Cherry Blossom Road Race...

It's that time again! Time for another thrilling and exciting race recap...just kidding. You know you don't care. But it's fun to write about, and after all, it is my blog...such as it is.

So, let's get to it! This past Saturday I ran my very first 10K. I was pretty excited since I've already run a total of seven 5Ks in the past seven months since I started running, and I knew I was ready for a new challenge. I've been upping my distance quite a lot lately, with a half-marathon in mind. So running a 10K was just the next step. I picked the Cherry Blossom Road Race a few months ago, knowing how famous Macon Georgia is for its Cherry Blossom Festival this time of year. It didn't disappoint! The race was well-organized, and the route was fantastic. Though, sadly, there weren't quite as many cherry blossom trees blooming as I had anticipated. That's okay, my allergies are bad enough as it is!

Since Matthew works close to where they were having early packet pick-up, he kindly picked up my stuff on his way home from work on Friday. Early packet pick-up is my favorite! Just sayin'. Again, this race didn't disappoint. Super cute, slim-fit, dryfit t-shirt (that I wore all weekend) and a free Chick Fil A coupon! Woo!

Favorite! (And I'm not even a huge pink person.)

Even though I already had my stuff, I still got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday, six fifteen to be exact. I just have a hard time sleeping in the morning before a race. Thankfully, I was excited, not nervous! I was expecting it to be fairly warm-ish, like fifties, but when I got up it was a chilly 48 degrees. I had to sneak back into our room for some pants!

Have you ever seen anyone so cheerful at seven am on a Saturday. I mean. Really?!

Anyway, I got to the race venue, and it was still chilly. I was honestly wishing I had some sleeves instead of a tank, but I knew running six miles, I was going to get a lot warmer! I had already talked pacing with my dad the day before and I told him my goal was to run a 8:30 pace for the race. Since I'm used to running 5Ks it's sort of my nature to just go hard and fast. I knew I was going to have to monitor my speed a little more carefully so I wouldn't burn out. Not surprisingly, I started a little slow. It was a little crowded since they started the 10 and the 5K together, about 600 people. After the first mile or so, I really managed to even out my pace. Like the OCD nut that I am, I had memorized my splits. I was a little slow on my first mile, but I hit my second mile split almost on the nose. By mile five I was wearing out some, but still hitting those splits. Too funny! 

Boom! Finish line! (Screen cap from my phone. Obviously.)

I finished with a time of 52:38, according to my Nike app, which is EXACTLY a 8:30 pace. Super exciting and satisfying. My official time was actually a little less. It was a pretty competitive race, so I didn't win anything in my age group, but I had an awesome time anyway! 

I rewarded myself with a chicken biscuit! Yum!

I can't wait to run another 10K, and my half is looking more and more doable every single run. I've had a few people tell me I could probably be trained and ready much sooner than October. I'd want at least another six weeks to train, though, and after six more weeks it's already getting a bit hot here in Georgia. I think I'll keep shooting for Blue Mountain Beach in October. I'll be more than ready by then. I'm already trying to think of my goal time, probably something like 2:15. But you know I'd love to go sub 2! But that's mostly crazy talk. Mostly!

Next up, I'm running a 5K here in Byron, just for the fun of it. I'll probably attempt to come close to my standing PR of 24 minutes, but again, crazy talk! And I'm definitely running the Chick Fil A 10K in June!

Race stats:

Official time: 52:33 (8:28 avg)

Age group: 6th out of 22

Overall: 75th out of 230

Pinterest...I don't understand you sometimes...

Now, I love Pinterest as much as the next girl, but let's face it, most of it is some pretty useless junk. If I had a dollar for every time I saw something that didn't make any sense at all or just seemed competently stupid, well, I'd have a few more dollars. I was browsing this morning while drinking my morning coffee and found a few especially...uh...interesting pins so I thought I'd share. Just for kicks. Most of the time my favorite board to browse is the health and fitness, so all of these came from there.







Hmmm...okay. No wait...HA HA HA HA! I know I have a lot of running friends out there, so tell me, when is running easy for you?! Running is not easy! That's sort of the point! I guess I should follow the link and see what it says, just out of curiosity. But I'm pretty sure it will say something like, "Run slower" or "Don't wear cotton or Nikes." Yeah yeah. We got it.






