Walk to end Brain Cancer 5k

I did a 5k this morning with my friends. We were raising money and running to remember people affected by brain tumors. My friend had someone close to her die of a brain tumor so I was supporting her. 

The race was the most unorganized and chaotic 5k ever. The race was suppose to start at 8am. I got there about 7:30am. Stood in line to get my packet. Race day was the only time you could pick up your packet. I got to the front of the line and they told me that they did not have enough shirts so I would be mailed my shirt. About 10-15 min later everyone showed up to get their packets and the lines were out of control. 

They did not start the run till 8:45 cause of the chaos of everyone picking up their numbers. 

I started running the race with my friends and than they had to take a walking break so I kept running. I saw this girl that I met while waiting for the race to start (she is a friend of a friend) and I knew she was trying for a sub 30:00. She was quite aways ahead of me but I could see her and I was determined to catch her. It took me till about mile 2 to catch her but I did. We than ran the next mile together. Right at the end this older couple passed me and a thought no way! I kicked it into high gear and sprinted the last 100 yards, passing the couple. 

After the race we got lots and lots of free loafs of bread. There was going to be a raffle so we decided to hang out and wait. Jeremy took the boys over to the playground and I waited for the raffle. And waited and waited and waited. Two hours after I finished they decided to do ribbons and I won 2nd place in my age group. So after a half hour of the awards they finally got to the raffle. By this time well over 2/3 of the people had left so my odds of winning were pretty good. But after another 30 or 45 min of raffles I did not win squat. 

I had a good time and was super stoked that I won 2nd. It was a very different experience and one that I will on soon forget. 

Snakes!!!

I We went out of town this weekend and I ran twice while in Meadow. Fridays run was great. I ran to the cemetery and back. It was peaceful and the weather was great. Saturday I decide to run along the highway for my long run. It was ruff. I had a big head wind going out and I saw about 5 dead or alive snakes. Every time I saw one I screamed and jumped. It made for a very long run. But I got it done. 

I also did my fastest 10k on the TM early int he week. 

I am smiling cause its over. 

Outside Run

I ran for the first time outside since my half. Did 7 very slow miles. It was hot and sweaty. My throat started hurting yesterday and I think I am getting sick. I woke up and my throat felt worse and I just wanted to be lazy, but I laced up and ran. It took about 4 miles to get into it and fall into a rhythm. After the first 4 miles were out of the way I started to feel good and ran up a big hill. Than I was feeling great and it was all downhill till I got home. Afterwards I was glad I ran. It felt good to run outside. It was a little hot and I was a huge sweety mess. As the weather is greeting hotter and hotter I will have to run earlier in the morning. 

I want to shout out to my sis Amy who ran a half today and rock it!! She's a huge example to me and motivates me. Someday I hope to be as fast and determined as she is. She has ran lots of halfs and fulls but this was the first one after she had her daughter 9 months ago. Go Amy!! 

My outside run and below was my run on Friday. 

I am going to try and get my mileage back up to 25 miles a week. Which would be 5 miles 3 times durning the week and 10 miles on Saturday. 

Doing my own thing

I don't have anything I am training for. I thought I was going to train for a full marathon but I think I am going to push that off a little further. So I am just doing my own thing now. Today I did 5.75 miles. It was the longest run since my half. It felt good but it was hard. I want to run about 25 miles a week and stay in half marathon shape. I heard everyone say that it's hard to stay motivated when you don't have a certain race that you are training for and now I know this to be true. Last week I lost all my motivation. I still ran I even did my fastest 5k on the TM but I felt lost. So this week I will be back at it and pushing myself.

Recovery Week

I ran 2 miles on Monday and walked one. Than I did some research on recovery from a half and took the rest of the week off from running. I still went to the gun and did the elliptical on my usual running days.
Yesterday I tried a new class at the gym called TRX. It's a brand new class they are offering and it was a workout. I am super sore today.
Tomorrow I will be back to running and training for a full marathons :)
I would love to run a full marathon this year so I looked up training schedules and found one I like. I wrote it all out on my calendar and will start it tomorrow. I think I was still on a half Mary high when I decided this cause this recovery week has been so nice and easy and as I sit here in my chair under a warm blanket,, running for 4 hours every Saturday for a while does not sound fun. But I will start the training and work my way up just like for the half.

