It's been very cold for Alabama the past couple of weeks. On one of my morning runs I had frost in my hair at the end. That's cold.

First 15 Mile Run!

I ran my first ever 15 mile run this past Saturday. It was not an ideal morning for running. It was cold and wet and just plain old dreary. I felt really good for about the first 13 miles. At that point though, I was definitely ready to be done. There were a lot of hills on the route we took, and I was feeling it on the last big hill.

I came home and took an ice bath and then hopped straight into the shower because I was so cold. I was sore the rest of the day and pretty much all day on Sunday.

This weekend is a cut-back week, which is good timing for me since we're going to my grandfather's to have Thanksgiving with that side of the family.

Vulcan Run 2008

This past weekend was the Vulcan Run. I ran it last year and had a great time. It was the first time for me to ever run a 10k. My time this year was 1:12:14 which is an 11:38/mile pace. This is a huge improvement over last year where I ran 1:20:04 which is a 12:54/mile pace. I've definitely improved a lot over the year. I had the pleasure of running with my good friend Andrea who was running her first ever 10k. She's training for the Mercedes Half Marathon in February (I'm still training for the full).

Time for winter running clothes!

The cold is here a bit early this year! I ran this mornnig and the temperature was hovering around 32. I broke out my long pants and long-sleeve running shirts and put on my earwarmers and was off. Other than the cold, it was a great run. I did not want to get out of the shower because the hot water felt so nice. I'm still freezing here at work. Maybe I need to bring some gloves to the office...

This weekend is the Vulcan Run. This was my first 10k last year. Hopefully I'll be able to get a better time this year!

Once again, I'm bad at updating. I'm five weeks into training for the Mercedes marathon. I can't believe it's going by so fast.

I met one of my regular running partners this morning to run 5 miles before work. It just recently got cold (well, cold for Alabama) and there was a lake wind advisory. That along with the darkness and clouds overhead and the Halloween decorations made for a spooky run. I'm glad there was someone else running with me!

Up this weekend is the Vulcan Run. This was my first ever 10k last year. This year, I think I'm running 6 miles before the race, and then doing the run. I would have never believed that had you told me that at the start line last year!

Wow, a month since the last post! This week was the official start of marathon training. However, I've been under the weather with a sinus infection. Fun stuff! I'm finally feeling somewhat back to normal.

Tomorrow morning I'm running a 10k, extending it to 7 miles, instead of doing 9 like the schedule calls for. I've got to ease back into it. Since going on a cruise last week and being sick, I haven't been able to run like I should. But I should be back into it soon and back here with some updates. I'll try to remember to take my camera tomorrow so I can post pictures.

And just as an aside, the fall weather is finally getting here! It should be around 65 degrees tomorrow morning when the race starts. Almost time to unpack the cold weather running gear!!

Marathon!

I've finally decided that I'm going to run the Mercedes Marathon in February here in Birmingham. I spend a lot of the morning coming up with a training schedule. Click here if you want to see the schedule.

Eric's trail run injury in all it's glory...

26.2 Ways You Know You Are A Runner

1. You know how many miles there are in a marathon.
2. Your weekly mileage is how much you run, not your commute to work.
3. You know how many miles you get out of a pair of running shoes.
4. You can convert Kilometers to Miles in your head.
5. You measure your running route in your car to get the exact mileage.
6. When someone tells you their age, you automatically know their Boston qualifying time.
7. You know Grandma's as the route from Two Harbors to Duluth, not the person.
8. You can drink, blow your nose and pee on the run.
9. The problem with the treadmill is there's no place to spit.
10. You have less than ten toenails and that's normal for you.
11. Body Glide is your friend.
12. Ibuprofen is affectionately known as "Vitamin I".
13. Navigating walkers, dogs and baby strollers annoys you because it interrupts your pace.
14. When you participate in an organized event, you know not to run in your race t-shirt.
15. You have a favorite energy gel and flavor.
16. The "Picasso" above your fireplace is last year's TCM poster.
17. You have pre and post race rituals.
18. The journal you keep is in miles and pace not feelings or thoughts.
19. When you look at the weather conditions, you calculate how many layers to wear.
20. The pride you feel after a good run is worth the pain it took to get there.
21. You have more t-shirts than you could possibly wear.
22. When you hear the word "bib", you think of race numbers not babies and Gerber food.
23. The "no carbohydrate diet" does not apply to you.
24. You know that Fartlek is not vulgar terminology.
25. A hill is an opportunity just waiting to be challenged.
26. You know the phrase "you're almost there" only applies when the finish line is in sight.
.2 Your vacation destination is determined by your race schedule.

Trail running...probably not for me!

My husband and I went on our first trail run last night. It was a 4 mile run with his group. This was the first time that either of us had attempted a trail run. It was definitely a workout as my legs are sore this morning. I think though, that overall, I'm not a fan of the trails.

You have to constantly look down to make sure that you're not going to trip. And even then you might still trip anyway. I could have been about to be mauled by a bear, but I wouldn't have noticed because I was looking so intently at the ground. The pace was slowed down a lot in an attempt to stay upright.

Things were going well until we had about five minutes left. Eric was running in front of me, and all of a sudden, down he went. He tripped on a rock or root or something. It looked like he was sliding into homebase, but instead of a base there was a lot of rocks and dirt and roots. His left wrist and left thigh took most of the impact. Nothing is broken, but we think he sprained his wrist. It had a couple of puncture marks too where rocks got him.

Trooper that he was though, he picked himself up and finished the trail. He didn't have much of a choice since we were in the woods, but he did it and then went to La Paz with the group to eat.

I don't think he'll be doing trail runs again. As for me, I will try it again, if only for the extra workout, but it's not something I'll be doing on a regular basis!

The run last Saturday started out like any other summer run. Hot and humid. The route we were taking with the group was 6 miles and we were thinking about doing it twice. I really didn't want to, but knew that I probably needed to. About halfway through I started noticing some dark clouds. It was sunny when we started and I forgot to check the weather forecast before I left for the run.

About ten minutes after we saw the clouds it started sprinkling. It wasn't long before it was a downpour. Now I've run in the rain before, but this time there was lightning and thunder. And it was pretty close. A few cars stopped and offered us rides, but we only had about two miles to go (I think) so we stuck it out and just ran a little faster.

We ran by a fire department in Homewood and the firemen told us we were dedicated. It wasn't raining when we started, I think if it had been, I would have rolled over and gone back to bed! But we got thoroughly soaked.

I went to the YMCA to shower and change and made the mistake of leaving my wet shoes and running clothes in the trunk of my car for 2 days which was not a good idea! It was pretty rank in there when I took them out and washed them. I washed them twice just for good measure!

New shoes

Blogger ate my post! That's what I get for trying to update while at work. So let's try again.

Probably no one cares about this, but I've been on the search for a running shoe that I actually like and I think I found it. My last pair was New Balance, the pair before that was Saucony. I don't remember what was before that. But this time I got Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8. If I still like them in a month or so, I'll probably get another pair!

As promised, pictures from Eric's first 5k race:

Race to the Courthouse

This past weekend was the Race to the Courthouse 5k. It was my husband's first 5k race. I ran the race too and had a PR (personal record). It was a hot and humid morning already at 8:00 am so I'm surprised that I was so fast (for me).

My official time was 31:59 which is about a 10:45 pace per mile. Slow for a lot, but lightning speed for me since my normal pace is a 12 minute mile. Eric's time was 36:38, which was faster than my first 5k race time of 37:13.

All in all it was a great day. I headed to the beach right after the race and Eric went to the post-race party and then I think he went home and took a nap. I've got pictures, but will have to wait to post them tonight.

I'm healed!

Whatever the doctor gave me for my jaw helped whatever was wrong with my leg! I just realized that I haven't had any pain there since Saturday, which was when my jaw stopped hurting. The TMJ was pretty awful, but I'm kind of glad I got it now in a weird way. I have a follow up appointment with the doctor today to see about getting a mouth guard for night so that I won't grind my teeth.

