Waist Management

2012 Burry Scurry 4 mile race--Clinton, Iowa

2012-02-04T18:50:00.000-06:00

Today was a great race in Clinton, Iowa called the Burry Scurry. It is a 4 mile race and today was the 31st annual race so it's been going on for a long time. I was so happy to have two of my friends with me today. Rhoni Jo and Stephany. Rhoni Jo drove in with her family and I picked up Stephany in Coralville.

I was worried a ton about the weather because www.weather.com said we were due to get some snow/sleet/rain during our drive there and home. The weather.com also said we would be getting this during our race. I am not one who likes to run in rain and I seriously dislike to run in snow or freezing rain. However we were blessed to have PERFECT February weather. It was 38 degrees with little to no wind and only cloudy. I ran a super great race for me. I achieved a personal record of 36:47 for the 4 miles. Last time I ran a 4 mile race I had a 37:37 so I feel awesome about this new time. I was also 20th place out of 60 in my age group and 90th of 374 women! I was able to hold a consistent mile pace of 9:12 which to me is great because every time I practice running I seem to hold a 10-11 minute mile. Below are some pictures of my fun day:

Rhoni Jo, Stephany, the Burry Scurry bears and me. This was taken before the race.

the front of the race shirt

My race number

Stephany finding out she won a door prize. She won a super awesome water bottle.

Stephany, Rhoni Jo and I right before the race started

Stephany has this AMAZING kick when it comes to racing. She can pass everyone in the last 100 yards of a race. She appears to be flying here.

Notice me in the pink and how far back I am from the guy in green. I wanted to pass him.

Look I caught the guy in green and then passed him. See him looking over to see the girl passing him.

See this last picture where I am several bodies in front of the guy in green. The time shown on the clock is gun time. That means from the time the race started till I passed over the timing mats. My official time was 36:47, that is the time from when I passed the starting mats, until I ran over the finishing mats.

Stephany and I with two girls we always see at these races. One girl is Lisa and the other is named Kris.

COOKIES!

My race results

After the race we got a picture together! Races are better with friends! I'm so blessed and thankful to have my greatest friends as my running friends!

2012 NDAC Indoor Triathlon

2012-01-29T10:27:00.004-06:00

The last Saturday of January is the North Dodge Indoor Triathlon. Last year was Jason's first year putting on this race and we had only 21 participants sign up. Last year I was strictly a volunteer and helped make sure the race went smoothly. Last year I didn't like the idea of doing swimming, biking and running in the same race, and didn't want to do the race.

However people change a lot in a year and now I'm totally into the whole triathlon race. This year we had 45 individuals sign up and 2 teams sign up. I was talked into doing this race with a few friends. Since my husband is the race director I had to help out after my race. I didn't mind and as a result took over the job of getting and managing volunteers. At first 3 weeks back, Jason and I were worried that we wouldn't have enough volunteers, but after I sent out a begging e-mail we had many people come forward to help. In fact in the end we had 20 people total helping pull off this race.

This was my second Triathlon. My first one was an outdoor mini Sprint Tri and it was a timed Tri. You had to swim 5 laps in an outdoor pool, bike 6 miles and run 2 miles. I did that race in about 55 minutes.

This Triathlon was measured by distance and was indoors. You had 10 minutes in the pool, 30 minutes on a Spin bike and then 20 minutes on a treadmill. Here are my results: I swam 7 full 50 yard laps, and then 125 additional feet. For a measured total swim distance of .22 mile. Then in the bike portion I was able to bike 12.7 miles in my 30 minutes. This part seemed hard for me since I haven't been practicing on a spin bike and the tension seemed harder than I've practiced as well. Then for the run on the treadmill I pulled off 1.88 miles. My total mileage was 14.80 which I thought was good. And maybe it is, but I feel that I could have done so much more in the run, like another half mile and usually I'm sure I could. The problem was my calves got massively tight to the point where they felt like there were going to explode and I had to have a couple instances where I did a speed walk and drank some water. My calves are still tight now so hopefully by tomorrow I'll feel better. I placed 33rd out of the 42 total people (not including teams) and out of my age group of 30-39 I was 5th of 6. I was the oldest one in my age group, the rest of the girls were 31, 33 and 35 and there was a 38 year old. My friend sent me this quote yesterday "Dead last finish is greater than did not finish, which trumps did not start." Below are some pictures of my friends and I during this race. Jason will post more pictures on the family blog later on today and write about his experience as the race director.

Rhoni Jo, Stephany, me and Tracy

Me about to swim.

Tracy and I showing off our BS arms. The BS means "Beat Stephany" It was just a joke to get Stephany riled up so she could race a powerful race and do her very best!

Tracy and I swimming.

Tracy, Stephany and Rhoni Jo in the bike portion of the race.

Me during the bike portion of the race.

Rhoni Jo and I right after the race taking a picture of ourselves.

Rhoni Jo, Me and Tracy right after the race. I wanted Stephany in this picture but I think she was already in the locker room.

Kari Parks about to swim. She ended up being 2nd Overall Female Winner.

My friend Allison.

My friends Scott, Becky and Rhoni Jo as volunteers.

Amber, Stephany, Allison and Mary being volunteers as well.

Me, Becky, Jason, Allison, Rhoni Jo, Stephany, Amber and Mary

Year End Totals

2011-12-31T20:14:00.001-06:00

It's been a great year for running, at least I think so. I ran a total of 405.72 miles. Out of those miles 154.99 were racing miles Here is a list of the races I did this year:

1--1 mile race
1--2 mile race
28--3.1 (5K) mile races
1--4 mile race
1--4.89 muddy obstacle race
3--5 mile (8K) races
3--13.1 mile (half marathon) races
1 Mini Sprint Triathlon race (330 yard swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run)
Total 39 races for 2011

My goals for the next year are these:
Run 500 miles or more for the year of 2012, 200 or more of those racing miles
4 Half Marathons
1 Warrior Dash
1 Sprint Triathlon (swim 500 yards, bike 15 miles, run 3.1 miles)
mixture of 5, 8 and 10K races

Furthest I traveled to a race was 600 miles to Columbus, Ohio in the Columbus Distance Classic Half Marathon. I decided on that one because 6 years ago that was my first race, however it was only a 5K. See post about that HERE. After that race I never planned on running again since the race was a bad experience for me (weather, not knowing what I was doing or how to dress, etc) just read the link and you will understand.
Shortest distance I traveled to a race was 1.5 miles and I actually ran there, then did the race.
The worst race I did was the Downward Dog 5K race. I just didn't like it for several reasons which you can read about HERE. Mostly I really don't like it when these three things happen:
1. Weather (you can't control that, but I really don't like heavy rain or super cold freezing snow and ice) OH and Wind, not a fan of that either.
2. No racing bib for my scrapbook--to me this is unorganized.
3. No food. Seriously race directors, what are you thinking? If someone is really racing (giving it their all to finish a race) you should at least have bananas and water.
the Downward dog race was close to home, but the weather was awful and there were no racing bibs.
The best race is a toss up and I have so many great memories of so many races that I really can't pick a winner. I would say though that my top three are my three Half Marathons.
Half Marathon #1 of 2011
Half Marathon #2 of 2011
Half Marathon #3 of 2011

I prefer to go to races with friends, so I would have to say that Half Marathon #2 was my most favorite long race of the year since I had the most friends attend with me.

My most favorite small race was the Muddy Monster 5K. The reasons: It was well organized and they have something for everyone of all racing levels and it's a family event. Now if only I could get my entire family to do this one with me.

Hardest race I did this past year was CVRA Timber Trek. This race is the reason I will try even harder races and do more with my running this next year. This race taught me that you can do anything. So one of my goals this year is to do a Warrior Dash. I will train by doing more pushups, learn to do pull ups, run more and lift more. I will be the ultimate Warrior and finish this race proudly. I'm planning on doing the Illinois Warrior Dash since that one is the closest to my house.

Anything is possible, now I better go start running. Feel free to make comments on this or any post on this blog, if you are a runner then I would really like to hear from you, especially if you have a suggestion for a race I should do, please place a comment.

2011 Holiday Hustle 5K--Williamsburg, IA

2011-12-19T19:03:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30a.m. to get ready for the race. I met Stephany at Wal-Mart in Coralville, then we went to the Williamsburg High School to get registered for the race. Usually I sign up for races before the day of, but this one didn't have a registration form online so I had to wait. After registering, Stephany and I went to Tracy's home to get her so she could be at the race with us. Stephany hadn't seen Tracy's newly built home yet so she got a home tour. Around 8:40a.m. we all traveled back to the high school so the race could begin.It was only 27 degrees out and I wasn't feeling the greatest, had a little stomach ache, but ran anyway and I'm glad I did because in the end I did well and felt great about my run on this course. Here are some pictures:

Stephany and I before the race. Freezing our tails off.

Stephany saw a girl at the race that had the same exact shirt on so I let Stephany borrow my hat because my hat matched her hat. When they stood by each other they noticed they had the same exact shoes on. Now how weird is that to find your twin at a race. Too funny!

Stephany Tracy and I before the race began. It was cold out. I'm wearing thick gloves.

The race shirt. Super cute I think, and one I will wear again.

My race number that I LOVE because my favorite number is 13 and my age is 39. Super perfect number.

It was cold out, did I mention that anywhere?

Running in for a finish. I didn't have a personal best time, however I did have a course best time. The last time I ran this same course was Memorial Day and my time was 29:04. Today it was 27:46 so I felt awesome about that. This was an extremely hilly course and it was cold, did I mention that?

Here we are with Mike. Mike is a man that I see at almost every race I do. The last race in West Branch I went up to him and introduced myself because I had to know who he was. Notice we are all holding metals. Stephany placed 2nd in her age group. Mike placed 4th in his age group and I placed 5 in my age group! Go US!!!!

Lesson learned--must hydrate

2011-12-11T22:36:00.001-06:00

Usually I post about happy races. I actually had a race planned this morning, but chose to help my dear friend move into her new home and spend the day with her instead of running a race out of town. So because I knew I'd miss my race and really wanted to run a significant amount. I chose my favorite route, which is 5.70 miles and then dressed for the weather.

It was 7 degrees out and I knew I'd have to wear more than my usual shorts and a tank top. I had two layers of running skins on for my legs, then a tank top, an under amour long sleeve shirt then another shirt. warm socks, gloves and a full running mask and a hat.

I set out and the first mile I was cold, but I felt with each step that I was getting slightly warmer. I was sure that by mile 2 my hands and legs would be warm like usual when I run in cold weather.

However by mile 3 I just wasn't getting warmer, in fact I was getting colder by the second. I knew, just knew, something was super wrong. My thighs and butt never warmed up and my fingers were so cold that they burned with pain. Thank goodness I had my cell phone on me. I got it out and took off my gloves to dial Jason to rescue me. I was shaking and it was hard to dial the number. I told him I was so cold and not getting warmer and I needed him to pick me up as soon as possible.

I should have, at this point, gone in the building I was by, which was the University Hospital and stayed there, instead I told him I'd be running up Melrose Street and to look for me there. I then continued to run. I was at mile 4 when he found me. I was shaking so bad when I got in the car that I started to bawl. I was so disappointed in myself for not being able to make it home and run my full loop of 5.70 miles.

When I got home I was at the beginning stages of hypothermia and it scared me. It took me well over a half an hour to warm up. This was with a hot shower. I couldn't understand why this all happened.

I found out later that I was dressed warm enough, but in the winter you have to extra hydrate because if you are under hydrated you will get cold no matter what you are wearing when you are exercising and because you are exercising it takes all your warmth out and you get colder and colder. Crazy but true. In my mind I thought that the more I ran the warmer I'd get, but I really was just hurting myself by running futher because I wasn't hydrated enough.

Thank goodness he saved me.

A running friend of mine posted this article for me and I'm so glad she did. Running article

2011 Frosty Frenzy 5K--West Branch, Iowa

2011-12-03T22:06:00.001-06:00

Today's race started a bit later than most. It had an 11a.m. start time which was perfect because I wanted to go to a cookie walk. I heard about the cookie walk through a friend of mine that takes my Body Sculpt class. Just before leaving the house I asked Alyssa if she wanted to come along. She agreed and off we went. Our first stop was the cookie walk on the East side of Iowa City. We picked up all sorts of cookies, see pictures HERE, and then left for the Frosty Frenzy race.When we arrived in West Branch it was 44 degrees and pouring down rain. Just like last week's racing weather. I wasn't happy, but was determined to race because I had signed up to do so.

The hat you got when you signed up for the race.

Alyssa and I huddled together in the car because it was cold, and raining outside.

The front of the race shirt.

Back of the shirt

A picture of me just before going outside to start the race.

Almost at the finish.

Running in for the finish. I didn't have my running watch on so I had no idea what my time would be. I ended up running this hilly race in 29:33

Alyssa said I looked very wet and worn out after the race and that she needed a picture, so here I am within 5 minutes of finishing.

2011 Symphony of Lights 5K--Clinton, Iowa

2011-12-03T21:06:00.001-06:00

I saw this race on runningwall.com. The race appealed to me because it was a night time race where you would run through a park with thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights. I talked my friend Tracy into doing the race with me. Around 1:15 p.m. she came by my house and we left for Clinton, IA which is almost 2 hours from my house. A bit far for a race, but this was going to be a special race with pretty lights. We got a little lost on the way to the race because googlemaps.com lead us to the South side of Clinton. We stopped at a gas station and a very kind police man told us how to get to Eagle Point park.

Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard and it was 44 degrees out so I knew it would be hard to run in these conditions. Either way, since I signed up for the race I was determined to complete it. Tracy and I arrived at the race and you couldn't park near packet pick up, you had to park outside of Eagle Point park so we had about 1/4 mile walk to the lodge to pick up our race number and shirt. I think had we realized how far the walk was, that we would have brought all of our stuff to the lodge and stayed up there, but instead we walked to the lodge to get our stuff, walked back to the car (by this time we were pretty wet), then we walked back to the lodge to start the race, then ran 3.1 miles in the rain. It was nice that by the time the race started the rain backed off a little bit and wasn't in a downpour like before. I wanted to bring my camera with me while running and get some awesome pictures of all the lights, however with the rain I was afraid I'd ruin my cheap camera so I left it in the car. Maybe next year when I do this race again, it will be better weather and I can get pictures of all the amazing lights we saw while running. If you want full results go here. My personal results are these: I placed 87th of 193 total people. 34th of 110 Women and 5th of 10 in my age group of 35-39. My time was 29:24. I considered the course hard because it was full of hills and they never stopped, the entire park was one hill after another. I felt awesome to be able to accomplish this race in the cold rain.
Here are some pictures to enjoy:

This is a picture of Tracy and I huddled together in her car after we had walked to the lodge and back. We were both super wet and cold. Both of us were questioning if this was a good idea (running the race). Since we both love running so much, we decided to run in the rain anyway.

Our race numbers. 179 is Tracy's number. 25 was mine.

After the race on the way home we stopped at the Iowa 80 truck stop to get some dinner at Wendy's. We both had our race shirts on.

2011 Scott County Family Turkey Trot, Davenport, Iowa

2011-11-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

One may be thinking this. Really a race on Thanksgiving, WHY? If you are not a runner, then you clearly just don't understand. If you are a runner, then you were probably doing a Turkey Trot as well, or wishing you were doing one. I prepared well for this day. I had several things to bring my friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner and since I knew I'd be gone most of the morning for my race I prepared in advance. The banana bread was made a couple weeks ago and was frozen. On Tuesday night I boiled all 24 eggs for the 48 deviled eggs and cooked the bacon for the broccoli salad. On Wednesday I assembled all the ingredients for the broccoli salad in a giant bowl, then in a separate bowl made the dressing. I then proceeded to make 4 pies from scratch. One chocolate cream pie, 2 pumpkin and one apple pie. This took me about 3 hours. Then I made the crust for the pretzel salad and baked it, chilled it and then put the next layer on and chilled it. Then I packed all the pickles, specials platters and serving utensils in a bag for the next day. I was almost ready.

Thursday morning at 5:15 I woke to my alarm. I was surprised that outside it was Perfect weather for a Thanksgiving day. 40 degrees out, cloudy and only a slight wind. I dressed for my race, then finished the top layer of the pretzel salad and put that in the fridge to chill. Then left for the race in Davenport around 5:50a.m. The drive there was quiet and peaceful, not a lot of cars or trucks on the road. I thought there would be more early morning traffic of people going to their Thanksgiving day celebrations.

I arrived bright and early to packet pickup around 6:50a.m. It would have been earlier, but I wasn't quite sure where I was going exactly or where to park since roads on my directions were already blocked off. As it is I pulled in the wrong way on a street that was being blocked off by volunteers, the one guy didn't look happy that I was pulling past the barricade that was half set up (now had it been fully set up I would have turned around and went around the block). However all was well because I found a spot right next to the YMCA and it was a perfect spot to just scoot right out of there after the race was finished.

I entered the YMCA building at 7a.m. and was thinking that things were way too quiet. I wondered for a bit if I was there too early, or if packet pickup was moved or something. I only saw about 5 people on the first floor and this race was expected to have 1800 participants, plus spectators. There were claw prints on the floor leading you to packet pickup. Someone did that with orange duck tape which you will see below in one of the pictures. Very cute idea by the way.

If you care about full results go HERE
My personal results are these: I was 795th place of 1725 total people in the 5 mile run. I placed 42nd of 124 in my age group of 35-39. My final time was 48:17 and that is a 9:40 mile pace.

This race starts you out going up hill for almost an entire mile. The same nasty hill that Davenport run their famous BIX race in July. My first mile time was close to 11 minutes. My second mile was around 10 minutes, 3rd mile 9 minutes, 4th mile 10 minutes I had walked through a water stop so I could drink and I had to fix my shoe that was becoming loosely tied and felt like it was falling off. Last mile I wanted to do my very best so I ran as fast as I could handle and I was lucky that the last mile was downhill on that crazy hill and it did the mile in only 8 minutes!

Here are some pictures to enjoy:

The claw prints on the floor leading you to packet pick up.

The back of my shirt.

The front of my shirt.

My race number

The starting and finishing arch. It was so nice to see this when you turned the corner in your last 1/4 mile on 2nd Street.

Huge signs advertizing the race.

Beautiful awards.

I ran into these ladies and loved their hats. I asked them if I could have a picture of their hats, they insisted I get in the picture with them. Their names are Jessica and Jennifer.

Cute turkey hats.

I loved this turkey costume and asked him if I could have a picture with him.

The back of the turkey cosutme.

North Dodge Athletic Club Indoor Triathlon

2011-11-21T12:36:00.002-06:00

Registration for the 2nd annual NDAC Indoor Triathlon is now open. Go to either ndacgym.com or GetMeRegistered.com to sign up. Like last year, all proceeds from this race will benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Iowa City. Last year we donated almost $200. We would like to hit $500 this year. If you have never done a triathlon, this is the perfect way to start.

10 minute swim
30 minute ride on a spin bike
20 minute run an a treadmill

The winners (male and female, overall and age group) will be determined by total distance traveled.

If you don't want to race but would like to be involved, we need volunteers to help with the race. The more the better. If you are interested, please send an email to info@ndacgym.com.

See you on race day.

2011 Girl's On the Run 5K--Iowa City, IA

2011-11-20T08:27:00.000-06:00

The race was local, so local that I had the bright idea that I wouldn't waste fuel to drive there or time to park, that I would run there, then do the race and then run home. I mapped out the location of where the race was and decided that 1.58 miles wasn't a long distance to run so I did just that. However I left my house later than expected and ended up having to sprint there almost to make it in time to line up for the race. When I arrived at the place where I thought we were starting the race, I remembered that the actual race was starting in the cross country fields a half mile away. So I then ran another half mile to the starting place. I was tired when I got there.

I saw my friend Rhoni Jo, but couldn't get a picture since I hadn't carried my camera on me. All I had on me was my cell phone (which does take pictures but I have yet to figure out how to get those pictures from the phone to my computer) and chap stick.

Rhoni Jo was awesome and ran with me the entire time of this race, right by my side and when I seemed to be struggling (and I was) she asked if I was okay and she even walked with me when I stopped to walk.

By mile 2 of the 5K race I was having trouble breathing and my body was saying, "Stop and take a nap." That's exactly what I wanted to do, but kept on running, however not very fast. About a half mile before the race was finished Rhoni Jo and I came around a corner of the cross country field and the wind hit us so hard it about knocked us out. It felt like the wind picked up by at least 20 m.p.h. I had to close my eyes so my contacts wouldn't blow out of my eyes. I really had a super hard time finishing this race. At about .10 left of the race I said to Rhoni Jo, just go, finish! I walked a tiny bit to regain my breathing control and then ran in to the finish. The time clock said 32: something and seriously it didn't even matter what the time was by this point because I felt lucky to even finish. This 5K cross country course (which by the way was 3.19 according to Rhoni Jo's GPS running watch) was the HARDEST 5K I have EVER ran. I really had a hard time. Maybe it was because I ran 2 miles before the race and ran those two miles faster than I should have, maybe it was the wind, or the cold or those massive hills on the course. I'm not sure what the factors were exactly that lead to this being so hard yesterday, but it was hard and I feel that much more awesome that I finished. My regret is that I didn't have my real camera to get a picture of Rhoni Jo and I before and after the race.

A picture of the shirt we received for the run.

My race number

This is the finishing medal, which was reserved for all the little girls that do this run. However there were a ton extra left over and I asked if Rhoni Jo and I could have one and the race director seemed super fine with that. It will be a nice addition to my racing scrapbook that will say on the page, "Hardest cross country 5K ever"

2011 Return of the Turkey Trot 8K--Marion, Iowa

2011-11-12T16:24:00.001-06:00

A gorgeous day for a run. The race started at 9a.m. The weather was 41 degrees, slightly cloudy, with 8 m.p.h. winds from the South. I had brought my gloves and ear headband and had layers on, however by mile 1 I had taken my first shirt off, then by mile 2 my second shirt was off leaving only my tank top to run in, but it was perfect. I only felt cold after I had finished and since my shirts were tied on me I was able to put one back on right away. I did this same race last year and liked how well organized it was. The volunteers were awesome again this year, plenty of people to help out at all the turns in the race,and plenty of volunteers running the FREE pancake breakfast to all the runners after the race.

I signed up for this race mostly for the shirt and pancake breakfast. This shirt design is one of the most awesome shirts EVER next to the pickle run shirt.

I traveled to the race with my friend Tracy. She has this fun little tiny Mazda convertible that is just cute and she offered to pick me up. It was great to spend time with just her since I hardly ever get to see her and yet some of my other running friends either take classes from me at the gym so I see them at least once a week or I see them almost every week at other races. Anyway I'm grateful for my friendship with Tracy, she has taught me so much about running and how the purpose of running shouldn't always be "to beat everyone, to beat your personal best, to run till you puke, or focus on a time" People run for so many different reasons. I run and think about things in my life and think about how I can help and serve others during the week.

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to run with a new running friend named Rhoni Jo. I met her several months ago and I think I've been seeing her at local races for over a year, but it was just recently that we connected. I decided today that I wanted to keep with her pace and run with her so we could talk and I could try and get to know her a little bit better. She shares my love and addiction for running and she also believes that finishing is the most important part of a race.

I don't have a picture of Rhoni Jo today, but if you go back to one of my other running posts you will see her. I hope to do many more races with her.

I also shared the race today with Tracy, Janeen (Bella's Mom) Bella is the little girl I watched for almost 3 years of her life. Stephany, Jennie and Bill were also there. I should have had my camera out more, for I missed a lot of great pictures of my friends.

The pancake breakfast afterwards was really good and the freebies in our packets were nice too.

The race results are here if you care.

My personal results are these: My time was 50:20 I was 520th place of 698 total people running the 8K. I was 241st of 381 females, 36th of 58 in my age group of 35-39 and my mile pace was 10:07. I currently have no voice right now and have a slight cough that happens about once every hour and I felt like my chest was tight, so I feel that this race pace was perfect today. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

This was a picture of our course map for the 8K race.

This is a picture of my shirt. I think it's super cute and I'll wear it often.

This was someone's Turkey trot shirt from 9 years ago. I love the cute designs, just wish I could have found more shirts to take pictures of for my blog.

Tracy and I with the turkey.

2011 Muddy Monster 1 mile, 5K & 15K--Cedar Rapids, Iowa

2011-10-22T20:27:00.002-05:00

Today was the race my children have waited for all year. Muddy Monster is truly a family event. It has something for all ages and all running abilities. This race was awesome for these reasons:

Chip timed so you get accurate results
Instant result machine so you have a paper to take home that says how you did that day at your race.
Costume contest with prizes for winners
Very cute shirts that you will wear even after the race
Little Monster Dash for the little children
Monster Mile for kids up to age 18
Massages after the race (unfortunately my wait was over 45 minutes and I had to leave before getting mine, but Jason got a great massage post race)
Lots of great samples and coupons in your race packet.
Activities for the children during the adult race
Massive amounts of food after the race to consume if wanted.

Here are a bunch of pictures to enjoy:

Alyssa dressed up as a pumpkin, Brenden decided to be Flash.

My friend Stephany was a fairy. I was the bearded lady and Daniel behind us was too cool to dress up. I won 4th place in the costume contest.

This is my friend Tracy (on the right of the picture) with her friend Denise and daughter Sydney.

Daniel was boasting he would be faster than all of us in the 5K. I wasn't so sure since he never runs and hasn't practiced. But he ended up getting 22:56 for his 5K time.

This is my friend Janeen and her sister Danyel. They went as Dwayne "Dog" Chapman the bounty hunter and his wife Beth. They won 2nd place in the contest.

A new running friend of mine named Rhoni Jo with her children Gabby and Grant.

Alyssa running her mile race in her pumpkin costume. My friend Tracy and her son Eric are also running the mile race.

Another view of Alyssa, Tracy and Eric running their mile race.

Scott getting ready to race.

Scott just finished his race, he won first place overall!

Brenden running in for a fast finish.

Daniel, Jason and I posing for a picture just after the race was finished.

Alyssa, Scott, Brenden, Jason, Daniel and I at home with our race shirts on.

Post race food. There was also hot dogs, popcorn, pop, animal crackers, pretzals and many other kinds of candy.

All of the items in our race packet.

All of our race numbers, except for Scott, he didn't have a race number since he did the Little Monster Dash.

Alyssa ran the mile race and got a time of 11:22

Last year my time was 31:03, this year my time was 28:59. I was very happy to beat my previous time. Last year I placed 6th of 20 in my age group, this year I placed 5th of 22 in my age group.

Last year Jason's time was 28:10 and this year it was 27:56 (this year he even has a very hurt knee that probably needs surgery).

Last year Brenden's time was 23:32 and this year it was 23:46 and he has a massive amount of stitches in his head from an injury he had just over a week ago. (I was surprised to see him run this race with his head injury, but he insisted he felt fine.)

