FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The half marathon is complete! YAY! I drove up to Monterey on Saturday, got there at about 12 and met the girls around 1, we went and had a quick lunch and got all checked in and settled into our rooms. And then we went to drive our course, which was a very good thing on some counts, but on others not so good, it was good on race day to know where everything was... but it totally freaked us all out, by the time we were done and got back to the hotel, we were all feeling sick and nervous, it was not so great. We went to an italian restaurant for dinner so we could CARBO load! Our waiter was great and helped us know exactly what we should get to do our best in the race the next morning. So we all had pasta and lots of bread and lots of water to get ready for race day. We then went to bed as early as possible so we could get enough rest.

RACE DAY! We woke up at 4:30am  so that we could be finished eating and drinking by 5am, 2 hours before the race. We ate and got ready for the race, got our numbers put on, our gu/gel and chomps into our pockets... oh and bandaged my feet, as I got a blister doing my last run on wednesday so I had to bandage my foot up to try to avoid making it worse. Then we met the girls downstairs and walked to the race where we got into our corral, H, to await our time to start. We all matched in our cute matching jackets and we started getting excited, even though nerves were running high. The gun went at 7:05 and they started releasing the corrals, A, B, C ect until they got to H, funny thing, we were taking a picture when they release our corral and we nearly got trampled. But we started off, Katie took off like a bullet, Renee followed her and we didnt see them again until we saw them coming back the other way!

I was doing great, the first several miles were fantastic, I kept really good pace. At around mile 3 my ankles started to hurt, but it wasnt too bad. Amy and PJ caught up with me at about mile 5. At about mile 6 my knees started to hurt but I was still on good pace, I was only a minute or two over my 10K pace. We ran right along the ocean which was beautiful! I wish I had been able to enjoy it more, it was hard with all the pain going on in my body, haha. I ran with Amy and PJ up to and through the turn around, which was at about mile 8. At that point I started to really feel the pain of every step in my knees and ankles... oh and did I mention that the bandage on my foot was rubbing terribly. At mile 9 my hips started to hurt, I felt like I was going to just fall apart all over the road, but I knew I could make it, I had run continuous (other than at aid stations)  up to that point, which was about 3 miles more that I had ever run in my life.

I just kept going and going, between miles 10 and 11 was the worst, I was hurting everywhere I had realized there was no way I was going to come in under 2 hours and 30 minutes, which was my initial goal, I knew I would be very close, but I wouldnt make it, so I was a bit discouraged and in pain, so the majority of my walking happened in this mile. Once I got to mile 12 I had regrouped and decided I would run the last mile without stopping no matter how much it hurt, and off I went. I "weee" down the hill to the aquarium (it was an inside joke between us girls, we were all going to wee like the little pig in that commercial on the down hill to the aquarium.) and was thrilled to the 12 mile mark, 1 mile to go. Thank GOD! I was so glad it was almost over. I got to the last .1 mile and sprinted as hard as possible to the end, and finished! YAY! It felt unbelievable, terrible, exciting... I got my medal and was herded toward the tent with the food, I got my food, water, juice, met with the girls and we tried to relax and not focus too much on the pain in all my body parts!

We all finished, each and everyone of us, all with different aches and pains, but we finished, we toasted with our personalized race glasses, thanks to Renee for those, and enjoyed our champagne and orange juice by the water, it was beautiful and perfect! It was a wonderful, although painful day! We all went back, went to the hot tub and tried to make our achey muscles hurt less. We met other runners there and got to exchange stories. We then took naps/cleaned up and went to a delicious dinner, the perfect end to the day, we had great wine, food and laughed so much it was fantastic! I cant believe its over, but its not the end for me, I plan to keep running, and Ill keep posting as I move along. It was a great experience, and I feel so accomplished (and like I got hit by truck, but that will pass, haha). Well, below are the results of the race!

My Results
Overall Place: 4137/5784
Women: 2420/3776
F 20-24: 132/179
8 Mile Split: 1:26:27
Finish Time: 2:36:35

Leslie
Overall Place: 5525/5784
Women: 3556/3776
F 50-54: 295/328
8 Mile Split: 1:58:33
Finish Time: 3:27:27

Amy
Overall Place: 3998/5784
Women: 2318/3776 
F 55-59: 66/202
8 Mile Split: 1:26:15
Finish Time: 2:33:39

PJ
Overall Place: 3659/5784
Women: 2065/3776 
F 55-59: 54/202
8 Mile Split: 1:26:16
Finish Time: 2:27:10

Renee
Overall Place: 3654/5784
Women: 2060/3776 
F 50-54: 130/328
8 Mile Split: 1:23:08
Finish Time: 2:27:09

Katie
Overall Place:  2119/5784
Women: 990/3776 
F 20-24: 57/180
8 Mile Split: 1:14:05
Finish Time: 2:07:45

Less than 2 weeks until race day

I cant believe that the race is less than 2 weeks away! Im nervous that its so soon... I actually had a crazy dream last night about it. I dreamt that I forgot tons of my stuff, like all my gels and gu's, and then somehow all my stuff got locked in this random room, and in trying to get it out I started the race late. Then I realized we were running around this school and over all this jungle-gym stuff, it was really weird! Well, it freaked me out and made me realize how behind I am and that I need to try to get several more short runs in before the race!

I have given myself a new race goal... my original goal was to finish in under 2.5 hours... at this point Im not sure that it will happen, my general pace is about 11 min/mile, but that is usually for shorter runs, and since my long runs have been somewhat intermittent and the ones I have done I took walk breaks in, so I know my min/mile pace will be longer than usual, and in order to run the race in under 2.5 hours I need to do less than 11:30 min/mile and Im really not sure that that will happen. So at this point I will be happy to finish under 3 hours, which I think will be totally doable.

Although I am really nervous about the race I am really excited to see the girls! They got to go to lunch and go shopping for matching shirts for us and I so wish I had been able to be there! But I'm really excited to see the new shirts! I think it will be so much fun spending the weekend with the girls! Even the race doesn't go as planned at least I get to see them and spend time with them and enjoy our accomplishment of just finishing. That was what this whole thing was about anyway right, spending time together. Well, I will be sure to post all about it when its over! Wish me luck!

4 Weeks to the BIG DAY!!!!

So I have been a total slacker when it comes to blogging, but things have been crazy with life lately! Anyway, we are 4 weeks out from the the Half Marathon in Monterey! I cant believe its SO soon! With moving and a new job I cant say that I have giving my training my all. Today was actually the first long run I did in over 3 weeks! But I ran 8 MILES! The longest I have run since my 10K in May! My goal has been to run my long runs on weekends, well they keep getting filled up, and I knew if I missed another long run I would never catch up and be able to complete the race in the time I want! So I got myself an incentive! A brand new running store opened up in a town by us and I am super excited about it, and on Friday I went in and bought two Hammer Gel packets and pair of running "toe socks". The gels are basically a carb shot you take while running to keep your energy up, and the socks have toes! Which I thought might help since my toes sometimes rub together funny and it hurts. So on my run today I wore my new socks, which the jury is still out on, and used my Huckleberry Hammer Gel which was ok, not fantastic, but how great can a gooey substance be when you are having a hard enough time trying to breath! But it did seem to help at least a little bit, I dont think that anything could have covered the pain and fatigue of a long run after not running much though, but at least it did seem to help. I have a Tropical Hammer Gel that has caffeine in it that Ill try this weekend and see if that one does anything different for me. Some of the gels have caffeine and some dont and it all depends on personal preference, I think the ones with caffeine will work better for me, but we'll see. Anyhow, after today Im getting excited for the race, and a little less nervous! And Im pretty close to being on pace for what I want to run the race in, which is really good! Ill try to keep this updated more as we move forward!

Its that time again!

TRAINING TIME!!!! Well us girls are at it again, its time for our team to start training for our half marathon. We finally picked one! We are going to be running the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay! Its November 14, 2010 and I am so excited! This has been the goal of all this running up till now and now we get to see if pays off! Im a little nervous, because if Im being completely honest, I havent been running much lately! Things have been really busy, but luckily my official training doesnt start until monday! As of Monday I will be into my official training window, 13 weeks of training till race day! Im really excited to get running and to finish this race! It should be an awesome race, its right along the shoreline and looks beautiful, and by november the temperature should be nice and moderate so it should be comfortable for running. Im also really excited to run another race with the girls, this will be the first one since the Run For Ryan House 5K that I have run with them! My goal is to finish in under 2 hours and 30 minutes, so wish me luck and Ill keep you posted on how it goes!!!! 

Ready, Set, GO!!!!!!!!!

