Better late than never - Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I ran the Monster Dash. This semester is almost over and I still haven't finished a single chapter of my dissertation. I was planning to have my dissertation done by December so I could cruise through my final semester of grad school. I don't think that will be happening. Anyway, back to the race recap.

The above photo is at the start. I am behind the girl in the blue shorts. I was way overdressed for the race. I had on a long sleeve shirt, running tights, gloves, ear warmers and a pirate dress over all of that. I like to dress up for races! It was funny to hear all the things that I was called during the race..."Go Renaissance women!" "Go bar maid whore!" and "Go pirate wench!"

My goal for the race was to run a sub-1:35 so I decided to start out with the 1:35 pacer. Well, that lasted about 1 mile before I had enough and took off. It was too crowded and I was always almost stepping on the feet of the people cutting in front of me.

I felt great for the first 7 miles. I was running about 7 min mile pace. The problem is when your longest run is only 7 miles for a 13.1 mile race. The last few miles are hard. I started to slow down around mile 7 and around mile 9 my legs were starting to feel like they might cramp at anytime. They felt like that for the last 4 miles. Luckily, they never cramped. Around mile 9 is when I started to get passed by other women. Prior to this, I was the one doing the passing. I tried to hang with them but my legs wouldn't let me. I think 5 women passed me during the last 4 miles.

I finished in 1:34:16. I was happy to break 1:35. After I finished, I waited around for my friend to finish and then we jogged the 5k with her 6 year old son. It was a great cool down.

I got home and checked my official time and place.
On Saturday:
Gender place - 42
Age group place - 14
I was a little surprised that so many women had run between 1:15 and 1:25 for the 1/2 marathon.

I recheck the results on Sunday.
Gender place - 24
Age group - 8

Marathon Excitement

I got caught up in the excitement of Boston Marathon last week and I signed up for a marathon. Grandma's Marathon on June 18, 2011 in Duluth, MN. I am super excited to run a marathon and kind of nervous. I tend to get injured quite easily so jumping up to the marathon distance might cause problems but I hope not. I am going to train smart for this race.

My plan for the rest of this year:
Monster Dash 1/2 marathon - this Saturday
Drumstick Dash 10k - Thanksgiving morning
Following the Drumstick Dash, I am going to cross train, start and stick with a weight training program and do some easy running until January when I start my 6 month training plan.

Weight training is something that I know is important for a runner but it is something that I just don't enjoy so I don't do it. Well, that is going to change. I found a weight training program that I am willing to complete and I actually enjoy. I bought a TRX and the equipment necessary to attach it to my basement ceiling. No more excuses. I don't like the gym. Now, I don't have to go to the gym. I just have to go to the basement. I think/hope a strength training program will really help my running.

Happy Running!

Runnin' with the Law 5k race report

Activ8 was helping to run a race this weekend. I got to the race at 7:30 to help out with the packet pick-up and to help with anything else that they needed. Well, it turns out they had enough help so I didn't do very much. I handed out a few t-shirts and registered myself for the race.

I did about a mile warm-up. I would have done more but the kids race was starting and I wanted to watch it. I got to hand out prizes at the end of the race! It was so cute to watch them racing across the finish line and then keep running because they didn't know where to stop.

I was told not to place in the top 3 because there was prize money and they didn't think I should get it. Okay, I haven't been training so that won't be a problem. I will be lucky if I can race anywhere close to a 20 min 5k. Side note, my hip is feeling better so I am going to start training! I have a half marathon in 2 weeks.

I started the race and tried to hold back. The first half mile always feels so easy. I ran it in 3:07. That is faster than I am going to be able to hold for the next 2.5 miles so I slow down. The next half mile was 3:17. Okay, that is hard but I think I can maintain it. I got passed by a woman about 3/4 of a mile into the race and I thought, oh well, just let her go. She didn't seem to be going to much faster than me so I kind of hung out at the back of the back of 5 runners. A few times I would fall off the back and think I should just let them go but I didn't and would catch back up. Then I decided that I was going to go the front of the pack where the other girl was and run with her. I got behind her and followed her for a quarter mile then I moved up beside her. I said, let's catch the girl in front of us. She looked over surprised that I was talking to her and nodded. So we ran together until about 3/4 of a mile to go when I pulled away from her. With a half mile to go my legs were burning and I just wanted to be done. I hear someone coming up behind me and they are moving fast. Bummer, I am going to get passed and I can't do anything about it. Good thing it was a 15 year old boy and not a female.

