Good Luck Evelyn!

This Saturday (4/3), Evelyn (along with her brother) will be running the World Vision Half Marathon in New York City. I'm sooo proud of her! She has really stuck to the training - which is normally not an easy thing to do during the winter.

The WV 13.1 raises money for Africa which is where Evelyn lived when she was a little girl. I believe she was born there. Her parents were missionaries.

Anyway, in order to support her I'm going to post a link to her fundraising page:

http://www.facebook.com/l/7c6f7;twv.convio.net/site/TR/TeamWorldVision/General?px=1070783&pg=personal&fr_id=1090


If you can support World Vision in any way, I'm sure Evelyn would appreciate it!

Holyoke 10K Race Report

First off, Gregg & Kathleen scored us some shirts to wear from this really cool hamburger place in Holyfield called Local. We were supposed to wear the shirts for the race and then go there for a burger afterward. Sounded good to me. The guys got red shirts and the girls got black. They were cute. There was just one slight problem..it was going to be pretty warm out on Saturay and not only were our shirts black, but they were also cotton. It was going to be the first really warm day. Like really warm..like in the 70's. The race started at 1:00 and when we finished and got in the car it was 79!

The race was just part of the St. Patrick's Day festivities going on in Holyoke that weekend. They also have a big parade on Sunday. It's actually the 2nd largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the country..at least that's what I was told.

This was the best crowd support out of any race I've ever been a part of. There were people lining the entire course from start to finish. It was unbelievable.

Gregg said this was a fairly flat course with "some hills," but they weren't supposed to be bad. Well, that turned out to be untrue! The first hill was pretty big. From what I remember, there were 3 hills altogether. I don't think the hills would've been a problem if it weren't for the heat. I think we were all pretty sweaty long before we got to the starting line. Between the heat and the black shirts (plus I had on black capris), we were dying!

I was looking for water at the first mile, but unfortunately there wasn't any until mile 2. The other unfortunate thing was I started the race way too fast. I think my first mile was something like 9:08 which is too fast for the first mile of a race (at least for me it is!). That's a classic mistake and I know better, but I did it anyway.

I have to say, there were a couple of times where I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it. I had been feeling a little sick the night before & the morning of the race. I had an upset stomach and I almost felt like I had a stomach bug..so I didn't feel so great going into the race.

It was so hot that I drank water at every single water stop. I don't normally do that. In fact, the only races I've ever stopped for water were during 15k's & half marathons. I really needed it on Saturday though.

My sister-in-law unfortunately started vomitting between miles 2-3 and had to drop out. Although she was drinking water for 4 days prior to the race, I think she got dehydrated. I felt bad for her. When she dropped out at mile 3, her splits were right where she wanted them to be. What a bummer.

So, the bottom line is..I was aiming for a time 58 minutes and ended up with a time of 59:55. I think that's an overall pace of 9:36 or something like that. I'll take it. I think I could've done better though. I think the heat played a big factor.

All in all, it was a fun day. After the race we went to Local for some awesome burgers and fries. I was so hungry that I inhaled everything. Thanks to the peeps at Local for hooking us up with the shirts and the burgers!

I went out for a 3 mile run today. I have to admit that the quads and the calf muscles are a bit sore. Today's run felt good though.

Next race is the Ocean City, Maryland 13.1 next month..yowza!

Here is a nice picture of our group - pre-race :)

My First 10K

I signed up to run my first 10k! It's next weekend (3/20) in Holyoke, MA. My brother lives in Massachusetts and this was his very first race ever two years ago. He & his wife are going to run it along with a bunch of their friends. I thought it would be fun to make the drive out and do it, too. What's great about it is it starts at 1:00. I've never run a race at that time of day. I won't have to get up at the crack of dawn and drive out there (although I'm sure I'll be up at the crack of dawn anyway!). I'm taking two running friends along with me so it will be a great time, I'm sure.

This race is all about St. Patrick's Day so I went out and bought a green shirt to wear..I know, I'm a cornball. Just trying to get in the spirit..if that doesn't help, the free beer after the race should do it ;-)

Although I've run the 10k distance many, many times (& beyond!) this will be my first actual 10k race. I like this distance. I've been running it a lot lately.

I have an 8 miler planned for tomorrow morning. I have to crank up the mileage if I'm going to do this half marathon next month. Gotta respect the distance as they say. I don't want to take it for granted that I can just do it. I'll get in some good long runs over the next month and I should be fine.

Well, hopefully we'll all get a run in tomorrow before the rain rolls in! Have a good one :-)

Friday

I love Fridays, doesn't everyone? Many Friday nights, we go and hang out with some good friends and tonight is one of those nights. Always fun times on Friday nights!

The weather is getting nicer which means better running is in my near future. I've felt so weighted down with extra clothes lately and my runs have been SLOW! I was able to run 5 miles yesterday at a decent pace (9:20 ?) and I also had on just one layer of pants, but two layers of shirts. Still, that's a lot less than what I have been wearing.

I also went running by myself yesterday..I always run faster when I'm alone. I felt like pushing myself a bit and it felt really good. I think I may just do that 10K on March 20 in Holyoke. Hoping some of my Freihofer teammates want to come along!

