Leprechaun Chase 10k

On March 15th I participated in the Leprechaun Chase 10k with three other friends.  The big issue here for me was the 10k.  I had NEVER ran a 10k before and was super nervous about pacing myself so I could finish.

It wasn't too warm-I think in the range of 35 to 40 degrees, windy, and a little overcast.  We dressed all in the green and Heidi picked up some fun St. Patrick's Day goodies for us to wear.  The premise of the race is to give the ladies a 5 minute head start and then the guys get to start and whoever comes in first, that gender all received a free drink at the after party.  I hadn't even reached the 1-mile mark before the first guy passed me.

And we are off! 

Going into this race I set my goal at an 11 minute mile pace.   I just didn't know how I would do come mile 4,5,6 so I wanted to not push it too hard so I would finish without walking.  Well as we were running my program kept telling me my pace was coming in around 9:30 minutes/mile.  I guess the adrenaline of the race got me going ahead of pace.  I told Heidi at Mile 4 I was going to walk and slow down but Mile 4 came and went and I kept on running.  Finally, right around 4.5 miles I told Heidi I was going to slow down-thinking I would walk a bit but I didn't-I slowed down but never walked.  At the end of the race I came in at 10 minutes 4 seconds a mile-well below my goal.  My final time came in at 1:02:33.  5.5 minutes below my goal time of 68 minutes.  I was pleased.

These pictures were thanks to the race organizers.  The posted tons of pictures for us to download and share as we would like. 

After the race we stayed downtown for a little bit grabbed a few drinks and some yummy food.  It was a fun morning/afternoon with some friends!  I am so thankful for my little group of friends.

I did it! 

31 Years, 31 Goals

So last year I did the 30 Goals for 30 Years.  Overall I think this went well.  I definitely did not accomplish everything but it kept me thinking about my priorities and my goals.  I had a lot of fun doing it.  I am working on an update of which goals were officially accomplished and the details.  So I decided to give it a go this year too.

*signifies a goal that I set last year but did not accomplish so it goes on this years list.

1.  Run 365 miles this year-one mile per day
2.  Family Fun Day Once a  Month
3.  Monthly Date Night-I found this to be so important last year that I want to focus on this again this year too.
4.  *Take camper out 5 times-A big fail on this last year so lets try it again.
5.  *Go to a Twins Game
6.  Read 2 books a month/total of 24 books
7.  Plant a mini garden with at least 5 different types of vegetables
8.  Lose Another 10 pounds-5 of those by Jan 1st.  (Hopefully by the time I turn 32 we will be expecting a new little one so I don't want to focus on the scale this year).
9.  *Spend a Weekend in the Amana Colonies with John
10.  Run a 10k (maybe a half marathon??)
11.  Explore our county parks and trails.  Visit one new one a month.
12.  Complete Photo Books:  Family 2012, Family 2013, Elsie's 2nd Year, Pregnancy Book/Journal, Family 2011.
13.  *Update birthdays of friends and family.
14.  * Send out 12 "Just Because" notes to family or friends.
15.  *Make 5:30 my standard wake up time
16.  *Complete Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon.
17.  *Learn how to use Photoshop
18.  *Attend Church at least once a month-or 12 times throughout the year-not including holidays.
19.  Visit a friend/family member that I haven't seen in at least six months.  I would like to do this twice (two different people :).
20.  Join a bible study group-even if it is online.
21.  Finish transferring blog posts from previous blog to this one.
22.  Do a "Whole 30" or the "10 days of Real Food" or some variation of the sort.  I have done well ridding our house of artificial sweeteners but would love to get rid of LOTS of other junk in our food.
23.  Family Vacation to Duluth
24.  *Set a monthly budget and stick to it.
25.  Upload pictures to blog/shutterfly on a monthly basis
26.  Although I don't drink a lot of soda I would like to eliminate it out of my diet completely.  Maybe drink it for a very special occasion once a month or so but definitely not on a weekly basis like I do now.  
27.  Now that Elsie is getting bigger I would like to do more craft projects with her.  Let's shoot for one a week.
28.  Although I am not super crafty and most of my projects don't turn out exceptionally well I enjoy doing them.  I would like to set a goal for one each month.
29.  Take Ballroom dancing lessons (With John)
30.  Paint and decorate our bedroom.  We have been in our house (for the second time) since March 2011-so almost three years and we have NOTHING on our walls or any decorations...its about time.
31.  Begin remodeling the basement and turning it into and official Family/Play room.  I can't wait!!