PR's For Everyone!

My wife completed her first Warrior Dash last weekend.  It was a really cool experience to go and be a spectator at a race, where I was able to take photos, cheer people on, and enjoy the festivities.  This was the first time she had ever worn a bib, and her excitement was infectious.  She ran the race with a couple of work colleagues, and they dominated the course!  They made it through all 11 obstacles and the ~3.5 miles of running wearing hot pink tights, ribbons in their hair, and keeping their tiaras on their heads.

My wife will tell you that she didn't train for the Warrior Dash, but she managed to fit quite a few 7-8 mile runs in over the last month.  Before the race she said that she didn't have any interest in doing more races in the future, but on the drive home from the race she said, "I think I might enter a 5K or 10K, you know where I can just run.  Without all of the mud and obstacles."  I think she's caught the bug, and before you know it we'll be entering Valentine's Day couples races and all of that other sappy running love stuff  :-D  I'm really proud of her because 5 years ago there's no way she'd do something like a Warrior Dash, and actually have fun doing it.  We've both made some really positive changes in our lives over the past few years, and I think we're really starting to enjoy the benefits of our healthier lifestyles.  Way to go wife, you rock!

*My wife didn't want to be shown on the blog, so none of the pictures are of her or her friends.

The start of my wife's heat.  Pretty cool pyrotechnics!

Some random Texas football fans in tutus jumping over fire.

Unfortunately, one of the more memorable costumes

Thor commanding his troops over the cargo net

One of my favorites, Wonder Woman taking a tumble (performing her "rolling move") over the netting

Behold the aftermath of Warrior Dash

In other news, last week was another amazing training week for me.  I set a PR for a 6-mile tempo run, I hit a new mileage high for the week and long run, and I kept all of my runs right on pace with where I want to be for MCM on 10/28/2012.  I averaged exactly 10:00/mi at my last marathon, and I'd really like to beat that time.  Last week really helped me regain some confidence going into the marathon.  I've got one more week of hard training before I start my taper and I'll need to perform just as well this week to head into the marathon strong, both mentally and physically.

Running Summary for Last Week:

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       6 miles; 50:00, avg. pace 8:20/mi
Wednesday:  6 miles; 54:40; avg. pace 9:07
Thursday:      6 miles; 54:30; avg. pace 9:05/mi
Friday:          Off
Saturday:      8.11 miles; 1:15:30; avg. pace 9:18/mi
Sunday:        16 miles; 2:26:20; avg. pace 9:08/mi

Total Mileage: 42.11 miles
Total Time: 6:21:30
Average Pace: 9:04/mi