Race Recap: Wicked 10K

Yesterday, I had one of my worst runs ever. I was cleared by my chiropractor on Thursday to “jump back into it,” and I took his word for all it was worth – yesterday Suz & I decided to do seven miles, easily my longest run in months. We are officially signed up for our half-marathon on December 9, meaning we are just over a month away, and we (I) have got to get back into training mode and get back into shape. So, off we went. And it was awful. We were doing an out-and-back, and the out actually felt really good. Nothing was hurting too badly, my breathing was ok, the temperature was good. Once we turned around, though, it was all downhill from there (except it was mostly uphill… issues). My legs were tired, I couldn’t breathe, my back hurt. I actually slowed down to walk up a few hills because my body was just saying no. Suz was fantastic, as usual (you’re the best, friend!), pep-talking me and staying slow with me and encouraging me to lay down on the path and stretch like a maniac. We finished a little over seven miles in a little over an hour, and I proved to myself that my endurance is shoddy and my body is in desperate need of some conditioning before December 9. Eeeeek. Previous goal: half in under two hours. New goal: finish half. Blerg. My body feels awful today – everything is sore. Back to Square One.

So, since yesterday was so horrible, I figured that it was as good a time as any to write my Race Recap for the Wicked 10k! (Also, because the race was weeks ago, and as I have another race this weekend, I’m about to be miserably behind. But that is neither here nor there.) The best way to come off a horrible run is to remember a great one, right?...

Race Recap

I can easily say that the Wicked 10k was one of my favorite,  favorite, favorite races/runs to-date. It was my first J & A race, and I was blown away by how organized everything was, how simple it was, and how generous they were. I don’t think I have one single complaint about this race!

My sister and I headed to Virginia Beach on Friday night, amidst many warnings about the impending hurricane that was due to make landfall that weekend. Hurricane, schmurricane – we had a race to run! Nat & I signed up for the Wicked 10K in the early summer – we had been looking forward to it for months, and nothing was going to stand in our way! Key note: this race was sponsored by Blue Moon, and one of the incentives was free beer for all finishers. Done and done. Not even my old-woman back… my doctor had recommended that I take it very easy, listen to my body, and not push myself. As badly as I wanted to race this one, I knew that I couldn’t. I had to make the healthy choice. And so I headed into the weekend resigned to that fact.

Nat and I got to VB 15 minutes before the expo closed and raced in to pick up our packets. It was actually a breeze (insert hurricane jokes, starting immediately…), and we got our numbers, tech tees, and “I’m 21 so I can drink beer after the race” wristbands in just a few minutes. We met up with Nat’s OUR (better, Lush??) friend, Lauren, and chowed down on pizza (pre-race fuel! Or that’s how we justified it) before crashing for the night at our rather-sketchy hotel. 

Waking up on Saturday morning was actually easy – we all got ready pretty quick and were feeling good. The Wicked 10k is a Halloween-themed race, and costumes are encouraged. We had no idea how seriously people take this – we saw some AMAZING costumes… that must have been hell to run in. It’s a big deal, though, and we were wishing we’d been more prepared! Nat brought the mouse ears that she’d made for another costume, and we painted whiskers on our face, dressed in black and grey, and went as mice. It didn’t work out too well, though, because the gale-force winds (hurricane, remember?) kept knocking the ears off our heads, long before the race even started. So the ears went into the backpack, and we looked like normal runners… with whiskers. Don’t judge.

Pre-Race Mice

The start of the race was so smooth – corrals were released every 90 seconds, and it put a good distance between groups so that everyone wasn’t right on top of each other at the beginning. We actually ran over the starting line, and we felt good.

Lost the ears already... oh well. Ready to go!

BFFs

The original idea was to run two miles, walk two, and run the last two, and then alter the plan depending on how I/we felt. We ended up just running and slowing to walk whenever we needed a break, and I didn’t really keep track, but I think we probably ran 2/3 and walked 1/3, just not as specifically as we’d originally intended. We went at a nice, slow place, enjoying the live music along the race path, interacting with spectators (special shout-out to the people we got paper cups of Natty Light from… they were amazing), and not trying to push ourselves at all. Honestly, I don’t even think I got out of breath during this race. The course was completely flat (being at the beach will do that) and it was such an easy run. The only hard part was, again, the gale-force winds. The wind actually slowed up to a walk at some points, because it was blowing so strong against us! The really bad part was when we were actually on the boardwalk – the wind was blowing the sand around, and it was hitting our faces, legs, and arms. Any skin that wasn’t covered was being exfoliated – who knew there were spa benefits to this race? HA.

