Saturday, June 22, 2013

Twilight Shuffle 5K Recap + Recovering Right & A Vow


Tuesday night was the Twilight Shuffle 5K in Chemainus. It is an annual event that takes place in the evening, and in the warmer weather months, it sure beats running in the late morning heat! Since the race isn't as large as some others, we didn't have to wait in a huge crowd at the start line, and we didn't have to make fancy arrangements to pick up our race packets. My mom simply picked up our shirts and numbers at the local Legion, who sponsors the event alongside Victoria's specialty store Island Runner, and we were all set!


And then this happened. The rain hit, and the rain hit HARD! The race was postponed 15 minutes, but rather than zipping home for a jacket or calling it quits, we just waited. I was Miss Positive-Polly during the moments leading up to the race. I knew if I started to think negative things about the rain that I ran the risk of psyching myself out and having a crappy race. SO! I kept light about the situation and made the best of it!

I ran alongside my mom that evening. It was her second 5K, and you bet I made it my mission to bring her across the finish line with a shiny new PR.

AND WE DID IT!

It made me super happy to see how proud she was. Bonus: My sister also PR'd at the race!

Both my sister and I won second in our age groups. So, we came home with a little prize - a pair of Zoot running socks - and I am eager to try them out! Love touches like that.

Overall, the Twilight Shuffle is a well organized race THAT YOU SHOULD RUN NEXT YEAR. Seriously. Nice course, fast and flat (aside from one slope around the 2K-ish mark), and happy runners and volunteers. Thank you to everyone that helped put this event together! We appreciate you!


Marley says hi! I visited my parents' house last night and got to hang out with my dad and this mister in the evening while my sister and mom went to the graduation ceremony at the high school. Yesterday my sister and I went to the gym, and I may or may not have gone to Starbucks twice. Yeah, that happened. So delicious!

One thing I need to work on however is eating better. I have noticed within the past few days that I have had too much junk food, namely candy (guilty: had some today too). I'm not a huge fan of eating chocolate bars, pastries, things like that, but give me some jelly beans and I will have those gone in point five seconds. No joke! You know the saying, "Out of sight, out of mind"? Well, I try to abide by that rule 99.9% of the time in the sense that I don't purchase snacky type foods or junk foods to keep at home. When I am out and about is another story, or those "I NEED SOMETHING SWEET MOMENTS!" and off to the store I go for some candy. Must stop! Unnecessary and this behavior won't help me get to any sort of goals, so this is my no junk food vow. I will hold myself to it!


I mulled over the idea of going for a run all day before I finally laced up my Brooks and went out there. I am still on track for my mileage goals for the month, so I thought about taking a rest day, but I get so BORED of resting and why rest when you can run!? Okay, rest if you're injured (and plenty of other reasons for rest: eg your sanity sometimes). Anyway. Since I keep track of my mileage on Daily Mile, I honestly love seeing my training stats go up, my miles going up, my pace decreasing, etc. So that was the drive of today's run. Nothing but progress, and it doesn't hurt to get out there and enjoy some sunshine!

I completed 5.2 miles at an 8:34/mile pace. This run brought me along the water, down some side streets, up and down some stairs, and up some hills. It was a gorgeous day, so I stopped and took a few pictures (selfies included)! With all the stairs and hills, I figured it was only best to FOAM ROLL when I got home. My mom even texted me and suggest I do it, so, mama said and Holly did. Painful but wonderful!

I even did this. I am doing this right now:



Amazing. I put together a big salad for dinner with two over easy eggs for some protein, and I threw a bunch of random veggies on top like celery, carrots, yellow pepper and a sprinkle of goat cheese. Yummmm. Foam rolling + icing + refueling = a good strategy for recovering properly. I made sure to drink lots of water before and after my run to keep my hydration up. One thing about running in the summer sun is you gotta stay hydrated - I strongly advise it! The last thing you want is to feel light headed or drained right away. For longer summer runs, pop a tab of Nuun into your water for some electrolytes to aid in the recovery/hydration process.

Anyone racing this weekend!?

Good luck to all the Scotiabank Half Marathon runners tomorrow! Kill that giant hill (and enjoy all the downhills!)

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