2009 December 13

The holiday festivities continued this afternoon with a Holiday Blogger Party at Sarah’s house.

We forgot to get a group shot of everyone, but I did get plenty of photos of food.

We did a potluck ‘linner’ where everyone contributed some yummy eats.

Katy from Silly Tater Tot made these AMAZING wonton smores.

Kelly brought the cookies her and Megan made on Friday night.

Katy from These Beautiful Feet brought chocolate chip cookies.

Ryan made a Raw Vegan Cheesecake that somehow went unphotographed.

And I brought the main course of 15 Bean Soup.

As Ryan and Ashley are both vegan, I wanted to make something simple that was already vegan with out any special changes. My soup consisted of beans, carrots, onion, spices, and vegetable broth.

I also baked some very non- vegan Pumpkin Cornbread.

I topped my serving of soup with the quiona Ashley had brought and paired it was a piece of pumpkin cornbread on the side.

All enjoyed with a glass of Sarah’s homemade apple cider.

We ate on the porch while all the puppies played outside.

Poor Maddie didn’t stand a chance against the dogs that were 5 times her size and weight, but she tried her best.

I couldn’t wait to dig in to dessert!

I had one of Kelly’s sugar cookies, Sarah’s vegan pumpkin cupcake, and went back for second’s on Katy’s wonton smore. Yummy!

After food, it was time for presents!

Instead of buying each other gifts, we decided to do a yankee swap.

I got #2

In the end I ended up with an adorable doggie bank named Rufus.

Sarah got the RUN ornament I had brought.

It was so much fun hanging out with the girls! We really need to all get together more often, especially with the dogs.

Thanks Sarah for hosting the party!!!

We ate ‘linner’ around 3:30 and by 8:00 I was feeling snacky. I nibbled on an apple, carrot and some PB while writing this post.

It has been a very long, holiday filled weekend. Who else is excited this is the last full week of work before Christmas?!?!? I AM!!!

Good night!

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This race season just keeps getting better and better!

So far this season I have rocked PRs in the 5k, 15k, and half marathon distances. The only one left to check off from my list was the elusive 10k distance!

The Dash of the Elves 5k had been on my running calendar since the beginning of race season, but after all of my friends started bailing I had considered doing the same. Then a couple of weeks ago Kelly had told me she was still determined to run the race and asked if I wanted to join her. It didn’t take me long to say yes. Only it wasn’t the 5k distance that intrigued me anymore, it was the elusive 10k distance that I knew was missing from my 2009 race season collection!

This morning I was pumped knowing a new PR was on its way. For me it wasn’t even a matter of beating my old time of 54:53 (race recap here) – I knew I could do it – it was only a matter by how much.

I fueled for the race with a piece of toast with almond butter and raisins.

I knew from running the Dash of the Elves last year (recap here) that the race would be relatively small. There were only a handful of people running the 5k or 10k distances and the set up had no mile markers and the roads we ran of were not blocked off.

The smaller races are always a nice change of pace. They might not be as sophisticated as the larger races, but there’s no bottle necking and you are almost always guaranteed a prize.

Kelly ended up having to drop from running the race. She is currently recovering from a minor injury and is resting her leg as much as possible so she will still be able to run the full marathon next month. Hope you feel better Kelly!

No need to worry though! I wasn’t alone this morning, Derek was running the 5k and had hopes of setting a new PR of his own.

He was sooo ready to rock the run as well.

At 8:00 on the dot all of the 10kers lined up ready to start.

3 -2 -1… RUN!!!!

At first I took off with the front runners, but quickly realized I would not be able to keep a 7:00 min pace for 6.2 miles. Instead I scaled it back and found a happy pace of 8:00 min/mile.

For the majority of the race I was on my own. There were people ahead of me and people behind me, but no one next to me or very close. With out the push of runners that usually surround me during a race, I had to rely heavily on my garmin to encourage myself to stay at the pace.

It was a pretty boring neighborhood run that consisted of a turn about point and two loops.

The 5kers had started 15 minutes after the 10k whistle blew. I saw Derek on my second loop and gave him a high five. He was doing great and I knew I didn’t have much longer to go.

At mile 5.2 I realized if I finished the last mile in less than 8:00 minutes then I could easily break 50 minutes. The idea of finishing below 50 minutes was foreign to me until that very moment. All of a sudden I caught a second wind and hauled ass for that remaining mile. I was suddenly determined to break 50 minutes and I knew I could do it.