(Mostly) Solo Week #2

Scott gets home Thursday afternoon... so just a partial solo week this week!

Monday

Did: 1.6 mi @ 8:51/mi avg + 3.3 mi ruck (~25#) @ 15:54/mi

Had to be in the office today, so did a quick perimeter loop run on the XC trails then rucked the 5k course. 

Tuesday

Did: 7.18 mi @ 9:35/mi avg

Ran again with the Rockers Run Club after work! First half was on the rail trail before meeting up with the group for a run in the dark through the Converse Heights neighborhood. Took the first 5k a bit faster and then ran a chill pace with the group for the second part. Great time as always!

Wednesday

Did: 1.54 mi @ 9:14/mi run + 1.6 mi pup ruck

Quick little out and back between errand running early this morning. 

In the afternoon, got out for a little ruck with the pupper before getting kid from school. 

She loves bounding through the tall grasses.

Thursday

Did: 5.06 mi @ 7:55/mi 

Hilariously, definitely declared before this run that I was "definitely not going to run sub-8s today". Welp. Can't help that the temps felt nice and legs wanted to move!

Friday

Did: 1.1 mi @ 8:32/mi run + 15.9 mi bike ride

Got in a quick mile at the end of the day before heading out for an evening bike event in TR: the Upstate Cranksgiving Alley Cat ride! This kind of ride is a bit like a scavenger hunt... you have checkpoints and silly tasks to do at each checkpoint, and with this ride you get a playing card at each of the 5 stops - best poker hand wins. 

We signed up as a family and I rode up from the house to meet D & S at the start. It was dark and sprinkling rain when we all rode out from Sunrift, and continued to get rained on through most of the ride. First checkpoint was up at the Sonoco on the north end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. We had to do a dizzy bat run to get our card at that stop. Checkpoint 2 was at the Furman belltower, so quite a bit of a ride from the first stop. There we had to roll dice until we got 3 of a kind. We were heading to Checkpoint 3 at the Community Tap TR, but got a helpful hint that Checkpoint 4 was also on the Furman campus, not far from the belltower, so we opted to shorten the overall ride by getting there first. Checkpoint 4 involved tossing a ping pong ball into a solo cup, and once we got that done, we headed back up to downtown TR. The task at the Tap TR checkpoint was to play blackjack hands until you beat the dealer...only took me 2 tries to get 21! After that, it was on to the finish line at Chicora Alley. Right about the time we got to Chicora, the rain started to absolutely dump on us so we huddled under the tent they had up and waited out the rain before going to get food and hang out at Chicora. Fun time overall, and really proud of D who won 2nd in his age group and happily rode in the rain without a single complaint!

Saturday

Did: 2.3 mi @ 9:12/mi + Zoom through the Zoo 5k

Was at the zoo for the Zoom through the Zoo 5k - the final Corporate Shield race of the 2023 season! Got in a short warmup on the trail with some friends before the race started. I didn't have any specific goals for this race and knew I hadn't been doing speedwork recently, so didn't have high expectations either. The only plan was to run hard and see what would happen! I felt pretty good while running, the temps were amazing (low 50s) but I just did not have that little extra boost that I can usually find during a race. I run enough of these races that I know other people and where I usually fall compared to their paces, and I was slower than usual today. Guess that track work really does pay off when I'm consistent about it! Still was happy with the end result even if it wasn't a PR. Was sort of hoping for sub-22 but sub 23 seems alright, too. ;)

Good enough for 1st Age Group though! :)

Sunday

Did: 2.9 mi pup walk + 2.66 mi run @ 8:51/mi + 60 min yoga

Such a nice day outside! Took a nice long walk with the pup and meant to grab the ruck too but walked out without it... oh well. 

Headed down to the Commons and ran a loop around Unity Park/on the Swamp Rabbit Trail before afternoon Vinyasa class at Soul Yoga. Such a lovely afternoon!