Sunday, August 30, 2015

Saunders 10k 2015, and Stitch Fix #18!

Mariette, me, Maureen and Nicole! 


Last Thursday was the Saunders 10k in Rye! You can read about my 2014 experience, here!  While racing in the Summer is never my favorite, I love doing this race.  It's close to home, well-organized and you have to "win" a t-shirt! (For the 'Women's Open' category of ages 0-39, they give t-shirts out to the top 30%.)

This year, I felt more prepared than I had in past years;  my 'A' goal was to try and break last year's PR of 48:50 and get closer to 46-47 minutes.  My 'B' goal was to win a t-shirt, and my 'C' goal was to finish, of course!  Tuesday night before the race, I was sick from something I had eaten, but had started to feel mostly better by Thursday.
 
Thursday, after work, Mariette and Nicole met me at my house so that we could warm-up and jog from my house to the starting line.  We got all the way down my street, and realized that we had left our bibs at my house! Oops.   After we got the bibs, we did a slow run/jog to the starting line...the weather was cool and foggy, but it was super humid.  I was already sweating from an easy 1.5 mile run!
   We ran into Maureen at the starting line, and took a group picture!

The four of us lined up together,  and got ready to run!

Within the first mile, I knew I was going to have problems with the humidity, by a 1/2 mile in, I was already coughing and out of breath.  When I got to the 1st mile marker, I also realized that I had started out too fast (7:23).
  By the 2nd mile, I dropped behind the girls, I couldn't believe how tired I was! (7:30)   The 2nd mile is also the point on the course that is somewhat uphill, so I knew that once I got towards the 3rd mile, it would be slightly easier!
  The 3rd and 4th miles were right around 7:45, and the 5th mile at 7:55.   At the 5.25 mile marker, the race course had a clock - I passed by at 41:35.  I figured that even if I slogged through the last mile,  I would be somewhat close to my goal.  By this point, I was feeling really low on energy and was coughing a ton from the humidity.  I had to stop at 5.5 to catch my breath.  A really nice guy from Six03 stopped and encouraged me to keep running- he was such a huge help, I felt like I was going to pass out and he talked me through the last part of the race.  When we got to the last turn to the finish line, he encouraged us to both pick up the pace.  I saw that the clock ahead said 48:58, so I knew I wasn't going to be quite as fast as last year, but was SO glad to be done.  I passed through at 49:09...and luckily, got a popsicle stick for a t-shirt! I profusely thanked my new Six03 friend for his help.  Runners are the best!!

Coming into the finish with my new friend!

...and now, a quick break from running with...

Stitch Fix #18!



The last 2 Stitch Fix boxes I had received had been a bust.  I was SO disappointed, and really close to canceling.  I had decided that if this month's box wasn't even a success, I was going to cancel completely.   Unluckily for my wallet, this month's Stitch Fix was a win!  

For months, I have been requesting flared or wide-leg jeans, I still love skinny jeans, but I really wanted something with a different cut.  Stitch Fix had sent me cute Boyfriend-style jeans a few months ago, but it wasn't the same.  It's hard to find pants that are long enough, and fit well.  I was so excited to open my box and see these:


The jeans fit perfectly!! I don't know how they do it! They also included a cute military style jacket which I cannot wait to wear in the Fall.
  Here's what else I got:


LOVE this dress! I had pinned a sweatshirt-style t-shirt dress to my Pinterest board that's linked to my Stitch Fix account.   The color and style were very similar to the one I had pinned, but this one was slightly dressier.  


Black and white shell tank-  I normally wouldn't have picked this out on my own, but I ended up liking it quite a bit.  I also love that it was long enough that it fit almost like a tunic.


Bohemian Dress-  At first glance, this was my least favorite of the box, but when I tried it on, I ended up loving it.  The cut was different than I had expected, and it hit just below my knee, so it was something that I could wear to work with a blazer or jacket.