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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

 

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.

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.

An Unexpected Break

I am sure that some of you that I am friends with on Facebook have noticed that I haven't posted anything after I run like I normally do. The reason for that is when I did my long run last Saturday I ran by some hay twice. Later that night, I started getting stuffy and could hardly breathe. So I am thinking I was allergic to it.  Needless to say, it is hard to run when you are unable to breathe.

This has really had me bummed that I was unable to run. Especially Monday. The weather was so pretty and cool. I usually run first thing in the morning so that I beat the heat. When I looked at the weather, it was a cool, crisp 58 degrees. I was so upset that I couldn't run when it was perfect weather.

So I have only ran one day this week and it was only a short mile. I saw a friend getting ready to run and thought I would try and run with her. I knew that I wouldn't be able to go far considering that on this particular day I do a class that focuses on your butt and gut. I learned my lesson the hard way last year to not run on this day. I hurt my knee doing this so I decided I would try but not push it. Plus I wasn't wearing my running shoes.

Let me tell you. I noticed a big difference. Less than half a mile in, my right foot was hurting where the plantar fascitis is. I knew then I needed to turn around to make sure that I am not injuring myself to the point that I wouldn't be able to run next month or the middle of October. Even though I turned around, I decided that I was so close to a mile that I would complete my mile and stop. Since I was unable to run all week except for that one day, I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to run.

When I was in junior high, I use to dread our nine week test in gym. We had to do so many situps and run a mile in so many minutes to get an A. It would then go down the slower you finished. I tell you this because I find it funny that I missed not being able to run this past week. Life takes us in directions that we never thought we would take when we were younger.

I am thankful that I have found something that I enjoyed and will help me stay healthy. I know my diet is a big part of it and that is what I am working on now.

I am looking forward to running this next week since I am suppose to run in the morning with a group and then head to church. I have plenty of time to get my training completed and be ready for my race next month. I am beyond excited to run with a great group of women and thankful to our group leader for putting a team together this year. I am very grateful for all the advice and words of encouragement she has offered me through my training. Especially on race day last year. I was so nervous that I thought I was going to be sick but once I started running it was fine. I am actually looking forward to that feeling this year. Kinda crazy huh?

So until I run again.