XTERRA 5K MUD RUN

Just registered for this race coming up on June 12th!! SOOO excited.. I can't wait!
It's going to be at Oak Mt. bright and early in the morning.
I'm hoping that my timing will improve just a little bit, but I don't know. These trails look a little more intimidating than the Zoo. We'll see! Maybe when we get finished with the race we'll be able to run and jump in the water

Looking forward to it!
Here is a picture of the route we will be running

Friday's

On Friday afternoon's I usually just go across the street from our place to the Colonnade lake and run.

This past Friday I debated for a long time whether or not I should go. I ended up going and I'm glad I did.

Apparently the Geese that live there had babies and the mom/dad was SUPER protective that day.. honestly I was a little scared. Every time I would run by the family of geese, one of them would look at me and hiss.. pretty scary. Didn't know they could do that!!


After running the same lake so many times and tired of dodging the geese, I decided to change it up a bit.. I thought I would introduce these steps (aka stadiums) into my workout!

50+ stairs are no joke...
4 times in a row might I add

I just love the scenery here though.. it's the only thing that keeps me going back to this spot

MY DREAM RUN

If anyone knows me.. they know that I love Kauai!! I feel like part of my heart lives there.
It is where me and Michael spent our Honeymoon and everything about that place is breathtakingly magical. I honestly think I could live there.

Also, I've been trying to work up to a half marathon soon and this would just be the perfect place to be able to accomplish that goal of mine.

I'm kinda wishing that I hadn't came upon this the other day because ever since then I haven't been able to get it off my mind!!

Knowing the exact places that the race will be ran makes my heart ache. I honestly almost cried the day I found it because I've been to all the places on the trail. I know it would just be the most amazing run ever.

Even if you have never been here before.. read it and tell me if don't make you want to register and hop on a plane and run forever!

The Kauai Marathon | Koloa, Hawaii 96756 | Sunday, September 05, 2010 @ 6:00 AM

Seriously, this would be my DREAM RUN!! Not to mention it's exactly a year since we were there last.... great anniversary gift right?

What's holding me back you ask???
The green little paper that pays for it all...BOO!! lol

Maybe they'll have this race again in my lifetime and I wont be too old and out of shape to run it!

Okay, just wanted to share this with you!

Wild for Orangutans

Bright and Early on the day of the race!! I think it was probably around 7. We were clearly struggling, but there were some crazy's out there running BEFORE the race... CLEARLY it wasn't their first rodeo!

Stretching..

Melissa

Me

Emily

Such a coincidence, registered a week apart from each other and our numbers ended up being right next to each other..

I think I'm ready

Let's go...

This race was so much fun!! It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it to be.. thank the Lord. This one is just going to make me want to do more and more!! Afterward we got to hang out at the Zoo and that was great.. Heath, Michael, and EK came and joined us!

Race Results

Saturday's 5K Zoo Run

Here we go... this is what we/I've been working up to. This Saturday will be my first 5K run and I'm really excited... really more anxious than anything.
I haven't ran in a race type deal since I was in Middle School and ran Cross Country.
Want to hear a funny story... so humiliating!!
I think this is really why I'm nervous.
Ok so it was like one of the last races of the year and my dad had gotten up early to come to this one and I was so excited for him to watch me.
It was at Mt. Brook High School and we started the race in this big open field...
The parents were sitting in the bleachers watching while everyone was lining up at the starting line.
At the starting line, you're standing with all your teammates.
Keep in mind that it was super early and there was still dew on the ground.
So the guy who shoots the gun was in front of everyone yelling instructions and I remember him specifically saying, "When I shoot the gun, if someone falls I will re-shoot the gun and that means everyone come back and we will start again" Smart me in the front of our team turned around to my other teammates and said " NO ONE FALL"!! As soon as those words came out of my mouth I knew I probably shouldn't have said that.. Pride before the fall.
What do you know, he shot the gun and I was down faster that you could say go. I felt like a herd was trampling over me!!! lol I sat there for a minute thinking he surely saw me sitting on the ground, not to mention my dad saw me sitting there. I think the guy must have thought it would've been too much of a hassle and just acted like he didn't see me. So, I said what the heck and jumped up and sprinted to try to catch up with everyone else. When I did that, I pulled something in my leg and for anyone who runs, know that it's always better to start a race out slow.. can I just say it was the LONGEST HARDEST race ever. I finished and I guess that's all that matters, just my pride was hurt.. ha-ha. I don't remember another race since that one so I guess that's why I'm a little anxious but this will be different!

I'll have Melissa and Emily with me as long as I can keep up with them!
Michael is coming to watch this one which makes me even more nervous, but this isn't like in school when we got timed.. this is more of a run than a race!

