Philly Half Marathon!

Another Philly HM in the books…

Did I run a sub-1:45 like I wanted?  No.

Am I disappointed?  A little.  I know I can run faster!

Am I already looking for a Spring HM to finagle into my Boston training?  Absolutely!

Garmin stats:
13.35 miles
1:47:28*
8:03 avg pace
*A 1-minute PR from the Philly RnR in September!

Lots more to come.  I met some wonderful bloggers this weekend and spent about 90% of the weekend talking and thinking about running.  Absolute heaven.  But for now, I have some Miller Lite to drink 🙂

I leave you with this….

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Summer In October

10/11/11
5 miles / 44:10 / 8:50 avg pace
*1 mile WU, 3 miles at 8:00 pace, 1 mile CD

Happy Tuesday friends!  After a long weekend of sun and fun, it’s back to reality.

Matt and I headed to Brigantine, NJ on Saturday for a long weekend.  Saturday through Monday were perfect beach days…days you dream about during the summer…much less in October.  We could not get over how unbelievably warm it was.

Ahhh...

Hawk thoroughly enjoyed himself.  Loved the sand, but water…not so much.

Hawk enjoyed snacking on shells

Stink eye

We sat on the beach until 5pm on Sunday.  It was too gorgeous to leave.

Miller Lite makes everything better

Oh hey...

A MUST read

Before we hit the beach on Sunday, I was glued to my computer watching live coverage of the Chicago Marathon.  It did not disappoint. Moses and Liliya were fascinating to watch but did you read about the pregnant woman (very pregnant, as in 39 weeks) that ran the marathon and gave birth later that night (article here)?  Holy crap!  She ran the first half and walked the second half, finishing in an impressive 6:25!  UNREAL!

Wedding Fun

8/1/11
7 miles / 59:51 / 8:33 avg pace

Another weekend, another wedding!  Let’s start at the beginning…

FRIDAY
Matt and I drove to Baltimore on Friday afternoon.  The wedding was at the beautiful Marriott Waterfront Hotel.  The rehearsal dinner was that night and the bride and groom graciously opened up the event  to all guests at 9PM.  An open bar is the perfect way to recover from a 20-miler…thanks Amanda!

Baltimore at night.

The Bay Cafe.  Sand floors and plenty of cold Miller Lite!

Late-night pizza and shenanigans.

SATURDAY
I started off Saturday with an easy 4-miler on the treadmill at the hotel gym.  I wanted to sleep in but not deal with the heat so the treadmill was the only option.

We have been waiting for this wedding for a long time.  Amanda and Mike are the last of the Mains – my close group of friends – to get married.  Everyone was so excited for a weekend away (sans kids for many of them!).

Amanda and her dad walking down the aisle.  Doesn’t she look beautiful?

Look at that veil…

The new Mr. & Mrs.

The cocktail hour was outside on a rooftop deck overlooking the waterfront.  It was quite toasty but the perfect spot for a photo shoot.

Me and Matt.  I’m desperately trying not to squint.

Hello Mains!

…and a little later on in the night…

One more…

All the lady Mains rounded up for a picture.

Congratulations Amanda and Mike!  We had a fantastic time!

2 Years

7/25/11
7 miles speed work

Today is our 2-year wedding anniversary!  We are celebrating tonight with pizza and beer.  I’m a cheap date.  We did class-it-up by going out to dinner on Saturday night.

My wedding was by far the best day of my life.  Matt and I dated for 10 years before we got married so this was a long time coming.  It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.  Here are some highlights with lots of pictures…

Obviously, marrying Matt was THE highlight.  These are 2 of my favorite pictures from our wedding.

My wonderful bridesmaids.

Walking down the aisle with my Dad (photo from a friend).

Getting our pictures taken at St. Joe’s (where Matt and I met).

Of course the cake was a highlight!  Our wedding cake was from Bredenbeck’s and it was absolutely delicious.  Still delicious after 1 year in the freezer too!

