Race for the Cure!

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

This year's Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure was a lot different than last year's!  Last year Jen was still in treatment and I was a little bit of an emotional wreck.  It was also nice and cool last year, and that was not the case in Central Florida today!  According to my Garmin at race start it was 73 degrees, sunny, and 94% humidity.  Basically not my kind of racing weather.  Our original plan had been to run fast enough to break 30 minutes for the first time ever.  It took me all of about 2 minutes of the race to realize that was not happening for me that day!  I couldn't breathe and swore I was having an asthma attack - not good since my inhaler was in my car in my driveway.  I muscled through and pushed as hard as could and still came up with a 30 second PR so I was proud I was able to do well for all the survivors in my life.  I really do enjoy the races at UCF since I feel like I spent so many great years of my life there!

PR - I've had a PR at this race every year!

The new theme this year was "Do you tutu?"and we were more than happy to join in!  Leah and I got to the race early to pick up our packets and then sat in her car whipping up a few tutus for the race.  Michelle met up with us and we all walked around checking out vendor tents.  I think we all looked adorable in our Adidas Breast Cancer shirts and our tutus!

We sure do!

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

 

Races Season

Miles is 2013: 786
Days until the NYC Marathon: 31!

Well it's official - race season is here in Central Florida!  I love races - the getting up early, finding your friends, the porto potties, and the medals.  Sometimes I get crazy and sign up for what most people would think is too many, but that's ok I love them.  I started off race season with the Miracle Miles 15k.  I had sworn I wouldn't ever run this race, it's notoriously hot. and a 15k is too long to be running in the heat and sun for me.  However, in the delirium I was in on our last long run Mary managed to convince us to all run the race and wear yellow to show support for a friend's son who is battling cancer.  I tried to keep up with the group but lost it around mile 4 or 5 after spending two miles with my nemesis the sun!  Even though I struggled through the middle I was glad to see that I took over 5 minutes off of my previous 15k time!

PR!

Some of the group before the race

Leah and I with bling and PR's!

Next up I earned some sweet looking virtual bling from Jost Running.  I cranked out the Soaring 5k pretty easy one morning.  Then for our last long run weekend I put in 14 miles to earn the Soaring Half Marathon bling, while it looks like I didn't run it straight through, all I did was drop of a group member and pick up some more so I restarted my watch in there.  The October race series from them has THE MOST AMAZING LOOKING BLING!  I cannot wait to get my hands on those!

5k!

 

Add those together for my half marathon

 

Love these big sparkly medals!

 

Coming up:

 

 

For the rest of the fall I might have just a few races:

• Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k
• UCF 5 and 2 Milers
• Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon
• NYC MARATHON
• Baldwin Park Half Marathon
• Fight for Air Stairclimb
• Space Coast Half
• OUC Half
• DOPEY!

 

 

 

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!



September Update and Just a Few Races

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

Today we had another 20 mile training run for NYC.  Unlike the last time we attempted to run this long, today's run was miserable!  We had planned on a 23 mile route, but by about 15 or 16 miles we were beyond miserable so Leah and I turned around and stomped our way back to a 19.5 mile finish.  In the heat and humidity it still seemed like a good effort.  Later, I was glad to see all of my fellow running friends' posts and they all sounded just as miserable.  Hopefully Fall and some cooler temps will roll into Central Florida before our last 24 mile training run.

A few weekends ago I traveled with a fantastic group of friends to Disneyland to participate in the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare, which is a 10k and a Half Marathon over the weekend.  We had a blast playing in the parks.  The original goal had been to run the 10k as an easy warm up and then try and run an amazing time in the half marathon.  After we got to California and realized that it was just as hot and humid as Florida, Dennis and I changed our plan.  I listened to him (don't tell him that it worked) and ran negative splits both days.  Dennis loves to slow me down at the beginning, and never remembers that somewhere deep inside of me I store a reservoir of energy for a final kick at the end of the race.  The 10k day I felt miserable until mile 5.75 when I looked over and realized that I was passing JOEY FATONE!  Although Dennis didn't know who it was, he now curses his name because I took off determined to finish in front of him.  He was super nice and even took a sweaty finish line photo with me.  The half day we ran according to the negative split plan, and because the final miles happen so much later than the previous day, both of us were feeling it.  But true to form at mile 11 as we entered back into the parks I kicked in my second wind and pushed Dennis hard for those last 2 miles.  Although it wasn't the time we had originally hope for, it was better than we anticipated and was in my top 5 Half Marathon finishes.  I also picked up 4 pretty stellar medals, and I think the Dumbo medal may be my favorite ever!

