Well, I haven't been very good about blogging lately...but I did it! I can cross run a half marathon off my life's bucket list. But I'm NOT done running half marathons! It was SO much fun and what a sense of accomplishment when I finished. One of the best feelings there is. The friendships that this challenge have strengthened are the best! I am so blessed to have been able to go through this experience.
Heidi and Hillary picked me up Saturday morning about 4:45. I hadn't slept more than 4 hours all night, anxiety ridden and all. We parked at DMACC and got on the bus that took us to Saylorville Dam. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, hardly any wind, low 60's. I was amazed at the amount of people, and clothes dumped on the side of the road:) Mindy and I ran together the whole time. Around mile 7 I thought, "If I was running the Bix I'd be about done". But some breathing and chatting with Mindy helped me forget how far I'd gone and had left to go.
Lots of fans on the side of roads, I pretended they were cheering for me:) My right hip began to hurt all the way down to my knee, early in the race, maybe around mile 4 and by mile 8 it was pretty much numb, but I wasn't going to give up. The breeze felt amazing when we would turn directions for a while. Lots of pretty views including one stretch of trail that was narrow and completely tree covered. I was able to finish it strong the last 400 or so meters.
Tanya, Hillary, Heidi, Mindy and I all met up to stretch and chat about the experience. I enjoyed a cold beverage along with yummy Flying Burritos nachos:)
It's now 2 days later and I'm still moving very slowly, some pain in the knees and hips when I walk, but its just a reminder of the amazing run.
5/6/13, 5/11/13
I ran six miles on Tuesday by myself around town. My legs were still pretty tired from running on Saturday, but I got it in. Then on Saturday I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with some good friends running the Market to Market relay. It was 75 miles from Market Street in Jefferson to Market Street in Des Moines. I had an amazing time pushing myself further than I've ever pushed before and getting to do something I love all day long! I ran a 5.7 mile leg and a 3.9 mile leg, both were on beautiful trails with the crazy wind on my back for the most part. I was really happy with my times also as I was close to 8 minute miles both legs. I really hope I get to do that race again.I am now on the down hill stretch for the half-marathon training. This week is back to 5 miles and 9 miles. Finding time to get it in is the hard part with all the school and sports activities, but I will:)
4/27/13, 4/29/13, 5/4/13
I'm falling behind on my running blog:( Hillary, Heidi and I went to Ames to run about 9.5 miles on Saturday. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we ran through town on lots of sidewalks. It felt great and the best part was that my hip didn't hurt the next day.
I ran 5 on Monday, which was not quite enough recovery time on my leg muscles, but I made it anyway.
Throughout the week Hillary and I had been working out a scheme to make the 11 mile run a "dirty bar" run to have a fun place to end. Our plan was to run to the Cambridge bar with a group of friends. The VERY un-spring-like weather changed our plans at the last minute and instead Hillary, Mindy, Jesse, and I ran both trails, out to the country club, and around town to get 10.5 miles in. It was about 48 degrees and raining nearly the entire run. The last mile and a half the rain hurt it was coming down so hard:( It was great to talk and clear our minds as we went though. Matthew and a great group of friends met us uptown at Quirks to celebrate our run with yummy appetizers and some Summer Shandy. Body is really feeling it today, but that's mostly my fault for not taking the time to stretch and drink water afterwards. That was the longest run I do until Dam to Dam and I'm almost convinced I can do it:)
4/22/13 Ran 8 miles Saturday afternoon around 1. I had to run alone since I wimped out at 8am that morning because it was in the 20's:) I felt really strong, adding new music to my Running Playlist on my Ipod really helped. I was pretty exhausted the rest of the day, laying pretty low but no pain. The pain came early Sunday morning though, in the middle of the night. I woke up feeling pain in my hip and unable to get comfortable. The rest of the day, my right hip popped every time I took a step. But by Monday, I'm doing good, just really hungry! Excited to run a strong 5 miles this week sometime and then Saturday run 10 with friends. And it's supposed to be in the 60's, my favorite temperature to run in!!