Final time: 20:09 - Where did that come from?
Overall place 11/272
Gender 3rd/? - Oops, I figured there had to be more women in front of me. So I won $50.

At the start of the race, I like to pick out who I think is going to win. I was right. She killed the field and ran a 17:44. Now that's fast. Second place was over a minute and half behind her.

I had planned on doing something really stupid this Saturday. I hadn't told anyone about it yet so no one could talk me out of it but I won't be doing it so I can tell. I really wanted to run a marathon after watching the Twin Cities marathon a couple weeks ago. I found a marathon in Mankato, Minnesota on Oct. 23. I was going to run it and just see what I could do without training, which is probably a really stupid idea since I have been injured for the last 3 months. Well, the marathon filled up before I could sign-up for it. Too bad I won't be running a marathon this fall.

Twin Cities Marathon Expo

I am working the Activ8 Mobile booth at the Twin Cities Marathon expo. What is Activ8 Mobile? Activ8 Mobile is a new company that focuses on improving the health and quality of life of individuals through the creation of active and healthy organizations.

Check out the website for more information: www.activ8mobile.com

Or stop by the Activ8 mobile both at the Expo and find out more. We will have the Bod Pod there. What is the Bod Pod? It determines an individuals body composition (fat and fat-free mass).


What is body composition?
Body composition refers to the relative amount of certain tissues in the body including fat, muscle and bone. Information regarding the amount of fat compared to the amount of other body tissues has implications for athletic competition as well as risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes

Why is body composition important to measure?
Body composition is determined by calculating the density of one’s body. Finding out the density of one’s body provides more important information than does weight from a scale. For example, two people could be of the same weight and height, but one person may have much more muscle than the other. Since 1 lb of muscle takes up much less volume than does 1 lb of fat, and density = mass/volume, then someone with a higher percentage of muscle for a given body mass (weight) will have a higher body density. A higher body density reflects the individual’s lower body fat percentage.

How can one improve her/his body composition?
To lower one’s body fat percent, one must not focus solely on losing body weight. Rather, body fat percentage is improved through both loss of fat weight and gain of muscle mass. Therefore, healthy practices such as partaking in cardiorespiratory exercise and resistance training as well as choosing a balanced and healthy diet will all help one to reduce his/her body fat percentage.

What does the Body Composition BOD POD test involve?

* The test takes 10-15 minutes to complete.
* All tests will be administered and interpreted by Activ8 exercise physiologists.
* Participants will be asked to refrain from eating or drinking for 2 hours prior to the test for accurate and consistent results.
* Participants will be asked to change into spandex shorts (men) and shorts and jog bra or swimsuit (women).
* Participants will be weighed on a scale and then asked to sit in the BOD POD for about 5 minutes.
* Results will then be printed, and an exercise physiologist will interpret and discuss the results with the participant.
* A video of the BOD POD procedure can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGAdNXwZWg

If you can't make it to the TC Marathon Expo but you want to do the Bod Pod, let me know and I will tell you where you can find us.

Information coming soon about an awesome new race in Minneapolis on October 17th.

Runnin' with the Law 5k

Minneapolis Duathlon Race Recap

A little late but here it is…about a month ago, I completed the Minneapolis Duathlon. I can’t say that I raced it because I started the race with a friend and chatted through the first 5k, I was riding my road bike for the first time in a couple years and I my longest bike ride was 14 miles including 3 breaks to eat ice cream and taco (they way all bike rides should be). Hopefully, I remember the exciting things that happened during the race…actually, I don’t think anything exciting happened during the race.

