Guacamole!! And a good run. :-)

I made my new recipe for the month thanks to my good friend, Sarah. (See previous blog...that's her). She's a great cook and gave me her recipe for guacamole. Usually I just buy guacamole, because let's face it...that's just easier. But I figured I could give it a shot. And it was easy. And very goooood.

Here's the recipe:

2 avocados
1/2 tomato, diced (the recipe actually calls for 1 roma tomato, but I'm not going to lie--I don't know what I roma tomato is.)
1/2 onion, diced
1 serrano pepper (when cut in half length-wise, remove half the seeds and membrane)
diced handful of cilantro (decorates the top of the guacamole when it's all mixed)
Course salt to taste (sea salt or kosher)

To prepare it, pretty much just mix everything and put the cilantro on top. :-)





Here is my picture of the ingredients:




And here is the finished product:




Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.



And then to work off allll the guacamole I ate on Saturday, I ran in my 3rd 5k of the summer on Sunday morning! This completes #68 for this year, anyway, of running 3 5k's a year. We still might do more, to get some more practice and try to improve our times, but at least I know that if I don't, I have satisfied this item for this year!

This race was for my work. My work is having it's big 'Annual Meeting' this week, where people from all over the country come to Milwaukee, where my company is headquartered. Every year there is a 5k/10k run, and this year, there were a record number of about 8200 people that signed up! That's a lot of people to try to dodge while you're running, so I tried to start in the front of the pack. And that strategy pretty much worked--I only had to dodge a few slow people in the beginning. And most importantly--I GOT MY BEST TIME EVER FOR A 5K! My official time was 23:32. Or a pace of 7:35 per mile. I was very very very very happy.

I started out doing realllly well--the first mile I ran in 7 minutes, the second mile I ran in 7:25, but that last mile was tough. The last quarter mile of the race is just about allll up hill. This is the 5th time I've run this race, so I should know that hill is coming in the end, but it still catches me by surprise and definitely slows me down. Oh well, I still got a good time, and am happy for that.

Here's my official time, thanks to http://www.onlineraceresults.com/, just in case you don't believe me. :-)


bib number: 1874
age: 26
gender: F
overall place: 188 out of 1498
division place: 6 out of 81
gender place: 19 out of 449
time: 23:32
pace: 7:35

Storm the Bastille!

I ran my 2nd 5k of the season last night to help with #68: Run at least 3 5k's per year. I did the 'Storm the Bastille' race at 9 p.m. in downtown Milwaukee. There were a TON of people that run this race, so it's hard to actually 'run' it. The first half of it is more like a light jog trying to get around people so I can actually start running. But it was fun! Josh and I crossed the finish line at 27 minutes, but we didn't actually cross the starting line until it was already more than a minute into the race. And considering the first half was pretty slow, I think we did great!

We didn't stay too much after the race to actually enjoy the Bastille Days festival because I'm boring and like to sleep so I'm not toooo tired at work the next day. :-) But the race was still fun!

Our next 5k is next Sunday the 19th for my work's annual meeting! I can't wait!

No running for me :(

Well...I didn't go to my race today, sadly. I've felt 'weird' ever since this past Wednesday night. I'm not feeling as 'weird' anymore, but I've had this lingering headache ever since. It just won't go away! Not even for a minute! And it's nothing like the headaches I'm used to having. I get migraines a lot, and it's nothing like that. With migraines, I can't deal with noise or light. Basically, I have to go to sleep in a dark, quiet room in order to get rid of it. This 'headache' is way different. It doesn't really bother my day to day routines, but I get these sharp pains in my head whenever I turn my head or move my eyes. So, if I'm driving and turn to look in my blind spot, my head hurts. Or if I move my eyes in any direction or raise my eyebrows, my head hurts. No medicine has really worked for it yet, so I guess I'm just waiting it out. But that means I did not get to go to my run this morning.

The next 5k we were planning on doing is July 9th, so hopefully I will be able to run that one! And hopefully these headaches go away so I can go campingggggg next weekend!!

