My First Half-Marathon

I ran my very first Half Marathon!

I woke up at the crack of dawn...

And Hubby drove me to the starting line..

And I got my geeky pre-race picture...

And I ran all around the city...

And up and down hills...

Hubby cheered me on from the sidelines...

And I finished in 2:55:35!

Whoot Whoot!

No Meat Athlete.. Stumbling Mumbling Monday

Today's stumbling adventure took me to The No Meat Athlete!

I'll admit, the catchy title and the cute running carrot caught my eye, but the content really drew me in.  The post I originally found had tips to overcome a slump in training...

OMG.  I am totally thinking I could use this idea the next time my mind wanders on the trail..  da da da dummmm!  Super-Myra!

Ok, super geeky, but I'm diggin' it.  They also had some other great tips:

I've been trying to not obsess too much about how super-slow I am when I go running.  In fact, I usually hesitate to call it running as much as jogging/airborne-shuffling..  So this tip was perfect to put in perspective on how just sticking to it can help.

To top off my uber-geeky running post, I have actually already down loaded Once a Runner and have yet to read it.  It's just been sitting there, on my Nook, all lonely and begging to be opened up and read.. well my book friend, tonight just might be your night!

Have a great run everyone!

Lucy's Walk

Today was such a beautiful day outside (aka not raining) that I decided to take Lucy for a walk when I got home from work.  I've actually been hoping to show all of you some of the trails near the house, so this was a great opportunity to take some pictures since I was moving at a much slower pace than usual.

This trail is particularly nice because it is easy to get to, and it has a great vibe..  I am not really sure what to call it besides a vibe.  Even though it is right behind a subdivision, it is so quiet and serene!  

The views of the Puget Sound are absolutely amazing in some areas.  I usually do this trail in the early morning, so the sunset was an added bonus this afternoon.  But the mornings are beautiful too, with some fog lifing off of the water, and the birds just waking up!

The whole area is protected and that is how it stays so beautiful!

Lucy really liked being out of the backyard and exploring :)

See Puget Sound back in there?

Tried to take a break and get a picture of us together and this is the best I got.. Lucy doesn't sit still very long and isn't sure what "look at the camera" means hahahaha

I hope you had a beautiful day too!

Rock out your run... Stumbling Mumbling Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

This week's stumbling adventure was a treasure trove of useful sites!  But since I had an awesome run this morning (go me.) it put me in the mood for something that would have made it even better. 

Viola!  I found jog.fm in todays adventures, and it is fantastic!  I have been going back and forth on whether to listen to music while running.  Sometimes I'm in the mood, but it's got to be the "right" music.  Enter jog.fm

I have used podcasts from iTunes for my running music before, from PodRunner... but it was mostly techno all mixed up and stuff, which isn't really my thing (if that is your thing, then you'll love that site too!).

This site lets you sort the songs right off by Popularity, BPM, etc.

Plus, if you aren't sure what BPM you need you can search by pace!  This is exactly what I was looking for.  Now I can have some great tunes that will help me keep the pace that I need.  Whether I'm doing a short run, tempo run or my long run, this will keep me on track. 

Just a sampling of what I might use for my tempo runs.

AND I like that the site lets you listen to a preview, tells you if it's explicit, where you can buy it, what pace it's good for, and the BPM that it puts you at!  

But WAIT!  There's MORE!

Then you click Buy This Playlist!

And it takes you right to iTunes with your whole playlist on a single album for you to buy!  Whoot Whoot!

Something tells me that my Wednesday run is going to be a lot more entertaining!  

Do you run with or without music?  

What swayed you that way?

My First 10K

I am trying to do one race a month, leading up to my first half marathon in May.  This month, I participated in the Mercer Island Rotary  10K.  Their primary event is the Half Marathon, but they also have a kids dash, 5K Walk/Run, and 10K Walk/Run.  The proceeds go towards the Swedish Cancer Institute for Colon Cancer research and prevention.

There were so many people there!  This is definitely a bigger event than the Magnuson Series that I ran last month.  Can you see the start line waayyy up there?

Just making sure I get my traditional pre-start picture..  Just waiting for the kids dash to finish and then we we're off!  This was a nice run because it was a huge loop.. no there-and-back like the Magnuson Series.  Mercer island has some really great trails available, but a lot of the race was on the street.  There were a couple parts that I wish I could have gotten pictures of myself but oh well.  There was this huge grassy area with a boulder in the middle, and the grass around it had been built up in berms to look like ripples of water... very cool.

You can't really tell by this picture, but the last 500 feet of the race were uphill.  Seriously?  I can't imagine what it would have felt like after a half marathon.. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about that for, oh about a month and a half...

Here I am after the race!  Some nice folks took the picture for me.  I was pretty tired, but did a lot better than I expected!  My time on my watch was 1:13:40  but the race was chip timed so we will see what the official time is soon!  Now I'm on the hunt for a 15K for next month!  

Season Opener!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day!  The sky was robin's egg blue with not a cloud to be found.  As we pulled up to Mugnuson Park in Seattle, the sun was shining off of the lake and you could swear that it was the middle of the summer instead of the middle of February.  But opening the car doors we were assaulted by the arctic biting wind coming down from Canada.  It was almost enough to take the breath out of me!

So cold before the race!  But excited!

This was the opening race of the season for me.  Just a little 5K along the shores of Lake Washington to get the juices flowing and get into the running spirit.  Jeremiah came along to cheer me along and it felt good to have my own cheering section there for me.   I'm working up to doing the 1/2 Marathon in Tacoma this May, so each month I am doing a longer and longer race to gear up.  We hadn't even gotten home before I registered for my next race:  The Mercer Island Rotary 10K on March 20th!

Finally done!  Hmmm... have to work
on that time though!

Long Run

After five days off of the running trails, I'll be heading back out tomorrow morning.  I know that five days isn't that long, but in running time it feels like eternity.  My Monday morning run wasn't a strong one either.  It was what some would call "junk miles"  where I didn't really get much out of it and didn't make any progress towards my final goal. 

Tomorrow I'm going for four miles.  It will be the longest distance I have done so far, and I am trying not to get worked up about it.  There are several factors that could work against me on this run including diminished lung function due to illness.  But the trade off is that I am getting increasingly anxious about my countdown to the half marathon.  The motivation to finish may be enough to keep me going during my long run tomorrow.

Hope it works!

The Will to Run

will - - noun - - a fixed and persistent intent or purpose...

the never ceasing, continually recurring to the mind, stubbornly unyielding anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions...

if only this description could be how i feel about running.  i started up again a couple of weeks ago and i am still in that- "i know it's going to feel good someday if i could just get past this crappy, rust shaking phase"- phase.  i go three times a week and meet up with two others that run.  we might not go that far (between 2 and 3 miles so far) but at least i'm going.  

during the second run, i found my stride again -briefly.  if you are or have been a runner you know what i'm talking about.  that perfect unison of leg pumping, arm swinging and breathing rhythm that makes it feel like you could conquer the entire world if it approached you the other way on the running trail.

as part of this process i knew i needed a goal to really work toward.  something that i couldn't back out of and hadn't done before.  so, i signed up for the Tacoma City Half Marathon in may.  it's less than 100 days away now and i'm still working my way up in milage.  13 miles is a long way through the hills of Tacoma!

my ultimate goal is to make running as integral a part of my routine as brushing my teeth.  

in the meantime, i'm taking it one run at a time.  

Sunday Runday!

There is something so invigorating about starting the day with a run.  Especially when you don't have to do it.  A lot of people might assume that since I am in the Army that I run all the time, but this is not the case.  I actually have said quite often that I hate running.  But running because you want to and running because the Army says so are two different types of running.

This morning, Jeremiah and I emerged from our house at 0615 and ran together for the first time.  I had forgotten how much I actually enjoy having someone to run with!  It makes me feel more motivated and keeps me going longer.  Granted, I am a slower pace runner than he is so his stride was compressed and that probably didn't feel to great, but he was a good sport about it.  Even with the rain, it felt good to be out there.

We also discovered when we got back to the house that the loop that we ran is exactly two miles, perfect for me to practice for the PT test.   We think we might even start going for a run together every Sunday.  Sounds like a great addition to our routine!