Mulligan x 2

On December 19th my test 5K to determine my marathon training paces did not go as well as planned. Hard to run hard when you have to dodge reindeer, Santas, and a variety of other costumed runners. Overall, I improved on my Turkey Trot race (which is good since that was not all out) and finished in 28:52, far shy of my 26:00 goal. The 28:52 5K translates to paces so slow for training that I might as well be walking. The training pace predictions are not in line with my Hyannis Half Marathon from last February pace recommendations so I am using those now quite successfully. I’ve declared a Mulligan on the Jingle Bell 5K and signed up for another on New Year’s day in Lowell. Now I just have to run fast and hope my result indicates I am running the right paces for my easy runs, long runs, and steady state runs. I hope I get a time that is consistent with those paces, as those predict a 4:15 ish Marathon which would totally rock my world.

The 19th was my Mom’s birthday. Because the race was in the middle of the afternoon with scheduled holiday cheer in the form of adult beverages to follow, we celebrated my Mom’s birthday the night before. She had requested a spice cake be made and declared no one else will be made a birthday cake until “someone” made her one. Being the sweet lover that I am, I accepted the challenge. The cake making went pretty well. It’s hard to screw up cake mix from a box. I thought the frosting would be the hard part since I was making that from scratch. To my pleasant surprise the frosting came out great and tasted like my mom’s. I thought I was through the worst of it. I had severely underestimated. Frosting the cake was my downfall. A 6 year old could have done better. I present photographic evidence as proof. . .

Had there been time I think a mulligan was in order here as well, but there wasn’t time. At least it got a lot of good belly laughs and everyone agreed it tasted MUCH BETTER than it looked.

On the fundraising front, I’ve written and printed all my fundraising letters. Envelope stuffing and mailing to follow. I hope to have some positive updates on my fundraising total early in 2011.