Where in the World is Whitney?
So I’ve been a pretty delinquent blogger and I apologize for that.  The last two weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster. Â
Two weeks ago I had a great long run with Liz and then drove up to Arkansas to celebrate Tilly’s bachelorette party.  We had perfect lake weather.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but Tilly and I met through Salty Dogs and now I’m her bridesmaid!  Running buddies for lyfe.  :)
Last Saturday I had the worst long run. Â Just miserable. Â Humid, boring, terrible stomach problems and to top it all off, my Garmin broke. Â Fortunately, Darce (one of my bridesmaids) was in town from Nashville to drink a bottle of wine with me and console me. Â
These two trouble makers make my heart happy.
All of these was tempered by the fact that one of my coworkers passed away very unexpectedly. Â We have a fairly small office and I think it will be awhile before things start to feel normal again...
My favorite 5K of the year, the Bardog 5K was today.  After a miserable long run last weekend and skipping some training runs, I knew I couldn’t afford to skip out on my long run on Saturday though.  I’m not in shape to PR a 5K, so it didn’t make sense to sacrifice my long run for the sake of a 5K.  So yesterday morning I woke up at 5am to meet Liz and the Breakaway group in Germantown.  The first 10 miles of our run were hilly and humid- not at all like the early fall weather (temps in the 60′s) we had earlier this week.  Once we hit the Green Way though, I perked up and zoomed zoomed through the rest of my run.
Splits: 9:32/9:02/9:22/9:32/9:23/9:30/9:18/9:18/9:23/9:13/9:48/8:49/8:15/8:41Â
I rewarded myself with a sausage biscuit and chocolate milk in hopes a little extra protein might help with recovery for the 5K the next day.
This morning I arrived downtown for the 5K.  This is my FIFTH year running this race and I love it.  I didn’t really have a game plan, especially after my long run the day before, but I figured I would be happy if I came in under 24 minutes. Â
It was humid out and I was already soaked by the time I finished my warm up mile. Â Great. Â I lined up with Verity and Erica at the start and we took off.
Official time: Â 23:29 (2nd place AG!)
Okay, so I lost a lot of steam after the second mile (although there is a very steep hill in the last mile), but this was a pleasant surprise after a hard run the day before.  Placing in my age group was icing on the cake since the last two years I haven’t placed even though my times were pretty good.  Celebrated with two beers for breakfast and a nap - the Bardog way.  :)
Kels and I at the finish line.  (Note that she used masking tape to hold her bib on her shirt.  I swear I’m not related to her.)