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I Had a Real Weekend and Did Stuff!!

Finally!! A real day out!!

A couple of weekends ago, I ran the Hartford Marathon Foundation Red Dress 5K – I’ve done this one several times and it’s always a fun day. It’s a women’s only event but husbands and dads and sons all show up to support women’s health.

Lots of the women wear a lot of red. I don’t really have much red so I wear what I want and that’s okay!

But let me back up!

Kathy came down on Friday and, after my delayed Thursday run, we headed to the Riverfront in Hartford for the Riverfront Recapture Food Truck Festival. Generally we’d go Saturday after the 5K but Kathy had other plans (and I had 5 more miles to run!) Tons of great food – Kathy had something from the Jamaican truck and I had some Poutine because…fries. We even brought Phred with us since it was all outside and he hasn’t had an adventure in awhile! After we grabbed our food and beers we sat and did a TON of people watching! This even seems to always coincide with ConnectiCon – which means lots and lots of costumes (some of which I even recognized from famous movies like Star Wars!) Also, Jesus was there….???

This stuff is right up my alley, but I skipped for some poutine

We went home and got into jammies pretty early for a night of “scary” movies (quality questionable as always!) – though I think I chose pretty well this time! (The Forest and Shut In – check them out!)

Got up early on Saturday to head to West Hartford for the run/race! At packet pickup there are several tables of various healthcare type booths giving away grocery bags and First Aid kits. The race is held in and around Elizabeth Park which has an amazing rose garden!

The course seems to have changed the last few years, probably due to road work in the area but it’s always a nice one. I kept with my 45:30 intervals for most of the time and managed to keep my pace under 14 so I was happy. The post race treat is a yogurt parfait. Back when I first started doing this 5K the post race treat was strawberry shortcake and, of course, that was my main motivation for doing it in the first place. And sometimes there are extra treats…..I’m looking at you NoRa Cupcakes! Sadly, though, this year there was no NoRa But we did get a rose from some of the event people!

And, even though I didn’t get a #FlatAnne picture before the race – since I didn’t know what I was going to wear! – I did manage one after 3 miles!

Tags: 5K, running, Training

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Categories Hartford Marathon Foundation, Red Dress Run For Women, Running

So…Moving on :)

22 Aug

My good intentions have not been so great at keeping up on this so I’m hoping to throw a bunch of race recaps out her interspersed with some …you know…life kind of stuff!!

So back in April, after the Hershey 10K and my make-up WDW half, I only had one more 5K on my schedule – it is one I started doing a few years ago. MahoneySabol 5K.

This 5K is kind of the kick-off event for the Traveler’s Championship, a PGA tour that I have volunteered at for 9 years now! It is run out at the golf course and is really a fun, family friendly event!

Stormtroopers make good parking lot attendants….

It’s a bit of a late starter – usually 11 am- which is a nice change. Sponsors are Mahoney Sabol & Company, a regional , tax, assurance, and business advisory firm, and Traveler’s Insurance. Partners include Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, Bears BBQ (my favorite!), Dunkin Donuts (another fave!), and Two Roads Brewery among others.

The tents with all the goodies….and The First Tee of Connecticut building

Dunkin is there with a hearty breakfast of jelly donuts and coffee as well as bagels if you’re into that kind of thing! And at the finish line Bear’s provides a delicious sandwich that you can wash down with Two Roads IPA!

The course starts and ends at the TPC River Highlands and has it’s nice moments and it’s meh moments! There is a small part of running around the golf course itself (not through!) and a nice residential area. The meh comes in the form of a little less than a mile on the main road through Cromwell – it isn’t awful but…ya know…meh.

I spend a lot of time at this course for the tournament and I’m always surprised how different it looks when there’s no tourney!

Luckily the race starts by running *down* this hill!!

There are kids races which are always awesome to watch and cheer before the 5K and this year we had some characters! I’m pretty sure I saw Batman talking to a Stormtrooper!

