Racing and crafting

Things have been a little different at my job lately, my partner at night moved to day shift on another floor and in order to have coverage on more days they asked if I would work 5 eight hour shifts per week or 11p-7a Monday-Friday so that is what I have been doing lately.  I had already signed up for the Kaiser Permanente 5K race in Atlanta for Thursday Sept, 13 so I asked if I could just come in a little late that night.  So I came home Thursday morning, slept a bit and off to Atlanta I went. 

 

We got there super early to make sure we could get parking since the race was going to be so large.  It was a warm day but there was a nice breeze and we checked out the Expo and hung out listening to the music until Jason's Deli arrived with our box lunches.  We chowed down and then walked back through the Expo again to see what else had been put up since before.  I met my new boyfriend, Mr. Broccoli.  Then we warmed up with the group exercise.

 

This was a HUGE race, when we lined up you couldn't see the front or the back of the swarm of people.  The race started at Turner field, made a loop around the capitol and then ended back at Turner.

 

It was slow getting started due to the sheer number of people that were participating, however it started to open up a little into the race.  We finished in 35:45 which was pretty good, I have not run in 4 weeks, yikes!  The marathon training burned me out from running so I decided to drop it.  I think I may do another half though, I enjoyed that length and the training was not nearly so time consuming.  

 

The sunset was beautiful at the end, we grabbed our t-shirts and headed out, stopped for a delicious milkshake on the way home.  I stopped by the house showered up and headed to work.  Running this race definitely has me wanting to do more 5Ks!

I made Arnetra's baby Zachariah a present the other day and took it to her at work.  I used the caps off of vials from work that I had saved for a long time and never knew what to do with them to cover the frame.  I made the background with fabric and cut out of scrapbook paper the moon and caterpillar.

More on Do Life Atlanta

Here we are all hot and super sweaty after the run.

Pre-run still all hot and super sweaty thanks to good ol' ATL heat!

Was up watching the news this morning when I heard the beginning of the news story on the Do Life event. We saw the camera and them interviewing Ben during the run but didn't figure it would actually make the news on television. So glad he is getting this kind of coverage. I hope the meets keep getting bigger and bigger!

Do Life Atlanta

So, as you can see I made it to the Do Life 5k in ATL. It was really an inspiring thing that Ben Davis has started and I was pleased at the turn out. Our parade almost got rained on when the security detail from Centennial Park showed up and stated that we had to have a permit to gather. Luckily, his supervisor that came still allowed us to continue with the run. We did 5 times around the park and thanks to the security issue we didn't get started until closer to 11am and boy was it HOT. Latoya and I made a small detour on our next to last lap and ran through the kiddie fountain to cool off.

Our group getting ready for our photo op just prior to the run.

Latoya and myself with Ben Davis, the genius behind the Do Life movement. What an inspiring guy! Check out his website if you haven't already!!

Spontaneous 5k Sunday?

Was reading Caitlin's blog, HTP this morning after work and watched a very inspiring video.



I followed the video to the Do Life website, i noticed that Atlanta's 5k is this weekend, and I just happened to be off and headed that way anyway. Meant to be?? I thought so. So unless something crazy happens I think I will be joining the Do Life crew in Centennial Park Sunday at 10:15 for a little exercise.

Racing

Funny GPS find from last weekend on the way to Warrior Dash, Mountain City, GA 2011. Truly the name of the town in Jot Em Down. Whoda thunk it?
Always crafty me wanted to make t-shirts for the race. This is Eric's handywork. We had decided that team tortoise was a good name since it was going to be a slow race.
Allyson and I got our pre-race birthday (mine) celebration on complete with my Bennie and the Jets glasses. Thank you dollar store! How I do love some prop action for photos.
Off to the race. We bussed in. The hubby (with hat) and his friend Eric showing their scariest warrior pose.

My bestie, Ally and me pre-race. She didn't run with me this time, she and clay were our groupies. They came out to show support and took some awesome photos. Unfortunately, they were there to witness my none than stellar, thoroughly terrified transition over the top of the 20 foot wall.
As we rounded the bend from the initial jog into the course we heard screaming, cold mountain nasty pond water will do that to people. I mentioned to Eric that I felt kinda like I was on a nature show where the wildebeests all go crazy and try and cross the river at the same time.
Oh, just kidding...here I am. Yes, I am raising the roof.
I was standing on top of a car in this pic below, I promise. There is a photo somewhere in which you can actually see the car. I WILL find that photo and post it too.
Me and Eric, 2 obstacles in...9 more to go. This is what our game faces look like.

3rd and scariest obstacle of all for me. I crawled right up the rope but I freaked out at the top having to go over. The foot "holds" were less than 2 inches deep and my muddy feet kept slipping off. When I leaned over the top to switch to the other side I imagined myself landing on my head. So I chilled on top (20 feet in the air) for a minute or so until I could gather the gumption to climb on down. Embarrassing!
Water slide of epic super-awesomeness! They had to throw a bale of straw in front of me at the bottom I was going so fast.


Mud bath anyone? Ally and Clay did not want hugs, sadface.
Trying to see just how pathetic my results were. Keep in mind, this was my first race EVER please. It was a 5k plus 11 obstacles and I I quite sure that my little FREAK out on top of the wall cost at least 30 minutes ;) My time was around 53 minutes.
Here the hubster was trying to steal our racing glory all jumping into the warrior shot.
1st race medal. I think I am addicted!



With my warrior helmet and post-race mud face.


He would not hug me but he let me give him a muddy smooch. What an absolute blast! I can't wait to do it again. I also signed up for another race today....more on that to come.

Guess What I Did Today.

I couldn't sleep this morning at 0700 and needed to EXERCISE. I had missed 3 days working out thanks to 14-15 hour nights at work. It was quite chilly but I didn't realize that until I was already out the door so I decided to run "a little bit" to get warmed up. Once I started RUNNING I didn't stop. I told myself that I was going to at least make it to the 5k mark and see what my time looked like on mytracks. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that I had cut 6 minutes off my fastest time so far and made the 5k in 33 minutes. I was so happy that I found some extra energy, and kept running. I made it back to the house after a total of 48 minutes running. I maintained a 5.5 mph overall average which is MUCH better than before!!! I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling. Then I came in and did my BICEP and TRICEP circuit workout.

Clay and I then had a fantastic omlette sandwich and went to see Something Borrowed and Thor. Double feature movie day. I really enjoyed Something Borrowed, and Clay said he liked it too, Thor was good but we saw it in 3D and I think I would have preferred for it not to have been. We also picked up some salvia and artemesia that we will be planting tomorrow.

Back to the Gym for Success

After a much less than stellar workout earlier, I was feeling peppier this evening and headed back to the gym. I cranked out a 5K in 40 minutes which is my best time so far. I even ran sprints of 7mph which is faster than I have been able run. Glad I went back, now I am relaxing post-shower thinking about reading my new book: