The next race that I did was only a 5k. It was an unexpected race. I had several friends that were running and since I am always running in the race, I thought it would be awesome to watch and cheer on the runners. Who am I kidding? Once a runner always a runner.
We have a group of middle school aged kids that run with a team called Kicking Up Asphalt. It is awesome seeing kids getting into the fitness world. I was talking with one of the leaders in charge at the rec and asked if they needed more runners. I was thrilled to be honest that they allowed me to run with me. I rushed home real quick and changed clothes. Since I was in a hurry, I grabbed my old running shoes for two reasons. Like I mentioned I was in a hurry and two I wanted to see if my ankle would give me problems with my feet. Got up to the start line and it was so funny to see the kids getting ready to start.
They were all lined at together and once we were told to go they started sprinting. As most of you know, the first piece of advice that many people give first time runners is what? Correct. Don't take off too fast. Not even 2/10 of a mile in the kids started dropping back. So I took my time and met up with 3 girls. They were doing awesome!!! Come to find out they attend the church that I do and we were able to chat a little bit while running. Then we come to the hill. When I first started running, I will be honest I dreaded hill. Quite frankly I was terrified of them. Trying to maintain my pace and not overdo it going up was a hard and what seemed like an impossible task to accomplish. So this is part of the reason that I started to encourage them to keep moving and that they had it. At this point, one of the girls was complaining about her legs hurting.
Every runner was a beginner at one time and can't certainly sympathize with them at this point. I kept reminding them that once they made it up this hill that it was all downhill from there. They did great but my goodness. Trying to keep up with middle aged kids running downhill was not an easy task. I don't think that I have ever focused more on my breathing than at that particular moment. I was so proud of them when they crossed the finish line. When I looked at the clock, it was 31:03. Certainly not my best but I was focused on the kids and they did great.
After I finished and caught my breath, I went out and was helping to bring in the other runners that were still finishing. Running along side them till they got close to the finish line and then heading back. After most of the runners finished, I went out to see if there was anyone else left. I was able to meet a great person. He was pushing through till the end and he never gave up. When he got close to the finish line, he grabbed a torch and ran with it across the finish line. About everyone was cheering for him at the finish line and that was an amazing thing to be a part of it. I am so proud of him and each and every kid that finished. You had the courage to start and finished with strength. Keep going and you are already great in my book.
Sometimes running isn't about the best times that you have but the lessons you can pass down to others. You never know what difference you can make in someone's life by just talking to them at the start or finish line. Maybe in your case encouraging someone along the way on the course. Whatever the case may be, you can be an inspiration to others. How will you use it?
So until next time.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Ran a 10k & all I got was a dam rock
Hey guys!! Sorry that is seems like I am not posting as much as I did when training for my half marathons. I am currently trying to take a break from running and focus more on my weight training and core work. I am hoping this will help me to be a better runner. In the meantime, I have completed two races. One was a 10k and the other was a 5k. In this post, I will talk about the 10k that I did a week ago.
The 10k was at a dam in here in town and was put on by a couple of people from our church. I had been keeping an eye on the weather and cringing every time I checked it. It was looking like it was going to be a crisp 25 degrees when the race started and that was at 8 in the morning. Race day came and sure enough it was around 25 degrees. Freezing cold and to be honest, I questioned my sanity. I have run 3 half marathons to date and I was beginning to wonder if I had really lost my mind running in below freezing temperatures. Because of who I am, I still got dressed in pants, a sweat shirt, a hate and headed to the start line with all the other runners.
I know one thing for sure was that I need to go shopping for winter running clothes. What I wore that morning was just not cutting it. I got maybe half a mile in and my toes were numb. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they fell off. It took probably 2 miles or so before I could feel them. In between my toes warming up, my nose was running with no end in site. With the way my nose felt, I would have thought that I was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Eventually I was able to feel about everything.
As I have mentioned before, I have had ankle issues and was really hoping and praying that I wouldn't have any issues during this run and that was not the case. A little bit before mile 4, I was trying my hardest to run and pop my ankle by swinging it to the side and twisting it all this while running. I am sure that I was a site to see. I just couldn't take it anymore by this time and I had to stop and pop it. I learned then that if I stopped and popped it when it first started hurting that I was able to do alright. I still came in a good time. Placed 2nd in my age group and the medals were a rock from the dam. Hence the title of this post. :) I had one of the best runs that I have had in a long time and there were numerous things that contributed to that.
I am just thankful that I am able to run so until next time.
The 10k was at a dam in here in town and was put on by a couple of people from our church. I had been keeping an eye on the weather and cringing every time I checked it. It was looking like it was going to be a crisp 25 degrees when the race started and that was at 8 in the morning. Race day came and sure enough it was around 25 degrees. Freezing cold and to be honest, I questioned my sanity. I have run 3 half marathons to date and I was beginning to wonder if I had really lost my mind running in below freezing temperatures. Because of who I am, I still got dressed in pants, a sweat shirt, a hate and headed to the start line with all the other runners.
I know one thing for sure was that I need to go shopping for winter running clothes. What I wore that morning was just not cutting it. I got maybe half a mile in and my toes were numb. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they fell off. It took probably 2 miles or so before I could feel them. In between my toes warming up, my nose was running with no end in site. With the way my nose felt, I would have thought that I was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Eventually I was able to feel about everything.
As I have mentioned before, I have had ankle issues and was really hoping and praying that I wouldn't have any issues during this run and that was not the case. A little bit before mile 4, I was trying my hardest to run and pop my ankle by swinging it to the side and twisting it all this while running. I am sure that I was a site to see. I just couldn't take it anymore by this time and I had to stop and pop it. I learned then that if I stopped and popped it when it first started hurting that I was able to do alright. I still came in a good time. Placed 2nd in my age group and the medals were a rock from the dam. Hence the title of this post. :) I had one of the best runs that I have had in a long time and there were numerous things that contributed to that.
I am just thankful that I am able to run so until next time.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Change Can Be Good...Right?
Well, I have officially retired my training for half marathons until next year. I am still running and have a few races planned for the remainder of the year.
Tomorrow I have my first cold race. I tend to do better in cooler temps but when we are talking about running in below freezing temps, I will be lucky if the sweat doesn't freeze while I am running.
I am looking forward to this race because of the distance. It is only a 10k and I have noticed that is where I do my best time for a semi long distance run. Anything after that, I truly have to work for it and even then, it doesn't seem like I work as hard as I should because something tends to always go wrong.
Grant it sometimes you can't help it but it aggravates you to know you put months into training and you have to have problems on race day. Ugh!!!
Anyway, instead of putting my primary focus on running this winter and doing classes I have decided to branch out!! Which means change!!! Ahhh!! Yes it can be scary but it can be good. I have decided that I am going to start lifting weights.
This is quite intimidating to me because I have only done weights as far as classes goes. Monday was when I asked myself this question. Change is good...right? I really felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I was constantly looking at my phone to make sure I was doing the exercises right because a friend sent me a link on Facebook to do a weight training program.
It was definitely a struggling first week but I am happy to say that I made it!!! I didn't hurt myself and I must have done the exercises right because I am SORE!!! So that is what is up with me currently and I will be writing a post about my race tomorrow. So until next time.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Middle Half
It has been a little over a week since I ran the Middle Half and I apologize that I am just now writing a recap of the event. Life has been a roller coaster since then. My daughter, Peyton, started running a high fever Tuesday, had to take her to the doc and my husband has been working nights this past week. Busy week but she is on the mend and the hubby goes back to regular schedule Monday. So I am now able to give you the recap.
For this particular race, I had a goal, just like any other race, of the time I would like to finish in but ultimately I just wanted to beat my time from the Women's Half. So around 5:30 last Saturday morning, my entire family, kids included, loaded into the car to head to Murfreesboro. Trip there was good and we were quite surprised that the kids were talking like a hundred miles an hour that early. They are use to getting up early to take Bradley to school but they are no where near as talkative.
Anyway, on the way we stopped at a McDonald's to get everyone else something to eat but me. If I got something to eat there, I would be lucky to finish the race in the set time limit due to being in the port-a-potties most of the time. Now that I gave you a little TMI, I will continue.
We arrived close to the start line around 6:15. To be honest, I never thought that we would get to the start line considering that it took us forever and a day to get through the slow moving traffic to park. Once we parked, the kids had to go to the bathroom. As to be expected at any half marathon or marathon for that matter, there was a line. At this point, I was thinking that stopping to get them something to eat was not such a good idea and we should have fixed them something at home. Once the entire family went to the bathroom, we headed over to Subway to get a group photo of those running that morning from the Mach Tenn Running Club.
I really enjoyed getting to know everyone in the running club from doing the training runs so it was nice that they agreed to do a pic. Afterwards off to the start line we go. I had my mind set on finishing in two hours for this one since it was flat but I honestly figured that it wasn't going to happen. Once the horn blew we were off.
Below are a few pics that were taken by my husband at the start line.
I did good to stay with the pacer for about a mile or so but she started off entirely too fast and if I was going to finish, I needed to keep a good and steady pace so I hung back. Decided to focus on my own race. All along the course, there were people cheering for you and encouraging you along the way with either signs or verbally. It was an amazing experience.
As I have mentioned before, I have found I run better with no music. There was a particular point in the race, can't remember where exactly, that I wish I had music or the ability to VERY effectively tune someone out. I got behind this couple (they were not married or in any other type of relationship other than friends) were discussing the lady's husband's....I think you get my drift from there. After that, I wasn't sure what their relationship was and quite honestly I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from them and their conversation. So as soon as I could muster up enough energy, I passed them and never looked back.
I believe my favorite part of the race was when we saw the first person making the turn around and everyone was cheering for him. Even though we were in a race, it was amazing the amount of cheering that was going on. It almost brought me to tears and then I couldn't help but notice the sheer look of determination on his face. Despite all the cheers, he never looked our way or lost his focus. And he wasn't running with music which was amazing. He finished a little over an hour.
I am still trucking along and here comes the first girl to turn around. Oh my word!!! The excitement that erupted from the pack where I was running. It was an awesome feeling. Everything was going good. I hit the 10k mark and then we hit the hardest part of the race for me. Nothing but straight roads for 2 miles or so. This is where I started to have problems. My left ankle really needed to pop and I couldn't get it to pop.
As I am running, I see this girl bent over in what appears to be a great amount of pain. To be honest, I ran by her at first and just couldn't bring myself to not stop and see if she was ok. Her IT band was bothering and we walked it out a little bit and once I made she was alright, off I go again. Stopping a few times to try and pop my ankle. I definitely slowed down quite a bit at this point but I was still happy with where I was.
Met up with a friend of mine and also met a new friend around the 15k mark. At this point, it was nice to see a familiar face. We ran together for a while and I learned something around this time. Straight up orange juice from an orange is great to have when you are thirsty and have no water. You may not think this is a big deal but coming from someone that doesn't like oranges, it was huge. They went ahead as I am still trying my hardest to run on an ankle that needs to be popped.
Finally I get to the last 5k, at this point I am in a great amount of pain and my pace has slowed down tremendously. I really needed some encouragement and apparently God knew when I needed it. I believe that I met this particular man at the right time in the race. I never got his name but during the last few miles he was the biggest encourager to me. In fact, during the last 2 miles we took turns encouraging each other when we didn't think we could take another step. It was nice to be able to do something other than focus on how far it was before we crossed the finish line.
Once we both were going good, I gave it everything I had and went to that finish line. Including encouraging a girl that was walking right before we made the turn to get on the track. I was excited cause I thought I could sprint to the finish line. Well, for those of you that think a track is asphalt and just painted to look the way it does. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that is not the case. It felt spongy and I was afraid I was going to hurt myself if I sprinted since I had never ran on terrain like that before.
I crossed that finished line and was able to beat my time from the Women's Half. At this point, I thought it was only by like a minute. One thing I liked about this half was that you didn't have to stand there with your hand out to get your medal. They put it around your neck and congratulated you.
Out of all the half marathons, this is by far my favorite and if I am able I plan to do it next year. I have slowly learned that it isn't always about pace but to me, the pure enjoyment of running. I found my love of running again that day. I may not be the fastest but I have a lot of heart and determination. To me, that is more than enough since God has given me the ability to run. Especially when there are those that are unable to and can only wish they could. So until next time.
For this particular race, I had a goal, just like any other race, of the time I would like to finish in but ultimately I just wanted to beat my time from the Women's Half. So around 5:30 last Saturday morning, my entire family, kids included, loaded into the car to head to Murfreesboro. Trip there was good and we were quite surprised that the kids were talking like a hundred miles an hour that early. They are use to getting up early to take Bradley to school but they are no where near as talkative.
Anyway, on the way we stopped at a McDonald's to get everyone else something to eat but me. If I got something to eat there, I would be lucky to finish the race in the set time limit due to being in the port-a-potties most of the time. Now that I gave you a little TMI, I will continue.
We arrived close to the start line around 6:15. To be honest, I never thought that we would get to the start line considering that it took us forever and a day to get through the slow moving traffic to park. Once we parked, the kids had to go to the bathroom. As to be expected at any half marathon or marathon for that matter, there was a line. At this point, I was thinking that stopping to get them something to eat was not such a good idea and we should have fixed them something at home. Once the entire family went to the bathroom, we headed over to Subway to get a group photo of those running that morning from the Mach Tenn Running Club.
Those that were able to make it for the group photo. There were several others that ran the Middle Half than who is pictured above.
I really enjoyed getting to know everyone in the running club from doing the training runs so it was nice that they agreed to do a pic. Afterwards off to the start line we go. I had my mind set on finishing in two hours for this one since it was flat but I honestly figured that it wasn't going to happen. Once the horn blew we were off.
Below are a few pics that were taken by my husband at the start line.
I did good to stay with the pacer for about a mile or so but she started off entirely too fast and if I was going to finish, I needed to keep a good and steady pace so I hung back. Decided to focus on my own race. All along the course, there were people cheering for you and encouraging you along the way with either signs or verbally. It was an amazing experience. As I have mentioned before, I have found I run better with no music. There was a particular point in the race, can't remember where exactly, that I wish I had music or the ability to VERY effectively tune someone out. I got behind this couple (they were not married or in any other type of relationship other than friends) were discussing the lady's husband's....I think you get my drift from there. After that, I wasn't sure what their relationship was and quite honestly I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from them and their conversation. So as soon as I could muster up enough energy, I passed them and never looked back.
I believe my favorite part of the race was when we saw the first person making the turn around and everyone was cheering for him. Even though we were in a race, it was amazing the amount of cheering that was going on. It almost brought me to tears and then I couldn't help but notice the sheer look of determination on his face. Despite all the cheers, he never looked our way or lost his focus. And he wasn't running with music which was amazing. He finished a little over an hour.
I am still trucking along and here comes the first girl to turn around. Oh my word!!! The excitement that erupted from the pack where I was running. It was an awesome feeling. Everything was going good. I hit the 10k mark and then we hit the hardest part of the race for me. Nothing but straight roads for 2 miles or so. This is where I started to have problems. My left ankle really needed to pop and I couldn't get it to pop.
As I am running, I see this girl bent over in what appears to be a great amount of pain. To be honest, I ran by her at first and just couldn't bring myself to not stop and see if she was ok. Her IT band was bothering and we walked it out a little bit and once I made she was alright, off I go again. Stopping a few times to try and pop my ankle. I definitely slowed down quite a bit at this point but I was still happy with where I was.
Met up with a friend of mine and also met a new friend around the 15k mark. At this point, it was nice to see a familiar face. We ran together for a while and I learned something around this time. Straight up orange juice from an orange is great to have when you are thirsty and have no water. You may not think this is a big deal but coming from someone that doesn't like oranges, it was huge. They went ahead as I am still trying my hardest to run on an ankle that needs to be popped.
Finally I get to the last 5k, at this point I am in a great amount of pain and my pace has slowed down tremendously. I really needed some encouragement and apparently God knew when I needed it. I believe that I met this particular man at the right time in the race. I never got his name but during the last few miles he was the biggest encourager to me. In fact, during the last 2 miles we took turns encouraging each other when we didn't think we could take another step. It was nice to be able to do something other than focus on how far it was before we crossed the finish line.
Once we both were going good, I gave it everything I had and went to that finish line. Including encouraging a girl that was walking right before we made the turn to get on the track. I was excited cause I thought I could sprint to the finish line. Well, for those of you that think a track is asphalt and just painted to look the way it does. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that is not the case. It felt spongy and I was afraid I was going to hurt myself if I sprinted since I had never ran on terrain like that before.
I crossed that finished line and was able to beat my time from the Women's Half. At this point, I thought it was only by like a minute. One thing I liked about this half was that you didn't have to stand there with your hand out to get your medal. They put it around your neck and congratulated you.
As you can see in the pic above, I was really struggling to finish because of my ankle.
Crossing that finish line. Despite all the issues that I had along the way, I didn't let it keep me from reaching my goal of finishing and still was able to cut off 3
minutes from my time from the Women's Half 2 weeks prior to this race.
Once I stopped, I was barely able to walk with my ankle problems and was having a hard time finding my family. I eventually just sat down and stretched. I went and got my official time. I had a PR of 3 minutes which was fine with me. After a few minutes, I finally found them and we made the trip to head back to the car. While waiting for the hubby, the guy that I met the last 2 miles of the race told me thank you. I didn't even think I would ever see him again. Let alone have him recognize me or say thank you after the race. It was nice and I am glad that I could help encourage someone along the way.Out of all the half marathons, this is by far my favorite and if I am able I plan to do it next year. I have slowly learned that it isn't always about pace but to me, the pure enjoyment of running. I found my love of running again that day. I may not be the fastest but I have a lot of heart and determination. To me, that is more than enough since God has given me the ability to run. Especially when there are those that are unable to and can only wish they could. So until next time.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Middle Half Marathon is almost here
I realize that it has been a while since I have wrote a blog so I thought I would update you on a few things that have been going on. First off, I have enjoyed not feeling the pressure of trying to improve my time so much. I have actually found my love for running again by simply forgetting about the pace and turning my phone off where it will NOT tell me what my pace and miles are until I have either ended the run or if I double tap the screen. I have also learned that I do better when I am not running with music. I will get to that in a minute. I have been spending some much needed time with my family and we went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. That will be another post.
As the title states, the Middle Half Marathon is almost here. It will be here in 6 days to be exact!! I have mixed feelings about this race. I am excited but at the same time all I hope for is to do better than what I did at the Women's Half Marathon and I would most definitely be a happy camper. This particular half is extremely popular. It's course is flat so there have been numerous personal records set by individuals records broken by the first time finisher. I am looking forward to this because I have read on the website that you have people lining the course to cheer for you as you are running. This is why I have read that they encourage to not listen to music. So you can hear all the people that are cheering for you. Not to mention, I have learned that I tend to do better running without music.
Since this race was only 2 weeks away from the Women's Half, I wanted to make sure that I didn't overdo it before hand and not be able to run at all. So I ran a 3 mile recovery run the Sunday after the Women's Half, I was not out to break any of my personal records that I have made so it turned out to be a very enjoyable run. It also loosened my legs up quite a bit and I wasn't as sore as I was last year. Through the week I did another 3 mile run but I had issues with my shins tightening up and wasn't sure why. I had a friend of mine that has run several half marathons and marathons tell me that it was probably due to the LACK of stretching that I was doing. Also, the team captain said it could be from training those muscles are hard in preparation for the half marathons coming up. Either way I am just glad that it is starting to go away and I believe that making an extra effort to make sure that I stretch before and after has made a huge difference.
So Saturday I did a 6 mile run with a friend and it was awesome. We enjoyed a nice run and was able to spend about an hour just talking and catching up. Since the race is going to be flat, I wanted to make sure that I still had "long" run in me without having issues. Six miles is almost halfway through a half marathon so I decided that would be a good number to do. Everything worked great and I also got to run this morning. The group that I was running with on Sunday mornings is no longer running since the Middle Half is this coming Saturday and I am going to be honest, I thought I was going to go through withdrawals. I had been meeting almost every Sunday to run for almost 2 months. That was until I talked to another friend that will be running the Middle Half as well and we met this morning and ran 3 miles. I had my fastest 1k and fastest mile this morning. How that happened I have no idea but it was nice to know that my body was capable of running that fast.
I am very thankful that I have found my love of running again and I hope that I am able to continue to remember that it doesn't matter what your time is. All that matters is that you tried your best. In the end, that is all that counts. So until next time.
As the title states, the Middle Half Marathon is almost here. It will be here in 6 days to be exact!! I have mixed feelings about this race. I am excited but at the same time all I hope for is to do better than what I did at the Women's Half Marathon and I would most definitely be a happy camper. This particular half is extremely popular. It's course is flat so there have been numerous personal records set by individuals records broken by the first time finisher. I am looking forward to this because I have read on the website that you have people lining the course to cheer for you as you are running. This is why I have read that they encourage to not listen to music. So you can hear all the people that are cheering for you. Not to mention, I have learned that I tend to do better running without music.
Since this race was only 2 weeks away from the Women's Half, I wanted to make sure that I didn't overdo it before hand and not be able to run at all. So I ran a 3 mile recovery run the Sunday after the Women's Half, I was not out to break any of my personal records that I have made so it turned out to be a very enjoyable run. It also loosened my legs up quite a bit and I wasn't as sore as I was last year. Through the week I did another 3 mile run but I had issues with my shins tightening up and wasn't sure why. I had a friend of mine that has run several half marathons and marathons tell me that it was probably due to the LACK of stretching that I was doing. Also, the team captain said it could be from training those muscles are hard in preparation for the half marathons coming up. Either way I am just glad that it is starting to go away and I believe that making an extra effort to make sure that I stretch before and after has made a huge difference.
So Saturday I did a 6 mile run with a friend and it was awesome. We enjoyed a nice run and was able to spend about an hour just talking and catching up. Since the race is going to be flat, I wanted to make sure that I still had "long" run in me without having issues. Six miles is almost halfway through a half marathon so I decided that would be a good number to do. Everything worked great and I also got to run this morning. The group that I was running with on Sunday mornings is no longer running since the Middle Half is this coming Saturday and I am going to be honest, I thought I was going to go through withdrawals. I had been meeting almost every Sunday to run for almost 2 months. That was until I talked to another friend that will be running the Middle Half as well and we met this morning and ran 3 miles. I had my fastest 1k and fastest mile this morning. How that happened I have no idea but it was nice to know that my body was capable of running that fast.
I am very thankful that I have found my love of running again and I hope that I am able to continue to remember that it doesn't matter what your time is. All that matters is that you tried your best. In the end, that is all that counts. So until next time.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Women's Half Marathon...done
I just completed my 2nd half marathon this morning and I will be honest. I was not happy with how the second half of the race went. I started having really bad cramps in my left calf. I tried everything that I could to help get it to where I didn't have to stop. I had no such luck. I wound up stopping and walking and then running a little bit. After that initial stopping point, that was it. I felt like I was needing to stop every so often and I did. My leg was hurting even when I was walking but I pushed through it. I finished and that is all that counts. Although my finish time was not bad and I still had a personal best, I feel like the goal that I had for myself was too lofty and that I just set myself up for failure.
When I got back to my hotel room and had a chance to sit down, I decided to let my body cool off before getting ready. When I was able to get on Facebook, I saw a comment that my mother in law put up on a photo that I uploaded last night. After reading that, I must admit, I cried a little bit. It made me realize that I was going to have bad runs, today was one of them, but I have to two beautiful kids and a husband that are proud of me no matter what my time is or how many times I might have had to walk because of cramping. It was then that I realized that I put too much focus on the time that I am going to have and not on having fun or just happy that I was given the opportunity to run.
There are numerous things that I could tell you about the race but I think that the most important thing that I can tell you is what I learned. I learned today that no matter the reason that you run, whether it is for competition to win, health reasons or to just finish, that you do it with everything that you have. That whatever you do, you do it with your heart.
I will be honest with you, I spent time in a pity party for myself because I didn't reach my goal. Once I read that comment from my mother in law, everything changed. My family is proud of me for just completely 13.1 miles and they don't care how I finished. Whether I ran the whole time, run/walked or walked the entire thing. I am relieved that is the case because I may just be a middle of the pack runner for as long as I choose to run. You know what? That is ok and I am happy with that. You want to know why? Because God gave me the ability to run and I am thankful for that.
I have another race coming up in a couple of weeks and I am going to try something. I am going to try running with my heart and not worry about anything else. I love to run and that is all that it comes down to for me. I want my kids to see me do something that I love and pushing through even though I am not the best. So until next time.
When I got back to my hotel room and had a chance to sit down, I decided to let my body cool off before getting ready. When I was able to get on Facebook, I saw a comment that my mother in law put up on a photo that I uploaded last night. After reading that, I must admit, I cried a little bit. It made me realize that I was going to have bad runs, today was one of them, but I have to two beautiful kids and a husband that are proud of me no matter what my time is or how many times I might have had to walk because of cramping. It was then that I realized that I put too much focus on the time that I am going to have and not on having fun or just happy that I was given the opportunity to run.
There are numerous things that I could tell you about the race but I think that the most important thing that I can tell you is what I learned. I learned today that no matter the reason that you run, whether it is for competition to win, health reasons or to just finish, that you do it with everything that you have. That whatever you do, you do it with your heart.
I will be honest with you, I spent time in a pity party for myself because I didn't reach my goal. Once I read that comment from my mother in law, everything changed. My family is proud of me for just completely 13.1 miles and they don't care how I finished. Whether I ran the whole time, run/walked or walked the entire thing. I am relieved that is the case because I may just be a middle of the pack runner for as long as I choose to run. You know what? That is ok and I am happy with that. You want to know why? Because God gave me the ability to run and I am thankful for that.
I have another race coming up in a couple of weeks and I am going to try something. I am going to try running with my heart and not worry about anything else. I love to run and that is all that it comes down to for me. I want my kids to see me do something that I love and pushing through even though I am not the best. So until next time.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Almost time!!!
Today I completed my last run before the half marathon Saturday. I did one 3 mile run and worked on my pace Tuesday and today I did a 3 mile tempo run on the dreadmill. I usually try to steer clear of running on it but I really wanted to make sure that I was able to maintain a tempo run and not wind up doing speed work. Which is usually what happens if I go outside.
Now that I have those completed, I just have to wait for Friday to get here so that I am able to go and pick up my packet. I am so excited that I am not able to put it into words but on the flip side I am a little nervous.
Last year I ran and barely beat the time I said I would complete it in. Along the course, I let my mind play tricks with me and I honestly thought I wasn't going to finish. I am afraid I am going to have those same thoughts come back. I know what I need to do but it is easier to say it than to actually do it. I trained for 4 1/2 months for this race and I ran 11 miles for my last long run. That is 3 miles longer than last year. I have put in the training and I just need to learn to trust it.
My biggest issue when running is I tend to let my mind tell my body what to do. Especially when I know I am capable of so much more. That is what I am afraid will happen this time around. Your body hears everything and I need to learn to think more positively. Now that I have totally just spilled everything about how I feel when running, I will share with you what my goals are for this race.
Last year I barely finished under my estimated finish time of 2:45. I came in at 2:43:09 which isn't bad considering I had only started running in April of the same year. This year I estimated to finish in a time that I know see as a lofty goal but you have to have a goal to work toward. Even if it takes more than one time to reach. Just as long as you never give up.
The last long run I did was 10 miles and I finished it in 1 hour 39 minutes and some odd seconds. Almost a 20 minute difference in time from the previous 11 mile run. So I am praying for nice weather for Saturday and if I can run like I did for my 10 mile run I should finish anywhere between 2:10 to 2:15. A difference of 28-33 minute. That would be awesome.
There is something that I will remember when I get ready to run that my dear friend Ken told me Monday night in Zumba. Just do your best. That is the plan and as long as I do my best I will be proud of the outcome.
I am going to take a few pics at the expo to blog about the night before the race and then another one either Saturday or Sunday to share my experience running this time around versus last year's experience. So until next time.
Allow the hiccups and move on
Well, I had a few hiccups last week that prevented me from doing as planned but that is life for you. I ran last Thursday with a friend. I had only planned to run 3 miles with the Mach Tenn Running club but my friend wanted to get in 5 miles so I was like sure why not. Turned out to be a good idea but I will get to that in a minute.
I just took it easy on this run because I have been so paranoid that I will get injured. I had a nice easy 5 mile run and was able to carry on a conversation which I normally can't do. Then here is where the hiccup came along.
A couple of years ago, everyone in my family got the flu and both kids had strep throat as well. I was the only one that lucked out and didn't get the flu. However, I did have it when I was pregnant with my daughter. Since then, we have gotten the flu shot and it usually turns into a family affair. The kids will go to the pediatrician's office and get theirs. Then later that afternoon, Brad and I will go to our local pharmacy to get ours.
Later that night, my daughter Peyton had a slight reaction to the shot. She was running a fever and it seemed to take forever for it to come down. Since she was running a fever, I chose against running Saturday just to make sure she wasn't coming down with something. My husband had to work and I didn't want to risk getting other kids sick if she was contagious and not just having a reaction. (My kids usually stay in the nursery at our local rec center when I run if the hubby works.)
Thankfully, she got to feeling better and was fever free for 24 hours so she could go to church. Unfortunately even though she was feeling better, I was unable to run Sunday because Brad had to work Sunday as well. So at this point, I was very thankful I chose to run 5 miles instead of 3 miles to make sure I got a little bit of a long run done.
Since this post is getting long, I will do another one on my two short runs this week and getting everything together for the race. So until next time.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
9 days & 4 runs
Some of you may be wondering what the heck the title of this post means. Well the first number is the number of days left before the half marathon. I have been waiting for months to say that we are in the single digits. I have been training for this race since April and officially registered in May so it has been a long time coming. As of right now, my team is the largest team for the half marathon with 20+ team members. It is amazing!!! This is all thanks to our team captain. She has done so much to get the team together. Including getting team shirts. She has also been planning to get together the morning of the race for a pre race photo and a prayer before the race. I am very thankful for all her work she has done and for taking the time to allow us to pray for everyone on our team and other runners before the race begins.
The second number in my title is the number of runs that I have left before the actually race. I will be running 3 miles later this evening and probably another 6 miles Saturday. That one is still up in the air. I was wanting to get people together to run with me but I can't seem to get a time together that works for everyone so I was thinking about doing something different. I am thinking about taking tomorrow off from any type of exercising, running 3 miles Saturday and doing 6 miles with the running group on Sunday morning. This is only dependent on whether or not my husband has to work or not on Sunday. It is his scheduled weekend to work and he won't know until either tomorrow or Saturday if he has to work on Sunday so that plan may get a little tweaked. After that, the plan for next week is to do an hour to an hour and a half on the elliptical machine Monday morning.
The reason that I would like to do this is because I have found it easier to push through those hard moments in my run. Not to mention that it is good cross training exercise for runners. So I want to make sure that I am able to do that one day next week since the race is Saturday. The next day I plan to run 3-4 miles and take the next 2 days off from any type of exercising. The plan that I have scheduled for Friday morning is going to kill me to do but I am going to try my best. I plan to walk with a friend and kinda loosen up before the race. Then all I have to do is get the oldest one from school and drop him and baby girl off at their Granny's and then head up to get my packet and check into the hotel.
Now that I have wrote all this out, I have just realized how busy I will be next week. Not to mention those few things that always seem to pop up at the last minute so let's hope that everything goes well. I am so excited about this race and I can't wait to write about how everything went so that I can share it with you. So until next time.
The second number in my title is the number of runs that I have left before the actually race. I will be running 3 miles later this evening and probably another 6 miles Saturday. That one is still up in the air. I was wanting to get people together to run with me but I can't seem to get a time together that works for everyone so I was thinking about doing something different. I am thinking about taking tomorrow off from any type of exercising, running 3 miles Saturday and doing 6 miles with the running group on Sunday morning. This is only dependent on whether or not my husband has to work or not on Sunday. It is his scheduled weekend to work and he won't know until either tomorrow or Saturday if he has to work on Sunday so that plan may get a little tweaked. After that, the plan for next week is to do an hour to an hour and a half on the elliptical machine Monday morning.
The reason that I would like to do this is because I have found it easier to push through those hard moments in my run. Not to mention that it is good cross training exercise for runners. So I want to make sure that I am able to do that one day next week since the race is Saturday. The next day I plan to run 3-4 miles and take the next 2 days off from any type of exercising. The plan that I have scheduled for Friday morning is going to kill me to do but I am going to try my best. I plan to walk with a friend and kinda loosen up before the race. Then all I have to do is get the oldest one from school and drop him and baby girl off at their Granny's and then head up to get my packet and check into the hotel.
Now that I have wrote all this out, I have just realized how busy I will be next week. Not to mention those few things that always seem to pop up at the last minute so let's hope that everything goes well. I am so excited about this race and I can't wait to write about how everything went so that I can share it with you. So until next time.
New Shoes
It is amazing what a new pair of shoes can do for your feet. As I stated in a previous post, I was in desperate need of a new pair of shoes. With my heels hurting to the point that I was walking on my toes like I was wearing invisible high heels, it was definitely time for another pair of shoes. So last Saturday, the kids and I loaded up and headed to Fleet Feet.
This time I remembered to bring my old pair of running shoes so that they were able to see how I wore the shoes when I ran. I learned that I have a neutral stride and I scrape a little bit on my heel. I always thought that I ran heel first. Guess I was wrong.
Anyway, I tried on several different pairs of shoes to try and find the right fit for my plantar fasciitis. The first pair of shoes were close to the same pair of shoes that I have been running in and those were Aesics. For some reason, these hurt when I walked and even worse when I ran. He tried putting in inserts and they still hurt but not quite as bad. The next pair of shoes that I tried on was Brooks Ghost 6. Those were awesome!! They felt the same with and without inserts so I was tickled about that. The last pair of shoes were New Balance. As soon as I put those on and put my foot down, I was like no these are not going to work. I had a sharp pain shoot up my heel and the back of my calf. There was no way that I could wear something like that to run in.
So to make sure I got the right shoes for me, I tried on the Brooks again and ran in those. They felt pretty good and had the same feel without the inserts. So I walked out with a new pair shoes and they have made a huge difference.
Normally when you get a new pair of shoes, you aren't suppose to break in a new pair of shoes with a long run. I have never really been one to really listen to things like that so I ran my long Sunday in them. It was amazing!! The only thing is that I had to stop and stretch my feet out a couple of times. I also did a short run of 3 miles in them a couple of days ago and they are slowly getting broke in. I have to remember to stretch a little bit before I run since they are still a little stiff but other than that, I couldn't be happier.
I honestly never thought that a pair of shoes could make such a huge difference. I am able to walk without much pain on my hardwood floors and with each run, my feet feel better than the last run. I am definitely not steering away from this brand of shoes. They seem to be doing me quite well. So until next time.
This time I remembered to bring my old pair of running shoes so that they were able to see how I wore the shoes when I ran. I learned that I have a neutral stride and I scrape a little bit on my heel. I always thought that I ran heel first. Guess I was wrong.
Anyway, I tried on several different pairs of shoes to try and find the right fit for my plantar fasciitis. The first pair of shoes were close to the same pair of shoes that I have been running in and those were Aesics. For some reason, these hurt when I walked and even worse when I ran. He tried putting in inserts and they still hurt but not quite as bad. The next pair of shoes that I tried on was Brooks Ghost 6. Those were awesome!! They felt the same with and without inserts so I was tickled about that. The last pair of shoes were New Balance. As soon as I put those on and put my foot down, I was like no these are not going to work. I had a sharp pain shoot up my heel and the back of my calf. There was no way that I could wear something like that to run in.
So to make sure I got the right shoes for me, I tried on the Brooks again and ran in those. They felt pretty good and had the same feel without the inserts. So I walked out with a new pair shoes and they have made a huge difference.
Normally when you get a new pair of shoes, you aren't suppose to break in a new pair of shoes with a long run. I have never really been one to really listen to things like that so I ran my long Sunday in them. It was amazing!! The only thing is that I had to stop and stretch my feet out a couple of times. I also did a short run of 3 miles in them a couple of days ago and they are slowly getting broke in. I have to remember to stretch a little bit before I run since they are still a little stiff but other than that, I couldn't be happier.
I honestly never thought that a pair of shoes could make such a huge difference. I am able to walk without much pain on my hardwood floors and with each run, my feet feel better than the last run. I am definitely not steering away from this brand of shoes. They seem to be doing me quite well. So until next time.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Best long run ever!!!
Today was my last long run before my half marathon next weekend. I was hoping to be able to get 12 miles but I had things that I needed to get at the store after my run so I was only able to get in 10 miles. Those 10 miles was the absolute best long run I have had since I have started training for this half.
I wanted to make sure that I would be able to make Sunday School this morning so another friend and I decided to get started around 5:30 or a little after and get in as much as we could before the group started, then meet the group and run what we could with them. So I was able to get in 4.18 miles before and I believe she got 5 miles because she is a little faster than I am. We were able to watch the sunrise while were running. I can't remember the last time that I was able to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful.
The weather when we first got started was quite chilly so I ran with a jacket and even with that on, I was still cold. My hands were going numb and my face was starting to lose all feeling but I enjoyed every minute of it. Being able to be out and doing something that I thoroughly enjoyed was absolutely amazing.
So we got back to the local rec center where the group meets and she wanted to go a little bit further to get in her 5 before and I had to head back to the car. I was getting hot from where I was wearing the jacket during the run and I just had to shed that thing. Plus, I didn't run with my water bottle for the first 4.2 miles and I have learned that I do better when I run with it, if I am going to be going any further
. I am not stopping and going at each water stop and my overall pace has been a lot better.
Everything was going great with this run. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and twice along the route I was blessed to have been able to see several deer. Two of which let me get pretty close to them. I was doing great and then around mile 8 or so I started cramping really bad in my calf and had to stop to stretch it. It was almost as bad as a Charlie horse. It was terrible and I knew there was no way that I could keep running without stopping so I had no other choice but to stop. As much as I hated to, I knew that I had to.
After stopping and stretching, everything was fine. I was able to get my GU gel and then continue on to finish my run out so that I could get to the store. I was really struggling with the last 8/10 of a mile because my feet were really hurting so I was having to stop and stretch my feet. At the roughest part of my run, I looked to my right and there were two deer eating literally just feet away from me. I was just amazed at how beautiful they were. In case you were wondering, yes I did have to stop to take a picture and they just stood there. Didn't seem to get frightened at all. It was amazing. As I continued running, all I could do was thank God for allowing me to see them. It was just what I needed right when I needed it. It gave me that extra boost that I needed to keep going.
My overall pace for this 10 mile run was 3 seconds faster per mile than my last 10 mile run. Another thing that amazed me was that there was about a 19 minute difference in time from last week's 11 mile run. 19 minutes!!! Which means if the weather stays cool and I keep doing good with my new shoes, I should be able to finish with a great time and PR by a little over half hour. How awesome is that?!?!
I mentioned that I got new shoes earlier. Last week after my 11 mile run, my feet were hurting so bad that when I took off my shoes I was walking on my tiptoes. Like I was wearing invisible high heels. Talk about painful. I kinda dismissed that until they were still hurting Tuesday and then began to hurt a mile into my run on Wednesday. I knew then it was time to get new shoes so yesterday I went and got some. I got a different brand than what I was using and they are AWESOME!!!
So in 13 days I will be running my half and will be able to write all of you and let you know how it went. I am so excited that I get to share this experience with you and hope that you will be checking back after the 28th to hear how it went. Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog and supporting me. So until next time.
I wanted to make sure that I would be able to make Sunday School this morning so another friend and I decided to get started around 5:30 or a little after and get in as much as we could before the group started, then meet the group and run what we could with them. So I was able to get in 4.18 miles before and I believe she got 5 miles because she is a little faster than I am. We were able to watch the sunrise while were running. I can't remember the last time that I was able to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful.
The weather when we first got started was quite chilly so I ran with a jacket and even with that on, I was still cold. My hands were going numb and my face was starting to lose all feeling but I enjoyed every minute of it. Being able to be out and doing something that I thoroughly enjoyed was absolutely amazing.
So we got back to the local rec center where the group meets and she wanted to go a little bit further to get in her 5 before and I had to head back to the car. I was getting hot from where I was wearing the jacket during the run and I just had to shed that thing. Plus, I didn't run with my water bottle for the first 4.2 miles and I have learned that I do better when I run with it, if I am going to be going any further
. I am not stopping and going at each water stop and my overall pace has been a lot better.
Everything was going great with this run. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and twice along the route I was blessed to have been able to see several deer. Two of which let me get pretty close to them. I was doing great and then around mile 8 or so I started cramping really bad in my calf and had to stop to stretch it. It was almost as bad as a Charlie horse. It was terrible and I knew there was no way that I could keep running without stopping so I had no other choice but to stop. As much as I hated to, I knew that I had to.
After stopping and stretching, everything was fine. I was able to get my GU gel and then continue on to finish my run out so that I could get to the store. I was really struggling with the last 8/10 of a mile because my feet were really hurting so I was having to stop and stretch my feet. At the roughest part of my run, I looked to my right and there were two deer eating literally just feet away from me. I was just amazed at how beautiful they were. In case you were wondering, yes I did have to stop to take a picture and they just stood there. Didn't seem to get frightened at all. It was amazing. As I continued running, all I could do was thank God for allowing me to see them. It was just what I needed right when I needed it. It gave me that extra boost that I needed to keep going.
The beautiful deer that greeted me this morning!!!
I mentioned that I got new shoes earlier. Last week after my 11 mile run, my feet were hurting so bad that when I took off my shoes I was walking on my tiptoes. Like I was wearing invisible high heels. Talk about painful. I kinda dismissed that until they were still hurting Tuesday and then began to hurt a mile into my run on Wednesday. I knew then it was time to get new shoes so yesterday I went and got some. I got a different brand than what I was using and they are AWESOME!!!
So in 13 days I will be running my half and will be able to write all of you and let you know how it went. I am so excited that I get to share this experience with you and hope that you will be checking back after the 28th to hear how it went. Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog and supporting me. So until next time.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Always learning something new
After my long run Sunday, my feet were still killing me by Tuesday so I decided that I would try something different. I have always heard that the elliptical machine is good cross training for runners so I thought I would see how that went. Wanted to try it before the race to see if there was a difference in running performance.
So Tuesday morning after I dropped my oldest off at school, I dropped my baby girl off in the nursery and went upstairs. I got started and there were times that I struggled but I wasn't about to let myself stop for one of two reasons. Reason #1 I ran 13.1 miles pretty much nonstop except for through the water stations for 2 hours and 43 minutes last year. Surely I can do an hour on this stupid machine. Reason #2 I am not going to quit and let everyone see that I couldn't finish what I started. There was no way I was going to let that happen.
So I kept trucking on for what seemed like the most boring hour I have ever done but it did make a big difference when running Wednesday. I wanted to get in a few miles before heading to church to cook. I was able to get in 3 quick miles but I learned a lot in those 3 quick miles. Besides learning that I needed a new pair shoes, I was able to push myself further than what I normally do. When I got tired, I just kept making myself think that I was on the elliptical machine and that I knew I could push through this. Which is what I did. Once I got back to the rec center, I was tired but not quite as tired as I would have been. I was proud that I had finally learned a way to push through the fatigue that my legs felt and make myself keep going. I always know that I have it in me to run further and a little faster than what I think I can. That is why when I can't do that, I am always so hard on myself for not doing better.
I honestly can't say that I have ever been so happy of a simple 3 mile run than I was on Wednesday. learned so much just from a few miles. So if you run and struggle with pushing yourself past your comfort zone when your feeling tired, try doing the elliptical machine for a little bit and see if you see a difference. I know I did and if you do, I would love to hear about your experience. I would definitely let you know how my last long run goes and keep you updated on how the half goes. So until next time.
So Tuesday morning after I dropped my oldest off at school, I dropped my baby girl off in the nursery and went upstairs. I got started and there were times that I struggled but I wasn't about to let myself stop for one of two reasons. Reason #1 I ran 13.1 miles pretty much nonstop except for through the water stations for 2 hours and 43 minutes last year. Surely I can do an hour on this stupid machine. Reason #2 I am not going to quit and let everyone see that I couldn't finish what I started. There was no way I was going to let that happen.
So I kept trucking on for what seemed like the most boring hour I have ever done but it did make a big difference when running Wednesday. I wanted to get in a few miles before heading to church to cook. I was able to get in 3 quick miles but I learned a lot in those 3 quick miles. Besides learning that I needed a new pair shoes, I was able to push myself further than what I normally do. When I got tired, I just kept making myself think that I was on the elliptical machine and that I knew I could push through this. Which is what I did. Once I got back to the rec center, I was tired but not quite as tired as I would have been. I was proud that I had finally learned a way to push through the fatigue that my legs felt and make myself keep going. I always know that I have it in me to run further and a little faster than what I think I can. That is why when I can't do that, I am always so hard on myself for not doing better.
I honestly can't say that I have ever been so happy of a simple 3 mile run than I was on Wednesday. learned so much just from a few miles. So if you run and struggle with pushing yourself past your comfort zone when your feeling tired, try doing the elliptical machine for a little bit and see if you see a difference. I know I did and if you do, I would love to hear about your experience. I would definitely let you know how my last long run goes and keep you updated on how the half goes. So until next time.
11 mile long run
Well looks like this post will be split into two separate ones because it will be long since I have not posted a blog in a few weeks and I apologize for that. It seems that we stay pretty busy and my husband has had some issues with his truck so we have been preoccupied. I have been able to get a few runs in so I will tell you how those went.
Sunday I met up with the running group that I have been telling you about. The course was set out to run 10 miles but since my first race is Sept. 28 I needed to run 11. So I decided to add another mile like I usually do when I need to get more in than the group is running. Everything started out great and I ran with another lady for about 3 miles and we chatted off and on. I am definitely not one of those runners that can carry on a full blown conversation with someone else but it was nice to talk when we could.
Then a little further down we split ways and ran out our own pace. This long run seemed a little easier to me. I don't know if it was because I was not having to stop as much because I carried a water with me that slides on your hand when you run. I did great up until about 5 miles when I stopped to get GU gel. I struggled a little bit to get my momentum back up and there was a good half a mile of uphill so stopping and starting back is rough when you turn right around and go up a hill for a solid half a mile. Regardless of how long it took a minute to get started, I still made it up the hill.
After the hill, we had to make another turn and I did pretty good but I could tell that my legs were starting to get fatigued and to be able to finish 11 miles I was really going to have to work for it.
This next part is funny to me now but not on Sunday. I wind up running by myself for most of the run and with the course bring mapped out I still felt as though I was lost. I turned around and went back the way I came. Then when I got to one of the side roads, I realized that I wouldn't have gotten lost so, at the time, I didn't know how far my run was actually going to be. To be honest around 9.5 miles, I actually thought about calling my husband to come and get me. Then I remembered that his truck was at his Momma's since he was working on it the day before. After I realized that, I thought to myself that there was no way that I could have him come and pick me up even if he could have. I would have felt like a quitter and that would have bothered me all week so I kept trucking on. It was slow but I didn't give up.
When I reached mile 10, I really had some major doubts that I would be able to make it. After stopping a couple of times, I even gave myself a pep talk. In case you were wondering, yes it was out loud and yes I did answer myself. Lucky for me, no one was around to hear or see that. :) I literally had to gather what last bit of strength I had to just be able to finish the 3/4 of a mile I had left but I did. I can honestly say after that long run, I have never been so happy to see our local rec center in my life!!!
I have finished yet another long run. This one makes me going 3 miles past what I went last year in training. So even though it may not be the fastest right now, I feel better equipped for it this year and I have only one more "long" run of 12 miles before race day!!! I will do six miles the weekend prior to the race. So until next time.
Sunday I met up with the running group that I have been telling you about. The course was set out to run 10 miles but since my first race is Sept. 28 I needed to run 11. So I decided to add another mile like I usually do when I need to get more in than the group is running. Everything started out great and I ran with another lady for about 3 miles and we chatted off and on. I am definitely not one of those runners that can carry on a full blown conversation with someone else but it was nice to talk when we could.
Then a little further down we split ways and ran out our own pace. This long run seemed a little easier to me. I don't know if it was because I was not having to stop as much because I carried a water with me that slides on your hand when you run. I did great up until about 5 miles when I stopped to get GU gel. I struggled a little bit to get my momentum back up and there was a good half a mile of uphill so stopping and starting back is rough when you turn right around and go up a hill for a solid half a mile. Regardless of how long it took a minute to get started, I still made it up the hill.
After the hill, we had to make another turn and I did pretty good but I could tell that my legs were starting to get fatigued and to be able to finish 11 miles I was really going to have to work for it.
This next part is funny to me now but not on Sunday. I wind up running by myself for most of the run and with the course bring mapped out I still felt as though I was lost. I turned around and went back the way I came. Then when I got to one of the side roads, I realized that I wouldn't have gotten lost so, at the time, I didn't know how far my run was actually going to be. To be honest around 9.5 miles, I actually thought about calling my husband to come and get me. Then I remembered that his truck was at his Momma's since he was working on it the day before. After I realized that, I thought to myself that there was no way that I could have him come and pick me up even if he could have. I would have felt like a quitter and that would have bothered me all week so I kept trucking on. It was slow but I didn't give up.
When I reached mile 10, I really had some major doubts that I would be able to make it. After stopping a couple of times, I even gave myself a pep talk. In case you were wondering, yes it was out loud and yes I did answer myself. Lucky for me, no one was around to hear or see that. :) I literally had to gather what last bit of strength I had to just be able to finish the 3/4 of a mile I had left but I did. I can honestly say after that long run, I have never been so happy to see our local rec center in my life!!!
I have finished yet another long run. This one makes me going 3 miles past what I went last year in training. So even though it may not be the fastest right now, I feel better equipped for it this year and I have only one more "long" run of 12 miles before race day!!! I will do six miles the weekend prior to the race. So until next time.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Killing two birds with one stone
As the title states, I am going to kill two birds with one stone with this post. As stated in my previous post, I did hill work on Friday and then planned to run 10 miles on Sunday with the running club that I have been running with for about a month. I honestly thought that doing hill work on Friday wouldn't really bother me when I got ready to do my long run on Sunday.
I couldn't have been more wrong!!! I was only able to get 6.5 miles in and I struggled to get that in. I just could not pick my legs up due to the tiredness I felt from doing hill work on Friday. After talking with a friend that was finishing up her run, I decided it was best to head in as to avoid risking injury. I was already struggling to get in 6.5 and was lacking 3.5 so I can only imagine what damage could have been done to my body if I pushed through it. I know there are times that you can push through and my body was telling me to stop and rest.
Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed because I didn't meet my goal. Then I quickly reminded myself that is why you train. You find out what works best for you and what doesn't. It is obvious that running hill sprints on a Friday doesn't work for me. On the weeks that I do these particular runs, I will need to do them on a Tuesday or Wednesday where I am able to take several days to recover.
Now on to today's run. I have heard several benefits of doing a tempo run when training for a half marathon or marathon. Basically a tempo run is where you run slower than your race pace. I am 25 days and counting away from running my first half marathon for the year and I have yet to incorporate these types of runs into my training plan. I have done speed work, hill sprints and short and long runs but no tempo. After the way my run went Sunday, I thought I would give it a shot.
I had asked a friend of mine if she was running today and was going to join her if she was. Since she has had a couple days to rest she planned to go a little further and I thought I would go as far as I could with her. Well, my ambition got the best of me. I pushed to go as far as she did and I did what I could. I also did something that I rarely let myself do because I have always felt like a failure for doing so. I have always wanted to run an entire distance even if I was really slow but today I allowed myself to walk. I just paused my run and walked.
