Beach Beast let-down

Well, after much waiting and excitement Beach Beast finally got here.  A 5K on the beach with obstacles, has to be great!  But unfortunately, I didn't have to be great. 

It started with some over-under boards and then most of the 3 miles of running through the sand, out and back past the start, then out and back a little in the other direction before getting to the rest of the obstacles all in a row.  Oh my god, that sand killed me. I knew I couldn't run that far in sand without stopping, but I was so wiped sooo quick I can't believe it.  I only did about half the obstacles, my worst run yet.

My running is always so sporadic that I'm still not comfortable running 30 minutes, but I recently ran 3 and then 3 and a half miles without stopping, which is a good bit over 30 minutes since I'm slow as dirt. I was feeling like I was doing really good. NOT.


The worst part?  I went with my boyfriend, sister and niece and they all kicked my butt.  And none of them run or prepared!  On the extreme plus side they all had so much fun they are ready to sign up for another one!

I had a lot of fun in spite of not doing well, but I definitely prefer a race with more obstacles and with the obstacles spread out throughout the course instead off all grouped together.

I think it's time for a LOT more consistency in running not to mention a game plan for getting through EVERY obstacle in the next run!

Hog Wild 2 (1st for me)

Ran in Hog Wild 2 this morning with my son. I think an awful lot of that 'mud' may have actually been random animal droppings, it was way thicker than any mud I've ever seen and didn't smell too pleasant.

This was the single most UNorganized anything I have ever been to.  We got there an hour and a half early (as requested) but were in line for over two hours to pick up our race packets. By the time we got in I was so hot and just tired of standing I didn't even feel like running anymore. I had planned on really pushing myself on this run, but ended up walking most of it.

If the wait wasn't bad enough (it was) there was absolutely no one at the start line but a couple of other people trying to figure out when to start running.  We got tired of waiting and just kind of went. Last really bad thing: there were huge, angry bulls and cattle on the field.  Yes, for real. Which randomly ran through the crowd.  Scary much?  Um, yes.

The other side of the coin?  The race was AWESOME.  In spite of the bad I would definitely do it again if the company putting it on promised a much shorter line and more people working there.  A lot of the obstacles were natural - running hilly trails was fun, but going through water and sliding into water before swimming across it was a blast.

I had to skip some of these obstacles - there was a wall with just a rope to climb up that I wasn't even going to attempt if I had all the energy in the world.  But it is something I want to be able to do in the future!

I thought the site said there would be ice water you had to go through, but I didn't see it, maybe because no one refilled the ice?  Can't say I'm upset about that, ice water and electricity are 2 things I can do without.  But I didn't, because one of the obstacles was electrified barb wire you had to crawl under through thick mud.  How great is that?!?

I actually lost the bottoms of both of my sneakers running (ok, walking) this race, I think I lost the first one wading through the water and another just in the mud.  Now THAT is a mud run.

Mud Crusade!

Ran in the Tampa Mud Crusade today! 

My first 5K and my first mud run all in one. I ran with my boyfriend, son, and his friend but the young 'uns ran ahead about half through. I have to say I wasn't even half way through before I knew I wanted to sign up for another one!

Managed to do every obstacle, even the monkey bars which I have NEVER been able to do. There were lots of walls to jump over and go under, a balance beam (over mud, of course) and tunnels and such.  Best obstacles were a HUGE slide into a bit of water and a net wall you had to climb up.  I don't know how high that net went but it looked about 5 stories looking down...

Can't wait for the next one!

Barrel Box cab sav

I'd love to try and pull off a 'oh really, boxed wine is so beneath me', but seriously, Strawberry Boones is still one of my favorites.  How can you resist kool-aid wine?

I bought Barrel Box California Cabernet Sauvignon because it was about $7, is the equivalent of 4 bottles, and I remembered that I had tasted something Barrel Box and liked it.  It is really very good.  The box states "juicy cherry and berry flavors and hints of toasted vanilla".  I do taste dark berry flavor, and a lot of other subtle flavors that I can't name, but try as I will I do not taste vanilla.  Which is probably a good thing considering how much I like vanilla.  I'd have to change my blog name to wanna be wino for sure.

The best thing about this wine?  The box says it stays fresh for up to 4 weeks.  I opened the box I have 2 weeks ago, and so gar so good.  It tastes like I just opened it.  I wish all wine stayed fresh  like that!

On to yet another the best part.  I was trying to find a web site for the wine or who made it, but failed.  In the process I found this site:

http://www.sterlingwineonline.com/boxed-wine-dispenser.html

I could be a wine snob and still drink wine from a box!!!  Even better, because I'd be pretending to drink it from a BARREL, which must be even better than a bottle since I've never tried it. You know you want one!

Finished the C25K!

I have officially finished the C25K plan.  That is I can run 30 minutes, not so much that I can run 3 miles.  This morning I'm going to map out 3 miles through the neighborhood in my car so I can see how far that is.  At my speed it'll probably be a three hour run, but we shall see.

My next goal is to start one of the 5k to 10k plans.  I found one in a podcast for the ipod that I'll probably use.  Unfortunately it doesn't have the same huge user base as the C25K plan but I did find a chart of how much running is involved each week.  It's a lot!   But it sounds really doable because it goes back to very short runs (4-6 minutes) with 60-90 second walks in between.  I'll have to do a bit more investigating other pans before I decide which one to use, but I definitely need to keep upping my time. 

Someday I'll start working on my speed as a goal. I've notices a lot of people running in this neighborhood now that I'm out and about, and most of them run a whole lot faster than I do.  But that's a goal for another time.

best run ever - then fell right off the wagon

So Sunday night after I wrote that post I ran on the tread mill for 30 minutes and then did one minute walk and 3 minute run * 4 which was by FAR my best run yet. 

Then Monday my sister had TWINS (yay!) and Tuesday and Wednesday I was sick as a dog and....  my next run was yesterday (Sunday) morning, for about 25 minutes with a walk in the middle.   

So I missed an entire week of running, I did no exercise of any kind to be honest.  I don't even think I used the stairs at work once which is unusual for me.  Proves the point that a body at rest tends to stay at rest!

But my mom decided that she was going to start the C25K plan so I started week 1 day one with her last night.  She did better than I did my first day, she finished without ever thinking of quitting.  Plus this morning's almost 25 minute run was with my brother-in-law.  Two runs with two different running partners in one day!

Now that I may have convinced 2 family members that running is all that I better get my butt back out there and on schedule.  So once again my alarm is set for 4:30 a.m. and my sneakers and socks are sitting at the end of the bed.  No more excuses!

By the way, notice how I blame this entire falling off the wagon thing on my sister having babies?  Talk about some negative karma...

EPIC fail

I was all excited to start week 7, it's a 25 minute run every day.  I didn't run in the morning because I had an errand to run, and I had a dinner date with the family (to include wine) so I wasn't going to run last night so I decided the thing to do was run in the middle of the day.

I made it all the way to 6 minutes before deciding that running 25 minutes in 80 degree weather with the sun trying to stop me was not a healthy idea.  What a fail!

Now it's Sunday and I couldn't run this morning because my older two kids are out and about and I don't want my youngest waking up in an empty house (but I would have been back by now and he's STILL sleeping) so I'm going to have to run tonight even if there are tornadoes, hurricanes, and large dogs out there. 

Maybe I'll try a run on the treadmill this time.