January 25, 2013

Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K race report

Today was a very early morning! I couldn't sleep for the life of me last night, probably nerves/excitement about how everything would go today with the Virtual 5K. Anyway, my mom picked me up at 6:00 to go to the rec center, where we could run side-by-side on the treadmills.

I didn't have a very concrete goal for my race today--in my mind, I kind of thought it would be fun to knock 31 seconds off of my PR for my 31st birthday ;) Since I had run at 7.3 mph on the treadmill for 4 miles yesterday, I decided to try for 7.4 today.
Ready to crush my PR ;)

It took forever to figure out how to use their treadmills, but finally I got the incline set to 1% and the speed set to 7.4. After about a minute, I looked at my pace and decided to try for sub-8:00 miles the whole way through. That would be tough!

I bumped up the speed to 7.8 mph, and I vowed to leave it there.  After about a mile, I was really feeling tired. I wanted to drop the speed so badly! But I kept going, telling myself it would be over soon. The faster I ran, the sooner it would be over. It didn't help that the TV's at the rec center are waaay too high to look at, so I started at a brick wall for the whole thing.

The last half-mile seemed to take forever, and I felt like I was going to DIE, but I somehow managed to finish. And in a SUPER fast time (for me, anyway). Are you ready for this?
Not only did I finish sub-26, or sub-25... but sub-24! A 7:41 average pace. That was HARD. I had planned on getting in some extra miles while my mom was running, but I was so spent that I just sat on the floor and caught my breath.

My mom did great, too! She finished under 42 minutes, which is her fastest time yet. She was really pushing herself, but was proud when she was done that she stuck it out.
My mom just reached the 10% milestone in her weight loss, just like my sister!

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Jerry showed up--a total surprise to me. He had just gotten off work, and decided to run his Virtual 5K as well. He did AWESOME, too, finishing under 26 minutes.
Also running the Virtual 5K today were my brother, Brian, and his girlfriend, Becky. I had no idea they were doing it! They both had smoking fast times...
Becky's finish

Brian's finish

And of course, my sister ran today, too. I've been SO very excited for her to do this! She's been very faithful about following the Couch to 5K schedule, and this was her first time attempting to do the entire 5K. I got her text at around 5:00 this evening--"Finished!!!"
Why do I never look that good when I get done running?


My mom brought me home to get showered and stuff before we went to lunch. She picked me up later and we headed up to La Pita, my very favorite restaurant. I got my usual, which you've probably seen pictures of a thousand times on my blog:
Chicken kabob, rice pilaf, salad, hummus, garlic sauce, and pita bread. I managed to get a picture before eating any of it this time--usually I can't help myself from digging right in!

I had calculated the PointsPlus yesterday, and how much of each thing I was going to eat. It was 16 PP for all the chicken, half the rice, half the salad, 2/3 of the hummus, and one pita. I didn't have any of the garlic sauce, because that stuff is about 3 PP per tablespoon. Needless to say, lunch was orgasmic.

The roads were absolutely terrible on the way home, and I started to rethink the whole comedy club idea. The comedy club is 45 minutes from home, and I was worried about the drive (because I just tend to worry about stuff like that), so I decided to cancel our reservation. Instead, our friends Joe and Amber are going to come over and play some games. We used to get together quite a bit for drinks and board games, so I'm excited for that.


Thank you all SO much for the birthday wishes! I've had so much fun reading your comments, tweets, e-mails, etc.--the birthday wishes, and especially the 5K reports. I love seeing all your pictures! I didn't think this whole thing would make me emotional, but I teared up while reading some of them, because you are all SO INSPIRATIONAL. Just reading through my Facebook page is inspiration enough for anyone to start walking or running! I hope you are all very proud of yourselves for completing a 5K today, regardless of your time.

A million thank yous to all of you who helped make my 31st birthday so special! Don't forget, if you haven't filled out the results form, read the bottom of yesterday's blog post for instructions. While I've loved looking at your pictures today, your results won't be "official" until you fill out the form. I will draw the winners of the prizes on Sunday and announce Sunday night, as well as post a list of the finishers and results.

46 comments:

  1. Went out tonight to run the 5K and ended up rolling my ankle and limping home instead :(

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  2. Happy Birthday, so happy for you cause it really look like you had lots of fun. Awww how nice of all your family to do the virtual 5k that's awesome. I wanted to do it so bad cause it looks like fun but I'm 38 weeks pregnant and having contractions so didn't want to push myself too much, hopefully I'll be ready when you do another one ;). well hope you keep enjoying your day :).
    DESYACV2. from sparkpeople.