Smiiiiiile Miiiiiile

I just signed up for my 2nd 5k of the summer, and it just so happens to be this coming Saturday. It's called Laura's Smile Mile and it's down on the lakefront. This race benefits Ovarian Cancer. We ran this same race last year and Josh and I each got 2nd place in our age division. This year, we're the next age division up, which happens to be a more competitive age group. Let's see if I can keep up the tradition of getting a medal.


One difference between this year's race and last year's race is the TEMPERATURE. I vividly remember that it was over 90 degrees at this race last year. It was HOT. I had to lay down at the end of the race because I thought I was going to pass out! I felt very dizzzzy. The temperatures have been well below average so far this summer, so it'll be lucky if we even get to 70 degrees at the hottest part of the day on Saturday. This should make for much more comfortable running conditions.


Come cheer me on!!!!

23 minutes and 59 seconds is LESS then 24 minutes

If I did the math correctly, that means that I have successfully completed #66: Run a 5k in less than 24 minutes! And I beat that goal by ONE SECOND. And it was very windy! There's nothing like cutting it close. I didn't actually think that I'd beat that goal on my first race of the season. I mean, that's why I am doing the 5k training program. I'm still going to continue with the training program, obviously, as we still have 3 more races to go this summer and I'm hoping to get a better time on each one.

And just in case you don't believe that I actually beat 24 minutes, here are the results from the website:


bib number: 590
age: 25
gender: F
location: New Berlin, WI
overall place: 129 out of 646
division place: 10 out of 63
gender place: 28 out of 344
time: 24:03
pace: 7:45
nettime : 23:59

Don't be confused about the 'time' and the 'net time' categories. I did actually cross the finish line at 24:03, which is over 24 minutes. However, I didn't start the race right up in the front of the group, so it factors in the fact that I didn't actually cross the starting line until 4 seconds into the race. So there. I win. Yay.

Our next race is on June 6th! I'm hoping to get at least 23:50.

Sarah's Stride

I'm on my way to completing #68: Run at lesat 3 5k's per year. Josh and I just signed up for our first 5k of the season. It's going to be on May 16th. It's called Sarah's Stride benefitting the Ronald McDonald House. We plan on doing 4 5k's this summer: one in May, one in June, and two in July.

Josh and I also just started a 5k training program, which will be done right before our last race at the end of July. We're hoping to get our best times at that race, thanks to this program.

If you're interested in our program, or starting your own, here is how we got our's.
We went to http://www.runnersworld.com/.

Click on the 'training' tab.

Then, towards the right of the page, there will be box that says 'Smart Coach Personalized Training Program'.

In that box, you will have to enter a recent 5k race time. I put in 27 min. I believe that's the lowest time I've ever run a 5k in. I suppose I could go back and look up all my previous races to see the exact times, but I didn't want to. :-)

You'll then have to answer a few more questions in that box: what kind of race are you training for (5k), how many miles on average do you run each week (I put 11-15), and how hard do you want to train? (I put hard; Josh put very-hard)

Then click on 'go'.

The next screen it takes you to will be the training schedule. You can then click on the big words in red 'revise your training program'.

You might have to answer some of the same questions again, but this screen allows you to choose how many weeks you want to train for. We chose 12 weeks, because that takes us up to our last 5k in the end of July.

Then click 'go' again and you have your training program!

We started training yesterday! Thursdays are considered our 'speedwork' days. We had to do 5 miles total and including in those 5 miles: 3 800's at a 4.10 pace (Josh had a 3.42 pace) with 400 jogs in between. So we warmed up with a 1.5 mile jog, did 3 800's and 2 400's in between them, and then cooled down with another 1.5 mile jog. I was tired at the end of that!

I'm hoping that by doing this training program, this will help me accomplish #66: Run a 5k in less than 24 minutes. A couple years ago, I got my best time of 24.40 or so (I can't remember the exact seconds). Let's hope I can beat that this year!