Pensacola Fiesta of the Five Flags 10K!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the big race in Pensacola and it was awesome! Traver and I rented a Casida trailer and drove down Friday night, Boeing in the backseat (which did not turn out so well). We got a late start on the drive, and with towing a trailer and having to stop so Boeing could go outside, the trip took longer than usual. We pulled into the camp ground around 10:30 or so and still had to set up camp, get Boeing ready for bed and then go to bed ourselves, so it was probably 11:30 before we got to go to sleep, and let me tell you 5am comes really early when you go to bed late and are sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. Anyway, we got up and ate breakfast took care of the dog and headed to downtown Pensacola for the race. We thought we were going to be a little late but ended up being there in one of the 1st waves of people to show up. We got our bibs and tshirts and boarded the bus that would take us to the starting line. It was a point to point race, so they bused to the start and we ran back to where we were parked basically. There were 910 racers in the 10K, which is alot of people! I had a hard time getting pumped up for the race, I was tired, and there wasnt anything going on at the start because all the fun stuff was at the finish, so when the started the race I was feeling rather unprepared. Luckily the weather was perfect, it was foggy and completely overcast which meant no sun to make us sweat more than we already were! It was great!

So we started running, Traver took off ahead of me since he runs so much fast and I just started going. The first mile felt long but it was actually really short (9:50, my third shortest mile time EVER), the second mile was a piece of cake and at the end was the first water stop, and the third mile I think was my longest for whatever reason (I think that the one big hill we had was on mile 3 and it was hard) but when I crossed the 5K line (half done) I was at about 33:25 which is a little slower than my first ever 5K pace, but I was trying to keep gas in the tank for the last half. They had another water station after the 5K line which was good and helped me rejuvenate and keep going. Something I really liked about this race was that at every mile there was a marker and a clock to let you know what your time was. Mile 4 felt great and once I was half way into mile 5 I was able to think about how I had never run that far before and that I was accomplishing something new with each step (my longest run in training was 4.5 miles). Once I got to 5 miles I started to feel really good, I only had a mile left, and a mile is nothing, so I just went and was really excited to see Traver waiting for me at the 6 mile marker. He ran with me the last .2 miles as I sprinted in to the finish line! Overall, my body felt pretty good, my legs didnt hurt much and I actually had very little trouble breathing, but my feet and ankles were getting really tired and irritated by the end, so I was glad when I was done and I could walk!

The whole race there was this woman in front of me who reminded me of one of the girls in my running group, Amy, I don't know what exactly reminded me of her, but something did, and from the beginning I told myself I would stick close to her and that in the end I would beat her. She and I went back and forth a few times with who was in front of the other, but in the end I did beat her, and it felt good. I set that goal for myself at the beginning and accomplished it! But every time I saw her and thought of Amy it helped me to keep going! I also realized pretty quickly that I couldn't count down the miles, it seemed way to long when I did that. I distinctly remember looking at my watch after running for only 6 minutes and thinking, I have an hour more of this, oh no! So instead of counting miles, I broke it down into fractions, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and then one mile left, it made it so much easier, because thinking you have 4-5 miles left is discouraging! Something that was pretty funny was that around mile 3 we ran by some businesses, one of which was a BBQ place that was cooking outside, and it smelled so good, it was very distracting, and another was a bakery and there was a guy with a tray of donuts standing there to give them to runners who wanted a carb boost. If I had seen one person ahead of me take one, I might have taken one, but I surely wasn't going to be the first person to take a donut, so I passed him, sadly!

At the end of the race, they had bananas (my traditional post-race snack) and bagels (which will now become a traditional post-race snack) and water waiting for us which was great. They also had beer, but seeing as when I run with the girls I get champagne after a race, beer was not going to cut it and I decided against it! We waited for the scores to come up and here is how we did:

Traver Fordham
-TIME: 46:47
-Division Place (20-24 men): 5/12
-Place Overall (men): 58/242
-Place Overall (men and women): 64/475

ME!!!!!
-TIME: 1:06:34
-Division Place (20-24 women): 11/13
-Place Overall (women): 176/233
-Place Overall (men and women): 387/475

I was really excited about my time because it was right at my goal time, I wanted to be under 70 minutes and under 11 min/mile. I did it in 10:43 min/mile! YAY! It was really exciting that I met my goal! I also want to give a shout out to my girls who ran their 10K today in Reno! They did awesome and I am super proud of them! Great job!

Pensacola 10K- This weekend!

So my 10K in Pensacola is this weekend. I'm a little nervous because I havent been running much these last two weeks. After my 5K I was really sore and took several days off, and then Traver and I got Boeing (our new puppy) and he has been taking up a lot of our time. Monday this week was the first time since my 5K that went for a run, or worked out at all for that matter, and luckily it went really well. I did a 3 mile run at a moderate pace. Around 10:40 min/mile which was my original 5K pace, I would, ideally, like to run the 10K in that time frame, but I think I will be more around 11 minutes or so. Im also nervous because I havent actually done a practice 10K, I have run up to 4.5 miles, and that was at a 12 min/mile pace, so Im hoping that Im not setting my goals too high with wanting to do the 5K in 11 minute miles. I think that the run itself is going to be really fun though, it starts near the Pensacola airport and weaves down into downtown, and according to their map, there is alot of downhill time, especially toward the end, so that should be really nice!

We are going to head down there tomorrow night with Boeing and the Casida trailer we are renting from MWR for a weekend of fun (hopefully). This will be Boeing's first trip and we are praying it goes well. Luckily the Casida is air conditioned and we are going to stay in a site with hook ups so we can have air on for him while we are at the race... we'll see how he does in that situation. We planned to tent camp, originally, but Boeing hasnt had all his shots and cant be exposed to all the things other dogs could give him by being outside alot, so we figured a hotel was our only option, but the Casida will give us the camping feel while still keeping him inside, somewhere safe, and somewhere cool. I think it will be great, but Ill let you know in my post-race post how it actually goes...

Wish me luck!

Hog Wild 5K

So, yesterday, I ran my second 5K! I did it with my two awesome friends Jen and Vanessa and it was awesome! My main goal going in was to get a better time than my last 5K, which was a 33:05, so my sites werent set too high. We left Meridian around 6am to drive to Philadelphia, MS where the race was, we got there just after 7am to pick up our packets and get our time chips for the race. We got ready to go and headed to the starting line. The 10K runners started first and then 5 minutes later it was our turn. Jen, Vanessa, and I gave each other high fives and wished each other good luck and we were off (Jen much faster than the rest of us, she is a machine), the first mile was awesome, Vanessa and I were staying together at that point and we did the first mile in 9:15, I have never ran a mile so fast in my life (it was nice that the race started with a great downhill). Vanessa and I stayed together for the half or so, but she had to stop to take off a leg brace around 1.5 miles, so we got separated. Anyway, it was a really interesting course, we ran through mostly residential areas, so there were all these people in their front yards waving and watching us, it was nice; however, they had not entirely blocked off the streets, and we took up half the street and there were cars trying to get past us on the other half going in BOTH directions, it was a mess! But luckily no issues with the cars. It was pretty hilly throughout, at least for my standards (I never run on hills, but there were alot of hills) and it was nice that right before the 2 mile mark and water station we had a great downhill to catch up on breathing and time. I grabbed a water cup, not really to hydrate but to get my mouth wet and to splash on myself to cool off and continued on to the last mile. It was pretty awesome until the very end, they put the finish line at the TOP of a HUGE hill! What the heck!?! It was no joke a 45 degree incline and it was long. I would have been pretty discouraged, except that I saw Jen waiting for me at the bottom of the hill (she had already completed her race and came back for me) and she ran the hill with me, yelling and coaching me the whole way, telling me to sprint it, that the finish was right at the top, so I sprinted my butt off up this hill and by the time I crossed the finish I could hardly breath. Jen put her arm around me and took me to the water table to get water and we headed back to wait for Vanessa, well I waited at the finish and Jen took off down the hill again to run up it with Vanessa too! Vanessa came up not long after I did and we got her water and went to check out the results! I knew I had done really well in terms of time compared to the last race, but I didnt know exactly so I was excited to see what they said.



Jen Deluca
-TIME: 23:27, pace: 7:34
-Division Place (20-29 womens): 1st!!!!!!!!!!!!!! out of 25
-Place overall (women:) 2nd!!!!!!!!!!! out 83
-Place overall (men and women): 15 out of 143




ME!!!!
-TIME: 30:52, pace 9:58
-Division Place (20-29 womens): 8 out of 25
-Place overall (women): 25 out of 83
-Place overall (men and women): 71 out of 143

Vanessa Moos
-TIME: 34:00, pace 10:59
-Division Place (20-29 womens): 11 out of 25
-Place overall (women): 44 out of 83
-Place overall (men and women): 95 out of 143

We all rocked this run! I couldn't believe how great we did! Jen got 1st in our age group which was awesome and second overall for the women, which is unbelievable! She is such a rockstar! I couldn't believe how huge of improvement I made over the last 5K I ran, oh and did I mention that this "5K" was actually 3.29 miles as opposed to the 3.1 it usually is, which definitely makes a difference. But I cut 2:13 off my time from my run in Scottsdale, wow! I felt so good!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so proud of our group, this was Vanessa's first 5K and she rocked it, especially seeing as it was a really tough course with all the hills and lots and lots of turns (we never had any idea where we were and when it was going to end)! Overall it was an awesome day! After than I'm pretty pumped for my 10K, even though I know its only 2 weeks away and I have to run twice the distance, I'm excited about it! WOO!

4 Mile Run!

So, I ran 4 miles today! Ran... like actually ran the WHOLE thing, I cant believe how much I have improved over the last few months! I started the day out with another quiet time where I just read my Bible and spent some time with the Lord and I know that just allowing myself that time each morning is giving so much strength and determination to make it through my runs, and also the patience to keep going even when I really want to be done! So, I got up and went running, I kept myself focused on just putting one foot in front of the other, listening to my Ipod (Newsboys) and trying to be patient with my pace, I didnt want to push too hard and end up not finishing the whole 4 miles! So I just kept going, and with each .5 mile loop down I would get more encouraged that I could finish it and reach this next goal! Anyway I just wanted to share my excitement about running the longest distance I had ever gone and in a pretty good pace! I am officially now at the point of being able to run 2/3 of a 10K, wow! With every run I do the more I feel that I can be runner and I can accomplish each of my goals in turn! I am so pumped!!!!!

Running Running Running

Coming home after the 5K with the girls, I was so excited about the accomplishment that I started looking for my next race. The girls were planning a 10K back in NV or CA for the end of April or end of May, so I started looking for one near me, so that I could run it at the same time, even though I couldn't run it with them! I was really excited to find one in Pensacola, FL, which is one of Traver and my favorite get away spots when we need to get out of Meridian, on May 1st. Traver and I are planning to run it together and we have a good group of friends from here that are going to do it too! I'm also really excited that a good friend of mine, Vanessa, and I are going to do another 5K on April 17th, and I'm hoping to run it in even better time than the last one! So those are my race plans for the near future, and Ill be posting updates as they get closer, but I am pumped about both of them, although the 10K is still pretty intimidating!

So in preparation for these races I have be running running running! When I first got back I tried to run on a treadmill at the gym and that was a complete disaster, I apparently CANNOT run on a treadmill, I didn't make it .5 mile before my legs started stressing and fatiguing and stuff... so that was an interesting lesson to learn. The rest of the week I was having a really time running distances over a mile for whatever reason, and only made it through my next couple runs with some walking included, which was frustrating knowing that I could run a straight 3 miles. But I finished out that week with a continuous, albeit slower 3 mile run which made me feel a lot better and let me know that I can do this!

The last two weeks have been really good in terms of running, and on my shorter (2 mile) runs I have been making time improvements that have really really exciting! I actually ran 3.5 miles on Tuesday, which was the longest I had ever run continuously and it actually didn't hurt too bad, which was good! But yesterday was by far the best running day I have had yet. I got up early (at least by my standards) and had quiet time with God. I hadn't had a really good quiet time in quite a while and as I spent 30-40 minutes digging into Romans 1 I started to feel really good, really really good! I just had so much excitement over what I was reading and was so pumped up for my run. So I got up, I went out to run my 2 miler, and it was great. I turned on my Ipod to a Christian band I hadn't listened to in a while and started out just thinking about my morning with God and trudged through my run and finished in 20:37, that is 10:18 per mile! I haven't ever been able to run that fast and it was the best feeling I had had in a long time! It was awesome, I was pumped and elated! I'm sore today, but at least I know I accomplished something great yesterday that it makes the soreness so worth while! Now to get through another weeks worth of workouts! WOO!

