GOALS

Miles in 2014: 100

Days until Nike DC Women’s Half Marathon: 88

Recently I posted a picture of my 2014 Running Goals on my facebook. It’s a funny thing about goals.  You make them for your own personal growth, but to help with accountability you almost have to share them.  Goals can be nerve racking if you put them out there for everyone to see.  If you don’t reach them – people might judge you.  If you do reach them there is always someone hating on your accomplishments. 

I was admittedly not a very strong runner when I first started.  I hurt, I couldn’t breathe, I was too slow for the group, I couldn’t keep up, I couldn’t finish a run using our 3:1 intervals, the list goes on and on.  If you were to ask my parents, I’m sure that they would agree with this next statement.  I’ve always been incredibly stubborn.  So I was not going to let this running thing get the best of me.  Every 5k I ran the goal was the same “I want to go under 40 minutes.”  I came close on my 3^rd one.  At the 3 mile marker the time was 39:30… I yelled and cursed out the man with the clock.  Finally 2 months later during my next 5k I was able to finally break that elusive 40 minute mark.  After my first half (in my defense I ran it sick and had my fever break during the race) a new goal was in place, this one was achieved in my next half.  Running my first marathon I came nowhere near my expected time goal.  I’ve learned about goals, you don’t have to reach them right away, that’s why it’s a goal.

2013 I knocked things out of the park.  I PRed EVERY SINGLE DISTANCE I raced! That’s not normal.  I took my marathon time down by an hour and 14 minutes.  That’s CRAZY.  My half marathon time came down 4 minutes since my previous PR (and almost an hour from that miserable first race.)  My 5k PR was 31 minutes and change – I can run a 5k under that once elusive 40 minute mark without “really” trying anymore.  In short, it was a good year.  In the past I have been accused (here come those “haters” I mentioned before) of only caring about myself and my own personal times, or only running to improve and not to have fun.  So let’s tackle those misconceptions.

I know I’m not perfect, I’m no running saint, BUT I do genuinely want to see everyone I meet through this running adventure do well with their own goals.  It’s one of the reasons I enjoy being a group leader.  In 2013 I walked a half marathon with my best friend, threw time out the window to just enjoy being able to do that with her.  I ran a few different races with people new or coming back to running so they wouldn’t have to go it alone, I helped officially pace a race almost 20 minutes slower than my PR.  I RODE A ROLLER COASTER DURING A MARATHON.  So clearly time isn’t always important, sometimes people need support more than I need to shave some time off of my PR.

Now to the one that really gets me.  Yes, sometimes I want to kill it out there on the road.  I was a swimmer in high school.  One thing that taught me was yes, I’m swimming against the other 7 swimmers in this heat, but I’m also swimming against my own best time.  I carry that notion with me when I run a race.  Yes, sometimes I want to beat someone in front of me (sometimes I know them, sometimes they are just a random target I’ve selected) but truly running is an individual sport.  When you’re at the level of running I am it is very unlikely that I will be in the front of the pack or a contender for any awards.  So really I just want to improve on myself.  I work very hard to get better at what I’m doing.  My parent’s would also probably agree to this next statement.  When I start something I dive in head first and take it to the extreme.  People have called me too competitive.  Sometimes, yes, I am competitive.  But I think it really boils down to this:  If I’m going to spend this much time on something – why wouldn’t I give it my all?  I know plenty of runners who are happy with where they are.  It’s comfortable and they enjoy it.  That’s great, they are out there doing something wonderful.  However, for me, that’s not enough.  I know I can be better.  Sure it would’ve been easy to stay where I started.  Running a few 5k’s and some 3 hour average marathons.  For some people that is there goal.  I know myself well enough to know that if I stayed there in the 13-18 minute miles I wouldn’t be happy with myself and I would quit after a while.  So for me the answer was to put in the work religiously and improve.  What I don’t understand is how people think you can’t have one without the other.  Yes, I can push myself hard in training and targeted races AND STILL HAVE FUN.  It’s possible.  I’ve picked up a pretty amazing group of people that I train with.  Sometimes I’m up front and sometimes I’m the sweeper, but I ALWAYS enjoy the time we spend together.

