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!