WOHOO!!! I placed in my first 10k race today!

Well I just got home from my sister Sarah's house in Tyler Texas. This morning I woke up at 6: 30am to get ready for my race. We didn't get to bed until about 11:00pm  and it was a rough night with Emma sleeping in the bed with me, and Craig sleeping on the floor since she kept kicking us. So I am exhausted right now and about ready to hit the sac. I have been fighting shin splints, a hurt knee and ankle all on my left leg for about two weeks now, off and on. The first mile of the race they were hurting pretty bad but I soon forgot the pain as the adrenaline kicked in. The trail was so beautiful! We ran through an old neighborhood of gorgeous southern houses and azaleas in bloom. I kept a pretty good pace and was passing a lot of people the first few miles and I felt good, but worried that I might now be able to keep it going for the whole race. There were a number of girls ahead of me in my eye sight that I one by one caught up to and stepped in front of. One girl wearing bright pink shoes was riding my tail hard for most of the race. At one point she got in front of me but in the end I didn't let her beat me. About 4 miles in we went up a very long hill that I felt would never end. I tried to do like I have been reading and keep my arms low and relaxed and push through as I went up hill and then lengthen my stride and lift my arms on the way down. I think this really gave me an advantage over the others because it was in these hills that I passed up a lot of people. There were two girls though that kept catching up to me and I was determined to beat them. I also ran steady for a while with a 60 year old man! Isn't that amazing? And I had a hard time with it at 21! When the pointers told us we had one mile left I really kicked it into gear. I sped up and put enough comfortable distance between me and those other girls and tried to keep up the pace. When I saw the finish line about 100 yards ahead I started bolting and as I crossed the finish line the announcer exclaimed, "Wow! What a finish!"  It felt so good for my first 10k. I however didn't even see all the other girls that were still way ahead of me and I finished 11th over all (in women). My time was 49.37. Which is less than an 8 minute mile! (My goal was to do it in under and hour) And I placed third in my age division and got a plaque. I am not sure how many people I was up against but it was a huge crowd! This was definitely the most competitive group I have ran with! As always the best part of the race was coming up to the finish line and hearing my family cheering me on and my hubby telling me to push it through, giving me just enough encouragement to find what energy was left inside of me. Thank you Sarah, Paul, and Troy too for cheering me on! I cant begin to explain how rewarding it is to have smiling faces greet you at the finish! Hours after the race my calves were still burning! This is a good sign! I am proud of my first 10k.

Beautiful Day!

Wow the weather was so great today! I ran sprints today with my neighbor Jessica. I just did a mile to warm up and then we did sprints together while our daughters played on the play ground. My left knee has been hurting so I went a little easier today. Yesterday after I taught water aerobics I ran for 20 minutes on the tred mill as a trial to see how many miles I could do. My goal for the April sprint triathlon is to do 3 miles in 20 minutes. That is less than a seven minute mile. Yesterday I did 2.73 miles in 20 minutes so I am not too far off. I ran it at 8 miles an hour untill the last mile and then I increased my speed up to 9.5. I swam 350meters in about 5 minutes after that. My goal for my swim is to do around 500m for 10 minutes. At the Stonebridge Traithlon last summer I did the 350m swim in 8 minutes! Tomarrow I am going to run at celebration park after my yoga class with Julia, and then I teach cycle in the evening. whew! It has been a lot of work this week. Lets see... by the end of this week I will have worked out about 13 times. That is including teaching my group exercise classes. I have been really trying to work at my diet lately too. Cutting back on my portion sizes and on my carbs. I have been trying to eat more for breakfast and snack more often during the day. It helps that I do this allready with Emma (my 1 year old). Up untill the night before my race I will be eating very well and then I will carb load. I only have one week before my 10k!  (The 26th in Tyler ) I had better get some long distance in! Wish me luck!
Remember the deadline to be able to get your name or company on my race shirt as a sponser is coming up! I still need $180 to pay for race fees and the shirt. Once I have reached that goal I will put the rest of the money towards Angelman syndrome foundation. I will be having the shirt made THURSDAY at the LATEST, so dont miss out! If I dont receive the donation before then, your name or comany wont be on my shirt for this summer. Thank you for your support!

first post

Welcome and thank you for visiting my site! As you can see I have a 10k run coming up in just a couple weeks so I will be running at least three times a week now. I ran my first 6 miles just a few months ago, considering that I used to HATE running! This all started because I was wanting to loose my baby weight so I started running with the jogger. I met my friend Julia Conger who encouraged me to push myself a little further each time. I remember in highschool when they would make us run a mile and I would dread the day! haha. Now I look forward to running because it gives me a break from life, an escape. I have ran 6 miles three times now! Tomarrow morning after I teach yoga I am going to run and ride my bike since Craig is staying home from work. I'll just go around the neighborhood and do a 5 mile bike followed immediately with a 3mile run. WOO HOO!