Repeat One, Repeat All

Best birthday card for runner girls. Inside says “I wish you all of that, minus the exercise.” lol 

Weekend - Team Shake Weight at the Ragnar Relay, Cape Cod

Wednesday - Ragnar Shirts

Our Ragnar Shirt have arrived. I love my design. Look out for Team Shake Weight next week in Cape Cod! 

Thursday - Team in Training Alumni Run = Awesome Run!

This year has been a great year for running for me so far. I reached one of my goals of a sub-2 hour half marathon (now just a sub-4 hour marathon and I’m ready for new goals!) and I’ve started feeling more confident about my abilities to push the past. Last night helped me truly understand my potential when I stop thinking that I can’t go faster. It’s all in the mind. I ran with a friend Amy, and Amy is fast. She qualifies for NYC and Boston multiple times and is just an amazing runner. 

After a few months of hiatus the TNT Alumni Committee finally organized another alumni run so I decided it was definitely something I wanted to go to (instead of beating myself up and doing ladders with the Niketown team - ouch!), so I donned my  Ragnar Ambassador tee and shorts and headed over to Bethesda Terrace after work. I was nervous that no one was going to show up, but eventually a small group turned out - including fast Amy. She knew I was faster then the rest so decided that we were doing to team up and run together. 

Now I was even more nervous that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Oh and Amy had another stipulation - she needed to get back from our four miler by 7:45 to call her boss. It was 7:05. Okay that was fine 10 minutes miles and she’d be in they clear. But of course Amy wanted to do 9s. Gah! Okay 9s. I did that for NYC Half, so I went with it. With all the chatting to catch up on life the loop went past without me even stopping to think about how fast we were doing and we ended up finishing in 33 minutes. 33 minutes! That’s the fastest I have ever done it! 8:15 mile if you’re math savvy. Man, I wish that was a NYRR race and it was recorded. And I didn’t even feel winded at the end. 

Ladies and gentlemen, that tells me one thing. Damn, I have not been pushing myself enough. But, I’m also pumped to get back out there and run even faster. I wonder what my peak really is? 

(P.S. - Photo is my Team in Training Photo Shoot for their new campaign that was never used. Thinking it turned out too racy. But I love it!) 

Rock ‘n’ Roll World Rocker Medal 

This is my goal for 2013! Two European Marathons. Yes, please! 

Thursday - Niketown Runs & Ragnar Ambassadorhood

I’ve been looking for ways to branch out my workout routine and I think I found the perfect group to join, in addition to the occasional drop-ins at Team in Training and the Team in Training Alumni runs. After recommendations from a few friends I came across the Niketown Runs. They meet three times a week, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday and absolutely kick your ass with their workouts.

My initiation was a failure on my end. In my mind I thought the workout would be more casual and I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump into the 8 minutes group. We were doing three lower-loops with sprints for 2 lampposts and jogging 2 lampposts. They encourages us to go a minute ahead of our comfortable pace. So, I said “Sure, why not?” and joined my friend DS in the faster group.  

Big mistake. I started out leading the pack but was dragging behind at the end of the first loop. There was no real slow down. I decide to finish the workout on my own and caught up with a few girls behind me who slowed down. I think next time I’ll follow my instincts and go for the 9 minute pace group. I crapped out after two loops and hightailed it back to Niketown for my bag and much needed inhaler (I completely forgot to take it before the workout! - it definitely helped to slow me down even more).

You’ll notice I said next time. There will definitely be a next time as it was such a good work out. It will definitely prepare my well for Ragnar. And speaking of Ragnar…have you picked your race yet? Have any questions about the race or want to talk to someone who has been through it before and can’t wait to do it again, don’t hesitate to contact me. Who’s ready for 200 miles of relay fun?

Awesome ad for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series