Turkey Trot 5k

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

This year Vince and I signed up to do the local FishHawk 5k Turkey Trot.  I had a personal best time I wanted to beat: 27:55.

They gave everyone a sweat-wicking athletic shirt with the above logo in the above color.  I love it!

 

I had been ramping up my jogging over the last month and even committed to running right after work, around work.  I was feeling good!  My heart rate monitor finally died (the watch part must have gotten damp and the digital display was fading) and so I had to improvise by using the stopwatch feature on my phone and wrap my phone with paper towels and tuck into my compression short's waistband.  Those shorts are so tight, the phone did not even move while in there!  While all this jogging was going on, I could not beat my personal best pace, so I really had no clue how I was going to do at the race.

 

In Florida, Thanksgiving morning was the coldest day we've had since February!  It was 37 degrees when we woke up at 6am.  Figures, and we are going to be running and NOT staying home under the covers or on the couch with a hot cup of tea. 

 

I know, I know, the rest of the country was probably experiencing colder weather, but this is my blog and I will complain if I want to!

We warmed up by jogging around the parking area and doing some crossfit exercises such as high knees, walking lunges and jumping jacks.  We each brought a long-sleeved shirt to wear until we started.  I brought my 5k Shrug, remember that one??  Basically it was a long-sleeved t-shirt that I cut into a shrug-like garment to wear to keep arms warm but can easily be taken off and tied around the waist.  Vince brought a long-sleeved t-shirt, one that we got at last year's Turkey Trot in Mass, when we visited my sis. 

 

Vince was not going to wear it (the cold does not bother him much), and my ears were already freezing and I knew from past experience, my ears would be hurting with wind burn later if I ran with them unprotected (the cold took us by surprise and we did not properly prepare ourselves).  So I rolled up Vince's t-shirt and kept the arms out and used it as an ear warmer, tied behind my neck.  Hey, it worked!  I ran 1/3 of the race that way.  Then it warmed up a bit and was not so bad.

Speaking of being cold, my sister did her annual turkey trot in Mass, the 5 miler, and it was in the 20's!  She was better prepared for it, for sure.  Here is her and her dog Gonzo, warming up before the race in the car:

Gonzo does not seemed impressed.  He does not like his picture taken!

 

Vince and I had our best times at our race.  It was a chipped-timed race, meaning that they can electronically take your personal start and finish times when you run over a mat that has receivers in it.  Our chip was on our bib (the paper that has your race number), which was something I has not seen before.  They do this because it could take you 30sec + to actually cross over the start line due to the large number of runners participating. 

 

I felt good during the race, but the last mile or so, I started getting a side stitch.  I imagine it was from breathing the cold air, not breathing properly or whatever.  I was running with people who were pretty much going at my pace and I could not really pass them.  I was having a hard time with the drive to pass, because my toes were cold and legs did not want to move any faster. 

 

I usually pick one person to follow and keep pace with throughout the race (keeps you occupied) and I chose this one gal who reminded me of my sister: shorter, short hair, wide strong shoulders and was running with a mission.  Yeah, at the half-way point where we would turn to come back, she took off like a dart!  I lost her.  Damn it!  Oh well, I was on my own after that.

 

I got to the final turn and then it was the homestretch.  I always get a burst of energy and sprint the last little bit.  I started to increase my pace and I saw the clock: 27:10...I was like, "Holy [crap] I could do this!" and I sprinted like no other.  I made it at 27:20!! Whoo-hoo!

 

Vince then looked at the standings on the Friday after and saw our chip-times: 27:05.  OMG, I don't know how I pulled that off!  That is seriously cutting over 30 secs/mile off my time.

 

Here are some of the race stats:

• Chip Time: 27:05
• Overall Time: 27:20
• Came in runner 399 out of over 1700 participants
• In age group, 35-39, I was 15 out of 121
• In age group, the winner was 38 years old and her time was 22:31

Yea, so I won't be taking home any trophy's or medals, but I am still proud of myself!

TreeUmph!

I did say that I was going to start doing some fun activities before the summer is done.  Last weekend, Vince, me and his daughters went to TreeUmph!

TreeUmph! is an Outdoor Zipline Adventure and Obstacle Course.  It is an obstacle course that you do in the trees.  So, first you have a climbing harness on with a contraption for the zipline and two carabiner clips attached to separate lengths of rope (rock climbing rope grade).  You must tether yourself to the safety wires at all times up on the course, but all obstacles can be done with your ability to balance and use your weight wisely.

First, we have us ladies, all geared up and ready to rock and roll!  We all had to go through a practice obstacle course with an instructor so they can show us how to be safe and to trust the ropes and gear attached to us.

Behind me in this course, you can see some of the obstacles.  There were a total of 6 obstacles for adults; they got progressively harder and higher.  The course behind me had a tube that you had to crawl through.

All of the courses were in the trees, you had the ladder to climb up, the landing, the bridge and the zipline.  I have pics of all of these elements.

Alex and I are on a landing, having just completed a bridge.  The bridges are the spans that connect the landings.  Each one is slightly different.

