Last Monday night, I joined my Tampa Bay Blogger friends for a cocktail party at Grille One Sixteen hosted by Bethenny Frankel to promote her new talk show, Bethenny, which premieres on Fox on September 9th.

Honestly, before last Monday, I had no idea who Bethenny was, but my blogger friends were completely star struck.   After a quick Google search, I learned Bethenny starred on the The Real Housewives of New York City, but is best known for her Skinnygirl cocktails, which were mounted on shelves like trophies throughout Grille One Sixteen.  Glasses full of Skinnygirl wine and cocktails lined the bar like an open bar at a hot pink Italian wedding.

Obviously we had our choice of low calorie alcoholic beverages but unlike an Italian wedding, the food was scarce.  It soon became evident how a Skinnygirl stays so skinny.  Drink your calories, not eat them, silly! 

Well, not this mother runner!

Even though we were hungry, my blogger girlfriends played nice and had a great time being silly and having fun only bloggers know how.  “Nobody puts a Bettheny cut-out in the corner!”

Cocktails and a lack of food did not make for a good Track Tuesday.  Of course, in my drunken hungry stage, I forgot to set my alarm clock and woke up in a startle.  I almost missed it!  Since I started late, I only did a half mile warm up and rolled right into 6 x 400s with a half mile cool down.

Lap 1 – 0.25 – Time 1:42
Ave Pace 6:50

Lap 2 – 0.25 – Time 1:47
Ave Pace 7:11

Lap 3 – 0.25 – Time 1:46
Ave Pace 7:05

Lap 4 – 0.25 – Time 1:54
Ave Pace 7:39

Lap 5 – 0.25 – Time 1:48
Ave Pace 7:16

Lap 6 – Time 1:51
Ave Pace 7:25

My body was still pretty worn out from the Chaotic Coteeman tri sprint, so I skipped out on cycling on Wednesday.  Thursday, I met the Striders for what’s becoming my weekly run my ass off tempo run.  I’m really showing progress on my 10K time.

6.2 miles
Time 58:35
Ave Pace 9:27
Max Pace 6:30

On Friday, I planned to ride at Pura but I woke up with such horrible vertigo.  I’m not sure if it’s related to my allergies or swimmer’s ear, but it was awful.  It wasn’t quite as bad as a few months back, but I still felt dizzy and out of sorts.  Still suffering from vertigo, I didn’t run on Saturday and I missed out on the really cool yoga event at Fit Life Foods because downward dog doesn’t mix well with dizziness.  Sunday, I was still feeling dizzy and didn’t ride my bike.

Monday, I finally felt fine and I was able to run a quick 4 miles with the Monday Morning Running Ladies.  It was just Sarah and I this week, because everyone was worried about a hectic back to school morning.  After having a few days off due to dizziness, I needed to run.  I wanted to run to help deal with some of my back to school anxiousness.  Taking a few days off may have done my head some good, but my body didn’t want to run.  Those were some sticky, humid miles!

4 miles
Time 39:02
Ave Pace 9:45
Max Pace 8:15

Today was Track Tuesday again and with it being the first week back at school, I decided to only do 400s again this week for time sake.  This week, Chrissy joined our Eastside sTRIders track team.  Our little Tuesday Track meets are growing in size!  EASTSIDE, HOLLA!

Chrissy and I did a warm mile warm up, followed by 6x400s and then a mile and a half cool down.  I wanted to finish over 4 miles instead of 3.5 miles.  I’m such a geek.

1 mile warm-up – Time 9:42
1.58 mile cool down – Time 15:47, Ave Pace 9:54

Lap 1 – 0.25 – Time 1:38
Ave Pace 6:34

Lap 2 – 0.25 – Time 1:47
Ave Pace 7:11

Lap 3 – Time 1:56
Ave Pace 7:47

Lap 4 – Time 1:46
Ave Pace 7:06

Lap 5 – Time 1:55
Ave Pace – 7:43

Lap 6 – Time 1:49
Ave Pace 7:17

I love that my best sprint was 1:38!  I just about died when I saw that!  I’ve never hit a sprint at that pace.  That’s a first for me!  And I love that all my 400s were under two minutes.  Such a proud mother runner moment for me!  Since I finished in a reasonable amount of time, I’d like to start a bit earlier next week and go for 8x400s.

Speaking of proud mother runner moments, did you happen to read my Chaotic Coteeman recap?  I shaved FIVE MINUTES off my finish time for that tri sprint and I placed fourth in my age group.  Ryan Reynolds, my boyfriend and virtual running partner was pretty proud of me.  Did you know Ryan and I are thing in my own mind?

Ryan is totally ready to train for A1A with me.

Ryan is also ready to run NYC with me next year.

As you can see, I’m having fun with this Ryan Reynolds marathon photo.  I love Ryan Reynolds.  He totally gets me.  He’s my little Turbo and totally understands my desire to be fast.

The rest of the week will be less productive since hubby is traveling.  Friday night I will be Pura for the Neon Midnight Ride.  After the midnight glow sticks rave ride, the party will continue at Primebar.  I will need to nap at some point on Friday to stay up that late.  You should come join me!  For the neon midnight ride, that is. Not the nap.

Speaking of drinks and partying, this Saturday is the Summer of Rum Fest and I’m really looking forward to it.  With the promise of a Food Truck Rally and endless cocktails, this will be nothing like the Bethenny party.  There won’t be anything light or low calorie about it.  I’m good with that.