Tuesday, July 16, 2013

UGH!

So not having a goal, a running partner, accountability person has made me LAZY! When I started running a year ago and  for almost the entire first year of running I had a person to compete with, someone to talk to about the failed runs and the successful ones. Someone who understood what it meant to cover a new distance or beat a time record. It has been almost 4 months since said person chose to walk out on this responsibility.
Since then I  have hard a terrible time in working out how to get back on my running/nutrition feet. With that being said it is time to get back up and dust myself off and start all over again. It is time to get up with the sun and get my runs in while it is cooler outside...if I can train while working full time or being in school full time there is no reason why I can't do it during the summer when I have hardly nothing going on. Lazy is not my style but pushing through and conquering things is so here we go today's run is the last of the Lazy kid runs.
I ran the 1st mile, walked mile 2, and ran/walked the 3rd. Well not a great day or great run/walk. It will however count as 3 or 9 miles for station 3 the 15K in the We get LOST in running. I was aiming to do this station in one run but till I get my running legs back under me for real I will be breaking them up.  How are things going out there in running cyber world?

-Felicia


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Firecracker 5K Recap

This weekend part of my family ran the Firecracker 5K hosted by Big River Running Company in St. Louis. We had perfectly amazing weather it was 70-75 degrees and sunny for the whole race! I woke up on the 4th and was in so much pain in my stomach I almost didn't run. I was sure what the problem was but I was doubled over till the race started. I chose to run without my water which was not my smartest move, however I survived just fine. The exciting news about this race is that I got 2 PR's!!!!! Yep I ran my fastest mile ever and my fastest 5K ever!


Mile 1 was my PR mile! It clocked in at 10:45!!! Holy crap I was moving! When runkeeper chirped at 5:00 minutes and I was almost at .5 miles I decided in that second I was going to push it as long as I could and as fast as I could. It was a pace I knew I could never keep for the whole race so I hit my goal and slowed down a bit. My dad and I stayed together for the whole race...sometimes I think he pushes himself super hard to keep up the whole time to make himself better and stronger. Also mile 1 was pretty much a hill slow and steady that ended right around a water station.

Mile 2 I took a little slower and was decently flat. Dad and I chatted through most of this mile joking about the church on the corner about how we would need the good Lord to pull us through to the end. We also joked about needing the old person's home when we were finished, it was a good time. that ended with another water station. We took it as a run walk mile and averaged around 13:14 time.
Mile 3 was up hill and a loop back down to the baseball stadium. which was an easy trek up and back down. The cool part was that you finished the race running the bases and crossing home plate. The uncool part is that the last 0.1 mile was all in sand! Sand at the end is a cruel punishment and makes it tough to finish. However we finished mile 3 in 12:47. 

My goal for this 5K was to finish in sub 40:00 and I succeeded!!!! I finished this 5K in 39:44!!! That is roughly 2:00 faster than I have been getting! I was so excited I couldn't even contain myself! We sprinted the third base line to make it in time for the PR but I wanted it really bad and we were so close! I did learn that if I could PR with the way I felt then I maybe training to slow. So starting next week I will be picking up the pace as much as I can...aka bleacher days will also be speed run days...YIKES!





PreRace photo with my cousin and his wife. Looking right into the sun hence the squinting face! 


 PreRace photo with my dad.




                                                                                Post Race photo with my dad on the third base line.

All in all it was a great race and we had great weather. It was nice to run with the family even if we all run at different paces and finished at different times. We still got to hang out after, drink beer, eat a hotdog and talk about how it went for everyone. How did your race weekend go?

-Felicia

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Lots and lots of Things!

Ok so I am so far behind on blogging it isn't even funny. In this post we will cover 2 runs, foodie pen pals June, a Runnerbox, the new running schedule, and the new shoes I bought. At the end of the summer I will recap all the cool medals I have coming in this summer. I will recap every "real" race in a post and virtual races I'll try and add to something else.

Two runs here we go! This first run is labeled as a walk because well i forgot to change it back after walking with my dad the night before. I did a short 1 mile run to warm up my body before I kicked it into gear with and upper body and core workout. I am working on getting down to under a 12:00 minute mile. It is a slow process but I am hoping to get it there before the end of the summer with Thursday's being speed work and bleachers starting next weeks. Next we have a 2.5 mile Saturday morning run before work with a little core work. It felt great! I enjoyed it for the first time in a while. It was also beautiful outside.

JUNE FOODIE PEN PALS!!!!!!

This month my pen pal was Jackye Clayton and she was awesome!!!! She sent me all kinds of things from her home state. At this point I am super excited to try everything! I love chocolate and I am way interested to see how it mixes with bacon in a chocolate bar. Also who doesn't like scones I think I might add some chocolate to it and make dark chocolate ones for half the batter and leave the other half plain to taste the original. I am so excited!!!


Third thing, have you ever heard of RunnerBox? I hadn't till one showed up in my mailbox today. Last week I registered to run the Summer Sunset Run which is a virtual race! One of the prizes was a RunnerBox. Can I just say all of the stuff they get in that tiny is magic! I am super excited to try some of the things I have been looking to try but didn't want to buy a bunch in case I hated its. Nuun has been on that list for a long time and there are 2 tablets in the box, the other thing is the pro bar bolt chews which help with energy during a long run. This is great!!!

July 4 Fire cracker 5K race with some of the family
July 6- 4.5 Miles
July 9- 6 miles
July 11- 3.5 miles with Bleachers
July 13- 4.5 miles
July 16- 6 miles
July 18- Summer Sunset 10K
July 20- 4 miles with Bleachers
July 23- 7 miles
July 25- 3.5 miles with Bleachers
July 27- 6 miles
July 30- 7 miles
August 1- 4 miles with Bleachers
August 3- 6 miles

This is it for July the goal is to not miss a run and to stick with the miles designated, however I understand that sometimes that's not possible. If my legs need a break then I will run less miles. The other goal is to be able to run the 3rd and 4th stations of Get LOST in running by the middle of August...so that means being able to run a 15K and 16K.

Lastly my new shoes!!!!!!! Ok so for almost a year I have been running in my Asics GT-2170 and have loved every second of it (minus the fist few weeks) Breaking them in was a tough process but once I got them broke in and my muscles adjusted to the new way of my foot fall they have been an amazing pair of shoes for my first running shoe to own. However they have several hundred miles on them which means it is time to break in a new pair! And for this years running goals I have chosen the Mizuno Wave Inspire 9! They fit amazing and have a little bit higher of an ankle which I am hoping will keep my ankles a little more stable than my Asics did.
Tomorrow for the firecracker run we will being wearing the Asics but for the next few weeks speed/bleacher runs which are a little shorter will be done in the Mizunos. Super excited!!!

-Felicia