C25K Week 8 Complete!

Had a really good run/walk on the American Tobacco Trail this morning! The skies were overcast, which really helped, especially since I got a late start. This is my longest distance outdoors since running the Run for the Oaks 5K at the end of Week 1. Glad to crack 21:00 avg. min/mile again with this run, as my pace had slowed lately. Just a really nice run.

Un-Race Report: 2012 Tobacco Road Marathon and Half Marathon

Ivy, George, Esther, & Teri

George and I went to Cary this afternoon to see one of our friends from the Raleigh Galloway Training Program finish his 100th marathon! It was great to witness this accomplishment, and we saw many other friends there, runners and volunteers alike. I'd signed up for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, but two weeks into the Couch to 5K program, I definitely wasn't ready to tackle this. Still, it was fun to be there--and very inspirational, of course! I hope I can take part in this race in 2013!

Here are the rest of my photos from the finish line and post-race celebration.

Race Report: 2011 North Carolina Blueberry Festival 5K

Last Saturday, June 18, I participated in the North Carolina Blueberry Festival 5K. My goal was to break 60 minutes, but I was a little nervous about it. Anything can happen on race day, even in a 5K! This was my second trip to  Burgaw, so I knew that the course would be pretty flat.

I rode down with fellow Raleigh Galloway runner Marjorie and her boyfriend, Rudy, and we left from Raleigh about 5:00 AM. (I think this is the farthest I've driven to a race and not spent the night!) We ended up with plenty of time before the 7:30 AM start to warm up and use the porta-johns (some of the nicest I've ever been in, seriously!).

The race started on time, and I had my interval timer set to run/walk at 30 second intervals. That worked pretty well, as I was able to maintain that throughout the race.The course was flat, over several neighborhood streets. There wasn't much crowd support, but maybe the residents were already at the Blueberry Festival! There was a firetruck along the course that had water streaming from the hose, and I ran under it a couple of times, but was sorry later that I had done that. It was so humid that my wicking shirt never dried. I was glad I brought a change of clothes for walking around the festival!

I ended up with a chip time of 58:06, and a gun time of 58:39, and that's with having to stop and tie my shoe! I came in 475th out of 482 runners and walkers, and 30/30 in my age group. Official results are here. Slow as my finishing time was, I'm encouraged the progress over my last 5K.

NC Blueberry Festival

Marjorie, Rudy, and I enjoyed walking around the North Carolina Blueberry Festival afterward. Many vendors were in the courthouse square shown on the left. (If you click on the picture to make it a little bigger, you can make out the Pender County Courthouse in the background.) I bought two pints of blueberries--yum!! (Now I wish I'd bought more!)

Marjorie and Rudy

There was a classic car show going on in conjunction with the Blueberry Festival. Here are Marjorie and Rudy in front of one of my favorite cars there.

Love the License Plate!

The back of the same car, with a clever license plate!



The rest of my pictures from Burgaw and the 2011 NC Blueberry Festival are here.