I did it! :)

The Lincoln Half Marathon was last Sunday. I am very proud to say that I finished the half and met my goals! Admittedly I kept my goals pretty attainable, but it is fabulous to have met them. :)

My primary goal was to run the entire half. Well, with the exception of water stops, I am not skilled at chugging water and running at the same time! I walked as I was drinking at the water stations but ran every other step. My second goal was to finish between 2:30 and 2:40. I finished in 2:33 and some seconds (can't remember). My average pace was 11:40, I kept negative splits (barely, but still) and felt really good the majority of the course. I am not a speedy runner not did I do any speed work while training for this race so my pace was good for me and represented my training well.  

I had a great experience at the race! It was pretty great to have such great spectators along the course. My wonderful friend Brooke was there to cheer me on as well as some of the Sole Sisters (those who weren't running it). David and the girls caught me twice along the course and have me a huge energy boost each time. To be honest running my usual loops around town is boring compared to all the signs and cheering spectators!

There were a few things that I did not love about the race. The first would be waiting 45 minutes after the gun start to cross the start line. I appreciated the space it gave all the runners at every pace but it was not fun waiting in the cold for that long. I was shivering and my legs were very stiff but after the first mile I felt much better. Oh and I did not love hearing an old professor's name being announced a few minutes after I finished the half. He of course finished the full! I can hear him criticizing my training and pace in my head quite clearly. He was that kind of professor! But he is also a speedy runner so kudos to him! ;)

I am excited to have my half number two already scheduled. It  be another fun one. :) Maybe I will work on getting a tiny bit faster?!

Bare Your Sole Run

Thank you, to everyone who made this possible today!!!


Bare Your Soles Run

We raised 72 pairs of shoes! I am so, so proud of everyone and feel so honored to be part of a group that cares so much and will do so much to give back to others. Share the love. Serve your community! 

20th Beer and Bagel Run Recap

My husband and I recently had a date morning at a local trail run. We had a fantastic time together, we crossed a creek three times, covered a little over 4 miles and enjoyed refreshing adult beverages after our trail jaunt. Overall, it was a great event and date!

I had never run 'off road' before but I knew it was something my husband would love. Well, I also knew he would be partial to the promise of chili, bagels and beer post-run. I even liked the creek crossings, I also liked that runners who were not interested in forging the creek could cross makeshift bridges. The course was challenging in that there were quite a few decent hills, but it was not insane. After all, there were some nice down hills too!

This was my first time doing this race but it was the 20th annual time this race was held. It probably doesn't need to be said, but this race was really, really well done. I heard that the course was different this year to alleviate congestion. Email communication was fantastic and everything went as it was described. The price was good too ($35), the shirts are long-sleeved and bright (they ran big size-wise, but the race organizer is offering a limited exchange) and the volunteers and staff were fantastic.

David and I had a very modest goal of finishing in under an hour. I knew that I would want to walk the uphills. Also, David is not a runner so I didn't expect him to be interested in running 4 miles (followed by working a full 12 hours at work that night). We set off at a leisurely pace and enjoyed the atmosphere and the scenery. We beat our time goal and it must be said that I beat David. Well, by a second and I kind of took off for the finish line at a rapid pace without warning him. Truthfully, I thought he was further behind me when someone from the crowd shouted out at me, "he is gaining on you!". I checked over my shoulder and sure enough he was tying to beat me! It made for a fun finish and David was delighted to learn the meaning of the expression 'getting chick'd'.

There are many aspects of races/runs that I really enjoy. One is the overall atmosphere, people watching is fantastic. You never know what you will see or hear. I also like how encouraging spectators and other runners are. It is such a fun experience, even for someone like me who never really pushes for speed. I have come to the realization that if I finish strong, I feel like my whole run was strong. It works for me. Maybe one day I will want to leave it all out on the pavement, but for now it is enough to be out there running more than racing!

Post-race photo of the faster and slower runner in my marriage. ;)

2012 Bare Your Sole Event

To celebrate World Run Day on November 11th, the Sole Sisters will be hosting the first ever Bare Your Sole Run. The Bare Your Sole Run is a 1 mile barefoot optional run to benefit Elliott Elementary School, Lincoln, Ne. Entry fee to this event is a pair of new or gently used shoes.

Elliott Elementary is located in the heart of Lincoln. 91% of students are eligible to receive free or reduced lunch. As a way to help some of the children who are sent to school without shoes to protect their feet, the Sole Sisters are hosting the Bare Your Sole Run. As mothers and runners, we all know that every single person has to start somewhere. We are hoping that as a community we can help more kids get to the starting line and be ready to run! 

Please consider joining us on this day at Trago Park in Lincoln at 3:30 pm by offering your "entry fee" of a pair of new or gently used children shoes. This will be a very family-friendly fun event! Post-race refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you there!

For more info you can visit us on Facebook.

Slow, Can't Breathe and Lost my Key

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face. Gatorade ad

My fellow Sole Sisters and I before the race, little did we know what adventure would await us

             Friday night I was excited to run a 10K race, It was called the Harvest Moon Hustle and the line they used was Fast, Flat and in the Dark.  Well it was not really any of those things for me.  It was a awesome race and beautiful scenery it was just not my night.  The start time had to be moved back so it would not really be dark for safety reasons and regulations, and that was fine.  I did not have to wear the head lamp that I bought and I was fine with that.  My goal time for this race was under one hour.  I was really hoping to get a PR in this race.  I have not run too many 10Ks but my best time was last year and it was 59:36 and I was pretty sure I could beat that.  That one was in the rain with hills and this was suppose to be flat and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!  My fellow Sole Sisters and I talked about using our Ipods as it was not recommended but we all decided that we NEEDED them.  I know elite runners do not use them and if it would have been a shorter race no problem but 6.2 miles---- I needed music.  We started the race and my Ipod did not work, it did not work the whole time.  I spent so much effort messing around with it I just had to let it go and run without music.  The hard part of this was when the negative voices came in my head, there was not a song playing to drown them out.  The negative voices were telling me not to push myself because who really cared about my time, then I would say yes YOU care come on push it.  I also could not breath very well.  I have horrible allergies and should have taken extra medication before I ran around a field and on a dusty gravel road.  I was able to manage a super sprint at the end up a hill and that felt great.  I then looked over at the c lock and it was after an hour but I started towards the back and did not see what it said when I crossed the line so I thought it might be close.  Now on to the after party, food and a beer and it will all be forgotten. 

                  

                 Just grab my key out of the key pocket in my pants ( which I assured my friends I use all the time and my key always stays), oh my where is it, it is not in my pockets, it is not in the pants,  it is not in my underwear, WHERE IS MY KEY!?!?  I yelled to my friends and they looked at me with wide eyes.  We searched where I had been stretching I went and talked to the race volunteers, who were by the way the nicest people I have ever met, they were just amazing wonderful people!  We realized finding a key on a gravel road at night as it was pretty dark by now was going to be impossible and I had run the 10K not the shorter 5K!  The volunteers drove us over to the after party and made sure we got beer and food and anything we needed.  My wonderful loving and awesome husband had to pack up the kids in the car at bedtime and one was already asleep and bring me the spare key.  I was a good 30+ minutes from home and he got the whole story through three different phone calls with three different numbers because our stuff was--- locked in my car!

with the key after my husband dropped it off, all is good now, well my husband may not have thought so  :)

All in all I had a fun time with my Sole Sisters, the Volunteers made a huge fuss over us and we got free food and beer. My friends are laid back and just went with the flow, no worries over my lost key. My husband laughed about it after I got back home even if he was less that thrilled that one of our four year -olds was throwing a major fit about having to get in the car.  Oh and in case you are wondering about my time did I make my under an hour goal. NOPE my time was 1 hour 1 minute, as if that one minute was laughing at me and my misfortune that day.  BUT  it may have not been my day that day but I ended  the night with a smile on my face, lots of laughs and good times with friends and I very important lesson learned that my key pocket in my shorts is not a good place to store my key!

Running with my Sisters

So Saturday I did a mud run with my Sisters.  My real flesh and blood sisters.  We did a Mud Run.  It was a fun time.  Neither of my sisters run as much as I do, if at all.  They are both in great shape because they do all sorts of boot-camps, yoga, weight lifting you name it .  It was super crowded so it would have been impossible to run the whole thing even if we wanted to.  This was all for fun as it was not timed.  It was pretty hilly and the obstacles were challenging but fun.  We then got to this creek of mud.  It was about 1/2 mile of wading through mud up to your waist, at the deepest.  People's shoes were getting stuck, people were falling, everyone was helping each other.  It took forever to get through but we made it, I will admit I was glad to get out of the mud.  My youngest sister had just asked before that part "Where is the mud?"  Well she got what she asked for!  It was a fun time and I was happy to spend a day with my sisters and get to pretend we are kids again.  I am pretty lucky to have then both live in the same town as well as my younger brother.  Family is very important to me and having fun and getting dirty with your sisters is a great way to spend time together.

60 miles out of my comfort zone

Faster that a speeding truck ( OK not really)

So in this group of Sole Sisters I am one of the women who has been running longer than some who have just started and I have also run two half marathons.  I am by no way an expert or super speedy.  I just have a little more experience with running than some others in the group.  I was asked by a fellow Sole sister to run in a relay, a 60 mile relay!  It was in another city, with people I did not know other than my fellow Sole Sister and I had never done anything like this before.  I researched the team of runners, yes yes I Googled their race results, I found out that I would be one of the slower members of the team.  I thought not sure I wanted to do that.  I then remember that when our group had signed up for the Havelock Run there were new runners who were afraid to be on our team because they thought they were slower.  I had encouraged them to join and run and they had the courage to do it and did AWESOME!  I was going to learn from them and do this RACE!  The day came and it was pouring ran and I was given the last leg and one of the longest legs.  My first run was 5.5 and my second was 3.  It stopped raining on my first leg and I pushed hard and ran great.  My second leg my fellow Sole Sister was handing off to me and she had just passed another team and I heard the team tell their  member ,who was about to run, that her goal was to pass me.  I said " OH no I don't think so", and I ran, I ran hard, I kept looking over my shoulder.  I was running on the HWY ( scary).  I was wondering where the next exchange was?  Well, she did not catch me, not even close!  I did something I thought I would never to, with people I did not even know and it was turned out great.  I still look at the pictures and I am proud of the effort I gave on that day. 

Another Fuel Up With Color Story

This past Saturday, I also participated in the Fuel Up With Color kids 1 mile fun run with my little boy. Ever since I started this journey back into running in April 2012, and especially since my first race in June, he has wanted to "race with mommy." So on September 8th, he finally got his chance! I didn't know what to expect from him, but I was determined not to carry him at all. We walk around the neighborhood quite a bit, so I knew he could handle that much at least. Well, he surprised me! We ran the whole first quarter mile up to the first physical challenge station (weaving through cones)! After that, we walked and ran the next half mile and decided that we would run the whole way left when he could see the finish line. He saw it before I did, and he took off! We ran through the final station (sprayed with water guns!), past Grandma R, Grandpa A, and Daddy, and zoomed past the finish line to hug Grandma D and little sister! He loved it!

After the race, we asked him what his favorite parts were, and he said the water guns and beating me! We finished with a 15:30 pace and enjoyed our post-race snacks. It was a perfect first race for my son's foray into, I hope, a lifetime of physical fitness.