Can Do 5K

I was really looking forward to this race, for so many reasons.  It was my first 5K in over six months; I was itching to see if I could step it up for a shorter race and see if all the distance training has done anything to increase my pace overall.  It was my first outing as part of the Oiselle ambassador team, sporting my team singlet:

It's soooo close to home and sponsored by my beloved Northshore YMCA.  It is for a wonderful cause - Northwest Special Families.  I was honored to be part of a team supporting a friend's nephew with special needs.  Go team Ryan Can!  And, last but not least, it's an awesome race to bring the kids to: they have a Dizzy's Tumble Bus and kids dash complete with swag.  Check out B's haul, handed over in a Lululemon bag:

(also, not pictured, a water bottle from Woodinville Pediatric Dentistry)


But, I was worried that the kiddos might not make it out because standing around in the cold and pouring rain with two kids under 5 is not my husband's idea of a great time.  The weather, even for Seattle standards, was not optimal.  Please to enjoy, my MS paint skillz:

Yes, it did feel like 35.  But, my family, they're troopers - albeit slightly disheveled and annoyed:

And, I suppose I was a trooper, too b/c I smoked my time from last year's Can Do:  26:18 vs 29:38.  I was 2nd in my age group and 15th female overall.  It's not a huge race and wasn't well attended, due to the horrible weather, but I'll take it!  (OK, edited this to add that it was apparently their highest ever turnout!)  I felt pretty good the whole time, especially after I got through the one hill at the beginning and my gps told me I still completed the first mile in 8:30.  Then my second mile clocked in at 17:10 or so and I thought that I could still push it a little more.  Although that last mile was full of standing water and I just felt like I was clomping along in my completely waterlogged shoes.  BUT, I was so happy with my time and with the race overall.  Can't wait to do it next year - even though they have a 10K as well, I think I'll stick with the 5K out of tradition.  Maybe it'll be a tradition for the kiddos to run it with me one day...  B won in the kids dash preschool category - sprinting in his fireman raincoat:

E, looking on:

Speaking of traditions, Jimmy John's has become my lunch of choice after every race.  Mmmmm big fat Italian Night Club.  I ate the whole thing AND chips, oh yes I did.

And tonight we're eating the aforementioned Beer Braised Beef after the kids go to bed with a big fat bottle of red wine and a Kir Royale for dessert, or three...

Oiselle Spring Sale 2012

Join the cult of awesome and get the best. running. tees. ever.  Really, everything is the awesome.

www.oiselle.com

Dad's Day at preschool

Yeah, it sucks when the kids get sick.  Mostly when little E doesn't feel well.  BUT, as B is getting older, I'm finding that sick days are really kind of.....  awesome?  Only in about the last 6 months or so he started to be able to lay around on the couch when he's really worse for wear.  When he was younger, he'd still be running laps around the house, moaning and groaning all the while.  And if it was a stomach bug, there'd be messes to clean up everywhere. run/puke, run/puke.  not cool.  But having a kid who can make it to the toilet to hurl?  bliss.  That's just one of those milestones that's not widely publicized but I was ready to do cartwheels and take him to Red Robin just like when he got the whole bizness end of the toilet figured out.  Now sick days are, I suppose, what most non-parent types think that we stay home moms do all day: lay around the house and watch tv.  Those days are pretty few and far between when you have school that starts at 9AM four days a week in addition to soccer, swimming, the Y, and hours spent at the park on good weather days that can happen really anytime here in Seattle.  I do love me a lazy stay at home day - especially when it falls on a rest day!  When the kids are sick on a long run day?  Don't love it as much.  So, anyhow, I feel absolutely no guilt sitting them in front of the tv half the day while we all veg out with breaks to take a shower and eat lunch.  That's how I remember sick days when I was younger; instead of Nemo and Ponyo, I watched Animalympics that we had recorded from the tv onto a VHS in a top loading VCR.  Talk about dating myself... 

Anyhoo!  After a day of sloth (and a nice dose of Motrin) B was feeling a bit better and itching to go to school today because it was 'Dad's Day.'  The school decided to celebrate dads during the school year since Father's Day is in the summer.  They all sang a few songs for the dads, made a very sweet art project:

 And we ate cookies and took pictures:

 Before getting some beer, of course:

One Word Wednesday

SICK :(

Ye Olde Racing Days

There has been so much talk online about this last weekend's Shamrock Shuffle that I couldn't help but reminisce on the days of yore when I was just a wee D.I.N.K. livin' the high life in Chicago.  Ahhhh memories... 


Then it got me to thinking, gee, I wish I had a race photo from back then - bet I looked pretty darn good well over ten years ago.  THEN I thought, huh, when did all this race picture stuff begin?  Must've been way after Mr. Gore invented 'the internets'...  How on earth did we know when a race was coming up??  I literally cannot remember, other than the Shuffle was/is always the weekend after St. Pats and we'd just go to Fleet Feet and fill out a form to MAIL in and go to the expo.  But I remember countless other races, Elvis Lives 5K was a favorite...  SO strange how the Internet changes every. single. thing.  And cell phones?  fuggheddaboudit!  I always ran the Shuffle with at least 2 or 3 other people.  How did we all manage to meet up before/after without cell phones?  Did I actually CARRY a cassette player around?  I must have.  We must have muddled through, because I have nothing but the best memories of fun and friends from Ye Olde Racing Days...

