Ending the Season With Some Fun Races

My officially planned race season really ended with Beach 2 Battleship 140.6. Since then I have been trying to get healthy and back to myself. An Ironman distance race can really take the life out of your legs for a while. After the Twinsburg Turkey Trot and my stupid allergies, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. I had to put things back in perspective and remember that I already had a productive, good season and it's okay for me to not be at 100% of my fitness level 100% of the time. I mean this is a hobby - albeit one I take seriously.

Pre Turkey Trot 

Since then I raced with my hubby on Thanksgiving at the Painesville Turkey Trot 5K. It wasn't a PR but my 21:46 was good enough to crack the top ten for females and first in my AG. This made the second year in a row that I won my AG and got a pumpkin pie for it so I have to keep this streak alive! Same with my hubby.

Then this past weekend we raced the NERC Interclub Relay at The West Woods Park in Novelty. Steve and I raced with our Snakebite Racing teammate Mark Erzen. Steve ran the 8-mile leg, I ran the 5 mile leg and Mark ran the 3 mile leg. We ended up placing 2nd in the co-ed division as we had the previous year when we ran with our friend Jillian. We were less than a minute off the co-ed win but a group of high school runners edged us out. At least us old-timers can feel good about the effort!

Post Relay w/ Our Awards 

After the race there is a chili contest so there was lots of tasty chili, soups and other treats. We hung around for a little while to catch up with friends and for the awards and then headed home.

Next up we will be running the Jingle Bell 5K for Arthritis this weekend. If you don't have plans this Sunday it is a great little event that takes place at Legacy Village at 9am. Visit this link here to register.

Turkey Trots, Jingle Bells and New Years Resolutions

It’s been a while since I last updated the blog. I know…I’m a slacker. Some people may wonder if I fell off the face of the earth. Nope, I’ve been doing stuff – just not blogging about it. After this post you’ll be up to speed and I’ll vow to write more frequently!

After the Rev3 Cedar Point Half in September, I started to enjoy the off season. And by “off” I mean working out because I love it not because I am competing. That entailed some biking, trail running, yoga and even a couple races for fun. It also includes some formalized swim training with local triathlon pro A.J. Baucco.

Post race at Believe & Achieve Race

The week after Rev3 Cedar Point in September we ran the Girl's With Sole Believe & Achieve Trail 5K. Steve won first overall and I placed 2nd overall female. We had a blast and it is beautiful running at Penitentiary Glenn!

Post race at Twinsburg Turkey Trot

In November Steve and I ran the Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5-miler, which is a pretty challenging race mixed with roads and trail. We both did decent. Steve won 2^nd in his age group and I was third in my age group. Not long after we followed that up with a Thanksgiving Day race at the Painesville Turkey Trot 5K. It was a chilly but clear day and a fast course. Again we both did well. Steve placed 3^rd in his age group and I just missed placing 4^th out of 80. 

In December I started doing yoga consistently again and have been loving that as well as winter trail running. I can be spotted at Girdled Rd Reservation almost any weekend now. On New Years Eve I took a very good yoga class at Harmony Yoga in Concord and on New Years Day Steve and I did a trail run at Girdled to welcome the New Year!

Some of my New Years resolutions are to stick with yoga every week, run more trails, continue to work on my swim and most of all remember to have fun and appreciate the gift of being healthy and active.