I have to mention the girl in California that was murdered while she was out running. Sometimes we feel indestructible, like that would never happen to us. Hopefully, it never does, but we must think ahead try to imagine what we might do in that type of situation.

Personally, whether I'm running with someone or running alone I bring pepper spray. I'm not saying 100% that's going to save me if I'm attacked or whatever, but at least it's something. I also bring my cell phone and I try not to run in remote areas. We just need to remind ourselves to be alert while we're out on the road (or anywhere for that matter) because things can happen so fast.

Well, hope you go out for a nice run this weekend and don't forget to stay safe!

Freihofer's Run $5 Discount

http://www.freihofersrun.com/

I received an email tonight (already) regarding the Freihofer's Run For Women. If you register by March 1 (online) there is a $5 discount. Just wanted to pass that along..the race is Saturday, June 5. The email said they have a new start time (9:30) although the website still says the old time (10:15).

Personally, I learned my lesson by registering too early for races. Early last year, I registered to run my first marathon and I ended up getting a stress fracture in June. The race wasn't until October. Anyway, I had to take a couple of months off over the summer and there was no way I could do the training. Fortunately, it worked out because they let me transfer my registration and I was able to run the half marathon.

With that said, I won't be registering for the Freihofer's before March 1 :-)

Winter Running

I think we have 19" of snow right now. That's a lot of snow! The kids had a snow day so we were home all day long. I finally ventured out tonight to go to the grocery store. I was pretty impressed to see that the roads are fairly clear. If it weren't for the 2nd storm on the way, I think I'd be able to go out running tomorrow! Unfortunately, because of the other storm I think running will be put on hold for a day or two. Hopefully, not much more than that.

I'm wondering if most people that consider themselves runners, run all year long? Specifically, if you live in the northeast and have snow to contend with, it can be difficult. Personally, I used to take winters off. I was a fair weather runner. It has only been these last couple of years that I decided to run all winter. Actually, I used to run on the treadmill from time to time in the winter. But, since I've gotten more and more into distance running, I've been running outside all year round. I love going for my Saturday morning long runs. I'm a creature of habit.

Of course, you sometimes have to cut back on your mileage in the winter. It's hard to avoid that. I used to get a little bummed out about that, but I recently came up with a new spin on that..I've decided that it's a good thing to cut back your mileage during the winter a bit. It gives your body some time to recover and/or rest up for the upcoming season. How's that for a positive spin?

Anyway, that little spin helps me to not get too freaked out about missing a run or not being able to run as many miles as I would sometimes like.

I'd be curious to hear what other people do? I'd love to hear from you :-)

Winter Gear

It's the middle of February and I really hope you are running!! At least a little bit anyway :-) I know this is a hard time of year to run because we're at the mercy of the weather and road conditions. I have to say .. all things considered this winter hasn't been bad at all for running. I think I've only had to cancel one or two runs and that was because it snowed and it took a few days to get the roads clear. But, I've been able to get out at least three times per week which is only one day less than what I do in good weather. Ideally, I like to go out four days. But, on the other hand, I'm not training for anything right now and this is a good time to give my legs/body a little bit of a rest.

I have some tips for cold weather running that I think would be helpful.

The first thing is, go and buy yourself some warm long underwear. They don't have to be expensive, but the key to staying warm on a winter run is LAYERS! I have some Nike FitDry that I bought at Marshall's last year and it's wonderful. Each piece was less than $20 and it was money well spent. That is my "base layer. "

The next layer on my legs is a pair of sweat pants (Target) or fleece pants (Old Navy). My next layer on top is a lightweight pullover jacket (Brooks). I got mine online at http://runningwarehouse.com/fpw.html for less than $30. I love that jacket - it's so versatile. (I love that website, too. They have great deals!) I usually wear another lightweight jacket on top of that and sometimes even an additional windshirt in between. Have you lost track of how many layers we're up to? That's 2 layers on the bottom and 3-4 layers on top.

I always wear mittens rather than gloves. They seem to keep my hands warmer. If it's really cold, I'll even wear 2 pairs of mittens.

On my head, I wear either a hat or a headband...sometimes both! This is going to sound strange, but if I wear a hat alone, I sometimes feel the cold air go up inside my hat (maybe my hat is a little too loose?) so on rare occasions, I'll actually wear my headband on top of my hat so it all fits nice and snug.

Okay, last but not least is the most important part - my feet. Up until recently, I just accepted that my feet would always be cold during a winter run. (Actually, my feet are cold even when I'm in the house!) Normally, I would wear two pairs of socks and would still be cold. Recently, I started to wear wool socks on top of my regular running socks. This may not work for everyone..my socks are extremely thick and bulky. I could see how that would bother most people. My running shoes happen to be a full size bigger than my regular shoes so I have quite a bit of room. With the thick wool socks, my shoes are a bit snug, but not tight enough to bother me. I'll deal with it in order to have warm feet. I absolutely hate having cold feet.

The last item you need for a successful winter run is tissues! There's something about being in the cold that really makes your nose run like a faucet. I'm not alone on this, am I?

If you have any tips of your own, send them to me and I'll add them to my list.

Stay warm and keep running :-)