This is a bridge.  This bridge were logs suspended only by ropes hanging from wire ropes.  I am tethered to the safety wire rope above my head.  You accomplish bridges by either holding onto the ropes attached to the logs, the wire rope they are attached to, or the wire rope you are attached to.  There is some upper body strength required for some of the obstacles.  Look how high up I am!!

Vince was the cameraman; he took this picture from the ground.  I am holding onto the wire rope that I am attached to.  There is nothing else to hold onto to.

Like I said, the obstacles got progressively more challenging.  This bridge was a series of ropes hung like a U or jump-rope like and you stepped onto the rope loop only, to get across.  Weeee!!!

 Here is Alex doing a zipline.  We had a special attachment for the ziplines.  This was so much fun!

There was even a Tarzan moment, where you attach yourself to a swinging rope and literally swing and grab onto the rope netting.  Once you are on the net, you climb over to the landing.

Another bridge where you are stepping on the end of the log, where the log will move on you, not to mention that they are suspended by more rope.  Did I mention that rope is very flexible?  This section was the optional section.  It was Course 4 that gave you a choice to continue with Course 4 or start Course 5.  You cannot start Course 5 from the ground.  Right away, Course 5 was monkey bars on ropes...ugh!  Alex and Gen continued with Course 4 and Vince and I did Course 5.  Course 5 took the longest and is the most challenging.  I did complete it, but it was not easy.

This bridge was Course 4, where once you were done with Course 5, Course 4 picks right back up in the trees.  This one had a wire rope to walk on, with rings that you had to go through.  I was very tired, almost exhausted at this point and straddled that damn ring!  There was no fancy moves to get through that!

There was a final zipline that was 650 feet long and starts 60 feet off the ground.  Not everyone make it completely across, ending just shy of the landing.  You would just grab the wire rope and use the hand-over-hand method to reach the landing.  Vince made it and I came up just shy.

After all of that, which was about 4 hours of straight obstacling, we ate lunch at a restaurant called the Linger Lodge.  If you did not know it existed, you never will find it; you will never stumble upon it.  It was located within a housing community, in a trailer park/camp site area.  Yes, we drove through a very nicely established, maturely landscaped community and then heading into a campground-like place with trailers.  First thing, there is the Linger Lodge attached to a bait shop and complete with a laundry facility in the back near the ladies room.  Interesting!

We sat out by the back screened in patio overlooking the Braden River.  There is a side story that the owner got his leg bitten or bitten-off by an alligator.

This is supposedly the alligator that bit the leg.  He is stuffed and on the wall of the restaurant.  Along with others...

Behind the bar they had animals not naturally seen in nature, ha, like the jackolope.

In addition to fish and lots of animal skulls.  Vince tried one of the more exotic items on the menu, alligator chowder.  We all had a bite...it wasn't bad!  It had a cajun flavor.

Our day was filled with lots of excitement.  Unfortunately, TreeUmph! is only located in Bradenton, FL.  But I do believe there are other adventure courses similar to TreeUmph! around the states, somewhere.  I'm excited to know that this is only a 1 hour drive and we can have a half day of some serious climbing!  I will definitely be back!

Blueberry Oatcakes

Happy Easter!

For Easter breakfast, we made up some healthy oatcakes.  Now, oatcakes are not the first thing that comes to mind when you think Easter, but it was a recipe that I wanted to try out.

Vince's daughter gave me a few old Self magazines from last year and while I was thumbing through one of them, I came across a few yummy, albeit healthy, recipes.  I don't mind healthy recipes, but I feel bad subjecting others to it (only sometimes, some recipes are so good that you can't tell they are healthy).

I will share the recipe, so everyone can eat healthy in the morning, too!  

Yummy!  (Really!!)

The recipe is from the September 2011 issue.  They are called Blueberry Oatcakes.  This is a gluten-free recipe, and they were really good.  Here it is:

Blueberry Oatcakes

Yields: 4 oatcakes

Calories: 341 for all 4 

(does not include the optional ingredients)

• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (old fashioned oats)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp water
• 1/3 cup blueberries (or more, if you like)
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup fat-free greek yogurt (optional)
• 1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

1. In a bowl, combine the egg whites, oats, cinnamon and water; whisk for 1 min.
2. Stir in the blueberries and almonds.
3. Heat a skillet to medium heat.  Spray skillet with cooking spray.
4. Spoon the batter onto hot skillet and cook until the egg is set on the bottom (~2 min).
5. Flip the oatcakes over and cook for another min.
6. Optional: Spread the greek yogurt over the oatcakes and top with the syrup.

At first I did not think the yogurt would be very good on these, but it actually was.  The syrup is needed, but everyone uses a different amount, so I did not include that ingredient in the calorie total.  I just put the syrup in a small cup and dipped my cut up pieces in it.  The oatcakes soak up the syrup like crazy, so this way you control the amount of syrup to a decent portion size.

Really, these were good!  The recipe makes about 3-4 oatcakes, and this really is one serving size.  But because it has oats and almonds, it will keep you going in the morning.

You can always substitute any diced up fruit in these oatcakes.   

If you don't have time in during the week to whip these up, try them on the weekend.  Let me know what you think!! 

Thank you Self magazine, I never would have come up with this recipe!