Run for Freedom 5 Miler Race Recap

Yesterday I set out for a very hot race. The Run for Freedom 5 Miler at Wicker Park.

I arrive early and worked the Calumet Region Strider tent.

I really wanted to take it easy and not push myself too hard at the race. So the first couple of miles I took it nice and easy.

As I approached mile 3 a lady in her drive way said the storm is coming. I thought ok great I'm going to get wet. At mile 3 I saw water. The guy in front of me knocked the remaining water off the table. So I didn't get any. Since I knew the rest of the park very well I knew what to expect. The final water stop was also out of water. Then the wind picked up. I looked at my watch just about .50 to go. Then the rain came, the wind came, the very hard rain came. It was the worst less than a mile I have ever run. It broke my iphone but I finished. 2nd place in my age group! I was also 43 out of 132. I finished and I proud. Now I am going to the beach for a week...

With Jennifer at the finish. She was 2nd overall female... she is totally awesome!

No Excuses

Today I had all intentions of running with a group I am coaching to their first 5K. Then the storms came... So I decided to head home since no one was there. I got home and felt so frustrated that I was unable to workout today. After dinner I felt I had to get something in so I set put fort basement.

i recently joined a summer fit challenge and I love that his groups motivates me to want to not make excuses. I don't want say much more about the fit challenge on the blog just yet. However the other women in the group are all moms and probably more busy than I am and always make time. Our coach Hillary posted a picture of herself going at it in her basement and I just knew I had no excuse.

So to the basement I went. I decided on 30 minutes. I warmed up with 5 minutes of ab/core work. Then I rotated between 1 min of cardio and a strength move. Mostly I sprinted from wall to wall during the one minute cardio. I did do a few sets of jump rope, jumping jacks and butt kicks. 

I rotated the strength between squats, lunges, kettle bell swings, squats with arm curls, dips and push ups.  

All in all that is what my gym looked like today. You don't have to be the best you just have to believe you are. Work hard and it pays off... Don't let anything be an excuse. I mean you can practically see the sweat dripping off of me...

Chicago Women's Half Recap

Jen, Nikki and I in the port a potty line

Today started very early. Wake up time 4:00AM...drove to meet up with the other girls running the race. We got parked in the garage, walked to the port a potties with about 15 min to spare. Once we finally came out of the port a potties we had to line up because the race was starting. There were no corrals it was just line up where you want.

I didn't have enough time to get to a pacer so I just took off. I tried to stay with Nikki and Jen as long as I could but it was very crowded back of the pack so as I tried diving through the slower runners I quickly lost them. So I just decided ok it is going to get hot so just run how you feel. This was very difficult. The route was very crowded the first several miles and very hard to pass runners. When I got home I realized I was all over the map. I started super fast but I think maybe this is when my Garmin got confused because we went under wacker. I really was trying to take it easy until after I was at the halfway point.







Once I saw mile 7 and I was feeling good I was trying to try to pick it up but I had to go to the bathroom so that made mile 8 slow. After stopping I wished I hadn't because it was totally mental. I saw some really motivating people as we were making our way back toward Solider Field. Miles 9 and 10 I felt really good and thought I was going to be able to pick it up as I continued but the sun and heat hit me hard. I just couldn't push it any harder. I was frustrated that I had run so much extra according to my watch. So I just wanted to finish. I knew I couldn't finish under 2 hours as I wanted but I knew it was going to be a successfully completed easy race and it was. I didn't want to hurt myself or end up on a stretcher since this was just a race I included as a training run. So 2 hours 1 min and 34 seconds I was across the finish line. I was 583rd place out of over 3400 runners. I was also 108 out of 676 in my age division. This I am very proud of.

After I finished, picked up my post race food and medal I headed back to wait for Nikki and Jen. They both agreed that we were all just glad we did it and didn't get hurt or over heated. I'm glad I did sign up for this because I really had a good time at the race. It was neat to be able to just run with all these women out there fighting just has hard as I was. The post race party was close by so we headed over there and they had free ice cream (this was yum because of the heat). I even got to see my cousin Ed who live in the city at the post race party. Overall I liked the race expect that the course was basically the exact same as the Soldier Field 10 with the 3 miles added. I thought they did a great job preparing for the heat. I do wish they would have had ice at some of the stops. Another half marathon in the books...

Push your Limits

This year I have set some personal goals for myself. They are lofty goals but I truly hope to achieve them. However one thing I know is if you set high goals you have to be willing to work hard. Today I did something I never done before... speed work. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was very nervous going in so I decided to do it on the treadmill at my gym. The training program said to do 5 One Mile repeats at 8:09 with two minutes rest in between. The treadmill at my gym gave me two options 8:06 or 8:12 so I settled on the 8:06. The first mile seemed to go ok but the pace was slightly difficult. I settled in pretty good for the 2nd and 3rd miles. Then came mile 4 and I was really starting to feel the fast pace. Once the 4th one was I over though I was feeling like superwomen and knew I had to finish it. After the last mile I jogged until the treadmill hit 6 miles. So I did 6 miles in 50:23 for an average pace of 8:23 with my breaks. It was hard and I had to push myself. I feel so empowered to keep pushing my limits though.

What pushes you past your limits? Do you do speed work?

The Start of Something

Today I starting a new commitment.


Today I started a commitment that will focus not only on my running but my overall health. Running has done so much to shape and change my  life. It has made me believe in myself and believe that I can do anything. Even though I'm not ready to admit I'm aiming for one of my hardest goals yet. I cannot thank my running buddies who believe in me. They are supportive and so helpful in guiding me towards my goals. So here is to the next 14 weeks of training. The Air Force marathon is my first marathon of the season. I won't be able to use this marathon for my time goal but it will be my first attempt at a new challenge this summer and one mark along the marathon maniacs challenge.