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  3. I loved the idea of a 5k for your 31st birthday. I turned around and used it as a last 5k for me haha. I turn 32 on Monday. So you are going into 31 with it and I am leaving with it. Thanks for the amazing idea Katie :)

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  4. Happy Birthday! Thank you for the inspiration! I missed my goal by 20 seconds, but I'm happy. I'm 42 and maybe I'll sign up for a live 5K now. Your older blogpost about determination vs motivation shifted my brain. Thank you.

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  5. Awesome time!!! I hope you do the virtual 5K every year!

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  6. I'm glad I read this because I hadn't made my run official yet. Glad you are having a great birthday. I think I will run another 5k on my 31st in April and see if I can't improve my time a little. ;)

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  7. I am glad you had a great birthday! I also got emotional reading people's stories. I sat and cried for a couple minutes after I got back from running. I know my time isn't fast compared to most people, but for me to get under 30 minutes was a huge accomplished, something I never thought I'd do.

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  8. Happy Birthday! I'm glad to hear you had such a good day. I didn't get to participate in the 5k today. I woke up with a bad chest cold, and didn't think doing 3.1 miles was a great idea. I'm glad so many people were able to help you celebrate though. Have a good year!

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  9. Happy Birthday! I had a goal of 36 min and finished mine in 35:45!! Thanks for inspiring me to run today!

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  10. Fabulous! Loved it! My post is up with my recap :) Happy Birthday!

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  11. I am glad you had a great birthday! I will be doing my 5k in the morning, after staying for a second antigravity yoga class and then trying to drive home in the snow it was just too late, if I got on the treadmill at 10pm I would be up all night.

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  12. Happy Birthday, Katie! Thanks for including us in the celebration!
    I'm not on the social media sites, so I'll share here. I had a slower than normal 5k time of 47:35. I'm always slower on the treadmill than outdoors, but my speed was further hampered by my concurrent effort to burn down the house. I was able to quickly deal with the malfunctioning pellet stove, but the last 2k was run amid billowing clouds of smoke. Your birthday has certainly been memorable!

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  13. I had a great time running the 5K with you (virtually), even though it didn't go like I planned at all. I posted my race report on my blog (http://fitsteph.blogspot.com). Now, I've got to figure out what my next running challenge is. I don't want to have to wait until May when I do my triathlon to have another go at a race. Does that mean I'm now addicted?

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  14. Hi Katie!

    I did it!!!!!!

    I see why you call it the 'dreadmill', Oh My God! I nearly fell off the thing TWICE and I reset the whole machine TWICE. That was seriously the most laughable run ever. I've never run on a treadmill before today, but I wanted to have an accurate measure of distance. Funny how that worked out...

    I ended up running a bunch extra, just to make sure I got the full 5K, because it reset my time both times the machine stopped. Ha! Thankfully, I was able to piece together my time from my mp3 player! 39min and 02 seconds! I did have to slow to a walk for a bit... I'm just four weeks into the Couch to 5k, so I can't quite run a 5k in it's entirety yet, but I had a hell of a good time trying.

    Thank you so much for challenging me and showing how much more FUN it is to run a race than to just do regular ol' runs. I will definitely be signing up for a 10k or a marathon or something this year! I never thought I'd do it; I used to think you were crazy doing all those races, but that just felt amazing!

    So thanks again. :) You are seriously awesome, and are singlehandedly changing my life.

    HAPPY FRIGGEN BIRTHDAY!

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  15. Katie, Happy Birthday!!!!

    I can't do the virtual 5k (I was SO excited!). I threw out my back in the beginning of January and again a few days ago. This time I'm not able to take any medication for it, so it's been a long and painful time. So no running or even 5k of walking for me! But I'm glad so many other people could do this.

    Good job for being an inspiration. LOOK at how many people where inspired to do 5k today because of YOU! You rock!

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  16. Happy Birthday to one Beautiful woman inside and out! You are amazing!!!! Happy to be a part of this 5k my first virtual one ever!!!!

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  17. Happy Birthday Katie! What a great present it must be to know that you have inspired and helped so many people to take a step towards a healthier life! BTW you look awesome in the first pic, yay for goal weight!!

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  18. I just got home from work so happy late birthday Katie!!! Also Big congrats to your mom and sister and you do look amazing in that first pic!

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  19. You did an incredible time, well done! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's Virtual 5km posts on your FB page - you've clearly touched so many people's lives.

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  20. LoveAnAnimalJanuary 26, 2013

    Happy Birthday! And congrats to mommy for reaching her 10% weight loss goal! Go mom!