Alright, alright, alright...healthiest packaged foods. Yes! M&Ms. Wait....NO! I'm confused. I do realize these are pretzel M&Ms and I suppose those would be healthier than the chocolate ones...but really? Maybe you should try pretzels with no chocolate on the outside if you want a healthy snack. (Says the cranky girl who gave up junk food recently. BOO!)









Okay, I talked about this one in my last post...pretty sure I don't "sparkle". Pretty sure I sweat for real....









Nope. Just nope. I have zero interest in watching a Victoria's Secret model work out. For the same reasons I refuse to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show every year. I have decently healthy self-image, why would I go and ruin it by watching that? Just one question, will the workout make my legs about six to seven inches longer, because that's what it would take to get me to look like that. That and a few other *ahem* enhancements.











Ooooh boy. Have you seen these pins around? "How to get the gap between your thighs" I've seen plenty, and every time my reaction is the same, "I didn't know we were supposed to have a gap there?!" I'm a pretty small girl, but there is no gap between my thighs and I seriously doubt there will ever be. Now, I do understand that some people just have naturally slim legs, and therefore, theirs might not touch in the middle. But for the rest of us, I'm not so certain this is an achievable goal.

Maybe it just burns my britches a little extra since I've always been self-conscious of having "thunder thighs" a little. It wasn't until I started running that I started embracing the way my body is. Now I don't see them as thunder thighs, I see them as strong and powerful. Gap or no gap. Strong is better than skinny!

5 little confessions...

Hosted by Carrie - Aubrey - Jacq - Kimberley 

It's me again, twice in one day, I know I know!!! I met the lovely ladies listed above when I did the 30x30 outfit challenge in May of last year, and while I don't blog much at all, I do enjoy keeping up with their blogs. Anyway, they're starting this new link-up once every Wednesday so I thought I'd give it a go!

Although I'm not sure what I have to confess that I'm willing to admit to...

I thought for this week I'd got with a theme, and since I just blogged about my last race, I thought I'd do my top five running confessions!

I like running because I'm an egomaniac (har har, no really, I am.) and I'm super OCD. I love running because it's one of the few things I'm actually good at, though it's a pretty dumb thing to be good at. I got lucky right away winning my age groups in smaller races and after that I became pretty much insufferable about it. And I love the OCD-ness of PRs, splits and all that. (Yes I have an exel spread sheet of all my races.) (Yes I have a pace calculator app on my phone.)

Okay, this one is really embarrassing, but I smell super bad after a run. I've never been a sweaty girl, even after years of living in the super humid south. But running? Wow, running brings out the smelly in the best of us. Just last week I ran in about 60 degree weather and Matthew basically ran away from me when I got home!

I hate running skirts! I know a lot of runners love them and swear by them. But I feel like a total doofus in one. It's not that I don't like girly things, I love skirts and dress for church and going out, but not for running. Give me some running tights, capris or shorts any day, please! 

I wear makeup to races. This one stings too, because I always made fun of those runners, you know? It's not a beauty contest! Hello, this is the South. Everything is a beauty contest! And I don't mean a lot of makeup, just a little. Enough so that when I see my race photos I don't think "YIKES!" Because I mean, really, if I'm going to smell, I need to at least look a little bit pretty to compensate, no?

I am signing up for a half-marathon in October and I'm honestly terrified!!! Sometimes I wonder if there really are two different types of runners, the long-distance and the short-distance. Clearly I only have experience with short distances for now. All I know about myself right now is that I like to run fast. So I know half training will be so much of a challenge for me. The most I've ever run is seven miles, but all my seasonsed distance running friends have assured that I can build myself up to thirteen in no time. But I'm still scared! I've already picked my race too and if all goes according to plan, I'll be running the Blue Mountain Beach Half on Columbus Day weekend in Florida. 

More race recaps, a birthday, and a PR...

So, yes, another random post...

This past weekend my parents came up from Florida to celebrate my birthday. We had a great weekend full of shopping, eating, visiting and running (of course!).

On Friday my mom and I went shopping most of the day with Sophia in tow. She was a pretty good sport since she's not quite old enough to enjoy shopping the way we do. I scored some great stuff at Old Navy, including this dress that I'm completely in love with already! The website says "teal stripe" but it's green like my Converse green. As in, looks great with my (fake) red hair. Score! After dinner we had a little birthday party and some cake.

