Harvest Days 5k

And I'm still smiling ... this morning's 5k at the local Harvest Days festival was a lot of fun. I may not have set a PR running through the mud and water, but I ended the 3.1 miles feeling good physically and feeling good about my time. I may be slow, but for the first time in months, I'm really enjoying running now. Best part of the course? Running past the fesitval's amphitheater as a student group started singing "Boogie Fever!"

I've included a couple of pictures from before and after the race. Smiling for the camera is still very new for me and I'm really loving life right now!

Now, it's time for college football this afternoon. Let's go NC State - beat the VT Hokies! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Good luck to Carly at the Twin Cities Marathon tomorrow!

Three Things Thursday

1. We bought a pair of running shoes for Taylor at lunch today. Let me tell you, this is a huge accomplishment. The man cares NOTHING about sneakers/tennis shoes/whatever you want to call them. He has worn the same pair of New Balance shoes for the past 5 or 6 years. I knew the chances of getting him to a running store (the closest is 90 miles away) are nil, so we met at the local Rack Room Shoes and bought some neutral Saucony shoes. Seriously, we giggled through the whole thing because he kept saying "whatever you think" to which I would reply "but they're your feet - I can't tell what feels best." Good times, good times ...

2. Have I mentioned that I registered him, Kate and myself for the Sweetheart 5k on February 13? I have the ticker on the left but I don't think I've blogged about the fact that he's agreed to try running! I do hope he enjoys it ... I love it so much and want to share that with him. It will also be great to share a hobby together. The 5k has a couples division but I doubt very seriously we'll have a shot at being anywhere near the fastest couples there. Our team name: My Wife Made Me Do It. Kate will be running the 1 mile fun run and is super excited!

3. We are now a Wii family. This is by far the most popular of the Santa gifts. We've all had a blast playing different games, including the games on the Wii Fit Plus with the balance board. You should see my Mii in that game ... it's overweight just like me!

So that's it for posting in 2009 ... Happy New Year to everybody! Here's to a great 2010!

Still here / still running / still blogging

Yep, I'm still around ... life just seems to take over sometimes, doesn't it? I'm still running although not nearly as much I had hoped during the month of April. We went to Orlando April 17-25 and I didn't run any while there. I'm a little disappointed in myself about that because I'd really planned on running at least a couple of times. I allowed myself to get a little too involved in family stuff while at the resort on the days we didn't go to the parks. I just didn't want to wake up early enough on those days to run before it interfered with family time. This running thing is a not the habit/necessity I want it to be yet, but I will get there. There's no way I feel guilty about having fun with Taylor and the kids and doing the things they wanted to do, though. I want running to become a consistent part of my lifestyle, but family absolutely comes first.

I've run twice this week so far. Both runs were while Kate had softball practice. The 2 mile route around TJ Davis Recreation Center is on the roads and is hillier than I'm used to, but I did okay. Last night was at Chockoyotte Park and it was the best run I've had in a while! I really like the crushed gravel path around the park. For the first time in quite a while, I ran (well, jogged at about an 11:00 pace) an entire mile without taking a walk break. I was frustrated because my left shoe came untied at about 0.8 mile & I stopped to tie it. I thought I'd paused the Nike+ but apparently did not because there's a dip there. Then the right shoe came untied a little around the 1.25 mile mark. Same thing happened again with not pausing the Nike+. I have absolutely no idea why I didn't double-knot them before I started ... lesson learned.

I'm still so slow, but I did try to push it a little during the last .25 mile & did that at around a 10:00 mile. My stride felt better & I don't think I was "bouncing" as much. I need to concentrate more on doing that & hopefully it won't be too long before I can maintain that for a longer distance/time. Here's the graphic from slowgeek showing the run ... I like the fact that there aren't too many dips from walk breaks. All in all, I'm very pleased because I had the 2 shoe-tying stoppages & two 2-minute walk breaks. Not bad, not bad at all ...

Next up is tomorrow's Patriots' 5k. I'm really excited because it's one of a few local races & the first I've done since the Harvest Days 5k in October. Dare I put a time goal in writing? Yikes ... I'd love to come in under 35:00. Anything under 37:30 minutes is going to be due to adrenaline and pushing myself harder because I'm still really averaging 12:30 miles for the most part. I'm looking forward to the day when I will come in under 30:00.

Kate is also going to do the kids' 1 miler. I would love for her to gain a love of running at a young age and I hope she'll have a great time. I think I'm finally wearing Taylor down a little, too, although he hasn't actually run any yet and won't participate tomorrow. I printed the C25k program & he thinks that'll work well for he & Kate to do together. I hope so although I'm sure he'll fly past me in no time!

There's also a 10k on June 20 in our county that I'm toying with the idea of entering. Hopefully Taylor & Kate will do the 5k together.

That's it for now, I guess. I'll try to post again tomorrow after the race with a report.

What's this? A new post?

Wow, it's been a looong time since I last posted. Not much of an excuse for not blogging other than life happens. The holidays were great and as always, a blessing to share the joys of the Christmas season with my family. But now it's January (almost February!) and back to a more "normal" pace.

I took a break off running beginning in November that lasted for the most part until January 1. It all started with a very tender spot beside on my left foot's big toenail. And ... fast forward to today when I'm sitting at home with a bandage on said toe. It turned out (or rather in) to be an ingrown toenail. Let's just say I've never been so happy to have a doctor do a procedure involving shots and sharp instruments. Honestly, it already feels better. Even though it's still a bit sore, it's not a sharp pain like it had been for the last 2-3 days when it had worsened.

I'll have to bandage it for a while & take care of it with daily soaks & cream, but if I'm feeling up to it, I'll try to run again in a week or so. I'm in the middle of training for the Sweetheart 5K on February 14. I guess you can call the slow run/walk thing I do training since I actually printed a schedule from Runners World Smart Coach. I ran my longest distance Saturday - 5 miles! It was great and I may have been able to go a little longer. But looking back at it now, it probably had a lot to do with the toe pain flaring up again.

I really don't have huge expectations for this 5K. I'm obviously still very much a beginner. I'd like to best the time at the Harvest Days 5K in October ... that's a reachable goal. A tougher goal is to finish under 30 minutes. I doubt that'll happen due to the toe issue, but we'll see.

The goal for this afternoon? Reading and hopefully a nap ...

Worldwide Festival of Races

I ran the inaugural "Hawkins Farms Pumpkin Patch 5K" and I placed first out of 1 entries! Woo hoo! My prize for completing the race in 37:07? A bottle of water and big hugs a little later from my daughter and son.

It was a wonderfully cool morning of about 65 degrees and a light breeze. The course was and out and back from my in-laws' pumpkin patch to the church so it was a trail section by the pond and then the farm paths by the cotton and soybean fields to the church. And the good news was that I remembered to bring the church key with me so I was able to take a much-needed bathroom break : )

This was only the second time I've run this distance since starting on July 30. I'm still not able to run the entire time, but the walk breaks are much shorter than my first 5K in September. I will run the Harvest Days 5K next week and hope to finish in 35 minutes.

This was my first virtual race and I heard about it from Steve Runner's wonderful "Phedippidations" podcast. I enjoyed pushing myself to run the extra little bit to log 3.1 miles and "compete" against myself and others virtually. What a blast and a great way to stay motivated as there are not a lot of local races around here.

Ford's Colony 5K

I'm so excited and proud of myself. I ran the Ford's Colony 5K this morning and had a great time. I had two pre-race goals ...

1) Run more minutes than I walk. I don't think I hit this goal because I lost track of the number of running minutes. I finished in 41:50.3 which is slow, but that's okay. I've only been doing this for a month and a half. I would have liked to finish under 40 minutes, but I'll try to achieve that at the Harvest Days 5K in October.

2) Not finish in last place. I achieved this goal. I was 48th out of 68 women who finished the 5K. Again, not very fast and not a great finish, but that's okay. Again, I'll try to do even better in October.

All in all, it was a great event and I had a blast. Even though I don't have anything to compare it to, I really think the Rocky Mount Endurance Club organized a great race. I certainly hope they'll do it again next year.

A special thanks to Bobbie from Rocky Mount who ran with me from around 2.5 miles to the end. It was great finishing together. Since I always run by myself in the mornings, it was a nice change to have a partner. Maybe I'll see her again at another race.