Hi there, this is Nic! Training has been going well, except it has been difficult to get out there this week. I'm currently taking a pretty intense course at school and the first exams were yesterday. Of course we went out to celebrate/commiserate afterwards so it was difficut to get out of bed this morning. 

On July 4th I ran the Melon run here in Gainesville. It's held by the Florida Track Club every year and there was a good crowd of people there. We got really nice tech shirts as well! The course was 3 miles and was pretty hilly, which was tough going since I don't do many hills in my training...I should probably work on that! The picture below is me and my Gainesville running buddies and one of their friends from Jacksonville; they like to dress up so I joined them in their tutus!

The last long training run we did was a half marathon for a virtual run by Will Run for Bling. It was called the Peace and Love Bug run and the medal is awesome! 

 
We ended up running continuously for 5 or 6 miles then started doing 3:1 minute run/walk intervals. It worked out pretty well for us and we were able to cope with the heat. We finished in just under 3 hours which I was excited about since the 2 other half marathons I did were 3:05 and 3:07,and this one had the added difficulty of being in the dead of summer! I'm looking forward to adding this medal to my collection!

So, the marathon training program officially starts this week! 137 days to go until the big day!

Bye for now!
Nic x

Hogtown 5K and Beer Festival Weekend

NiCole here.  Since our last joint blog post we have actually completed three 5K's.  One of the races that we did was the Hogtown Beer Fest 5K.  The morning started out nice and cloudy with a little bit of drizzle.  The course wasn't too bad in the state park we ran in.  There was a little bit of trail running in the wet weather but overall it was a decent run.  Especially since it wasn't super hot out yet.  Plus after the run we got a pint of yummy beer from one of the local breweries.  

This is Nic! The Hogtown Run was here in Gainesville, so I had a visitor for the weekend! Yay! I really enjoyed the race, even with the crappy weather and I basically threw my phone on the ground, but it survived so it's all good. At this point I was still run/walking and NiCole stayed back with me for the first couple of miles. It was the first year that this race took place and I hope they have it again next year, but they could improve a little by chip timing. Anything combining running and beer is okay in my book :) Here is us nice and soggy after the run and a beer, and check it out...I was #1!!!!

Sadly our this was the last outing for Purple Fanta and Orange Crush since NiCole's is basically falling apart after pinning too many bibs to it!

After the run we went back to Nic's place to get ready for the Hogtown Craft Beer Fest.  This is an event that is had once a year in Gainesville that brings a bunch of craft breweries together so you can try all of the yummy beer.  Plus those breweries are paired with local restaurants so you also get some yummy food.  Nic had the perfect plan so that neither one of us had to drive.  Since she is in Grad School she takes the bus a lot.  So she mapped out a route that would take us close to the gardens where the fest was being held.

However, my master plan was foiled when we found out that the buses suck on the weekend. We got about halfway and found out that our next bus wouldn't be there for another hour and forty minutes! Well, we didn't have time for that! That would cut into our beer sampling time! So we mapped the route and began walking the 2.6 miles in the pouring rain. We made it to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens where the event was being held only 15 minutes after the festival opened, so we made pretty good time, and the extra exercise made all the beer taste that much better :) The festival was really great, with loads of breweries from all over the country. I discovered that Samuel Smiths Organic Chocolate stout is one of my new favorites and that I really don't like mead!  


 I didn't mind the mead.  Some of it was a little sweet but some of the others weren't bad.  Of course this was after stops at a few pods and quite a few tasters of beer.  We had this awesome plan to try all of the beer.  After an hour or two went by we realized we were not getting very far.  So we moved on to another strategy of just trying a beer at each brewery apiece and sharing.  That worked a lot better.  By the end we enjoyed some yummy beer and had a lot of fun.  Overall, it was a great trip to Gainesville!

The next 5K we ran was the Memorial Day 5K in Jacksonville.  So I had a guest for the weekend.  I had just moved into the townhouse I bought so my house was a little in pieces.  So far the Memorial Day 5K was my fastest 5K time since we started blogging.  Nic and I started out together but it just felt good so I just went.  Nic was only a minute behind me so we could see each other at turns along the course.  It wasn't super hot that day and the course was shaded so that helped out a lot.  After we got our tech shirts and medals!  After all who doesn't like race bling we went to Metro Diner to have some yummy breakfast.  It was a relatively short weekend for a visit but we had fun.  It didn't help that I was stuck waiting on Comcast to come hook up my internet so I couldn't running gear shopping with Nic while she was in town.  Here is an after pic of both of us at the race.

Yup, I went shopping!! I went to 1st Place sports to be fitted for running shoes, since I've not done that before. Apparently I'm neutral and the super helpful guy had me try on a few different shoes. In the end I went for the Asics Gel Nimbus 14s, and they were in the sale! I also got a fuel belt, since summer had been  creeping up on us...definitely a good idea for training through the Florida summer. This was my first 5K where I ran the entire way since starting training again, and I set myself a goal to run it in under 35 mins...which I did by 28 seconds :)

The last race we have done since we last did a joint blog was only a few weekends ago.  We did Run for the Pies in Jacksonville.  We have done this race before and like the course.  Plus you get to watch the elite runners run first.  It is crazy how fast those people run.  Once Nic got into town we did a little shopping at the outlets and then had to use our Mile Marker living social deals.  While probably not the smartest move to have two beers before running it sure was tasty.  We also got the running top we are going to use for our races and a few other running items.  I also found this super cheap running skirt and bought that.  It looked great with my new shirt so I thought I would wear that for the race.

Unfortunately, I should of tested out running in the skirt before wearing it to a race since the running shorts kept riding up the entire run.  Nic and I started out together like we usually do and even stuck together for the first mile of the race but I had to back off because of my clothing not cooperating with me.  Chafing is a big deal and since my running shorts under the running skirt kept riding up I had some issues.  I still had a decent time and was only a minute slower than the Memorial Day run.  There are some pretty good pictures of both of us throughout the race and even some of us together.  I plan on buying a few of the images as before pictures to see how far I will come by the end of this marathon journey.  Since I plan on toning up and losing some weight hopefully during the training process.

2 beers and no lunch! We managed to grab a sandwich on the way back to get changed before the race though. The race was a lot of fun even with the heat. I love the pic above, with us in our new race shirts...it's so cheesy! So, my goal for this one was to beat my time from the memorial day run. Maybe I went a little too hard, since I got a stitch a little after mile 2 and had to stop to try and stretch it out. I still beat my time though...by 59 seconds! Couldn't have been a minute, could it?!? 

Anyway, I think that is all we have for now. We are both doing 5Ks on July 4th, but not together. I'll be doing the Melon Run here in Gainesville and NiCole is going to run the Celebration 5K in Jax.

Until next time!
Nic and NiCole