Friendship 5K Race Recap

This past Wednesday was the Friendship 5K at Wicker Park. I have done this race 3 years in a row now. The thing I like about this race is that it is on a Wednesday so it allows people who may work weekends to do a 5K. It's also always a very community friendly event. So after work I headed over to Wicker Park to check on and hang out with friends before the race started. To say the least everyone including myself was slightly worried about the heat. We all lucked out though because a good amount of cloud cover came right before race time. The park also had a good amount of shade cover. The men started at 6:30 and the women at 6:35 to keep the traffic minimal. The first mile flew by and I felt pretty good but was shocked when I ran the first mile in 7:57 and knew I needed to dial it back a little bit. However a fellow runner friend Nikki was just ahead yelling for me to keep up so I tried hard to keep her in my sights. Mile two seemed to take forever and I ended up running slower than I expected with an 8:40 pace. I could feel myself slowing down and I knew I handle slightly more. I also know the park so well it started to motivate me that I was less than a mile to go. When I passed by the finish I was seeing a lot of awesome runners really helped me kick it in. When Nikki passed me at the turn around that really motivated me to push hard and I passed a couple more runners. Overall a good race. I finished!

26:04 (15 seconds slower than last year)

5th out of 35 in age group 

20th out of 153 women  

Feeling very proud of my results 

30 Day Challenge Results

I hinted on my blog back in June that I joined a 30 day challenge. Today is technically day 32 so I'm still going and loving it! So what did I do?

Joined a Shakeology 30 day challenge led my a former school mate/running buddy Hillary 

Requirements

Have Shakeology everyday for 30 days

Workout 

Make Healthy Choices

Report your day every day on private Facebook group 

So how did it go?

Well considering I took a vacation and had a sudden unexpected and difficult death in my family...Better than I ever expected. 

I about lost 3.6 pounds

I'm starting to see some changes in my body shape. One of the keys is to incorporate over all body training. As a runner I get in plenty of cardio but the beach body program encouraged over all body training. I did lot of core/ab work plus some other intense workouts that a friend gave me. 

I love using the shake as a meal replacement. My friend Emily a beach body coach told me the other day everyone has their favorite time of day to enjoy the shake well mine is defiantly breakfast! I can drink it in the car on the way to work and not think about traffic or anything except enjoying my shake! 

I was really happy with my before and after picture results. 

I am also happy to say I'm committed to helping others and I'm excited to coach others. If you're ready for a commitment then join my 30 day challenge beginning 8/5! Email me at grimesdee@gmail.com and clcik the link below to read more about beach body! 

http://www.beachbodycoach.com/DEANNAGRIMES

Running is cheaper than therapy

IOver the last week I have had an opportunity to run with several different running friends and we discussed the power of a good run. The best part about being a runner is you can alone, with one person or with an entire group. I have discussed on my blog the love I have for the running community but sometimes it's the run itself. Things I believe you can do and achieve on a run. 

Meditation/Prayer: A run can allow you quiet time. Especially on a run alone it's just you and the road. I believe you can spend time talking to God if you choose to. There is time to gather your thoughts and sort out the things that could be weighing on you. 

Good ideas: I admit this may not be everyone but when your a long distance runner there is a lot of time to just sit and think. I really believe some really good ideas or decisions can be made when your mind is clear and it's just you and the road.

Healing: Every single runner is human. We all are going through life and someday are harder than others. However you have those moments to cry, talk, or even just be silent it is a Jane of coping. We can't heal all wounds but when you have those private moments they allow for a special form of healing that can be hard to find. 

In the end all I know is I need running not just for the fitness but for my mental well being. This is why I run when it's cold, hot, raining or evening snowing. I just never know what I will discover, learn or heal from on a run. 

Never Forget

So I have been MIA for a couple weeks now... Here is what happened in that time
1. I went on vacation
2. My sister's dad (who helped raise me) died
3. I ran a lot... I'm not sure who believes that running is therapy but I sure do.

Needless to say it has been a rough time.So I thought I would just use my first post back to talk about the loss of my sisters dad Jeff. He married my mom when I was 3 and he really helped shape the person I am today.

Brad Paisley wrote in a song "I hope I'm at least half the dad he didn't have to be..." This is so true. Jeff gave me so much more than just being a step dad. He was always there. I can still remember how proud he would be when I would tell him about a run. When I lost weight 2 years ago he was so proud of how hard I worked. The thing I can say is that he might not have been my dad but he always made me feel like family. He was there from teaching me to ride a bike, play softball, get my drivers license, see me graduate... and so many more important life events. I will forever be grateful for all of things he did. He will always have a special place in my heart.

The best thing that Jeff gave me were these two girls... Jenna and Kristen. They are my sisters and my best friends. We share a very special bond that can never be broken. I love them so much and I am glad that Jeff gave me these two because I love them so much.

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...