Salt Lake City Half Marathon

I ran my first half marathon this past weekend.
It was a very emotional week for runners. What happened in Boston is sick and I was heartbroken for those that were injured. It's a sick twisted world we live in.
Monday night my husband asked me if I still wanted to run my half. I said I can't live in fear and it did make me nervous that he was going to be watching me but I still wanted to run.
Friday I picked my my bib and it was a little unorganized and a long line but we got my bib and shirt and looked around at the vendors a little.
Than hubs and I went out to Old Spaghetti Factory to carbo load. We were sat at a table in the bar area and there was a tv on the wall and they were showing the news of the capture of the 2nd bombing suspect. I didn't want to watch it but I could not look away. Finally I forced myself to just enjoy dinner.
After dinner we came and went to be early. The kids were spending the night at my BFFs house so I could get some sleep.
I got a good nights sleep and we left the house at 5:15am. When we parked it was pouring down rain and freezing. We sat in the car until about 6:30 and than headed to the start. It was still raining and freezing. We saw ATF agents, DHS agents, bomb sniffing dogs, and helicopters, and police everywhere. We huddled in the tent with everyone else. Jeremy than left to go get a good spot to watch the start. I lined up right behind the 2:10 pacer. My plan was to follow him as long as I could.
7am they played Sweet Caroline and we were off.
The first 3 miles flew by. It was pouring rain but I warmed up really quick.
At mile 4.5 I ate a gu chomp. I was still right behind the 2:10 pacer.
Than we hit some sharp downhill and sharp up hills. On the second up hill the 2:10 pacer just took off and I fell behind. By mile 6 I had lost sight of the pacer but I was sooooo happy that I had followed him so long.
About mile 7 I started questioning my sanity and wondering why on the earth I was doing this and vowing to never do another one. It was still pouring down rain and I had stepped in a few big puddles.
Mile 8.5 I ate another GU chomp and by mile 10 I found my love for running again. Which is a good thing cause I started to get cold. I was soaked to the bone and my clothes probably weighted 15 extra pounds with all the rain water. But I was doing it. I had not stopped. My body was feeling cold but I was feeling great. I was amazed at my body and the fact that I was going to finish this was an overwhelming since of accomplishment.
About mile 11 I walked about 10 feet thru a water stop and that was the ONLY time I stopped running.
The last mile was hard. I new I was close but it seemed like it was taking forever to see the finish and the rain really started coming down.
Than finally I saw the finish.
I crossed the finish line at 2:16:10.
I was so happy. I as on cloud nine! I was so pleased I ran the whole thing, that my body did it, and I was very pleased with my time.
So soon as I stopped running I started to get really cold. We did not stay at the finish. Jer and I walk around a little bit and than I was so cold and wet I started to shiver. So we went to the car.
I had a huge smile on my face the rest of the day and wore my medal the WHOLE day.

Week 11

Week 11 was a good week. My blister got infected and on Thursday night I could not sleep it hurt so bad. I woke up up about 2:30 am and I put ice on it and tried to sleep but could not. It was throbbing and out of control with pain. So about 3:30 am I did surgery on my foot. I cut the blister open and it popped like a big zit. I squeezed puss and blood out of it. After that it felt 100% better. It still hurt but it was not throbbing and the pain was very manageable.
Today I had my last long run before my half. I did 8 miles today. It was cold and windy and I got stuck at a stop light forever. I did eat a gu chomp at mile 4 and I think I love those things. It gave me a huge pick me up and I finished really strong.
Race day is a week from today. I am getting nervous. I'm not nervous about the running I am nervous about the parking and the starting line and Jeremy has family staying with us that weekend so its goings to be a crazy stressful eventful weekend.