5 AND DONE!!!!!

Second Monday of the week,

Well, it's done! The last of the 5 year series of races for the Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon. I completed the Intergalactic Challenge. One of those medals is the 5 year completion medal and the other is the actual race medal. I do love that each year highlighted a different shuttle. The rest is the shirt and my bib.

It was a fun series of races but it got hard to go away on Thanksgiving weekend for 5 years in a row. I have to say I am so glad I can just vegetate Thanksgiving weekend next year!

But the weather was about 5 degrees cooler for this race than all the previous years. That really helped. What weight I have managed to keep off has helped, too. I did weigh myself just before Thanksgiving and I managed to lose about 3 lbs of the stupid 9 I gained BUT I have been afraid to weigh since then because I am convinced I erased that accomplishment over Thanksgiving, lol. I will weigh tomorrow and take my hit.

It occurred to me come March 1 it will be a year since I started Weight Watchers and I still haven't reached the 25lb mark and, in fact, gained back 9 of the 24.5lbs I lost! Grrr! So, between the actual holiday days, themselves, I need to get my butt back on track. It is my goal to get that damned 25lbs mark by the end of this year!

Anyway, despite the weight issue I managed to PR this half marathon. I ran a 2:06:50! Heck yeah!!! I'm afraid I will never be able to do that again but we will see. I need to shave off another 35 seconds/mile to get to a 2:00:00 half marathon. That's a lot to ask! Then I need to try to break a 5 hour full...

I have the annual Reindeer Half this coming Sunday and two back to back in Alabama and Mississippi the weekend of the 9&10th. I will run the first one but sight see on the second one, lol.

No fancy costumes on this one. We wore themed outfits which we made year one and wore them for all five years. Yes, I haven't bought the official photos yet, lol, but I will. So, for now you have to put up with the photographer's logo all over the pic.

Well, cheers, Y'all!

TTFN

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS APPARENTLY GOES ON A BLOG

Second Monday of the week.

Ok...whew, what a busy weekend! I'm exhausted. The weekend in Vegas was awesome. The races were great and all went so well.

My friends and I absolutely played up the Vegas experience. It was my first time there and there was so much to see. The strip is a lot bigger than you'd think!

Ok, so one of my friends I was with and I ran both the 5k and the half marathon. My other friend ran only the half marathon and opted out of the 5k but for a great reason as she had just run the New York Marathon the weekend before!

The 5k went really well. I wasn't going to try to run it for time because I didn't want to feel spent for the half the next night. But the air was soooooo dry and the temps so cool that I ran faster than I thought. I ended with a finish time of 28:30 and I felt like I put no more effort into it than a training run. Weird how weather can make such a difference.

Our outfits for the 5k were just fun and simple. Nothing crazy...that was the half, lol.

We got to see the headliner band the Goo Goo Dolls after the 5k. They were really good.


  We went to various sights  including Mandalay Bay.

The field across the strip where the shooting took place is still cordoned off. So sad...

The first sight we ran past for the half marathon was the current memorial at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the strip. It was very sobering. Apparently they will build a museum and move the whole sign and tributes left at it.


The half marathon went really well. The police and security were absolutely off the charts awesome! It was sad to see that it is now necessary to have police on scissor lifts with weapons and gear on. But I was so glad to see them there protecting us so we could play. I thanked every officer I could along the run. They were at all the intersections and the streets were blocked off a block back by buses and garbage trucks.

View of start line from my corral

View of corrals behind me

We ran down the strip and through down town. So many lights!

There were so many people, too! About 50k strong.





Ok, so now for our Vegas running outfits. We went in Vegas camouflage, lol. We really did blend in! All 3 of us ran in this outfit but we were different colors.
   

After the half with my medals

We looked so silly but it was so much fun! We sported a light-up bra which blinked, a light-up tutu, fish nets, a feather boa and the running stilettos I showed in the previous post. We got a lot of compliments too, lol. When you go to Vegas you have to come back with Vegas memories! And that, we did!

I have to say, running in dance tights was actually pretty comfortable....;-). There was no PR for this race but it felt really good to run. My friend and I decided to stick together since we felt a little silly in our outfits, lol. That was more fun, anyway and made for great pics!

Left-5k, middle-Remix, right half marathon

For the 5k and half marathon we got 3 medals. One for each race and a third for doing both races completing the Remix Challenge. The half medal glows in the dark, too!

But we have to wait for the Heavy Medal in the mail. We get that for completing 2 Rock-n-Roll marathons or half marathons in the same calendar year. Can't wait to see that.


TTFN

JEANNIES & VEGAS

OMG! It's the third Monday of the week already,

Why OMG? Because tomorrow is the day before I fly out to Las Vegas to run the Rock & Roll half marathon! Time is flying by so fast. I haven't packed and I haven't even posted about my I Dream of Jeanie half...

It went well. I didn't run it for time or a PR as I was running with a friend who was Major Nelson and we just wanted to have fun. It was a season opener for us and we did have oodels of fun!

Our Costumes looked great! We finished in a comfortable time of 2:25. I was pleasantly surprised that that pace was slow enough to be very comfortable and I was not at all tired at the end.

If I feel it I will try for a PR in Vegas.  But, we'll see. Those efforts may be hampered by....

...Ok, I had a coming to Jesus moment on the scale the other day. You know how, for some reason, it has been a struggle to get back with the Weight Watchers program . Weeellll, when I saw I was up *9* lbs I about had a heart attack. I have worked way too hard for the 24 lbs I had lost and, come hell or high water, I ain't giving it up!

So, for the last two days I've been really good on the program. Haven't even had the desire to eat wrong. The scale hasn't shown it, yet, but I'm hoping I am just holding back flood waters that need to be loosed! LOL.

I feel the lbs I have put on every time I go run, too. Yuck! It's harder to run. I hate that feeling. So the Vegas run may not go as well as I had hoped in terms of a PR but we'll see.

...Just wait till you see what we have in mind for our Vegas costumes, LMAO! You're going to think we've lost our dang minds but the outfits are hilarious!

Here's a hint...

Ha ha....wait till you see the rest :-D!

Ok I'll write more after Vegas. #VegasStrong