race goals + race entry giveaway!

Happy Friday! It’s sort of a grey day but these flowers are helping brighten things up.

PLUS Anthony and I are leaving for DC in a couple hours, which is pretty exciting!

We haven’t been back since we moved to Nashville so I’m excited to see some old friends.

But I like my new friends, too! My running buddy Rayna hosted a girls’ get-together last night, full of food and fashion.

She had a CAbi consultant come and show us all beautiful clothes — which we then got to try on! (ps, I just decided I needed to restock my closet with hot pink hangers.)

I alllmost bought the tan jacket and thought the leopard wrap was definitely fun

Thanks for hosting, Rayna!

Okay, enough flowers/fashion/food. Let’s talk RACES. I have three coming up: the Clarendon Day 10k (tomorrow!), the 4 Bridges Half Marathon (October 19th), and the Richmond Marathon (November 15th). A good fall lineup! Let’s not beat around the bush here — what are my goal finish times?

• 10k: 0:43
• Half marathon: 1:34
• Marathon: 3:29

So, a slight PR in every distance :). And here are my training goals:

1. Stay healthy. I ramped up the mileage quite a bit last week, and could definitely hear my hips/knees/calves complaining. So, I’m taking it easier this week and making sure to hit up the gym 1-2x a week to spend time with my dear TRX bands, Bosu ball, and yoga mat.
2. Have fun. If training ever gets to be something I dread, then I definitely won’t want to try very hard at it. Sticking to my group runs, trying out new routes, and chatting with all of you lovely people on the internet helps keep me motivated and happy to be out there!
3. Stick to speed work. I’m increasingly becoming a believer that quality > quantity when it comes to marathon training. My once-weekly track workouts and other speed-ish runs (tempos, fartleks, fast finishes) seemed to help me improve a lot last year, so I’m hoping they’ll do the same this year.
4. Make and eat lots and lots of bread.

For all my DC-area readers: Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow or in Richmond?!

And for all of my Nashville-area readers: Here’s a chance for us to meet in Chattanooga! Come run the 4 Bridges half or 7 Bridges full with me!! The kind people at Scenic City Multisport are offering a FREE race entry to one lucky reader.

To enter, leave a comment below telling me your race goal OR your favorite type of bread :). I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday.

AND if you don’t happen to win, you can still score a 10% discount on registration with code MPM2014. Good luck!

• Do you set specific race goal times, or just go with whatever?
• Ever been to a CAbi party?
• When was the last time you moved?