You Go Girl Race!

I know I have been absent for a little while, I will explain later.  But FIRST............. an update on the BIG race!  I was super excited about this race because, being team Captain, I knew a lot of people on our team.  That was soooo Fun!  I think the best thing about the race was the friends!  There were a lot of out and backs, and when you have friends and teammates spread out throughout the course it makes for a fun time!  I must of passed by each of my friends at least once or twice, and we would cheer for each other, it was so fun!!!

This Picture I love!  It was all of the Girls representing Norpoint Center, where I work, and workout! 

I saw one more for this group as the pic was snapped, she was in another picture!

Pre-race, here is most of our team, Will run for Icecream!! 

 SO much fun to meet up with a big group before the race!!

Team Captain doing her thing! Unfortunately we had some injuries on the team, so I recruited 3 gals to take those spots!  This gal, Amanda, just up and ran a half marathon out of the blue!  Crazy runners!

Tall MOM and I get a quick photo pre-race!

And now for the race, here is the start line, I was shooting for a PR... I did say 2:15, but any PR is great right?  I was still tired from a busy 2 weeks at home, so any improvement was good.  If you consider my 2 weeks of tapering were less than 10 miles of running each week, I was hoping for the best!

All expectation set aside I took off.... feeling pretty darn good those first 6 miles!  Passed the 10 K finish line.  I was feeling pretty great at that point, but it was within the next mile my energy was zapped!  Soooooo TIRED!  SO I looked for the GU station with anticipation.  Ummmm, yeah I don't really like GU, but I failed to make a trip to the store for my fav CLIF Shots, I was desperate, so I took the Chocolate GU the lady handed me.  Oh 20 seconds later sharp PAIN!  SIDE ACHE!  OUCH!  Then a few more minutes and there was a burnin in the boozum~!  GOSH Dang-it!  I looked for some relief at the Porta Potty but no luck!  I did some walking this last half, and ya know what, I didn't care!  When I approached mile 12, I decided to run the rest for sure.  I came to the last hill and started a little walking.  A girl came pass me a said, "Come on you can do it, run the rest."  It was such a gentle gesture and yet it was that push I NEEDED!

Funny thing, the girl in the green right there.... she was the one who came me that little pep talk, I passed her!

I might of also crushed pass about 3-4 other women before the finish line.  Not sure why, but that last .10 of the race it is pretty easy for me to pick up the speed, so I do.

Funny.... After the race Jill presented T a Choc GU for her PR!  My eye's got real big, as though I was super focused on that little GU packet, um NO!

Here is a little post race picture of the team that was hanging out at the time I finished.

SO OVERALL, I Pr'd by 2 minutes!!!

Super happy!

13.1 miles

2 hr 23 min

SUCH A FUN RUN!

Accountability day #7

Sept 7th
Breakfast: 1 slice toast with peanut butter, 2 eggs(1 yolk), coffee/cream
Lunch: I shared a chicken nugget happy meal with my girls, BAD BAD, ice tea
snack: Green Salad, cottage cheese for dressing, turkey lunch meat, some goldfish for croutons.
Dinner: 2 slice pizza and 1 cookie

Boy I am doing good on portions I think, but my food options lately SUCK! 

Today Sept 8th is my little babes 2nd Birthday!  Happy Birthday g-bear I LOVE YOU!

Accountability Day #5 and #6

Sept 5th
Breakfast: 2 slices chicken sausage, 2 eggs (half yolk),
 Hashbrowns and coffee/cream
Lunch: We had a church picnic, 1 peice of fried chicken, I pulled off most the skin, ceasar salad, potato salad, a few chips, and 1 choc chip cookie.
Side note/ Excuse: I know this wasn't that good of a day so far, but I am NOT perfect, and somtimes I will enjoy my food, at least I can say these portion sizes were not out of control!!!!
It gets better
Dinner: Mexican food, I had Taco's al Carbon

Sept 6th
I took the day off, 1 day a week I think it is good to take a break.  I did run 6 miles with a good friend today.  So I guess taking the day off from writing things down isn't too bad!

I just weighed myself, the scale said 190.1!  Are you kidding?  That is so great down about 3 lbs......Yippee!

Accountability day #4

Sept 4th
Breakfast: Toast with Peanut Butter and Bannana Coffee/cream
Gu while running, Choc milk afterwards
Lunch: Left over Chicken Alfredo
Snack: Green Salad and few More bites of that yummy fettucini
Dinner: 2 slices of Spinach and Mushroom pizza
Reward: 2 glasses of red wine =)

Accountability Day #3 and 10 mile run!

