Model Behavior

Yo yo yo! I know I don’t always report on my fitness endeavors but rest assured I am still an avid runner and continue to do strength training a few times a week. After the half marathon last May I decided to focus more on increasing my speed and I have made dramatic improvements! Remember when I was struggling for the half and I was trying to finish 5 miles in one hour? I have been really pushing for a 10:00 minutes mile pace the last few months and I signed up for today’s race knowing my goal would be to hit that pace…and ….I DID IT! 9:56 minute miles to be exact! It was only a 5k race but I was feeling very proud of myself until I received this email when I got home:

Name: Jessie Popelka
Distance: 5K
Time:   30:51
Pace:  9:56
Overall Place: 220 of 328
Place in Gender: 128 of 150
Division M2024 Place: 19 of 19

I know that running is more a race against yourself than the other people…but really? 128/150 for my gender and LAST PLACE in my division? OUCH All the more reason to move my booty during the next race! I will be participating in the buffalo run on September 13th which is a 5 mile race, and my new goal pace is 9:45, although I have heard this particular course is EXTREMELY challenging and boarders on a trail run, but I have 6 weeks to get into shape for it so…bring it on!

After the race we hit up the farmers market and scored big time:

This obscene amount of squash (approximately 40 lbs!!)was only FIVE DOLLARS! Apparently this farmer had a huge surplus and was worried they would go rotten before they sold so he was selling them by the bucketful for dirt cheap!

We had to drag it around the market in a black trash bag, one guy actually asked us if we had a dog in there…creeper.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to prepare squash? Clearly we will be eating A LOT of it in the next few weeks I will be posting some of our many squash endeavors this week, stay tuned!