To be honest, I was disappointed in myself for walking and then I got to looking around. At that moment I realized that everytime I have stepped out the front door to run, I have always gotten so into my runs that I never actually took the time to enjoy where I was running. And you know what? I did that today and even though my time was not anywhere near where I would have liked for it to be, I thoroughly enjoyed my run. Seeing all of God's creation and realizing I have never stopped to smell the roses sorta speak. It was AMAZING!!! It was like I was given a new pair of eyes and was seeing for the first time. I honestly don't think I have ever saw everything around me like that before.
I am telling you this because I am wondering when was the last you stopped to smell the roses and enjoy everything around you? Taking in all of God's creation. I do believe that when I lace up again it will be different. So until next time.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Have I lost my mind?
Last week I blogged about my first experience with doing hill work. I honestly never thought that I would do it again without my friend that I did them with the first time but I guess I proved myself wrong. It has been a long week. I ran my 10 miles Sunday and did sprints Tuesday with a friend. I attempted to run Thursday but I just wasn't feeling it. We had a few things come up the day before that were really wearing me down so when I went out for my run it wasn't pretty. I didn't get in the distance that I was hoping for either.
It was really wearing me down that I wasn't able to push myself to do more that what I did. So I decided I would run yesterday. I normally don't run on Fridays because I take a water class and then take Saturday off completely to get ready for my long run on Sunday. At our local rec center, there are no classes this weekend due to it being Labor Day weekend. So I decided I was going to make up for not getting my miles in that I wanted to.
I decided that I would go out and run an easy 3 miles. Well I quickly decided that I would do hill work and started the first of four sprints up the first hill. At that point, I quickly thought to myself, "Have I lost my mind?" But I already started so I had to finish. I did 3 different hill sprints with each hill being a little steeper than the next one. I did the second hill four times and even set a PR sprinting up it. I was extremely excited about this because I usually slow down dramatically when going up hill and this time I actually was going faster than I normally do when I am running. Below is a picture of on of the hills that I sprinted up. Even though it doesn't look steep, it is and it is one of the ones that I would easily slow down on but not anymore. :)
Next comes this big hill that just about everyone I know that runs or walks doesn't like it. Including me. I dread that hill everytime I hear about a 5k or 10k going down that way. I learned the last time I did hill work that you don't need to let the hill dominate you. You dominate that hill. Even if it means you feel like throwing up once you get to the top which is exactly what I felt like doing after running up these hills repeatedly.
I am wanting to do this type of hill work until the week of the half and take that week off from running hills because I will get plenty of hills when I run the half. The course is the same as it was last year so I feel as though I have an advantage. I remember quite a bit about the course. Especially the hills. Even though I have heard that it isn't as hilly as it has been in the past. Don't even want to begin to imagine that.
I know last year I struggled quite a bit with the hills. Mainly because I didn't train properly. I feel that if I would have trained like I am now then I wouldn't have struggled so much. I am hoping that my training this time will pay off and I will be able to do a lot better.
Compared to last year I don't feel as though I am as nervous because I have trained well and I am trusting my training. I know I have said it before but I feel that I was unprepared for my half marathon last year. I only ran 8 miles in training and then turned around and ran 5.1 miles longer to complete my half. I am very lucky I didn't permanently damage anything and make it to where I would be unable to run at all.
As I have said before, you need to do your homework. In running, it would be training properly. If you don't train properly, you will get injured. I only know one person right now that doesn't really have to train and she runs like she has been training for months. She ran a half marathon just because she felt like it and had an amazing time. Makes you wonder what the difference in time would have been if she had trained. I am saying this to all of you that read my blog so that you don't run into the same problem I did. So you are able to run your next race. I am still learning so I am just telling you based on my experience. I would love to be able to hear about your running experiences and if you don't run, tell me about what you do that brings you happiness.
So until next time.
It was really wearing me down that I wasn't able to push myself to do more that what I did. So I decided I would run yesterday. I normally don't run on Fridays because I take a water class and then take Saturday off completely to get ready for my long run on Sunday. At our local rec center, there are no classes this weekend due to it being Labor Day weekend. So I decided I was going to make up for not getting my miles in that I wanted to.
I decided that I would go out and run an easy 3 miles. Well I quickly decided that I would do hill work and started the first of four sprints up the first hill. At that point, I quickly thought to myself, "Have I lost my mind?" But I already started so I had to finish. I did 3 different hill sprints with each hill being a little steeper than the next one. I did the second hill four times and even set a PR sprinting up it. I was extremely excited about this because I usually slow down dramatically when going up hill and this time I actually was going faster than I normally do when I am running. Below is a picture of on of the hills that I sprinted up. Even though it doesn't look steep, it is and it is one of the ones that I would easily slow down on but not anymore. :)
Next comes this big hill that just about everyone I know that runs or walks doesn't like it. Including me. I dread that hill everytime I hear about a 5k or 10k going down that way. I learned the last time I did hill work that you don't need to let the hill dominate you. You dominate that hill. Even if it means you feel like throwing up once you get to the top which is exactly what I felt like doing after running up these hills repeatedly.
I am wanting to do this type of hill work until the week of the half and take that week off from running hills because I will get plenty of hills when I run the half. The course is the same as it was last year so I feel as though I have an advantage. I remember quite a bit about the course. Especially the hills. Even though I have heard that it isn't as hilly as it has been in the past. Don't even want to begin to imagine that.
I know last year I struggled quite a bit with the hills. Mainly because I didn't train properly. I feel that if I would have trained like I am now then I wouldn't have struggled so much. I am hoping that my training this time will pay off and I will be able to do a lot better.
Compared to last year I don't feel as though I am as nervous because I have trained well and I am trusting my training. I know I have said it before but I feel that I was unprepared for my half marathon last year. I only ran 8 miles in training and then turned around and ran 5.1 miles longer to complete my half. I am very lucky I didn't permanently damage anything and make it to where I would be unable to run at all.
As I have said before, you need to do your homework. In running, it would be training properly. If you don't train properly, you will get injured. I only know one person right now that doesn't really have to train and she runs like she has been training for months. She ran a half marathon just because she felt like it and had an amazing time. Makes you wonder what the difference in time would have been if she had trained. I am saying this to all of you that read my blog so that you don't run into the same problem I did. So you are able to run your next race. I am still learning so I am just telling you based on my experience. I would love to be able to hear about your running experiences and if you don't run, tell me about what you do that brings you happiness.
So until next time.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
One more down...4 more to go
I have completed another long run today and have 4 more to go before race day. I have been on cloud nine since this morning for two reasons. I ran 10 miles this morning and cut off 8 seconds off my average overall pace per mile!!! I have been so tickled. Don't know if you remember me saying in an earlier post that the farthest that I went in training last year was 8 so running 10 today was a huge deal to me. I am so excited and even more so looking forward to race day!!!
I did, however, have to get started earlier than most of the runners did. The group was running 6 miles this morning and I needed to get in 10 so I started about 45 minutes before everyone else did. Plan was to get 4 miles in and then run with the group, I only had time to get in a 5k so I had to run a little extra at the end. That was hard in itself but I will get to that in a minute. I did pretty good for the first part of the run and into the second round to start the six. I was able to maintain a pretty good pace and was quite pleased with myself until I stopped at the first water station.
I paused my run to get a drink and didn't have anywhere to set my phone so I was like I will just stick it in my bra. Bad idea!!! At first, I thought that I lost my run altogether and that is just not even funny at all. Turns out I ended the run so I was going to have to start over. It still saved my run but now my mile splits weren't going to be consistent and I was a little irritated. I knew that if it didn't do that I would have beat my 10k time from the 4th of July race. Oh well, it was already said and done and there wasn't anything I could do about it so I just tried my best to let it go. I had 4.25 miles left to go when this happened and I needed to get it done so I could get home to get ready for church.
So I restart my running app and get my butt moving. After about half a mile or more, we came to a hill that I did sprints up last Tuesday. I am glad now that I did them because usually I get very intimidated by the hills which in turn makes me go up the hill slower. Instead, I went full force up the hills and it felt good. I think that has helped me with my pace and running with this group as well. The last couple miles was the hardest. I just had a hard time finding the motivation that I needed to keep moving forward so at times I was moving really slow and then there were times I felt great.
Now we are down to the last mile and boy was it hard. I struggled so much during that last mile that I was ready to give up but knew that I needed to keep going because I needed to get my miles in today. The past 2 weeks I have been unable to get my miles in and today I was able to and I needed to take advantage of it so I pushed through that voice in my head saying, "It is okay to stop." I made it and adding my times together I had a great pace and like I said at the beginning of this post I took 8 seconds off of my overall pace from last week and even ran longer. I am getting excited about next month's race and can't believe that I only have 4 more training runs to go and then the next weekend is race day!!!
So until next time.
I did, however, have to get started earlier than most of the runners did. The group was running 6 miles this morning and I needed to get in 10 so I started about 45 minutes before everyone else did. Plan was to get 4 miles in and then run with the group, I only had time to get in a 5k so I had to run a little extra at the end. That was hard in itself but I will get to that in a minute. I did pretty good for the first part of the run and into the second round to start the six. I was able to maintain a pretty good pace and was quite pleased with myself until I stopped at the first water station.
I paused my run to get a drink and didn't have anywhere to set my phone so I was like I will just stick it in my bra. Bad idea!!! At first, I thought that I lost my run altogether and that is just not even funny at all. Turns out I ended the run so I was going to have to start over. It still saved my run but now my mile splits weren't going to be consistent and I was a little irritated. I knew that if it didn't do that I would have beat my 10k time from the 4th of July race. Oh well, it was already said and done and there wasn't anything I could do about it so I just tried my best to let it go. I had 4.25 miles left to go when this happened and I needed to get it done so I could get home to get ready for church.
So I restart my running app and get my butt moving. After about half a mile or more, we came to a hill that I did sprints up last Tuesday. I am glad now that I did them because usually I get very intimidated by the hills which in turn makes me go up the hill slower. Instead, I went full force up the hills and it felt good. I think that has helped me with my pace and running with this group as well. The last couple miles was the hardest. I just had a hard time finding the motivation that I needed to keep moving forward so at times I was moving really slow and then there were times I felt great.
Now we are down to the last mile and boy was it hard. I struggled so much during that last mile that I was ready to give up but knew that I needed to keep going because I needed to get my miles in today. The past 2 weeks I have been unable to get my miles in and today I was able to and I needed to take advantage of it so I pushed through that voice in my head saying, "It is okay to stop." I made it and adding my times together I had a great pace and like I said at the beginning of this post I took 8 seconds off of my overall pace from last week and even ran longer. I am getting excited about next month's race and can't believe that I only have 4 more training runs to go and then the next weekend is race day!!!
So until next time.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Goal...long time to train...well worth the wait??
Today has been my day off from running so it seems that my mind is all over the place. So let's talk about goals. One goal that I have had since I completed the Women's Half Marathong last year was to one day complete a full. Unlike most people, the first marathon that I run I want to qualify to run the Boston Marathon. For someone that has only been running for a year and a half, that goal can seem far fetched. To be honest it is quite intimidating to say the least. I mean to be able to qualify, my overall pace would have to be 8:12 per mile. For 26.2 miles!!
Sometimes I get down and out because I begin to let that little voice in my head telling me I can't do it. It would take a lot of hardwork and dedication to accomplish this. Right now my half marathon pace isn't where it should be, in my opinion, to help me reach my goal. I have a plan but life happens so it is always good to have a plan b as well.
Right now my plan is to work hard to achieve that pace and be able to maintain it for at least 13.1 miles then once I am able to do that I will slowly start adding miles to my long runs. This will take quite a bit of time as well as the hardwork and dedication and that is another thing that is holding me back right now.
I have two children that are six and three. They are only going to be young once so I don't want to spend hours and hours training and miss spending time with my family. Remember the plan I told you about? When my daughter is in school, that would be when I would start training. I wouldn't have to worry about trying to find a babysitter for the kids or being back by a certain time. It seems that the process of training for this is going to be tedious and on top of that I am wanting to qualify for Boston on my first marathon. I am not even sure if that has ever been done before. It is lofty goal but nonetheless it is a goal of mine. Even if I don't run another marathon after that, I know the memory and the feeling of crossing that finish line when I qualify and the feeling of crossing the finish line at Boston will stay with me forever. I am hoping that will also show my kids that if you want something in life, no matter how far fetched it may seem, that with hardwork and dedication, you can accomplish it.
I would like to hear what your goals are and how you plan to accomplish them. Let me know in the comments below or find my group page on Facebook, Focus on Your Own Race.
Friday, August 23, 2013
A little can be too much
I am not sure who all reads my blog but for those of you that do. Have you ever just had a day where it seems as though no matter what someone said or did whether it was intentional to be mean or not just bother you? Well today has been that day for me. It seems as though when I get really tired things tend to bother me more and I have definitely not gotten my rest. Here is a recap of the last few days that I have had. Keep in mind that I still have to get up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning to take my son to school so there is no sleeping in for me on top of my already busy days I have had this week.
On Wednesdays, I help cook at church for our Wednesday night meal. This particular day my husband had to be at work at 5 so he got up at 4. Usually when he gets up he doesn't wake me when he is getting ready. That definitely wasn't the case for me that morning. So on top if getting up early, I was cutting potatoes to make mashed potatoes and guess what? I almost cut off part of my finger. A friend asked if I wanted to use her ceramic knife and I was like sure. Then all of a sudden she showed me what my face looked like and said that I said I think I just cut the crap out of my finger. I don't even remember saying this so I got so tickled and was laughing until I couldn't breathe. It took a good hour and a half for it to stop bleeding. By the time I went to our Wednesday night class and had choir practice got home, I was up maybe 30 minutes and then was out. Felt like I had only slept maybe 10 minutes but I was out for 2 hours.
I had thought about running yesterday morning but because I didn't fully catch up on my sleep from Wednesday that I could barely walk a straight a line so I thought for my safety and others sanity, I would just do my normal classes. My son had an eye doctor appointment originally scheduled for Monday but they called Wednesday afternoon to let me know that they had a cancellation and they could see him yesterday afternoon. So after school off to the eye doctor we go. I was already exhausted and we still weren't finish with our day. We had a home group that we started at church last night that we were going to as well. I am getting sidetracked now. Back to the doctor appointment. Turns out that he has to have glasses due to a stigmatism. Both my husband and I were hoping that neither one of our kids would have to wear glasses but since we both due the odds definitely were not in their favor at all. I guess the fact that he is excited about wearing glasses makes it a little easier. Oh well, can't get upset because the genes due have a greater pull than you do in this particular case.
Now on to today. I originally planned on running ten miles this morning but I thought that I would just do speedwork and on Sunday get up and run 4 miles before meeting the group and I can get my ten in on Sunday since they are planning on running 6 miles. My speedwork for today didn't go so well. I am not a fond fan of the treadmill. Not even on a really cold day. Staying in one place when running is BORING!!! Then on top of that, going around the track isn't any better. I get dizzy and feel as though I am going to throw up. I have gotten so use to running outside that when I try to run inside it just doesn't turn out well. I did pretty good but didn't quite get the miles that I wanted to get. My first mile was a warm up then my second mile was almost a minute improvement from the first one so I was quite pleased with that.
I am just ready for the race to be here so I looked and we have only 36 days until race day!!! I enjoy training but I honestly think that I have reached the point that I am just ready for race day to come. I love the feeling that I get right before a race and I am looking forward to seeing what my results are going to be. I have a feeling that I am going to PR on this race and just anxious to see how much compared to last year. I have put in quite a bit of hard work with my training. There have been days that I don't want to train like today but I still get out there and do something instead of doing other things with my time when in the end, I would just beat myself up over not running at all. A little bit is better than nothing at all right? You also have to do your homework in running and that is training. Like I have said before, there are very few people that can run long distances without really training. I currently only know one and she ran a half when she was 5 months pregnant without any training!!! But for me that is not an option so I work hard week after week and month after month only to prepare for a race that I hope I will only be out there within my goal time that I have set for that particular race. I am too determined not to train and I am afraid that if I don't, I will be injured and then I won't be able to run. That would not be good for my sanity!!!
So until next time.
On Wednesdays, I help cook at church for our Wednesday night meal. This particular day my husband had to be at work at 5 so he got up at 4. Usually when he gets up he doesn't wake me when he is getting ready. That definitely wasn't the case for me that morning. So on top if getting up early, I was cutting potatoes to make mashed potatoes and guess what? I almost cut off part of my finger. A friend asked if I wanted to use her ceramic knife and I was like sure. Then all of a sudden she showed me what my face looked like and said that I said I think I just cut the crap out of my finger. I don't even remember saying this so I got so tickled and was laughing until I couldn't breathe. It took a good hour and a half for it to stop bleeding. By the time I went to our Wednesday night class and had choir practice got home, I was up maybe 30 minutes and then was out. Felt like I had only slept maybe 10 minutes but I was out for 2 hours.
I had thought about running yesterday morning but because I didn't fully catch up on my sleep from Wednesday that I could barely walk a straight a line so I thought for my safety and others sanity, I would just do my normal classes. My son had an eye doctor appointment originally scheduled for Monday but they called Wednesday afternoon to let me know that they had a cancellation and they could see him yesterday afternoon. So after school off to the eye doctor we go. I was already exhausted and we still weren't finish with our day. We had a home group that we started at church last night that we were going to as well. I am getting sidetracked now. Back to the doctor appointment. Turns out that he has to have glasses due to a stigmatism. Both my husband and I were hoping that neither one of our kids would have to wear glasses but since we both due the odds definitely were not in their favor at all. I guess the fact that he is excited about wearing glasses makes it a little easier. Oh well, can't get upset because the genes due have a greater pull than you do in this particular case.
Now on to today. I originally planned on running ten miles this morning but I thought that I would just do speedwork and on Sunday get up and run 4 miles before meeting the group and I can get my ten in on Sunday since they are planning on running 6 miles. My speedwork for today didn't go so well. I am not a fond fan of the treadmill. Not even on a really cold day. Staying in one place when running is BORING!!! Then on top of that, going around the track isn't any better. I get dizzy and feel as though I am going to throw up. I have gotten so use to running outside that when I try to run inside it just doesn't turn out well. I did pretty good but didn't quite get the miles that I wanted to get. My first mile was a warm up then my second mile was almost a minute improvement from the first one so I was quite pleased with that.
I am just ready for the race to be here so I looked and we have only 36 days until race day!!! I enjoy training but I honestly think that I have reached the point that I am just ready for race day to come. I love the feeling that I get right before a race and I am looking forward to seeing what my results are going to be. I have a feeling that I am going to PR on this race and just anxious to see how much compared to last year. I have put in quite a bit of hard work with my training. There have been days that I don't want to train like today but I still get out there and do something instead of doing other things with my time when in the end, I would just beat myself up over not running at all. A little bit is better than nothing at all right? You also have to do your homework in running and that is training. Like I have said before, there are very few people that can run long distances without really training. I currently only know one and she ran a half when she was 5 months pregnant without any training!!! But for me that is not an option so I work hard week after week and month after month only to prepare for a race that I hope I will only be out there within my goal time that I have set for that particular race. I am too determined not to train and I am afraid that if I don't, I will be injured and then I won't be able to run. That would not be good for my sanity!!!
So until next time.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
38 Days & Counting!!
That's right. There are only 38 days till the Women's Half Marathon and then 52 days before the Middle Half. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!!! I know I will be able to PR this time and with any luck cut at least 30 minutes off of my time!!! That would be awesome!!!
I am hoping to PR on the Middle Half as well since it is a flat course. To be honest, finishing within my goal time would be awesome but to be able to finish two half marathons two weeks apart is pretty amazing in itself.
The team captain actually told me that I should use the Women's Half as a training half and the Middle Half as one to PR on. That one is flat and let's face it, everyone usually runs faster when it is flatter. I am currently training on hills right now because the Women's has several hills along the course and I figured since that one was going to be first, I should do pretty good on the next one.
I already have a plan to take all of you on the journey of running the Women's Half. I am going to be taking lots of pics before, hopefully during and after the race. I am going to see if I can't get my husband to meet me at certain checkpoints along the course so I will be able tell you where I was at in the race. Maybe this time the camera batteries won't die.
I can't wait to share this journey with you. Looking forward to writing my blog on the day before and after. I hope you will check back then if not before. I do have several training runs planned.
Hillwork...a love/hate relationship
Today I had every intention of running speed intervals on the treadmill. I wasn't really looking forward to it, therefore, I was in no big hurry to get upstairs. Saw a friend and asked if she was running today. She said that she was doing hill work. Something I haven't done before. I try not to run with people that are faster than me because I don't want them to feel as though they have to slow down for me. Since when doing hills pace really isn't a factor, I decided to tag along.
We got to the first hill and I have run up this hill before. I went to sprint up it as fast as I could. Oh my gosh!!! I thought I was going to die. My legs, butt and lungs felt as though they were on fire. Finally get to run downhill and guess what?? Up we go AGAIN!! I was thinking to myself, what have I gotten myself into? I know I need to do this but I would like to live to run the Women's Half Marathon next month. I stuck with it though and I am glad that I did.
We did this same hill 3 or 4 times and then continue to run. We go down this big hill that we had to run for the 4th July race and when you go downhill, you HAVE to go uphill. That uphill sucks, just in case you were wondering. First, we had one more hill to do and yes we did it more than once. It was probably 4 times. I hated but loved every minute of it. Then we ran a little bit on a flat surface and headed to go back up that massive hill. I felt as though I was going as slow as molasses but I was going less than 10 minute miles up hill and I was thrilled. As I stated in my previous post, I normally slow down dramatically when going uphill and make up time when going downhill.
We get back to the first hill that we sprinted up and she wanted to do one it more time. I was like you are killing me and honestly, I tried to get out of doing it one more time but she pushed me into doing it one more time. I am so glad that I did too. The rest was a breeze. For once, I was able to keep up with her and it felt like it was easy. My pace was incredible. I couldn't believe that I was going as fast as she was and able to keep up with her for the most part. It felt amazing to do that because I never thought I would ever run that fast ever. I just proved myself wrong!!! I did a little victory dance!! That was after I was able to catch my breath. I will be out there again doing the same thing sometime next week. It is definitely a good workout. Thanks for letting me join you!!!
We got to the first hill and I have run up this hill before. I went to sprint up it as fast as I could. Oh my gosh!!! I thought I was going to die. My legs, butt and lungs felt as though they were on fire. Finally get to run downhill and guess what?? Up we go AGAIN!! I was thinking to myself, what have I gotten myself into? I know I need to do this but I would like to live to run the Women's Half Marathon next month. I stuck with it though and I am glad that I did.
We did this same hill 3 or 4 times and then continue to run. We go down this big hill that we had to run for the 4th July race and when you go downhill, you HAVE to go uphill. That uphill sucks, just in case you were wondering. First, we had one more hill to do and yes we did it more than once. It was probably 4 times. I hated but loved every minute of it. Then we ran a little bit on a flat surface and headed to go back up that massive hill. I felt as though I was going as slow as molasses but I was going less than 10 minute miles up hill and I was thrilled. As I stated in my previous post, I normally slow down dramatically when going uphill and make up time when going downhill.
We get back to the first hill that we sprinted up and she wanted to do one it more time. I was like you are killing me and honestly, I tried to get out of doing it one more time but she pushed me into doing it one more time. I am so glad that I did too. The rest was a breeze. For once, I was able to keep up with her and it felt like it was easy. My pace was incredible. I couldn't believe that I was going as fast as she was and able to keep up with her for the most part. It felt amazing to do that because I never thought I would ever run that fast ever. I just proved myself wrong!!! I did a little victory dance!! That was after I was able to catch my breath. I will be out there again doing the same thing sometime next week. It is definitely a good workout. Thanks for letting me join you!!!
The above quote is what I was thinking each time I saw a hill that I knew I was going to have sprint up. I didn't want to still be at the bottom wondering what it was like. This got me through my workout today and will probably each time I do hill work.
So until next time.
Best long run...so far :)
Yesterday I had a long run planned with the running group that I ran with it last week. First let me say that I had a bad calculation on my part so my run was cut short by 4/10 of a mile. :( I was upset when I realized it but I really needed to head to church so it was going to have to do.
I decided that since I lived so close to where we were meeting at that I would just run from my house there and I would get half of the extra mile I needed but I said earlier that didn't work out but it was still an overall good run for the most part. The only thing that I feel that I did wrong was start out too fast. My first mile was less than 9 minutes a mile and then it started going downhill, not in a good way either. There were times that I had to stop because I honestly felt sick to my stomach. Just like Thursday morning.
On most of the hills along the course, I did excellent as far as running up them. All except one. It was a gradual steady hill for half a mile. I think that was the slowest that I ran all morning. It was terrible. Once I hit the top of the hill, I made up quite a bit of time going downhill. Even though my running app on my phone didn't register it, I beat my 10K time from the 4th of July race. It might have only been a few seconds but I will definitely take it. It means I made some type of improvement, right?
When I stopped to get water a little over 7 miles, I was beginning to think it was a bad idea. My legs just didn't seem like they wanted to hold me up. Bad thing was I was only standing there getting a drink. Could have definitely turned out bad but thankfully, I was able to push through it. I only had a little over a mile and a half left to go. This was before I realized that I miscalculated my run. Either way I made it back and was able to make to church on time after all. As I am sure most of you have realized, I am not okay with running on Sunday if that means I have to miss church. There have been several races I would like to do but because they fell on a Sunday I have chose not to do them. There is even a half marathon that I would love to do but I would have to basically PR in order to make it to a church in time for morning services. That one is still up in the air. I need to get these two races I am already signed up for finished and then see how about that one. I have like 2 weeks before the race to sign up and the price doesn't increase either. Always a plus. :)
Below is right after I finished my run. Even though the shirt is suppose to be a dry wick shirt and pull the moisture away. You can still see the sweat and I have proof I worked hard. Lol
The next picture is of my inner thigh. Gross I know but I promise that I will make a point. Just hang in there.
Last year when I ran the Women's Half Marathon, I forgot to put on anti-chaffing cream. Despite the fact that they provided some in our goodie bag. Well, I actually I was so excited about running my first half marathon that I didn't notice that I forgot. Until mile 3. Yep you guessed. I had 10.1 miles to go. Which was very painful. I am telling you this because you would think I would have learned my lesson right? Apparently by the picture above, no. Believe or not, I did put some on. Obviously not enough.
I want to leave you with something to think about it. Next time you lace up your shoes to run, walk or bike, remember all those that can't do it. Consider doing it for them. If this is something that you would consider doing, please go to www.whoirun4.com. You will be matched with a child or adult with special needs or health problems. The form you will fill out should give more information. These kids and adults are more than tickled that you run, walk or bike for them. Just think about it.
So until next time.
I decided that since I lived so close to where we were meeting at that I would just run from my house there and I would get half of the extra mile I needed but I said earlier that didn't work out but it was still an overall good run for the most part. The only thing that I feel that I did wrong was start out too fast. My first mile was less than 9 minutes a mile and then it started going downhill, not in a good way either. There were times that I had to stop because I honestly felt sick to my stomach. Just like Thursday morning.
On most of the hills along the course, I did excellent as far as running up them. All except one. It was a gradual steady hill for half a mile. I think that was the slowest that I ran all morning. It was terrible. Once I hit the top of the hill, I made up quite a bit of time going downhill. Even though my running app on my phone didn't register it, I beat my 10K time from the 4th of July race. It might have only been a few seconds but I will definitely take it. It means I made some type of improvement, right?
When I stopped to get water a little over 7 miles, I was beginning to think it was a bad idea. My legs just didn't seem like they wanted to hold me up. Bad thing was I was only standing there getting a drink. Could have definitely turned out bad but thankfully, I was able to push through it. I only had a little over a mile and a half left to go. This was before I realized that I miscalculated my run. Either way I made it back and was able to make to church on time after all. As I am sure most of you have realized, I am not okay with running on Sunday if that means I have to miss church. There have been several races I would like to do but because they fell on a Sunday I have chose not to do them. There is even a half marathon that I would love to do but I would have to basically PR in order to make it to a church in time for morning services. That one is still up in the air. I need to get these two races I am already signed up for finished and then see how about that one. I have like 2 weeks before the race to sign up and the price doesn't increase either. Always a plus. :)
Below is right after I finished my run. Even though the shirt is suppose to be a dry wick shirt and pull the moisture away. You can still see the sweat and I have proof I worked hard. Lol
The next picture is of my inner thigh. Gross I know but I promise that I will make a point. Just hang in there.
Last year when I ran the Women's Half Marathon, I forgot to put on anti-chaffing cream. Despite the fact that they provided some in our goodie bag. Well, I actually I was so excited about running my first half marathon that I didn't notice that I forgot. Until mile 3. Yep you guessed. I had 10.1 miles to go. Which was very painful. I am telling you this because you would think I would have learned my lesson right? Apparently by the picture above, no. Believe or not, I did put some on. Obviously not enough.
I want to leave you with something to think about it. Next time you lace up your shoes to run, walk or bike, remember all those that can't do it. Consider doing it for them. If this is something that you would consider doing, please go to www.whoirun4.com. You will be matched with a child or adult with special needs or health problems. The form you will fill out should give more information. These kids and adults are more than tickled that you run, walk or bike for them. Just think about it.
So until next time.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Anniversary Date
On Wednesday, my husband and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. It sure does seem as though time has flown by way too fast. We have two beautiful children now and are as busy as ever. Since our anniversary fell on a weekend, we chose to go out and celebrate our anniversary this weekend. I barely even saw him on our actual anniversary. He is working days so I didn't seem all day because he was at work. I have volunteered to help cook Wednesday night meals at our church, went to our class after supper and attended choir practice. So needless to say, we didn't spend that much time together.
Here comes Friday. We dropped the kids off at Granny and Grandpa's house and headed off to Carrabba's. I love this restaurant but since it is a little on the pricey side and we have to drive a little over 30 minutes, we only go for special occasions. Either Valentine's Day or Anniversary dates. We did call a ahead seating since we couldn't get up there till after 7 that evening. I am glad that we did. We got there and I am not sure how long the normal wait was but we only had to wait maybe about 15 to 20 minutes tops.
We sit down and order our meal. I normally always get the steak. Of course, that is what I got this time. When our meal was brought to our table, I cut into my steak and it was over cooked. No big deal just sent it back to be recooked how I ordered. I was in no way upset that it was cooked wrong. When you are cooking for over 100 people a night, it is bound to happen at least once or twice. Not long after I sent my steak back to be recooked the kitchen manager came to our table and apologized for my steak not being cooked properly. Like I said before, it wasn't a big deal and I told him that. He even offered to recook my husband's food so it would be hot when mine was finished. Brad declined the offer because it really wasn't necessary. It wouldn't take that long for my steak to be finished but it was nice for him to offer.
The manager was the one that brought my steak out to me once it was finished for the second time and it was perfect then. He said that thanks for being so understanding and apologized once again. When he left, I was more in shock over the fact that he was surprised I wasn't upset that it wasn't cooked the way that I ordered it. Things happen and getting upset over it will definitely not help the situation. I wasn't expected him to take my steak off our ticket but he did. I have never been disappointed in service from here. If you haven't been before, you should definitely try it. Especially the garlic mashed potatoes. Oh my gosh!!! Once you try them, you will know what I am talking about.
Since we rarely go to the movies, we decided we would go see one. We decided on Elysium with Matt Damon in it. I didn't see the preview prior to going to see the movie so to be honest, I was a little skeptical about watching it. Brad was really wanting to see it so that is what we watched. I am glad that we did because I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was such a good movie minus all the cussing. I couldn't tell you how many times they used the f word and there was a few times that used the Lord's name in vain. That I was not happy with but other than those few things, it was a great movie.
It was basically a futuristic movie about how the rich felt as though they were better than everyone else. When things went south on Earth, they were able to afford to build an escape in outer space and you basically had to be rich or you were considered scum to them. They didn't even want you to breathe on them. The people that were left on Earth were trying to once again bring everyone together and everyone be treated equal. If you have a chance, you should go see it. Other than the cussing, it was a really good movie.
Even though I really enjoyed spending time with my husband, I really missed my kiddos so when time came to get them. I was more than ready.
Here comes Friday. We dropped the kids off at Granny and Grandpa's house and headed off to Carrabba's. I love this restaurant but since it is a little on the pricey side and we have to drive a little over 30 minutes, we only go for special occasions. Either Valentine's Day or Anniversary dates. We did call a ahead seating since we couldn't get up there till after 7 that evening. I am glad that we did. We got there and I am not sure how long the normal wait was but we only had to wait maybe about 15 to 20 minutes tops.
We sit down and order our meal. I normally always get the steak. Of course, that is what I got this time. When our meal was brought to our table, I cut into my steak and it was over cooked. No big deal just sent it back to be recooked how I ordered. I was in no way upset that it was cooked wrong. When you are cooking for over 100 people a night, it is bound to happen at least once or twice. Not long after I sent my steak back to be recooked the kitchen manager came to our table and apologized for my steak not being cooked properly. Like I said before, it wasn't a big deal and I told him that. He even offered to recook my husband's food so it would be hot when mine was finished. Brad declined the offer because it really wasn't necessary. It wouldn't take that long for my steak to be finished but it was nice for him to offer.
The manager was the one that brought my steak out to me once it was finished for the second time and it was perfect then. He said that thanks for being so understanding and apologized once again. When he left, I was more in shock over the fact that he was surprised I wasn't upset that it wasn't cooked the way that I ordered it. Things happen and getting upset over it will definitely not help the situation. I wasn't expected him to take my steak off our ticket but he did. I have never been disappointed in service from here. If you haven't been before, you should definitely try it. Especially the garlic mashed potatoes. Oh my gosh!!! Once you try them, you will know what I am talking about.
Since we rarely go to the movies, we decided we would go see one. We decided on Elysium with Matt Damon in it. I didn't see the preview prior to going to see the movie so to be honest, I was a little skeptical about watching it. Brad was really wanting to see it so that is what we watched. I am glad that we did because I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was such a good movie minus all the cussing. I couldn't tell you how many times they used the f word and there was a few times that used the Lord's name in vain. That I was not happy with but other than those few things, it was a great movie.
It was basically a futuristic movie about how the rich felt as though they were better than everyone else. When things went south on Earth, they were able to afford to build an escape in outer space and you basically had to be rich or you were considered scum to them. They didn't even want you to breathe on them. The people that were left on Earth were trying to once again bring everyone together and everyone be treated equal. If you have a chance, you should go see it. Other than the cussing, it was a really good movie.
Even though I really enjoyed spending time with my husband, I really missed my kiddos so when time came to get them. I was more than ready.
My fastest 5k run
I feel as though I have been missing in action this week. It has been a very busy week. I celebrated my 9 year anniversary Wednesday and cooked at church that day. I did find time to run. I ran Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. I have noticed that when I run every other day, I don't have as many problems with my plantar fasciitis. On Tuesday and Thursday, I ran a 5k distance but I am most pleased with my run on Thursday. Let me explain why.
On Thursday, I normally take a class called Butts and Guts at my local rec center. Once I stepped out the door to take my son to school, there was no way that I could skip running. I have been quite skeptical about running by myself because there has been a few incidents of people being followed by car that were on bikes or runners almost getting hit by a car because the driver is too busy messing with a cell phone, radio or something else. With the weather being so nice, I just couldn't resist so I skipped my class and decided to go for it. That is definitely a runner e-card that you see floating around on Facebook. You know you are runner when you skip your favorite exercise class to go for a run because the weather is too perfect not to.
I changed into my running shoes and headed out the door. It had been a while since I had run in 62 degree weather but I definitely welcomed the change in temperature. It has either been high temps and high humidity or low temps and still high humidity. So in other words, the weather definitely was not cooperating.
What started out as a leisurely run, quickly turned into a 5k worth of speed work. Not intentional at all. I don't know if you remember me talking about why I was so disappointed in my pace. When the weather was cooler in the spring, I was able to run 4.2 miles with an average pace of 9:09 a mile. So when the weather warmed up, my pace went down due to the heat and humidity. Since I was use to running anywhere between 10:25 to 10:40 a mile, running a 9 minute mile was definitely speed work.
I kept thinking to myself that I needed to slow down and as crazy as this sounds, I couldn't force myself to slow down. I was loving being able to run in the cooler weather and feeling the burn in my lungs because my breathing was definitely not where it should be since I haven't run that fast in a while. It felt absolutely AMAZING!!!
After probably about a mile or a little over, I had to stop to catch my breath and then I was off again. There was this hill that I just looked at and normally would opt out of running up since I was by myself. I was like you know what, I can do that and stayed at the current pace that I was at. Maybe a tad bit slower. You know what? I did too. I normally slow down big time going up hills but not this time. I was on a roll. Then I got to this stop sign and had to stop once again. Not because I was unable to breathe but seriously thought that I was going to throw up. I was really working hard on my run. Funny thing is that because I had all these issues while running, I actually felt like I accomplished something.
I worked myself to the point that I thought I was going to throw up. I probably have never pushed myself like that ever. I was so proud that I did something that I really thought I had lost. I am hoping that maybe on race day the weather will be like it was on Thursday and maybe just maybe I will be able to finish within my goal or under. I have just a little over a month before my first one and then once that one is complete I have 2 weeks before my next week. I am just ready for race day!!!
I will be running 9 miles tomorrow morning and that means that is the true test on whether I can maintain that pace for a long distance run or if it was just a short distance run. I am going to start out slow and slowly work myself up to going faster and faster. Maybe doing this unexpected speed work will pay off. So until next time.
On Thursday, I normally take a class called Butts and Guts at my local rec center. Once I stepped out the door to take my son to school, there was no way that I could skip running. I have been quite skeptical about running by myself because there has been a few incidents of people being followed by car that were on bikes or runners almost getting hit by a car because the driver is too busy messing with a cell phone, radio or something else. With the weather being so nice, I just couldn't resist so I skipped my class and decided to go for it. That is definitely a runner e-card that you see floating around on Facebook. You know you are runner when you skip your favorite exercise class to go for a run because the weather is too perfect not to.
I changed into my running shoes and headed out the door. It had been a while since I had run in 62 degree weather but I definitely welcomed the change in temperature. It has either been high temps and high humidity or low temps and still high humidity. So in other words, the weather definitely was not cooperating.
What started out as a leisurely run, quickly turned into a 5k worth of speed work. Not intentional at all. I don't know if you remember me talking about why I was so disappointed in my pace. When the weather was cooler in the spring, I was able to run 4.2 miles with an average pace of 9:09 a mile. So when the weather warmed up, my pace went down due to the heat and humidity. Since I was use to running anywhere between 10:25 to 10:40 a mile, running a 9 minute mile was definitely speed work.
