a good one

“At first an ordeal and then an accomplishment, the daily run becomes a staple, like bread, or wine, a fine marriage, or air. It is also a free path to friendship.”

-Benjamin Cheever, Strides

B’Ham Race Stats

How I fared at the Birmingham Half-Marathon: 

Finish(chip) Time: 2:04:40

female age division: 74 out of 253 

overall female: 445 out of 1518

total finishers: 1296 out of 2956

not too shabby, but now it’s time to do better. 

Last few runs, as it would happen, have all been done with less than 24 hours in between each of them. Not a whole lot of miles, but it still has an effect, which i could definitely feel yesterday. 

Feb 22: 7 miles, 1:11, 10:08 pace – outside

Feb 21: 3 miles, 26:58, 8:59 pace – outside

Feb 20: 3 miles, 26:05, 8:41 pace – treadmill 

Feb 19: 2.17 miles, 20:00, 9:13 pace – treadmill

I’m excited to figure out what’s next! Cheers!

want to play?

****stolen from colorado girl on my blogroll

 

In one word, describe:

Your job-  challenging

Dream job- anticipating

College- fantastcic

Life as you know it- precious

First crush-can’t recall

Significant other- N/A

Food- delicious

Fun- laughter

House- cozy

Pets- none

Family- non existent

Fear- paralyzing

Daily news- uugghh

Love-elusive

Strength- power

Respect- precious

Time- 9:41am

for today

“You will achieve grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day / not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if you must, but limit your list so that you won’t have to drag today’s undone matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal / to do the best you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have accomplished.”

-Og Mandino

Sea of Humans: a race report

That’s what parts of the race looked like and it was cool. I only wish I had a photo of it–like an aerial shot or something. 

I made my way to the starting line just about 1 minute before take off. The lady on the PA system announced it was the largest crowd since race started in 2002! Cool! More and more people are getting’ out there! 

As I was sliding through the runners to edge a little closer to the starting line, I passed a fella who had just been handed a pair of shades by his wife from the sidelines. He shook his head, “no, I don’t need them”. She turned and walked away and I saw a little boy with her who was all bundled up and smiling. I assumed it was the guys son. I tapped the guy, who happened to be an overweight african-american, and said “is this your first one? ” Yes”, he nervously replied. “Wish me luck!”. 

“I do. And I bet your kid is gonna be so psyched for you”

“Yeah, he is already excited.”

2 seconds later, we were off on our journey. Some ran the full marathon, others like myself ran a half, and then there were some who ran a marathon relay. 

I did not have great expectations as my total mileage per week has not been very good lately and I had to give up on my goal of a sub 2 hour finish. I have just not put in the miles and proper training to get this done. Yet. My adjusted goal was sub 2:05. My longest run since running the half on thanksgiving has only been 8 miles. I know, slacker! However, I was happy to be there on the streets of Birmingham and see what I could do. 

I felt pretty good as mile after mile came and went! The course was altered a little this year and it didn’t include the monster hill that usually occurs around mile 6. Hey, no complaints here. They did, however, toss is a long gradual hill in the 9th mile to make it interesting. By mile 10, legs began to feel really heavy, but I did not break stride and even tried to pick it up a little. I was in a mode where I knew if I slowed down, I would REALLY slow down, so I just put my pod on “ROCKY ” and kept going!  

Soon enough, I was in the home stretch and passed as many as I could as I rounded the final corner. My watch time was 2:04:45, which should be my chip time. Gotta check the results page. 

I looked for the fella I mentioned earlier, but never saw him. Hope he had a good, fun race. It takes guts to get yourself out there….no matter what your body looks like. It takes guts to do the training and then put yourself on the line. But, of course, that’s what life is about, isn’t it? 

I crossed the finish line and was given a thermal blanket and a medal. A young, male volunteer unlaced my shoe and took off my timing chip. Then, he laced my shoe. Bless him! Then, I grabbed my finisher t-shirt(got a different shirt at race expo) and grabbed some water, powerade, banana and orange slice. I stretched for few seconds and then walked to my car and drove to my hotel to get cleaned up. 

Funny, it seems like it all went by so fast. 

 

One of my goals for the year is to run a half-marathon under 2 hours. Looks like I gotta check the running calendars….

daily motivation

This is not about instant gratification. You have to work hard for it, sweat for it, give up sleeping in on Sunday mornings. – Lauren Fessenden

2 days til next race. yippee

catching up

Feb 10: 3.33 miles, 30:00, 9:00 pace – treadmill

Feb 8: 7.15 miles, 1:13:00. 10:13 pace – outside, all HILLS

Feb 7: 4 miles, 38:13, 9:35 pace – outside

Feb 6: 3.28 miles, 30:12, 9:19 pace – outside

Feb 5: 3.1 miles, 28:03, 9:02 pace – treadmill

“people often say that motivation doesn’t last. well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

“getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. that is why some people with mediocre talent, but great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent.” – Sophia Loren

treadmill love

Feb 1: 7.86 miles, 1:18, 9:58 pace – outside, hills, heavy/tired legs

Jan 31: 4 miles, 39:55, 9:58 pace – outside, tired body

Jan 30: 2.5 miles, 23:17, 9:18 pace -treadmill; 6 miles bike – 19:31

Jan 28: 4 miles, 35:53, 8:58 pace – treadmill

Jan 27: 3.5 miles, 31:31, 9:00 pace – treadmill

Jan 25: 6 miles – treadmill

Had to run 4 days last week on treadmill because i was in NJ where temperatures did not get above 26 degrees. Also because the only times i could have run would have been in the dark, so together, these were not good options. I had to LOVE the treadmill. And now that I did my duty, I hope to not go back on for at least another week. Let’s hope the weather cooperates in Atlanta. It sure did this weekend, however I felt pretty tired on both runs outside. The sunshine kept me going, but i was tired. All over tired. I guess it was the being away and traveling and all. The great part about going on treadmill is that I was also able to use weights/machines. All in all, I feel like my legs need to refreshed. Maybe a massage this week. Next race is in 14 days.