So here they are my 2014 Running Goals:

1: Be at the third milestone in Nike+ by the DC Women’s half – this means I need to run about 356 more miles before April 27.  Looking at my training, it’s totally possible, I just need to sneak an extra 35 or so miles into my training.

2. Get to the Black Level in Nike+ - I expect that I will be Leveling up sometime in August.

3: Run 1200 miles in 2014 by running an average of 100 miles a month.  I still have one run left this month and I’m already at 100 miles!  Right on track!

4: Here are the big ones  - THE TIME GOALS:

5k – under 30 minutes

Half Marathon – under 2:15 in the spring and under 2 hours in the fall

Marathon – Under 5 hours at the Portland Marathon in October

These may be difficult.  That’s why they’re goals.  I know that if I achieve them some people will be ecstatic for me and some will be “haters” I’m ok with it.  And if I don’t reach them, that’s ok too, I set some tough goals in order to really push myself into continued success. I mean, why shouldn’t I? 

Back on Track!

Miles in 2014: 93.3

Days until Nike DC Women’s Half Marathon: 89

After over a whole week of rest after the Dopey Challenge, I hopped right back on board with training!  Tuesday I opted out of the track workout and chose to do mile repeats instead to work my tired legs back into running.  Thursday we did our "hill loop" with a hill repeat thrown in.  This week we also switched our intervals from 3:1's to 4:1's.  When I first started running two and a half years ago I struggled with the 3:1. Most days I could not run an entire 3 minute interval to save my life.  It took me a very long time before I was able to complete the bulk of my training runs where I was able to run the 3:1 interval for the entire time.  As we have been training this past season we came to the realization that we are reaching a point with our running that we will be unable to run those 3 minutes much faster than we are and the only way to continue improving our times is to increase our running intervals.  After the Dopey we agreed to try and bump them up to 4:1's and then again to 5:1's by the end of the session.  While the 4's were challenging, I was able to run all of my intervals for our 2 week day workouts and our 8 mile run on Saturday.  It really seems to be a much easier transition that I had expected.

Saturday was the first weekend long run of the season and I am a group leader I had to go to the run even though I had a race the following day.  We had a great run at a comfortable pace which was great since many of us are either still recovering from recent races or just coming back to training.

First Weekend Run of Amanda & Leah's official group!

The next day was the Inaugural Celebration Half Marathon.  We had a huge group running the race and I truly loved this event.  The course was pretty and well supported.  We ran our 4:1 intervals for the first half of the race before switching back to 3:1's. At mile 10 we decided to walk it in the rest of the way to help Leah's knee which is still a little tender after her tumble at Dopey.  The after party had a great sampling of food from all of the local Celebration business.  Overall it was a great race.

What a great group!

Amy captured this classic cup toss of me!

This week it's back to work.  I need to continue cleaning up my diet for sure.  It's amazing what an important role that plays in this.  Tomorrow's track combo workout looks BRUTAL but I'm interested to try it out.  Thursday is our usual neighborhood run.  Saturday I'm headed to Safety Harbor for the Best Damn Race.  Last year this was a great event so I am definitely looking forward to running it again.  There are 6 of us running the half and another friend will be running his first 10k ever!  I'm so proud of this accomplishment and I hope I can beat him back to the finish line to see him cross (I'm gonna have to run really fast to achieve that!)  I know I have lots of other friends running the 5k and 10k so I hope to see them all there! 