Having the St. Joe’s Hawk (mascot) at our cocktail hour.

Busting out a Thriller dance at the wedding.  Oh yes we did.  We = me/bridesmaids/friends.  Matt opted out 😉

Dancing (and drinking) with friends and family.  Funny side note:  Matt and I warned our reception place about the massive amounts of Miller Lite that would be consumed.  We asked them to not run out of ML.  They politely laughed and said it wouldn’t happen.  At the end of the night, Matt caught them running in 6-packs of ML and throwing them in ice.  So technically we didn’t run out but they did have to scramble at the last minute and buy more!!

*All pictures courtesy of Sean Marshall Lin (the best wedding photographer around).  

What I’m Looking Forward To…

6/10/11
A rest day with an easy yoga class at noon!

I was thinking about this summer yesterday and how many fun things we have planned.  So…why not list them?

• Early morning summer running.  Can’t beat rolling out of bed, throwing on shorts and a tank, and hitting the road.
• Long runs (do I need to say more?).
• Summer wedding season!
• Trips to the Shore for Amanda’s Bachelorette (fun!) and 4th of July weekend (more fun!).
• Attending the Healthy Living Summit in August.  I couldn’t pass it up since it’s in Philly.  Can’t wait to meet some of my fellow bloggers!
• Celebrating our 2-year wedding anniversary.
• Celebrating Matt’s birthday.
• Running marathon #9 on 9/11 (technically still summer so it counts).
• Hopefully BQing in marathon #9.

We kick off wedding season this weekend with my friend Camille’s wedding.  I met Camille when I was a grad student at Georgetown.  She is one of the nicest and kind-hearted people I know.  I’m so happy for her and can’t wait to celebrate.

Me, Matt, and Camille at our wedding. We love our Miller Lite.

Dancing away...

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Friday Favorites

3/18/11

10.5 miles tempo

1:33

8:51 avg pace

1 mile warm-up and 9.5 miles at goal marathon pace (~8:45).  I’m happy to report that I stayed within +/- 5 seconds of GMP, even though my Garmin fluctuated for most of the run.  I got a “shorter” run on tap for tomorrow – only 15 miles.  Phew.  I need a break from those 20-milers sometimes.

Today’s edition of Friday Favorites can’t be called the food edition.  I don’t think what I’m about to list below qualifies as food.

Skinny Vanilla Lattes
I kicked my Diet Coke habit last December.  I thought this was nearly impossible since I had at least 1 Diet Coke a day since high school.  It has been surprisingly easy so far.  I don’t crave it at all.  I quit cold turkey too.  It wasn’t about giving up caffeine (hell no!); it was about giving up soda.  I do feel much better.  OK, so what does this have to do with Skinny Vanilla Lattes from Starbucks?  Well, there are my new obsession.  Kick one habit and replace it with another, right?  This habit is quite expensive though!  I’m trying to just stick with tea in the morning but SVLs are oh so good!

Ahhh!

Blizzards
From Dairy Queen of course!  I’ll take a Blizzard any day over a “real” dessert at a restaurant.  Oreo cookie dough?  Um, YES!  The mint oreo is also good.  The bad thing is we have a DQ so close to our house.  So tempting all the time.  Last year, I swear Matt and I kept that place in business.  I was embarrassed because I thought the employees recognized me.  Thank god I was running a lot because I’m sure I would have easily gained 10 lbs.

They had a BOGO week? How'd I miss that?!

Miller Lite
He he, I had to add this one.  I do love myself a cold beer.  Say what you want about ML (it’s a chick beer, blah, blah) but I love it!  Nothing is better that an ice cold ML after a long run (I don’t mean immediately after, com’on people, I mean later that night).  Delicious!

Keeping it classy on our wedding day

Have a great Friday!  I hope you are having warm temps like we are – it supposed to get up to 70 today 🙂