Friday, March 30, 2012

A Few Things on Friday

Tomorrow I will be running the Run the Bluegrass Half in Lexington, Ky. This will be one of the hilliest half marathons I have ever ran. Am I ready for it?? Ready as I will ever be I guess. Did I train for hill work properly?  Of course not!?!?!?

I am excited however to be at this half for several different reasons. I will hopefully be surrounded by a couple of friends I have been training with the entire race and we are planning to make the most of it and have fun doing it:)  Also I get to meet a blogger:) Courtney from Third Time's a Charm Runner!!! I am really excited about that it will be my first meet up with a blogger:)) Anyone else going to be there??

Ugghh today is our worst day EVER at work I will be so glad when its over, I'm trying my best to type this in between customers so sorry if this is crazy typed!


I think this quote is pretty awesome:

 A perfect run has nothing to do with distance. It's when your stride feels comfortable. You're on your toes trying to push it. Suddenly you realize you can open it up a bit more. You know you're at one with yourself and the environment. You're a little more alive than before you started.

Sean Astin, actor

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!! Hope to return with a good half marathon recap:)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

WIR- I was on Cloud 9 A new 5k PR!!

Tuesday 3/20- Run/walk 3mi/41:17 Step & Tone Aerobics
Thursday 3/22- Run 1mi/ No Garmin no time  Step & Tone Aerobics
Saturday 3/24- Rocket Runner 5k- Time posted below
Sunday 3/25- Run 10mi/1:40:59

Didn't really do much this week, not sure why maybe just because I didn't feel like it, LOL! Tuesday I had planned on running the entire 3mi with my buddy Shalan, however in aerobics we did a bunch of step up step down and jumping jacks my legs were DEAD and felt like lead weights!! I was able to run about 1.5mi and said forget it lets just walk the rest, thankfully Shalan was ok with that also. Thursday was pretty much the same, both of us did aerobics then we ran a mile and called it quits. Something is better than nothing:)

My other buddy Sarah and I talked about the 5k we was doing Saturday, both of us wanted to get a PR. I had ran the course before so I was a little familiar with it and didn't really think I could get a PR. I felt pretty good that morning but still wasn't too sure of myself. I must admit the first thing I do when I arrive for 5k's is to try and size up my competition, the ones in my age group. We saw a lady dressed like a pro and I just knew she was going to be the one I had to beat. My mom, the wonderful mother she is, followed her into the bathroom to check her bib out for her age~ Thanks Mom:) and sure enough she was in my age group. (Thankfully Sarah and I are in different age groups:) So I started making a plan in my mind. Sarah asked me what I was shooting for as we was waiting to start, I said "26:45". The plan I made was to hold back the first half and pick it up the second half. I kept my competition within reach the entire first half and inched closer and closer during the second half, so close that I was right on her heels! I kept an eye on the Garmin for the distance I didn't want to give it all I had too early and get passed at the end. Then all of a sudden "she" stopped?? Her shoe had come untied!! And I kept on rolling:) Again I never look at my pace or time only distance but I still felt good and  maybe just a little out of breath but I kept pushing on. When I made the final turn to the finish shoot I saw the time clock and couldn't believe my eyes.....

I think I was in Shock at my time?!?!
It said 24:50 and I KICKED IT!! My finish time ended up being 24:57 which is a new PR for me!!!! I was totally shocked, surprised and Happy:) I didn't even feel like I ran that "hard" which is even better!! Not only did I get a PR but everyone in my "circle of friends" did!! Made the morning even BETTER!!!

Sunday morning I met up with Shalan for the last long run before Run the Bluegrass. Do to her work schedule she hasn't been able to run as much as she would like so when we set out for 10mi we just planned to take it as we felt, if we felt like walking we would. I decided to make the plan of running 2mi at a time then we would walk for .25 with the exception of the last big hill coming back and we walked a little longer than .25! To our surprise our overall pace ended up being 10:05. So I told her I think we should try that at the half this weekend, hopefully it will work out! This week I am pretty much doing nothing just so I will have rested legs for this awful hilly half and now I'm wondering .......

Is it a good idea to do nothing all week before a half ~or~ should I get in at least one day of running? What do you think???

Feeling good at the start of the Race

Us Awesome 1st place finishers in our age groups:)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Could it have been the Water??

In my last post I told how I woke up in the middle of the night on a Saturday with an awful belly ache. Well here is my theory as to why I think it happened......
At the Shamrock Shuffle 3k in Lexington, Ky I noticed there was a water hose hooked up to a fire hydrant leading to a trailer that was dispensing the water for the runners. Fire hydrant water?? Really?? The side of the trailer had the name of the local water company so I assume it was filtered somehow someway as is was being dispensed  but who knows. I read about the disaster from the Las Vegas RNR about the water and was a little concerned about drinking this water but I was thirsty! I had to drink something!! The water inside the building was in coolers so I'm assuming it was the same water?? Granted that was about 9am when I drank the water and my belly ache didn't hit me until 3am, but I still wonder??  It wasn't just any old regular belly ache I woke up holding my stomach moaning and groaning and stayed in the bathroom for about an hour!!

What's your thoughts?? Could it have been the water???

Thursday, March 22, 2012

WIR- Where Have I Been-No Funk Just Busy But a Feel Good Week

Here's my week, nothing outstanding but for me it was a good week!

Tuesday 3/13- Run 5mi/51:51  Step & Tone Aerobics
Wednesday 3/14- Run 3mi/31:15
Thursday 3/15- Run 4mi/42:03  Step & Tone Aerobics
Saturday 3/17- Run 1.86mi/14:27  Run 1.84/14:37 **Two 3k Races**
Sunday 3/18- Run 9mi/1:41:21


None of my runs was spectacular as far as times but the way I felt for all of the runs was great! And best of all I have felt great overall this past week! (Except for the hard to sleep issues) Unfortunately for me we are in our busiest month at work, I am WORN OUT at night and after being on the computer for work all day I haven't been at home (to Blog) so I am a little behind!   Then there is the unseasonable HEAT WAVE we have going on doesn't help and makes me feel tired. The normal temps for our area at this time of year is 55*- 63* last week it was in the high 70's all week and 80's towards the end of the week! Wednesday afternoon Sarah sent me a text stating "Under no circumstances will you let me walk while we are running" the funny thing about that was that was the start of 80* days and geez it was HOT and yes we walked a few steps here and there, I was ok with it though! Tuesday and Thursday was 5am runs, I had considered switching back to only afternoon runs but with this crazy heat I think I will stick to 5am runs for a while, who knows we will see....

I signed up to do two 3k races on Saturday a long time ago, one was in the morning and the other was in the evening, both of these races are a couple of my favorite races but this was the first year they have been held on the same day. My original plan was to "train" for them, yes I said train for a 3k, sounds kinda lame I know but I wanted to "run" them HARD and really try, did I train like I wanted NO! Why? Don't know. I figured even without training I could run hard for at least one of them.
First up was the Shamrock Shuffle 3k in Lexington, KY which is about 40 mins from my house which meant we had to leave at early dark:thirty as my wonderful mom put it. This is a bigger race than my normal and this year they had 2700 registered the largest crowd to date. I told my mom at the beginning that I would love to run it in 13:30 but not so sure I could but was going to give it my best effort, I really wanted to place in my age group. The weather was PERFECT around 56* and cloudy but it rained the night before and the road was slick, that kinda worried me. I even got at the front to start all on my own normally I would never do this unless the hubs was with me and made us get in line at the front. Off we went and I felt GREAT! I tried my best not to look at the Garmin, if I see the pace higher than I "think" I can do it starts to freak me out so I decided I wouldn't look until I was through one mile. At almost the mile point a little boy got right in front of me and stopped dead in his tracks, I put my hand on his back hovered completely over the top of him trying not to make either of us fall down! Thankfully neither of us did and I got around him. That made me push a little harder to try and get away from him. When I heard the Garmin "ding" at one mile I glanced down to see, I did that first mile at 7:47!!! Wow I never do that and yep it freaked me out a little and my pace slowed but not much I finished 1.86mi in 14:27!! Didn't hit my goal but I was VERY happy with that time since I didn't "train" and I was 40seconds from being 3rd! And I'm okay with that also it gives me something to push for next year:)

The next 3k race wasn't until 6:30pm which meant I had several hours in between and I don't do well eating before running. I was puzzled as to what to do with myself?? So I ate a turkey sandwich and took a 2hour nap. I woke up with a TERRIBLE sinus headache~ UGGHH!

The hubs is in the blue shirt #112 and I am behind in the pink!
The temps went up fast as the day went along, it was a beautiful day but it was HOT in the evening and HUMID! I sent the hubs a text before my nap and told him I hoped he had his running legs ready cause I was going to need someone to help me push hard to run again. He came home from work in not the greatest humor and dragged his feet for us to leave, I had to speed just a little to get us there in time. I felt like I had a lucky number #111 not sure why I felt like it was lucky but I did. And surprisingly my legs still felt good and ready to RUN. This was the Run for the Gold 3k in Frankfort, KY. I tell everyone Frankfort races always have lots of young kids that run and usually start at the front take off in sprints for the first 50feet and dead stop, sure enough I got caught up in them again and the hubs always seems to slide through them somehow?? I told him while we was waiting at the start I had no intention of taking off fast but hoping to pick it up at the end, its always my motivation to beat him:) Well once they said GO he took off like a rocket I really wasn't too sure I would be able to catch him. But I did and absolutely loved that we was side by side for about a half mile, then I pulled a little ahead of him but I knew he was just behind me
Why do I always run with my thumbs up??

When I made the final turn to the finish line I did my best sprinting went through the finish shoot turned to look behind me and there was no hubs?! He was there but about 10 seconds behind enough that I didn't see him right off :) Once again during this race I was able to pull off one mile at 7:47 and finish 1.84mi in 14:37!! Only 10 seconds from my time in the first morning race which again made me happy since I didn't train like I wanted to! I did get 3rd in my age group however~ Hooray!!

I agreed to do a long run with my friend Shalan who will be running the Run the Bluegrass Half with me on the 31st. We planned on doing it Sunday morning but I was up half the night with a terrible belly (I will tell you why I think it happened in my next post) so I postponed it till later in the evening. I wish we could have went in the morning because it was hot! Originally we was going to do 8mi but both of us felt ok, except for being hot and battling bugs, so we went ahead and did 9mi. It wasn't the fastest but it got done and I haven't been able to see or run with Shalan for about 3weeks so we had a lot to catch up on:)


Hope everyone had a great week last week and even better one this week!!
Run Happy!!

Our Girls! Another reason I enjoy evening races sometimes I can convince them to go:)



Monday, March 12, 2012

WIR- Weekend of Ups and Downs

Tuesday 3/6- Run 3mi/30:51 Step & Tone Aerobics
Wednesday 3/7- Run 4.15mi/40:00
Thursday 3/8- Step & Tone Aerobics
Saturday 3/10- Run 12mi/1:55:33
Sunday 3/11- Run 2.93/25:45

Tuesday was the only 5am run I did last week with Sarah, neither one of us was really wanting to get up this past week:) and with the weather getting nicer I enjoy the sunny afternoons. So I will probably go back to afternoon runs except on Tuesday and Thursday aerobic days. Wednesday the wind was so fierce I am surprised I talked myself into going but making a plan to meet Sarah really helped! Saturday I was set to run 12mi with Sarah but her foot is/was bothering her, so I met Kathy from my aerobic class again for the first 3miles and completed the rest of it by myself! I wasn't sure if I would do the entire 9 or not but convinced myself "YES You ARE!!" and I did. There was several times I wanted to walk but kept on going the best I could the last mile was the hardest but I pushed through it. When I looked back at my time and pace I was very pleased with myself! Watch out Run the Bluegrass you may not be my fastest half but I (we) are coming for ya!!
Friday I Posted about the awful (to me) start to my day. I had hoped that would mean the rest of the weekend would get better.......Saturday started out good but went DOWNHILL FAST!!! Something that I never would have expected(although maybe yes I did expect it) to happen did, another eye opening experience! BUT anyway............

