The Highlight of My Day

My day has had it's ups and downs.

Alarm went off at 4 am. I laid in bed trying to decide whether to get up or not. My plan had been to get up at 4 am so I could go running with the group at the fitness center again. However, the weather has cooled off significantly in the last two days so I toyed with the idea of sleeping longer and trying to get my 8 miler in later in the afternoon.

I finally crawled out of bed and checked the weather report. The high was suppose to be 75 this afternoon. Then I looked at my day again. I was planning to leave the house at 9 am so I could be at the fair by 10 am. The Red Gold Chili Contest was going to be judged at noon but the fair handbook said the electric outlets for your crock pots were first come. The building opens at 10 am and I wanted an outlet. My guess was the judging would take an hour and I'd be home at 2 pm. My daughter has a dentist appointment this afternoon so I have to pick her up from school. Then it's the usual evening craziness after that.

I decided I really didn't have time between the fair and the dentist appointment to get 8 miles in, stretch, and shower. Putting it off til evening risked not getting a run in at all. I got my butt out the door.

Today I decided to try and run with the faster women since they were running the furthest distance (6 miles). I was a little nervous when I asked what their pace was and they said "around 8:30." They are all very nice and they reassured me that they don't leave anyone behind. They said that they stopped at someone's house halfway thru the run to let everyone catch up. I'm thinking "good thing since it's pitch black and I have NO idea where we are going!" With that, I turned my Garmin on and we took off.

I ended up staying with the group my leader for the whole run. It was too dark for me to see my pace. All I could hear was my watching beeping at every mile marker. We stopped after 3 miles to let everyone else catch up. We stopped long enough that I started getting cold and stiff but I couldn't exactly run on ahead, as, I had no idea where we were! Finally, we started up again and I was worried again that I couldn't keep up but then it was just me and the pacer. We ran back to the fitness center and I continued to run 2 more miles on my own after that. I finally stopped my watch after it beeped 8 miles and turned the light on. 1:11:50. I was pretty happy with that. I was back in my car by 6:20 am and glad I got my butt out the door this morning.

Got home. Got the kids to school. Showered. Then I felt BAD. I was trying to eat an energy bar and drink some milk and I could barely choke it down. My head hurt, my face felt like it was on fire, my stomach hurt. I couldn't figure out why my face was so hot since I hadn't seen sunlight on my run. I thought maybe I was getting sick. Or maybe I was too tired. Or maybe I sampled too much chili last night. Maybe I had a migraine. I crept around the house and slowly loaded my car for the fair. Finally, I took a handful of ibuprofen and Kaopectate pills and grabbed a Diet Coke for the road.

By the time I got to the fair, I felt fine again. Maybe I just needed a Diet Coke (I'm an addict). I walked into the building and the coordinator had this waiting for me...

If you place in some of the sponsored contests, the sponsor gives you an apron. Usually they have all the place winners wear their aprons and take a group picture after the awards are announced.

My apron collection

At the Fleischmann's Contest last Tuesday, my friend Fancheon won the dessert pizza contest and placed third in the original yeast bread contest. Yes, Fancheon is simply an amazing lady. I want to grow up to be just like her! Anyway, the rule book allows you to enter both contests but then it stated "one award per winner." The judges reviewed the rules after the contest and decided she couldn't place in both contests. Apparently my Asiago Rolls were the next highest placing so they took away her third and gave it to me.



Fancheon still beat me as far as I'm concerned but there was prize money involved and the sponsor did not want to award two prizes to the same person so they gave her her highest award and moved me up.

Next, I checked on my pies.

Blueberry Crumble got second

(looks like my filling held up this time!)

Dutch Apple got second

Two pies. Two placings. I'm happy. Mary Alice Collins brought 26 pies to the fair this year. One in every category. Her Apple Walnut took the Pie Sweepstakes. Her husband is Darl Collins. He's the guy that brought over 20 cakes this year and won the Cake Sweepstakes. I have no idea how they can bake all that much less get it all to the fair!

Here is my chili...

Red Gold Chipotle Chili

For many of the contests last week I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants, creating recipes last minute on the fly. I really worked on this chili recipe. I made it at least 4 times to tweak it. The first time I made it, my husband's comment was "It's too hot. No one in Indiana except you can eat this chili." Anyway, I put some time into it. I was surprised to find that there was only one judge for the chili contest. Some contests have up to 3 judges who make a consensus decision. I think chili is very variable with everyone having their own tastes and preferences, plus I'm sure it gets hard to taste after the first several servings so I was surprised there was only one judge. I did not place. I was a bit disappointed but I guess you win some, you lose some.

I got back home at exactly 2 pm.

So what was the highlight of my day?

I finally had the chance to download the info off my Garmin onto my computer so I could look at my splits from this morning... and then I just stared in disbelief...

Mile 1 - 8:29

Mile 2 - 7:52

Mile 3 - 8:25

Stopped for 3:38

Mile 4 - 8:06

Mile 5 - 8:15

Mile 6 - 8:28

Mile 7 - 9:33

Mile 8 - 9:04



Apparently I'm quite capable of running at a faster pace when I'm running with someone else and, obviously, I run slower when left on my own. I guess I'm going to make an effort to get my butt out of bed and start running with this group when I can. This gives me more confidence though that I might yet pull off a 3:55 marathon.

I am definitely feeling better about things!