First Race of 2011

Today I registered for my first race of 2011 - the Greenville News 5k! I'm really excited. One of my 2011 goals is to get faster and PR in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon. Plus, I am even more excited about this race because my Dad is running it with me!! I know I talk about him a lot, but he is such an inspiration to me and I am really excited about doing this with him. He has been such a great support and cheerleader since I have started running. He even ran my first race with me in October 2008!

Here are Katie and I before the Greenville News 5k last year:

Here I am afterwards enjoying my coffee. Call me crazy, but I love races that have coffee afterwards, especially when it's cold!

I spent some time today looking up my results from my 2010 races (and my last few from 2009). In November of 2009, to celebrate mine and my best friend's 30th birthdays, we decided to run 12 races in 12 months. It was a fun experience, and I actually ended up running more than 12. I hope to run as many of the same races as I can and really push for those PRs. I am doing things like speedwork, tempo runs, and a lot more strength training. I also will be doing some workouts focused on plyometrics. I did a lot of plyometrics the first few months of my marathon training. I didn't do much except running the last month and a half, but I still feel like what I did helped. So hopefully this will all pay off! If not, I'm still excited about my awesome workouts I've been doing and getting back out there and racing some more! Even though it hasn't quite been a month, my marathon seems like forever ago.



Happy Friday!

Arts and Crafts Time

We sit in the same area as our Legal department at work, and we share a conference room. Our paralegal often puts board books and different packets/binders together in the conference room, and he likes to refer to it as "Arts and Crafts Time." He is hilarious. Anyway, I thought of that as I have been working on "my project." I have been going through my stacks of old magazines and pulling out any workouts I find so I can start getting more creative with my strength training. I was motivated by this post from Megan to continue to confuse my muscles rather than stick with the same routine over and over (which I tend to do). My husband makes fun of me as I sit at the table with my scissors and stapler. I'm glad I can entertain him. :) Imagine how excited I was when I found this box upstairs in a closet in the computer room!! Woo hoo!! More magazines! :) Anyway, I finally finished going through all of them (I sure do hope I find another box somewhere!) and now have so many great options. I love the cards from Self that I can mix and match. I know I'm a big nerd, but I get really excited for my workouts now! Phil was laughing at me as I sat at the table after we ate dinner the other night studying my workout moves for two days away. :) I ended up doing three strength training workouts last week and hope to do the same this week. I can seriously tell a difference and I'm just on my third week. I have missed strength training so much!

Of course I'm still loving my running and am focusing on getting faster. Last night I did 4 miles - warmed up for the first mile and then did 3 miles at a quick pace for me. I wanted to stop but just kept pushing myself and it felt great! I'm really hoping to PR at the 5k race I'm doing in a couple of weeks.

Check out Rae's giveaway for a BIC Band here!

Happy Hump Day!

Better Than a Nap!

Is it possible to read Runner's World and not be inspired?? This was one of my favorite Christmas gifts so I was so excited to get it in the mail on Friday!! I wanted to sit down and read it right away but I also like to save it - I'm weird like that. :) Saturday I woke up feeling like I got hit by a bus. I was so tired from staying up late the last two nights, was still getting over my cold, and had a horrible headache. But when your 1 1/2 year old calls, you have no choice but to get up! So, I got him his breakfast, turned on something entertaining for him to watch on t.v. (like Thomas or George) and sat on the couch with my magazine. I spent the next few hours going back and forth with Jake and reading my magazine and finally had a chance to sit down and finish it while he was napping. My husband was napping then too (he was pretty sick on Saturday so I gave him a Jake break! :) ), so I didn't want to go in our room and wake him up. I figured I'd get my nap after he was up. But, after reading the magazine from start to finish, I had the big decision to make: nap or run? Here's what made my decision:

"Taking even 20 or 30 minutes for a run will help you organize your thoughts, clear your head, wake up, and return to your tasks with a clarity and energy that you can't get from coffee or even a nap." - Mark Remy, executive editor of runnersworld.com.

What? Better than a nap? I decided on some speedwork on the treadmill, and it felt great! I know from experience that I never regret it, and as always I'm so glad I did it! I was sweating like crazy and breathing heavy so even though my old treadmill doesn't tell me how fast I was going - I know I got a good workout in. I followed it up with some abs and stretching.

Sunday I rested from working out. I get very rigid in my workout schedule and though I like it most of the time, I think I need some more flexibility. So instead of a set rest day right now, I'm going to rest on the day I feel I need/want it most. This ended up being Sunday. After church I made lunch, read my book, took a 30 minute nap and then played "choo choos" with Jake and Phil before cheering the Colts on to victory!! What a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Pictures

We had a great Christmas - I hope you all did too! I didn't turn on my computer (rare for me) and stayed in my jammies all weekend. It was great! We were "snowed in" here in SC, so we just enjoyed some time at home and at our neighbor's (Mom and Dad's). The only bad part was that Phil, Jake and I all had a cold. But, I'm pretty sure that's a first for Phil and I all year and Jake has just had a couple colds this year (he hasn't been sick other than that), so I can't complain. We are all starting to feel better now and looking forward to another day together on Friday!