1^st run leg – 5k

They had a bunch of heats for the race. It started at 8:00 and the final heat started at 10:30. I was happy to be in heat 5 which started at 8:20. They broke the heat up into groups of about 30 runners and started them every 2 minutes. When we finally started, my friend and I started were a little freaked out because we were leading our group. We kept thinking that people were going to be flying past us but that never happened on the first run. After about 4 min, we began passing some of the runners from the previous heat/group. The rest of the run was uneventful…we were just passing other runners and a few runner passed us. I was pushing my friends pace a little bit but it was probably good that she kept me from going to fast on the first leg of the duathlon. We got to the transition in 24:02. I had to change my shoes so my friend left me in the transition.

T1 - 1:36

Bike leg – 18 miles

The bike leg was pretty uneventful. I passed a bunch of people and a bunch of people passed me. I got passed by people on all sorts of bikes. After about 5 miles, I just wanted to get off the bike. It just seemed to drag on forever. I kept watch for the mile marker flags and they just couldn’t come fast enough. I finished the bike section in 59:08. I averaged just over 18 mph which I was happy with because of my lack of biking prior to the race.

T2 - 2:02

2^nd run leg – 5k

I was not sure what to expect from my legs. I had been racing for almost an hour and half which is longer than any training I had been doing. My legs were tired but it felt good to be running and passing other runners so I made the goal to not be passed by any women on this run. I accomplished that goal but just barely because a women came sprinting up behind me at the finish. 5k split was 23:31.

Overall time 1:50:17

Overall place 215/1385

Gender place 36/692

Age group place 7/127

I enjoyed the race. I would do it again except next time I would train for it. I think I could cut my bike time down a lot. I would like to average over 20 mph next year.

Oh yeah, It was the 4^th race in the Team Ortho Monster Series so I completed my giant metal. Awesome!

I'm Back

I didn't go anywhere but I am back from the land of preliminary exam. I passed by written exam about 1.5 weeks ago. It was a grueling 7 day exam. Yes, the exam lasted 7 days and I needed all 7 day to finish it. I was working all day everyday on it. No running, no bike commuting, no doing anything but writing. After I finished the exam I had 2 days to finish my proposal and send it to my committee. Then I had to make a presentation and study for my oral prelim. It has been challenging. I haven't more than once a week for the last month actually it has been longer than that since I have been injured. So anyway, I passed my oral prelim yesterday and go the okay to write my dissertation. I am officially a doctoral candidate! It is kind of crazy. It use to seem so far away but now it feels like I might actually graduate. Then I will be done with school forever...that is kind of a scary thought to me. I like school a lot.

Today my first day back running, I ran 5.4 miles with a friend. We ran faster than I would have run by myself. We averaged 7:38 per mile. I was done for by the end of the run but it felt great to be back out there running. My hip bothered me a little. I have to keep doing the PT exercises and hope that it helps.

Urban Wildland Half Marathon

Wow! It has been a while. I have been trying to study like crazy. I take my written prelim exam in 1 week and my oral prelim exam in about 3 weeks. If I pass both of them, I am officially a doctoral candidate. Yippee!

I have been running a little. My hip and knee are bothering me some but I need to run to stay sane.

On to the race report:
The Urban Wildland Half Marathon is a great race! It is a green race, even the bibs are compostable. The bibs are imbedded with black eyed susan seeeds. Cool!!! I can't wait to plant mine. The race...I wasn't sure how it would go with my hip and not running much in July. I thought I would take it pretty easy, shoot for around 2 hours. Well, I started out and I was excited to be racing and I felt good. I passed the first 5k in 22:05...oops that was way too fast. But I was feeling so good so I thought maybe I will just go with it. At mile 4, my hips started giving me some trouble so I slowed down and continued to slow down for the next 6 miles. It was miserable to be running and to have blown up so badly. People were passing me left and right. I got to mile 11 and said to myself just go, get this race done with. Okay so I picked up the pace a little and started to pass people. I finished in 1:42:59. Better than I thought I would do.

Stats:
39/641 women
16/254 age group

The bib while a great idea, in practice it wasn't so great. It fell off around mile 4.5. I grabbed it because I really wanted to plant the seeds.

So I have a duathlon in a week. I have yet to ride my road bike this year and I probably won't ride it before the race. I commute to school by bike but it is only 3.5 miles a couple times a week. This is the extent of my bike training. The bike portion is 18 miles. I did bike 14 miles one day this summer but I don't think it counts because I stopped twice for ice cream and once for tacos during the ride. Should I ride my road bike or just use the commuter that I have been riding all year?

Back to studying...

Hip pain and patellofemoral syndrome

Since the beginning of July, I have been dealing with a pain in my right hip and patellofemoral syndrome of my left knee. I have been taking it easy with running. Hence, the lack of posts about running in my running blog. I took a few days off at the beginning of the month but the pain seemed to be getting worse. So I went to see my sports med doctor (who happens to also be on my dissertation committee that happens when you study Kinesiology). He took an x-ray of my hips and said my hips didn't look very good...what, how can that be, I am young. Basically, he really didn't know what the problem was so he was going to send my x-ray to a hip specialist. He said I have coxa profunda...deep hip sockets. So what does that mean? I have no idea. But it may or may not be the cause of the pain in my hip.

Therefore, I am going to physical therapy. I had my first session of PT last week which was an experience. My appt. was at 10:30 so they tell me to get there at 10:15 for paper work so I do. I then start waiting for my PT. Finally at 11:15, as I am heading up to the desk to see if they forgot about me, my PT comes to get me. She says they have overbooked her and that she also has an 11:00 appt. and that my appt. will take about 45 min so she is going to work with both of us. It turns out just fine but I just had to do a lot more waiting. I left around 12:30. But she is suppose to be one of the best PT around so I am willing to wait if it means the pain in my hip will go away. I left with 4 stretching exercises.

On another note, I really want to become a Brooks I.D. member because I love Brooks products. I only run in their shoes and I just got a new pair of the Brooks PR short. Wow, these are the most comfortable shorts for running. Back to becoming a Brooks I.D. member, I sent my application in a couple months ago and just received word that I needed to send in a referral form. I have to get a sales rep, Brooks GURU or a store owner to recommend me. I have no idea how I am going to do that because I don't frequent one running store. I usually go to the store that I have a gift card to. Ideas anyone?

More to come...soon I hope.

• bicycle pacman
• TRX certification course -awesome!
  
• Bod Pod testing
• VO2 max test
• half marathon next Saturday

Fun Run Minnehaha Park

I ran the MDRA fun run last Wednesday evening. The weather was even worse than the previous week. There was a heat advisory until 6pm. The race was at 6:15 so it was hot and humid. I wasn't sure how it would feel with the weather. There was only one other woman running the 8k besides me. I decided before the run that I wasn't going to run too hard. I ran the first 2.5 miles around 7:00 pace. I hit the turn around with 3 other runners. The had 3 cups of water so the other runners took the 3 cups of water. I walked over to the car where they were filling the water and got a cup, drank it and set the cup in the car. I took off running again and my body just didn't want to run any more. My hip was hurting (more on that later) and I just felt like it would be a bad idea to push it. So I settled in at a nice relaxing pace to finish the run. I finished in 39:45 which is a lot slower than last week but I really backed off the pace. When I finished the race, my name was being called. I had won the prize drawing again! I headed over and thanked the fun run director and told him I won last week so he should pick someone else. He kept insisting that I pick a prize but I kept insisting that he pick another person. Finally, he gave in because I wouldn't pick a prize so some other person got the prize I wouldn't pick. I drank some water and biked home.

Tour de Taco!!!

My friends Melanie and Reuben host the Collins Family Cycle Fest every year. This year was Tour de Taco! Awesome! Who doesn't like tacos, ice cream and bicycles. We started at Powderhorn park and biked to Liberty Frozen Custard. I had some delicious chocolate custard. Then we got on our bikes and rode to Sebastian Joe's. I wasn't sure I wanted ice cream so I got lemon sorbet. It was amazing...I love lemon! Sour...mmm. They had a flavor called "roasted garlic almond chip." I noticed the flavor and said gross who would ever order such a disgusting flavor of ice cream. Of course, the person standing next to me would order that flavor. Oops...next time I will...probably do say the same thing. Sometimes I can't help myself.

The last stop was at Pineda Tacos. I was so full by the time we reached the taco place that I didn't order any tacos. They only had large combo plates so I just shared a Guava nectar with a friend and ate some of the leftovers from the other Cycle Fest riders. All in all it was a great day for cycling! The Collins family also did a great job of picking out an awesome route that utilized mainly off street bike trails.

Plus they made these awesome Collins Family Cycle Fest accessories for our bikes or you could wear it as a necklace like I did!

Oops, I don't know how to change the photo so I am not sideways.

Yeah! Next Saturday is the annual bicycle Pac-Man. Where we race around South Minneapolis playing a game of Pac-man on our bikes. There are even people dressed up as fruit.
Yep, that's me dressed as a banana!

I love summer and all the great opportunities to ride my bike with friends!!! Yeah for Minneapolis and all the awesome bicycle crazy people!

Track workout or maybe not

Yesterday, I met a friend at the U of M track. The plan was to do 12 x 400m with 400m jog between. We met at 6:30am started the warm up. We did one 400m then on the 400m jog we noticed a group of about 20 wrestler heading toward the track and then another group and another and another...get the picture, they just kept coming. We decided to start the next 400m and see how it went. Well, they were all over the track and we were dodging high school wrestlers so we opted to leave after 2 x 400m. Okay, lets go to river road and do 10 x 400m hill repeat...oops river road is closed. Okay next plan, lets take this gravel road. After 5 cars pass us, lets stop breathing this dust and go run the normal loop we do from campus. Great idea...so much for trying new runs today. Perhaps on Thursday the wrestling camp won't be on the track and we can do the full workout then.

Tonight, I am heading to the MDRA fun run at Minnehaha Park at 6:15!

Photos from the Red, White and Boom! Half

Before the rain...

No, I don't run for Run n Fun. My awesome training partner gave me the jersey before she moved to Houston, TX. She ran on the race team. I wish I was on their race team but I am not fast enough. You have to be a very speedy runner to make the team.

During the rain...

Check out the steam coming off the road.

Almost to the finish line!!!

Crossing the finish line!

Okay Julie, you can stop running now. You've crossed the finish line.

But I just love running so much that I want to keep going.

MDRA Fun Runs

Every Wednesday in July, the Minnesota Distance Runners Association host a fun run at Minnehaha Park. The distance is 2k, 4k or 8k. You pick your distance. It starts at 6:15 and only costs $1! Yeah!

They have done these fun runs for many summer but yesterday was the first time I did it. The weather left something to be desired. I was planning to bike to the park but it was raining when I was heading out the door so I opted to drive instead. It stopped raining before the run but it was very hot and humid. The air was so dense, it felt like I was running through pea soup. Side note: I haven't actually run through pea soup, it is just what I would image it would be like.

Since I ran a half marathon a few days ago, I decided to use it as a tempo run. They said the numbers were less than usual because of the weather. There were only 3 women and 8 men. The majority of the runners were from the Minnehaha Academy cross country team.

There wasn't anyone running my pace so I ran the 8k by myself. I was a little disappointed in this because I was hoping to find some people to train with, maybe next week. I finished in 35:10. I am happy with that time. I got a ribbon for participating.

After the race, they have drawing for prizes. My name was the first one drawn. Yippee! I could pick from a bunch of race t-shirts or a mug. I picked the mug. I have so many race t-shirts that I don't know what to do with them all. Plus, I think would feel a little weird wearing a shirt from a race that I didn't run. The mug is from the City of Lakes 25k in 2006. Do I feel weird about drinking from a mug from a race that I didn't run. Wait, let me check...nope, the water tasted refreshing. Here is a picture of the mug and ribbon!

Happy Running!
Julie

Red, White and Boom! Half Marathon

I finished my second half marathon. I realized today that I have a half marathon the first weekend of June, July and August. That is a lot of half marathons in the summer in Minnesota for someone that hadn’t done any half marathons before June. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking straight when I signed up for them all. Speaking of thinking…The day before this half I was thinking why did I sign-up to run 13.1 miles. I don’t want to get up at 5am tomorrow to go running. I was also wishing I had a friend to meet at the race. Running a half marathon all by myself sounded kind of miserable. I really enjoyed the half that I did at the beginning of June with a friend.

I set my alarm for 5:25. The race started at 6:30. I figured that I would have plenty of time to eat and get to the race by 6:00. I was a little worried about parking but that wasn’t a problem at all. I got to the race a little before 6am and got in line to use the porta potty. The line was so long that it took 20 min for me to get to the front of it. I was hoping to run into Julie before the race. She is another blogger from the cities with an awesome name!

No time for a warm-up but it was 85 degrees and humid so just walking to the starting line made me break into a sweat. With the heat and humidity, I was trying to decide if I should try to go sub 1:40. I have really only been running 3 days a week with no races in mind, just running. So I decided to line up with the 1:40 pacer.

The race starts after a quarter mile with the pacer, I decide I want to run a little faster but I am not quite up to running with the 1:35 pacer so I am on my own. I have my Garmin set to give me half mile splits which might be overkill for a half but perfect for a 5k. I want to see 3:40-3:45. I actually did a good job of keeping it between 3:35-3:45. I had one 4:17 on the crazy long hill and a couple 3:23…oops too fast.

Mile 2 or so – a girl passed me. After following her for a mile, I run up next to her and ask if I can run with her and say we should catch the girls in front of us. We chat for a bit and then run together for a mile. Then I fall behind on a long gradual down hill. She yelled back that she loves down hills. At this point, there is a crazy downpour that cools me off nicely and fills up my shoes so they become kind of heavy. I pass the girl after a couple more miles.

I am surprised how quickly the half miles are ticking away. I try to smile at the people cheering. Sometimes they tell me that I look strong. It actually helps me when they say that because I think to myself, “yeah, I feel strong”. Around mile 12, after I just passed two guys, a woman yells to them, “You’ll never catch her. She is still smiling.” They just laughed but never caught me.

Mile 9 – I see a police officer that I know from some fitness training that I have done with the MPD so I yell hi to her and we exchange a few quick words but I have to keep racing. A guy passes me and says you seem like you are having a really good time. Yeah, I am having a good time and to think I didn’t want to run the race yesterday.

Mile 11 – I see Steve from Steve in a Speedo. I wish I had yelled, “Steve in a Speedo, I want to be a foxy Moxie.” I thought of that just after I had passed him. He was having a giveaway on his blog for a Sugoi running skirt.

Mile 12.5 – a girl passes me. She is flying…I wonder how she can be so strong this far into the race. I let her go. A minute later…what you just let her go, you have less than a half mile and you can’t push yourself for only half a mile. Okay, I pick up the pace. (these are the conversations that I have in my head while racing) I don’t catch her but I tried.

Final results:

Time: 1:36:52 (Yeah, I made my goal of sub 1:40!)

Pace: 7:24 per mile

Overall place: 99/2375

Sex place: 17/1321

Age group place 4/250 (I would have loved to make top 3 but that can be a goal for next time)

End thoughts – I really enjoyed the race and am looking forward to my next half marathon. This always seems to be the case even though I usually don’t want to race the day before. After the race, I am usually quite happy that I did it.

My legs have been tired today. My ankles and feet seem to be a little swollen so I am thinking about trying compression socks for recovery. Has anyone used them? Do they help you with post-race recovery?

Strides

I haven't done a track workout in almost 2 months so I decided to do one today, 2 days before a half marathon. Maybe not the best training plan but since I am not currently following my training plan.

I didn't do anything crazy on the track. Here is the workout:

200m - :45
800m - 3:02
400m - 1:31
400m - 1:31
200m - :45
200m - :45
200m - :45

Yep, I have one pace. Run everything at basically the same pace. I can't seem to run 200m faster than 800m.

The best part of thee workout was at the end I decided to do barefoot strides on the infield of the track. I did 6 x 100m. It felt so free to run barefoot in the cool morning grass. It was a great way to end a workout. I am going to try to do 1 track workout a week and end each workout with barefoot strides.

On anther note, I have been using the TRX for 2 weeks now and love it. I will post about it later with some pictures. It is a great strength training workout.

A race in 3 days...

I just signed up for a half marathon...in three days. What was I thinking...13.1 miles is a long way. I haven't been training much since my last half marathon at the beginning of June. So I have a secret goal for this race. It is to run fast for this half than the last half. That might not be the best idea I have had but that's my goal. I would love to run sub 1:40 but I think that might be pushing it too much. My plan is to start with the 1:45 pacer and see how I feel. If I am feeling good, I can always speed up or I could slow down but I am not going to think of that as an option yet.