Run for Ryan House 5K

I went home to Nevada on February 22nd to spend time with my mom for her birthday! Im a very lucky girl in terms of the fact that I have an awesome mom, she is my best friend and we get along really well. So, she and I had to prepare for this 5K that was, at that point ,less than two weeks away! So we went for a easy run around her neighborhood, just two miles, but at altitude I wasnt used to and with hills I hadnt run on, it was harder than I expected, but I made it work! It was fun just to have some one to run with and talk with. We did another short 1 miler a few days later just to keep up our cardio and give us a little bit of a workout for the day and we knew we were doing 3 miles the next day with Renee and PJ so we didnt want to exhaust ourselves. Now, I had never run three miles, I had done two miles at home in Mississippi, but never 3 so I was a little nervous. Renee and PJ showed up for our long run and we set out. Renee, PJ, and I run at a little faster pace than my mom and she told us to go on ahead and we started running, it was nice having them to talk to, keep my mind off the strain in my legs and the difficulty breathing. It was going pretty well, it was hard but they weren't stopping so I surely wasn't going to, so we pressed on, around the 2 mile mark we hit this hill, it was ridiculous, it was on a side street I had added to the course in order to make it into a 3 mile course, and it was painful! The whole street was uphill, something we had not expected, but we carried on until we got back to our house, the three of us had finished in 33:48, close to 11 minute miles again! YAY! I was thrilled, I ran 3 mile, without stopping, at a good pace no less! My mom came in a bit behind us with her best min/mile pace as well! It was a great day for all of us!

My trip home wasn't all about running, my mom and I spent a lot of time shopping, going out into town, watching Gilmore Girls (its our favorite show) and just spending time together. I got see my best friends from home Kirsten and Christina as well, which was great because I miss them so much when I'm not there, so it ended up being a great trip all around! I even go to see my brother and his new fiancee, Mary, who I love! Oh, did I mention that in all that shopping my mom and I did that our goal was to find cute running outfits, I mean seriously who wants to run their first race in ragged old workout clothes, we didn't, so we started searching! We actually found some great deals at a new Outlet mall in Reno that had a Nike and Addidas store, so we were now ready for the run, decked out in super cute attire!

Renee, Mom, and I drove to Arizona Thursday before the race, it was a LONG drive, but it was really fun, just talking and hanging out. We even drove through Vegas, where Renee's mom lives, and had lunch with her, so that was fun. We drove across the Hoover Dam, which I had never seen before and then on to Prescott Arizona to see Amy! PJ and Katie were flying in Friday night because Katie had school and PJ had a family obligation. So Friday morning, Mom, Renee, Amy, and I got up and walked to the place the race was going to be the next day to pick up our shirts/packets... and check out the health booths that were set up. We got our body fat tested, which wasn't actually very fun, haha, but we had a good time none the less, and then we walked back to the house to get the car so we could go to lunch. I spent most of the rest of the day laying by Amy's pool which was awesome and the weather was SO nice! We picked up Katie and PJ that night, went to dinner, and then we went home to crash because we knew we had to get up at 6 to get to the race.

6am came very early the next morning but we were all pretty excited about the race! All 6 of us squished into Amy's car, which only sits 5 and drove to the race. We got there, put our numbers on, went to the bathroom one last time, and we were off. We had chip timers on our shoes that had been given to us so that they could track our exact time of start and finish. We set out a good pace, Renee and Katie out ahead a little, Amy and PJ near me and Mom a bit behind us. As we continued to run, we realized the majority of the first half was uphill, eek! My legs were not happy but I was not going to stop for anything, so I kept trucking along, falling behind Amy and PJ, but going at my best pace. I stopped at the water station, took two swigs to get my mouth and throat wet and threw the cup aside and continued on. Once we turned around at the far end of the course to start heading back it was easier, because it was mostly downhill. We continued to race along, watching the woman with the stroller, the girl in the running skirt that was much to small and just trying not to focus too much on the pain in my legs. I got to the bridge where we started and knew I only had to get to the finish line, so I started to sprint, and crossed the finish line in 33:05, my best time yet! I was so excited and exhausted at the same time, as soon as I came across the girls were waiting for me with a bottle of water and a banana! Katie had finished first, followed by Renee, PJ, and Amy! I went and grabbed one for mom and we all waited for her to come across the finish line to join the group! We were runners now, we had all ran and finished our first official race! It was an amazing feeling! It was a huge accomplishment and I felt like I had done something great!

