Friday, April 29, 2011

iFitness WINNER!

And the lucky winner is.............................


Crystal from Am I a runner or Just Crazy

Congrats Crystal:) Please email your pouch of choice by Monday!!

Thanks to ALL that entered and for following my Journey, lots more giveaways and journeys to come:)

Wk's #16 & #17-Last Long Run that Didn't Happen and T Minus 48hrs......

Well things in my personal life aren't much better. I feel like my mind is swimming in a pool of every emotion possible which is disturbing the way my body feels:(  Starting yesterday one of my toes feels like I have jammed it, my back/hip is killing me and my head just aches non-stop! Factor in trying to feel positive and trying to have the feelings of "Yes I CAN DO THIS MARATHON" hasn't been easy.  But anyway.........

Week 16
Tuesday- 5mi/45:52
Thursday- 7mi/1:03:23
Saturday- 8mi/1:19:43

Tuesday was the first really hot and humid day we have had this year. Thankfully there was a nice breeze blowing which made it bearable to run! About 2mi into the run the heat started getting me. Thursday was a great run, I had my mind on a million things so I just went out and ran! Sheri saw me around 3.25mi and yelled and yelled my name  until I finally realized it, I was THANKFUL I did see her:) Saturday we had planned on doing our last long run of 22mi however the weather was not cooperating and we only put in 8mi. The first half was super then all of a sudden my leg started hurting and I felt like I just couldn't breathe, I was kind of glad we had to cut it short!

Week 17
Tuesday- 3mi/28:35 + 1mi walked

Yep that's it but you are suppose to take is easy the week of the marathon right?  I decided to do the entire 3mi at our local park due to it having some decent hills, I have heard the Flying Pig has it fair share of hills! I took my time and didn't push hard at all just 'RAN'!

The BIG DAY is ONLY 48hrs away..............I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN I THINK I CAN!!!!!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

3 Thoughts(things) Thursday- Life is Hard

1. My current personal life seems to be in turmoil right now and it is not pleasant.

2. I am NOT feeling very confident about my first marathon being in 10 days and feeling like my entire life has been flipped upside down.

3. On a positive note Daily Vitamin F has a neat Giveaway going on. The more followers she gets the more prizes the winner will receive! So be sure to check it out HERE!

**Also don't forget my iFitness Giveaway HERE**

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Wk #15 Marathon Training- Schedule? Who needs one of them..........

When this training began way back when (14 weeks ago) I was determined that I WAS going to complete EVERY SINGLE run on that schedule...........Now I feel like it has become a game or something to see how many runs I can miss ~ugghh! Not really sure what was on the schedule for this week but here is how my week went:

Wednesday- 7mi/1:05:03
Thursday- 5mi/46:03
Sunday- 10mi/1:38:43

Monday and Tuesday not sure why I didn't attempt to run well except Tuesday it was raining. Wednesday was great! I felt great, ready to go out there and pound that pavement:) I went out and did 5mi alone then went back to the gym to see if hopefully the hubs would want to go to the park for a couple more~ Yay he did! I did the first 5 a little fast so I took it easy the last 2. I had thought about using Thursday's 5mi as some speed work, I was going to try my best to keep at least a 9min pace or better. It was a little warm that day but I did pretty good for 2.5 mi. Then I ran into Sheri (HOORAY!!!) I was SO HAPPY to see her, this was her first day out running and I was THRILLED I got to run with her (BFF LOVE!!) We finished the other 2.5mi not slow but not fast, I was ready to slow it back down to a more normal pace for me! Saturday was suppose to be a 5k race but it was cancelled due to the monsoon of rain we have been and are receiving, it was a cross country course and they said there was puddles of water on the course~ thank you for cancelling I so didn't want to twist an ankle or anything. So instead we went marathon outfit shopping, nothing special but the outfit has been purchased:) Sunday we planned on doing 15mi but Sheri had a birthday party to go to so we was going to just do 12mi. We started out slow and picked up the pace as we went along. For some strange reason I felt nervous when I got up thinking about the 15mi, I felt somewhat better when Sheri told me she only had time for 12mi but I was still feeling nervous. We stopped for GU and water at mile 5 and I just had to confess- I just wasn't feeling it today, I felt like I was going to vomit at any second, my legs felt like bricks and my mind just simply said I DO NOT want to run. Since Sheri was short on time she was okay with it also so we just headed on back and only did 10mi. Sorry Sheri!

