Oh, and about that race . . .

So, I was on vacation for the past week, enjoying myself in lovely Stone Harbor, NJ with my family and some wonderful friends.

We go away every year -- four families rent a house together and it is always a great time.

Here we are on the last night at the beach:

Janis, Bridget, Monique and me

All the kids!

Yes, I enjoyed myself a lot.

I didn't, however, run a lot.

Oh, sure. I had grand plans to run everyday and I thought for sure I'd sneak in a mid-week long run. But that didn't happen. I think I ran 3 times total. It was one thing after another but mostly it was that I was too busy being on vacation to run much. And that's OK. Sometimes a happy runner just needs a bit of a break.

What I did do, though, is run a quick little 5K on our second day. And I happened to set a new PR.

It was the Sandy Paws 5K and it took place just 6 blocks from our house. Bridget and I decided we had to run it, even though we had raced the Clove Run 10 miler just a week earlier. Who cares? we thought. We're just running for fun -- it is a vacation race after all!

After a horrible night's sleep (we experienced possibly the worst thunder storm ever), Bridget and I got up early and walked over to the race, which started at 8. It was hot. It was humid. I was dripping with sweat after about a minute of running.

As hot and sweaty as I was, I tried to run a steady pace. My A goal for the race was to finish around 23 minutes and run negative splits. Well, that didn't exactly happen:

Mile 1: 7:16
Mile 2: 7:20
Mile 3: 7:24
last .10: 6:54 pace

Finish time: 22:42

A new PR by ONE second! That's about as close as you can get. I never in a million years thought I'd PR at this race but I guess I just had it in me!

Here I am in the last mile -- Owen and the kids (along with Bridget's husband and their kids) came out to cheer us on!

Although I didn't run negative splits, I'm not too disappointed because my splits were fairly steady and I certainly didn't drop off too much in that last mile.

Bridget and I walked home right after the race because the awards ceremony was scheduled for a half hour after the ace ended. It's too bad, because I ended up finishing second in my age group. Oh, well. We had a vacation to get on with -- we couldn't stand around and wait!

And get on with the vacation we did. What a wonderful week.

Now, back to reality. And back to my training plan!

Have a great week, everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice