Yes, I am still running. It's been a bit more than 3 years now that I have been doing this endurance thing. I've gone from running alone ALL the time, to running with people ALL the time, and now I am doing quite a bit on my own and just a little with people :)
Running alone has it's perks. Don't have to be in a good mood for anyone, can run as fast or slow as my body wants to go that day, can just walk out the door instead of driving to a meeting place. However, it has it's disadvantages too. It's hard to make your body run faster! There's no conversation to keep your mind occupied. Every once in a while, a dog chases me (Eeeekkk!) Sometimes you get lost!
I took quite a large break over the summer. Suffering from low motivation and no desire to get up early to run in the cooler air and some leg pains here and there. After a pretty good break of running 3-6 miles a week, I began to miss the longer runs. When it started to cool off a tiny bit, towards the end of August, I "started" again. My running watch broke during that time. The GPS just stopped "finding" me, which ended up being a tremendous blessing! Not having a watch relieved so much pressure to run at a certain pace. I am having fun again :)
I signed up for the Rollin' Nolen which was a 10 mile race very near where I live. It was a great race day and I had a fabulous run! The course is really beautiful and has more hills than any person could really want to run in a weekend :)
I've never given a race report before, so beware...beginner here.
December 9 there was a Holiday Half about 30 min away. I ran it a couple of years ago and had a really bad day. It ended up being Hot!! However, after the race begins, there is a Christmas parade for your family to watch. It starts and ends at a school, so there is also a playground where the girls can play. PLUS, it starts at 11!!! (I despise early mornings!) Since it's fun for the girls and the start time is lovely, I decided to try it again and conquer a race that I didn't the first time around.
I have been running often with the lady pictured with me. Her name is Wendy and she is pretty fantastic! She doesn't like to get up early and she doesn't care how fast I run and she is NOT afraid of dogs :)
I talked her into coming to this race with me. This year it was cold. All the runners huddled indoors until race start time. This was really only a big deal, because I haven't run in the cold much this year.
After the National Anthem, the runners took off and began to warm up a tiny bit. I didn't know where Adam and my girls were standing, so the first couple of miles I was occupied with looking for them. I saw them and got to get a couple of high fives.
Wendy had already run a bit ahead of me. I have been running closer to 10 min miles, so I didn't want to start out too quickly. My goal was to stay under 10 for 13.1 miles. My long runs were not over 10 miles, so I knew the end would be rough. After passing the end of the parade route where the streets were blocked off, there was a stretch that made me a bit nervous. Cars were turning around because of the road closure and speeding back the other way. I don't like running with the traffic and not being able to see it coming.
I also had to pee!!! This does NOT happen to me during a race. I suppose this may be one of the disadvantages of a race beginning later in the day. I kept thinking about stopping at a gas station, but didn't know if that was acceptable during a race. It was helping me run a bit faster too :) I decided I would stop at the first porta potty, if there was no one in it. FINALLY, at mile 6, there was the little box. I was much more comfortable after that.
I listened to a new Christmas playlist for the first 7 miles. I had made it for a party and it was upbeat enough, I thought I would try it. After mile 7 I started to struggle a little bit, so I turned on my normal running playlist. Interesting how some things can give you a comforting feeling. Usually as long as I can push through mile 8, miles 10-13 are not too bad. I introduced myself to another runner during mile 8 to keep my mind off of "the wall" I was hitting. After a few minutes, we turned our music back on and got back to the task at hand :)
A little after mile 10 there was an out and back turn around. The WIND was awful after turning around. Usually sometime in the final couple miles of a race, I pour water on my head from the last water stop, to wake myself up and kick myself into gear to finish strong. The wind had a similar effect :) The last mile and half was pretty difficult. Often to finish a race, I start trying to catch people. I saw some men walking pretty far up ahead and I thought, I can catch them! I got to the point where I saw them walking and saw why I saw them walking...immediately after a left turn was a HILL...that's cruel near the end of a race :) Plus, we had already done many other hills.
I ended up finishing in 2:05. Which was 10 minutes faster than the last time I ran that race! I was pleased with my effort.