First lets just get the food out of the way!
Sept 3
Breakfast:
1 Pancake with Peanut Butter, 1 egg with cheese
coffee/ cream
Snack: Half a Clif Builder Bar
Lunch: Tuna Sandwich, Lettuce, Pickle, Cheese
Snack: Grapenuts with skim milk
Dinner: Grilled Chicken, Fettuccine Alfredo ( I LOVE THIS RECIPE!!),
corn on cob, green salad with Italian dressing

Dessert: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich

Rocco's Fettuccine Alfredo

DiSpirito's latest cookbook, Now Eat This!, transforms heart-stopping dishes like this pasta, traditionally laden with heavy cream, butter, and cheese. Here, he re-creates the sauce's velvety texture with Greek yogurt and chicken broth.

8 ounces whole-wheat fettuccine
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3/4 cup 5 percent Greek yogurt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine; cook according to package directions.

While pasta cooks, melt butter in a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook two minutes.

Combine cornstarch and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Pour into saute pan, raise the heat, and bring sauce to a simmer, whisking occasionally.

Whisk in 1/2 cup of the cheese until melted. Remove pan from heat.
Whisk in yogurt until smooth.

Toss fettuccine with Alfredo sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Top pasta with remaining cheese. Serves four.


CALORIES PER SERVING: 336
CARBS: 47 G
PROTEIN: 18 G
FAT: 10 G

 Honestly I think this is one of my favorite pre-long run meals for the night before!!!

Todays RUN! ORTING TRAIL!

I didn't get a run in yesterday, and I am glad I rested. The plan was to meet up with 3 of the team members for the You GO Girl, but only one gal showed up. Esper whom I work with at Norpoint hasn't ran very much and is registered for the 10K. I knew this would be kind of a tough one for her. So we set out and around 1 mile she started to do her run walk. I kept going and went to the five mile mark to turn around. It was kind of cool another team for the You Go Girl was out this morning doing a 13 miler. They are the Fleet Feet team, they started about 1 minute before us, so we shared a little bit of the run space with those gals. I felt pretty strong as I picked off a little bit of the competition! When I met back up with Esper towards the end I slowed down to stick by her side. I realize running on the trail alone can be a little scary, especially when there is a guy riding his bike in jeans and sweatshirt, kinda weird, Why doesn't he wear workout clothes like the rest of the bike riders? But anyhow, we finished and it felt GREAT to get another 10 miler done!
My Splits
mile 1 10:43
mile 2 11:02
mile 3 10:56
mile 4 10:54
mile 5 10:45
mile 6 10:31
mile 7 10:30
mile 8 10:50
mile 9 11:07
mile 10 10:18
Total 10 miles, time 1 hour 47min, Pace 10:46,
1527 calories BURNED BABY!
What a great view! I enjoy the Orting trail, but some hills are nice, just a few would be nice.
Did I say that?

Accountability DAY #2

  Yesterday wasn't too bad, I was tired all day long.  But I did manage a little workout last night.  Ran 2 miles on the treadmill with a 9 min pace, and then I took a BOOTCAMP CHAOS class at the gym.  It involved some sprinting, running, bear crawling, hop squats, dips, push ups, and a lot of ab work.  I really liked it and amazingly I am not that sore today! 

Sept 2 FOOD AND DRINK
Breakfast: toast with peanut butter, greek yogurt with raspberries,
 coffee/cream
Snack: Half a clif bar
Lunch: 6" tukey/ cheese sandwich, all veggies and mustard,
 Fuze Ice tea
Snack: Half a clif bar
Dinner: salad with tuna and turkey lunch meat all veggies, cottage cheese, cheese,
 sunflower seeds
Left over Cheese Ravioli's with EVOO
Dessert: 1 spoonful of Ice Cream

I felt pretty darn good, I am excited for a nice 10 mile flat run tommorrow.  MUST EAT A GOOD DINNER!!! MUST MUST MUST MUST EAT A GREAT DINNER!DO IT DO IT DO IT.  Ok thats enough, I will let you know how it goes.
OH and since I have run the past 3 days in a row, I think I am going to keep it going for the 10 day running challenge.  I am excited to see how it feels.  I can tell after 2 days of good eating and NO DRINKING I already a little bit happier and feel a lot better about myself!

Running v.s. Food and Drink.......... ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!

  The truth is I eat what ever I want!!!  Unfortunatly I like to eat a lot of things that don't help my run!  Not to mention what I drink.... please let's not go there!  I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  Yesterday it all caught up to me!  I planned a nice 8 miler with a couple of my teamates for the You Go Girl race coming up in less than 4 weeks!  I mapped our route and chose some new territory that I am not familiar with.  I told the girls there wouldn't be too many hills, if any and we went on our way.... It was sooo nice to catch up and chat for the first 3 miles.  I was feeling great!  We came to a campground that I didn't have planned but decided to run a loop through it, it was a little hilly but not too bad.  We took a quick break and I took half a GU, thought I would start trying them out again to see if my stomach felt ok.  About a half a mile later I saw a huge hill coming, I new this was here but I thought it was short and sweet.  It turned a corner and I saw a MOTHER OF A HILL THAT NEVER ENDED!  I stopped and walked, ran, walked, ran, walked, ran......... the girls were way ahead of me and I was feeling pooped.  Once we got to the flat point I told the gals where we were going and that there would be another incline coming up, not a hill, but a LONG GRADUAL CLIMB!  I was not in it anymore, I HAD NO ENERGY! ( Pause, do you always think that food is energy?  I realized that I ate some ravioli the night before, and BEER.)  I walked and ran and walked and ran...... until we reached the top again.  Now the pressure. I am a team Captain for crying out loud!  What kind of an example am I setting here?  I was complaining and laying it all out there for these girls to listen too.  I'm sorry you have to wait for me!  I eat too much!  I drink too MUCH!  I am not ready for this race!  I am tired!  I have no energy!  Yadda Yadda Yadda!  Finally I told them, that is it I am in need of accountability!  So starting today until race day (Sept 26th) I am going to post everything I eat and drink on my blog!  Woops!  Did I say that?  YES I did......
  Back to the run.... we kept going and the next hill I walk ran walk ran walk.... yelling just go ahead ladies I will catch up with you later.  Now my brain is shutting down, I am thinking my foot hurts, my back hurts, I am tired....... I take a little short cut and finish my run at 7 miles.  Walking back to the gym like a sad little puppy with my tail between my legs.   I felt the guilt setting in.  And was TIRED!  POOPED!  Just wanted to go home and go to sleep!  


SO Back to what I ate......

Sept 1.
Breakfast: 2 eggs with cheese and half a pb and jelly toast, coffee with cream
Gatorade G2 mixed with water
Lunch: Half tuna sandwich, only pickle mustard and lettuce and Half a Clif Builder bar
Veinte Black tea with one splenda
Snack: grape nuts, skim milk, raspberries
Dinner: Pork Tenderloin, Baked sweet poatoes diced in EVOO, Corn on Cob, Green salad (Romaine, carrots, cucumber, mushroom, red pepper, celery, a few little gold fish and Cottage cheese for dressing).
Dessert: Chocolate Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich

I was so hungry YESTERDAY!  This was toning it down a bit, does it look like it? I mean sure you don't know what I normally eat, but I did burn 1000 calories on my run, so I think I did pretty good. 

My Goal with all of this is to drop a few lbs before the big race!
Current Weight: 193
I would like to be at 185 on race day! 25 days to go!

I got an AWARD!

I got an award! Alanna at Running42km.blogspot.com nominated me for the above distinction and I accept it gratefully.


Here are the rules:

#1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

#2. The second thing you have to do is, pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.

#3. The third and final thing is, thank the person who gave you the award.

And here are my answers:

1.  Thinking back on my first Half marathon, I wish I wouldn't of set so many goals for it, then finishing it would of felt a lot better.  After all I deserved more credit from MYSELF for what I had accomplished.

2.  I give the award to........... the last 6 people who gave me comments on my blog!
    1. Ginny at http://ww-pjavajoggers.blogspot.com/
    2. Candice at http://ihaverun.blogspot.com/
    3. Stacy at http://stacyrunsagain.blogspot.com/
    4.  Sherry at http://littlebitintexas.blogspot.com/
    5.  Orange Blossom at http://catholicdomesticengineer.blogspot.com/
    6.  Robyn at http://wannabewriterrunner.com/

Thank you Alanna for bringing a smile to my day!!!!  That was very SWEET of you!   diana

Bum Run and New Patio

Cute pic's of my little gals and I enjoying our favorite pizza joint! 
First pic is My little Marigold, and second pic is little miss Georgia!