OUC Orlando Half Marathon

Miles in 2013: 992.7

Days Until Dopey: 30

So I’m working on getting out of my slump and back on track.  This Saturday I ran the OUC Orlando Half Marathon.  I had been signed up to be the 2:45 pacer for a few months now.  When I went to pick up my packet I was told that the other 2:45 pacer had to back out leaving me as the only pacer.  I have to admit I was a little nervous of the responsibility, what if I was having a bad day, what if I tripped and fell, what if I just didn’t have it in me?  Luckily, I was able to snag Leah the other pacer gig so I felt MUCH more comfortable having her as my security blanket!  We met up in the morning and used the very swanky Brooks sponsored VIP porto potties – if you know me you know I’m a sucker for a port-o-let!  We met our group of hopeful 2:45 finishers and headed to the corrals.  By the time we got there it was already a little crowded in the area of 10+ to the beginning of the walkers.  I swear about 30 seconds after the start I broke the pacer stick – you can’t take me anywhere!  As we started with our group we got to know some of it’s members.  One girl said “a 2:45 is a PR for me so I’m sticking with you” another was the mother of a student I had a school.  Most seemed to enjoy the 3:1 interval pacing “man this makes it easier.”  Each mile we would check our watches, true to form we were a little faster than pace.  Every mile we’d tell the group “we’re ahead of pace so we are going to slow down just a little” and we did, and yet at the next mile, still ahead of pace.  I blame it on our fast walking pace.  We also had budgeted an extra 30-60 seconds for each of the water stops so we knew we needed a little extra time in there for those.  One tough thing was that the 2:30 pace group had started a few minutes behind us in the corrals so we heard a lot of “how are you ahead of the 2:30 pace group?”  As the run went on we maintained a pretty steady pace.  One girl was particularly awesome – she had a group of people cheering for her that I swear made it to 5 or 6 places on the course.  The first time she saw them she started to cry “I was in the hospital yesterday with a Kidney infection” she told us.  I told her to suck it up she could cry at the end, she laughed and agreed.

At the start

Around Mile 10 I was struggling, it was SO HOT.  Even though I am a born and raised Florida girl, I cannot handle the heat well at all.  As the race progressed I got more and more over heated and felt worse and worse.  I knew I had to back of a little bit.  Leah and our pack of 15 were up ahead just a little bit so I sent a quick “about to puke” text to her to which she replied “I got this. Hope U feel better.”  Thank God for Leah, I could breathe a little easier.  I kept plugging along.  A few times people would come up on me and check to see if we were still on 2:45 pace  - I could always reply “yes!”  As I hit mile 11 I started picking people to push along “c’mon Jorge we are running to that stop sign!”  Poor Jorge, I heckled eh motivated him for miles.  He told me his original goal was 2:15 – I told him that wasn’t happening but we could still get 2:45.  He stuck with me for most of the rest of the race.  I came up on the finish line at 2:41 and change.  Leah had kept the whole group and they finished in a 2:35.  She told me she kept offering to slow down and they all said “no way, this is AWESOME!” and kept going.  I never came up on any of them so I know they all finished ahead of their goal!  Leah luckily got all of the sweaty stranger hugs and I didn’t.  I did however see poor Jorge about a minute after me who just smiled and gave me a fist bump. I also saw a girl from our marathonfest pace group who held with me for almost all of the race sail in at a 2:42 and a very happy 10 minute PR!  I’ll call that a successful pacing job.

Leah and the people from the pace group finishing

It was a tough race on a hot day, I’m glad that I could help others achieve and exceed their goals!

With our medals and we had to get a pic with Bisquits!

Post NYC Blues

Miles in 2013: 979.4

Days Until Dopey:  34

A quick recap of the past month.  After the NYC Marathon I fell into a little bit of a post marathon slump.  I guess it happens to the best of us.  If you start to type into a google search engine “post marathon” it suggests “depression”, “blues”, and “slump.”  I know you are supposed to rest and recover after a marathon.   Trust me, I enjoy the sleeping in.  But, I found myself drained physically and mentally.  I had been looking forward to NYC for most of 2013, even when I wasn’t officially “IN” I knew that I would be going and running that race. Now that it was over, what did I have to look forward to?  Yes, I have that crazy Dopey 48.6 coming up in just over a month, but having done the Goofy last year it doesn’t seem quite as exciting or intimidating, plus Disney is just down the street.  I’d have to check my Nike+ log, but I think in the month of November I only ran about eight times, and 3 of those were races!   Who is this person I was becoming?  I only went to 3 of our weekday work outs all month!  December is here and I haven’t started out much better, I skipped yesterday’s workout too!