The original schedule called for week 15, 16 and 17 as taper weeks but with Sheri getting ill and life in general we have changed it up a bit and we are going to do our last long run next weekend one week before the MARATHON!!! Personally I like this idea better. I was very nervous thinking about the taper weeks, I was afraid my legs would forget how to run 20+ miles  so I am HAPPY that we will be doing 22mi next week just one week before the big day:)

What do you think, is it an okay idea to have a long run (of 22mi) one week before your first EVER Marathon?

Don't forget to enter my iFitness GIVEAWAY HERE!!!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

iFitness Review & Giveaway

Finally I am doing this review, marathon training I do believe has totally wiped me out but I will blog more on that later:)



The awesome Hailey with iFitness was kind enough to offer me a belt to review. Knowing that I will be needing several Gu's and other stuff for the marathon I was in need of a bigger belt. So I chose the Neoprene Double Pouch Black w/ Pink Zip shown below!
I really like this belt! Since the marathon I am doing is the Flying Pig I am guessing I will be wearing something Pink so this Pink belt caught my eye right away!  I like having the Double Pouches so that I can put my Gu's on one side and whatever else I want in the other side. So far while training and review this belt I have carried a camera, I think around 5 gu's, toilet paper and chapstick! I try to be prepared at all times:) When I have my belt really stuffed its a little hard to pull out a gu easily, that would probably be my only negative on this belt. I love the comfort, the size, how easy it is to adjust the straps and ALL the awesome stuff I can fit into my wonderful iFitness Belt! Not only do I love my belt Hailey is really awesome as well, I chose a belt that was out of stock and was going to be a couple of weeks she remembered all on her own to send me the belt that was an awesome surprise in the mail! Thank You Hailey I really love my belt!!! :)

Can you use a Neoprene Running Belt w/Double Pouch of your own? It might just be your lucky day! Hailey with iFitness is letting me select one winner to pick their own

Here's how to enter to win:
MUST BE A FOLLOWER!! Gotta show a little love:)
Tell me which Neoprene Running Belt w/Double Pouch you will select
Blog It, Facebook It or Tweet It (one entry for each)
Like iFitness on Facebook and tell em' I sent ya

A winner will be selected on April 24

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Wk #14 Marathon Training- Another weak Week

For whatever reason this is becoming a habit of mine. The schedule called for 5, 8, 5 and 22, my week well it went like this:

Thursday- 7mi/1:05:20
Saturday- 2.6mi/22:03
Sunday- 14mi/2:33:43

Not so great things happened this week. Sheri texted me Monday morning telling me she didn't feel good, later that evening I texted her to see if she was any better but she wasn't. Tuesday morning I was leaving for work unplugged my cell phone and it showed I received a blank message from Sheri around 1am? It puzzled me but I just thought she hit it by mistake(which it was) so I was going to send a message after I got to work to check on her again, however when I got ready to send her one I already had one from her. She was in the hospital! Thankfully she is doing better now but read all about her experience HERE! So Tuesday I did the MORE important thing and went to the hospital to be with Sheri instead of running! I was going to go Wednesday and talked myself right out of it due to the extremely high winds we had. My girls were on Spring Break so I decided to take off Thursday and Friday so I knew I would get out there at least one of those days. Thursday morning I took my oldest daughter to get her permit:) and off to run after that. The wonderful weather is finally in the process of changing over to Spring and I ended up being way over dressed~ holy cow I was hot! I did have a great 7mi run! I had thought about doing 8mi but my garmin kept flashing low battery so I decided to go ahead and quit at 7. Friday I thought about running but decided I would wait until Saturday and go run the race that was going to be at the park. The race was suppose to be a 5k but the leader took a wrong turn somewhere and it only ended up being 2.6mi. I wasn't really expecting much, I now have a new pain going on in my left hip it doesn't hurt while running but for every other moment it hurts. So I just thought I will run it the best I can and what do ya know I was doing great, as always I started out way fast like around 7:55pace for a good .25mi then I slowed down a little to get to a more comfortable pace for me and I ended up hanging in at 8:35:) Instead of just running a simple lap around the park on the trail they made several turns through the center of the ball fields like around the bleachers, there was about five 90degree turns~uggh! This race was held by the college in our town it was for cancer victims and such and what do I do? I show up in a shirt with a skull head!!! How nice of me :/ I really wish this would have been a whole 5k since I was doing great, if I could have kept my pace up I would have finished in 26 something and that is awesome for me at the park!!! They only gave awards for the top 3 males/females overall for college students and community people, I was THRILLED and SURPRISED to get 2nd in community and the award was a bag of homemade cookies~ yum!!
  I knew that Sheri still wasn't able to run and I needed to do some type of a long run, I hate to go by myself and my other friend Kelli posted on facebook that she needed a running buddy, Yea for me, I hit her up and asked if she would be interested in doing at least 10mi and maybe if she felt like it we could do a few more. She isn't currently training for anything so she hasn't been doing long runs but she runs daily at least around 5mi or so. I dropped water at the 5mi point since I knew it was going to be a HOT day even at 8am, we stopped drank some water then I asked "So what do ya think, do you want to head back or go a couple more miles?" We decided we would go another 1.5mi to make a total of 13mi but we ended up going to 7mi for a total of 14mi:) That next 1.5mi is the worst part of that run in my opinion, lots of big hills. Kelli did great but around 8.5mi she was ready to start walking some and I was NOT going to leave her since I asked her to go and I walked with her. We kind of run/walked for a few miles then for the last 1.5mi we walked completely, I DIDN'T mind however it was a nice break and Kelli reached a new distance that she hasn't tackled before! Thanks for going Kelli!!

Only 3 short weeks until the BIG DAY! Starting to think more and more about it and trying my best NOT to be nervous going into it~ I THINK I CAN!!  I THINK I CAN!!   I HOPE I CAN!!! 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wk #13 Marathon Training- Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon

The schedule said 5, 8, 5, 20 BUT we had already planned on doing the half marathon so we divide the 20 into 7 and 13mi.

However this is how my week went:
Saturday- 7mi/1:08:46
Sunday- 13.1/* See my time below

Yep that's it! Why? I have lots of "good" excuses, BUT  I had already decided I was going to only run once during the week due to my leg issue, I was feeling like maybe it needs a few days rest. Tuesday I was feeling pretty good and thought I would go ahead and go, this week was our awful crazy hectic week at work and by the time the end of the day came I talked myself right out of running. Wednesday and Thursday was pretty much the same I was tired from work and just decided not to go, Friday was horrible at work but I knew I wasn't going to run anyway since that would put me at running 3 days in a row and my leg more than likely wouldn't like that! Sheri was out of town all week and we had already planned on running together Saturday morning since we had to go pick up our packets for Sunday. Oh yea~ on Wednesday I started the 30 day challenge on EA Active for Wii towards the end of it on Wednesday and Thursday my leg was hurting from the lunges. Now back to Saturday, neither one of us was really in the mood but it all worked out we ran in town which led to a couple of extra stops for traffic:) but we still had a good pace (9:49)! I felt pretty fresh (since I hadn't ran all week) but I did start to feel tired around 5.5mi but that is when the gale force winds began, I felt like someone or something was pushing me back!

Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon
This is a local race that just started last year, this year it was taken over by new directors and they reversed the course. There isn't really an expo just a couple of local companies set up and pick up your bib and shirt! If you saw my last post  then you already know I was Lucky #13 and the shirts were really nice so we decided to wear them(see a pic here of my shirt). I really wanted to do decent and I told myself I was going to try hard. This was my third half and I wanted it to be the first one I didn't have to walk in. But I tried not to think too much about it so I wouldn't cause any extra stress on myself, that tends to cause my stomach to be horrible and I didn't want that! When I got up I felt pretty good I wondered if running the 7mi the day before would bother me but it didn't so far. The race started at 8am and it is about an hour away and last year the traffic was awful so we decided to leave plenty early this year which meant I got up at 4am to prepare. I haven't been eating anything before when we do our long runs except drink a cup of coffee so that is what I chose to do for this. (I know that it something I need to start doing though it eat just a little something) We stopped for a potty break on the way and again once we got there so I was feeling good about that. The weather was PERFECT it was a little cool about 43* but it was sunny!

Mile #1- 8:57
#2- 9:12
#3-8:59
#4-9:45
#5-9:21
#6-9:09
#7-10:54* WTH???
#8-9:16
#9-9:06
#10-9:31
#11-9:24
#12-9:31
#13.01-9:25

Miles 1-3: These miles were pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I took off a little faster than I should have. I always get caught up in the race day of people starting fast even though I TELL myself NOT to do it. Some how I got ahead and Sheri wasn't by my side, I decided I would walk through the water stop around mile 3.5 and take my first GU and hopefully get beside Sheri again. Success, took my GU and Sheri (which I knew that she was) was right behind me!

