Little Lion Man loved his first week of preschool and brought a guest to stay with us over the weekend, Snappy the Gator.  Like many classroom pets, we had to journal and take photos of our days with Snappy.  Unfortunately Liam also brought home a nasty cold after his first week of preschool, so other than fighting a fever, we didn’t do much with Snappy.

When his big sister were at Girl Scouts, Liam and Snappy explored the animals at the clubhouse where the meeting was held.  At least Snappy could visit some of his wildlife friends.

On Monday, Joe Gumm hosted a Mom Squad reunion at Dough.  With lovely gooey doughnuts, cheesy egg biscuits with caramelized onions and flavored coffee, Joe attempted to fatten us up to say “Thank You” for all that we contributed on the morning news.

Some of the moms remembered their social graces and only ate half a biscuit, but not me. I ate a whole one and loved every last bite of the bacon egg cheesy biscuit.  Mind you, I ran a half marathon the day before and I was starving.  After eating that whole thing, I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day.  Talk about protein and carb loading! And totally worth it.

I really miss the Mom Squad and it was wonderful to catch up with the other moms and Joe.  We need to host regular reunions just to visit with one another.  After the brunch, Jenny and I weren’t quite ready to head home, so we indulged in a liquid lunch, which also may explain why I wasn’t hungry for the rest of the day.

Did you hear the news?  I placed third in my age group at the Frankenfooter 5K.  I didn’t do quite as well in the half marathon the next day, but you gotta “hand” it to me for trying. (lol bad pun) Stay tuned for a full recap tomorrow.

One little thing I will say about my performance at the Frankenfooter Living Dead Challenge is it could have been better.  I was really disappointed in my performance and my hamstrings failing me andwhich I know it’s a direct result of little to no strength training.  So this morning, I was back in Body Pump hitting the weights.  I need to show these legs who is large and in charge!

Last Thursday, I ran a really great tempo run.  The weather cooled a bit and I enjoyed every bit of that run.  I felt fast!

6.21 miles
Time 58:55
Ave Pace 9:30
Max Pace 6:10

After the Frankenfooter, my legs were ridiculously sore.  So, I rested on Monday and hit the Track today although I really wasn’t feeling it.  I forced myself to run 1 mile warm-up, 4 x 800s and a mile cool down.  It was like slow torture but I did it and I kept my sprints right around four minutes.

1 mile warm-up, Time 10:15

Lap 1 – 0.5 mile
Time 3:53
Ave Pace 7:47

Lap 2 – 0.5 mile
Time 4:05
Ave Pace 8:10

Lap 3 – 0.5 mile
Time 3:55
Ave Pace 7:51

Lap 4 – 0.5 mile
Time 3:59
Ave Pace 7:59

1 mile cool down, Time 9:54

As I mentioned before, I wasn’t happy with my half marathon time and I know it could have been better.  The only way for that to happen is to keep on pushing myself and pumping some weights.  This morning after I dropped Liam off at preschool, I headed to the Y for the Body Pump Express class with Leyna.  It’s a great work-out after speedwork.  It’s just the right amount of strength training for tired Track Tuesday legs.  I haven’t been since the summer and I really missed the class.  I plan to make this a regular Tuesday thing.

Speaking of regular things, I need to get back on the bike.  I really believe spin also helped improved my running.  I’ve become such a slacker since I stopped training for triathlons.  Since my schedule keeps changing, I haven’t been able to make it Pura and that makes me sad because those spin classes ROCK!  One of these days I’ll make it back, but in the meantime I suppose spin at the Y will have to suffice.

These random thoughts and workouts were submitted here: