Saturday I ran the first BITTS 5k.

B.I.T.T.S. is a local boot camp. I don’t know what it stands for, but my friend Sandy does their bootcamp a few days a week, and has Brian as her running coach the other days. Since the BITTS lady knows Sandy runs, she asked her to help organize the 5k. There wasn’t much to organize their first time around. It was just at a local park with chalk arrows on the ground showing our course.
The race benefited Operation Attack on Poverty. If you brought food or clothing donations it was free.

Sandy & me before the 5k, 6:55am

The sights were boring at first – mobile homes and parking lots – but ended with a lake, bridge and trees.

They had smoothie coupons, water bottles and pens in little drawstring backpacks as goodie bags. Then a Kodak rep came with BPA-free reusable, collapsible water pouches on carabiners. Those were cool! I got some more from her to use for Digital Running goodie bags.

There were prizes for the first 4 finishing males and females, and a few random prize drawings. They picked “16th female” out of the basket, and I won an oil change. That’s probably my first race prize! They also had a prize for the first finishing stroller-pusher. She got a Kodak all-in-one photo printer-scanner-fax machine! (But she handed the stroller off to her husband and mile 2 so some say she cheated, but she was the only one with a stroller so she won by default).

I ran in my Tees by Tina tank top, spinning shorts from Bodyrock, Brooks shoes – don’t remember the socks. I had a Bondi Band that I actually wore on my wrist to wipe away sweat.

Me, post-5k

I also made a new playlist, and some of the songs were from online suggestions of songs I never even heard before. I checked to make sure they had the right tempo, and then chose 14 random songs to keep my feet moving and surprise my brain that morning. (14, in case I fast-forwarded through some).

The funniest part of the race (for me) was running towards the 2-mile marker, which was the BITTS lady’s dad in a lawn chair pointing which way to go. Right at that moment Axl Rose was singing “Where do we go now?” from Sweet Child o’ Mine (they weren’t ALL new songs, but it was an online suggestion) and the lyrics just went perfectly with the seated dad pointing me around to the right.

I went in the race knowing I avg a 12-min-mile and came away with a 36+ min 5k, so I was right where I expected. But my friend Janet said the course was long.

What they need next year: Music & someone stretching people out at the finish. Or if they want to attract a larger crowd – a chip-timing system. But since all I was expecting was a little neighborhood 5k, it was just fine.

Songs I ran to: Warmed up to Coming Home – Diddy Dirty Money
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – got me started off right
Moves Like Jagger – by now my heart figured out that I was running and this makes me smile
Stronger – Kanye version (since OJ had Isotoners…)
Boys & Girls – by Pixie Lott (hadn’t listened to her in many months)
Waka Waka – we used to dance to this in Zumba class so it gets me moving!
Keep Your Head – the Ting Tings (new to me)
Tightrope – Janelle Monae (new to me, I skipped the last 2 mins)
Gone Daddy Gone – Gnarls Barkely (recommended online) kept me from taking a walk break
Run Run Away – Slade (the old 80s song, ended up skipping it)
Sweet Child o Mine – GnR version
In My Head – Jason Derulo (one of those songs I am embarrassed to admit I dance my butt off to in the car.)

lunch of champions

I had a volunteer meeting for a fundraiser that afternoon where we were treated to a diner lunch and gelato – the snacks of 5k running champs I’m sure! I got 2 eggs over hard, has browns and plain whole wheat toast (which was under $4!) I was surprised that the diner was decked out with Marilyn Monroe art and memorabilia. Choosing a gelato flavor was much more difficult. I ended up with half extra-dark chocolate and half turtle cheesecake. YUM!

While we were talking on the sidewalk eating gelato we met up with a guy who started a 501c3 that sets up booths around town where people can paint wooden swings, and they hang the swings around the city. (Does that make him the lead Swinger?) I’m not really sure how they raise money or what for (I’ll read about it eventually), but I suggested he do pink swings for Oct. Breast Cancer Awareness month and help support My Hope Chest, and he really liked that idea. If any of you bloggers want to write a PINK POST for Oct. Breast Cancer Awareness month, I am friends with the Founder of My Hope Chest and can provide answers to interview questions, artwork, data, etc.

That night we had a couple fun things going on. Some of our friends are in a Rotary group. Their Rotary is raising money to create a Flugutag to race for the Tampa Bay Red Bull Flugtag. (Seriously, click that Flugtag link. Even the first 10 seconds are worth the giggle.) They had a movie night in someone’s backyard. They were projecting Anchorman on a big sheet and set up chairs and had food & beverages for sale. The great news is that the hosts live a few blocks from us and want to start hosting movie night every Fri. Basically they’ll just project a movie and let friends know which one it is, and if it’s something you like you can stop on by. Brian and I got cozy in the hammock – but we missed the end of the movie because I got a text…

**WARNING – GROSS FOOD AHEAD** Our friends wanted to take a little adventure to find Munchies 420 Cafe – a hole-in-the-wall in Sarasota that manages to put everything and anything on a sandwich. Take for example the FAT SANDY which is a footlong hoagie with 2 cheeseburgers, chicken strips, onion rings, crinkle cut fries and mozzerella sticks – and to hold it all together it is topped with Mac&Cheese! Although I am always up for an adventure in the middle of a Sat night, I am not always into foods that will cause tummy problems, heartburn and 3 weeks of running off extra calories. Thus I went along, but did not order junk food for myself. I did try their still-warm homemade potato chips and they were delicious. The verdict in the Fat Sandy? The burgers were over cooked and pulled off, one chicken tender was over fried, but the rest blended together in a hard-to-eat, wonderous munchie fantasy. The onion rings were the best part. Or so I was told. By the time we drove back across the bridge from Sarasota I was wiped out and fell asleep before I could count backwards from 99.

– To quickly backtrack to what I missed blogging about earlier last week, Fri I didn’t workout since I knew I was going the 5k on Sat. The Cross Country team came in first place for Varsity Girls. Alice ran despite her tendonitis and took a few mins off last week but is not quite back to below 23 mins yet. Their new shirts say “May the Course be with you” Thurs I did a 3.4 mile run to prep. Not what I would suggest if you are RACING a 5k, but fine for just getting out there and running a 5k.

Deals I took advantage of at Publix this week:

V8 Fusion (instead of the apple juice the kids drink) – Buy one at $3.99, get one free. And I had a $1 off coupon off each, so I got 2 for $1.99 – that makes them $1/ea. We don’t buy the Light because it has sucralose. (Don’t eat foods that rhyme with gross!)

Hunts tomato sauce BOGO – this is the larger can than I usually buy, but I can use half at a time and keep the other half in a jar in the fridge. So for us it’s 4 meals worth of tomato sauce for $2.

Publix frozen organic margherita pizza on sale $3.99

Polaner all fruit spread – this is part of Brian’s PBJ lunch staple – on sale 2 for $5. Coupons on their web site.

Herbal Essences (the usual deal) 2/$5 and $1 off coupon. I wish I had 2 coupons… My kids use a lot of shampoo!

“Buy theirs, get ours free” deal. I bought 2 bags of Nestle chocolate chips with a Save $1/2 coupon and got 2 bags of Publix chocolate chips free. 2 bags are going in the freezer for Thanksgiving when we bake whatever suits our fancy. One is getting hidden in the pantry for me to munch on after dinner at night the next few weeks (shh), and one is going in banana bread that I am baking later today.

And I had a “spend $50 get $10 gift card” coupon, so I’ll save $10 next week. My receipt showed a savings of $35.94.

Then we got free tampons at Target. On sale for $6.99 & I had a $2 off coupon = $5. Their special was buy a box, get a Target $5 gift card = like getting it free! I try to buy my bananas at Target too – they are always cheapest there. $.24/banana. Everyone else sells them buy the pound, but I have done the math and for us it’s cheaper, plus we eat about 12 bananas a week at our house.

Target has Kashi TLC bars Buy 5 get the 6th box free. I put that with 3 coupons – 2 said Save $1.50/2 boxes and one said Save $1.50/any box. So I save $4.50 plus got the free box and we’ll have TLC bars the next few weeks for lunchboxes and the occasional breakfast-on-the-go.