Category Archives: Silk Satin 5K

Silks And Satin 5K recap and to market

We were up early for the race today.  This race benefits the Special Olympics New York and is one of the bigger races we do.  It was also my very first 5K 2 years ago, so it is a little sentimental.

Had pre run fuel of banana oats topped with cashew butter and jam.  Plus coffee.

Then we hit the road – too early!

Pre race face:

Lots of people milling around at the registration line.

There were 700 preregistrants (including me) and a huge line for race day registrants (including John). I would estimate around 1000 people or so.

The race corrals stop at a 10 minute mile, so we line up in the 8-9 minute mile because people always start further up that really should be farther back.  This race was no exception.  It took about 45 seconds to cross the start line, which gets added to your time unfortunately.  There was a large clog at the beginning and when they called out time at 1 mile they said 11:50. I was surprised at that time because I know that I was running a much faster pace than that.  I felt pretty good, although it was really, really humid out.  Yesterday was cool, but today is upper 80s and humid, as in swimmingly so.

I was passing quite a few people, as expected.  It wastes a lot of energy to weave around people. Maybe I should start farther up, even though I am no where near a 7 minute mile.  Right before mile 2, there was a sound system going and it was playing the theme to Rocky.  How awesome!  I got a big smile and matched the pace.  It gave me a good boost of energy.

Mile 2 and time called out was 22:15.  Much faster pace, so I knew there was some fudge up with where they start the clock.  Right then, a bunch of people passed me.  I think when they hit the 2-mile mark, they pushed it, but then I passed them again a little later.

During mile 3, I had my pace music on the 6.5 mph pace for 5 minutes.  I was drenched in sweat at this time and kind of wanting the race over at this point.  1/2 mile from the finish and I got a bit of a stitch in my side, but I just pressed on and crossed the line at a about 32:50.  So, I don’t know what to think about that time, but it doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that I finished! Woo Hoo!

It’s also opening day for the Saratoga Race Track, and we were parked by the warm up track.  See how foggy humid it is?  This is post race and about 8:45 a.m.  or so.

Horses are such beautiful creatures.

I didn’t have any post race snack, as we wanted an awesome bagel in Saratoga, but we did grab our swag bags and then went to the farmers market first.

Post race face.  Little more awake here! I did mop off my face before taking this.  Even my forearms and shoulders were sweating, so you know it was humid.

Such lovely produce.

We got some of these tiny plums.  They look like cherries, don’t they?

They are very sweet and delicious!

I also picked up some hot peppers and patty pan squash.

Then it was time for Uncommon Grounds!  I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with honey nut cream cheese.

View from Mount Bagel.

Yum.  Best bagels around.

Can you believe all of this done by 10 am ??

Here was the swag bag from the race:

Plus a t-shirt.  I am going to keep a few of the cookies and ship the rest off with John at his poker night, as the guys will eat those.

The drink is a cranberry/pomegranate one, but sweetened with Splenda.  Booo….  John will get both bottles (we got identical bags!)

Trest of the day was spent mowing the lawn (too hot, good thing it is small), some weeding (too hot), porch sitting (too hot),

snacking because I didn’t want a sit down meal:

Plums!

I ate each time I got hungry.

Watched the tour.  39 seconds Contador won by…..hmmmm…. that’s all I’m sayin’.

Afternoon hunger assuaging.

We are headed out for dinner now.  I want an omelet and we don’t have any eggs in the house!  Need that breakfast for dinner.  Have a super evening!

Silk & Satin and swag!

Race day for the Silk & Satin. There were 1000ish runners for this race!
Got up at 5:15 (ugh??) to get breakfast and coffee. Decided against showering.
Breakfast of champions!
brekkie

Oat bran with banana topped with cashew butter.  I didn’t add any protein powder today, maybe I should have.

Got to the race sign up around 7 or so.  The Saratoga Race Track opens this weekend so there were already lines of people waiting to get into the track.  The race organizers were nice enough to have a separate parking lot for runners only (free) which was right across from the registration.  Sweet!  It rained a lot yesterday and was cooler, so there was a lot of fog.  This picture cannot really give justice to how beautiful the warmup track was with all the horses going around.

track

John pinning his number (he isn’t a pose-person)

j

I am a poser, however!  Squinting in the bright fog – I look irritated, but I’m not.  Wearing the Triscuit – love it!

moi

We started at the end of the 8mile pacers.  Reason being is that the ‘corrals’ only go to 9 minutes, so all walkers and everyone else slower is there which creates a lot of backlog.

