Jason and I are back from our weekend in Door County. We headed north to run the Nicolet Bay 5K, part of the Door County Half Marathon event. We ran it last year, and this was our first race since last year’s event. However, I have been back outside running for the last two months.

My goal for Saturday was simple – beat last year’s time. I wanted to PR.

I have been feeling really good during the course of my training. I followed Hal Higdon’s 5K Novice training plan, which got me right back to running after the winter off. Right from the start, my natural pace was faster. When I stopped running in late fall, I was running at about a 10:30 pace. During training for this race, I was right around a 10:00 pace, often slipping under 10:00. I was pumped to run this race.

Weather-wise, Saturday did not look promising at first. We woke up to drizzle and a cold wind. Since we took a shuttle bus into the park (Peninsula State Park, our fave!), we had to be there early. We probably arrived at the runners concourse around 9:00am. The 5K didn’t start until 10:35am. So we kept ourselves moving to stay as warm as possible.

All smiles beforehand

Fortunately, getting into the park so early and wanting to stay warm meant a long time to warm up my muscles. We walked the path along the bay a couple of times. On our last loop, the sun finally started to peek out. Yay!

When the race started, I spent the first half mile passing runner after runner. I kept my pace in check – actually, I was running quite a bit slower than usual – so I wasn’t wasting too much energy getting around people. I thought I had lost Jason early on, but he kept up with me as I weaved around other runners.

Once again, the one-mile mark seemed to take forever to reach. The race route goes up to the park’s nature center and hangs a right. At that point, it feels like you should be at one mile. But no. It’s only like half a mile at this point. Tricked us again.

Jason stuck with me until about the 1.25-mile mark. I glanced back just enough to see his tired, pained face. Jason had only run twice with me back in March, so he knew he wasn’t prepared for a complete 3.1-mile run. He didn’t walk for long, and only took two more walk breaks. He finished about three minutes behind me.

After Jason broke away, I approached the only hill on our route. I killed it on that hill! Without even trying, I blazed past two women who I had been keeping pace with. I had no idea where that energy came from.

The sun did come out just as the race started, and by the time I hit the two-mile mark, I was definitely heated up. I tried to space out my cooling strategy (if you could call it that). I waited until the one-mile mark to roll up my long sleeves. At the two-mile mark, I unzipped my half zip (don’t worry – I had another t-shirt layered underneath   ). At the three-mile mark…there was nothing more I could do.

I really pushed myself in the final 1/3-mile. And once I saw the finish line, I gave it all I had. I just focused on the race clock at the finish line and ran. My race time – 30:33 (a 9:50 pace).

I battled the crowd to get at something to drink (not a crowd trying to get at drinks, but more of a spectator crowd – seriously people, get out of the way!) and headed off to our designated meeting spot. I felt like crap for about a minute. By the time I reached our tree and started stretching, I felt fine. Jason and I grabbed more to drink along with a snack – Peanut Butter Cookies with Reeses Pieces – got our results, and headed back to the hotel.

I achieved my goal. I bested my time from last year by 1:58. To celebrate, I got myself a little gift: a bracelet with a Door County 5K charm.

2012 Nicolet Bay 5K Results

• Time – 30:33
• Pace – 9:50
• Overall Place – 164/479
• Division Place (Female 30-34) – 15/51
• Female Place – 75/315

After Thea got her picture taken two weeks ago, I didn’t want to leave Bailey out. Just like her sister, though, she had to be a little stinker when the camera appeared.

Bailey is a fan of laying down in the kitchen. She does this a lot during the summer, because our kitchen is always a bit cooler than other rooms and the chilled floor must feel good.

Tonight, she plops down in her usual spot (above), and I think to myself that I could get a neat photo of her. With camera in hand, I start to lay down on the floor myself and BAM – she’s up. It took a couple minutes of cajoling to get her back in place. Four shots and I captured this picture.

Friday was a great day, start to finish.

First, it was UW Spirit Day. It’s a day for UW-Madison alumni to wear their Badger best and raise awareness of the value grads contribute to communities around the world. As I have the last two years, I broke out the Badger gear to show off my pride at work.

Spirit Day always puts me in a good mood, and the workday went by nice and fast. Score!

After work, I went golfing for the first time this year. Jason is now a member of the Whitewater Country Club, and I think he’s really happy to be back to regular golfing. Jason used to golf every Monday with a few friends, but a different work schedule and a family shifted his routine. I know he has missed golfing all the time, so I’m glad he has the opportunity to go whenever he likes.

