Golden Gallop 10K

Howdy Folks! Welcome to Golden! – yeah this picture sums it all up.

well…this picture helps sum up the course…no this isn’t a picture of a roller coaster at Disney Land…this is the elevation profile for the 10K.

They should call this race the “Golden Gallop Up and Down every Hill in Town!”

That being said, I actually had an awesome race.

My friend from Luna Chix also raced. She kicked butt as usual.

Yes, it was FREEZING…but I have a thing about racing in capris or long sleeves- just can’t do it. Anyways, after those first 3 miles of nothing but hills I had worked up quite the sweat.

Getting the Garmin ready, heaven forbid I not know how many more miles until I can collapse and die.

rockin’ the new fully customized funfitgirl HeatSweats visor. loved it.

Off I go! Clearly, I take getting a good, strong start very seriously.

I looked very under dressed compared to my fellow runners. I was honestly really comfortable though – my PRO Compression marathon socks kept my calves warm which is really the most important thing for me.

Since this was a ballon shaped course, my camera man (aka the sweetest fiance ever) couldn’t get any shots out on the course. He didn’t like the idea of just “jogging” along side me to get some great action shots.

So we took this great action shot instead.

super speedy, I know.

here’s my finish

the only thing other than the massive hills and that the Newton Running tent was not handing out free samples  that annoyed me about this race was the fact that they didn’t quite time the timing of the 10K and 5K start correctly to have all the 5K racers finish before the 10K. So I ended up bumbling into a bunch of the tail end of the 5K-ers and I couldn’t really tell who was in the 10K vs 5k  so I didn’t have a clue how many people I had to pass to get 1st place. And this 5K girl photo-bombed me with an epic long stride out to the finish.

All in all, it was a great race. I came in at 50:38, 6th in my age group. Not too shabby for a first road 10K.

Big thanks to this guy for going straight from working until 6am to going to my race to take pictures of me and tell me on the way to the race, “now just remember, if you’re not 1st, you’re last” – such a great pep talk.

I came home and used my new blender for the first time to make myself a post race margarita mixed berry with vanilla protein smoothie.

   

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How was your Sunday Funday? 

Best pep talk you’ve gotten?

Friday fav five – snow is not one of them.

It snowed this morning here in Denver. not happy about it. This is my Friday least favorite thing.  At least I have an excuse stay in on a Friday night, drink tea and blog/ have a netflix marathon….like I really needed an excuse for that :P

Now for my actual Friday Fav Five

1. I got my corral number for the Denver Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon…lucky #7! This also makes me feel really nervous/excited because it’s getting really close to race day and it’s kind of hitting me that yeah, I’m running a half marathon in 16 days. crazy.

2. my totally awesome mom read my blog post about pain in my arches and sent me this great “happy feet” care package. Having a mom who is a personal trainer definitely has its perks.

3. That same awesome mom also remembered one of favorite things about fall is that the Oh Henry candy bars come back on the shelf for a limited time…yes I know they’re neither dairy or gluten free, but once a year they’re worth the trouble.

4. I personalized my HeadSweats Velocity visor. Thinking about going back to add a little something else…maybe a cupcake with SPRINKLES

5. I have a 10K this weekend! YAY for race weekends…I look forward to the extra early bedtimes and eating my go to pre-race power meal of wild rice and broccoli (I’m pretty sure that Oh Henry bar negates that healthy stuff)

Happy Friday Everyone :)

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What’s everyone up to this weekend? Race, long run, shopping trip???

How do you handle pre-race jitters?

favorite candy bar?

Yasso 400s and Race Week Thoughts

So I tweeted Bart Yasso today and now we’re basically BFFs as far as I’m concerned.

Our convo went like this:

me: “speed workout tonight – do Yasso 400s work for a #halfmarathon? @BartYasso @runnersworld”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman @runnersworld Yes I always did 20 X 400 with a 200 recovery. I did the 400s in my half marathon time.”
me: “@BartYasso @runnersworld thanks!! I can’t wait to try that out tonight…absolutely gorgeous day here in CO for some #Yasso400s”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman @runnersworld Let me know how it goes.”
me: “Beautiful evening on the track for some Yasso 400s #successful #halfmarathon #funfitgirl @runnersworld @BartYasso pic.twitter.com/s1L14pAl9m”
mr. yasso: “@aimee_newman Wow looks like a perfect night to hit the track @runnersworld”

see, clearly we are now running buddies for life and will be planning future runs together in beautiful places asap.

…back on planet earth, I ran some Yasso 400s this evening on the local track and it went really well. The basic theory behind this workout is you run a bunch of 400s at the time you expect to run your half marathon in. For example, if you were running a 1 hour and 50 minute half, you’d run a bunch of 1 min 50 seconds 400s. I’m sure there’s a more scientific runner’s theory behind this but this is how I understand it best and it works for me.

I also wore my shirt from my last 10K for the first time – I thought it was appropriately edgy for this workout

shirt reads “no fire, no mud, no color, no bubbles, no obstacles…just trails!”

yes I know I wasn’t on a trail, but it still seemed appropriate.

My next 10K is this Sunday. This is my last race before the big one. Pavement Runner wrote a really great post about race week thoughts (you can read it here). Right now I’m feeling anticipation and excitement for this 10K because I think I am much better prepared, both physically and mentally, and I’m hopeful that I’ll PR. At the same time I’m feeling nervous because I know this is my last short race before the big one (my first 13.1).

At the end of the day, I need to keep reminding myself that my real goal for my half is to “finish with a smile” and enjoy it – you only get one first half marathon.

Real time update on the BFF tweets:

mr. yasso: @aimee_newman My new BFF, keep on running and blogging #funfitgirl  

…that just made my day

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Ever done Yasso 400s or 800s?

What’s on your mind race week?

Best first half/full marathon memory?

Race Addicts Anonymous

So Sunday after my 10K, I think I experienced a bit of post-race depression.

A race is something you train for months for…it becomes the focus of your daily life (aside from the important stuff like eating and going to your job to make money)…it motivates you and if you’re like me, you get a little selfish about it.

And then in one short morning, its done. What now?

After my last race, I literally just curled up on the couch for the day. Was I really that exhausted? No. I was just having a experience the “what now” post race depression. Luckily, I knew the bigger picture was me training for the Rock’n’Roll half…but still that wasn’t enough.

SO (as you can see to the right of this post) I signed up for another 10K. I needed another race, to fill that little empty bit. And I wanted to do a faster 10K…I have a constant need for improvement.

Hello, my name is ______ and I might just be a race addict.

CO Endurance Series 10K

YAY! I did it! First 10K done, completed, AND I didn’t die. And what was even crazier was that I LIKED it.

Race conditions were not ideal to say the least, it was HOT and no shade – SPF was my BFF. Plus this is my first 10K and it was a trail race – which was a bit rocky (ha ha). Overall, I had fun and I’m definitely glad I did. Can’t wait to for my next race –  thinking about signing up for a 10K road race to see the difference before my 13.1

CO Endurance Series Denver 10K at Cherry Creek Reservoir

 Spending Sunday morning the ruNERD way

My friend from my running group, Team Luna Chix, also raced today. She’s super speedy…also note the matching watches. We’re super cool like that.

Finished and NOT dead.

…because I’m all nostalgic about my first 10K

excuse me for not posting more, I have a date with the couch and some chocolate milk.

Tell me about your weekend race!