Family Matters

I had a rare and really fun weekend this past weekend. For my mom and nephew's birthday my brothers (10 and 8 yrs older) and their wives and children decided to come up to NJ so we could all hang out and take mom out for her birthday dinner. Mom was really happy because we weren't all able to get together for the holidays and she missed her grandkids. (3 boys and 2 girls age range 10 to 4). I was also really happy because the last time I saw the boys was at my wedding and I hardly got to see them at all!

Anyhow, my brother and his wife are training for their first 1/2 Marathon (Shamrock 1/2 in VA Beach- I'm running too) and my bro called ahead of time to tell me he needed to do 8 miles Sat morning and I said I'd definitely join him and I told him I knew a great 8 mile loop from Mom's! He just got a Garmin for Christmas and so did his wife so we suited up and headed out on a beautiful day! Wow it was sunny and mild. My sister in law wasn't up for a full 8 at our pace so I said I'd loop back around and swap her out for my bro so I could get in a full 12. I had an awesome run with both of them! My bro and I hit really great splits, nice and even around 8:15 avg. I wore my sister-in-law's HR monitor which was really neat. I've never worn one before so I wasn't sure what to expect. My avg HR came out to about 162 for the whole run. I felt like we were working hard but at an "all day" pace the whole time. We had fun chatting and I enjoyed taking my bro on a tour of the area around my Mom's house. He had no idea there were so many farms and huge estates hidden back in the trees.

It was really fun to run with my brother who has gotten into running in the last year or so and is still really excited about it. I've been running for so long that it was refreshing to run with someone so new. I'm really excited to go down and run the Shamrock 1/2 with them, although my brother had to rush out and head back home unexpectedly on Sat night because his ship was activated to bring supplies down to build a pier in Haiti so that supplies can get in more easily. He's not sure how long he'll be down there, but if he misses the 1/2 I'm sure he'll get right back out there and find a new one to run. He's already talking about a full marathon in the fall!!

Here are the numbers from Saturday's family affair:

8:35

7:57 (speedy!)

8:13

8:14 (yeah consistency!)

8:20

8:27

8:19

8:15

(swapped out my bro for my sis in law)

8:45

8:26

8:40

9:01 (too much gabbing) :)

Total: 12.01 miles in 1:41, 8:26 avg pace and HR avg 162

Overall it was the best long run I've had in a long time- and most of my long runs have been great! I'm SO ready for the Manhattan 1/2 marathon next weekend! :)