Want to Run the 13.1 Minneapolis?

Wow, almost a month since my last post. I’ll be out there checking in on all of you, so I hope you have been having lots of fun so that I will have a lot to read about. What the heck have I been doing since my Oly triathlon? Running, swimming and biking of course!

On July 4th, I ran the Firecracker 10K with my friend, Lisa. We ran the Race for the Cure together and she wanted to try a longer race. She’s been training hard all summer and was ready. It was warm and humid but she did great! She kept an even pace through the first 4 miles and then toughed it out for the last couple miles to come in with a negative split just under 1:04. Here I am before the start with Lisa’s husband, Mike, and Lisa.

Here we are coming in for the finish. Around mile 5, Lisa was asking me if I ever walked during a race. She was surprised to learn that lots of people take walk breaks during races, even faster runners. She asked me what people would think of her if she had to walk. I told her that they would be too busy admiring her abs to think much else. Lisa is 10 years older than me and knocks out everyone with her beautiful body, smile, and spirit. She hung on and finished without walking.

Here we are having a Popsicle after the finish.

This was my third time running this race and I still enjoy it. It’s a hilly course and the weather is typically hot and humid making for a challenging race. The t-shirts are always nicely done and there are lots of treats post-race. Being there to watch a friend surprise herself with what she can do was special. Here is Lisa celebrating her PR with a swim in Lake Minnetonka. I love this lady.

Besides the 10K, we headed out to Chisago Lakes two Saturdays in a row to preview the bike course for the Half Iron coming up on July 23rd. It’s a very nice course with the exception of five miles of pock marked pavement towards the end of the race. It is so bumpy that my private parts are demanding that I wear bike shorts over my tri shorts for the race. Seeing as that this race is going to take me around 7 hours, a few minutes to put on and take off shorts seems like a small price to pay to save the girlie parts.

Besides the training, I’ve also managed to squeeze in a little family vacation while I’ve been away from my blog. Mike and I have two teenagers and we wanted to go somewhere that they both would enjoy. They have different interests, so it wasn’t easy to come up with a destination. What is a domestic destination that just about any kid of any age would like? Orlando! While it wasn’t the first choice on either kid’s list, they both thought that one last trip to Disney before summer jobs made vacationing more difficult would be tolerable. Two days at Universal Studios and two days at the Disney parks made it impossible to train, but it was worth it.

Besides panicking about how my break from training will effect me at the half iron on the 23rd, I’ve also been spending some time thinking about what I’ll be doing after the triathlon is over. It will be time to get back to concentrating on running and just swimming and biking for fun. With the MCM still a few months away, a nice half marathon in August is a perfect addition to my schedule. I will be running the 13.1 Minneapolis on August 21st! I ran the inaugural race last year and wrote about it here. It’s a great point to point course with a lot of shade along the course. Two of my favorite memories from the race last year were that they had COLD Gatorade at the water stops and CHOCOLATE cake at the finish. You should consider doing this race if you are local. If you are training for a fall marathon, you can use it as a supported training run and easily pick up any extra miles before or after the race. The t-shirts are Craft technical shirts that are tastefully done and the medals last year were big and had a center piece that spun. 13.1 Minneapolis was nice enough to provide a discount code that makes the race a good value for such a nicely done half marathon. If you want to run, here is the link to the activity on Active.Com. Enter 13RUNMN in the discount/promotional code box. You will get $10 off of your registration. The price goes up on August 1st so you still have two more weeks to get the reduced price plus the extra $10 discount.

A race in the books, two bike previews, a trip to Orlando and registering for a late summer half marathon pretty much sums up the last three or four weeks. Only one more week to squeeze in a lot of obsessing about the half ironman on the 23rd. If I say obsessing instead of worrying, does that sound more optimistic? I may actually be worrying. Looking forward to it and worrying. See, I’m very, very busy.