Dog Days 5k Recap

Two weekends ago Kiwi and I ran the All Out Multisport 5k. We've been working hard to get back under a 30 minute 5k, and we did it! 29:07 is about 2 minutes slower than our sea-level PR (9:24/mile), but certainly a move in the right direction. On top of that, I was 6th out of 30 in the 30-39 women's age group, 20th out of all the women (there were 108), and 33rd out of everyone (158 runners all together). Yeah!

This was the first race we did that was free. So we've moved from paying to race, to free races, to hopefully (eventually) getting paid to race. Bitty baby steps!

Kiwi clocked me at an 8:33 the first mile, so we're hoping to improve the other 2 miles to match that. He also took some pictures. We put them below. We're headed out now to run and get ready for our next event at the end of August.

~Kasha

AND KIWI!!!

 

Finish Line!

One more push at the end.

Kiwi Goes To A Rave

In keeping with Kiwi's microblogging & craft projects, he's been knocking out things from Pinterest lately. Last night was "Rave Night." Actually super easy. We taped glow sticks to a fan. That's there video.There's no sounds as he hadn't found his turntables at that point.




THEN he threw glow sticks around the room and danced to house music.

....for 3 hours.


There's really nothing else I can possibly add to this. Kiwi is as Kiwi does.

~Kasha

Craft Time With Kiwi

We don't run all the time, just most of the time. So recently Kiwi decided to do a craft project. Here it is, in pictures:

Before.

Taken apart and cleaned.

Spray paint with accent color.

Dry. Cover accent sections with painter's tape.

Spray paint with base color.

Dry. Take the tape off.

Jewelry holder!

So there ya go!
Now you know what Kiwi does in his downtime and I know what he was doing with all that spray paint!

~Kasha

Summer Breeze Race Recap

Summer Breeze, Mile 13.1

A few weeks ago, Kiwi and I raced our second half marathon event in Denver. It went well. The weather was nice and slightly overcast, the course was an out-and-back; well marked. All-Out Multisport put on the event, and they do a great job.

They start the half marathoners, then 30 minutes later the 10kers head out, followed by 5kers. This means the 5k is finished first and their have awards and a raffle right away. By the time they clear out, the 10k is ready to wrap up, followed by the half marathoners. So 3 events, well-staggered, and well staffed. Every runner gets chocolate milk, gatorade, water, a breakfast burrito, and a medal & shirt for each distance. And free picture downloads. Also, the raffles are huge! There are always enough prizes for everyone. At my first event, I won a 3 month membership to Massage Envy. What a perfect runner gift! At the Summer Breeze event, I won a free pizza from Papa Murphy's. Again- great! They make sure everyone goes home with something.

The events are very spectator friendly, with the coordinators announcing when and where the best places to spot us might be. Also, parking and bathrooms are always a stone's throw from the start/finish line.

Obviously, I enjoy these events. I've also joined All-Out Multisport's volunteer program where you help with packet prep, early pick up, or a day you aren't racing and in exchange you can race for free. What a deal! Love it! And Kiwi gets a volunteer shirt all of his own.

As far as my experience this particular race, it was a lot smoother than my first try at the half distance at altitude. My breathing and legs were a lot more comfortable and I took 10 minutes off my first race. I still have a ways to go to PR here as opposed to at sea-level, but we're closing the gap!

Water, Water Everywhere

Kiwi touched the other day on how I'd swapped over to drinking only water. Having been in Colorado for 4 months now, that's probably the best improvement I could make for my running. The first 3 months saw me back at my beginner pace of 10 to 12 minutes per mile. I really couldn't manage must faster for any distance. Now, 2 weeks after going water-solo, 9 minutes per mile is normal again. I also don't have to carry water for runs less than an hour.

So for a few months, I going to focus on the shorter distance races (5k & 10k) and attempt new PRs. As of this morning, I was less than 3 minutes off my current 5k PR.

At the end of July, I'll be racing All Out Multisports again, as they've begun a volunteer for race entries program. This means if I help them do packet prep, I run for free. Love it!

I was going to write more, but Kiwi insists we continue with the "micro-blogging" for now. Did he make up that word? I haven't heard it before.

Also, he just walked by with a candelabra and can of spray paint, so like it or not; I need to go.

~Kasha

Cross Training with Kiwi (Or Kiwi Goes To Yoga)

Kiwi Found this pic at www.soulseeds.com

Hello! Kasha here.

And Kiwi. I'm here too!

Yes- this is a duel post, so as a reminder- Kasha writes plain-

BECAUSE SHE IS BORING!

And those italics up there clearly belong to wonder-fone.

Since we finished yesterday's run in the morning, we went to yoga last night. My background is very Bikram (hot yoga), and Kiwi, well; Kiwi likes "animal poses." You wanna tell everyone what that means, Kiwi?

I like cats and cows and crocodiles and dogs and scorpions and butterflies and NOT warriors or happy babies or trees or mountains.

Why? Why do you like the animals and not the others? What's the difference?

Animals are better than everything. And I like to make the animal sound when I do the animal pose.

This is true. We got some weird looks on that one. But that's okay. Thanks to Kiwi's insistence that we run early, cross training happened! I don't think I've practiced yoga in over a year now, so the all-levels class was great for jumping back in. So, Kiwi- I think there's a boot camp style class tomorrow. You know, if we run early again.

Yeah. I got my camo and boots.

Morning, Noon, and Night

From Walk, Jog, Run

Kiwi is parked in front of the tv watching "How To Train Your Dragon." I told him it was a how-to manual type movie. He has a notepad and hasn't figured it out yet....


So today was the first time in a long time I've run before noon, or even night. Lately (meaning for about the past year,) running has occurred later and later in the day. 11pm was not an uncommon time for me to do laps. Today I got out there before noon and am glad I did. It was hot and a bit trying to maintain my steady-to-difficult pace, so I'm happy for the harder workout. Plus, as all the runners know; getting that run taken care of early on really opens up the day it such a different way from holding on until the evening.

What thing(s) do you find it easy to put off even though you KNOW the value of knocking them off the list early?

I'll be back later, Kiwi just waltzed by with an umbrella and book of matches and I don't know what that's all about.

~Kasha

Kiwi Counts To 520 AND A HALF

Hi.
Is Kiwi. You know that, cause my post aura is good. So you just know.

What in the world are you talking about??

Don't you got some miles to run?

Maybe.

Or a shower. You kinda smell like you got some miles already run.

Okay, I know when I'm not wanted.

She did already run some miles. Kasha ran 520 AND A HALF miles since November. She's doing that thing where she runs all the days.

All. The. Days!

There are 250 days she has run including with kids next to her and on bikes and in strollers. She has run in parking lot circles and trails and rest stops when we came to Lolorado and in the snow and rain and sun and at night time. She ran in races and alone and with other people. She ran when she broke her face on the car door and when her legs hurt from the day before. Some days it was really hard for her to even go a mile (because she never goes less than a mile) and some days she went sooooo far because she felt good. She ran in jeans and a sweater one time with no pony tail holder, and other times with make up.

Kasha is not good at doing things just "sometimes." She is good at all-the-time things (like running all the days) and none-of-the-time things (like she just quit drinking all the things except water and didn't mess up even once, even for coffee).

So now we celebrate day 250 and mile 520 AND A HALF and get ready for tomorrow.

She will run for 115 more days because she says that makes a whole year. Then I don't know if she will keep running all the days or switch to just some of them.

What do you think? Should we call it a day at the end of the year or run until we run all the miles?

Let us know in the comments.

LOVE KIWI