I kept thinking to myself that I needed to slow down and as crazy as this sounds, I couldn't force myself to slow down. I was loving being able to run in the cooler weather and feeling the burn in my lungs because my breathing was definitely not where it should be since I haven't run that fast in a while. It felt absolutely AMAZING!!!
After probably about a mile or a little over, I had to stop to catch my breath and then I was off again. There was this hill that I just looked at and normally would opt out of running up since I was by myself. I was like you know what, I can do that and stayed at the current pace that I was at. Maybe a tad bit slower. You know what? I did too. I normally slow down big time going up hills but not this time. I was on a roll. Then I got to this stop sign and had to stop once again. Not because I was unable to breathe but seriously thought that I was going to throw up. I was really working hard on my run. Funny thing is that because I had all these issues while running, I actually felt like I accomplished something.
I worked myself to the point that I thought I was going to throw up. I probably have never pushed myself like that ever. I was so proud that I did something that I really thought I had lost. I am hoping that maybe on race day the weather will be like it was on Thursday and maybe just maybe I will be able to finish within my goal or under. I have just a little over a month before my first one and then once that one is complete I have 2 weeks before my next week. I am just ready for race day!!!
I will be running 9 miles tomorrow morning and that means that is the true test on whether I can maintain that pace for a long distance run or if it was just a short distance run. I am going to start out slow and slowly work myself up to going faster and faster. Maybe doing this unexpected speed work will pay off. So until next time.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
8 Mile Run
I had a rough run Tuesday and was not feeling like running the rest of this week. So to be honest. I didn't. I took a much needed break and boy did it do me good. I took yesterday off so that I could run this morning. I was able to sleep in until 8:30 yesterday and catch up on some much needed sleep. Since we chose to send our son to another school, I have to get up up earlier to make sure he gets to school on time. That sure does wear you down and I even try to nap everyday for at least an hour. Still doesn't do any good.
Anyway, last week I found a running club on Facebook because a friend had commented on a status update. I didn't make the run last week but was able to run this week. I needed to get 9 miles in this morning but was only able to get in 8 due to getting to Sunday School this morning. I really enjoy running but I refuse to skip church to go run. To me, running is not that important to skip church.
I have said in previous blogs that when I finish running I am not happy with the pace that I had for that day. I think I have finally learned that pace really isn't that important. You just need to enjoy the run and be happy that you have the ability to run. There are a lot of people out there that don't and you have been given that ability. I kept thinking this throughout the entire run and it really kept me going and allowed me to just purely enjoy the run.
I have become so wrapped up in my time whenever I run that I was not running to enjoy it. It was more like something that I had to do. Not something that I wanted to do. To be quite honest, I was beginning to hate it. Since, I got the mentality that I mentioned earlier I am a HAPPY runner. I know that may sound funny but it is true. I am truly happy while running and after. Knowing that honestly the time isn't what matters, it is finishing. Knowing that you have done something that you honestly didn't think that you could do is rewarding in itself. If you would have told me that I would be training for my second half marathon a couple years ago I would have told you that you have lost your mind. I hated running a mile in junior high let alone 13.1 but here I am doing exactly what I thought I wouldn't.
I have about 48 days or so until the Women's Half Marathon and I can't wait. Then two weeks later I get to run the Middle Half. I was wanting to do that one last year but since the Women's Half was my first one ever and the Middle Half was 2 weeks later I chose not to do it. I had knee issues in training and I didn't want to risk injuring myself to the point that I wouldn't be able to run again. This year I have learned my lesson from mistakes that I made last year in training so this year should be fine. I just can't begin to explain how excited I am.
I plan on running a 3 mile recovery run so until next time.
Anyway, last week I found a running club on Facebook because a friend had commented on a status update. I didn't make the run last week but was able to run this week. I needed to get 9 miles in this morning but was only able to get in 8 due to getting to Sunday School this morning. I really enjoy running but I refuse to skip church to go run. To me, running is not that important to skip church.
I have said in previous blogs that when I finish running I am not happy with the pace that I had for that day. I think I have finally learned that pace really isn't that important. You just need to enjoy the run and be happy that you have the ability to run. There are a lot of people out there that don't and you have been given that ability. I kept thinking this throughout the entire run and it really kept me going and allowed me to just purely enjoy the run.
I have become so wrapped up in my time whenever I run that I was not running to enjoy it. It was more like something that I had to do. Not something that I wanted to do. To be quite honest, I was beginning to hate it. Since, I got the mentality that I mentioned earlier I am a HAPPY runner. I know that may sound funny but it is true. I am truly happy while running and after. Knowing that honestly the time isn't what matters, it is finishing. Knowing that you have done something that you honestly didn't think that you could do is rewarding in itself. If you would have told me that I would be training for my second half marathon a couple years ago I would have told you that you have lost your mind. I hated running a mile in junior high let alone 13.1 but here I am doing exactly what I thought I wouldn't.
I have about 48 days or so until the Women's Half Marathon and I can't wait. Then two weeks later I get to run the Middle Half. I was wanting to do that one last year but since the Women's Half was my first one ever and the Middle Half was 2 weeks later I chose not to do it. I had knee issues in training and I didn't want to risk injuring myself to the point that I wouldn't be able to run again. This year I have learned my lesson from mistakes that I made last year in training so this year should be fine. I just can't begin to explain how excited I am.
I plan on running a 3 mile recovery run so until next time.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Just to get away
During the summer, I enrolled my kids in the summer reading program so that it would help Bradley with his reading and get Peyton use to listening to people read her books. Well at the end of the summer, they threw a big party.
Depending on how many books you read depended on how many times you could be entered to win the weekly drawing they held or the grand prize drawing at the party. Most of the items were something that they would lose interest in quickly so they were entered each time for the grand prize drawing. Peyton won tickets to Ripley's Aquarium. So we decided that the weekend school started that we would go and have a weekend get away.
Brad and I kept it a secret from the kids a week and left when we picked Bradley up from school. Once we got there, I think the kids were more excited about the hotel room than they were anything else. They took turns jumping from one bed to the other. Well Peyton did her best. It was so cute to watch them have fun and enjoy being around family. We had to be checked out of the hotel by 11 so we went and got breakfast at the restaurant that Brad and I ate at the first morning that we were officially husband and wife. Then we were off.
Below is a picture of Brad and the kids playing at the river that is behind the hotel. Brad was trying to teach the kids how to skip rocks. I can't do that at all. I tried and it wind up sinking first hit. Peyton had no interest in it and would rather find a "baby" rock and bury it. Everything to her is a baby. It doesn't matter how big or small it is.
Up until now, the kids still had no idea where we were going and what we doing. They asked what seemed like a 1,000 questions about what we doing, if we were there yet and on and on. It was great to see their faces when wr told them while we waited to get our tickets. Now even though Bradley didn't win anything, we still played it out like he did. He read and listened to 70 books this summer and she won 7 sets of tickets. What I mean there is that on each gift cerificate it said that you received 2 free one-time admission. Yeah and there was 7 of those babies in the envelope. A total of 14 tickets!!! We can go 2 more times and either my parents or Brad's parents could go and it will be all free.
It was nice to be able to go through the aquarium without having to worry about the time. Thinking that we have somewhere we have to be. I do have to say that it was nice to not feel rushed at all. We started to go through the aquarium and I had my phone to take some pics to upload on Facebook and my camera for just "us" photos. I started to take pictures and I noticed that my good ole low battery sign was flashing at me. I was like are you serious? So Brad went to the gift shop to get more batteries and we were off once again.
It was hard to get a picture of the kids at each exhibit considering that they were so excited that I was lucky if they stayed longer than 10 seconds at any given exhibit. Then we went under the shark tank.
It was funny because earlier they were asking how the people got down there so it made it even better when we did get there. I think Bradley's favorite part was the moving belt that you can chose to stand on. Halfway through he actually sat down and waited. Just looking up at the sharks.
Peyton was a little freaked out by it. I guess she thought that one was going to get her. Speaking of that, there was a sign on the tank saying that there was a shark attk almost three years ago. Talk about making you have warm fuzzies. I was just glad that sign was a little more than halfway through.
I haven't been since Brad and I got married so it was nice to go again. Below is a picture of one of the sharks. There is also a pic of a shark and to be honest not sure what other kind of fish.
Depending on how many books you read depended on how many times you could be entered to win the weekly drawing they held or the grand prize drawing at the party. Most of the items were something that they would lose interest in quickly so they were entered each time for the grand prize drawing. Peyton won tickets to Ripley's Aquarium. So we decided that the weekend school started that we would go and have a weekend get away.
Brad and I kept it a secret from the kids a week and left when we picked Bradley up from school. Once we got there, I think the kids were more excited about the hotel room than they were anything else. They took turns jumping from one bed to the other. Well Peyton did her best. It was so cute to watch them have fun and enjoy being around family. We had to be checked out of the hotel by 11 so we went and got breakfast at the restaurant that Brad and I ate at the first morning that we were officially husband and wife. Then we were off.
Below is a picture of Brad and the kids playing at the river that is behind the hotel. Brad was trying to teach the kids how to skip rocks. I can't do that at all. I tried and it wind up sinking first hit. Peyton had no interest in it and would rather find a "baby" rock and bury it. Everything to her is a baby. It doesn't matter how big or small it is.
It was nice to be able to go through the aquarium without having to worry about the time. Thinking that we have somewhere we have to be. I do have to say that it was nice to not feel rushed at all. We started to go through the aquarium and I had my phone to take some pics to upload on Facebook and my camera for just "us" photos. I started to take pictures and I noticed that my good ole low battery sign was flashing at me. I was like are you serious? So Brad went to the gift shop to get more batteries and we were off once again.
It was hard to get a picture of the kids at each exhibit considering that they were so excited that I was lucky if they stayed longer than 10 seconds at any given exhibit. Then we went under the shark tank.
It was funny because earlier they were asking how the people got down there so it made it even better when we did get there. I think Bradley's favorite part was the moving belt that you can chose to stand on. Halfway through he actually sat down and waited. Just looking up at the sharks.
Peyton was a little freaked out by it. I guess she thought that one was going to get her. Speaking of that, there was a sign on the tank saying that there was a shark attk almost three years ago. Talk about making you have warm fuzzies. I was just glad that sign was a little more than halfway through.
After this, we were just in time to see a diver feed the stingrays. That was pretty cool to watch. Learned that the bigger stingrays are more aggressive so they had to be feed differently than the little ones. When they finished feeding the stingrays, they asked for a couple volunteers and picked a couple from the audience. The speaker asked the lady to bang on the glass. While she did this, her boyfriend got down on one knee and the diver asked was holding a sign asking her to marry him. It was so sweet. I was able to snap a picture.
I have really enjoyed taking this time to spend with the kids and it just be us. Sometimes it is just nice to get away. Until next time.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Unexpected Run
We were on our way back from Ripley's Aquarium when I saw on Facebook a friend was going to go for a run. I sent her a text to find out when she was going and how far. So not long after getting back I was able to run. After having to take a break from running because of my allergies, I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it felt to run. I wasn't going fast. Which I kinda expected not to since I had only run 1 mile last week. I was thankful that she didn't mind me joining her.
We wind up running a little over 7 miles. Overall it was a pretty good run. There were times that I felt like I wasn't going to make it another step because my legs were burning. When you are struggling to make each and every step, to me that is when the true workout begins. When you have to fight with that little voice in your head, telling you that you can't do it and you know you can.
To be honest, I was just excited to run. Yes, I would have liked for my pace to be better but I knew that I wouldn't be doing very good because I hadn't been consistent with my running through week since I was unable to breathe due to allergies. This time I chose to suck it up and run anyway. Since I really wanted to run, I forced myself to do it. Even though I had to stop a few times because I had a little problems breathing because I was still a little stuffed up or had issues with my foot. With my friend's help, I was able to complete it. I didn't give up.
There are so many people that would love to run but can't for one reason or another. I try to remind myself of that. I may get upset with my pace and total time for my run when another person would love to just be able to run or be able to run that particular pace. I am learning so much from having what I think is a bad time. I learning to be more grateful for the opportunity to be able to run and less focused on the time. So much has changed since I started running and I am beginning to grow as a runner.
We wind up running a little over 7 miles. Overall it was a pretty good run. There were times that I felt like I wasn't going to make it another step because my legs were burning. When you are struggling to make each and every step, to me that is when the true workout begins. When you have to fight with that little voice in your head, telling you that you can't do it and you know you can.
To be honest, I was just excited to run. Yes, I would have liked for my pace to be better but I knew that I wouldn't be doing very good because I hadn't been consistent with my running through week since I was unable to breathe due to allergies. This time I chose to suck it up and run anyway. Since I really wanted to run, I forced myself to do it. Even though I had to stop a few times because I had a little problems breathing because I was still a little stuffed up or had issues with my foot. With my friend's help, I was able to complete it. I didn't give up.
There are so many people that would love to run but can't for one reason or another. I try to remind myself of that. I may get upset with my pace and total time for my run when another person would love to just be able to run or be able to run that particular pace. I am learning so much from having what I think is a bad time. I learning to be more grateful for the opportunity to be able to run and less focused on the time. So much has changed since I started running and I am beginning to grow as a runner.
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