First Annual SPAC Rock & Run 5K

Well, I have another 5K under my belt! My fourth race total and my third 5K! Today’s 5K was held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, which is part of the Saratoga State Park and it is really gorgeous! To get ready for this race I made a small dinner last night, a roasted red pepper, arugula and herb goat cheese sandwich. It was pretty tasty. I think arugula is my new favorite leafy green! 🙂 I used my arugula and goat cheese that came from the Troy Farmer’s Market!

I had to pre-make my breakfast this morning, so last night I made a breakfast cookie and put it in a handy tupperware container so it was easily transportable. I ate it on the car on the way up to SPAC with Marcie!

Into my breakfast cookie went

• 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
• 1/2 a mashed banana
• 1 tbsp of Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter
• 2 tbsps of light soy milk

It was chocolatey and delicious. A perfect pre-race breakfast!! Marcie and I headed up to SPAC at around 8:00. It was early and the race didn’t start until 10:30, but we wanted time to get our packets and t-shirts and check everything out. We relaxed and stretched a little bit and did a couple of short quick jogs around the park. Eventually my sister, Sue, Sue’s cousin, and Brendan got there and we all met up! My sister wasn’t running in the race so she took my pictures!

So we hung around for a little bit. Sue’s mom’s band, The Accents, were scheduled to play at the main stage for the 5K, which was pretty cool! They are an awesome cover band.

The thing I liked about this race was that it was less crowded than the Workforce Challenge! There were still over 800 people running in it, which is really awesome for a first time event! But less people = an easier run and no finish line crowd freakouts!

I’ve never ran around SPAC’s grounds before, so running this was really awesome! It was so pretty and green, and the sun was shining! It was starting to get warm, but thankfully it was still morning so the temperature was just right! I started out pretty fast at like a 7:30 pace, and I got kind of tired mid race. I actually sprinted at the end this time and I came in at 27:17, my best time running 3.1 miles, ever! I have a new PR to beat!

My garmin stats:

• Total: 3.12 miles
• Time: 27:07
• Average Pace: 8:45
• Average Speed: 6.9
• Maximum Speed: 9.1
• Calories Burned: 369

I have one complaint about this race though. There was only one water station and no water at the finish line. What were these people thinking? I saw people struggling at the finish line yelling for water! It was pretty brutal. But I made my way over to the refreshment tent, I got a bottle of water, an apple and a cinnamon bun and wolfed it down. I got to see one of my friends finish the race! 🙂 Marcie came in at 33 minutes, her best 5K time, and this was only her second 5K! Brendan and Sue both finished before me. Brendan came in at 23 minutes and Sue came in at 22 minutes. Congrats everyone, you all did great and I’m so glad we were here running together, even though we all ran at our own paces. It was still fun. 🙂

We all did awesome!!! I need to convince my sister to sign up for her first 5K…maybe the Freihofer’s? 😉

Anyway, I have some good news! Most of you know I lost my old blog, but today I recovered some old posts!! Marcie told me about google’s cache pages, which are snapshots of websites taken in the past. She said I had a couple of old blog posts up! I went on searched and I found some! I back dated them and they are now all available for your viewing pleasure! Here are the links to the ones I could save:

• Honey Lemon Tea & Chickpea Salad
• Six Miles on a Track
• Banana Pancakes and Tulips
• Farm Fresh Eggs
• The Big Two-Five (My birthday post!!)
• Breaded Goat Cheese, Gelato, and Toga
• Confessions of a Chocoholic
• Pizza, Banana Bread Failure, and Other Random Things
• Sweet Potatoes and Banana Froyo
• Oats for Dinner!

Now I’m off to relax…and think of something creative to make for dinner. 🙂 My next race: the Freihofer’s Run for Women in two weeks! How am I going to beat 27 minutes and 17 seconds?!