This Weeks Menu Plan

I absolutely love, love, love linky lists of recipes on other blogs.  My husband and I are pretty anal retentive and plan our meals every week and do one big shopping trip.  Well, I do the shopping trip and actually ENJOY roaming the aisles of grocery stores.  It's the ultimate torture when I have to bring one of the kids, or God forbid, BOTH of my children along to the store.  Whoever thought of those little 'shopper in training' carts should be forced to accompany kids on grocery outings on a daily basis with those things.  Yes, yes, they are super cute and sometimes the kids will actually follow me around the store and it's the highlight of their day.  But, I'd say that's a rarity.  On a few occasions I've found myself herding cats, I mean a 2 year old and a 5 year old, each with their OWN cart (share a cart? riiiight) going 80mph in two different directions around a crowded (when is it otherwise?) Trader Joes.  Anyhoo!  Where was I.... Oh yes, I figured my weekly recipe plan would be a good way to share my favorite dishes and hopefully get some recipe suggestions along the way from both of you who read this blog.

• Monday - Pizza, always pizza on 'case of the Mondays' Monday.  Usually we'll make our own, but this week is Safeway all the way
• Tuesday - Tilapia with basil pesto, green beans with almonds and wild rice
• Wednesday - Enchilada Soup in the crockpot thanks to a yummy recipe from Pinterest.  Yes I actually try about 5% of the recipes I pin! I'm thinking that might be a high percentage...
• Thursday - Chicken Taquitos - I'm pretty sure this made the rounds on Twitter and Pinterest awhile back, for good reason.
• Friday - baked ziti with turkey sausage - couple jars of sauce, shredded cheese, sausage and layer/bake
• Saturday - Beer braised beef with marsala mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes
• Sunday - chopped salad with chicken, bacon and avocado (and any other random veg we have laying around the house by the end of the week)

Lake Sammamish Half Marathon

So, yeah, blogging...  I’ve thought about starting one dozens of times.  I love reading blogs and my Google Reader list is a mile long.  I nearly started one after our big move to Seattle, and after my children were born – then life just got in the way and I also second guess my ability to write.  Lately I’ve found that good things have come from changing things up, trying new things, taking chances...  So, why not?  I just started an Ambassador relationship with Oiselle running apparel and thought it would also be a good time to start the blog once and for all.  In addition, Oiselle inspired my blog name: 

FYI, it’s a bitch trying to find a good url that isn’t already taken.  Hopefully Born and Raced will serve me well.  So, to kick things off, I thought I’d do my first race recap!  Woot!


The Lake Sammamish Half Marathon on March 10, 2012 was my second 13.1.  After giving it a go for the first time in the Seattle Half Marathon, I had a good sense of my ability and what I wanted to get out of my next race.  Namely, LESS HILLS.  Lord have mercy, the hills in Madison Park were brutal.  Lake Sammamish was a good four months down the road and advertised as flat and fast.  I had time to work on getting out of total novice mode and try to increase my pace.  I worked pretty hard on not ever stopping to walk - something that seems to be encouraged for beginners, but I want to move on from beginner-hood.  And over those four months I've become pretty attuned to my pace, thanks to my OCD relationship with my gps app on my phone.  6.5/hr is comfortably pushing it, 6.2 or so for my favorite - long slow training runs. 


The week leading up to the race had some lovely partly cloudy days and highs in the low 50s - perfect.  Of course, race day, the rains came rollin' in.  We were bussed from Marymoor to Lake Sammamish State Park for the start.  One really get a sense of just how far 13 miles is when one follows the route in a vehicle.  Thankfully there were puh-lenty of people saying out loud what I was thinking: "uhhhh, are we there yet??" as we drove along.  And, let me tell you, no one wanted to get off the warm and cozy school buses. Thankfully, the bus drivers were all very nice and let everyone hang out as long as they wanted before heading to the start.  Once I did finally get off the bus I noticed that there were folks giving out 'spacers' to put on the back of our bibs to more accurately record our times.  This was the first race I've ever done where the chip was attached to the back of the bib.  Don't know if they're the best way to go, race organizers, because it took a good 3 days for us to get our chip times.  grrrr...  Anyhoo!  That was the only downside of the race. 


As was as promised, it was toootally flat and I was MUCH faster.  I was worried about how they'd fit 1300 folks on the inter-urban trail and it worked out really well, having us switch back a few times in the parking area at the state park.  There wasn't too much weaving to do, which is always nice.  I even had quite a few self-satisfied moments of passing people that looked way more hard-core at the beginning.  C'mon, doesn't everyone like to pass people?  I felt great most of the run; 'round mile 8, my energy started to wane, but thankfully a newer tune popped on my playlist.  (Ass Back Home by Gym Class Heroes)  I like to always keep it on shuffle so I never know what's coming up.


 Final chip time 2:02:56 as opposed to the 2:13 I did in November for the Seattle Half Marathon.


As for the event itself, the aid stations were perfectly spaced, GU at TWO stations - that is much appreciated, volunteers were awesome and it had a really festive and friendly close-knit feel with pizza and candy at the end (as well as bagels and bananas, of course).  I definitely want to run it again next year: it's easy-peasy parking, taking the shuttle, just a 10 minute drive from my house.  


And for the record here is the difference between the last mile of the race and the last .10 miles of the race.  Here's your laugh for the day, please to enjoy:

Next up, the Can Do 5K on Saturday!  Hopefully no 'house of pain' photos to add more self-mockery to my shiny new blog...