Summer Sizzle 2011

How we celebrated Father’s Day.

1. Ted and I ran the Summer Sizzle.

2.  I called my Dad in South Carolina to wish him a “HAPPY DAY!”.

3.  Ted wanted to hit golf balls so I reluctantly (although he didn’t know I was reluctant) agreed.  I’m not a fan of golf nor do I enjoy simply hitting the little targets.

4.  Angela and the kids (Nicholas and Alyssa) came over for a quick BBQ.

I think he had a fun day. Hope so?!

On with our SUMMER SIZZLE….

Runners Ready! 

Ted’s foot was a bit sore and he wondered if he would finish . But he pushed through and ran a great race.

The Summer Sizzle is a Utica Road Runner race on a 5 mile course around SUNY IT.  It’s not a huge race and it’s informal with no chips, just bib numbers.

We were husband and wife team: 3 & 4

A great day for a run.  It was 60 degrees, the sun was out and there was a very slight breeze.  The course offered some hills but looped into the trails which offered the challenge of running over grass and uneven footing.  That definitely had a slowing effect. 

I tried to start fast and began breathing a bit heavy at the end of the first mile.  It was down hill and I was trying to make the best of it. Usually my breath is silent and rhythmic.  I held on, thinking I was really making some good time, refusing to look at the Garmin.  We were running up one of the inclines toward the sports fields and my legs started feeling funny but I pushed on, slowing it down a bit until that feeling went away. 

As soon as I heard the Garmin “beep” for the completion of mile 3, a sense of relaxation came over me.  I was well past the half way point and could hang on.  The grass was tough. Close attention has to be paid to your ankles as the uneven terrain challenges your joints. As tough as running over the grass was, it offered a nice change from road running. The wooded part of the trail was down right enjoyable. No grass just hard packed dirt with trees all around. 

Exiting the trails, it was all down hill to the finish.  I looked at the Garmin and saw my pace, 8:00.  WHAT?!!!  I seriously expected to see 7:40 at the most!  I pushed (which was easy since we were off the grass and going down hill on pavement) and finished with a time of 39:40 for 5 miles, average pace 7:55.  Ted came in about 9 minutes later and …

WE WON THE HUSBAND AND WIFE TEAM!  *To be totally honest, I’m not so sure about that.  You see, when they announced us as the winners, the gal also announced my time as 29:21.  IN MY DREAMS!  Needless to say the crowd Ooohhh’d and  Ahhhh’d. How embarrassing.   As we walked back from collecting our “winnings”…

I did say out loud  – “It was 39 minutes”.  Jolene (*you’ve heard me mention her before – the awesome runner who makes it look so easy), ran the race in 33:00 minutes.  I said to Ted that we should make sure that the announcer simply misread the sheet and that they didn’t put that time down for me in the paper.  He said it was pretty unlikely since the race was so casual with no formal timing.  Things were bound to get screwed up.  Ok.  I’ll go with that, but still – it’s a bit embarrassing to have your time announced 10 minutes faster than you actually were AND beating some of the fastest men. 

We both brought home our winning bottles and our shiny sizzlin’ shirts

It was a fun day. As for Ted’s foot, still painful but not as bad as last Wednesday night after his swim and bike ride.

Hope you had a great weekend and are look forward to a wonderful week.