Sunday I had a 5k race that was suppose to be on Saturday but got postponed due to a championship girls basketball game for the school that was hosting the race. I was unsure of how well I would be able to run since I did the 12miles on Saturday and it was at 4pm, that time of day is so hard to plan for to run a race for me anyway! My legs felt pretty good thanks to my CEP compression socks:) Love those things! I told myself to just run it how I felt, don't push myself too hard and just listen to my legs. Too my surprise my legs was ready to go faster than I thought they would! Although my distance came up a little short I was VERY PLEASED and HAPPY to finish in 25:45 WOO HOO!! My first decent race of the new year and best of all everyone in my group got a medal:) Most definitely the highlight of my weekend!





RUN HAPPY!! Hope everyone had a great week last week!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Not a Great Start

I have been working on this positive thinking thing and have been doing very well. I said I wasn't going to whine on here anymore and trying hard not to right now BUT I am looking for some positive thoughts this morning. If you can help PLEASE send some my way!!

I used to be such a care free person that let nothing or hardly nothing bother me or get me upset especially silly little things. However I have noticed since I had a Hysterectomy a few years ago some days EVERYTHING bothers me. Today is one of those days :(

This morning I went out to start my car to defrost the window. We live sorta in the country and ALWAYS leave the keys in the car. This morning my key wasn't in the car and I panicked started scrambling around trying to find my key thought I was going to hyper ventilate, cry and just break down.

The key was in my coat pocket! UGGHHH!!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

2fer Tuesday- My new Kicks & 6pm

1. A couple of weeks ago I was talking about the fact that I was ready for some new running shoes. My wonderful hubs I think he was feeling sorry for me agreed and took me shopping ;) I am a Brooks girl but wanted to try out something different than my usual  Adrenaline GTS. I tried on every single pair of Brooks that Dick's Sporting Goods had, I even ventured out and tried on some other brands. This is what I decided on:

                                                              PureCadence by Brooks
So far I LOVE these shoes!! They are Super light almost like I don't even have shoes on. The first couple of days that I wore them I began having a pain in my right leg under my butt, it felt like I had a pulled muscle or something. I had hoped it was just getting used to the new light weight thing and still think that is what it is/was. The pain seems to have gone away but not completely but better for sure and I still LOVE my shoes, Thanks Hubz :) (I also got a new outfit:)

2. Have you seen or Do you know about the web site 6pm.com?? If not you need to check it out! One of my aerobic instructors told me about it and I am very happy she did although my bank account won't be :) Here is just one example of something I have my eyes on

                                                 Nike Dri-Fit Cotton Tank for $11.99!!
That's just one item among many!! My aerobic lady told me however you do have to keep checking the site often as sizes are always available, but she said to keep checking they refresh often:)

Speaking of aerobics I just have to give myself a pat on the back for tonight! I am not the most coordinated person and often struggle with some of the steps, tonight that was not the case I was on top of it and was VERY successful :)

Monday, March 5, 2012

WIR- Very Warm in February= Storms

Running gives freedom. When you run you can determine your own tempo. You can choose your own course and think whatever you want. Nobody tells you what to do.


Nina Kuscik, marathoner- Thanks Runners World for this quote

 I kinda had a lousy running week but here's how my week went:

Monday 2/27- Run 3.5mi/38:18
Tuesday 2/28- Run 3.5mi/32:57 Step & Tone Aerobics
Thursday 3/1- Step & Tone Aerobics
Saturday 3/3- Run 2mi/20   Run 9mi/1:41

I started the week out good then along came Wednesday and STORMS! Monday was a 5am run with Sarah, she was sick all the week before so we took it easy it was her first day back and sure didn't need to push herself of course I didn't mind either I love easy days! Tuesday was another 5am alone this time, I really wasn't feeling it so I told myself just at the least get in 3mi. Well I had to stop for a potty break which made me back track a little and I ended up with 3.5mi ~ Yay me :) Tuesday night in my aerobics class one of the ladies had been asking me when I run and that she would like to go with me sometime (I felt so special:), I told her I had been going at 5am if she wanted to join, by the time I got home I already received a text from her that she was going to meet me Wednesday morning! Unfortunately when the alarm clock went off at 4:15 so did the storms, terrible thunder lighting pouring rain and wind so yep we didn't go. Thursday night in aerobics we talked and I agreed to meet her Saturday morning for a few miles before I met up with Sarah for a long run. My stupid Garmin ended up being dead but we ran for 20mins so I guessed that it was about 2mi. I really enjoyed it, running with someone new and of course she thought I was a great runner since I wasn't out of breathe as we talked and ran~LOL! Then I met up with Sarah who training for her first marathon had 18mi on her schedule, not me, so she ran the first 9 with some friends and the second 9mi with me. Go Sarah you are going to "Kick that Marathons BUTT!!!"

