Rest day and kayaking.

Today I spent time with some friends from school and we went KAYAKING! What a great way to relax, hang out, and take some rest for my sore muscles after that 5k yesterday. It was a beautiful day for kayaking and SO MUCH FUN!

That may or may not be my abandoned floatation device which turned into a lap-warmer/sun-blocker...

(it was just TOO hot!)

After kayaking for a couple hours (which may have turned into floating and chatting for a couple hours...) we went to "WhichWich" for sandwiches! This is an AMAZING sandwich restaurant that I had never heard of before...and it was delicious! You never actually verbally place an order there, you just walk in and look at this row of paper bags, each of which is a different type of sandwich...

There are options like seafood, ham and cheese, and chicken. I went with vegetarian.

Then you go through all the specifications like a Scantron. This allows you to choose your bread, cheese, dressings, sauces, and other accouterments. I bubbled mine in with the red Sharpie they provided. Then you hand it to the lady at the register and PRESTO: you have a sandwich!

Mine was delicious! It had black olives, lettuce, tomato, Provolone, cucumbers, and pesto! It was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had YUM. 

WhichWich also offered cookies and chips of course, as well as a pretty appealing milkshake menu including banana, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, Oreo, and pineapple (not that I have it memorized or anything...). We didn't opt for any goodies today but maybe next time!

Race Recap: Gordon Square 5k

Today was the Gordon Square 5k! It was AWESOME. We had some trouble finding the start in the yacht club/park but it was smooth sailing once we found it. We had just enough time to warm up and stretch out and it was great (my wonderful mom once again shuttled us and took pictures :).

As you can see, I outfitted myself with completely non-matching colors for this race...and I kind of liked it!

We love to run!

Gorgeous day (not too warm!)

There were a few bumps in the road for this race, but overall it was a great experience. According to their records, I PRed with a time of 21:33, coming in second in my age group. Garmin had the course at 2.86 miles, not 3.1, and had me at an average pace of 7:40 (a little slow for my 5k-pace, but more believable than what they had me at...). I'm happy to take their recorded time though! Just a little bummed I didn't get that first-place (would've gotten a medal). 

One of the best things about this race was that afterwards, I got to get NAKED!

(Don't worry, this isn't THAT kind of blog :)

Afterwards I got to look through the goodie bag they gave us. There were a lot of must have, helpful items for me, such as a mini first-aid kit, a portable frisbee, and Starburst lip balm (I HATE dry lips!)

This afternoon I went and did another of my favorite things: movie-watching! I went to see the new movie, "The Heat" with some friends. I'm so glad I did because it was HILARIOUS. I laughed pretty much the whole two hours straight through. It was amazing.

Spending the rest of the evening dong some painting, music-mixing, and catching up on some shows! A great day, in my book!

5k prep and Pizza Passenger.

Tomorrow will be my FIRST 5k since last November (although I had one in April, but that turned out the be about 4 miles). That means that this also will be my first post-injury 5k and my first post-distance-racing 5k! I'm excited to see how my increased mileage will have helped! Unlike my past two races, which were both half-marathons, I have not laid out what I am going to wear, packed a pre/post-race bag, or planned out my intake/nutrition. I HAVE hydrated a lot and looked up the weather. Not exceptionally cool, but should be a nice relief from the 6 PM 90 degrees I've been getting used to...

Honestly, I'm not sure WHAT to expect tomorrow from myself. My legs are definitely tired from this week, my only real "taper" was taking today off, and I'm not sure where I'm at speed-wise. Judging by the mini speed workouts I've been doing, I should be able to reach my PR (especially because I was doing those in SUPER hot weather). However, I'm prepared to admit that sometimes things don't go quite how we runners want them to. Tonight as preparation I'll be stretching out all my soreness-prone areas, and I'll do the same in the morning before the race.

Somehow, I always end up eating pizza before my races! It's the only time I ever have pizza, and I don't plan it that way but it just works out like that! Today my mom wanted us to pick up a couple of pizzas for dinner. I take this job very seriously. 

The pizza was GREAT! So beautiful

After dinner I finally worked on one of my recipes...S'mores Brownie Bars! I think they came out really nicely. The brownie part might be a little over-done though...

I love baking on a Friday night--I know, I'm a wild child! This was a great way to spend a nice pre-race evening after a big work week. I'll have to let you know how it goes tomorrow!