The second weekend of November, Leah and I volunteered at the finish line of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  It was lots of fun and I enjoyed being on the other side of the race.  We also didn’t plan very well and had signed up for the Baldwin Park Half Marathon the following morning.  Since our shift ended at 3:30 in the morning we drove to the race and slept in Leah’s car.  Yeah. We are those girls.  So on two or three less than quality hours of sleep we rolled out of the car and headed to the race.  I didn’t go into the race planning on doing anything other than finishing – I mean I had just PRed a marathon the week before.  Leah took off and I lost sight of her about 3 miles into the race.  I ran most of the race by myself, and just went along at a pace that felt comfortable.  I spent the last half of the race looking at the person ahead of me and just trying to pass one person each interval.  I was super surprised when I finished with a time of 2:37!  It was my fourth best half time ever!  I couldn’t believe that a week after a marathon I ran one of my top half times.

But man, the next day I could tell I was going to pay the price for it!  I was so sore.  I felt worse after the half than I had felt after my past few marathons.  I knew I was in trouble.  I took it easy and didn’t run for a week and a half.  My first run back was terrible.  I was miserable and bailed after 4 miles.  I skipped Thursday that week.  We met for a Dopey Double on Friday, and I took my 6 miles easy.  Saturday I was supposed to run 14 miles.  By the time I was 5 or 6 miles in I knew 14 wasn’t happening so I bailed and did 10 miles.  I started to get worried, I still have a very busy Fall/Winter schedule ahead of me and I was worried that all of these less than stellar runs meant something.

I got up (while on Thanksgiving Break!) and ran Tuesday morning (mostly because I had about 4 people’s race packets for the weekend that I needed to give them).  The run was tough, but I did better than I had been expecting to do.  Thanksgiving morning I woke up to temps in the high 30’s/low 40’s and was in heaven.  It is no secret that I run considerably better in cold weather.  I met Krystal in Deland for the Thanksgiving 10 Miler which is one of my favorite races.  I like to get up on Thanksgiving and run more than the usual Turkey Trot 5k, it makes me feel like I can eat my face off later at dinner.  I ran the race at what felt comfortable and improved my time from last year by 8 and half minutes!

Sunday was the Space Coast Half Marathon.  This is also one of my favorite races.  Last year, Leah and I had huge PR’s there and both ran our first under 2:30 half.  The goal for our group was to run an under 2:15 half, but being in the slump I’ve been in I was doubtful that was possible for me that day.  I still tried to give it a go an attempted to keep up with the 2:15 pace groups.  I was only a few miles in before I felt like I was going to throw up. I backed off my pace a little and watched Leah disappear ahead of me.  I still was running a pretty strong pace for most of the race.  Space Coast is one of my favorite races because at about mile 5 I start to see all of my fast friends headed back and it starts to take my mind off the running.  As I make the turn around I get to see other friends who are a little slower than me.  When I saw Leah she was ahead of the 2:15 pace group and wound up finishing with a monster PR and our group half record.  Then, I get to see my REALLY fast friends running the marathon and cheer them on.  As I came up on the turn near mile 13 I saw a bunch of Track Shack people there cheering us in.  After I finished (with a 2:30! – my third fastest half time) Leah and I went and got ready for a long day of cheering.  We stayed to cheer on Rumen and Rebecca in their first full marathons!  Both of them did awesome jobs and I’m so proud of them both.

Then it was back to the slump… I didn’t run Tuesday.  I was sore and tired.  Yesterday I went to go get a much needed massaged and was benched for this morning’s run by both my massage therapist and my coach.  While I enjoyed the extra three hours of sleep it is not helping the mental slump that I am in!  Hopefully I will snap out of it soon and be back on my regular 3-4 days of running a week!

Looking ahead:  This Saturday I am pacing the 2:45 finish pace group at the OUC Orlando Half Marathon.  I think I even convinced Leah to take it easy and run with me, let’s just hope Dennis and Lauren don’t reclaim our group half record at the race or Leah might kill me.  The following Sunday we have the Mount Dora Half Marathon, and I’m also running a “Beat the Stress” Christmas Eve morning 5k.  After the Dopey I might still have a crazy half schedule!  I’m signed up for 7 more half marathons and a 10k in the span of 3 months.  One series I’m particularly excited for is the Best Damn Race series.  We ran the first Best Damn Race last year in Safety Harbor and it was beautiful.  This year they’ve stepped the medal to a beautiful spinning sailboat and added a race in Orlando.  If you do both of them you also receive at spinning medal showcasing both cities.  It’s pretty awesome – if you want to join me (and want to save some money) go sign up and use the code “MOREHEAD” to receive $5 off your registration fee (it also works for the 5k and 10k if you’re just not up for a half).

One thing that will help snap me out of this slump is that our group of 10 ladies made it into THE NIKE DC WOMEN’S HALF MARATHON!  A group of us tried to get in last year and didn’t make it.  If you know me the lure of that swoosh and a Tiffany and Co. necklace at the finish line is my idea of heaven.  So instead of wearing myself out and training for a spring marathon this year, I think we will work on getting faster and focus on the half marathon distance and start back on the crazy marathon schedule in June when we will hopefully be training for the Chicago Marathon!

My Little Obsession

Miles in 2013: 931.5

Days Until Dopey: 58

Some people have called me running obsessed.  They might be right.  Then I wonder if I should be angry with these people – I mean is it really such a bad thing?  3 years ago I was fat.  There is no sugar coating that statement.  I woke up one day, saw a photo of myself and thought “oh my God – when did I get fat?”  So at the largest I’d ever been – 29 years old, roughly 234 pounds, and a size 16W in the only real pants that fit me I decided to get it in gear and try and lose weight once and for all.  Over the previous 10 years I would get on a fitness kick, lose weight and do well for a while only to slowly creep up and be larger than I had been before.  I don’t know why this time I thought I was ready to make it be different but I was.

From the weekend I realized I was fat

I started by going to the gym and spending 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I had two knee surgeries in high school when I was 16 and 17 and my orthopedic surgeon told me that I should never run on anything besides an elliptical because the impact would be too much.  I worked in a little bit of weight lifting and started keeping track of my calories.  My dad had gone through a scare with diabetes not long before and had taken a nutrition course through the local hospital.  What I took away from that was basically take the number of pounds you wanted to be (150) and add a zero to the end (1500) and that’s approximately how many calories you should eat a day.  I started there.  For two months I did well with this plan and lost a few pounds.  Then I was fortunate to have 2 things happen.

First, my friend Kelly from high school and her husband Allan, were opening a gym (2 hours away!) and had a Thermometer Jeans Challenge.  Basically following their plan I would more or less lose 2 pants sizes over 8 weeks.  After some talk they decided to add in a virtual option for those of us who didn’t live nearby.  I talked to Jason about it, the virtual option was $300!  The thought of spending that much money on myself had my stomach in knots.  He encouraged me to do and said if I was going to really commit to it that he would hand me the cash from his “fun money” right then.  I don’t know if I’ve ever given him enough credit for believing in me.  I signed up.  The day before that 8 week challenge I did the Warrior Dash 5k obstacle course.  You can see why I needed to get myself together.

