Five Things Friday: 4/7/17

Happy Friday, friends!

I haven't done one of these (or let's be real, even posted anything) in a while, so here's a little catch up on five things rocking my world this week!


1. Work continues to kick my ass. I work on a college campus in a career center and March/April are the absolute busiest times for us- lots of night and weekend hours. Just like the students I work with, I can't wait for finals week and graduation!

My goofball staff at an annual community event we manage that has upwards of 1000+ attendees!

2. I have a new favorite running shirt. 😉

New shirt. Same old 5k. 11:55/11:26/10:49 splits.

A post shared by Sarah (@sparklyrunner) on Apr 5, 2017 at 2:16pm PDT

3. Stress + long hours at work + making crap decisions about what to eat =  weight gain for me. *sigh* I'm already getting back on track but the scale has not been kind to me the last few weeks. Let me put it to you this way, I'm wearing lots of dresses and leggings these days because they are the only thing that fits comfortably.

I feel ya, Regina George.

4. It might snow AGAIN in Pennsylvania this weekend. UGH....

5. Pittsburgh Marathon Weekend is only FOUR WEEKS AWAY!  Guess I better start half marathon training! On a serious note, we are super pumped to see all our friends and enjoy our favorite city for the fourth year in a row!

Love these people ❤

What's rocking your world this week?!

AM: 3/9/15

Good morning, y'all!

It's been an interesting week on a number of levels but especially concerning the weather. Thursday brought eight inches of snow and ice but by Sunday, the sun was shining and temperatures reached almost 50 degrees! Finally!

We both enjoyed the sunshine!

Matthew left on Tuesday for a 12 day trip for work. It's just been me and the pup.... and a whole lot of emotional eating. I haven't lived by myself in over seven years and I forgot that loneliness is a huge trigger for me: when I'm lonely, I eat. This usually doesn't affect me but I guess since I knew Matthew would be out of town for so long, it made me a little sad. And the cure for sadness is food, right?!

Luckily, being able to recognize this habit is the first step in changing it. I had a few rough days but once I realized why I was feeling unsettled/lonely, it was easier to turn away from emotional eating and do something else. Taking a cue from Authentically Emmie and repeating "food will not fix this" over and over helps too.

Thankfully, Matthew will be home on Saturday. I can keep it together until then :-)

Training:
Monday- Rest day
Tuesday- Rest day
Wednesday- 30 minute hill workout on the bike, strength training circuit
Thursday- 30 minutes, elliptical
Friday- Rest day
Saturday- Rest day: Volunteered at the Chambersburg Half Marathon
Sunday- 6.2 miles, 12:01 pace

6.2 total miles

Since deciding to back off on my weekly runs, my weekend run has become so much more enjoyable. Yesterday, I set out to run two to three miles. But I felt so good, that I just kept going for the full 10k distance. And I did it without music and by myself! I got so lost in the run and the beautiful weather that I was never bored or tired; it was easily one of the top five runs of my life. It was simply awesome.

Runner's high.

Nutrition:
I seriously have been loving my new Weight Watcher's cookbook: Easy Mains and Sides. Each meal is less than 8 PPV and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. This week, I made beef stir-fry and potato salad- both were easy and really tasty. I also snuck in a dinner with my dad. He made these little chinese appetizers filled with shrimp and pork- so yummy. After the last few weeks of some less-than-stellar food choices, I felt much more in control this week. Meal planning and cooking at home really helps to give me the overall sense of control and confidence in my choices.

Beef and veggie stir fry, potato salad with shallots and whole grain mustard, goodness in a wonton wrapper.

Weight-loss:
143 as of 3/5/15
+2 from last week
-47.4 from January 2013
-59 from HW

And there it is- the gain I was expecting. It was just a few weeks late :-) As I've said many times before, gains happen. But the most important thing for me to do is not let this gain become another intentional gain. As long as I stay the course, I'll end up where I want to be- at goal weight.


What's the story behind one of your best training runs?

My First Running Award

On Saturday, April 26th, I ran a local 5k race in Maugensville, MD. The "Hustle for Hydration" was put on by Maugensville Elementary School's third graders as a fundraiser to build a water well in Haiti. This was a semi-local race for a good cause so it was an easy decision to put this one on the calendar.

Wearing my new Raw Threads shirt!

The website for this event advertised a 9 am start time. So I arrived at the elementary school around 8:15. After a somewhat unorganized registration process, I learned that the race actually started at 9:30 am. After hanging out in my car for a while (Matthew was away at a conference so I didn't have my race buddy), it was time to race.

I think there may have been 60 people total at the race, and probably at least 30 elementary school students. We all lined up as the race organizers gave us an overview of the course- there would be chalk on the ground and small cardboard signs to show us the way. After a few more announcements, we were off!

At the starting line.

This course was generally flat, through quiet neighborhoods, and with little or no traffic. I was able to keep a pretty fast-for-me pace throughout the race. Around mile two, I finally caught up with a man pushing a kid in a stroller who had been in front of me the entire race- I was determined to beat the guy pushing 80+ pounds :-) Once I passed him, I honed in on a young girl and her father whom I had been chasing all race. Around mile two and a half, I blew past them and starting pushing towards the finish.

I knew that I was keeping a pretty good pace. As I got near the finish line, I pulled out my phone so I could stop the Map My Run app when I finished. I crossed, stopped the app, and checked out my time- 30:35. That would have been a kick-ass PR, if the course would have been 3.1 miles. As it turns out, my app only recorded 2.99 miles. I wasn't 100% sure if the course was mismarked or if my app simply hadn't recorded the full distance correctly. I asked another runner what he got from his Garmin and he got 2.98 miles. So I'm guessing that the course was short. Either way, my average pace was awesome- 10:13.

After the race, I stuck around to cheer on the finishers behind me. After everyone had finished, they started to call out names for awards. Because this race had a lot of kids, they had four award categories: Adult Women, Adult Men, Female Students, Male Students. There weren't that many adult women- maybe 10 total. They called out the top adult woman finisher and then they announced the 2nd place finisher, 3rd place finisher, 4th place finisher, and then... me! I actually finished 5th in this race out of all adult women- how insane is that?! I even got a ribbon :-)

Woohoo!

So, even though it's not a new PR for me because the course was short, it still was a fun race and I got my first running-related award. Not too bad for a Saturday morning :-)

QOTD: Have you ever ran a race where the course was a different distance than advertised? Would you still count it as a PR if the course was short?