I didn't meet my usual Tuesday morning running partner since she had to be at work early today so I'm going to spin class after work. I used to absolutely hate spin class, but now I get sad when I miss it!

I should take painkillers before running more often!

This past week was a little rough on the running front. I apparently have TMJ and it was really bad this week so I was hopped up on painkillers for a couple of days. I wanted to go to a 5k in Fultondale on Saturday morning, but it didn't happens because I was still kind of loopy. I did get up Sunday thought and met a few people to run 10 miles. I took a painkiller the night before to make sure I would be able to sleep and therefore be able to run the next day.

We met at 6:30 at the Brownell building near Brookwood Mall. The first four miles were pretty hard on my shins. I haven't had shin pain like that in a long time. I'm thinking it might be time for some new shoes. But after mile 4 they were pretty warmed up and felt good. I experimented this run with having some gel before running and during the run. I get pretty bad stomach problems during a run if I eat beforehand, but this seemed to work pretty well. I might have to start investing in Gu. We started the run at the Brownell building and ran by Brookwood Mall, all the way down Lakeshore trail, then back to Brownell and a little bit of the Jemison trail. I was feeling really good at the end of the run and was even able to pick up the pace a bit, but stopped at 10. I've got at least two runs planned this week, and will probably need to fit in another two.

My husband and I are running the Race to the Courthouse 5k on Saturday morning. It is his "graduation" 5k from his Couch to 5k running program. They are going on to a 10k after this and he says that he's going to stick with it. Maybe he'll get obsessed with running like I am! After the race I'm going to be headed to the beach with a friend of mine. I haven't been to the beach in forever so I'm pretty excited about it! I'm also supposed to run 13 miles that weekend, so we'll see how that works out!

I went to the doctor about my leg, and he doesn't know what's wrong with it. They took x-rays, and there are no stress fractures so that's good. It's some kind of muscle thing, and he said that I could keep running, but if it got worse to come back in. My running coach suggested a massage to see if that would work out a knot or whatever is causing the pain. I was at my mom's yesterday and had her massage it for a bit. It hurt like crap, but I guess that's a good thing.

As far as running, I had a group run on Saturday morning that I slept through. I went to bed at 9:00, set my alarm for 4:30 am. I woke up at 6:15 not having heard my alarm at all. My husband didn't either, so I'm assuming I turned it off in my sleep. I was so mad that I missed the run!

I tried to run yesterday, but only got 4 miles in. We ran in the middle of the day with the sun right above us. I got a little burned too, which isn't good.

I think I've sustained my first running injury. It's not bad, but I'm going to have the doctor check it out anyway. For the past few weeks, my left thigh would hurt when I sat a certain way in my chair at work. So, I just didn't sit that way. Then it started hurting when I walked about a week ago. It's just a twinge, not that bad. I'm still able to run, but I can definitely feel it.

Because of my leg, I only ran 6 miles of our 11 mile run last Saturday. I'm calling tomorrow to get an appointment to have it looked at. The doctor will probably tell me to ice and take ibuprofen, but I would rather be safe than sorry!

I ran in the rain for the first time today. I feel like a real runner.

It was another early morning run. On the drive up it started sprinkling a bit and I debated calling my running partner and cancelling, but as soon as I thought that it stopped. So we get there and notice there are dark clouds one direction and clear sky the other. (It was dark on the drive up, so I couldn't see the clouds). We could either do the 5 mile Hill Run in the directions of the dark clouds, or go with the other group that was running the Sunrise Run, 6 miles in the opposite direction. We decided that we didn't want to run 6 miles and did the Hill Run.

It was going pretty well until we got about a mile in. Then it started sprinkling. It was actually kind of refreshing since it was a very humid morning and we were pretty hot. It steadily rained harder until it was pouring. I didn't have a hat so it was raining on my face and sweat was getting into my eyes which was uncomfortable at first. But then I got used to it and actually enjoyed myself.

It stopped raining for about the last ten minutes of our run. As we were going up the last hill a transformer on the street we were on exploded which gave us a pretty big scare. Maybe it was a sign that we shouldn't be running in rain like crazies. Or maybe not.

Today was a gorgeous day for running! Last week's run of 6 miles almost killed me. Today we did 8, and I felt like I could have done a few more. It was a bit chilly when we first started out (54 degrees), but with the sun out, we soon warmed up. I was armed with directions since last time I got lost along with two other girls.

We ran through some gorgeous neighborhoods in Homewood and Mountain Brook. The beautiful houses were a nice distraction from the many hills. After the run, a group of us went to Demetri's, a barbecue restaurant that also serves breakfast. I had some of the best french toast I've ever had and some ham. I don't know if it was so good because I just ran 8 miles, or if it was really that good. I hope it's the latter.

I'm going running again tomorrow at the Lakeshore Trail with my husband's running group. This is their third week of running. Depending on how my legs feel, I'll either run 5 miles on my own, or run their training run which includes some walking breaks.

The insanely cheerful girl was not at spin class this morning. Instead she was replaced by smelly girl. She comes in and sits on the bike right next to me. Before we even started class I noticed a smell. It was sour. Either she's got some awful body odor, or she didn't brush her teeth before class and has some atrocious morning breath. It was disgusting. I know it's really early morning, and I don't expect people to shower beforehand since you're only going to get sweaty and have to shower again, but really! If you smell that bad, do something about it! There' s no way she couldn't have known that she was so stinky. Unless she smells like that all the time. And that's just sad.

I was so glad when class was over. There is a pub run this evening that I'm planning on going to. It's a 4 mile run, but it looks like it might get rained out. If that's the case, we're just going straight to the pub! Either way we can't lose!

As I posted earlier, I went to spin class this morning. In order to go to this class I have to wake up at 4:00 am to give me enough time to wake up, brush my teeth, dress, and get out the door to make it to the class on time. I'm not really a morning person, but I like getting my exercise done and out of the way for the day.

This morning there was a girl in the class that was way too chipper and cheery for so early in the morning. She brought her hairdresser with her so he could take his first spin class. I'll set the scene for you. She's a little blonde thing, probably 5 feet tall, 90 pounds soaking wet. He's your typical gay male hair stylist. In great shape, tan, with better hair than I'll ever have.

So we get started with the class. The first song comes on after the warm-up and we start going uphill. Apparently she likes going uphill so she lets out this whoop. It sounds like the noise white girls make when they've had too much to drink and are dancing (stumbling) on the bar (Whooooo!!!!!!!!). Got that? She did this continually throughout the class. Then a song came on that her friend really liked. So he started bouncing in his seat and clapping along to the beat. WTH? This is spin class, not a dance club! It got really annoying really fast and I wanted to punch both of them by the time class was over. But maybe it's just me and I need to get the stick out of my butt.
I don't think so though. I hope she doesn't come to the next class…

I did get a good workout though, and I guess that's all that matters.

I’ve been slowly easing my way back into running. I ran a couple of times on the treadmill this week, went to spin class this morning, and am going for a 6 mile run tomorrow morning with my running group. Some are doing 10 miles (this is the marathon training group), but I’m just going to do 6. I think 10 at this point would do me in. So it’s another early morning for me tomorrow!

Well I haven't been posting lately, because honestly, I haven't been running much. I've been averaging about one run a week and one spin class a week, which is not so good for the waistline. :) However, today I ran a 5k race, and I got a personal best time for that distance!

The race was Casey's Cause in Trussville. I woke up this morning to rain, but got up anyway and got ready. The drive to Trussville takes me about an hour so I had to get up pretty early. It rained the whole way there, but when it was time for the race to start it stopped raining. The course was very pretty, going through neighborhoods. The first mile had a killer hill, but other than that was pretty flat (and even had some good downhills). It took me about two miles to really warm up, so that by the time I was feeling good and had gotten into a groove, the race was over.