As we were loading my golf bag on a pull cart, we were greeted by the local rooster. What the…

I was not expecting that.

Spirit Day was still in full effect – My bag is decked out Bucky style.

It wound up getting rather chilly out and we were basically alone on the course (although Jason tells me that’s the norm). I didn’t do well at all, so I was grateful for the lack of fellow golfers. I definitely got frustrated, but Jason kept me in check (as best he could). I haven’t golfed that much, so I’m not bad from that perspective.

My husband is a beast on the golf course, so I guess I’ll trust his opinion  

After golf, we headed to our regular fish fry joint. All in all, it was the perfect Wisconsin Friday.

Sunday evening, on the way back home from dinner out, we stopped by the lot for a walk. I haven’t shared (or taken) any photos of the clearing that’s been done. Thanks to 40° weather back in January, Jason made some amazing progress along the front tree line. And as a result, we’ll be having one major bonfire in the near future.

Burn Pile #1

Burn Pile #2

Burn Pile #3

Oak Tree Before (August 2010)

Oak Tree Now

Lots of scrubby bushes are gone

Like other REI co-op members, we received our annual dividend a few weeks ago. And like many of them, we promptly spent it.

Last year, we spent our dividend on backpacks for our [failed] Yosemite High Sierra Camp Trip.

Side Note: I saw that they started plowing the Tioga Road in Yosemite this week. Pretty sure that this High Sierra season will go off without a hitch. Just our luck  

So what did we pick up this year?

Since our first try at backpacking was foiled, we’re taking a new approach. We had the packs. Now we have the tent. We haven’t planned a specific trip yet, but we’ve discussed some easy trip options here in Wisconsin. I’ll keep you posted.

As for the tent, I had read good things about REI’s Half Dome tents, so we chose the REI Half Dome 2 Plus. With a husband measuring in at a height of 6’5″, the extra room of the Plus version wasn’t just for luxury, it’s a necessity.

Now that the major pieces of the backpacking puzzle are in place, it’s time to plan an actual trip. Of course, it will have to wait until we return from Yellowstone. That trip is approaching fast!

That’s our Thea.

Jason never ceases to amaze me. His Valentine’s gift to me this year was tickets to see Giada De Laurentiis speak in Milwaukee. She is one of my favorite chefs, and she helped me discover a love of cooking. The other cool part of the evening/gift – each ticket holder received an autographed copy of her latest book, Weeknights with Giada. So cool!

I stumbled upon Giada’s Food Network show, Everyday Italian, shortly after it first started and at a time when I wanted to learn to be a better cook. For the longest time, my Saturday morning ritual was watching her show followed by Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa (my other favorite). Her food is accessible, and while her recipes are simple, they taste amazing! It was so cool to see her in person (she is really tiny) and hear her talk about her family, her career, and of course, her food.

Some of my favorite recipes to make are her recipes. If you’re looking for some yummy Italian food to try, here are my faves:

• Lemon Spaghetti
• Chicken or Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce
• Pasta alla Formiana

Jason and his dad headed out to the country lot this week. We still hadn’t found two of the lot’s corner markers, so they headed out with a metal detector to find them. In the process, Jason found this…

This is the craziest thing yet in this whole country home adventure. Jason figures that there are probably more, so we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on future lot walks.

Have you seen The Hunger Games movie? Jason and I made it our date night for March and saw it on its opening weekend. That is rare for us, seeing a movie opening weekend, and it has been a long time since I’ve been in that packed of a movie theater.

I read the Hunger Games trilogy of books last year and absolutely loved them. I’ve been re-reading them over the last few weeks in anticipation of the movie. If you haven’t read the books or haven’t seen the first movie, I would highly recommend doing both.

In the lead-up to the movie, I found myself watching the trailer online each day. On top of that, I found the video for one of the songs on the soundtrack, Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift. I actually enjoyed it – and keep in mind that I am not a fan of country music. Even though the song is not upbeat by any means, I found myself fixated by the video. Why? The scenery reminded me of our fall trip to Shenandoah National Park.

Watch the video here:

Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars – Safe and Sound (The Hunger Games)

Have you watched the video? Now, tell me that it doesn’t look like this…

Maybe it’s just me and my memories of our visit, but the video definitely took me back. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed our visit to the park, however short it may have been. It’s definitely a place I would like to return to someday.

To the man who got me to camp…

To the man who got me to hike…

To the man who is discovering new hobbies with me…

To the man who is exploring the world with me…

I wish a very happy birthday to Jason, my best friend and partner for life!