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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Virginia Real Estate Index Report is here

This week the Roanoke College Institute for Policy and Opinion Research released my Real Estate Index Report for the first quarter of 2015.

Overall the market is looking strong, with sellers more optimistic about the future. The table below shows the February 2015 index values for Virginia. An index value greater than zero means that more people are optimistic than pessimistic.

Virginia Real Estate Indexes 

You can read the report here and/or watch an interview I did for WDBJ7 below.

Consumers optimistic about 2015 real estate market

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Race Reports: MB Half Marathon and Sunbelt Meet

It has been a challenge over the last few weeks to fit training and racing into a hectic work schedule, but I made it work without having to sacrifice any major workout session. I competed twice since my last post, once on dry land and once in the pool.

This past weekend I competed in my first road race since turning 40 and the first half marathon since my meniscectomy. The Myrtle Beach Half Marathon falls nicely on the calendar to serve as a fitness indicator race before the Quintiles Marathon (although starting next year it will be two weeks later, and much too close to Quintiles).

Race number
Given I have only hit 60+ miles per week twice, I was not sure how my body would respond, especially after mile 8. The race plan was to start at marathon pace and pick it up after mile 6 or 7. My running buddy Erin was also doing the race, following the same plan. We hooked on to the leading woman in the marathon and her friend around mile 2 and cruised along between 6:40 and 6:45 pace through mile 7. This was a touch faster than we had planned, but it seemed better to run with people, even if it meant pushing it a bit.

I was happy staying with our pack, but Erin made a move at mile 7 (like we were supposed to), so I had to go. We quickly dropped the pace by 10-15 seconds (how Erin was able to do this after being sick all week, I will never know!) We chased teammate Kyle for a few miles and then hung on. At mile 9 I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew as my quads began to scream, but I was able to maintain close to 6:30/mile pace for the remainder of the race.

Driving home to the finish

The finish shoot is sooooo long
I finished the race as the 7th woman and 1st master in 1:26:41 (6:37/mile). My splits were as follows:

6:52
6:40
6:39
6:45
6:43
6:42
6:43
6:29
6:27
6:30
6:28
6:38
6:29
:32

Without Limits team members @MB
I am thrilled with my performance. I felt strong and was able to negative split the race. Swimming is certainly helping build my strength and endurance without running high mileage. My knee felt great both during and after the race. Coach Tom scheduled a 20 mile long run the day after the race, which also went well despite the ridiculous wind/cold. All good signs for the marathon. I think a sub-3:05 would be a great performance based upon this half marathon. Not bad for being out of running for three months!

Sweet track I spent 4 of my Sunday 20 mile run
A few weeks ago I swam in my biggest swim meet this year. It was the 41st Annual Sunbelt Swim Meet in Charlotte, NC. Coach Brett has been cutting my yardage back due to work travel and the increase in the running miles as I near the full marathon. My hope was to not slow down in the 50/100/200 yard events and to try out the 500 yard.

The meet went well as I swam personal bests in all four events (the 500 was slow, but it was my first ever...so PR!)

After the marathon is over, I plan to put more focus on the swim and shorter running events through the summer. Perhaps an aquathon or two this summer! I hope to be ready to go after a marathon PR in the fall.

Enjoy the snow,

Monday, February 16, 2015

February Consumer Sentiment in Virginia Hits Record Levels

My quarterly Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations report for the Roanoke College IPOR came out last week. Our index reached the highest level since we started producing the index in November 2011. The Virginia index values compared to the national values for the last two years are shown below:


Surprisingly, gas prices do not seem to play a large role in household finances and thus perceptions of the economy. Less than 28% of Virginians report gas prices influence their household finances a great deal.

You can read the complete report here.

Additionally, you can watch an ABC 13 story concerning the report below.

WSET.com - ABC13