Sunday Inspiration

Sending Christmas Cards...

I LOVE Christmas cards. I always have. My mom dressed my sister and I up in matching Christmas outfits from the time we were  born and had special pictures taken to use in our Christmas cards! As we got older, we HATED having to get dressed up in red and/or green and pose for Christmas pictures. It was quite an interesting event actually. [We love to aggrivate our mom and give her a hard time] Many giggles have been shared over the years as we have taken good and bad Christmas pictures!!

Last year was the first year I sent out my own Christmas cards with pictures of Charlie and I. We were engaged and in the middle of wedding planning so I thought I would start our own Christmas card tradition!

 This year, I actually won 25 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly from Felice over at The Happy Runner!! Thanks girl for hosting the giveaway!!! I had so much fun making my card and I thought I would share it with yall! 

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

I  can't wait to address them and get them out! 

FloMus 5000 5k Race Recap

This morning I got up around 6:30, ate some oatmeal, put on my CWX running tights and a half-zip running top and headed out to a 5k to support our local museum. This is the third year in a row that I have participated in this race! 

It is always a good race. A local and fellow  runner, who is also a member of the Friends of the Museum, organizes this event and does a great job each year.

I typically always register early for races [I hate worrying about registering on race day and who wants to take a chance on missing out on the free t-shirt, right?!]. Isn't that why we run?! :) I got this Saturday off at the last minute kinda so I waited and registered this morning which turned out to be fine! 

I was really sad to see the turnout though. Only 25 runners came out to support our town and museum. Although the slim crowd, it was still a great race.

I was feeling good this morning, but I didn't know quite how good I was feeling! I had my best 5k race ever!! I looked at my first mile split on my Garmie and it said 6:50! WHAAAA. I thought I was seriously in for a  crash and burn session after starting out WAYYYY too fast! 

Second mile---7:14. Okay a little slower so thats probably better!

Mile 3- 7:05! Wow, what just happened here?! Oh well, you know, I just finished the race and PR'ed by over a minute and half!! Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled!!

Always sprinting it out at the end!

 I finished in 22:11!!! Average pace was 7:05! I am thrilled with the speed I have picked up!

Hanging out with some of the husband's coworkers after the race!

I also was the first female to cross the line. I won a pretty sweet bobble head runner girl trophy that will sit beside my other bobble head girl that I won for being first overall female in this race last year as well!

Overall winners!

Oh, and I also won three $10 gift certificates to Dicks!! Woohoo!

Overall, it was a wonderful morning for a run and a great race with fellow runners from our area!!

Decisions, Decisions

Last night before going to bed, I checked the weather. It was calling for 60 percent chance of rain from about 5-8, which is the time I go out and run. I had planned on waking up and running outside if it wasn't raining. 

I got up and it wasn't raining, but I couldn't make my mind up. For some reason, I wanted to hit the gym. This is a rare thing because I never ever run on a treadmill!

I finally decided the gym it was! I recently joined a new gym, the one my husband had been a member of for quite some time. It is probably the nicest one in our town. I have enjoyed going these past few weeks and experiencing what the gym has to offer! {I had been running and doing pretty much nothing else.}

Today I ran 5 miles on the treadmill in 45:45 which is an average of 9:10 and then I had 15 minutes left so I did a circuit workout with as many repetitions of each machine as possible!

It has felt great to get back in a gym, take spin classes, do yoga, lift weights, and post importantly just work on my core strength that I have been so negligent with these past 6 months or so.

I am hoping to stay on this routine and continue running 4-5 days a week, do one yoga class per week, one spin class, and 1 or 2 days of weights! 

So far, So good!!!! 

SC Pecan Festival Half Marathon Race Recap

On Saturday, November 5, I ran the SC Pecan Festival Run Like a Nut Half Marathon in my hometown. This race is in conjunction with the SC Pecan Festival that is held in the downtown streets of our town each year. Last year was the first year the half was offered in this race and I ran it and the year before I ran the 10k. The festival draws over 50,000 people bud sadly, the Run Like a Nut races only draw 100-150 people typically each year. This year they were competing with the Savannah Rock-n-Roll race and most of the running community in my town headed to Savannah. Sadly, I decided not to do Savannah because it is my husband's family "Pick-Pickin" weekend and everyone gets together for the weekend and celebrates and eats together all weekend. I hated to miss the big new race but I wanted to spend time with my new family especially considering many of them traveled to our wedding in May!

There was not much difference in the race this year and in years past. Nothing much changed...not even the shirts! Booo! It was pretty well organized and the Carolina Running Company did the timing and they did a great job! They are new in our area and the owners are good friends of ours and fellow runners in our community!

There were lots of volunteers and I am thankful for that because in small races it is hard to get good volunteers. There were several water stations with water and gatorade and I was pretty impressed by this. I think last year they only offered water. Overall, it was well run and I received a sweet medal to add to the collection along with a hat and a cup!

Thank the lord I ran 13.1 12.8 miles Saturday morning because I ate some jam up food at the reunion!!!

Back to the race....One thing I hate about this race is that the distance is never the full 13.1 miles!!! Ugh! I am too OCD for a race course that is not the complete distance but thats what you get sometimes in small town races. It was about 12.8. I would have PR'ed again if it had been the full distance but since it wasn't I am not going to let it count! (I need help for my OCD running tencencies!! :)

Official finishing time= 1:43:08

Pace per mile = 8:04

Yahoooo!!! I'll take it!!!

2nd Place Overall Female

 I look like I am about to die but I'm really not! One day I will take a good picture while running and actually open my eyes!!