Angry ocean mid-run... hurricane on the way!

Still a beautiful backdrop for a run... even if the sand was scraping my skin off!

Action shot!

Gorgeous. Calm before the storm.

We picked up the pace a bit as we neared the finish line, and all three of us crossed together. Even the finish line was organized – there were so many volunteers, and they had everyone lined up handing out water, bananas, power bars, and medals. There was no mad rush for tents of food or anything – you just kept walking down the boardwalk, taking things as they were handed to you. SO EASY. Loved it.

I went straight to the medical tent to get iced and wrapped, and Nat and Lauren went and picked up our backpack. It took about five minutes to get taken care of in the med tent, and I’m really thankful for that – I know that being able to get ice on my back so quickly definitely helped with how good I felt afterwards. I was a little bit sore, but it was more about being sore from running than actual pain in my back. Hooray!

The three of us made our way back to the Convention Center, where the “After Party” was being held. Originally, it was supposed to be under big tents on the beach, but due to the impending hurricane, J & A made the decision to move the party indoors well in advance. I will say, that was another thing that I thought was fantastic about this race – the communication was excellent. There were regular emails before the race with information and emails the day before discussing how the weather was going to affect the race. I didn’t have to search for info or wonder what was going on – J & A was completely upfront and connected the whole time. So great! I'm looking into the other J & A races, because there is really something to be said for a well-organized race. It was such a nice event overall that I'd really love to do another of their races - my experience this time definitely bodes well for the future.
At the Convention Center, we cashed in our tickets for bread bowls of chili and those coveted Blue Moons… beers never tasted so good! 

Done! 10k Finishers

Feeling so good! Happy to be done & pain-free

Me and my big little sister <3

Little lush finished, too

We ate and enjoyed the warmth and the music for a bit before going back to the hotel for showers and cleaning up. Natalie and I were on the road home by about 12:30 PM, full, tired, and happy. A stop at Chipotle right before we got home was possibly the best decision of the entire weekend. We’d had an absolute blast, and couldn’t stop talking about how much fun we’d had and what a great race it was. 

We will definitely be signing up for the 2013 Wicked 10k, and we’re already brainstorming costume ideas. Now that we know how seriously people take that part of it, we are determined to do better! And, obviously, we are hoping for some better weather next year… We are very glad that Hurricane Sandy didn’t interfere with our fun at all (especially given what happened in the next few days).  I had so much fun with Nat and Lauren, I had a great (slow) race, I finished my first official 10k, and I got my first race medal! I loved doing this race with my sister, too. She is my original run buddy, my original racing partner; we have so much fun together when we do things like that, and I was glad that we got to experience this one together. As I said before… not sure I have one single complaint about that race. Can’t wait for 2013!

Pretty sweet, no? Love it!

Well dang... We clean up good!

All that talk about dressing "professionally" got me thinking, and I realized that my sister DOES pretty much get to wear pajamas to work every day! I am in the wrong line of work, folks. Nat teaches high school PE - that's right, she wears t-shirts, shorts, sweatpants, and tennis shoes to work every day. Comfies, every day! While I'm in heels and skirts and blah. Just. not. right. (Down side... she teaches high schoolers. I do not know how she does it. She's a saint.) Meaning, most days we find her like this:


Rough life.

Sometimes, though, the joke's on her - like when she's going to be observed by the principal while teaching - and she has to wear "real" clothes to work. Hence, the call I got last night: "I need something to wear!" Don't you worry - I worked my "professional attire" magic, and today I got this picture from her:



So cute. Not your typical high school PE teacher, methinks... Oww oww. Hottie with a body! Mwahahaha. She cleans up pretty well though, don'tcha think?? Though I still haven't forgiven her for looking in the mirror and yelling, "I LOOK OLD!" Ahem. That's basically what I wear every day. Rude!