Just a few pictures from our Christmas celebrations.


My niece and nephew. Love these two!












Jake and Jude. Jake has to do pretty much everything Jude does. :)










Reading his new book.












Reading with Pop Pop.











Playing in his new tent with Pop Pop.











Playing with his new train set. He was so excited!















Bundled up and ready to go play in the snow!














What is this stuff?? :)

















I think he really loved my mini snowman. :)











Well, now it's back to reality. I was very anxious to get back into a normal eating/workout routine. I did change out of my jammies on Sunday to do a workout, showered and then go back into my pajamas! :) That's the life! Monday I did a strength training workout and last night I ran 3 miles doing speed work. It feels so good to get back to it!

I know it's good to mix up your workout routines, but I tend to get stuck in a rut. I read this post from Megan and was inspired to really work on this. I have stacks and stacks of health magazines with so many great workout ideas and routines in them so I have started pulling them all out and keeping them in a folder. I have been meaning to do this for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. This weekend was great for a project like this! Jake and Phil were playing "choo choos" by me while I sat in front of the fire and cut, cut and cut some more! So, one of my 2011 goals will be to do a different workout for every strength training routine for a month using the moves I got from these magazines. I tried it yesterday and it was really fun! I picked 12 and did 30 seconds of cardio in between each move. I did 2 sets of each move and it lasted about 50 minutes. After I learn all the moves it will probably be more like a 45 minute workout. Perfect! I'm really excited about this.

I hope you all had a great time with family and friends!

Lessons Learned

Kelly from 2010-Revived Runner is going to run her first marathon in 2011 (yay!) and asked if I had any advice. I am so excited for her because I loved my first experience and I hope she does as well! But, I don't think I would have enjoyed it near as much if I hadn't gotten so much great advice from so many of you and from other friends who have run marathons in the past. So, I thought I'd share my lessons learned from the marathon, what worked for me, and what I will change for the next time. I solicited advice from all of you a couple of weeks before my marathon and as I mentioned before, I really took it all to heart!

1. Sleep! This was my #1 priority the week before the marathon. Since I get up so early to run and workout, this is something I struggle with. I tried to get at least 8 hours each night.

2. Hydrate. Drink lots of water all week and Gatorade a couple of days before the marathon. I drank at least 3 liters every day and drank a Gatorade Thursday and Friday.

3. Trust your training. This was really hard! I got nervous with my last "long run" being weeks earlier. But, I had to trust my training, including the taper, and take that time to give my body a rest.

4. Relax and enjoy! I really focused on enjoying myself. I was really nervous but also so excited that I was running a marathon! Whenever I started to feel anxious I just reminded myself how long I had been training for this and how much I love running!

5. Don't start off too fast. I did this in the marathon and my last half marathon. I can't believe I did it twice, but hopefully I will never make this mistake again.

6. Find something to do during the race. Surprisingly, I barely listened to my music. I had it on most of the time, but probably had no idea what song I was listening to. For a while I looked at all the shirts people had on. I'm weird, I know, but I love seeing all the different race shirts. I really liked the one that said, "pain is weakness leaving the body." I said that to myself a couple of different times later on in the race. :) And then of course I thought about people who mean a lot to me and how they have helped me get to where I am today. I looked around at the scenery. One good thing about travelling to your marathon is that it's all new, and it's fun to look around. These things really helped pass the time. Honestly, it's hard to believe it was 4 1/2 hours! It didn't seem near that long.

I especially loved thinking about this cutie pie! (Jake, not Santa). :)





















Those were the main things, besides 3 months of training of course, that really helped me to have a great run. I still think I could have done better had I started better, but I'm still very happy for my first marathon! Thank you all for sharing what you learned and giving me some great advice. I appreciate it so much. I hope these help Kelly and anyone else who may be training for their first half or full marathon.

I really enjoyed this post from This Runners Trials. I liked the whole post but I really liked when she said, "You’ll almost always regret skipping a workout, but you’ll never regret doing one." I don't know about you, but that is so true for me! I decided that I would get back into my normal routine starting on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch football, but I knew I needed to start the week off right. I went out for a 4 mile run. It was great to get outside and just run, not worrying about speed or anything but just enjoying it. Jen was right, I didn't regret it all but I definitely would have had I not done it! Monday I did Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones" DVD. I forgot how much I loved that video! Then today I did 4 miles on the treadmill focusing again on speed work and then did abs. I am anxious to get back to running outside again on Saturday mornings, so I was very excited when Justin told me today that he'd be ready after New Years! I can't wait!

Post Marathon Celebrating and My First Win!

After the marathon, I quickly showered so we could eat with Dad, Katie and Chris before they had to head back to Greenville. I still can't believe they drove all the way to Kiawah and back in one day just to see me finish! What a great support system I have!!


Me and my wonderful hubby of 7 years.
















Me and my BFF of like 10 years or something like that. She's like a sister to me. I feel like I've known her forever.














I spotted a Marble Slab the first day we were in Kiawah and had been dreaming about getting some ice cream there since I saw it. Saturday just before 9:00 we finally decided to go. We checked on the website to make sure they were open and it said they were open until 11:00. Just as we were parking we saw the lady walk to the door and lock it...they closed at 9:00. I was slightly disappointed. No ice cream was not an option, so we headed to the grocery store. I know, I'm a dork, but ice cream and coffee are two of my very favorite things! I did, however, save the coffee for the morning. I wanted to sleep well that night!
















It's been a week now since my marathon - I can't believe it! A question that FruitFly and many other people have asked me this week is, "will you do it again?" Well, had you asked me that at mile 8 - after 8 miles of rain and having to slow down and leave my training partner - I might not have been so quick to say "yes." But, ask me any time after 13, "Absolutely!" I definitely want to do it again some day. I'm not sure when, but I really do want to. If not next year then most likely after kid #2 or #3 (should there be a 3). :) I really want to focus even more on running after I'm done having kids.

I really felt like I should have been up and running this morning, but I decided to take a break and enjoy a Saturday morning at home. It felt weird. It was great to have time with my boys, but I'm anxious to get back out there! I ran just a half mile on the treadmill before my workout Wednesday...it felt great! Plus it was nice to get back to some strength training. I have missed that. Thursday I did a speed workout on the treadmill. Ouch. My legs were in pain the rest of the day. I think I pushed it just a little bit. I decided to rest Friday and today and will start back to my normal routine tomorrow.

I am so excited to say that I finally won a contest!! When I first started reading blogs I entered contest after contest, but I never won anything. I stopped for a while until I started reading about iFitness belts. I really wanted to try one so I started entering contests again. Still nothing...at this point I just wanted to win anything! :) Imagine my surprise when I sat down to read blogs on Thursday evening and realized that I had won an iFitness Ultimate Running belt from Mom.Wife.Fitness.Life!! I was just a little excited. Merry Christmas to me! I can't wait to get it and try it out!

Happy Saturday!

Kiawah Marathon Recap

Okay, so I'm finally posting my recap from my marathon! Sorry, it's long. It was hard for me to describe this day and to keep it as short as possible...here goes.

I had been anticipating this day for months, and it finally got here. The last month and a half seemed to fly by. We ran 20 miles on November 6th and 22 miles on November 20th. Those long runs seemed to be forever ago! I know I had to trust my training, but it made me a little nervous, I have to admit.


I checked the weather Friday night and got even more nervous. The temperature was going to be great for running (40's to low 50's), but it showed rain until early afternoon. Yikes... We passed on a 10 mile run in the rain about a month ago. I remember asking Len that morning, "what if it's raining on December 11th?" I can't really remember what he said but something to the effect that we would just do it or something, but I never really thought that it would rain.

Me with my "What was I thinking??" face before we walked to the start.

We met at 7:20(ish - it took us a while to find each other even though we had a meeting spot). The rain started at about 7:50. Great. At least it wasn't raining too bad, though, so I was glad for that. My husband and Len's family were there with us right until we started - they were such troopers!

Len and I ready to do this and looking really excited...or maybe not so much. Speaking of Len, I have to say, I never would have done this without him. It's really tough getting up at 4:00 or 5:00 three days a week but when you know someone is out there waiting, you just have to...and that saved me. I wouldn't have done it alone. Plus it's really hard to find someone who runs your pace and someone who enjoys your company so very much.... :) Okay, so maybe that was a tad stretch...I better stop now. Thanks, LP.

The last 10 minutes flew by and all the sudden we were off! Here we go. I look like I'm in pain already, but that's just my look of concentration.

I really wanted to stay with Len as long as possible. Sometimes I'm really mentally weak on long runs and need him to keep me motivated. Miles 1-4 went pretty well. The crowd always motivates me (sometimes too much) in the beginning. Miles 4-7 I started to feel a little winded (this is typically when I start to get into my rhythm). I started to realize that unfortunately I was making the same mistake that I did on my last half marathon by starting off too fast. We were running under 10 minute miles and I knew that was too fast for me if I wanted to have anything left in the second half. On my best runs, I start off slower and then speed up. So though I hated it so much, I said good bye to Len somewhere between miles 7 and 8. It had rained on us for most of that time and between that and having to slow down a bit, I started getting a little discouraged. I slowed down to take off my long sleeve shirt. It was all wet and I was plenty warm, so it was good to get it off. I must have looked miserable because some guy came up by me, patted my back and told me to keep on going and that I was doing great. I cannot even tell you how much that motivated me. I wish I could thank him. I needed that so much right then as I was definitely close to tears.

The next few miles were tough but I knew I was going to see Phil close to mile 13 and that kept me going. I almost cried (again) when I saw him. He had a Clif bar, water and my visor for me (even though it had stopped raining now, of course) so I stopped for a minute with him. I was anxious to get started again. I tried eating the bar but it wasn't working. Too chewy and dry. We mostly stop on our training runs to eat a bar quickly and have a drink before we start again. But I didn't want to waste any more time than necessary. I told Phil to tell me I could do this (he said some encouraging words), and then I went on my way.

Seeing Phil and crossing that half way mark was definitely my turning point. I got my second wind and seriously felt great! I looped around at the half way point. I had a nice, steady pace and really started to enjoy myself. I saw Phil again somewhere between miles 14 and 15. He took my Clif bar, long sleeve shirt and ran with me for a minute. Three ladies commented about how great my hubby was to support me like that! I am a lucky girl. I needed to see him then so badly to push me those last miles.

I remember reading Becky's recap on her marathon and how she thought about different people during each mile. I started thinking how even though I was running by myself at this point, it definitely took a lot of amazing people to get me here! There's no way I could have done this by myself. These are some of the people I thought about:

1. My husband. He not only comes to almost all of my races but he watches Jake every Saturday morning (which means never getting to sleep in) and seriously never complains about it.

2. My parents. They support me in everything I do, and they are so proud of me! I think they even tell the person checking them out at the grocery store that their daughter is running a marathon. :) My Dad sent a note with me to read before my marathon. I thought about the things he wrote several times during those miles. It was so incredible to see him at the finish line!! And my dear Mom - she was at home (wishing so badly she could be here) taking care of our little man! I could not ask for better parents (and neighbors!! Told ya, I'm a lucky girl!).

3. My best friend. Even though we haven't had many opportunities lately to run together, she supports me so much. She even drove 4 hours here and back in one day just to see me finish my marathon!

4. My team. Of course. I couldn't have done this without them. We have had fun training for this marathon the last three months. They've kept me laughing and helped me finish every mile I ran.

5. My new blogger friends. I have been so inspired by reading blogs and by comments and suggestions from you all. So thank you!! I thought of you all today, especially those of you who have encouraged me during this amazing journey.

6. And of course my "real life" friends. :) I got so many encouraging comments from all different places and it felt good to know so many people were cheering me on! Thank you!

Miles 13-18 went really well. 18-19 was a little tough for me because it was just a slight incline for a while and the wind was blowing in my face. But, I knew I would be seeing Len shortly and that pushed me to keep going. I saw him and he called out, "Whose idea was this?" Ha. :) Yours, Len!

I was so excited that I was down to single digits. 7 miles? No problem. The 20 mile marker came and I got even more excited. I stopped at most of the water stations to drink a quick cup of water or Gatorade and walk for a minute, but then kept on running. I saw a clock and realized that I'd have to run 10 minute miles for the last 6 miles to get my dream goal of 4:30. My realistic goal was to beat 5 hours, but secretly I hoped to get 4:30. However, I realized it was going to be tough for me to do that with stopping at each water station (there were a lot - thank you, race organizers!). I was disappointed but tried to remind myself that I was less than 6 miles from finishing my first marathon! I tried not to dwell on it but to just keep up a slow and steady pace.

We had somewhere between 2 and 3 miles to go and were turning on the path towards the finish line. I saw someone ahead of me who I recognized...LEN! Oh my goodness...I wanted to finish this race with Len so badly! I caught up to him probably near mile 24 (not exactly sure). We were both hurting by then so we spent the last 2 miles running with short walks in between. Both of our Garmins were ahead of what the course said we had left (quite depressing when we're talking 26.2 miles). We finally saw the 26 mile marker...and the last .2 miles were never ending. But we did it. Len's son ran with him towards the finish line and we wrapped it up ending within 5 seconds of each other. My official time was 4:38:19.

As soon as I crossed the finish line I saw Phil...along with my Dad, best friend and her husband there to support me. I was so excited! What an amazing experience.

Me and Len anxious to sit down!

Me and Dad!! What a great surprise!

Me and my BFF.

One last picture before I take a very hot shower!

This was such an awesome experience! I kept telling my husband that I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. I can say I truly enjoyed just about every minute of it. :)