Since we always run a race when we're together, my dad and I got up early to run a 5K at a local elementary school. If you've been following my race recaps these past few months you'll know that I've been trying hard to PR ever since I ran a 25:57 back in early November. Since then I've missed it by about 40 seconds every race. This race on Saturday I knew was going to be flat as a pancake and straight as an arrow, so I had my hopes up quite a bit. It was also a pretty small race, under a 100 runners/walkers, so no crowding issues at the start. Normally I'm quite OCD about the way I run, but before the race I told my dad I was just going to forget over thinking everything and just run as fast as I could. Which is exactly what I did! I've always been too afraid to run a race full-out because I have a fear of running out of energy midway through and having to *gasp* walk!

So off we go, and I'm hauling booty, basically. My first mile is 7:54. Holy crap!!! Around one mile another woman came up alongside of me and started to pace with me. Now, normally this is not my thing. I'm way too competitive to run with someone else. But, she seemed to be wanting to pace off of me, not pass me, so I just stayed at my pace. After a minute or two, she started to make small talk with me. Again, I was like "what?!" because I always run with headphones and music cranked. Still, not wanting to be rude, I popped out one headphone and talked a little too. It was actually pretty fun to have a running buddy! We were both excited to be running as fast as we were, since she was a distance runner who was trying to up her speed. I told her I was the opposite,  a speed runner who's trying to graduate up to distance. My second mile was a 7:59 and I was still feeling pretty good.

Around the third mile I was beginning to wonder how long I could keep it up, but I knew the route pretty well and knew it was almost over, so I managed to carry on. My third mile was 8:03.

I crossed the finish line at 23:46, so basically I Hulk-smashed my PR! The course was short by about a tenth of mile, so adjusted time should be something like 24:30. Which still would have been a PR by a minute and a half!

Race stats:

Official time: 23:46 (average pace: 7:55)

Age group: 2nd out of ? (They did ten year age groups, so I was in the 20-29)

Overall: Not sure, but I know I was the 4th female finisher.

He beat me, of course.

So, that might be my last 5K for a while! I've signed up for a 10K in three weeks and I'm really excited! 

Cantrell Center 5K and stuff...

Well, it's that time again! Time for a lovely race update which will make you scratch your head and wonder, "And I care, why?" Whatever. I've always enjoyed writing stuff that no one cares to read! I think at some point I may have been an entertaining blogger, for about a week or so. But as I've stated numerous times, these days I pretty much only write about whatever is foremost in my mind: running and writing. Or running and not writing...errr... Believe me when I say it's all just a complicated coping mechanism to keep me from writing (and therefore fixating) on bigger problems, ie: house hunting.

So, onto my race recap!

This past Saturday was my seventh race! This particular race was the closest one to home that I've ever run, so Matthew and the kids decided to come with me. I went over Friday to pick up my race packet early so we wouldn't all have to leave at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Sophia came with me and we ooohed and ahhhed over my awesome race swag. (A koozie!) Just kidding. I never get good race swag. Anyway, early packet pick up is the way to go. Instead of leaving at some crazy early time we all rolled out of here just a few minutes before eight. This race was definitely the biggest I've run in so far, I think the final total was something like 850.

It was so nice to have Matthew and the kids there to hang out with me before the race started. I was pretty focused on hitting my PR, but having them there relaxed me a lot! (I take myself way to seriously, I'm aware!) Anyway, I made a pretty dumb mistake right off the bat when everyone was getting ready to start. I don't start out very fast so I don't like to be too close to the front, but not too far back, either. This time I ended up a little to far back for my pace. Because I'm so short, I couldn't even see where the official start was, there were so many people. I spent the first half mile jockeying for space and zigzagging around people. Oh well! After it opened up a bit I really started to enjoy the run a lot. The weather was a perfect sunny forty degrees and the course was through some nice neighborhoods.

Alas, the second half was a little less than pleasant. I had been warned by my sister-in-law who walked the course a few years back, that it was a hilly course. I regularly run hills in our neighborhood, but it's a whole other ballgame at race pace. (Hey, I rhymed.) Anywho, it flattened out before the last half mile or so and cranked up the pace. I passed a few more people and then headed around the corner to the final stretch where I started looking for my little family. I spotted them right away, gave a little wave and then cranked it up for the finish line. Final time: 26:33. I missed my PR again!!!

But....this time I wasn't too bothered. I had fun. I ran the best I could. I can't see how I could have gone any faster. We hung around for official results and age group placement stuff. I said I wanted to hit the top ten for my age group and I did!

My race buddies!

Race stats: (Because I'm OCD like that!)
Official time: 26:33 (avg. pace 8:32)
Age group: 7th out of 65
Overall: 134th out of 849

My next race is this Saturday! I've never run two races back to back so it should be interesting. It's another good chance for me to beat that bloody 25:57 PR since it's a super flat and straight course. And I'm running with my dad, which also makes me faster!

I had a bunch of other stuff to say about my retirement from 5Ks (for now), my upcoming birthday (29!!!), and other random stuff, but I'll save that for another day!

There is no try...

Do or do not!

Yeah, I just started my post with a Star Wars quote, a Yoda one at that. Look at me, my second blog post of the year! Anyway, I realized I never blogged about my last race so I thought I'd come over today and do a quick recap/whine.

This was almost three weeks ago now. So the Museum of Aviation Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 5K is one of the bigger races around here. I knew this when I signed up because I saw they had capped entries at 1,500 runners. There were several articles in the newspapers leading up to it as well, so it was pretty exciting and nerve wracking. This was my sixth race so far, and most of the the 5Ks I've run have had around 100 people or less running. I knew this one would be a lot more, and I also knew it was going to be COLD! Georgia was already having some sub-zero temps the week before so I know everyone was nervous about how cold it was going to be come race morning.

Saturday, January 18th, it was twenty out. TWENTY! In GEORGIA! Crazy. I got up, layered up as much as I dared because we all know we warm up a lot once we start running. I try to dress for about twenty degrees warmer than it is because I seem to warm up a lot once I'm running. I put on an extra fleece to wear until the race started. Grabbed my coffee and breakfast and headed out while it was still dark. When I got to the race location at the Museum of Aviation at the Air Force base here it was so crowed! I've never seen so many people at one race before! Again, exciting and nerve wracking. I milled around a bit, talked to some people (I'm new to racing so I don't know a lot of people at the races usually.) Talked to my coach on the phone a bit (my dad!).  I was a bad sport and did not go out to watch the marathon or the half start, because now it had warmed up to twenty-two! Ugh.

My goals for the race were, of course, to PR. I was already in the lucky position of having PRed at every race so far. My last PR for a 5K was 25:57, so I was really hoping to hit something around 25:30. And even though I knew it was a bit out of my reach, I really wanted to place high (top three) in my age group. Anyway, cue the start of the race and we're all off jostling and pushing each other (I hate that, because I'm small I always get pushed!) The three miles went by fairly quickly and I warmed up fast. I even got a little warmer that I would have liked about 3/4 of the way in. I knew I was having a good run, but not my best and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to push my pace any faster than it was.

Needless to say, this was one race I was glad when it was over! As soon as I crossed the finish line and stopped running I felt like I had a brain freeze from breathing in all the cold air. UGH!



Oh hi, that's me (taken by the newspaper photographer). I always forget to shut off my running app, so here I am at the finish line making sure it's off. As you can see from the time, I didn't PR.

I waited around for the official results and talked to Matthew on the phone a little. When they posted the leader board they posted 1-4 in every age group and that's when I saw I had come in fourth place. Talk about disappointed! Does it get any worse than FOURTH place? Mind you 1-3 all took home trophies for crying out loud.

Don't get me wrong, I knew this was coming. I'm fast, but I'm not that fast. Most of the races in which I've won my age group have been smaller races where there is only five or six girls in my age group. So I've gotten lucky. Not so much this time. I've been telling myself to be prepared for the day you don't do as well as you wanted to, but still I was a little annoyed with myself for not doing better.


So what now? We try again! My next race is February 22nd and it's a biggie too! About 1,000 people sign up for this particular 5K every year and this year should be no different. But what is different is my strategy. I hope to PR and that's it! Of course, I'll be lucky if I get top ten in my age group at this race, which is totally fine. Also, Matthew and the kids plan to come out to this one and it will be a great motivation knowing they are at the finish line!

Race stats:

Official time: 26:18 (avg pace 8:26)
Age group: 4th out of 20
Overall: 43rd out of 336

A bi-annual update...of sorts...

Well, hey there, look who's dusting of her keyboard at long last! I swear, every single time I think I'm going to let this blog go and never write on it again, it sucks me back in. There was a time, long ago, where I blogged almost everyday and it was such a huge outlet and sounding board for me I couldn't imagine a time without it. I'm not sure what has happened lately, maybe I've just finally become a private person who doesn't feel like sharing everything about my life on the internet. (Gasp, I know, but it might be true?) Either that or I just became a one-track blog. I've never been the type of blogger who has been good about posting about...you know...things. I just tend to ramble on...and on...and on... about the same things...

WRITING!

And now the new and improved Cacey....

RUNNING!

So now at least I have two whole things I'm going to post about. And I think I will keep posting, sporadically. I feel like twice a year is a good goal for now (har har.)

So let's start with the first update: writing. I'm usually not one for New Year's resolutions, but I do think it's always a good time to re-evaluate some things in life. My number one goal for this year is to finish my third book and self-publish once again. I suppose it's pretty hard to find motivation some days when you are a self-published author. There are no deadlines, no editors breathing down your necks, no over-eager fans impatiently waiting for you book's release. Okay, I have a few fans waiting for the release of my third book, sure. Anyway, I quickly decided that I needed to set aside some time every day to write and therefore speed the process along some. The kids' school takes up far more time than it used to, which I've always anticipated. My afternoons are usually spent doing chores, working out, showering and such. So that left me with evenings. From now on eight o' clock to nine o' clock is set aside for writing, editing or doing anything that has to do with my book. To make this work, I decided to make that hour also internet free. Unless I'm google-ing something for research for writing purposes, I don't use the internet. I actually found this so helpful, and so freeing that I decided to go completely unplugged from the internet every night starting at eight. It's not as hard as you would think. I put away the iPhone, shut of the wireless on my kindle and forget about it.

This past week I've written a couple thousand words, worked a little on editing and addions. I confess last night I mostly worked on my "soundtrack" but that's just something to keep me inspired. I'm about fifteen chapters in to Final Redemption, and sitting comfortably at 50K words. London Escape was 60K, Finding Sanctuary was 70K, so I'm shooting for somewhere between 70 and 80 this time. Since it's the last of the trilogy (I'm not going to say last of the series, because I'm just not ready to say goodbye yet!) I've got quite a few loose ends to tie up. It should be fun!

Pretty soon I will have to get in touch with the person who designed my cover, but I'm already thinking of a concept. Something  like this... (That is Hong Kong, in case you didn't know! That super tall building was the one used in The Dark Knight.)



And now on to our last subject...

I ran my fifth (I can't believe it's my fifth already!) race down in Florida the week after Christmas. All of my races so far have been 5Ks, but this one was a four-miler. My dad (who was running with me) kept checking the weather the days leading up to the race and it never looked good. We woke up Saturday morning to a pretty steady rain, not to mention it was windy and cold. (When you say cold in Florida, that means 50 y'all.) But we went anyway, because we're crazy like that! Fortunately for us, right before the race started, it cleared up enough so that we wouldn't be running in the rain. The first two miles out were downwind, but since it was an out-and-back, as soon as we turned to go back there was a pretty strong headwind. On top of that, in my last mile it started raining! Still, I managed to finish with a fantastic time of 32:47 (that's a 8:11 average yo!). As soon as the race was finished we quickly changed into some dry clothes and waited around for the race results. We were both pretty thrilled to see once the results were posted that we had both won our age groups! I finished 24th overall, and 6th overall female. Needless to say on the way home I was already plotting when I could race again!

Next up for me is the Museum of Avaiton 5K next Saturday. I'm super nervous about this one, because last year they had about 450 people running the 5K alone. Basically I will be lucky if I place in my age group, let alone win it like I have in my previous races. Trying to do some speedwork, so we'll see! Also, on the same day they will be having  a half-marathon and a marathon. I'd really like to run the half there next year so I'm excited to scope things out a bit. I really enjoy running in the cooler weather, so I think it's my best option. I also have plans to run the Cantrell Center 5K here in Warner Robins on Feb. 22nd and also might be signing up for my first 10K in March! I'm trying to do about one race a month, just because it's so much fun! I've also been doing  a 10K training program on my Nike app. I've run six miles before, so it would be my goal to run and PR, which right now would mean running it in under 57:24.

Me and my dad after the Flora-Bama. The coffee mugs were our prizes for winning. Personally I think medals are much cooler, but oh well! (Don't make fun of my pants, you know they are super cool!)


Until next time! Say...around July?