We did it!

All three of us finished the Country Music Half Marathon! It has been a LOT of hard work, but we did it.

I feel like a runner!

I can't believe that I actually made 10 miles last week! (I think it was actually 9.6 miles, but I'm counting it as 10 because it had alot of hills.) If you had asked me if I could have ever run that far without stopping, I would have said no way. I even felt well enough to take a 6 mile bike ride with my daughter later that afternoon.

I ran this Wednesday and thought to myself -- 6 mile run.... piece of cake. I am really excited about the challenge of running 12 miles this Saturday. When I started on this training program, I really was just hoping to run/walk and finish the 1/2 marathon. Now I hope to be able to actually run the whole thing! I've even found a group of women that run in my neighborhood on Saturday mornings that I am going to join up with to keep running as part of my routine.

I still haven't experience the weight loss that I was hoping would occur with this training, but I have to say that I do feel better. Maybe if I keep plugging away, the weight will drop. It would be nice if I could get some thinner legs from all this running!

First Time for Everything!

Well, this is my very first time to blog. I have been surprising myself lately with the amount of firsts that I've accomplished. At the ripe old age of 42 (am I really that old??) I can only assume that I am officially middle aged and never dreamed that I would be doing these things. I am very excited at the progress that I've made on training for this 1/2 marathon. The only downer is that I lost a diamond earring about 3 weeks ago on one of my runs and still haven't been able to find it. :(

I had never run a race before and at the end of January we ran in a 5K and I was pleased to run the entire way. This Saturday I ran 8 miles. The thought of it was overwhelming, but somehow I made it through without stopping....unless you count at mile 7-1/4 when I tripped and fell. I skinned both palms pretty good, but fortunately not my knees! It has been a long time since I've had a good old fashioned asphalt scrap and let me tell you they hurt!!

Unfortunately, my schedule hasn't meshed well with everyone elses to meet up for runs together so I've had to run most of this on my own. I am looking forward (did I really say that???) to running another 8 miles this weekend and continuing toward this 1/2 marathon in 5 weeks. I even bought brand new running shoes today. I even paid full retail price and I never buy anything unless it is on sale. Another first!

Only 5 weeks left!

I cannot believe that we only have 5 more weeks until this half marathon. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am getting stressed about it but also getting excited that it is almost over!! I don't think I have ever been this diligent about any other type of exercise. Not that I have been the greatest the past couple of weeks. I have only been running about twice a week which is probably why it isn't getting any easier. I have, however, been running outside instead of on my treadmill and boy does that make a difference. My neighborhood is really hilly, so I am trying to do shorter runs that include the hills to help build up my endurance.

Today we were supposed to do 8 miles. I went out to Crockett Park and mapped out a course that was 7.2 miles. It was very tough as a good portion of my course was hilly. I ran about 5 of those miles. I am trying to do the walk/run thing b/c I know I won't be able to run all 13 miles. I almost gave up, but I finished it and I am so proud of myself. Last week Shelley and I did 6 miles out on one of the greenways. While that was tough b/c it was hilly too, it made it a little easier knowing that Shelley was out there with me. I tend to do much better when I am running with our group.

I hope everyone has a great Easter!!

Being Sick Stinks!!

I have discovered that I am now really behind in training for this half marathon which takes place, oh, in about 9 weeks!! I was doing well, up to 4 mile runs and then BOOM! I am down for the count with a horrible sinus infection. I have had it for 2 weeks (now starting my third week) and have been on antibiotics. The first week I only ran one time. The second week I ran 4 days, but was only able to get back up to 3 miles on my treadmill. I could only run 2 miles on Saturday out at the mall. That is really depressing since I ran 4 miles there just 2 1/2 weeks ago!! Tonight I decided to run outside after work because the weather was so decent (mid 50s). Well, I was only able to run 1.5 miles. It really is completely different running outside versus the treadmill. My neighborhood is hilly, and while I didn't even run on the really hilly parts, the small hills and grades really wore me out. I think I need to run outside now as much as I can to build up my stamina. I just hope this dang congestion goes away soon. It sure makes it hard to breath right!!

Good Morning!

I was up WAY too early this morning and decided I needed to post on the seemommyrun site as I haven't done that for a while. Since I was online, I thought I would provide a link to that post on this site as well since what I wrote is in regard to our awesome team.

Check it out....

I surprised myself today

Today is normally a day for those of us in our group that can get our schedules together (no small feat), to meet for a group run. The stars just didn't align for us today so I was on my own to do my (at least) 4 mile run. It was fairly nice weather here today (50's) and I decided to take my run outside. I knew I needed to eventually tackle some hills - today was that day. My subdivision has some pretty big hills and several backroads. I knew the path to take to do 2.5 miles, but hadn't done 4 miles in my neighborhood before, so I kinda made it up as I went along. I ran for as long as I thought would be 4 miles.

Later today I drove the path I ran and found out I actually ran 4.6 miles. Yoohoo! I still can't believe it. I have to admit I did walk two times - once after each MAJOR hill, but I didn't walk for long and made sure I picked up the pace quickly.

I don't think I've ever run 4.6 miles before! Craziness! I have to admit - I'm pretty proud of myself. Of course, I still have quite a ways to go before I'm ready for that 1/2 marathon in April.