Racing season has begun and some FUN news!

Hiya buddies!  Happy Thursday!  This week seems to be flying by and can't beleive it's almost the weekend - I'm not complianing though :)

 

 

Ok, let's get down to business.  Racing season has officially started (for me), and I have my first race this Sunday - yikes!  Jake and I will be making our way back to St Paul to run the St Paul Irish Race.  Jake and I ran this last year, he ran the 8k and I did the 5k, and if you can remember, it didn't go so hot for me.  I'm hoping to redeem myself this year, and I'll also make sure to go to the bathroom before I start.

 

However, I'm doing things a little differently this year and won't be running the 5k, and will instead race the 8k.  This is kind of an odd distance, and had never heard of it in a race until the Irish Run, so I'm a little nervous.  I've talked over some pacing strategies with my coach, so that makes me feel a little better.  I'm trying not to overthink things, and in Nichole's words "I'M NOT ALLOWED TO FREAK OUT!".  So that might be my mantra, dont freak out, dont freak out...

 

 

Normally, I probably would race the 5k, but the real reason I'm racing the 8k is because....drumroll......I'm on the Run N Fun race team!!  This race is part of the team circut, and being on the team you have to do at least 2 circut races during the year (you can obviously do more, but its required to race two). 

 

I cannot tell you how blown away I was when I found out I was on the team.  Let me tell you, this team is FAST, and the open Women's division consistantly run sub 17, 18, 19 5k times, so the fact that they let a slow poke like me on the team is amazing, and I'm super grateful.  I know I have the potential to get my times down, and am glad they believe in me too.  This just gives me an extra incentive to work my BUTT off in training and hopefully have it show in my races. 

I have my first team meeting with the group sometime in April, so will share more info with you then.  But this is a very exciting way to start my 2014 season.  How luck am I to be a part of not one, but TWO awesome running teams?!

So that's my exciting (to me) news!  I'm excited to meet some of my teammates this weekend at the race, and hopefully I'll get some tips on how to be fast :)

So Sunday will kick off a few good months of races, here's what I've got on tap:

3/23 St. Paul Irish Run 8k
4/16 MPLS Hot Chocolate 5k
5/3 Nick Clare Memorial 5k
5/9 Fargo Half Marathon (running this just for fun with a friend - Hi Emily!!)
6/1 MPLS Half Marathon (goal race!!)

So if you are thinking about doing any races this spring, check these out, and let me know if you'll be there!  Have a great rest of your day peeps!