The gun went off and it took us 20 seconds to actually get to the starting line!  Lots and lots of people.  You know, a lot of really slow people were in the lower time corrals, since John and I were passing people right and left (literally).  That was mildly annoying because it slows you down and makes you weave around (wasting energy).  But, it doesn’t matter, really.  It was a nice day to race, mid 60s and the sun was not out all the way due to the fog.  It came out about 2/3  of the way.  This is a nice flat track through town.  I found I did not have any sprint in me.  Since I stopped speed work, I lost my sprint! LOL!  John and I kept pace for most of the race, then he got a bit ahead and I used him as my pacer.  Couldn’t miss him with that bright orange shirt!  He crossed the line about 25 seconds before I did.

Bravo to John for a PR of 28:59!  I did 29:22.  I was quite happy with that as the first mile was somewhat slower with the clog of people.  I assumed that they started the timing when we crossed the start, but John started his stopwatch and it showed  time of 20 seconds faster than official, so maybe not.  A lot different than the 45 minutes from last year!

Anyway – we were both enormously pleased and happy!  This race really treats you special, too.  They had muffins, donuts, bananas, oranges, bagels available from Price Chopper.  And then the swag bags!

We forewent the bagels there and had oranges and took home a muffin so that we could get an even better bagel at Uncommon Grounds!

bagel

Oat bran with light cream cheese.  Yum!

Got home and took the best shower ever!  I love how great it feels when you are all sweaty and sticky and step under the shower head.  One of those simple things that I love to appreciate.

This is the contents of the swag bag:

swag

Can you believe all this stuff?  It’s worth the $25, really.   I can’t remember the last time I had poptarts. The sponsors are very generous.  Although I did just get a new toothbrush on Thursday at the dentist!  Pixie was very interested in everything, too.

Party for John this evening.  Just finished baking his cake with chocolate buttercream frosting!  Will probably post all that tomorrow.

Enjoy your Saturday and touch base with your loved ones!

z8tp72dfis

Rainy day and curry

What a soggy day today!  For some reason, rainy days make me really snacky.  No weight workout today as I have the race tomorrow and I want to rest my hamstring.  Feels much better, though.

I was going to pick more blueberries with my mom today, but it was raining all day, so nixed that.

Lunch was the other of those strawberry pluots plus an egg sandwich:

pluotsammie

Spent most of the morning hoping the rain would stop and cleaning.   Wheeee…..

Then went out and picked up groceries for a little party tomorrow for John.  His birthday is next week, but we are having a cheese, fruit, and veggie thing and then cake (chocolate with chocolate buttercream) tomorrow night with the family.

Stopped and had coffee and a cookie that John had made – a lowfat version of a sugar cookie

cookies

We had a throw together dinner.  Wanted something Indian curry style, so I put together the following:

  • black mustard seeds
  • cumin seeds
  • garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 9 ounces of chicken, cubed
  • 1/3 cup red lentils
  • 1 tablespoon red curry paste (hot!!!)
  • 1 can of lite coconut milk

Sauteed the spices in the coconut oil until the seeds popped, then added the chicken and browned.  I had parcooked the lentils and then added them to the pot with the curry paste and coconut milk.  Then simmered while the brown rice cooked.  This will serve about 4 people.  I wasn’t going to use the whole can of coconut milk, but the curry paste is very hot, which is fine by me, but I didn’t think John would like it so I used the rest of the coconut milk to dilute it.

I pan sauteed broccoli to add to my bowl to bulk it up.  1/2 cup of rice doesn’t go very far.

dinner13

Quite tasty!  I used the lentils to thicken it instead of ground cashews to save on some fat.  But, I did snack on some!

cashews

Have to get up flippin’ early again tomorrow.  We need to be registered for the Silk & Satin race by 7:30 tomorrow morning.  I hope to be under 30 minutes.  Last year was my very first official 5K and it was this same race.

My time was around 45 minutes, which I hope to better tomorrow 😀

Weather calls for sun with maybe morning clouds.  Should be good if it isn’t too humid.

Hopefully John won’t finish too far in front of me.  I finally got him into running, and now he is faster than me!   D’oh!

Question:  What’s on tap for your weekend?

Silk & Satin 5K

Today was race day! Jogged the entire 5K. Came in near the end of the pack, but that’s all right – not the very last anyway. My sister and I ran together. 1st 5K for both of us!

Before race:

During:

End: