Run, Mama, Run!

I am so excited to be able to post about my first 10K! I truly enjoyed running the race, it was such a great feeling to accomplish this goal. My time was right in line with what I expected from my training, 1 hour, 8 minutes and 46 seconds. RunKeeper had the distance at over .2 miles farther, which is still confusing to me. (I know my phone updated the app recently, has anyone else seen a change in the accuracy?)

My family came to cheer me on and lend their support. Well, that is what they claimed, but I think my girls had an eye out for the swag more than for their mom. ;) Addy jumped out and joined me for the last few strides across the finish line. She really kept up too! She said that was her favorite part of the day and I have to agree with her!

 

 

My two goals for this race were to run the whole 6.2 miles and to beat my training times. I accomplished both of those goals so I feel incredibly blessed. My next goal is to work on increasing my strength through actually cross training and to increase my comfort on longer runs. My big goal for my 35th year is to complete at least 2 half-marathons. I better get running!! :)

Night Time Running

 My husband came home from a meeting last night and said "It's beautiful out, you should go for a run!"  So of course I did!  And man, was it gorgeous.  It was the best run I'd had in a while.  I only went 2.11 miles at with an average pace of 11.10min/mi, but it felt good.  I haven't felt good running lately so to have a run like this was important to me.  I did have to stop and walk up a hill but other than that, I ran the whole time with a fairly consistent pace (thanks RunKeeper for showing my pace/elevation throughout the course!), which I am very proud of.  Plus, I got to try out my new running shirt!  I picked up a Brooks Versatile long-sleeved running shirt at REI when we were in Colorado and have been dying to try it out.  I LOVE it!  It kept me warm without making me feel warm, and it has awesome moisture-wicking action.  It's also very lightweight material.  I would highly recommend it!

Now I just need to hit up Road ID and get a bracelet and some reflective gear or a light so I feel even more comfortable and safe on my night runs!  I never feel nervous when I'm out running by myself at night, but with all the concern I have been receiving from friends and family and after reading some of the testimonials on the site, I think I should probably take some precautions.

I also followed in fellow Sole Sister Jenni's lead and went for a bike ride/walk/run with my 5 1/2 year old son tonight!  It was great!  He has been so hesitant to ride his bike for whatever reason, so when I offered to run with him and he took me up on it, I was overjoyed.  It didn't take him long to get excited about his ride, however my 2 1/2 year old daughter insisted on going with us on her plastic bike.  I can't wait to see my route on RunKeeper because I was running back and forth between my fast son and my slow daughter.  The first part of our excursion ended with me running after my son (who was careening down a slope whooping excitedly) while carrying my daughter (who was cackling with laughter) and her plastic bike.

After dropping her off at home with Dad, my son and I headed to the bike path through our park.  It was a pretty quick pace because his comfort level on the bike skyrocketed the second he realized he is actually good at biking. ("Maybe I could do this as a job, Mom!")  I had a hard time keeping up--I got a nasty case of shin splints halfway through his ride.  I haven't had shin splints in a long time; was it because I was stopping and starting so much on the first part of my run?