Miles 4-6: In these miles things started getting interesting for me. About 1/2mi after I took my GU my stomach started churning and cramping and I needed to use the bathroom! I thought "Dang" first of all but then I thought no problem I will just stop at the next water stop, the first two water stops had potties, the next one didn't how great for me! So I tried to just not think about it and just keep on going. Around mile 5.5 I started thinking about last year and this location was where I started walking (except last year it was about mile 8~the course was reversed!) and I let that mess with my mind a little and started thinking about the bathroom again. Sheri and I was together all of these miles, the weather was still great sun was shining about 50* but the wind was starting to pick up.

Miles 7-11: This is where we entered a big farm( the start of last years race) and I could see the potty ahead! I looked over at Sheri and said" I am going to speed on to the bathroom, don't worry about waiting for my just keep on going!" And that I did I looked down at my garmin right before I stopped and it was at a 7:something pace~When ya gotta go ya gotta go!!! And what do ya know I was the first person to use the potty, I was trying my best to hurry and the stupid toilet paper wouldn't come out~ugghh~ I ripped it and jerked it out finally! Before entering the bathroom I grabbed a cup of water so I drank it while I was in there hopped out and off again! I really wanted to catch back up with Sheri but wasn't so sure I would be able to so I had to refocus get myself together and just run! I once again took off a little too quick, once I got out of the farm area and back on the main road I tried to get my pace right and comfortable for me, the entire course is rolling and there was some pretty decent size hills in these miles. I wasn't able to catch back up with Sheri:( I started getting really tired and my heels were killing me around mile 10 and I really considered walking a little but I talked myself right out of it reminding myself that there was ONLY a 5k left and if I keep running just maybe this will be my first half marathon that I didn't walk in?!?!?!

Miles 12-13.1: The mile markers were way off when I came to the marker for mile 12 my garmin was at 12.20 so I was trying to figure out in my head when I should begin picking up my pace to finish, I thought around 12.85 would probably be about right. These last couple of miles was still hilly so I wanted to plan my finish save some energy and finish strong. There was some little kids giving "high fives" as we passed them and the last little girl told me "You are almost done its just around the corner!" YAY is all I could think but I told her "Thanks!" I am not real sure where I was at for distance but my time was at 1:55:something and all I was thinking was GO GO GO! I knew I wasn't going to finish under 2hrs but I WAS going to be as close as possible. To my surprise that little girl was just about right, I rounded the corner and could see the finish line, time to start kicking it in now! I saw the hubs (Sheri's hubs) cheering my on as well as some other bystanders which really helped push it through the end. Unfortunately I didn't look at the time clock it said your name as you crossed, I would have liked to see it, I was more focused on trying to have a decent photo finish:) I stopped my garmin looked down at it~OMG I was so close~my official finish time was.......................
                                                 2:03:10
Hooray a PR not only on this course but for a half marathon PR!!! I beat last years time by 23mins and my last half time by 9mins~AWESOME!!!! Sheri was even closer she came in at 2:01:31~AWESOME!!! If only I hadn't stopped for the bathroom then I think both of us would have made it. HOWEVER this is also the FIRST half I was able to RUN the ENTIRE thing without walking!! That fact alone thrills me to no end!

More to come......

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Another Half

Tomorrow I am running my 3rd Half Marathon Run the Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky. This was my first half last year but this year is managed by new people and the course is in reverse. We will see how that goes!

Last Year:
I was a newbie I had NO idea of what to expect. My longest run was around 9mi and it was almost an entire month before the half. I did NOT train well at all. I wanted to complete it in at least 2:45. It ended up raining and terrible cold wind that day, this was my first day ever running in rain, I had NO hat, I was soaked beyond belief and to the point of being miserable. I was all by myself, I trained (if that's what you want to call it) alone and I was alone on the course that day as well, my mom and hubs I only saw at the very beginning. I WAS able to run 8mi before I started losing it and start walk/run, I think I walked mile 9 to 10 and tried my best to run the entire mile 13.1 I wanted my family to be proud and see me smiling as I crossed the finish. My finish time was 2:26:12 I was thrilled then I couldn't find my family and I almost lost it, I almost started to cry just being overcome with emotions over the fact I DID IT!! I had to ask a stranger to use their phone to find my family, they had left to get something to eat, race officials closed the roads due to the race starting and my family had to park about 2mi away, NO ONE saw me finish:( I think they were just as upset as I was about that fact!

This Year:
I am still not an expert but I am a LOT more experienced. I am in the middle of training for my first marathon so I have been training for SURE! I would really LOVE to come in under 2hrs but I know that will more than likely NOT happen this time and that IS okay, I just really want to beat last years time!
I am hoping not to stress myself out over it and just let it be what it is meant to be.

Oh and guess what my number is............................................................?


Yep Lucky #13!!