I'll let you know how it goes!!
Pray for not another Mt. Brook experience

Week of the 5K

Hello Monday!
I'm really wanting to fight you today and come up with every excuse why I shouldn't go run tonight, but none of the excuses are legit....
If I don't push myself this week, I know that come Saturday I will regret it, and be really upset with myself.
So, on that note... after the Basement meeting tonight, Me, Melissa, & Emily are going for a run!
Whether I feel up to it or not by that point... we're going. It's the times when I feel like running the least that I feel the best afterwards, so that's what I'm hoping for tonight.
Love accountability

Last Friday..

I thought I was going to be ok by not running last Friday, but after eating such a heavy lunch I felt awful....
I had to do something.
When I got off work I headed straight home to change and go to the lake by our place and run as much as I could before I we had to get ready to go out.
This little track around the lake is not very big but it has two little hills that make it rather tiring to run...
I managed to run 30 in all but I struggled.
Needless to say, I felt much better after I got out there for just that little bit and pushed myself even though I didn't want to

Saturday and Sunday.... Let's just say I took it really easy!

SORE

Yesterday was little bit of a struggle for me while we were running... My calfs were in lots of pain which made it really difficult to run. ( I read where this could be from not warming up or cooling down enough or from sudden increase in mileage.. BINGO!) Both of those could have easily been the cause of so much pain in my calf which really hindered my running.

We still managed to run 3 miles, but it took us a couple of minutes longer than it usually does. Running 3 miles a day since Monday and adding 3 more on Wednesday, we probably should have just stuck with Zumba last night. I was physically exhausted..

Hannah rocked it yesterday and ran the whole thing even up the hills!! GO HANNAH!!

We also had another runner join us yesterday.. CANA GROOMS..she did great!

Me and Melissa.. well we finished lol

Emily and Maegan.. we missed y'all!

Zumba was fun as always.. (Cana and Jackie's first time)
It was a little hotter in the room than usual so when I left, my hair looked like I just stepped out of the shower.

I figured that since we had given it all we had this whole week that I would take today off and just rest, and then i came across this article.. buh

Sore Muscles? Don't Stop Exercising

So maybe I'll just do lots of stretching today and a take a nice walk and see if that doesn't help, then pick back up tomorrow!

As for lunch today.. I think I'm going to do super bad and have a nice yummy cheeseburger from Jimmy's. My treat for eating well all week long.. now i'm ruining it....
( At least I'm not closet eating)

It's supposed to feel really good tomorrow so I'll have to make sure to get out
High 60's / low 70's

One week till our 5K run/race at the ZOO

.ANXIOUS.

Cinco De Mayo

Last night I wanted everyone to come over to my parents house and we would all cook Mexican dishes and it would just be so much fun to celebrate Cinco De Mayo and eat lots of yummy food. Me and Melissa used to run in my parents neighborhood all the time so we thought we would try to get a good run in real quick when I got off work before we started cooking.

From my parents house to the entrance of the neighborhood is 3 miles! If we ran it, it would be a total of 6 there and back. We decided that we could do it.... not to mention that Melissa had already ran 3 miles yesterday morning.

We hit the street and were off..

I tend to struggle more in the beginning of the run for some reason but I didn't let it slow me down. We didn't listen to any music when we ran, instead we decided we would concentrate on our breathing and listen to our pace.
I'll have to admit it helped... usually I'm too busy trying to keep my ear phones in or choosing a song.. which really slows me down.

We pushed through and made it to the front entrance (3miles) in 32 mins.

Pace. Yourself.

On the way back, instead of running the whole way, we switched it up and would run for a minute, then walk for a minute and continued to do that until we made it back to the house.
This means NO stopping on the hills!!

Can we say HUNGRY!! That's what was motivating me to get home..
Family & Food

I felt like the way back was so much easier for me than the first half. I felt like I got my second wind! Weird.. that NEVER happens.

We finally arrive at the house an hour and 10 mins later but feeling GREAT! It was that Runners High that makes me want to run again and again.. That feeling is like none other.

Soaking wet, but in the kitchen preparing for our little Fiesta!

Needless to say, after that hard of a run... our tummies wouldn't expand to hold too much of that Mexican but it sure was delicious!

My Bucket List

So I thought I would start another blog and this would be focused around me accomplishing one of my goals on my Bucket List. For those who don't know what a Bucket List is, it is a list of things that you would like to accomplish, see, do, etc. before you kick the bucket.. a.k.a. die!

So one thing that I would absolutely love to do and has always been a dream/goal of mine is to be able to run a half marathon! 13 miles...

The only way for me to really keep myself accountable is to blog about it whether people read it or not! Atleast i'll think that people are reading it so I will continue to push myself