Before the Warrior Dash

The jeans plan was pretty easy to follow.  Kelly was working on becoming a nutritionist and Allan was a trainer.  Between the two of them I had a work out plan and an eating plan.  I won’t call it a diet because it really was just an overhaul of what I should have been eating.  One thing I liked about this was there weren’t crazy supplements, shots, shakes, pills, etc. that so many weight loss programs include.  Just real whole foods and sensible work out routines.  Two days a week I did a metabolic acceleration program and two days a week I did total body strength training.  At the end of the 8 weeks – lo and behold those size 12 jeans I had mailed to Kelly fit.  They weren’t fitting well enough to wear in public, but they sure did button and zip without a whole lot of acrobatics to get me in them.  8 weeks earlier I had 2 pairs of XL stretchy leggings and a pair of 16W jeans that fit me.  Nothing else.  Now I could go shopping through my old clothes and find things that fit again.  I continued to stick with both the eating plan and the workouts and continued to lose weight.  I have told them many times just how thankful I am to Allan and Kelly for coming into my life and giving me those tools at just the right time.

With Allan and other Thermometer Jeans Participants at the end of the 8 week challenge

Around this time, my friend Sarah had suggested that we try something new and fitness related each month.   Warrior Dash was our first, that was January.  February and March were my jeans challenge.  In April we ran our first 5k.  I admittedly did not train for it like I should have.  If I look back at my Nike+ data from then it’s no wonder that the Run For the Trees was so miserable.  We did another 5k a few weeks later.  Yup, just as miserable.  My little brother ran that one too and waved as we were a mile in and he was almost done.  Sarah and I had signed up for a local marathon training program that started in June.  I lied and said I could run 4 miles at a 12 min mile pace.  I thought that was easy.  Man, was I wrong.

I struggled for months when Marathonfest started.  I was always in the back of the group.  I couldn’t run the 3:1 intervals to save my life.  We developed a “run to” plan – “run to that tree” or “run to the corner.”  A month in I sat down on the corner ¾ of a mile into a run and cried.  I was a mess.  Running was not something that came easily to me.  I know there were many times where people looked at me waiting for me to give up.  Little did they know I’m cheap and had spent $150 bucks on this 7 month program and I refused to let the money go to waste.  I’d also signed up for the Daytona Beach Half Marathon in October and wasn’t going to let that money go to waste.  I also had gone to a real running store and paid full price for real running shoes – so I had a lot invested in this endeavor.  I’ve always been stubborn (just ask my parents) so those looks people gave just made me want to succeed even more.  My first half marathon was less than stellar.  I got super sick the day before and had my fever break a few miles into the race.  Halfway through the race it was all I could do to do a “run to.”  A man on crutches beat me.  My time of 3:18 was slower than I had hoped for but it was over and I had done it.

Halfway through my first Half

I had signed up for my first marathon before I completed that half.  So I was stuck having to train for it whether I was ready to be a marathoner or not!  I realized that no one from our group was training for a spring marathon – time to put my big girl pants on and be a leader.  I felt like I had a lot to prove.  The girl from the back was now a leader, talk about pressure.   Then one day between seasons I met up with the group for a run and something had changed.  It was cold out.  I could run, in fact I was up at the front of the group for the whole time.  That had never happened before.  I was finally hooked now that I knew what a good run is supposed to feel like.

Over the course of the next two years I have run 16 more half marathons and 4 marathons.  I’ve taken almost an hour off of my half time and over an hour off of my marathon time.  I’m signed up for 9 more halves and another marathon.  Needless to say I’m hooked.  I’ve lost 85 pounds and am now comfortably in size 4 and 6 pants.  This brings me back to my original claim that people have called me obsessed.  Yes, I run a lot.  Yes, that means I don’t live the same lifestyle that I did 3 years ago.  Yes, I dedicate a lot of time to running.  Is that so bad?  My husband and I have chosen not to have children.  I have lots of friends with young kids and that’s their priority.  I don’t ever criticize them for making that their priority.  I don’t see some people as much as I used to.  I used to not have any commitments and was able to drop everything and do things for everyone else at any time.  My friend Shannon put it best when she told me “you are a giver, and all of the takers in your life don’t know how to handle you not being available to them all of the time anymore.”  Just because I’ve chosen to dedicate my time to running and being healthy doesn’t make it a bad thing.  I could be fat, tired, and lazy still.

