Things I Learned from Running in the Rain

Yes...I know.  I have neglected my blog duties.  So there are plenty of updates . . . .

(1) Our First Official Race!

This past weekend, I made the journey to ATL for the Chattahoochee 10K.  My pre-trip travel plans did not include checking the weather so I was unprepared for the cold and rainy race forecast, which put a slight damper in our St. Patty's Day themed race attire (pictures to follow).  Fortunately, Julia's BF Ben let me borrow his "rain jacket" for the race and Julia and I still got plenty of compliments on the knee high socks she acquired from Target for the occasion.  Both of us finished on track for our half marathon goal times, with Julia taking the lead. 

Top 5 Lessons learned: (i) invest in throw-away warm ups when running in cold/wet weather (those people wearing trash bags for the first mile or so did not seem as silly when I was craddling two jackets through the home stretch), (ii) knee high socks tend to cut off circulation, (iii) its a good idea to learn how to work your sports watch correctly, (iv) scout out the race location beforehand (we were a bit directionally challenged the day of) and (v) Mango Bites might be the best thing ever.

Overall, it was a great race and one I wouldn't mind doing again.  Definitely motivation for the 7 weeks left before the half.

(2) Las Vegas Update

Julia and I received big announcement emails about the Las Vegas Marathon today (as did everyone else who has ever participated in the Rock & Roll Marathon Series).  Apparently, the marathon will start at night this year (4:00 PM to be exact) with a 4.5 hour cut off time for finishing.  The entire thing sounds amazing - take a look at stripatnight.com - however, being that it will be our first full marathon, we are a bit hesitant about the 4.5 hour cut off.   We are going to think this over during the next few weeks - our other December option: HAWAII.  Can't be too upset about that substitution!

(3) First "Hill" Run

Tomorrow, my training schedule requires that I do a hill run - 15 min jog, then 4 hill sprints (2 miles up, jog back down), 15 min cool down.  Super exciting! (ok - trying to mentally pep talk myself into believing it will not be as miserable as it sounds).