There was one party pooper during the race. And older man in a red pickup truck was not very happy about the roads being closed. He stopped at a stop sign and some people ran in front of his car at which point he got out of the car and started yelling at one of the runners. This was a guy running with his five year old son. The runner just explained that it was a road race, and that the roads were closed and we had every right to be there. The man kept yelling so the runner just said, "have a nice day" and kept going. The man then sped through the stop sign, not waiting on the other people who had been stopped at the intersection.

Other than that it was a great race. I don't have the official time, but I think my time was 34:41. My first ever 5k time was 37:13, which is a pretty big improvement!

I've just confirmed what I've thought all along. If I don't have a race that I'm training for, I don't run at all. I just took two weeks off of running. Didn't run at all. The only type of exercise I did during this time was one spin class. I feel like a blob. So last night I went to the Wednesday evening group run at the Trak Shak in Homewood. It's the first run after Daylight Saving Time so it was still light out and the weather was gorgeous. So there were a lot of people. I chose to just do the three mile route, since it's been so long. I felt like I was going to die towards the end. I think the heat was affecting me too. I'm just not used to running in it.

I'm meeting some people to run again this afternoon after work. There are group runs scheduled on Saturday and Sunday that I'm going to try to make.

My friend Katie is thinking about running a half marathon on April 12th in Charlotte. She kind of got behind in her training, so she's not sure if she'll be ready. If she's not, then she'll run one there in June. Whichever one she chooses, I'm going to drive up there and run it with her.

Sweets - my downfall

Well, this has nothing to do with running, but it does have something to do with health/fitness, so I'm posting it here. I ate way too many sugar cookies and cupcakes yesterday for Valentines Day. I can't resist sweets, and we have a "room-mom" in our office who brings cookies and candy all the time. So I've decided to go thirty days without sweets. That includes candy, cookies, cake, chocolate. None at all. Here goes day one. Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

Funny thing just happened. I was walking back to work after lunch. I wore a skirt today since it's so warm out. As I'm crossing the street, a car is going by and the driver's side window rolls down. This guy says some comment about my legs and asks if I'm a runner. As sexist and innappropriate that the comment was, it made my day!

I had an awesome weekend! First on Saturday was the BE&K 5k. I was running it as a last training run during my taper week before the half. I got there and met up with my friend Andrea and Chez, who was in the original Couch to 5k group with me, but we never officially met. We took some pictures before the race.

All three of us:


Garmin nerds!


After the race


The 5k was great! I ran with two other girls from our group and we talked the whole time and it just flew by! It was so cool to remember back to Race for the Cure, which was the same course, and how much easier it was this time. But the 5k was just a warm-up to Sunday.

I couldn't sleep at all Saturday night before the race. I kept waking up every hour on the hour. Finally at 5:00 I got up and got dressed, ate breakfast, made sure I had all my things together and headed out the door. Our running group was meeting at 6:15 to take a group picture. After the picture I had just enough time to go stand in line for the bathroom one last time before starting. Then it was time to line up. I went towards the back, since I'm pretty slow runner and my main goal was finishing. I didn't have any kind of time goal in mind.

The gun went off and we were off. The weather could not have been better. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 40s. By the time I finished it was in the 50s. The first 4 miles went by so fast. I felt like I was floating which I'm sure was because of the adrenaline. I knew that some major hills were coming so I made sure to keep my pace in check and not go too fast. Here's the elevation report for the course:

The first hill is a mile long. I was glad that we actually ran it during training, that helped to prepare me mentally. And there was a drum corps at the top of the hill which definitely helped with motivating you to get to the top. Originally I was going to walk this hill so that I wouldn't be worn out at the end, but I was running with two other girls and they ran it so I just went along. I got to the top and was so proud of myself! However, the hills weren't over with, just the longest one. The next stretch of road was up and down hills for about three miles with a really short but really steep one at the end. I felt like walking at one point, but one of the girls made us keep going and I'm glad she did! The rest of the course was pretty much downhill which felt great after what seemed like going up a mountain!

I found that the last mile and a half were the hardest for me. My feet started to hurt really bad, but I kept telling myself that I got that far, I could go one more mile. And then before I knew it, I was at the finish line. They gave me a medal and one of those silver wraps, but it was so warm out that I didn't need it. I was famished so I went and got a bottle of water and some orange slices that were nearby. I don't even eat oranges, but I can say that it was delicious!

Then we went to the post-race party where we had barbecue, beer and massages. I was definitely hurting afterwards. It's so funny how you can go from running without a problem to hobbling along five minutes later. I was a bit stiff this morning, but I'm feeling much better now. I hung around for the drawing for the Mercedes M-Class, but I didn't get it. :( Oh well, my medal was enough.

Some highlights from the race that I recall:

• The drum corps at the top of Greensprings (the mountain) was awesome! We cheered them on as we ran by. It was so awesome to see that they took time out of their Sunday morning to help motivate us.
• At some point in Homewood, we heard some more music. We turned a corner and it was a live jazz band! Again, so awesome to see the people that came out to support us.
• There was a group of runners dressed up as prisoners and I saw them throughout the course taking pictures playing like they were breaking out of jail.
  
• There was an older grandfatherly type who lived in the Highland area and he was out on the sidewalk cheering on each individual runner.
  
• There was one "water" stop right at the end offering donuts and beer. I passed on that one.
  
• An Elvis impersonator was at the last mile cheering people on.

All in all, it was definitely worth it and I never would have believed six months ago that I would be running a half marathon. I started out from nothing. And our coach is willing to stick with us and train us for a marathon. He mentioned one in Alaska which sounds like it would be a lot of fun!

Here are some of the pictures I took after:

The sweet blister I got!



Our coach Danny! i couldn't have done this without him!

I completed the course in 2 hours, 44 minutes, 48 seconds which is a 12:35 pace!

Less than a week until the half marathon, the day I've been training for these past 6 months. I really can't believe it's almost here. I still really don't think of myself as a runner. I guess I need to change that mentality.

Some of the girls from the group were talking about what we're going to be doing after the half marathon. I already have another half scheduled for April 12th in Charlotte, NC. A high school friend of mine lives there and we're going to run it together. Then I think that I'm going to start training for a marathon. My high school friend and the girls in my running group want to run the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. next October. I don't know if I'm up to the challenge, but I'm going to start training for it and go from there...

The next post will probably be a recap from the half marathon! :)

Two posts in one day!

Apparently I have freakishly warm hands when I run. Anytime I try to use gloves they come off soon after running because my hands start sweating. At the same time though, I almost always have on earwarmers, because my ears can't stand the cold.

Over the weekend I thought that I had hit my cold threshold and would have to use gloves (remember, the wind chill was in the single digits at one point). I put some on, and sure enough, after ten minutes I had to take them off.

I guess I'll try again when (if) we get into the negatives. :) Until then, my gloves will stay packed away.

The 39 degree weather this morning felt almost tropical after the frigid temperatures over the weekend! It was another early morning group run, but this time we only went 5 miles. I'm glad too, because I was dragging the whole way. I felt bad for a couple of hours after the run too. I really hope I'm not getting sick. There's been something going around our office and I really don't need to get it. Only three weeks until Mercedes. I can get sick after!

It did end up snowing over the weekend. We got about an inch, but by that evening it had all melted. Because of the snow, our group run was cancelled.

So, I ran on my own yesterday. It was even colder yesterday than on the day it snowed. I think it was 19 or 20 degrees when I set out for my 12 mile run. In the end I only did 10 miles. But I was all on my own, so I'm amazed that I made it that far. I definitely need to have the group to keep me motivated on those long runs!

We have a 12 mile group run scheduled tomorrow morning. But the forecast is calling for snow in the morning. I'm in Alabama where it never snows. I seriously don't think we've had any snowfall that's stuck for at least 10 years. At least not that I can remember. So if it's snowing in the morning I won't make it to the group run. Which means I'll have to either run inside on the treadmill or do a million laps around my neighborhood. That might be cool though, to run while it's snowing. Hmmm....