Tags: 5K, Traveler's Championship

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Categories Hartford Marathon Foundation, Local Races, Running

O’ – All the Shenanigans

26 Apr

Happy April and belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Haven’t been so great about keeping up in March, and most of this month, but let’s turn over a new leaf. Again 🙂

Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, the Hartford Marathon Foundation puts on a few 5K races. In the past, there were three. This year, FOUR! So that meant 2 weekends of 5 K’s. Starting with…

The O’Shenanigans 5K

This was the new one. Run in Cheshire/Southington CT and finishing up on the rails to trails path behind the Kinsmen Brewery (a new not even open at the time brewery!) It was cold this Saturday morning — well, not cold actually. It was FAH REEZING!!! Like…11 degrees air temp with a wind-chill near…1. So it was a layer up and hope for the best kind of day!

Swag was a colorful buff which came in handy in the cold!!

The course was, as advertised, a flat out and back. The back was on the path which was really pretty. I ran my new favorite intervals of 45:30 which seems to be working for now. The finishing snack was a Kinsmen beer and some really delicious pizza along with the usual Main Street Bakery bars/snacks and water!

After we finished snacking, Kathy and I headed back to the house to warm up. She headed home to RI while I showered and got ready to head over to RI for the night. Tomorrow’s race would be in Putnam, CT which is closer to her house than mine – plus I hadn’t visited in a while so it would be a nice time!

Sunday afternoon’s race is …

The Courthouse O’Putnam 5K

Putnam is a nice little town up in the northwest corner of the state. This is probably the 4th or 5th year I’ve done this one and it’s a fun day. This one is no where near Flat. But I kept to my intervals, mostly – there’s one or two pretty hefty hills to get up!!

And, it was another chilly day for sure!

And today’s swag was a great knit cap! They’ve learned from prior years and this year it’s a hat that will actually stay on while running!! Bonus!

Post race is a delicious corned beef sandwich (really the only time I have one!) and, of course a beer – which I enjoyed!

We also have a post race tradition of stopping into the little hole in the wall bar (literally, if you didn’t know it was there you’d miss it!) – we stopped in here after our first O’Putnam and have come back every year since. This year we sat at the bar and had a great time talking with the bartender/owner? learning some history of the building and hearing some great jokes! At one point she commented on the fact that she thought we were familiar and so we told her we come in every year!

As we were leaving she hollered out “See you next year!”

Then it was time for me to gather my things, and my dog, from Kathy’s and head home. I had a big week ahead. In addition to the 2 final O’Races, I was throwing a Skirt Sport Trunk show open house and needed to get the house somewhat presentable!

The O’Niantic 5K

Saturday morning following St. Patrick’s Day, I headed south on Hwy 9 to meet up with Kathy for Saturday’s 5K – Niantic is a great little beach town and this 5K is another fun one!

Once again, I bundled up – though fortunately it was a *little* warmer than last weekend – I think we were getting up into the 30’s this week! It was supposed to be a fairly sunny day, but the clouds moved in before the start and didn’t really go away at all.

Swag report – great green gloves! The kind that you can keep on and still be able to take pictures and use your phone!

Again I kept to my intervals, except for that one big hill!

At the end of this race, we got our doohickey to hold our medals together and we also got our “Lucky” mug for doing all 4 of the races!! We also got some vegetarian chili and a beer! After hanging out at Smarty’s for a bit I headed back towards home to grab my voucher for the Trunk Show food and go get that picked up at Noodles and Company!

Then it was time to shower, finish setting up and wait for friends to show!

And, finally, the last race of the series:

The O’Hartford 5K

This year was a year of many changes for this race! New location, new craft brew festival put on by Small State Great Beer.

O’Hartford is a late starter …like 1 in the afternoon late! Which means we got to sleep in, which was nice. And the sun was shining fairly brightly too so there was some hope it would be a little warmer.

But the wind was also blowing so it was still pretty chilly out-

Final Swag – a Pair of Run Irish Socks! And also, I got a replacement for my “Lucky” mug that I managed to shatter in my driveway the day before…

We headed down an hour or so early, to beat road closures and park. Then my friend Pam let us hang out in her office before the race to stay warm (and, bonus! Indoor potties!). Her parents were meeting her down there so when they arrived we headed over to the start. I was curious to see how I’d like this new course.