After marathon #4 - NYC! From 6:43 to 5:29!

I’m fortunate to have a husband who supports me.  I really don’t thank him enough.  He doesn’t run and  he doesn’t often go to the races, it’s not his thing after all, it’s mine.  He never tells me not to go run a race, he follows the text alerts whenever I run a race that has them,  and he always instinctively knows when I’m struggling in a marathon and sends texts messages that push me to the finish.  Yes, it means I’m gone for parts of the weekend and sometimes its 10 weekends in a row.  I’m lucky that he sees how happy this makes and continues to encourage me to keep running.  I feel better knowing that the one person whose opinion really matters to me is in my corner and so proud of me.

My man, I'm a very lucky girl

I’m not planning on stopping this crazy running routine anytime soon and if that makes me obsessed I’m ok with it.  If you’re a friend of mine who just doesn’t get it, that’s ok too but keep your opinion of me to yourself! It's my thing and there are worse things I could be doing.

Cherokee Harvest Half

Miles in 2013: 889
Days until NYC Marathon:7!

Last weekend I went to Cherokee, NC with about 20 people from our training program.  We headed up for a road trip to run the Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon.  The 9 hour road trip with Krystal and Rich was lots of fun!  We also rented a sweet cabin up in the mountains.  Not long after arriving we went on a (scary) trail run.  Ok, it wasn't so scary but I was terrified that I would trip, fall, and break something right before NYC.  From there we headed to dinner at the local Mexican place which was delicious!

Road Trip!

3 miles on the Scary Trail!

Getting ready to run the trail.

Life is great at the Cabin

The next day our itinerary got wrecked and we had to change our breakfast plans.  Then our fearless leader took us on a 3 mile hike up a mountain to the top of a fire tower.  I was still worried about tripping, falling, and breaking something, but I sucked it up and made it to the top for a pretty amazing view!  Off to dinner at the Cork and Bean after that.  Only a small sweet potato fry fiasco but our pre-race meal was great!

Breakfast!

Don't mind the Drink Chia! placement on the top of the fire tower!

Saturday morning was race day.  I'm glad I stayed with people who get up crazy early like me and don't mind getting to the race hours before we need to be there.  Going in to the trip I wasn't sure what my plan would be.  Maybe practice the 2:45 pace I have to do for OUC, maybe do NYC race pace (2:37), maybe go for it and run the best race I could.  While not sure that it was wise to go all out 2 weeks before NYC my coach, Susan, said it would be ok, and said she would run the race with me.  It was nice and cold (thank the lord!) race morning and I took off pretty fast.  Susan claims my walk breaks aren't really walk breaks but I think that's only because I have some really long legs!  I tried not to really pay attention to my watch and just run the race where it felt good.  I also couldn't look like a wimp in front of Susan, so I was pretty determined to run as hard and fast as I could and not take any namby pamby extra walk breaks.  The only extra walking I did was us the really nasty hill in the middle of the race.  By about mile 11 she assured me that no matter what I did from there on out would be a PR so I felt pretty good about finishing strong.  We came in to the end and low and behold I took over four and a half minutes off of my half marathon time!  2:22:10!  I'm so thankful to Susan for running the whole thing with me!  I am also thankful for all the people who went on this trip with us because they were all there lining the finish and cheering me on even though some of them were done almost an hour before me!  It meant so much that these people who are much stronger and fast runners than I am were there supporting me as well.

On the course

Coming in to the finish

PR and Bling!

Best Coach Ever!

