Another post revolving around my dog

Have you entered my Mizuno Wave Rider 15 raffle yet? Every $5 donation to Open Heart Magic = 1 entry. If you've already participated in a previous raffle, you don't have to donate again if you're looking to enter. Details on the original post! The raffle goes until Monday morning!

All week I look forward to meeting up with my Thursday night running group. However, Metra had other plans. My normal train was indefinitely delayed so I had to take a later train. That got me into the train station at 6:35 when our group run started at 6:30. Dang you Metra!! I was still planning on running, but I decided to eat dinner and relax a bit first before heading out.

This face kept following me around because she knew she was going with!

My goal was to do 5 miles and I wasn't sure how I wanted to pace it. Once I was out there and realized it was cold and there was wind, I decided to do a tempo run (aka I'll be home and done faster). I warmed up the first mile, had 3 tempo miles at about 8:15 pace, and then a cool down (which was actually still kind of quick). In the end I completed 5 miles in 42:22 (8:28 pace). Pepper was a trooper and loved every minute of it. She kept looking back at me, checking on me. She kept up great with the pace and I think it is now time to start training her to finish a 5k with me! Some of the smaller races in our area allow dogs so I'm hoping that we can finish one together some time. If she keeps up this great work, she'll be ready.

Afterward I got home, I had an email from Ali at Running with Spatulas, reminding me to take a photo for her virtual race. I already did the miles at the Shamrock Shuffle over the weekend so I decided to have some fun with the dog and a spatula!

I may or may not have put peanut butter on the spatula to make the dog interested!

Next up, my half marathon this weekend! If you're running the Chi-Town Half Marathon too, meet up with us! I'll try to post a pic of my outfit on my Facebook page so you know who/what to look for and say hi! Also, speaking of virtual races, the Jelly Bean virtual race is this weekend too! I'm counting my half marathon towards participation, but there are lots of different options! Check out Run With Jess' page for more details!

What races are on the schedule for you this weekend? Are you also participating in the Jelly Bean race?  Happy Friday Everyone!!