33Before33 - #1 - Half Marathon!

I absolutely cannot believe I am writing this post.  When I made this "33 Before 33" list I just kind of typed that out and didn't really think much bout it.  At that time I had run the Huckleberry Trail, which is a 6 mile trail in VA.  I honestly have never really liked running - although I go through spells where I do it quite a bit.

Anyhow, a couple of months ago I started thinking maybe it would be fun (ha!) to go run the Hokie Half Marathon in Blacksburg.  I had almost forgotten about its spot on the list, but was more thinking that it would be a really challenging thing to do for myself.  So I downloaded a few training plans and started not following them right away.  Actually I did okay but kind of fit them to meet my needs, which wasn't a big problem.  I was able to build up my endurance for longer runs - up to about 8.3 miles.  Then the next run was a disaster and had my shins in a terrible mess.  At first I thought it was just shin splints, but then realized maybe my running shoes that I wore that day were wearing out, so after fixing that and resting about a week I was back in the game.  My knees started really hurting after runs longer than 6 miles so that meant fewer short runs because I needed more recovery time.  I had worked up to a 9 mile run and a 9.2 mile run before we left for Disney (3 weeks before the half). This was the day that the registration fee increased, so I bit the bullet and registered for the race.

Of course I had no time to run the week we were gone, but I got lots of walking miles in!  When we got home (2 weeks pre-race) I did a 10 mile run (more on that later) and felt pretty good - although it took me like 5 or 6 days to recover enough to do another shorter run 8 days before the race.  That one really hurt my knee and it continued to hurt off and on the rest of the week.  After much prayer and consideration (and a 1/4 mile painful jog down the road), I decided not to run at all the week before the race - running with rest seemed better than running injured.  I had lots of encouragement from friends and family.

The weekend of the race I was a nervous wreck.  We dropped the kids off with Jonathan's parents and headed to Blacksburg to get my race packet and run a few errands.  My heart was beating so fast during that whole afternoon!  I was also nervous that it was calling for rain and a temperature around 50 - about 20 degrees less than what I was used to running in.  Plus it was a morning race and almost all of my runs were at night.

Anyway,  Jonathan and I left his parents' at 5:45 the next morning and headed to Blacksburg.  I forced myself to eat some oatmeal.  About the time we pulled into the CRC parking lot near the starting line, it started raining pretty steadily.  It was also pretty chilly and just totally not what I was used to.  But, 7:34 came and off I went.  My right knee started acting up after the first 1/3ish mile, but I prayed for it and it stopped and really never hurt again the whole race!  Here are the things I remember thinking along the route...
1.  My GPS on my phone is wrong.  It was off a little bit by the first mile, it was off by 1/2 a mile by the time we got back to the Christiansburg mall around mile 3.5, and it was off by 2 miles by mile 12.  So my GPS thought I ran 15 miles.  And it was then that I realized my longest run of 10 miles was probably more like 8.5 - which would make my real longest pre-race run 9.2 miles.  Yikes!
2.  It rained the entire way.  I think it slacked off maybe twice and almost quit for a few minutes around mile 4.  I was drenched - I stopped probably 4 times to try to wring out water from my pants - it was making them so heavy that my legs were aching!
3.  Right when I topped the hill where you can see Lane Stadium the song "God of this City" came on my playlist.  Think God wanted me to pray for the NRV?
4.  My husband is a rockstar.  He saw me off at the start line, drove to the mall (where I happened to run past him while he was in line to park, haha!), drove down to Merrimac to meet me about mile 5.5, drove to Chicken Hill to see me about 8, drove to some random road on the course to see me maybe around mile 10, and then was there waiting at the finish line.  It was SO encouraging to see him every few miles.
5.  I remember vividly the day I ran the Huckleberry right before we moved to NC.  It is about a 6 mile trail and I even ran an extra .2 miles to make it an even 10K that day.  For my half, I ran about 3.5 on 460 from Blacksburg to Christiansburg mall, got on the Huckleberry and ran all of it, ran another 2ish miles on Blacksburg town roads, got back on the Huckleberry for maybe another mile or so, and then ended up back at the Corporate Research Center where we had started.
6.  An uphill started at about 12.5 miles.  That is just mean.
7.  I walked more than I wanted to, but I still feel like I did really well.  I didn't stop at all until about mile 6 and didn't stop to walk much at all until I started walking up some of the more steep hills on the trail around mile 7 or so.  I walked and ran intermittently for the last 4 or so miles and the last mile was probably more walking than running.
8.  My time was 2:41.  That is a little over a 12 minute mile.  My "goal" was 2:30, so I'm really pretty happy with my time considering how cold and rainy it was.  With my wacky GPS I had thought my training runs were faster, but really I think most of them were at about an 11 minute pace.
9.  Apparently Sears at the NRV mall is now a Halloween store?  Really weird.
10.  The finisher medal was really cool.  The really long line for chili - not so much.
11.  GU gel isn't really all that bad when you are exhausted after the first 7 miles.
12.  There were some really sweet people along the way just rooting for us.  Of course there were lots of volunteers and EMTs, but there were also just lots of random people standing in the rain.  My two favorite signs said - "Seems like a lot of work for a banana." and "Chuck Norris never ran a half marathon."

J had a flight to catch, so we headed to Roanoke after I changed out of my soaking wet clothes and headed to Cheddar's for a post-race dinner.  I lucked out and got to see one of my best friends and her husband while we were in Roanoke.  It was a great ending to an exhausting, yet exhilarating, day.

So far I haven't had hardly any knee pain.  My legs are tired, obviously, but not in the excruciating pain I've experienced the past few weeks.  I know that the KT tape, Aleve, and Ibuprofen have helped, but I also know that God has been so faithful during this experience and has answered my prayers repeatedly - and also the prayers of my sweet friends and family who prayed for me on Sunday as well.

So, the jury is still out on whether I'll ever run 13 miles again at one time - but I am proud of this accomplishment!  :)  I think I get extra points for my first half being a hilly one, in the cold rain, after less than ideal training.  :)

 approaching the finish

 Glad to be done!

 That's a long way to run for a free magnet.

 notice the umbrellas

I think this picture is ridiculously unflattering - but I don't care.  I finished 13.1 miles.

Fun Day

Yesterday we were busy, busy! We woke up both babies and loaded up the car and headed to Charlotte. We left the kiddos with my cousin, aunt, and uncle and headed to Charlotte Motor Speedway to run in The Color Run. It was cold and windy, but still a good time. I'm still struggling to run long distances since having Davin, but Jonathan stuck with me and we ran a lot and walked pat of the hills. We weren't as colorful as I anticipated, but it was still fun. I'm hoping to do another next year!




























































We headed back and put Brenna down for a little nap. Then Jonathan dropped us girls (Sissy, Brenna, and me) off at the Renaissance Festival for a few hours. It was an absolute blast. 
Brenna and I rode a flying machine, we did a maze/slide combo, went to a petting zoo, saw belly dancers, got B's face painted, ate chocolate treats, listened to a storyteller while painting, saw a camel, made a candle, listened to musicians and saw dancers, and saw lots of other fun things! I had no idea it'd be so cool, and I'm already excited about going back next year.




















































































































B was fascinated with this girl....and wiped her slobbery hand all over her leg. Ewww!

We then picked up Davin and headed to Ikea. We got some great Christmas gifts (and no pictures), and Brenna loved the play area in the kid section.

We got home after 10:00 (after a potty accident 1/2 mile from home - boo!) and headed to bed. It was exhausting, but so awesome to spend all that time with family!

30Before30 - #1 - 5K and 10K

Recently I've really been trying to run at least 3-4 times a week. I've never been much of a runner, but when I train it seems like I can get the 5K distance at least down. I've been running about 2-3.5 miles on most of my runs, and my time is getting a little faster, although still a little slower then I was running before I had Brenna.

I signed up to run the Star City Women's 5K in Roanoke last Saturday, October 1. We woke Brenna up at about 7 and headed to Roanoke to get started. I was feeling pretty good, and the route was pretty easy. I ran the entire way, minus about a 1/10 of a mile walk up a really steep hill past the 2 mile mark. I crossed the finish line at 32 minutes, 24 seconds. This put me at a 10 minutes, 27 seconds average mile. I say you can probably take 10 seconds off my time since I was closer to the back of the starting pack. It was faster than the time I got on the only other 5K I ran back in 2009. I was 114th place out of 220 people. I was 12th in my age division (23-29) out of 33 runners. All in all I was proud of myself, and I was thrilled to see my cheering section at the end of the run!

Ready to run!

Almost to the end!

Brenna go to play with my finisher's medal.

So, about 2 days ago I decided I wanted to run the entire Huckleberry trail (I'll post about this trail soon...) before we move. It starts at the mall near our house and goes all the way to downtown Blacksburg. I've run most of the trail by starting at different points along it over the past 2 months or so. They've added a little bit to the trail at the mall end, so it makes the trail about 6.1 miles total. It's relatively flat with a few hills along the way.

Today I parked my car at the mall end and told Jonathan to pick me up an hour later at the other end! I just felt like I could do it today, so I went for it! I stopped to go to the bathroom (a new improvement to the trail!) at about the 2 mile mark. I stopped to let a car pass at about the 2.2 mile mark (Hey, just trying to be honest about the run!). I stopped 3 other times to walk up some bigger hills, but only walked 1/10 of a mile each time. I stopped at about the 3.6 mile mark, the 4.4 mile mark, and the 4.8 mile mark. I ran the entire rest of the way! I caught up with Jonathan at about the 2/10 of a mile to go and I just kept plowing on. I said to him as I passed, "I ran the whole thing!" and I know he was as shocked as I was to have done it! I got to the end and turned around and ran another little bit so I could get the 6.2 miles officially done, since I know this is the distance of a real 10K race. It really wasn't that hard of a run. The first mile of any run is always the hardest for me, and I couldn't tell much of a difference in 6 miles vs. 3 miles in my breathing or how my body felt. I'm not sure HOW much further I could have gone, but I felt good at the end of the run. I ran it in 1 hour, 13 minutes, 1 second. I kept an 11 minute, 46 second pace and supposedly burned 733 calories. Thank you Nike+ GPS!

I made it to the other end!

I wish I would have taken a picture of myself at the start of the trail also!

Vaca and a 5K

Well, we're finally back in Virginia after a whirlwind mini-vacation! Here's the lowdown (with a few pictures to keep you interested!)

Friday afternoon we went to Jonathan's company's summer picnic, where much to my surprise I got meet baby Grayce, who was born about 3 weeks earlier and was still only about 6 pounds. That's about the only memorable part about the picnic for me.....but oh, she was a doll! After that, we packed up and headed out with Maggie to Concord, NC to see my cousins, aunt, and uncle. They dogsat Maggie while we finished the next two legs of our trip.

Saturday was the day of the 5K race I've been preparing for. I'll go ahead and let you know that my pace gradually got slower the week before the race, so I was nervous!! We got to SC and spent the day hanging out with Jonathan, Kelley, Kiran, and Sienna - which was awesome since we'd just seen them less than a week before when they came to see us in VA on their way to Charlottesville. We napped, ate, talked, and played before heading to drop the girls off in Greenville and hit the race! Now, there were over 2,000 people running this race -so it was packed. Kelley and I headed to about the middle of the pack, strapped on our pace chip and race numbers, and got started! Kelley was a little speed demon - so she left me and ended up finishing in less than 30 minutes! I finished in 33:18 according to my chip. That was slower than I wanted, but I ran it and I felt great! I'm already planning my next race - where I will reinstate my goal of a less than 30 minute race!

On Sunday we headed to church with the Caskeys and then headed even further south to Atlanta. We took in Six Flags White Water all day Monday and then headed to Turner Field Monday night. The storm missed us and we enjoyed a great game in right field.

Unfortunately, we had to head back Tuesday - with a stop to pick up some things (my race shirt, ahem) from Kelley's. Then, I broke Kiran. You can read all about that here: Kelley's blog. After we got Kiran fixed, we headed back to VA (via Concord). It was about this time we realize how nice it would be to get hang out with Kiran, Sienna, and their parents more. It was so fun to have just seen them - so Kiran didn't have to warm back up to us and we could just play. Thanks for having us guys - and thanks for running with me!

Basil Chicken and a Sore Booty

Have I mentioned how much I love holidays? I do! Yesterday my hubby and I packed up and headed out (in the rain, mind you) to hike Dragon's Tooth trail. We drove and drove, but found it! It was a 2.5 mile hike up, and then 2.5 back. The first mile and a half wasn't bad - but the last mile up was quite tough. It was pretty much sheer rocks, which isn't great for an unathletic dog (and her semi-athletic mom). We ended up tying Maggie up as we climbed the last little bit - and she whined like a baby. However, the view from the top was awesome, and I was quite proud of us. We made it down without event, with plans to get back in to hiking like we used to do in our dating days! :) My behind is not so sure about these plans.

Jonathan enjoying his snack!

Maggie enjoying her first rest break.

We made it!!

Quite a view!!

Where's Waldo?

Now, for a recipe. April stole this one from Rachel Ray, and I stole it from her. It's pretty simple and quite tasty. Just don't read the label on the fish sauce!

Basil, Chili, and Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce (we use low sodium)
2 tbsp fish sauce (seriously, ignore the label)
4 tsp sugar (we use splenda)
2 tsp crushed red pepper (we use a mix of black and red peppers)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced onion (we leave this out)
3 tbsp chopped garlic (about 8 cloves)
1/2 lb. rice noodles
1 1/2 lb. chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup torn basil leaves

Mix water, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and pepper until dissolved. Set aside
Cook rice noodles in salted water (they stick quite a bit, be careful!)
Put oil in wok or skillet and cook all onion and garlic until soft but not brown. Set aside.
Put oil in a wok or skillet and cook chicken on one side - then turn and cook other side until no longer pink.
Add water/sauce mixture and garlic/onion mixture to chicken and cook until fully done. Remove from heat and add basil leaves (torn) until they start to wilt. Serve chicken/sauce mixture over rice noodles.

I hope yours is as pretty as April's. Either way, it'll taste good! :)

I Did It!

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to get back to running more like I did last summer. I decided I'd make myself run a 5K or two by the end of the summer - I even looked up where some around here were that weren't too expensive. I kinda had this goal last summer, but with wedding planning it kind of went out the window. Well, today - I met my goal! Now, granted it was at the gym (24 laps at 8laps for one mile) and I was pretty much by myself. But, it felt good. I've run 3 miles before, but usually I had to work up to it for awhile. I've only been really back running for a month or so and before today the most I ran without stopping for water at least was a mile and a half. Today, 3 miles (5k). I guess my new goal could be a 10K, but I get bored senseless after 3 miles. Just had to pat myself on the back - which is okay, cause it's MY blog, right? :)