Have you ever heard the saying "If you don't like the weather wait a few minutes it will change? That's KY weather for ya" ? That has been proven true this past week. The start of the week was cold in the 30's and 40's, by Wednesday it was in the mid 60's with terrible storms (our weather sirens went off at least 6 times in 40mins), Thursday was a beautiful day sunshine and 60's then came Friday. Friday was a balmy 70's and very bad storms, the weatherman predict 90% chance of tornado's all of the schools let out at noon and banks and other business' started letting out around 3:30pm, that's when I began to worry. Luckily our area escaped unharmed just terrible rain, wind, and hail but not all of KY was as lucky. A couple of communities were completely wiped away by tornado's and I think they now have said the death toll in KY alone is up to 22. Please be thinking about these families as I know I will! Saturday it was back down in the 40's and on Sunday it snowed! Crazy KY weather :?

Hope your week last week went well!
Thanks for following my Journey!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Things are Looking Up & Why we Blog

If you have been following my posts lately you have seen that I have been pretty down and dealing with some issues and doing a lot of whining! Well my bloggy friends I think things are really finally  looking up for me:) I have been having friend issues that had (has) left me in an awful state of mind and lead me to  questioning myself on my life in general. I have wondered am I really a runner, am I a terrible person unworthy of friends, am I a worthy person of anything? I am not going to lie I have probably been in the darkest place inside myself that I haven't been since my Granny passed in '09. Should I be telling the World about these feelings I have been having? Or the issues I have been having? Not sure, which leads me to Why Do People Blog? There are lots of different kinds of blogs out there, food blogs, fashion blogs, fitness blogs, review blogs the list goes on and on. We as bloggers each blog for different reasons although some may share the same reasons. Should we be restricted to what we say in our posts, should we hold back on things we really want to say, should we really say certain things we want to say to the entire world? For me my blog is for me to express my feelings in my personal life, my running life, reviewing products of all sorts just basically what I want it to be! I feel that this is my personal journal and maybe just maybe someone feels the way I do on certain things or maybe someone can say something in a comment that can help in times of need. To me that is what my blog is for!

Things are truly looking up for me, last weekend I went to a 4k race (hello automatic PR since I've never ran one before:). The weather was perfect and beautiful, my youngest daughter went along to watch and I got to see several "race running buddies"! It felt so great! My daughter ended up making a new friend with one of the "buddies" daughters and my mom took them all around taking pics of them, making them feel like stars:) This is what made me a runner, the wonderful Happy atmosphere, all the friendly runners what more could you ask for?!

Although I have had a couple of rough days this past week, I have snapped out of my crazy funk and realized "I am who I am" and that's all I can be!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

3tt- Whoops I forgot my WIR (week in review)

1. So here it is Thursday already and I still haven't posted my WIR from last week~ugghh! And I had a pretty decent week.

2. Here's how it went:
Monday 2/20- Ran One mile Walked 2 42:08 My friend Shalan was sick and I didn't think she should push it, trying to help keep her healthy:)
Tuesday 2/21- Run 4mi/37:28 Step & Tone Aerobics
Thursday 2/23-Run 4mi/38:43 Step & Tone Aerobics
Friday 2/24-Run 3mi/28:42
Sunday 2/26- Run 2.44mi/20:30 this was a 4k race then Ran 1.5mi/15:21 for a cool down

3. All of my runs last week was at 5am with the exception of the race on Sunday. I really think I am enjoying the 5am runs but this week the weather has been BEAUTIFUL and I am missing out on the warm afternoons. Has me wondering can I swing doubles???


I got 2nd in my age group at Sunday's race:) More on that in the next post!