2011 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge

Friday morning I woke up and had one of the best smoothies I’ve made. Simple, yet delicious.

On my lunch break I walked to a small farmer’s market. They didn’t have much, only some plants and a few baked goods. Every time I go I swoon at the break from Meredith’s Bread. I finally went ahead and bought some Rustic Whole Wheat.

I loved the ingredients list! Short & Sweet.

I can’t wait to have some toasted with peanut butter!

Lunch yesterday was a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Had  to keep the tummy happy for my evening race!

I changed, headed up to the Empire State Plaza and got together with my team!

The Workforce Team Challenge is the biggest race in the capital district. It is a 3.5 mile race from the Empire State Plaza, up through and around Washington Park, finishing back down on Madison Ave by the NYS Museum. Over 9,000 runners were registered, with over 400 teams from companies from across the state.

The weather held off! It was cloudy and a bit muggy, and at about 75 degrees, it wasn’t too bad.  Not as bad as last year!

This year I finally bought a team shirt and it ended up being way too tight. I wore it anyway, though. 

Soon enough it was time to start! I ran in to Cap2Cap down at the starting line and it was nice chatting with her! 🙂

The course was a mad house. I thought I started close enough to the front so I could get to a decent pace. WRONG! There were so many people I was dodging walkers, slow runners, you name it, everywhere. I got hit with flailing arms a bunch of times. Not fun! I didn’t get a decent pace until about mile 2.5 and then the race was more than half over!

The best part of the race was seeing Chris twice on the sidelines! 🙂

My garmin read 3.4 miles at the finish line in 30:12, average pace of 8:52. I think my satellites got messed up under the Museum steps at the start line. Oh well.

After the race I walked/ran back to my car, which was probably about another mile. A woman saw me running back to my car and yelled, “Have you NOT had enough running?”, apparently not, lady. I ran a half marathon four days ago. 😉

Chris met me at my place after the race because we had planned to make dinner. It was taco night!!!

The fixin’s:

• Whole Wheat taco shells
• Black beans
• Salsa
• Plain Greek Yogurt
• Avocado
• Brown rice
• Low fat cheese

Healthy tacos! I had one. Followed by a bag of cookies we got in our race bags. 🙂

I need to do something about the lighting situation in my kitchen, no?

Well, I don’t have another race planned for two weeks. I’m running the Freihofer’s with my friend Caitlin! Should be fun! And then the next won’t be until the end of June–the Adirondack Distance Run 10 Miler, baby!

Well, I’m off. I have an exciting green post coming up for you soon. I’m getting a tour of a single stream recycling facility today and can’t wait to report all about it!