It was race week for the Churchill’s half marathon! This is a local race which I’ve now run 11 times. Alan has run it 17 times, and Sydney finished her 4th time there. As I mentioned last week, the race director is my friend and I got to pick out the color of the shirts this year. Though brown shirts seems like a polarizing choice, it was well received I think. I worked packet pickup at the race and I proudly let everyone know I picked the color. One person even said brown is a very trendy color right now. Despite it being race week I still had a full week of workouts. I ran 28 miles and biked 7 miles. I went to the gym a few times and went on some walks. Here’s what went down…
Mon – 5 mile run, negative split. A colorful run today. I got to see not only the otherworldly glow from the greenhouse, but also the BEST sunrise. AND, I caught a leaf while running in the dark. Ah yes, it was a great start to the day and the week.
Tues – 4 miles, treadmill run. While walking with my Mom in the park on my lunch hour we ran into Sydney! She was on a training run.
Weds – 4 miles running. It was supposed to be a rest day but that full moon got me. When my husband woke up to meet his 5:30am run group I could not get back to sleep. What’s a runner to do with extra time on their hands in the morning?? I headed out for a run. I hoped for another amazing sunrise but there was not one.
We went to a football game at the University of Toledo. Truth be told, it was cold and we only stayed until half time! We did see the best play of the game though when UT scored on the first kickoff and scored a touchdown in the first 15 seconds of the game. What a play!
Thurs – Hoping to not have a repeat of yesterday’s poor sleep, I wore a sleep mask to bed and I slept like a rock! It was amazing. The weather was good today and I did some gardening. I have now moved into my gardening era. More daffodils were planted today.
Since the weather was so nice I went for a mountain bike ride. All was going well until after the trails when I went on the skills park. My skills are not that impressive and I fell off of a wooden feature which is knee high! I missed the turn and headed off the edge of it. I immediately flew over the handlebars when my tire hit the ground. DOH! Luckily I only jammed my finger and crushed my hand a little. Ibuprofen was necessary. The funny part of this incident was that my Garmin Edge (bike computer) beeped after I fell and said “Nice Jump!”. LOL! Too bad no one was taking a video of me because I’m sure it was hilarious to watch.
Fri – 2.1 miles running. Testing out a race outfit! I made sure the tights I plan on wearing were comfortable. I ran in the rain in the morning because I worked packet pickup for the race in the afternoon. The shirts look even better in real life! 🙂 The majority of the morning was also spent assembling a lasagne. What a labor of love! We enjoyed it for our carb loading prerace dinner.
Sat – 13.1 RACE DAY! Churchill’s half marathon. Holy hills! The temperature was around 40 degrees which is a tricky one. Full tights? Gloves? Long sleeves? Ear warmers? I did all of those. I’ll have a recap later this week, but spoiler alert – I had a great race, 1st in AG, and came within a minute of my PR for that course. Alan and Sydney did well also!
Sun – Rest day! And then we woke to this!! Not sure what the day will hold, but it will be lazy I’m sure. 🙂
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Do you regularly wear a sleep mask to bed?
Not always, but I do every now and then. It does come in handy!
I’m going to pretend that I didn’t see the last photo in this post. We’re getting ours tonight and I am Not Ready.
I don’t wear a sleep mask at home because we have blackout curtains, but when I travel it is a must. There’s so much light in hotel rooms and Airbnbs.
Congrats on a great family race! I can’t wait to hear more about it.
Our window shades let in a lot of light, which I do enjoy on summer mornings, but not so much for full moons! The snow should be gone later this week I hope because we still have a lot of leaves in the trees and in piles around the yard!
Wow snow already!? I sleep with an eye mask every night and love it! Wow congratulations to all of you! Looking forward to hearing more about it! Nice job out there!
I did not think I would like a sleep mask but it has come in handy many times! The snow was a bit of a surprise. I’m sure we will be back to fall for at least a few more weeks. It’s so pretty but too soon!!
Wow, it’s lucky the snow held off for a day so you could race. Congrats on the AG win! I can’t wait to hear the recap.
Yes, i like the brown shirts. I’m not usually a huge fan of brown but that’s a nice color. Much better than a lot of the shirts we’ve gotten recently, which seem to be in weird shades of green (neon green, pea green, etc.)
Glad you survived the bike crash, although I did cringe when you said you crushed your hand a little. Ouch!!!
Yes – that snow would have been a MESS on race day. Warm rain, yes. Wet cold snow, NO THANKS. Oh that bike crash. I haven’t fallen bad in at least 4 years on my mountain bike. It was slow motion as I saw the tire go off the ledge and knew I was going to flip. It could have been much worse, so I’m thankful for just the sore hand.
Oh no on riding off of the twisty wooden feature in the skill park. Glad you weren’t hurt any more seriously.
I have a sleep mask, but I’ve never worn it. I go to bed after it’s dark and wake up before the sun rises so I never really need it.
Good point on going to bed/waking up when it’s always dark! I wear a mask mostly because Alan likes to watch TV in bed, so when I need to go to sleep I put it on. I don’t mind the TV because the volume is very low and I fall asleep fast! I have been going to sleep a bit later lately and I need to get back on my shedule.
EEWWW, that last picture. I feel for you.
40F must be hard for a race! That would certainly be long anything for me and hat and gloves too.
The bike accident sounds scary! So glad you didn’t hurt yourself more!
I’ve never used a sleep mask, and I have to admit even if it sounds ugly, that I find them ridiculous. I’ve never understood why people can’t just close their eyes! But reading your reply to Debbie’s comment I understand why you’d need one.
That’s great news that the race went well for everyone! The brown race shirt does look nice! I actually have bright green shorts that would coordinate nicely with it LOL.Sorry to hear about the “jump” with your bike, sounds a bit scary. Those mishaps happen too fast to react to…
congrats on your race… so fun that the whole family runs it.
Snow? NO!!
but we may get some tomorrow..
Congrats on that AG win! I know how much you love that race, and I’m glad it went well, especially after your bike mishap. ‘Ibuprofen was needed’ lol
We also woke up to snow on Sunday, and got more overnight. It’s too early and I’m depressed lol
Wow, congrats on the race and the AG win!! That’s so great and especially after everything you had going on. I am in Phoenix right now, but supposed to come home to snow, which I am NOT ready for. Hoping it warms up again soon!
Uh, it’s getting chilly where you are… but I am glad you were able to get out and run and cycle (without rain). So cool you were able to run the half with your fam… and that you got to pick the color for the shirt. I think it looks great! Different! Better than the usual obnoxious neon colors LOL
Wow – running triumphs and then snow!! I love the brown top. The Birmingham Half tshirts are often on a grey background (dark grey) and I like that.