I got a package in the mail this week.

It was from Erica over at I Run Because...I Can. She had a GU giveaway and I won! I am super excited to try out all the different flavors. Thanks Erica! This is going to come in handy for my upcoming race.

Races I am Thinking about Running

I haven't raced since the first weekend in June. I feel like I am getting a little antsy to race. How did 3 weekends go by without me racing? In May, I did 4 races. This got me thinking that I don't have any races planned until the end of August. I really need to race at least a couple times before then.

Here is a list of races I am thinking about:
Red, White and Boom! Half Marathon
Boston Scientific 10K
Urban Wildland Half Marathon or Shakopee Derby Days 5k -Same day so I can only do one

Recommendations of races to do? Perhaps your favorite race?

I am also looking at purchasing a pair of racing flats. I really like my Brooks running shoes so I am thinking about the Brooks T6 racer. I am a little worried they will be to wide for my feet since they are unisex and I have really narrow feet. Which is actually another reason I like the Brooks brand, the shoes tend to be narrow compared to a lot of other shoes. So I am wondering if anyone has tried the Brooks T6 racer? What do you think? Would you recommend them?

Good runs with old friends!

At the Minneapolis half marathon, I ran into a friend from high school! It was so awesome to run into her! It always amazes me how small the world is. It is rare that I run into friends from high school at races since I am from a small town about an hour from here. I did run into my high school social studies teacher at the Derby days race. I was dressed like this for the race...

So he didn't actually recognize me until I said hi and introduced myself. There was a costume contest so I dress up like a derby girl. I took 2nd in the costume contest and won my age group for the race...not bad for running in a dress and crazy large hat. Enough about that.

My friend and I met up on Tuesday morning and went for a run around lake Calhoun. It was a great day for a run and so much fun to catch up with an old friend.

Hopefully, we will meet again soon for another run. I love running with other people. I have really been missing my totally awesome training buddy since she moved to Houston, TX. She was the best training partner that I've had! She got me started running in the mornings and she was crazy fast. I use to only run in the afternoon/evening but now I run at 6:30 am...surprising, I know!

Minneapolis Half Marathon Race Report

I ran my first half marathon a couple weeks ago. I am so slow at posting. It was an awesome experience! I can't wait to do another one. I ran this race with a great friend!

My friend picked me up at 6am. Side note: I had my alarm set for 6am. I figured that would give me plenty of time to get dress and eat breakfast before my friend picked me up. Well, I didn't have to worry about not having enough time since I woke up at 4:30. That is just too early. I still didn't eat breakfast until about 6am. The race start was at 7am so that may have been cutting it close but it worked out okay for me.

We got to the race at about 6:20, easily found parking and headed to the starting line to join the thousands of other runners getting ready for the race. I ran into another friend at the starting line so we started the race with her.

We decided we wanted to start out running 8 min per mile. We did a great job of holding that pace for the first few miles then I started to get excited and push the pace a little. We ran the next few miles at 7:30-7:45 pace. We hit a nice long hill and slowed down a bit. I was feeling pretty good but decided before the race that I wanted to run the whole race with my friend so I stay with her and continued to chat. We talked the entire run. Perhaps we would have run faster if we hadn't talked so much.

Here we are at mile 7.5.

Final time: 1:48:07
Pace: 8:16 per mile

Post race with our awesome new medals!

I am thinking about running the Urban Wildland Half Marathon on August 7th but a half marathon in August in Minnesota sounds kind of brutal.

It's about time!

Well, it is about time I started using this blog that started back in December. I had high hopes for using this a blog to motive other to run or keep running and to have a place for you to log your training but lets be honest that is never going to happen. I barely have time to write in the blog. So instead, I think I will start with race reports so I have a record of my races and then we will see where it goes from there.

I have done 3 Team Ortho races in the Monster Dash Series. Here are the 3 finishers medals.



Aren't they awesome! Stained glass medals love it! Team Ortho races are great! I will post race reports soon for each of the races I've done this year. All 8 of them...wow, I've gone a little race crazy this year.