4/13/13 Ran 6 miles today at 1 in the afternoon with Heidi and Hillary. It was wonderful having friends to run with:) It was about 50 degrees out and some wind. It felt great and I felt strong. My knees hurt a little right afterwards and later on in the night, my thighs ached, but I felt great the next day. This Iowa Spring weather is really NOT cooperating with training, but will have to make it work. Highs in the 40s again this week. Nervous about the 8 mile run this week.
4/4/13 and 4/7/13 Got to run 5 miles on my birthday and it felt great! Then to wind down after Lanie's birthday party on Sunday, I did my 4 mile for the week on the trails. It was sprinkling for about half of the run and then the sun came out. Had one of those moments of near bliss on the way home, where everything is calm and peaceful and you feel like you're in a complete state of contentment. That is why I run:) Body seems to be holding up well so far, nothing hurts a lot when I finish a run or the day after. Need to do 6 miles this week sometime. Being able to talk about the training with friends, has been REALLY motivating!!
3/31/13 I was hoping to run outside today, but although it was near 50 degrees the wind was terrible:( So, 4 miles on the treadmill. Felt MUCH better than the 4 miles outside last week when I was sick! Started at a speed of 6.0 and worked up to 7.2 then back down.
3/29/13 I had been sick for about 24 hours with some sort of stomach bug making me feel very nauseous and tired, but I didn't want to mess up the training already. So with my mind set that I would do it feeling good or not, and really think about all those people out there that go through life with cancer and still find a way to make it through the day even when they are feeling totally awful, I came home from school and quickly got ready for my 4 mile run before I could change my mind. Doing both the east and west trails by my house was about 4 miles and I ran the first 2 with Gracie, then dropped her off at home before I ran the last 2. They felt awful, but I kept thinking that when I get over this stomach bug, the miles will feel much better. I think I'm also going to change when I do my long run for the week because right now it is scheduled for the night right before kickboxing at 5:30am the next morning.
I felt great the next day, muscles don't feel sore, just used:) Also found out that I will be running about 10 miles in the Market to Market run. The first run is about 7 miles and is considered "hard" and the second is about 4 miles. My friends know I don't mind the hills...I'm super excited:)
3/24/13 Running a half-marathon has been on my bucket list for a long time. I don't think I'd ever be interested in running a full, but we'll see:) After running a 7-mile Bix and a 9-mile Tip Top run last year, I finally felt like it was something I could do. And thank goodness, with the peer pressure from some runner friends; Heidi, Neilie, Mindy, Tanya, and Hillary, it is going to get done!! Hopefully it will help me make some more healthy choices in my life too. I downloaded the Rookie Half Marathon training program, without knowing that 2 of the women I'm running with were going to use the same program. Great minds think alike! It recommends 10 weeks to train, and that is exactly what I have:) I'm going to adapt the program to my liking though, because I've struggled with pain in my hips and knees if I overtrain. So...it recommends running 4 days a week and starts out real slow at 3 mile runs. I'm going to count one of the short runs (3-4 miles) each week as my kickboxing workout. I'm also going to count the other short run as my low-intensity workout for the week, Zumba or yoga. So I'll run 2 days a week, one day starting at 3 miles and working up to 6 and 1 day starting at 4 and working up to 12. I'm super excited to get focused on my health again!!
Unfortunately with this crazy Iowa weather, I had to run the first run (3 miles) on the program inside on the treadmill. It snowed today and its freezing outside. The streets are also wet:( Hopefully, I'll be able to run the 4 mile run outside later this week. I've been running once a week on the treadmill all winter, but walk 3 minutes to warm-up, walk in the middle for 3 minutes to mix things up, and then walk 2 minutes at the end to cool down. Today I only walked 3 minutes to warm-up and then 1 minute to cool down after I'd run the 3 miles. I also lifted weights using the 8 pound free weights, which I'd like to continue on my short run day.
1 comment:
Good for you Kedra! You are going to do awesome!
Post a Comment