After the race - all the Orlando runners

The next day we got up and hiked the Appalachian Trail.  It was a long hike and at one point I didn't think I would go all the way (thanks Gideon for forcing me to go past the scary part) but I made it 3 miles up and 3 miles down the scary mountain.  Luckily, I did not trip, fall, or break anything on this whole trip!  I am so thankful that I decided to come on this great runcation!  We had so many laughs (none of them blog appropriate) that my abs still hurt!

About to hike

6 miles on the Appalachian Trail

At the top of the Jump Off

Pinktober

Miles in 2013: 805
Days until the NYC Marathon: 27

There hasn't even been a week of October yet and I've already gone to two Breast Cancer events and worn pink everyday at work!  Tuesday I challenged my students to wear pink and I'd say about 65% of all my students did!  I told them a little about Jen and why Breast Cancer Awareness Month is important to me.  Some of my girls made me a super cute Breast Cancer cheer bow to wear this month, and another got me a cute bracelet.  Here's a look at my pink outfits this past week.

October 1 - Tuesday

October 2 - Wednesday

 

October 3 - Thursday

October 4 - Friday

 

 

Tuesday was also Ladies Night at Track Shack, our local running store.  It's a fun pink evening with shopping, food, beverages, and friends.  I was asked to model some of the store's wares and I think I picked some great outfits! A few items I modeled may have found their way home with me because I liked them so much I had to purchase them!  Many of the girls from our training program were there and it was a great night which raised a nice chunk of change for Florida Hospital's Breast Care Fund.

 

Outfit #1 - Adidas Breast Cancer Line

Outfit #2 - New Balance (also a Breast Cancer shirt)

Me and Leah

One of my favorite survivors, Donna and I

 

Upcoming Breast Cancer Events

Miles in 2013: 733.2
Days Until the NYC Marathon: 50

October is just around the corner and with that comes all the of Breast Cancer Awareness Events.  To kick off the month I am modeling at Track Shack's annual Ladies' Night event.  Then is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at UCF.  I am also working on an art project reworking a lawn flamingo to go up for auction to benefit a local charity, Libby's Legacy.  I'm about half way done with her and I'm quite pleased with the way she's turning out!

I'm also so excited to say that Leah is also fundraising for a Breast Cancer Charity, Think Pink Rocks!, and running the NYC Marathon with me!  It going to be so nice to celebrate Jen's cancer free anniversary in NYC and have someone to run all those miles with!  As part of her fundraising she is hosting a virtual race with a really awesome NYC themed Breast Cancer Medal.  Check it out and sign up!

 

 

Until then I am impatiently waiting for the day we land in NYC!



Join Me For the Orlando Half Marathon

Miles in 2013: 540
Days until the NYC Marathon : 98

Last week I was selected to be a pacer for the Orlando Half Marathon on December 7.  I will be leading the 2:45 pace group to the finish.  Sign up and come join me - prices increase on Wednesday!

99 more days!

Miles in 2013: 540
Days until the NYC Marathon: 99

It's only 99 days away!  Can you tell that I'm excited? I really do love NYC.  Right now the love is what's keeping my going on these miserable long runs!  Just to be clear, running anything over a mile in July in Florida is not fun.  Today the thought of running past the Chrysler Building in November was about the only thing besides Leah's prodding that got me through 14 miles today.  It was about 94-100% humidity this morning at 4 am when we started.  Today was tough, but we muscled through and ran the 14 in a 12:45 avg. pace.  Not too bad!  It was also a double weekend as part of our Dopey training so we put in 6 miles yesterday.  As long as I put in 5 miles on Tuesday I will have another 100 mile month!  I'm going to have to head to the Track Shack this week for some new shoes because I'm putting so many miles on them!

Leah and I after 14 miles - it helps to match over 10 miles.

 

Fundraising is still going well  for NYC and The Pink Agenda!  I'm currently $100 over my goal!  I am still fundraising because it's such an important cause, and I'd like to do all that I can.  I am still so grateful for the amount of support people have shown me on this journey.  I have 3 months to make that total grow!  Check out the page and donate if you can!

103% of my goal!