After walking around for a little while, watching others cross the finish, and watching the first of the half-marathoners come across the finish (they were really fast) we went back to the car to celebrate with Champagne! Renee had made each of us a champagne glass with 5K painted on it and our name, we filled up (some of us with mimosa's and others with just champagne) and we toasted to our accomplishment! It was a great great day! It was funny to watch all the passer's by who watched us standing around the car drinking champagne, they thought were were crazy, or maybe wished they had to thought to do it. Once the champagne was finished we walked to starbucks for our morning fix of coffee and then headed back to the house to relax and lay in the sun, truly the best day ever! It was so relaxing and it felt so great to know we had accomplished the first goal in that we set for ourselves with our new running regimen! We had dinner that night on the patio, swapping stories, and talking about the race, and just enjoying each others company. We planned to go to bed early that night, but we didn't want to miss out on time together, and ended up going to bed a bit later than we anticipated. The other girls were all driving home to Nevada the next morning, and Amy was taking me to the airport so I could fly home to Mississippi to see my husband after two weeks away. All in all the trip was AWESOME! And I cant imagine a better group of amazing girls to be doing this with! They all rocked the 5K and I cant wait to run the half marathon with them in the fall!

My Race Stats (#262)
-33:05
-10:39 min/mi
-Overall Rank: 312/529 finishers (there were a lot more people who did it and didn't finish)
-Female Rank: 152/319
-Division Rank (age 20-24): 12/21

Also Run for Ryan House was the charity that we ran for, its a great cause, and Ryan (who the charity is named for) was even in the race, in his wheelchair, it was truly inspirational! If you are interested in checking it out, here is the link http://ryanhouse.org/

Run the Race with Patience

As you may or may not know, I recently started running. My mom, Leslie, and several of her best girl friends from home (Amy, Renee, and PJ) decided to start running in order to be able to complete a half marathon in the fall and they wanted to get the daughters into it too, Katie and I were the only ones who took the bait (good or bad idea, i wasn't sure yet). It was a huge step for all of us, since none of ran before this, at least not on any regular schedule. And I for one HATED to run! It was my least favorite type of exercise, I would rather do just about anything else if I could avoid running. My husband, who is in the military, is a great runner, at least by my standards, he leaves me in the dust, and he was always trying to get me to run with him and just wouldn't do it. I had run with him a few times, but I didn't have the endurance he did and I never felt like I could match up, so I gave up.

Well, when we all (the girls) committed to running a half marathon by the fall of 2010, I had to get my butt in gear. So, I went out and bought brand new running shoes and hit the pavement. The first several times I ran around our neighborhood, I would struggle to go even a quarter of a mile before having to stop and walk. But slowly I started to make progress. And for those of you that know me, I am not a patient person, its just not a virtue I have, so learning to run was hard sometimes because I wanted to be able to run right away... well it doesn't work like that, it takes time and patience and dedication, its been an interesting lesson for me to learn. Anyway, I really don't like running in our neighborhood because there aren't any sidewalks and I like to listen to music when I run and I was so afraid of getting taken out by a car, so I was ecstatic when I found a park with .5 mile loop around their baseball fields. Its perfect, I can be outside and not have to worry about dying at every turn!

In January, I was planning a trip home for my mom's 50th birthday in February. My dad was away for work and wanted to do something special for her, so he was going to fly me home to spend two weeks with her! So we, the girls that is, decided that while I was home we would all go to Amy's in Arizona for a 5K, our first race, to get us acclimated to running in a race setting. So I started training hard, I could barely run a single mile by that point and had to able to run a 5K by March 6th, YIKES! So I took the advice of some running friends and went to HalHigdon.com to check out his race training schedules. I pulled up his novice 5K schedule, printed it out and started up! I started going to the park on whatever days I was told to and running/walking whatever distance was scheduled for that day. It was really hard at first, but I just kept pushing and started to make progress! On Feburary 16th, I had a breakthrough, I ran 2 miles continuously without stopping! It was the longest continuous distance I had ever ran and my previous record, at least since high school, was .6 miles! I was elated! They werent really fast miles (12.5 min/mi), but I finished them without walking! SUCCESS! I knew that with a more practice I could absolutely run the 5K without stopping! The next run I did was another 2 miles around the park and I finished it in 22:13, almost 11 minute miles, I was even more excited, I knocked nearly a minute and half off per mile, I began to realize I CAN DO THIS! I can be a runner!