Things and Stuff from January

Well, it’s been a while. Between busyness, laziness, and general unwilling-ness to write, this space has gone by the wayside. Nothing terribly exciting has happened, but here are some races I’ve done in the last month (or so).

Run Downtown 5K: 27:32

I picked this race as a “get your butt back in gear” event since I was ridiculously unmotivated after the Kiawah Marathon. Unfortunately, this has been the slowest, most painful getting back into shape season I’ve ever had, made worse by some irritating hip pain that my doctor can’t seem to figure out. I think the fastest paced run I’d had up to this race was like…10:30? So this was a very painful 5K. Someone also told me that this was a flat course, which is a lie. And it was cold – for Greenville at least. Still, this is a good race, and a very popular one.

Tybee Island 10K: 1:00:16

Hah, my hopes of being prepared for a fast 10k were pretty much crushed after taking the week before this race off due to the aforementioned hip pain. The good news is, this seems to have helped. It’s still not totally pain free, but I can now walk and run without much trouble! This Tybee Island race is a good one, but we got stuck with some bad weather and it rained the whole morning. The course is flat and fast, though, and I would definitely go back to do the half marathon sometime in the future.

I’m just so thrilled to be running in the rain again.

Green Valley 10 Mile: 1:46:32

Another race that I was totally unprepared for! This is a race that I’d been wanting to do since it was a reputation for being a pretty difficult course. When I signed up, I had expected to be a little further on in a half marathon training plan and this would fit right in, but that obviously didn’t happen, and my longest run prior to this race was the 10k the previous weekend. Still, I had a friend going, so I went anyways and it went surprisingly well.  Not particularly fast, but I got through it! The course is definitely hilly, but it was a lot easier than it was a year ago (same roads as the Resolution Half last year). The scenery is nice, too.  My running buddy blew me away, but came back to get me for the last bit like a good running buddy should.

I just wanted a nap.

Sunbelt Swim Meet:

I feel like this event kind of redeemed my January.  While I was busy sucking it up on the roads, I was putting in some good workouts in the pool in preparation for this meet. This was the first time I’d competed in the pool since college (so, 4 years ago) and really didn’t know what to expect going in. So I set the bar pretty low and went in to have some fun and do my best. Since I’m finally able to choose my own events, I signed up for all the 50’s and 100’s at the meet. Not really feeling the distance events still.

Anyways, my performance far exceeded my expectations, and while I’m certainly not going to go back to full-time swimming anytime soon, it was really satisfying to get back to what I’m good at. The weirdest part was that I’d swam in a meet at this pool before.  My freshman year of college we came down to Charlotte for a meet and I recognized it right away since I have this picture from back then of me and my mom:

Also, we met Ryan Lochte, which was awesome.

I’ll just paste the results here for my records, but I guess now they’re saved forever on the internet thanks to USMS.
50 Free: 29.17
100 Free: 1:02.98
50 Back: 30.70
100 Back: 1:05.26
50 Breast: 41.82
100 Breast: 1:30.72
50 Fly: 29.96
100 Fly: 1:08.85 <- PAIN
Plus some assorted relays

That covers swimming and running. Biking? HA. Not so much. I’ve been making sure to hit a spin class or my bike trainer at least once a week, but until last Sunday, I don’t think I rode my bike outside since…November? Sunday was a beautiful day and we headed out for 28 miles and it was wonderful. Today? 5 inches of snow. No words.

So that’s that. What’s going on with you?