a lot to report

Well, it has been a very eventful past few days.  On Thursday, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and ran a seven miler around campus.  It was absolutely amazing outside and at my first sub-8 min pace in a while.  It was great and these runs have been building my running confidence back up.  Lindsey does not agree with me, but I have this feeling that taking such a long break after my last marathon screwed up my muscles.  Given it was a hard race and I pushed myself, I think taking the two weeks off with very little running introduced all sorts of kinks and knots in my muscles that have take A LONG time to get worked out.

After my run, without realizing that the campus was closed I left my shoes in my gym locker.  The problem with leaving them here was that I would not be able to get them before the race (Get Lucky 7K!) on Saturday.  The only option I had, since I turned my last old pair into screw shoes, was to go out and by a new pair.  I had never been to Gear Running Store in Edina but I thought because that is where the packet pick up for the Get Lucky 7K! I would stop by and get a pair there.  The people working there were super friendly.  I had previously purchased a pair of Brooks Defynce (the ones stuck in my locker) and I have not loved these shoes and I wanted to try something different.  I tried on pretty much everything they had in stock and settled on a pair of Mizuno WaveRiders.  These shoes seemed to fit my feet perfect and I was going to have a couple of good runs in the next couple days to try them out.  Here is a pic of them:

 On Saturday was the day of the Team Ortho Get Lucky 7K! and it was freezing cold and windy outside.  Lindsey, Dave and Jon all ran the race with me.  I did not realize how cold it actually was until we got out there.  The wind was blowing right through my tights (I could not find my windproof underwear and would pay the price) and I had forgotten my gloves.  Lindsey and I did not want to go all out because we were planning on a long run this weekend so we thought we would bounce between an 8 and an 830 pace.  We also decided that we would run this entire race together, which we have never done before.


Here is a picture of Lindsey pre-race.  It was so chilly out that morning that we had to partake in some Dunn Brothers coffee before the race.



I was surprised at how popular this race is.  One thing that I have noticed with Team Ortho events is that they have been really well organized.  The routes have mileage markers, lots of portapotties, check in is perfect, and there is great race swag.  I really enjoy running these Team Ortho events and I highly suggest people looking into the whole range of events they have planned this year.


Lindsey and I started at the 8:30 pace location and it was pretty packed.  We continually moved up throughout the race.  The above picture was taken right at the start.  I was a little worried with this part of the race because there were so many potholes and I was very worried about turning an ankle.  It was also freezing and because I had no gloves my hands felt like they were about to break off.


As you can see from this picture, we really picked up the pace and were likely running about a 7 min pace.  By this point, I was no longer cold and was sweating like the dickens!





And after 6.5 K here is the finish portion of the race with Minneapolis in the background.    It really was a great finish!  Lindsey and I crossed the finish line at the same time 33:20, which turned out to be around a 7:40 pace.  Much better than what was expected.  Here are some of the other stats:

overall place:	228 out of 2593
division place:	42 out of 181
gender place:	173 out of 858

Lindsey did very well and placed in the top 10 of her division.  I am super proud of her!


Lindsey and I sat down at the finish and waited for Dave and Jon to cross the lines.  While we were waiting there, Julie, a fellow Minnesota blogger crossed the finish line shortly after us.   I had never met her in person before so I yelled out her name.  Julie is super nice and always posts encouraging comments on my blog.  Here is a picture of her and I that I stole from her blog (check out her rundown of the race too!)  It was nice getting to meet her and her husband in person and I hope that we get to run in some future runs together. 

After collecting up my sweatshirt we headed up to the car and got changed.  Included with our registration was a free beer at Kiernan's Pub.  The place was packed tight but after our beer, some good Irish music and great company we decided to head out.  First we all posed for a picture. 


My new shoes held up fantastically and I was starting to think these may be the shoes for me. 

Today, Lindsey and I had our long run.  Not overly thrilled with having to run this today we headed out to Chanhassen again to run the Three Rivers regional trail again.  This time I decided to run half of it south and then run the northern half that I ran last week.  In the middle, a cliff shot and water break.  The run was hard and even though the weather was good, it was not the best run.  Turned out though that we ran it at a really good pace, 8:40 which is the fastest long run I have had in quite some time.  I really love running with Lindsey and it was great to have her up this weekend to run.  Next week is a 20 miler and unfortunately that will have to be me running solo. 

My shoes survived the long run and fit my feet like a sock.  Fantastic!  I am so glad I got these shoes!