If you need some stress relief, try lacing up your tennis shoes!
Running alone has it's perks. Don't have to be in a good mood for anyone, can run as fast or slow as my body wants to go that day, can just walk out the door instead of driving to a meeting place. However, it has it's disadvantages too. It's hard to make your body run faster! There's no conversation to keep your mind occupied. Every once in a while, a dog chases me (Eeeekkk!) Sometimes you get lost!
I took quite a large break over the summer. Suffering from low motivation and no desire to get up early to run in the cooler air and some leg pains here and there. After a pretty good break of running 3-6 miles a week, I began to miss the longer runs. When it started to cool off a tiny bit, towards the end of August, I "started" again. My running watch broke during that time. The GPS just stopped "finding" me, which ended up being a tremendous blessing! Not having a watch relieved so much pressure to run at a certain pace. I am having fun again :)
I signed up for the Rollin' Nolen which was a 10 mile race very near where I live. It was a great race day and I had a fabulous run! The course is really beautiful and has more hills than any person could really want to run in a weekend :)
I've never given a race report before, so beware...beginner here.
December 9 there was a Holiday Half about 30 min away. I ran it a couple of years ago and had a really bad day. It ended up being Hot!! However, after the race begins, there is a Christmas parade for your family to watch. It starts and ends at a school, so there is also a playground where the girls can play. PLUS, it starts at 11!!! (I despise early mornings!) Since it's fun for the girls and the start time is lovely, I decided to try it again and conquer a race that I didn't the first time around.
I have been running often with the lady pictured with me. Her name is Wendy and she is pretty fantastic! She doesn't like to get up early and she doesn't care how fast I run and she is NOT afraid of dogs :)I talked her into coming to this race with me. This year it was cold. All the runners huddled indoors until race start time. This was really only a big deal, because I haven't run in the cold much this year.
After the National Anthem, the runners took off and began to warm up a tiny bit. I didn't know where Adam and my girls were standing, so the first couple of miles I was occupied with looking for them. I saw them and got to get a couple of high fives.Wendy had already run a bit ahead of me. I have been running closer to 10 min miles, so I didn't want to start out too quickly. My goal was to stay under 10 for 13.1 miles. My long runs were not over 10 miles, so I knew the end would be rough. After passing the end of the parade route where the streets were blocked off, there was a stretch that made me a bit nervous. Cars were turning around because of the road closure and speeding back the other way. I don't like running with the traffic and not being able to see it coming.
I also had to pee!!! This does NOT happen to me during a race. I suppose this may be one of the disadvantages of a race beginning later in the day. I kept thinking about stopping at a gas station, but didn't know if that was acceptable during a race. It was helping me run a bit faster too :) I decided I would stop at the first porta potty, if there was no one in it. FINALLY, at mile 6, there was the little box. I was much more comfortable after that.
I listened to a new Christmas playlist for the first 7 miles. I had made it for a party and it was upbeat enough, I thought I would try it. After mile 7 I started to struggle a little bit, so I turned on my normal running playlist. Interesting how some things can give you a comforting feeling. Usually as long as I can push through mile 8, miles 10-13 are not too bad. I introduced myself to another runner during mile 8 to keep my mind off of "the wall" I was hitting. After a few minutes, we turned our music back on and got back to the task at hand :)A little after mile 10 there was an out and back turn around. The WIND was awful after turning around. Usually sometime in the final couple miles of a race, I pour water on my head from the last water stop, to wake myself up and kick myself into gear to finish strong. The wind had a similar effect :) The last mile and half was pretty difficult. Often to finish a race, I start trying to catch people. I saw some men walking pretty far up ahead and I thought, I can catch them! I got to the point where I saw them walking and saw why I saw them walking...immediately after a left turn was a HILL...that's cruel near the end of a race :) Plus, we had already done many other hills.
I ended up finishing in 2:05. Which was 10 minutes faster than the last time I ran that race! I was pleased with my effort.
If you need some stress relief, try lacing up your tennis shoes!
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