Run Forrest Run: New PR’s & Meeting A Celebrity
By admin
I hope you’re enjoying the holiday weekend and are blessed with gorgeous weather. We are! After a rough winter and spring, it appears that the sun has decided to come and stay.
So what else is there to do than sign up for a 4 pm race in Charleston?
I didn’t sign up for this race until this past week, the idea of a mid day race was a little intimidating.
But, there were a few of my amazing boot campers that wanted to run it. And it was my last chance for a May race.
I’m still shooting for a race every month for 2013. So far so good!
For both Cindy (far right) and Elizabeth (far left), this would be their very first 5K race and Taylor (right side of me) was looking for a sub 26 minute PR (personal record).
Okay, twist my arm why don’t you. If they wanted to do it, Dan and I would be there to support them. Dan behind the camera and me on the roads.
The race, Run Forrest Run, started in front of our minor league baseball stadium (The Riverdogs), took us around a gorgeous park downtown, and then finished with each runner crossing home plate and receiving high fives from the Riverdog players.
As part of my What’s Beautiful goal with Under Armour, I have the ultimate goal of breaking 22 minutes on my 5K. Since my last PR (at the Reindeer Run) was a 23.03, I wasn’t shooting to hit that goal today but I did want to break my old PR and see how much work I need to do to get there.
So this race was step 1!
And I succeeded by crossing the finish with a clock time of 22.44, I haven’t received my chip time yet but according to my watch it was a 22.41.
I was really proud of myself, and of course wondered if I could have done a bit better if the race was at 8am, but who’s to say?
My finish time even awarded me 1st in my age group! No medal, but I did get a pretty sweat “Louisville Slugger” bat and a gift card to a local running store (socks!!).
The other ladies did amazing, each finishing strong and proud. In fact, Taylor not only got her PR but was 3rd in our age group! Get it!
After the race, runners enjoyed free beer (I can never drink after a race though) and Bubba Gump Shrimp. It takes me a while to cool down after any race, so I had to pass on all the freebies. But Dan enjoyed my beer runs!
And Then I Met A Celebrity
Bill Murray owns our baseball team so many people get excited at the chance of meeting him. Not me. I was much more excited to meet this guy:
Yup, Forrest Gump!
Forrest has the most interesting story: In 2011, his friend came up with the “Forrest Gump Challenge” for each of them to run a 5K (3.1 miles) every single day for the entire year. They did it, and all the friends nominated “Forrest” to grow his beard and take on the job of Forrest Gump to promote fitness and running.
I loved that as I was walking away, he shouted to me that we would see each other again.
Okay Forrest… bring it! Forrest and his wife (should I call her Jennie?) were so polite and their passions for running came through as soon as I asked how this whole thing got started.
You can find out more about him on his Facebook & Twitter page! Tell them I sent you over! 
After rubbing elbows with a celebrity, we found some bleacher seats and watched some baseball.
I am not a baseball fan, so we lasted until my stomach got hungry and headed home for dinner.
All it all it was a fabulous day, and I am so proud of the Fat Blasting Boot Camp girls!
And I am now one step closer to hitting my Under Armour goal!
How did I prepare for a 4pm race start?
I kept things pretty normal actually. I should have eaten something around 2:30 but just wasn’t hungry. This was a big mistake and next time I definitely will eat a snack before.
I had made these nut-n-seed energy bites in the morning, but I left them in the car and felt stupid for doing so when I felt my stomach growl about 3 minutes before the race.
Nuttin’ But Seeds Energy Bites
Ingredients:
1 cup Oats
1/4 cup Vanilla Protein Powder
1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
1 tsp Chia Seeds
1/4 cup Almond Meal (ground almonds)
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3 packets Stevia (2 tbsp other sugar)
1 Flax Seed Egg (1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water)*
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
1/4 cup Water
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees
2. Mix everything up in a bowl, use a tbsp to measure out balls and place on a cookie sheet. (I used mini-muffin tins, but cookie sheet should work just fine)
3. Cook for 10-12 minutes until slightly browned.
4. I topped mine with all natural peanut butter and a drizzle of honey (the black flecks are vanilla bean in the peanut butter).