I told her the kids were going to fall over when they saw her today, since they've probably never seen her in "real clothes." Point proven - I also received this text:

Cannot. Stop. Laughing.

Not to be outdone, I obviously have to show that C & I aren't too bad ourselves, when we try... We managed to pull ourselves together this weekend to attend the wedding of a childhood friend of C's, and I had to admit, I was pretty pleased with how we did.


Fall leaves make me happy.

Not too shabby. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a perfect September day for a wedding - we were nervous about rain up until about an hour before hand, but then the clouds parted and the sun came out, and this was what we got as a backdrop to the sweet wedding ceremony:

My cute husband was channeling his inner GQ:

And there were cupcakes:

What more can a girl ask for?? BTW - that Pancake Maple Bacon cupcake was amazing, and I think I'm going to have to try to recreate it. Add that to the list of potential baking adventures!

The Last Cake of the Year

As part of my 25 for 25, I set a goal to make an amazing birthday cake for each of my loved ones. That would include my mama, my daddy, my husband, and my sister. (Obvi I have lots more loved ones, but I had to limit the cake-baking to a reasonable amount!)

My mom didn't want cake, so she got a delicious berries & ice cream dessert instead.
C requested Oreo cake, and it was amazing.
Dad wanted German chocolate and I went all out.
I had one more cake to go to complete this goal! And so......

Natty's birthday was at the beginning of September, and even though I was a bad sister and couldn't get a hold of her to wish her Happy Birthday, I still made her an amazing birthday cake that we ate devoured later in the week. As it just so happens, her and her husband's (weeeeird) birthdays are less than a week apart, so they shared a cake. Nat requested chocolate-on-chocolate, and that was perfectly fine for Roger. I had my orders! Wondering if I delivered?....

You bet I did. That, my friends, is a chocolate-on-chocolate masterpiece.

I used the same cake recipe as I did for C's Oreo birthday cake (because that was, like I said then, possibly the best cake ever) and baked it in a 9x13 pan instead of two round ones (don't forget to add baking time if you do this! Takes a bit longer - I think my cake needed 15-20 extra minutes). Then I whipped up chocolate butter cream frosting, using the recipe out of my classic Betty Crocker cookbook (I've said before that basic recipes are the best) with one tiny change - I was out of milk, so I used vanilla coffee creamer instead. HOME RUN! It was so chocolaty, but also had that nice balance from the vanilla... so sweet and creamy. Perfect! Using the Oreo cake recipe made getting this one done super easy - took almost no time at all. Can't beat that, can ya?

23 candles EACH - the least I could do since they were sharing a cake!

Almost burned the house down with this one.

I think the kids liked it, too...

Happy birthday, kids! Love you!

...especially since I got a text from Roger the next morning saying that the cake was just as good for breakfast. That's my kind of birthday!

Consider this goal officially complete. Happiness and cake all around!

The most wonderful time of the year

My sister’s birthday was on Sunday. I am possibly the worst sister ever and failed to tell her “happy birthday” – not my phone, not by text, not by facebook, not by blog post like every other family member… It just didn’t happen. Sorry ‘bout it. She was off frolicking around at my parents’ new lake house (!!!  A post all in itself) with no cell phone signal and I was travelling back from a weekend of debauchery with friends from college in Richmond so… the connection was just never made. Natty, I’m sorry, I love you, there’s a card for you on my coffee table. You can have it… sometime. Welcome to 23. It’s kind of anticlimactic. I'm glad you were born.

For you, I will put things like this on the Internet.
Please note the mullet. And the box of raisins.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK. Thank the sweet CFB gods. The kickoff of CFB is practically a holiday in our house (as is the start of NFL season and NHL season… we like sports) and I was so flippin’ thrilled to be able to turn on the games that I almost couldn’t stand it. While everyone else swam and played cornhole and hung out outside on Saturday night, I parked myself on the couch in front of the TV and flipped back and forth between all of the games. Not ashamed. It was lovely.

Even better than plain ol’ CFB being back is… HOKIE FOOTBALL IS BACK. Yes, yes, yes. After a heart-breaking, seriously depressing loss to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl to end last season (IT WAS A CATCH), I’m pretty sure every Virginia Tech fan everywhere was ready for a fresh start and the new season.