Again, kept to my intervals except on the bigger hills (I know, I just need to get over it..see what I did there?) and had a fairly decent finish.

Post-race we grabbed some sort of soup…and beer. This time we could choose from multiple CT breweries and I think I chose well (except at this late date I can’t remember though I think it was from 30 Mile Brewery)

After goofing off a bit we went back to Pam’s office where I may have had a second beer – but a smaller coffee mug sized beer 🙂 And by now it was getting pretty late – so we all headed to our respective homes.

All in all, it was a really great couple of weeks! I had hoped that it would motivate me to get back to a regular running schedule but so far, I’m still hoping…I’ve been feeling really scattered and like there are other things I need to get under control before I get my running back in line — more hoping that Spring will snap me out of my slump!!

All Of The Pictures –

Using our awesome new buffs to help stay warm…#foggyglasses

All the Skirt Sports winter gear! Love my Toasty Tights, my Toasty Vest and my beanie!! I wore those pants every race during the series!

Swag from the first two races…

PreRace Niantic…I need to get back to Dublin one of these days…SOON!!

Post race Niantic!

This outfit again?!!

Swag from last 2 races…

All the medals, and extra glass. For drinking. Water

Coming up next — the Greater Hartford Quarter Marathon!!

Tags: O'Hartford, O'Niantic, O'Putnam, O'Shenanigans, Race Recap

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Categories Beer, Hartford Marathon Foundation, Running

Hello, It’s Me.

23 Sep

Once upon a time, I thought, “hey! I’ll write a blog! It’ll be great for accountability and I’ll meet new people and…it’ll be great!”

So here I am.

But haven’t been terribly consistently accountable.

I *think* I might be getting close to organized enough in the other areas of my life to jump right back in – and hopefully, to even eventually share some of the awesome things I’ve done so far this year but never posted. We’ll see. No promises, right?

And now it’s coming up on Fall Race Season – you know, that time of year when I spend several weekends either travelling somewhere to run or running at home (mostly the former though). Last year wasn’t completely disastrous. Until I got to the end of October and then beat myself up – privately of course – for my horrible performance at Marine Corps Marathon. I swore that I would never again run a marathon without doing the training.

Well. For the last 2 months I HAVE been doing the training. Mostly. Yeah. I started late, missed a couple of the shorter long runs and more than a couple of the short mid-week runs.

But I’m hitting the road. And the treadmill. Ya’ll I did FOURTEEN miles on a treadmill when the temps were over 100 a few weeks ago. I ran nearly every day when I visited my dad at the end of August. Usually around noon. In Texas where, again, it was pretty darn hot. But it all felt good!!

Now I’m 36 days away from my redemption at MCM – and feeling confident that I won’t repeat last year’s mess. Because I’m spending a lot of time with hills. BIG hills

Just an example of how things are running at home….this from my 18 miler turned 19.5 miler last week….

I’m kind of being helped along by a couple of changes being made by the Marines due to some logistical difficulties this year. The Guantlet and The Bridge have both been moved up by a couple of miles so SCORE! And, as I mentioned, I’ve actually done some training this year.

But before then, I have a few other things on my plate –

Tomorrow is the Hogsback Half Marathon – I discovered this one on the Twitters when someone mentioned the great post-race feast and I’m glad I did. It’s a fairly small event, with a gorgeous course – seriously, no part of this course is ugly! – great post-race festivities. And, they offer an early start for us slower folks which is really nice because you’re finishing with #allthepeople and not straggling in

After that, starting in October, there is the Hartford Half Marathon – I did this one once before I moved to CT. A few years back they changed the course and this will be my second year running the new course. This is another fun post-race – particularly the Mile 27 Beer Garden (the Hartford Marathon Foundation also offers a full on the same day) and the longest drinking fountain ever! Instead of bottled water, you get a water bottle which is pretty awesome.

The following week I will be travelling to the Sweetest Place on Earth. That’s not a typo! I’m heading to Hershey PA for the Hershey Half Marathon. This will be my third time running this one and one that I plan to keep on my must-do list for as long as I can. I mean, great swag and fresh chocolate at mile 12? Yes please! A few of my friends are planning to run this one as well which adds to the great weekend!