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  21. How great that you all did that together! Happy Birthday!

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  22. Happy birthday! Thanks for doing this cause I never would have thought to do a 5k:) my time was wayyyyyyy longer than any of your friends but at least I did it:)

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  23. Happy birthday Katie! I'm so disappointed that I couldn't get the 5k in. I worked yesterday then we got the keys to our first house and I had to spend the rest of the day cleaning and painting... didn't get done until 10Pm and there was no way I was running after that ha

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  24. Happy Belated Birthday!! I'm so happy that you enjoyed your birthday! I too will be turning 31 in just a week so I understand how unnerving this can be. Turning 30 was big, but not being "in" my 30's is a bit shocking.
    I'm just starting to get into walking/running, but I've had to order new shoes (I've been walking very slowly on my new treadmill in just socks till my shoes arrive) so I couldn't do the 5K, so I think you should do it every year! That way next year I can do it too!! And it's not about the prizes although I think it's so nice and sweet of you to do those...I think most of your readers want to say that we "ran with you"!
    Anyway, Happy Birthday oh and you do look good after your runs!!

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  25. Happy Birthday! I wish I would have signed up for this, but instead I'm running outside for a 5k this morning in 3 degrees... the tagline is "frost bite is underrated" - I think I'm in trouble :)

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  26. Under 24:00 is insane fast! I see more age group awards in your future!! happy birthday, again!

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  27. Happy birthday and nice job to EVERYONE. Those fast times blow mine away. I like the idea of doing it on the birthday. Mine is in May. Maybe I can find a race.

    The Kidless Kronicles

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  28. Happy Birthday! I forgot to say it earlier! The fastest I could run on the treadmill right now is 4.3!! For about 1 min 30 sec then I need to slow down. I can't wait til I can run at 7.8!! That's amazing!

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    Replies
    1. I posted my race stats on my blog. I don't use facebook, twitter or instagram! I know I need to come out of my cave! You can see it here with pics!

      http://kittyfantastik.blogspot.com/

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  29. Happy birthday!!! The virtual race was a great idea- loved participating!!

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  30. Happy Birthday to you! Can I just say how funny Jerry is in ALL of the photos you take of him! His smilereads "Hey how YOU doin"

    What a thrill to see your family supporting your birthday and their goals as well... Bravo!

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  31. Wow you guys all had such great times! Awesome sauce! Happy Birthday again, here is my post sharing about the 5k I ran yesterday morning. http://a-new-poison.blogspot.com/2013/01/katies-virtual-5k.html

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  32. Happy birthday, Katie!
    I'll be 50 next year, so 31 sounds YOUNG to me!

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  33. Happy Belated Birthday Katie! (I wish I had done this)

    Dede

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  34. Happy Belated Birthday! I just posted my results but I am not on social media...so sad that I can't post the picture of my watch that I took with the George Washington Bridge in the background! I had a terrific run in freezing cold manhattan and am always so inspired by you and your blog. Thanks!!

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  35. Thank you soo much for doing this. I have not done any training unless you count a few walk/jogs over the past few months. I was hoping for a time of 45 minutes which when compaired to your family looks very sad. But on the positive side I can only improve because I have lots of room for improvement. Thanks so much for the inspiration and getting me off my arse.

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  36. I was going to run it but my friend wanted to do it with me. So I walked it with her. Our time was 55:08. Happy Belated birthday!!!

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  37. Happy birthday Katie! I posted about your race on my blog -Clppin' Along Running Blog. (http://clippinalong.blogspot.com/2013/01/runs-for-cookies-virtual-5k.html)- My first virtual 5k. It was cold, snowy and not too "racy" but I liked it.

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  38. Just thought I'd link my report from my blog. Nothing major but I did mention you there. http://lessoflynsey.blogspot.com/2013/01/virtual-5k.html

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  39. Everyone did so great with the virtual 5K! You killed the pace! And your mom, hubby and sis look great :-)

    NO FAIR to post LA PITA pics and get me in the mood when there's no time in my foreseeable future of getting to indulge!!! ;)

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  40. AWESOME!!! I ran a 10k yesterday. I should have printed off your bib and put it on my back :)

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  41. I just popped in to read your blog today and catch up on it, and saw that you did this. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up with my running over the last year. I'm on a workout plan that has me only doing weight training at the moment, but in another week, I start Phase 2 and get to start doing cardio again. I'll be back to running again and I can't wait. I hope you do this again next year, because I'd love to participate. Happy belated birthday!

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