Today is my mom's 48th bday (Though the card I made her affirmed that it was only her 29th! lol). Emma and I went and got her a cake and picked a bouquet of flowers for her this morning of black eyed susans, and some various white and purple flowers. Though on the way home I noticed they were covered in bugs so I told Emmy to drive as fast as possible lest they should gang up and attack us! Later Emma, my mom, my brother Jonn, me, and Aggie (the St. Bernard) all went up to Providence to the Miller's and went out in the canoe. It was a decent workout! I paddled across the lake twice! Feel those arm muscles! woot!
6:15 PM - Wasn't sure how the race was going to go today as I woke up and my left ankle was sore. I hurt it jumping off the porch a few months ago and it occassionally gives me problems. I iced a couple times today and tried to stay off of it as much as possible. Jonathan bailed on us today for the race, so it was just Jonny and me. Emmy came with us to act as our vanguard cheerleader. She's the best!
I decided to go for a warm up and test out the ankle. Jonn bet me that if I didn't beat my time from last time (25:25) then I would have to jump into the pond at the end of the race course which has multiple signs stating that fishing and swimming are prohibited.
WARM UP: Felt good. I pushed the pace a bit to simulate race pace and motion to gauge how I felt. The pain seemed to actually go away as I eased into race pace. I did .58 miles in 4:45 (8:10/mile pace). Came back to the pond and stretched before heading over to the starting line.
THE RACE: There were a lot more runners than the previous race. Temperature was cool and only in the high 60s today, though wind was steady between 12-15 mph. Saw my ninth grade English teacher. Her husband and niece were running. Jonn got ready and took off hard with a lot of the the other runners. I let about 30-40 (half the field) go in front of me as I started down the trail.
MILE 1: (7:22) Ran with the flow, passing a lot of runners on the first two hills. Didn't think to look at my watch and eventually settled in behind two master's age division runners who were chatting about their recent races. I felt good, comfortable, but pushing the pace nicely. Saw the leaders as they took the 90 degree turn to the left to head to another section of the woods.
MILE 2: (7:44) Fighting the pace. Settled in behind a group of four men that were following the group that Jonn was wedged in. I was really breathing hard now, and finding that I was pushing harder than I had planned. However I felt great! The only pain I had came from a pine needle that had wedged itself in my left shoe and was poking my big toe ever few strides!
MILE 3: (7:43) After I crossed the road, I found that either i was slowing up or the pack I was following was speeding up. Turned out to be the latter. I got some encouragement from my former English teacher at the two mile mark and pushed hard towards the finish. I love the last half mile because theres some really fun downhills and windy trails! As I neared the finish I was coming up on a group of 3, the pack I had been following the whole race. I started my kick, but they ended up edging me out by about 5 or 6 seconds. Bummer. Next time they are toast!
FINISH: I kicked hard and was really pleased! I got 23:00 flat, a full 2:25 faster than just two weeks ago! I am really proud of this, especially as the course is extremely hilly. They say to add 15-20% to your road 5k time to get an accurate predictor of where you're at. I got 13th overall, an improvement of a full 8 places from the first race! Jonn ran a 21:56 and was surprised I was as close as I was to him! Feels great!
COOL DOWN: .52 miles with Jonn in 5:00 (9:42/ mile) on the roads out and back. Stretched a lot and then got ready to go to dinner with the family. My cousin Amanda is living with us this summer so she, Emma, Jonn, and my parents all went with me to the Parting Glass in Saratoga Springs for dinner. It was fun to go out to an Irish Bar with my parents! We all had a great time. Then we had carrot cake when we got home. Yumm! I am a bit sore and am anxiously looking forward towards tomorrow's rest day. Hopefully going to shoot for at 6 mile run sometime this week to. I want to start increasing my fitness level! | 
