Birthday Weekend and RnR Philly Half Week 6 Recap

Hey hey!  It’s Monday, which can be a pain, but the good news is that it’s my birthday!  I had an action-packed Saturday full of birthday celebrations, AND an 11-mile run that I did a kickass job (if I do say so myself!).

Birthday Celebrations!

Rock Climbing

I wanted to do something fun and adventurous on my birthday so I found a great deal on Livingsocial to go to a rock climbing gym.  Bret and my 2 girlfriends were able to come and we learned how to belay and how to climb.  I’ve gone rock climbing a couple of times, not lately, but I never learned how to belay, that’s a lot of responsibility!  Unfortunately, at one point, Bret was climbing and I realized I forgot to attach my anchor….scary!!  Thankfully, he survived, and I think he has forgiven me!

Included in the package was $10 worth of food and a free drink, sponsored by Apple Ale.  This took place at Franklin’s, a local bar nearby, that we actually love during football season.  I had the most amazing nachos!  And the apple ale was really good too!

Dinner at Zorba’s

I like to consider myself a “foodie”, so I was so excited to make reservations for Zorba’s, an awesome Greek restaurant in my neighborhood.  My sister, more of my girlfriends, and a few of my coworkers were able to join in.  I was pretty stuffed from earlier, but I still enjoyed the hummus appetizer and pork souvlaki for dinner!  I really had a lovely time.

House Party

We love having house parties.  Why we don’t do it more often, I have no idea!  Bret was so sweet, he left dinner early to set everything up.  I should have taken a picture of the spread…lots of fruits and veggies (I’ve taught him well!)  By the time we headed over, there were already a couple of guests. We had a great mix of people.  I even had a couple of my kickball teammates drop by, and they were so much fun!  The big finale was when I was serenaded by the room and presented with a cupcake.  Thanks Jennifer and Bret!

I had a great birthday celebration…mischief managed!  I’m still so thankful to everyone who came out…I’m opening my presents today!

Week 6 Workouts:

Monday 8/11:  Rest day, BUT I did do some pre-hab.  Two sets of 15 forward and reverse lunges, one minute clamshells, one minute leg raises.

Tuesday 8/12:  3.20 miles on the treadmill.  After warming up, I started on 5.5 mph with a 0.5% incline.  After a while my left calf didn’t like it, so I took the incline off and picked up the pace.  I was feeling a cold coming so I didn’t want to run outside in the rain.

Wednesday 8/13:  Core and More Class (I know, I know), but I’m taking it VERY easy now.  After work. Mark and I ran 3.3 miles at a very bizarre pace, 11:51 average.  It was very breezy and it probably took 2 miles to find our sweet spot.  I don’t know why but my instantaneous speed on my watch always shows up to be way faster than my average speed and it’s starting to throw me off…

Thursday 8/14:  We had a playoff Kickball game.  We were having a pretty fun time until the sky opened up and we got rained out!!  We biked to and from the playground, which was around 4 miles.

Friday 8/15:  I may have done some pre-hab exercises…can’t remember!

Saturday 8/16:  11.14 miles at 11:43 average pace.  What a victory!  Bret and I ran the beloved Forbidden Drive and the weather was perfect.    My total time was 2:10, which is a huge accomplishment considering last week’s 2:04 10 mile run.  This time, after talking to Coach Kristy, I took Clif Shot Bloks every 3 miles.  I do believe that it made a difference!

Sunday 8/17:  After a crazy Saturday I was EXHAUSTED and didn’t do anything productive until 11:30 am…seriously!  But I still had a run to do.  Thankfully Bret joined me in the evening for this 3 mile easy run, 10:43 average pace.

How was your running weekend?  Do you like working out on your birthday?
I do believe that this was my best training week ever!  Even though I did Core and More, I took things very easily and didn’t work myself out too hard.  My legs were able to handle over 20 miles of running this week…just a few months ago I was barely running that much in a month!  My knees are not crying as much and I really do feel like a “real” runner again.  Grade:  A+!  Welcome back, Janelle!