If it does snow I'll definitely post pictures to document it since it happens so rarely!

My right calf muscle is still extremely sore after the 10 mile run on Saturday. I thought it would be better by now, but it's not. I almost have to limp it's so bad. Tonight I'm going to try some moist heat on it to see if it helps.

I was supposed to go running with another girl last night, but her daughter got sick so she couldn't make it. Normally that would be signal to me to flake out and not run, but I made myself go. Since I was running on a trail outside, I got changed at work before I left. I tend to get hot when I run, so I was wearing a running skirt. I think it was in the low 40s temperature wise. I work at a corporate headquarters for a bank downtown and am on the 11th floor. So after I changed I had to ride the elevator down filled with people who were dressed in formal business suits. I got some weird looks, especially when we walked outside and I was basically wearing shorts.

I got to the trail and started running. Since my calf was hurting so much and I forgot my inhaler, I only ran two miles. But two is better than nothing I guess.

I went to a spin class this morning and my calf was still bothering me during the first part, but once it warmed up it was ok. I'm glad that's out of the way and I don't have to worry about any kind of exercise until tomorrow night.

Red Nose Run - 10 miles

The Red Nose Run is a 10 mile run that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. It was held right by the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Birmingham. Because the police did not want to block off 10 miles worth of intersections we had to run a loop three times to equal ten miles. I did better with that than I thought I would. There were two water stations, but because of the three laps, there were six, so plenty of water. I used a gel about halfway through. This time I tried Powerade brand that was latte flavored. It was definitely better than the first one I tried that was mango flavored. I would almost say that it tasted good!

When I finished the second lap, I saw that the clock said it had been 1 hour 19 minutes. I decided that I was going to try to finish in under 2 hours. Then I stopped at a water stop, had some water and started off too fast. I got a stitch in my right side and had to walk. Once it was gone, I started again making sure I kept a good pace, but not too fast. The stitch came back 2 or 3 times, but it was small enough that I could breathe through it and get rid of it. It helped when I got to the last mile marker and had only one mile to go. I kept telling myself, "you can do it for one more mile". I picked it up when I rounded the corner to the finish line and was done with one minute to spare!

We hung around a bit afterwards. There was a lot of food there and I had a doughnut. That was the best tasting doughnut I have ever had! So I had another. And a coke. I rarely drink soft drinks and if I do, never a "real" one. I couldn't finish it because it was so sweet.

A lot of our group went to a sports bar afterwards to celebrate, but I came home. Got home and immediately got in the ice bath. It's still extremely hard to get into that thing! I stayed in for 15 minutes and then took a long hot shower.

Here are some pictures from the race:

I am definitely not someone who functions well on little sleep. After getting up early and running those 7 miles yesterday morning, I was worn out when I got home after work. I think I fell asleep at 8:00. My husband brought me the dog a little while later because he (the dog, not my husband) was scared of the thunder outside. The poor thing was just shaking. I'm afraid I wasn't much comfort to him because I fell back asleep about five minutes later. Yes, I slept through a thunderstorm. I could probably sleep through an earthquake.

But back to running. Today's run is only supposed to be 3 miles, and since there's a chance for rain again this evening, I think I'm going to run on the treadmill inside. Maybe I can catch up on my tv shows. :)

Long time no post. The holidays had me pretty busy, but I kept up with running for the most part.

Another group run early this morning. I'm still amazed at just how many people are on the road at 4:45 am! The schedule said we were running 6 miles, but it was actually 7. Our coach always manages to sneak in something, be it an extra mile, or some awful hills. I started out feeling like I wanted to quit, but after about a mile I loosened up a bit and actually enjoyed the rest of the run.

This weekend is the Red Nose Run, which is 10 miles. The schedule says we need to run 12, so I'm running two miles in addition to the race! We're going to On Tap afterwards for a post-race celebration.

Only 5 more weeks until Mercedes!