rate only included 2 double beds. Therefore, I am quite tired and there are permanent impressions of little feet on my back....these little feet are seriously lucky they don't have little broken toes. I'm about half kidding here....(I love my children, do not report me)

*the hotel room was SO dry and my husband is sick and must have been dreaming about a freight train because he sounded like one. After pulling his chin down until he choked, shaking him, actually kicking him, I seriously considered putting the pillow over his head and sitting on it. Wife of the year here!

*I am a bad mother at hockey games and pump my son full of quarters for video games at the rink to keep from bothering me while I try to watch the game.

*It is just not right to have a 12 ounce/day coffee ration when I'm finally in a city surrounded by Starbucks and Caribou coffee.

*I hate 5K's

*5K's suck

*The Sunday breakfast buffet at the Crown Plaza is fantastic. I'm pretty sure the waitress was concerned about my well being after seeing the fruit plate I brought back to the table. She almost stared at me in disgust like I was going to waste it or something. WRONG. I ate it-ALL of it.

*My daughter was desperate for these Reebok Zig? shoes. In her little world, these must be equivalent to the "Girbaud" jeans of the early 90's or something. She is likely sleeping in them right now.

*Trader Joe's is a freakin' mad house on Saturdays.

*Running paths are SUCH a treasure.

*My husband (who I almost tried to murder) bought me really cute boots as a peace offering and I forgave him for snoring by accident because he was sick and the hotel room was dry. This was a seriously nice gesture on my part....

*I LOVE watching my kids play sports! I'm not really a crowd screamer but I watch intently and sit on the edge of my seat the whole time. Ryan is the hardest worker-I love it!

*As much as I hate 5K's I also see the benefit in them (I'm bipolar) Good speedwork and generally cheap race entry fees. I think I will force myself to tackle a few more. I was pleased with my effort this weekend. I ran hard and 5K pace is DEFINITELY not a strength for me. I have some mental issues related to my watch that I need to work out. I'm considering not wearing one next time around. Mile 1 was faster than I would have liked and when I saw it on my Garmin I shut down a bit and started to panic. I was feeling good at that point and it turned negative quickly. At this point, with a little bit better running surface and no hairpin turnaround (quite difficult in a 5K in my opinion) I think I may be able to drop 8-10 seconds, MAYBE, but I'm not in sub 20 shape right now. Not even in perfect conditions. I'm totally OK with that and I'm pleased I am where I am at this point.

Back to work tomorrow and full time for the month of February. Will be a bit of a challenge to make it all work but sometimes the busier I am, the smoother things go....This week will be a cutback running week for me and I'm going to ease up on the miles, hit spin twice and try not to get overly stressed about it! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I really am considering some more thoughtful posts in the future!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

My best 5k time(20.19)was at a turkey trot on Thanksgiving and I forgot to charge my watch the night before. I just ran for "fun." Seriously? No, but I did run by feel and it hurt...but it was my best time. Now I'm trying to plot how I can beat that time. But seriously, I don't want to try. 5ks are SO much work, I need a good three mile warm up!!
Congrats!

XLMIC said...

I learned my lesson about scrimping on the hotel rooms with all these kids and a snoring husband a long time ago! But I am older than you so you're probably on the 'correct' learning curve :P

Good for you for seeing the good in the venerable 5K. You are such a quick runner, with a little focus I'll bet you could turn that weakness into a bona fide strength!

I think I always choose blogging over laundry ;-)

The Hungry Runner Girl said...

GIRL, you are a rockstar....your 5k is out of control fast!!! I am cheap too....two hotel rooms, no way! What kind of boots? You are not a bad mom, they love you for letting them play the games!!! That must be so fun to watch them play!! Thank you for the amazing advice about Boston!! I love that you PR'd there, you are my inspiration... please share any more advice you have for me because I look up to you big time and I want all the advice you can give me!!! Have a great day back at work:)

Jill said...

I used to say I'd rather run 3 continuous marathons over a lung-sucking 5K. Am I the only once that coughs for about an hour after a 5K?

