The morning air was SO cold!! Temperature at 8:30 am race start was 35* !!! I had to take my inhaler a couple times at mile 2 then again at the end of the hill series ( about mile 3) – THOSE HILLS WERE SOOOO HARD!! The first two miles were the same as the last two but at a slight downhill slope to begin, then obviously slight incline the last two. The middle is what crushed me! I ran the first "Up down up down" then stopped and walked up then jogged down then had to walk up , jogged up down walked half way up then jogged the rest of the hill back up to the main 2 miles. I stopped again for water and mile 4 I just went all out- I wanted to pass every girl that I saw because I figured that was one more person I could get ahead of in my age group! I walked over 3 minutes ( I kept time on my ipod – I watched it for 1 minute during those hill times) . I finished 5.11 miles at 42 minutes 36 seconds!
I am very proud of that because with walking, I RAN faster than my overall pace 8:40 min/mile because that is based on the total time and I stopped/walked parts! Plus, I haven’t been running for two-three weeks b/c of the respiratory infection- so super happy with my time! Woohoo! I am hoping now to work on that 3 minute stopping time so that I can cut the 3 minutes down for next race!
Here was my pre-run breakfast: banana bread, lots of banana, some non-fat yogurt for a little protein, some peanut butter and pumpkin butter
I have to say I was hoping it would be great fuel- lots of carbs, a little protein, a little fat- I think it was fine especially with my performance. But, I did get a weird knot- I was burping up all the garlic and pine nuts from the pasta the night before( *note- no garlic and pine nuts the night before my next race!)
The best part: My mom, dad, brother and his girlfriend and Jeff all got to see me run!
After I cooled down my mom and i jetted over to Jeff’s hockey game to watch him play…
Then we jetted back to the house to shower and head over to Jeff’s parents for turkey day!
Once there we had some quick nibbles ( two whole wheat crackers, some dip, I had four squares of that cheese, and three olives total, green pepper strips, cucumber and celery, those two little pastry puffs were filled with bacon, cream cheese and some kind of jalepeno)
Everyone played a long game of cards and I helped make the corn casserole and then we played football!!!!
My legs were SO dead by the end of our game! Jeff and I played against his brother and friend- We each scored two touchdowns but Jeff’s brother won ( It was totally because i couldn’t run around anymore)..Dinner was of course fantastic afterwards
Here is the Table:
19.4 lb Turkey
My mother’s cranberry relish ( SOOOO GOOD! fresh cranberries, pineapple, some oj, a little sugar )
Butternut Squash
Mashed Potatoes
Jeff’s stepdad made Rolls
Stuffing ( at the bottom )
Homemade Green Bean Casserole ( fresh mushrooms, fresh green beans, cream, butter, etc etc)
A family friend brought sweet potatoes with apples and cinnamon- yum!
And my ginormous plate:
I was soooo hungry! Butternut squash, cranberry relish, Turkey on top ( there was a roll that I ended up not eating under neath), Sweet Potato bits, corn casserole, green bean casserole.
I didn’t quite finish the corn, butternut squash, the roll or the turkey but it was all delicious!
Jeff’s mom tells this hilarious story every year and his brother and I decided to record it this year! Jeff’s mom’s mom (she turned 90 this year!) was there too, she had 8 kids ( so Jeff has 16 aunts/uncles!) – she is so hilarious too – you can hear her at the beginning of the video…
The video is in two parts and I am trying to figuring out how to add it on here- SO FUNNY!
This relish is the best thing ever! so glad its a family recipe! 
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