Perfect Sunday

But first - it was Girls' Night on Saturday! Dinner out, a big clothing swap and many shenanigans ensued.

We even played dress-up:

And the runners provided a realistic ridiculous demonstration:

As usual, the party continued long after I had to leave. Sometimes having a long run on Sunday morning really cramps my style! Luckily, I have awesome understanding friends who do their best to accommodate my lame schedule and don't tease me too much for always being the party pooper. 

I managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour, but the Sunday morning alarm still came early (doesn't it always?).

We were running from a local golf club where we would enjoy a delicious brunch after the run, organized by one of our runners who works there. The change of scenery was a nice as we started along the golf course paths (cleared specifically for us!) and headed toward quiet country roads. I could probably count the number of cars we saw on one hand.

It was another cold morning (though not quite like last Sunday), but the wind was light and the roads were clear - what a treat!

Hubs and I both had marathon race pace (MRP) on the schedule as part of today's long run, so we planned a route that would start with the others and veer off after a warm-up to run an out-and-back on flatter terrain. I also recruited our good friends P & U to join us us (well, they joined me; hubs is too fast).

We ran the initial 14K at a nice and slow pace before taking off for the 13K (8mi) MRP portion. My goal was 5:20-5:25/KM (~ 4:45 to 4:48 marathon). The results:

5:24
5:22
5:23
5:17
5:21
5:15
5:15
5:17
5:12
5:13
5:10
5:01
4:49
avg = 5:15/KM (8:27/mi)


The pace felt completely comfortable and we chatted away the entire time. I had been admittedly nervous about this run, but it turned out to be a great confidence-booster. We kept it on the conservative side for the first few, then gradually picked it up and eventually finished off by pushing it for the last couple.

Hubs, of course, was far ahead (and also had a great MRP run!) and turned around to pick us up once he had finished. After a cool down of a couple miles, we were back to the golf club to freshen up and dig into brunch.

30.0KM (18.6mi) - 2:47:08 - 5:34/KM (8:58/mi) 

Feels great to have my first 30K of this training cycle under my belt!

On the way home, we made a mini detour to the Adidas Outlet store. Don't you just love the smell of clearance running gear?

I just grabbed a couple of tees - my husband is the shoe whore in this family! (He likes them flashy!)

After some laundry and a trip to the grocery store, this afternoon/evening involves some serious couch time...  and possibly some chocolate covered almonds.

How was your Sunday?