A New Year, a New Outlook on Racing

It's hard to believe it's already 2014! I had a somewhat lackluster 2013 in terms of racing, but I was happy to receive 2nd in the Athena category for the tri-family race series. I was even more excited that my daughter took 3rd in her age group for the series!!

This year I am focusing on quality rather than quantity of races. I would like to focus on getting faster and fitter. Most of all, I want to have fun! Rather than racing in the longest distant race--I'd rather be racing somewhere fun, with fun people, and enjoying it. I did a bunch of sprint tris in 2013 and it felt good to get out there and race, but be finished with plenty of time to enjoy my day.  I've also had my fill of Tempe Town Lake!! I don't have any desire to swim in it or run around it any time in the neat future. 

I'd also like to focus on training--both on my own and with my daughters. I only have a few races on the calendar so far for 2014, so we'll see what comes up and sounds like fun. :) What are your race goals for the new year?

Polar Dash 2013

This race update is a bit late, but here it is! I started off the new year with what's becoming a chilly new tradition. I headed to St. Paul for the Polar Dash 10k. Last year, Danie and I ran this and decided it was not a great idea. Somehow, after a year, we could no longer remember anything but the fun!

We were able to recruit a bigger group of friends to join us. Among the group were a number of 10k newbies. It was so much fun running with a group of friends without a care about the pace. And, one of my friends who had planned to finish her first 5k that day--decided to make it her first 10k instead!!

We polished it off with a fantastic lunch at one of my favorite St. Paul haunts.

Coming up--Awesome 80's 10k and PF Chang's Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon.

Hot Chocolate 5k

Kim and Annette with friends at start

This was a super fun race!!  I wasn't sure how much I would want to do as far as races after IMAZ, so I signed up for this 5k as a way to stay motivated and because the swag promised lots of chocolate!!  It was good and cold at race start.  I was happy to find Annette and another friend who had come up from Tucson (yay Hue!). 

Yummy finisher swag!

The race started on time and things were well organized--especially with 7,000 runners.  I have been working on getting over the cold I've had since before IMAZ so this was the first run I'd done since then.  I felt pretty good--a little congested, but no coughing fits.  I happily finished in under 30 minutes.  It's so nice to do a race that doesn't take up the entire day!  I look forward to more short races (especially sprint triathlons) this season. 

My favorite fans

I have signed up for a bunch of races already in 2013 (the discounts were too good not to get signed up!).
January:  Polar Dash 10k, Awesome 80's 10k, PF Chang's Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon
February: Runner's Den Road Races (5k and 10k challenge), Ragnar
March:  Phoenix 1/2 Marathon
April: Marquee Sprint Tri
May: Medcity 1/2 Marathon
September: Nathan's Olympic Tri
October:  Soma 1/2 Iron Tri

I'm thinking I need to get some bike rides planned too!



Here's to a great 2012!