  Wednesday Mornings I have been getting up at the crack of dawn to meet a good friend for training runs.  With only about an hour to spare in the mornings we manage to get a quick run in and off she goes to work.  It sure is great having a set plan like this to hold me accountable.  That is what I need these days as I have been feeling like quite the BUM.  Another friend Kelly that is training for the You Go Girl team joined us this week.  We were on the road and met up on Ruston at 5:45am!   I was sure hoping I could hit the only bathroom at Starbucks and take care of business before we hit the road but no such luck! We took off running up Shuster parkway which is one of my favorite places to run!  This is You Go Girl territory, we travel it twice during the race, it is about mile 6 -7 and then at the end 11-13.  It has some rolling hills but nothing too tough.  This particular morning it contained 2-3 BUMS who decided to make a nice cozy bed out of leaves on the sidewalk we ran along.  As we approached the first BUM I was sure to quietly point to the right making sure me fellow runners saw the man and did not trip over him.  This brings me to an important question?  When you run early in the am or late in the pm, do you always bring a friend?  I am a little bit of a saftey nut, but really...... It proves to be a good warning on this day, where I am running around BUMS.  We headed down Dock street and of course my body was ready to do it's thing, so we took a little detour into down town T-town, I hit the Tully's for a quick visit and we were back on the road.  It was kind of nice running on the City streets bright and early, we didn't get stopped by too many lights, and it was nice to have the shade of the big tall buildings.  We continued back were we had run the first 2 miles, past the BUMS vacant pile of leaves only to find he had moved about a half mile down the side walk to a new residence.  I started to feel thankful that I do not live that life and just pondered for a bit on what it would be like.  I can't even imagine!  We got back down to Ruston way and I tried picking up some speed as we did a little tour of the new Chinese Park they have finally opened at the very tip of ruston way.  It was a great run, I am so glad I have people to keep me motivated and keep me SAFE!  6.25 miles at 1 hr 6min

  On a side note I took a whole week off from running last week!  Yikes!  Doesn't pose as the greatest idea 6 weeks before a half-marathon but I needed a break.  We poured a concrete patio last week which created quite the mess around this place.  There was a death in the family and the weekend was filled with family get togethers, the funeral and a welcome home day for my little bro who has been gone for 2 years on a mission.  Talk about being drained of all ENGERY!  To make matters worse I somehow manged to hurt my foot during all of this madness!  I have no idea what happened but it hurts right at the top of my foot before my toes.  It causes the most pain when I lift my foot off the ground after standing or walking on it. Hmmmm.  I have been using it a the main excuse for not running, until this week.  I ran 3 on tues, 6 on wed and 3 today.... it was a little sore but the running wasn't making it worse.  Today I set out for another run and at 1 mile I stepped on a rock, OUCH!  That hurt more than ever and now I am icing the darn thing for the rest of the day!  I HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE this doesn't stop me.  PLEASE PRAY that it is nother major!   The race is less than 5 weeks away and I WANT TO RUN!!!!  Notice I say WANT to RUN?  It's true!   I miss it, with a whole week off I felt like a BUM, in a different sent, but no less I was not able to get what I needed from life without it!  WHO AM I?

IN case you were wondering what it might be like to pour a concrete patio here is a quick couple of pictures of the process!   My husband in the Green shorts an his 12 firefighter buddies got the job done, for some reason it doesn't look like they were all working too hard!  But hey who can complain right?  =)  I am happy, and if I had the computer sticky thingy I would download one more picture of my patio set on the patio with me enjoying a nice cold one!  Maybe next time!

Sharing the road.........

  I had a run planned for Saturday morning, but my sweet little angel had a fever and we couldn't leave the house for obvious reasons.  I was bummed because I didn't get much running in this week.  So I called my mom later that afternoon and asked her if she would watch the girls if I came to Olympia to visit.  So NICE to have a mom to help out in the pinch.  I didn't really know exactly where to run, I did spend the first 18 years of my life in Olympia/ Lacey, but I was not a runner then.  SO I drove to the Safeway and parked my car.  It was raining and the roads were busy, so I just wanted to stay safe.  I felt really good as I warmed up, actually I think my first mile was at 9 min pace!  At mile 2.5 I took a shot block out of my water bottle pouch, I shared that pocket with my car key, and oh my goodness so glad I checked for my key!  It WASN'T THERE!  I quickly turned around with my eyes glued to the ground, found my key laying there alone about 50 feet behind me!  PHEW!  That was close..... SO I was feeling great and decided to get off the main road, I kinda knew where I was, but didn't know how much room was on the side of the road.  =)

When I decided I had to turn onto another road, I noticed there was NO ROOM on the side of the road.  I have never really liked running when there is NO Shoulder to run on, who does?  So I decided I would bail into the ditch if I had to, but to avoid that happening I would wave and smile really big every time someone drove by.  For the most part it was great, I must say I overcame some fears that the cars would just drive over me.  Some people really do share the road.

When I got to a sidewalk after about 3 miles of sharing the road with the cars, I saw a trail.... I almost turned onto it.... thought it looked like a nice trail to run on.  But then the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin popped in my head and I heard " danger danger danger!"  I remembered that I was alone and decided I would save the trail for a day I had a running partner.  Next up some cows.... I was running past a cow pasture, with about 6 cows in it.  For fun, and entertainment I started "mooing" at them, I wondered if I could get them to moo back.  OK maybe I was lonely, but I did get the cows to look at me, I thought, I wonder if they know I have been running for 6 miles now?  Do they even CARE?  Shortly there after I found another main road that I knew would take me back to my car.  I really tried to pick up my speed, I felt like I was sprinting, but every time I looked at my watch it said over 10 min pace.  Oh well, in the end I did great!  SUB 10 min pace overall!  Felt great to get out there and get it DONE!!!  Thank YOU MOM!! 

7 miles done

1 hour 9 min 45 sec!

Just shy of a 10 min pace!!

On a side note.... Here are my two babes!  They both have birthdays coming up!

GK turns 2 on Sept 8!

MJ turns 3 on Oct 2!

Yes they will be 2 at the same time for almost 1 month!

So some big plans are in the works for a fun birthday party to celebrate BOTH girls at the same time!!!

10 Miler on the ORTING TRAIL!

BEFORE THE RUN: Me, Kim (from Oregon, on my team), and Stacy (A local blogger)

I had a great run Saturday!!! Another training run was set on the calender for the YOU GO GIRL team "Will Run For Ice Cream."  This one was 10 miles.... and to be completly honest I was not sure my body was ready for a 10 miler.  I just haven't been logging many long runs lately, so the confidence level hasn't been there.  SO I got up early met one of the Kim's on my team, picked up another Kim from out team, and headed off to the Orting trail.  Kim from Oregon had connected with a local Blogger Stacy and invited her to meet up with us!  It was pretty chilly out and I didn't wear a running jacket, but it was fine, my body warmed up pretty quick.  Turned out Stacy does a 7min run 1 min walk so we didn't get to hang out with her too long, but it was great to meet her.  It was really nice to have a couple of girls to run with, I was in need of conversation, it really gave me distraction which is what I NEED!  I think I am still trying to train my brain to run.  I just have those mental road blocks, I think about the running too much and let it stop me.  SO I was really happy to have Kim and Kim to stick by my side!  I tried a couple of gummy bears that Kim from Oregon brought, and I liked them.  By the time we came to mile 8 I felt a little bit of pain in my ankles, not too familiar with that pain.... thinking about it more I wondered if it was from running on a flat path.  I mean, I always have some elevation where I run and I think my legs, ankles, and muscles get to stretch a little bit more with the hills, so was that it?  I just got some new shoes a few weeks ago and I know they aren't the issue.  SO I pushed through and realized at mile 9..... I was fine..... and I might be setting a PR for my 10 miler.  SO I started to PICK IT UP..... increased the pace a little bit more and before I knew it my watched beeped!  10 MILES done!  I loved that ending..... because I wasn't dragging to the end.  I loved the company!!  I love talking to others about their running!  SO MUCH FUN!  I can't wait for another run like that! 

10 MILES

Time: 1 hr 44 min (my new 10 mile PR)

After the run:  Kim B., Stacey, Kim R. and ME

Silly Girls! 

Saturday Morning Group Run.... Gone SOLO!

Well..... As the team Captain of the Will Run For Ice Cream Team, for the You GO GIRL Race in Sept. I have been trying to get everyone together for some training runs.  I am not the most organized computerized person, as you might have noticed, I rarely do post, because #1 I can't figure out how to post my pictures.  #2 I have a 1 and a 2 year old. #3 I am too TIRED. #4 I start to write something but my brain won't work. #5 I need to spend time with my husband and not the computer.  I think you get the idea.  But I have been emailing some training runs to my team..... and this past Saturday.... NO ONE SHOWED UP! =(  I had to change the location for my run due to the saftey issues of running alone, so I headed to the Tacoma Waterfront at Ruston.  I wasn't prepared to run alone that morning...... so when I pulled up I noticed a group of 15-20 people with matching shirts on.  I thought to myself, Friends!!! People to RUN WITH!!!!  SO I watched as they were in a tight huddle together.  As I got closer, I notice their shirts had their family name, and it said 2010 5k run/walk.  I yelled out to them...  "I missed the registration for this race!!" and started to follow as they began their family run.  I was feeling pretty good as I started to pick off the family members.  I would cheer for them as I ran by, saying "Your doing Great! Keep It UP!  Good JOB!"  I am not sure if they enjoyed my company, but they got it!!!  And at the end I told them that they inspired me to get my family out there and do the same thing!  SO here is my challenge in the next year to plan a family reunion/ fun run/walk!  I think it is great to share the things you love with others, but most important those you love, FAMILY!!!!!

  Training has been going good so far.... I have got back into my running,  4 days a week, added 2 days of bootcamp, and one day of spinning.  I hope I can start adding one day of weights to the mix, before it is too late!  I did 5 miles today followed by bootcamp and it was TOUGH!!!! I just hate running in the heat!!!  This Saturday we are supposed to be doing 10 mile training run on the Orting Trail!  I sure hope I can pull a 10 miler. IS it safe to run 10 miles?  June 26th I ran 13.1, and since then I had my longest run at 6.77 miles on July 17th.  So will I be ok?????  Please let me know your thoughts, I have been running mostly 3-4 miles at a time. 

  Good Luck to all of you on your runs this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally...... My Rock n Roll Half Marathon Re-cap!

(First just wanted to say sorry for the delay, I hit the road for vacation the day after my race, this is the first chance to blog since then! )
  June 26th, 2010..... I woke up nice and early 5am... took a nice shower, my hubby made me breakfast, and we hit the road.  I thought I would get to the start line about 1 hour early since my hubby was dropping me off.  What I didn't think was that everyone else was going to be dropped off at that same time as-well.  I was really bummed as I walked about 2 miles to the start line, realizing that I would not get to see Jill or any of the other bloggy runners before the race.  By the time I walked to the start, stood in line for the bathroom, and found my corral, my race started about 2 minutes later!    I was excited, but wishing I knew someone around me in the large crowd to share the excitment with!
  The first 5 miles were great!  Nice and easy, none of the hills bothered me, and I really just was taking it all in!  I was feeling some pretty strong emotions, everytime I saw little girls with their dads along the road, it just made me kind of miss my girls.  I was ok, just pretended these little girls were there to cheer me on too! 
  This first picture is about mile 7-8..... You might be able to tell, I was hitting wall here.  I saw my hubby and became super emotional!  I was so happy to see him that I started to cry, and in turn a little bit of hyper-ventilation, which made me feel like I had asthma, so WEIRD!  His encouraging words were great, and he mention that he saw Jill about 8 minutes before me, and she was doing great!  This information was great because I was hoping to run into her.... I kept running to the tunnel, the whole time thinking I hope I see Jill.... Please let me see Jill.... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.  And when I got to the tunnel I stopped and walked backwards for a while, looking and looking and looking.  NO JILL.  =(  I had set my hopes a little too high there.  But I got out of the lonely tunnel and started running again.  Re-gained my motivation and strength, only to find who?  My great friends Andrea, Beccy, and Megan!!!  Oh I was soooo HAPPY TO SEE THEM!!  I just about cried again, and then found only 2 miles left, so I ran, RAN, RAN.....
  Boy that last mile seemed soooo LONG, doesn't it always!!!  I was sooo HAPPY to be done when I got across that finish line.  I was feeling a little dissappointed about my time, and the walking, but I DID IT!!!! I ran a Half-Marathon!  I never thought I would do somthing like this!!  And now looking back, I am loving that day!  I regardless of all the doubts and fears, and numbers..... I RAN A HALF MARATHON and no one can take that away from me!!!    final time: 2 hr 28 min

Thanks EVERYONE for all of your support!!!

4 more days!!!!!!!!!!!! Who's counting?

  Not sure what to say!  I already am having sleepless nights, not good!  I just can't stop thinking about what I will wear, will it be the right gear, what to eat, will I have to make a bathroom break, will I get lost in the crowd, will I trip and fall, will someone push me down at the start line, will I go too fast, will I go too slow, will I get a side ache, will it rain, will there be sunshine, will I be hot, will I be cold, will my friends do ok, will my husband find me, will I be able to walk, will I be able to run, will I forget somthing, should I wear my new shoes, wear the old ones, will I sleep in, will I get sleep, will I get over emotional, will I not care..............

  This list looks a little bit silly I know, but I am being super honest about what I am thinking at night.  I know the answer to most of these questions, but of course I still have been asking myself every night.... in the middle of the night.  I am for the most part, just ready to get out there and enjoy the experience.  But I do love support, so please send me any advise for a FIRST TIMER!!!

  I splurged last night and bought myself a gift for doing all of the training, and assuming I will finish the race on Saturday.  I bought plane tickets for the girls and I.  We are leaving Sunday, yes the day after the race!  Going to a itty bitty little town in Iowa to see my sister in law and her kids.  I am excited to leave the make-up bag behind, and go enjoy some heat, and let the girls play with their cousins.  Oh and for my recovery runs, they should be nice and flat.  I think I might do laps around the town she lives in ( yes it is that small) so that will be fun, I will be sure and take some pictures.

  Only 4 more days!!! SO weird, I think this is the first time I have worked this long towards somthing, I kind of will be sad when the day comes and goes!  Do you ever feel that way?  I am glad to have another race schedualed for 3 months away, so I don't stop.  Again advise people.... What kind of a training plan do I follow next???

  Alrighty me official goal time is 2hr 15 min.  I did my other 13.1 mile run in 2 hr 25 min.  I think this is reasonable, I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I roll a swagger wagon!

Bleh!  That is how I have been this week.  Almost not sure I am a runner.  I felt like I was getting sick yesterday, so I postponed my long run for the week.  I feel better today, maybe it was allergy's.....who knows.  I needed a little pick me up this week, just not sure what is wrong with me.  Not in the best moods, not the worst either.....just Bleh!  Just when I thought I might throw in the towel for the week, one of our friends reminded me we drive a swagger wagon.  This made my day!  Now that I have been reminded of the image I must up-hold, I plan on doing my long run tommorrow morning bright and early!  After all I can't be rolling in my swagger wagon and be in a funky mood! 

YOU have got to check this out!!!           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDb88zEeHDI

Sound of Narrows Results

My husband says he could hear me coming as I approached the Finish!  Apparently no one else was yelling and screaming as they finished.  I might of been a little dramatic on this one, but I was excited and it felt good to let everyone know I was there!  Sound of Narrows, should probably be called somthing like.... Hills by the Narrows.  I am not gonna lie, this was a tough run.  I had no idea what the route was, I learned a little lesson about preperation there.  But for the most part It was GREAT!!!  I met my friend nice and early at the bus station so we wouldn't have to find parking.  We were both a little nervous, it was a first race for both of us.  I was kind of overwhelmed at the begining just with all of the people, and how hard it was to run at my own pace, because people were always in my way.  I was in great spirits that day.  I thought that people would be cheering each other on, but I am pretty sure I was the only one cheering.  Is that weird?  Every 5-10 minutes I would just shout out: Great Job everybody!  Keep it up!  Your doing great!  You Rock! I enjoyed it, it was encouraging for me to hear, and I hoped other people would appriciate it too!  I never heard anyone else say anything the whole race.  Is that weird?  I focused really hard when the big hills came, it was a warm morning, but I felt well prepared.  Plenty of Water! A great breakfast!  A good friend to share the experience with!  Looking forward to finishing my first race!  SO the excitment kept me going.  I am soo glad I did this before the big race!  Now I kind of know what to expect, and I hope that will cure some of my race day Jitters.  Oh and the passing thing... was not an issue!  I could care less if someone passed me, and when I passed someone, I would usually tell them how great they were doing.  When I finally got up that hill to the home stretch.  I started sprinting fast as I have ever run.  I probably flew past a good 15-20 people.  I checked my garmin at the end, I crossed the finish line with a 5:oo pace!  That is CRAZY!  I think I was super excited to cross the finish line!  My husband says he wished he would of video taped it, because the picture doesn't show everything, ie the screaming!  So I am glad, well trained, not sore at ALL, and Ready to ROCK n' ROLL!!!!!!!!

Official Stats

Sound of Narrows

12 K

1:17:01

Place 607/1256

Sound of Narrows 12K and I think my Garmin Broke!

You read that!  I have decided to get my race day jitters taken care of BEFORE my big race!  I have been thinking about it for a while now, and with just about 2 weeks left, this is my last chance to do it.  Since I have never been in a race before I am really nervous of running with a bunch of people!  I don't want my deep dark issues to come up, if you don't know I hate being passed, it kind of gets me down.  I really don't like running with people if they are running right in front of me, it flat out discourages me.  SO I am planning on this Saturdays race to be my first official race, to help with a little anxiety issue.  I know I can run the whole thing, so I think my goal will be to stick with a 10:30 pace or less.  I think this goal is acheivable, and I don't want to set myself up for anything that will get me down.  I also have never ran this route, which includes a lot of hills, and hills can slow me down.  Do you have any advice on how to overcome the fears that go with running slower than other people?  I am also just praying that I will SLEEP the night before.  This will be interesting and soooo helpful to know what to expect for the BIG race!

On a side note.... I went for a run this evening.  I did a run by my house that I am familiar with, but it includes a hill that I am kind of scared of, "two for one hill."   I thought about that darn hill just about the whole time, doesn't help!  I kept trying to think of other things that would distract me, but I wasn't full of energy and felt a little over worked on this run.  By the time I got to the hill I tried to slow down a little bit, and then my good friend and neighbor drove by!  That kind of helped distract me for a minute, and then before I knew it the first hill was done.  "Two for one hill" is 2 hills with a little flat stretch in between, and it is just about 1 mile in total length!  I named it "two for one hill" because if you can get up the first hill, then the second one just comes as a bonus, it is a little bit easier.  SO of course the second hill was pretty easy and I re-gained speed for the home stretch.  I got back, looked at my Garmin and am not sure what happened but I think it is BROKEN!  I can't believe the numbers I am seeing!  IT SAYS I RAN A 9:35 PACE!  BUT I RAN UP THAT BIG HILL!?!?!??!  So never the less I am sure somthing is wrong but I will say, I feel like a superstar right now, so I am not going to do anything about my garmin.  If it is broken, then I will just enjoy the numbers and thinking I really am getting faster! WOOT WOOT!

Stats:  3.5 miles
          33:31 min
          9:35 min pace!!!!

Alright I will let you all know how my test race goes on Saturday!  Please send any advise you have!  I love it!  Thanks to Jill as well for sending me some bloggy friends!  I love having friends!

                         

Great RUN and even better LUNCH!

  Today I set out for 7-8 miles, not sure how long it would be, all I knew is that I wanted to end my run at the bottom of NICE hill.  I ran an extra loop in my neighborhood before setting out for mile long hill.  I looked at my pace after the hill at about mile 3.5 at realized if I could recover quickly and set a faster pace I might set a goal pace of 10/min/miles for my run!  I think this run was the perfect distance in my training.... not TOO long for my pace, and not too easy either.  I realized a couple of things today, I am a RUNNER!!!!!  I have done this route before and had to walk, I no longer HAVE to walk.  This is sooo cool, especially when I face those lovely HILLS.  It was kind of warm out, but with a water in hand and some SHOT BLOCKS along the way, I didn't mind the heat!!  This is new for me... coping with a little bit of heat!  I have come a long way in that department.  One last thing to comment is that Running is soo mental for me, but more than anything it really has become a GREAT spiritual time for me.  God has shown me sooo much through my running and really it all comes down to this.... I NEED HIM ON MY RUNS!  I look back on most of my runs and realize that all of my GREAT runs are the ones that I include God in.  I think he is trying to prove a point, that if I look to him all the time, LIFE CAN BE GREAT too!

Stats of my run: 7.25 miles 1 hr 12 min, 10:03 pace
  After my run I decided to try a recipe from my new Runner World Magazine!

SO Salmon Burgers, and Watermelon and Feta Salad for LUNCH!  This was the perfect meal for after a run, not too heavy, but oh soo YUMMY!!!
We get those Wild Alaskan Salmon Burgers from Costco, so easy!
But here is the recipe for the salad, it was easy too!!!
Salad
2 lbs Watermelon Chopped up
1 cup Greek Feta cheese crumbled
1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup mixed baby greens
Dressing
1/4 t sea salt
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup EVOO

Toss the salad, drizzle the dressing and enjoy!

I loved the sweet and salty combo in the salad! 

GREAT RUN! GREAT LUNCH!!!! NOW ITS TIME TO ENJOY THE SUN!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi everybody! I have finally put together a running blog! YAY! It has been somthing I have wanted to do for a while now, and while I went on my first 13.1 mile run yesterday I decided to tell you all I have DONE THE RUN!

A little history people..... I have been married over 8 years now and I have two sweet little girls, m-2 1/2 and g-1 1/2 (yes... only 11 mos apart). I had never been a runner, maybe attempted it a couple of times, but never set running goals and acheived them. I was overly inspired by my friend Jill and her incredible journey with running, that I decided I wanted it too! I might of gained a little bit of weight in my 2 pregnancies,( only like 60lbs....each!) and I needed to make a change for myself. So right at the beginning of 2010, I started to run... more like walk....walk... run...walk...run...walk...run.......runrunrunrunwalkrunrunrunrun... RUN! In month 2 I registered for my very first race, the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Seattle! At this point I was still only maybe running 3 miles at a time. But I was able to now focus on a goal, and less on the weight, which is soooo great because those lbs tend to melt off the bod quicker than you think as the mileage gets up there. Oh and not to mention how great I feel about myself!

Training has gone fairly well thus far! I have had ups and downs the whole way. I haven't taken any huge breaks from running in the past 5 months, and when I do go 3 days without running, boy howdy do I feel the guilt set in. I remember just last week talking to Jill about my running and admiting to her how bad I felt going a whopping 4 days(the max) without running, and how weird that it because I went 30 years without running and never felt an ounce of guilt about it then! Can I just say how lucky I am to have such a close, special friend mentor me in this!?!?! SO LUCKY! Words cannot express all of the great things Jill has done for me! Thank you friend!

SO here it goes the first run I want to share with all of you! In my training I decided that I must do a 13 miler before the race, so mental for me. So you might not of heard about this race, because it was not open to the public, just intended for one special gal....ME!

May 31, 2010
Diana's Memorial Day Half Marathon

13.1 miles

2 hr 25min

NO WALKING

I took 1st place!