[source]

We didn't play until last night - the wait was excruciating. The minute "Enter Sandman" started playing was so worth it, though. 


The best entrance in college football.
I would have given a limb to be in Blacksburg for the game - I miss my alma mater more than is probably healthy, and football season compounds that emotion by like 1763%. Give or take. C & I proudly rocked our maroon and orange all day yesterday, and we last night we made wings and drank beer and cheered so loud in our own living room that the neighbors were probably concerned. They better get used to it. We stayed up til midnight watching the game, and were rewarded with a win in overtime (the first ever overtime in Lane Stadium - nice). (Hence being too tired to function today, and probably too tired to be writing this post. Sorry I'm not sorry.) Not gonna lie, it was not the most exciting nor the best game I’ve ever watched – but a win is a win. 1-0. Let’s go!

Our bell, ready and waiting for the first W of the season!

Ringing the bell after the win!
We tried to restrain ourselves for the sake of
our neighbors & their school-age children.
It was hard.

Our first full season as an old married couple. Bring it on!

I was THISCLOSE to ordering a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks this morning before my brain reminded me that it’s a million degrees and 100% humidity out today. My heart wants fall, my brain knows that it’s not quite time. BRING ME FALL. I’m so over this disgusting summer weather.

My sister has requested a chocolate-on-chocolate cake for her birthday (I may not be very good at birthday wishes, but I am damn good at coming through with a birthday cake) so there will be one more baking adventure before this baking flurry comes to a screeching halt. I may have finally quenched the baking thirst – I actually moved my mixer back to its home behind the dish drainer yesterday, instead of leaving it in the center of the main counter for easy access/a quick fix. HOWEVER – I did make my dad an amazing German chocolate cake last week. Behold.

Today is Tuesday, but it feels like Monday. That is both the best and the worst thing ever.

I promise to have a post with some semblance of logic sometime soon. Promise…

Beached.

You may have noticed it's been a bit quiet around here lately... for good reason! We escaped for a few days and headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for some quality beach time. Just what this girl needed! I had a blast during our trip to Nashville, but I was itching for some sun, sand, and salt water. I honestly can't remember a summer when I've gone until August without at least getting a day or two at the beach - this was stretching my limits. Our trip came right as I was about to hit crisis-mode, suffering from beach withdrawl. OBX to the rescue!

Sunset on the Sound

Beach breakfast... just can't break my usual habits

BFFs

Like straight out of a commercial... perfect

Beach babe, beach braid - pretty proud of that one!

Saturday morning run... can't beat that view!

Recreating our Awkward Family Photo - it's surprisingly easy to be this weird.

Needless to say, it was rather difficult to get out of bed when my alarm went off this morning... I need to live at the beach.

We have a long-term pipe-dream plan that between Lindsey and her husband, my sister and her husband, and C and I, someday we will own a beach house, a lake house, and a ski house, and split our vacation time between the three and be happy as clams. Until that happens, we will have to settle for spending time at houses owned by other people... and just keep dreaming.

~~~~~

Check out Lindsey's post on our trip, too, if you'd like to see it from another angle... and also with better pictures, since her husband has a legit camera and I have an iPhone. Whatever.

DOs and DON'Ts: Lessons Learned

DO: Make homemade pizza dough and use it to make pizza on the grill on a Friday night.

DON'T: Expect there to be any leftovers.

 

DO: Make the most sinful cookies ever, involving these ingredients:

DON'T: Think you will have the willpower to avoid them (feed them to your husband's friends so you don't eat the whole pan!)

DO: Take a picture any and every time you and your husband are both dressed like adults. Must document that for posterity.

DON'T: Think you can go to a winery and have "just one glass" of wine. It will probably be more like 3.

DO: Take advantage of oddly-cool June temperatures and sit outside on Sunday morning after your long run with your breakfast and a magazine that you're not sure why you received in the mail since you didn't subscribe to it

DON'T: Sit by your sister's pool for 40 minutes in the middle of the day with no sunscreen on when you are part vampire, part ghost.

DO: Raid your sister's fridge and take all her produce since she's going on her honeymoon and has no use for it

DON'T: Forget how great your dad is.

**DO: Look up the appropriate way to write "DOs" and "DON'Ts" and be unsatisfied with all the options... that's just one of those weird things in grammar.