Smug Marrieds: Poltergeist!

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Saturday morning. Blair was out on his first ever 18-mile run. (He ended up running 18.6 and did great.) I was inside with a pulled hamstring, cleaning the house and trying not to pout about being unable to run. Side note: In what universe does Blair run 18.6 and I stay inside and clean?!?

Anway, I was in the kitchen when I heard this horrid, huge, rumbling sound. It's a sound I imagine one might hear before the earth opens and swallows them whole. Yes, it was THAT loud. And it went on and on. There were also scraping, crashing, "uh-oh, whatever that is it cannot be good" sounds mixed in. 

Naturally, my first thought was, "That damn cat." Then I wondered what on earth I had stacked so precariously that it could make such a noise when it fell. I went searching for debris and found it in our guest bathroom.

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Fun Friday: A Day At Carowinds

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Waiting in line to ride The IntimidatorBlair has Fridays off this summer and we kicked the season off with a day at Carowinds Amusement Park. (For my Ohio peeps -- think a smaller version of King's Island.) 

It was the perfect day - sunny, 80's, light breeze, and since it was a Friday and the beginning of the season, the park was half empty. In our first two hours there, we breezed onto at least 7 rides, never waiting over 10-15 minutes for any one ride. That came back to bite us later when we waited for almost 2 hours to ride Nitehawk, a roller coaster that lies you on your back and...

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Just What The Chiro Ordered... Maybe

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What I failed to mention in yesterday's post about my new 5K PR is that I blew out my right hamstring at the beginning of the race. This hamstring/glute gives me grief every summer (marathon training time) and it had been acting up on and off for weeks. On Saturday, I'd almost reached the one-mile marker when I felt a big "POP!" at the back of my thigh and behind my knee. 

There was a moment of panic, then for a second I thought maybe the pop had actually released the hamstring because it felt good, then I took another few steps and returned to panic. The hamstring hurt. 

But the beauty of a race is your adrenaline is flowing and your attention is easily diverted. I kept running and it was fine. Until I stopped.

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New PR: PTI 5K On The Runway

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THE RACE

This past Saturday I met my goal of setting a new PR (personal record) in the 5K. I ran the PTI 5K On the Runway, a race literally held on an airport runway. Races don't come any flatter than this one, folks. Add in to that sunny skies and cool temps in the low 60's at the start of the race, and it was the perfect combo. Runners were setting PR's right and left and our hands hurt when we left from high-fiving each other so much. 

My best 5K time was set at this same race last year. Then, I ran a 21:37, which is a 7-minute/mile pace. This year, I wanted under 21 minutes. I trained using my beloved "Run Less, Run Faster" Furman program for a 20:50 race finish. My final time?

20:44.

PSYCHED.

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