Then. Dun dun dun….it’ll be time to head down to DC and #runwiththeMarines. I’m not out to set records, but I am out to do the best I can. And again, lots of friends running this one as well but I will probably spend most of the 26.2 on my own. Laser like focus right? And I have a plan…

My MCM Race Day plan – based on the original timing

My plan – for all of my events coming up but most especially for the Marathon – is to stick with the intervals I’m training with. No funny stuff!! And really work on not taking off so “fast” and holding back the first few…or first 10-15 miles.

Run my own race, work towards the goals I’ve written down. Trust myself. I’ve done it before and I can do it again, right?

Tags: Plan, Race Schedule, Training

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Categories #gettinginthegroove, Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon, Goals, Hershey Half Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, Running

It’s Getting a Little Green in Here!

27 Mar

Well, I missed out on wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day last week — so a belated Slainte to all!! When I was growing up, my parents would have a party for St. Patrick’s day and it was almost bigger than Christmas! It was a Par. TAY! To this day I try to celebrate in some way, big or small!

The last few years, my big celebration has been to run the Hartford Marathon Foundation‘s “O’Trinity” — a series of 5Ks run during the “holiday” season.

To start things off, there is the Courthouse O’Putnam 5K, in the northeast corner of the state. The Courthouse is actually a bar, not a courthouse, which makes it a little better than the name would make you think! The first few times I did this one I would stay at my friend Kathy’s. She lives about 25 minutes from the late-starting 5K so…more sleep, less drive? Yes please! Plus I get to spend time with friends and Phred gets to visit his friends too!

Putnam, CT is a “typical” New England small town and I really should go there more often! And, I say this every year 🙂 The morning started out pretty chilly, but the sun was out. By the time we started it was actually warm…

Ended up taking off my long sleeve top — LOVE my new Emerald City Lotta Breeze Capri!

I did intervals of 45:30 and kept them up, most of the time – except for the big freakin’ hills! I didn’t have a great time, but I had a good run! Post race beer and corned beef sandwich always help!! And then we headed to this little dive bar we found one year for a couple more — by now it was time for me to drop Kathy at home, pick up Phred and get back home before it was *too* late!

The next weekend was a two-fer – 5K Saturday and the grand finale on Sunday

Saturday was the O’Niantic 5K — Niantic is a cute shore town that I also don’t visit enough 🙂 The run was delayed due to a funeral on the course but not a long delay. This one was a little cooler, but still VERY sunny! This one didn’t start out great, my blood sugar tanked right at the start and I had already eaten my sugar so I had to stop and make some adjustments but managed to get back on track pretty quick. Same intervals, same caveat re: hills 🙂 Did a little better than the week before but still not so great!

Stuffed pockets but keeping warm in my Go The Distance tights under my Free Love Lioness! #IrishPrincess

Sunday is the biggie – the O’Hartford 5K. I actually do visit Hartford more often than the other two towns! This is another late starter but we still headed in early to find (cheap) parking. We hung out waiting to catch up with friends. I hadn’t seen Meg since a 5K last year on my birthday weekend – so it had been awhile. We ended up deciding to “run” together and it turned into more of a chatfest than a run, but that’s what happens. We had a great time – waited in a huge line for our post race beer, pretzel, and stout ice cream (new this year!) then hung out eating and drinking before heading over to a pub for…you guessed it, another drink.

**No outfit pic for Sunday — but I wore my Heartbreaker Skirt in Grey. It was another cold one and it’s ALWAYS windy in downtown Hartford (or at least it seems like it!)**

For the last few years, the Hartford Marathon Foundation has given out medals for these 5Ks and then at the end of Hartford they make a special design – there has been a pot of gold, a shamrock, and this year it was the Irish Flag!

The spoils!

And, instead of t-shirts, a few years ago they also started giving out winter beanies — but this year, if you registered for the Trinity, instead of ending up with 3 nearly the same beanies, you got a beanie, socks and a pair of gloves!!! Pretty neat swag and a really great idea!