A Weekend of Running

This weekend I ran.

I started with the Munster 10K on Saturday. This race is a nice easy 10K but it was not my best 10K. I started out feeling tried and not sure what to expect. I started out feeling good and actually felt good. The later in the race it got the more hot I became and I started to slow down more and more. Once I saw the leaders go past me I felt a new surge. After I came out of the final turn around that directed you back toward Munster High School I felt pretty good. The race turns you into the football entrance and onto the track for the last of the race. I finished 53:28, 5th out of 13 and 67 out of 159 finishers. I was happy with the finish. I really enjoy small local races here in Indiana. It always feels like a family reunion to see all of the runners there that I know. It started to pour ran shortly after I found out I was not placing this time. So I headed out. Another race in the books.

Me and Tammy pre-race

Today I went to long run #3 of my marathon schedule. I am not running Chicago this year but I love being able to donate some money and volunteer and help Opportunity Enterprises. So I headed out a bit early to run with a fellow runner Lisa. Then we met up with the mass group. I started to really struggle with only two miles to go. Lisa just kept talking and being positive and we made it. Long Run done. It was humid and it really seem to get the best of me today. I do think having Lisa there to chat with was great but we set the pace must too fast at the beginning and it really made it hard for me today. I really need to focus on a much slower pace when I start out the long runs. After I finished with Lisa I ran 30 minutes of walk/run with my beginner Jess who met me at the park.

Overall I am glad tomorrow is a rest day. I am still feeling good about my training. Just need to make sure I have the coconut water with me on these hot days. It really got the best of me today. 13 more weeks until marathon #1 of 2013.

Race Recap Ragnar Relay Madison/Chicago

Team Blisterfoot
2 Vans
14 People (1 driver, 1 volunteer, 4 Guy runners 8 Girl Runners)
199 Miles
36 Legs
Madsion-Wisconsin

I can't speak for my entire team but I really had a blast at my 2nd Ragnar Relay. I think first I would like to thank our Swat Volunteer Ruby. She has awesome! I also want to thank Tim the driver/supporter of Van 2. He was so much help.

I was runner 12 so my van headed over Friday morning for the start to see van 1 off to the running.

Then we went back to the hotel, showered and  decided we needed a car wash. We ended up at probably the most entertaining car wash EVER!

Then  made our way to Exchange 6 where we would start running. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Just before Bryan took off they explained his leg was going to be longer than expected. He really got put to the test with a very long leg. He rocked it like usual. Since I was the last runner I still had plenty of time to prepare. As I finished my leg is when the rules for putting on the night gear were approaching so I made sure we wear all my awesome safety gear even though it was day light. So I brought us to a park where our Van finished all of our first legs of running. My leg was 6.7 miles but it ended up being 6.84 on my garmin. It was supposed to be considered hard. There were a few hills but it was not the hardest run I have ever done. I really enjoyed the run and got into a good pace. I did feel frustrated when I saw a team change runners during the leg which is not allowed according to the rules. 

We grabbed some quick food and then headed for showers and rest. Around 11pm or so we headed out for second runs of the race. Night running is crazy, run and gives you that runners high for sure. All of us did pretty good running at night since we agreed no girl would run alone. Bryan started us off strong, Annette and Amy also pulled really strong runs. Tim had a long run and he was getting really tired and so was everyone else. Tim brought in a really strong run to pass to me. Our "driver" Tim ran with me for my leg. We joked after how runners can run in almost complete silence and its totally fine. Once we got close to the lake my leg I could see the first peaks of day light. Watching the day break is just not something you appreciate until you see it. Then it was time for some more rest... we were at the YMCA... we tried to get as much rest as we could but then we felt we should head over to the next check point. Once we go to the exchange we realized we were very early so we opted for some more rest. Around 11 am Bryan then took off for our final legs to bring it to the FINISH! Finally Tim came in and sent me off on the final leg of the race. 

Team BlisterFoot Finishes

My final leg was supposed to be 8.2 miles and I was going to bring the team to the final finish line. I started at Northwestern University and made my way to Robbins Park. I was going pretty good but there was some constructions and bad sidewalks that made my pace get out of wack. Then we headed into Robbins park and I was feeling pretty good. I made a turn and I saw the lake and it was looking so good. Once I hit what looked like the final stretches near Lincoln Park it was full sun. I started getting really warm and it started to slow me down. I then made a turn and I was able to see the finish line in my sights. Then I really knew I was getting close so I could see the final stages and my team. I grabbed my team shirt and threw it on so we could all finish together.... and we did. Team Blisterfoot finished.

I really cannot speak for the entire team but I am really glad I was invited on this team. I had a blast. One of my best friends Bryan came and was in my van so that made it fun. Tim was a runner in my van he is always entertaining and fun. We also had Sue who I have become great friends with and we always seem to laugh. Tim a good friend came as a our driver, pacer and photographer. He was awesome. I was really glad to get to know Annette and Amy. They were great fun and great teammates. 

Overall I had a great time running Ragnar 2013. Ragnar is an amazing experience. It is fun, exhausting, and a 199 miles of running.

Happy National Running Day

 Today is National Running Day...

I started the day at the doctor with her thinking I'm crazy after I told her how much I run. So why run?
*My Health
*The sense of family I feel in the running community
*Challenge myself
*It gives me a sense of believing in myself
*Pride
*Devotion... running gives me that silent time with my thoughts. The only person who I can often talk to is God.
*I'm not sure if there has been research done but I really believe when running I get my best ideas. I really think the brain works differently when I'm out on the road.

Just remember it doesn't matter how far, how fast, how long or even how you do it. All that matters is that you put one foot in front of the other.