Of course you can't get two hotel rooms, girl...you have jeans to buy! :)

Hoping your entry to full-time work this month goes smoothly...and yeah, I am much more on top of my time when I am overly scheduled, I totally understand!

Raina said...

Your hotel room experience sounds vaguely familiar.....to my every night! haha.

OK, hairpin turns do suck.
So do wet leaves and narrow places without passing room.
I am SO glad I have elbows sometimes ;)

You WILL drop some time just for getting out there again- And i still think the sub 20 could be in no time, if you give it another shot.

I would have had about 40 oz of coffee if I were on vacation (per day). No vanilla gu, either. Just the good stuff!

Jamie said...

Oh the joy of traveling :) hotel rooms are so freaking dry it is ridiculous! sounds like a good weekend with the whole family though!

Emily said...

can we start a 5k haters club? I love racing so much, so I keep signing up for them, but I hate them every time. I do think they make an excellent tempo training run even when you're not going all out in them. Plus, it's easier to convince my friends to join me for a day of racing fun when it's a 5k and not a marathon...

PS- running in a mask might make me quit the sport. And that's saying a lot...

Stephanie said...

Hey...if boots is the price to pay for some snoring I'm going to request the same deal!

Boots are worth the mula anyday over hotel rooms!

I love watching my kids participate in ANYTHING!

Your 5k time is simply inspiring!

dawn @ running the dawn said...

i'm so ready to see the boots! i'm such a boot stalker. i haven't bought a new pair in ages, but i can spend hours lusting over them online.

i love that you hate and love 5k's at the same time. and that you keep coming back to your 5k this weekend. here's my (pretty much worthless) opinion. you are training for distance and endurance. neither of which come into play during a 5k. so, even though your time was totally LIGIT and LIGHTENING FAST...it doesn't speak to your full potential. you're saving your potential for a race that will let you take out your strengths and show them off (endurance and distance).

you are a rockstar: mom, runner, shopper, fan!!!

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

My problem with running by feel in a race is I WILL go out WAY too FAST, and then suffer even more than normal.

Sounds like you may need some nap time this wk after all of the kicking and snoring, but it also sounds like there will be no time for that. I hope the wk goes well for you.

Yikes, only 12 ounces of coffee, I'm impressed! I'm limiting my diet soda habit to one a day, but coffee?? some say it's good for you. I'm going with that!

ajh said...

I have a husband who snores most nights like a freight train. I have never gotten any boots out of it though! And sometimes it does work to be overscheduled. It all gets done somehow. Good luck!

ShutUpandRun said...

12 oz of coffee would get me nowhere.

I hate 5Ks too. But wish I could run one RIGHT now.

You are the ultimate awesome mom. I don't know you personally, but I just know you are.

Thanks for all of your ongoing support. I will beat this thing, right?

Raina said...

Do I need to remind you to UPDATE the PRs??

Emz said...

Love
Thus
Post.

I hate 5k's too. ;)

LindseyAnn said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend!!
Loooove Caribou! Haven't been since we moved here due to budgetary constraints, but once that changes I'll be going there more often!!
I don't really mind 5Ks, but I haven't done one in a while and none at all since I started racing longer, so I might have to re-evaluate my stance on them after the fact.
We always crammed all 5 of us in to 1 hotel room on family trips. I refused to share a bed and ended up in a blanket pile on the floor. Between that and some earplugs, I think I was the only person who slept well sometimes! ;)
Have a great week--good luck with the full time!

Anonymous said...

-only 12oz of life juice a day? my cup needs at least 3 of those to be half filled.

-reebok zigs...endorsed by the Jersey Shore roid-heads. must be why they're so "it".

-AWESOME job on the 5k! Sure they suck, but the quicker you get, the less time you spend running. Giving you more time in your day to hate them.

Lindsay said...

Yeah you didn't earn any points/votes for Mother or Wife of the Year here... ;) lol. Glad you were able to cope with the hotel situation. Good thing hubs realized how "wrong" he was and made it up to you ;) As I often tell Josh -- "Happy wife, happy life".