Surfside Marathon Race Report 2-1-2014

Well this run was one full of many lessons. I did come out as third overall women's and first in age group but it was not a comfortable finale. I came in far behind the first place finisher, but the second place finisher passed me at mile 26 (seriously, at mile 26) and I just didn't have it in me to keep up at that point. 

This race was a huge lesson in proper pacing, between running on the sand (full beach course) and the strong tail wind to start and head wind coming in, I couldn't settle on a proper pace and started out way to fast. I might have also let my competitive nature get the best of me rather than running my own race. My final race time was 3:58, 9 minutes slower than I raced at the Houston Marathon two weeks ago. Part of this was the extra resistance from running in the sand but part of it was having a very weak last six miles. 

Looks like things got a bit rough 2.5 hours in, too bad almost 90 minutes were left!

Neat.

Good news: the first 20 miles of the race was incredibly fun. Running on the sand along the ocean while the sun is coming up is a race experience no other course presents. Should you ever choose to run the Surfside Marathon, I suggest carrying your own water bottle as there were only water stops every 2.5 miles or so. It's always a very fun swag bag- this year having a shirt, bag, visor and coaster. The finisher medals and trophies are always very fun and unique.

I wore the same gear as in the Houston Marathon and still loving all of it! 

Recipe of the week: Pumpkin Cookies

I am constantly plagued by a raging sweet tooth and could easily ruin the next day's workout by eating a whole box of sugar cookies. Luckily a while back I happened on a cookie recipe that uses pumpkin (yum!) and packs a heavy protein kick!

What you need (it looks like a lot, but most of it you probably have!): 

They keep well for snacks at work to!

• 3/4 cups sugar (original recipe uses splenda sugar replacement)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup flour (white or whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup soy flour
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tsp water

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, adding in wet ingredients after well blended. Roll the whole mixture into 14 balls and put on sprayed cookie sheet.
• Bake for 5 minutes. Yes 5 minutes only, they get very dry if over baked.