Finish line pic with Joey Fatone

3 minute 10k PR

 

Dennis and I with the weekend's bling

 

 

Besides the NYC Marathon, I have several other race in the next 50 days!  Next weekend a bunch of us are doing the Miracle Miles 15k, then a Susan Komen Race for the Cure, the UCF 5 and 2 miler Distance Dare, the Cherokee Harvest Half, a few virtual races, and I'll also be volunteering at a water stop at the Tower of Terror 10 Miler.  Just a little bit busy for the next month and a half, maybe all those events will help me pass the time until we arrive in the Big Apple!

 

August Virtual Races

Miles in 2013: 656
Days until NYC: 67

August in Central Florida is typically way too hot to have races longer than a 5k and even those are miserable.  Unfortunately, I still have some really long runs to complete as part of my NYC training.  Virtual races become a very motivating training tool.  The first of my two August Virtual races sponsored by Jost Running was a 5k with a really fun hot dog medal.  I used it to push me to do another set of 800's during our track workout one day.

 

 

 

I had a 20 mile training run this weekend. 20 miles in this heat and humidity is NO FUN.  Luckily for me I checked my mailbox on my way out to run and was greeted with the hot dog 5k medal and the cool spinner baseball half marathon medal!  I took that as my cue to run the 20 really well to earn my half marathon medal.  Of the 5-8 20 plus mile runs I've done I hate to admit that Sunday's was the best I've run.  After the run I tossed on my hard earned medal, it felt really great to be able to reward myself with some sparkly bling at the end!  Both the hot dog and the baseball medals were really well done!  I love sparkly medals and these both had a lot of shimmer to them.  The half marathon baseball medal was perfect size, sparkle, and a spinner!  I am really looking forward to seeing the September "Soaring" medals.

 

 



Medals and a sweet card

Hot and Sweaty but look at that medal! It's huge!

 

Not too shabby for it being 8,752 degrees outside!

 

 

A New Endeavour - Virtual Races

Miles in 2013: 553
Days until the NYC Marathon: 92 Days

For those of you who know me it's an understatement to say that I LOVE the running BLING!  I have a whole wall in my house to display my running medals - I even relocated some wedding photos to give my bling prime real estate on my wall.  To me passing those medals on my way out the door is a reminder of all of the time, miles, and hard work that I've put in.  It also motivates me to go collect some more, especially because they are so shiny!  I even started making ceramic medals for my training group any time we ran a 20 or more mile training run.  Recently I stumbled across something called "virtual runs."  To my none running friends they thought that meant they could lay on the couch and earn a medal.  That's not what this!  A lot of people don't have the luxury of living near frequent races or the ability to travel to them.  Enter virtual races.  The basic premise is you sign up for a race, pick the distance and run the miles wherever you can, your medal comes in the mail, and you celebrate your accomplishment.  The majority of these races benefit some sort of charity which I think makes them even cooler.  There are so many options of distance, charities, and medals to choose from.

Only about 2 years of running has produced all this bling!

For the next 3 months I will be participating in the 5k's and Half Marathons sponsored by Jost Running.  The August medals are super cute and baseball themed.  Proceeds go to the ALS Association.  The window for the 5k is next week so I'll be posting after I run those 3.1 (maybe a little more) miles.  The Half Marathon window is not long after that so it's a good thing a have a ton of miles to do this month getting ready for NYC.  Stayed tuned for my virtual race reports!

5k and 10k Medal (My favorite!)

Half and Full Marathon Medal