Daniel ran the mile race last year and had a 6:25 time for the mile race. This year he boasted that he was faster than Jason and I and that he could beat us in a race. So he ran the 5K race. Daniel never runs that I see, or practices running, so I wasn't sure how he'd do, but he pulled off a finish of 30th place out of 382 people with a 5K (3.1 mile)time of 22:54 beating all of us. His mile pace was 7:23

2011 IMT Des Moines Half Marathon, Des Moines, Iowa

2011-10-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

I thought I was done running half marathons for the year, but my friend Tracy found this great race in Des Moines, Iowa, which is only 1.5 hours from her home. So I traveled to her house and then Tracy and I traveled together to Des Moines. When we arrived at only 10:30 in the morning we stopped at our hotel first to see if we could check in and to our surprise Holiday Inn Express said they had a room for us so we got to check in and dump all our stuff before going to the running expo. Soon after checking in we went to the running expo. This was a SUPER AWESOME expo. We received lots and lots of freebies there along with our race number, race shirts and timing chip for the race. If you care about results then go here. Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Tracy and I taking a picture of ourselves right before we left on our trip.

I had to have a picture of her little convertible car. But this picture doesn't really show her car well.

We hadn't even been upstairs to the expo yet and I had to have a picture with a sign.

Tracy and I just outside the expo.

At our hotel you could order what type of pillows you wanted, there were soft and firm pillows.

For lunch we went to an excellent restaurant call Dos Rios. It was an upscale Mexican restaurant. Loved the food, loved the service and I will visit this restaurant again the next time I'm in Des Moines, it is that great.

One of the booths had a great deal on socks and hats, only $2.50 each. The black visor is for Jason.

Front of the race shirt.

back of the race shirt.

My race number

After the expo, Tracy got a picture of me with all my freebies.

A close up of all the goodies, along with my race number.

We watched the Hawkeye game on a huge screen tv. Great game.

The timing chips and emergency information on our shoes.

We arrived super early for the race, around 6:30a.m. It was still dark out.

Our spaghetti dinner with breadsticks. It was great.

My race pace. Maybe next year it will be 10:00

Massive amounts of port-a-potties everywhere, as far as the eyes could see. Thank goodness for that.

One more picture before I checked in my camera with my coat at the baggage check.

Tracy and I after the race with our finishing medal on.

A close up of us after the race.

2011 CVRA Timber Trek

2011-10-02T10:59:00.003-05:00

Call me crazy if you want after you read this post.   I am totally addicted to running and when I saw on http://www.runningwall.com/ a few weeks back that there was an afternoon race, my first thought was this, "GREAT, now I can do two races in a day again."   So I did just that, first I did the Ponsetti Race with my daughter Alyssa and friend Amber at 9a.m. then came home had about an hour to relax, eat some yogart and then left with Jason for the Timber Trek in Amana around 12 noon.

The race started at 1p.m. so we were cutting it close. When we got there we had plenty of time for a packet pick up, bathroom stop, and preparing to run. Jason did NOT run, he had wished he had running clothes on to run, but he decided his knee was still bothering him so he didn't register for the race.   That ended up being so nice because he could take pictures of me during the race for my blog.
The race was suppossed to be 4.3 miles and was suppossed to be a Timber Trek, meaning a race through woods, maybe a creek to cross and basically a rough trail to run and some hills. Well this is how it went in past years, INSTEAD it was like this:

4.89 miles, obstacles like HUGE hay bales to climb over (the great big round massive bales that you have to put your hands in the netting just to climb and then pull yourself up on top and somehow jump down, then through a creek, through sand, up a hill, through the woods on a very bad trail with fallen trees, broken off corn stalks, big rocks, holes, etc. etc. then another creek to cross and this time at the edge of the creek you had to climb a rope to pull your body up over the 10 foot ledge. I thought I'd surely die by this point. I was super muddy and felt exhausted and wasn't sure how I'd finish the race.

Then more of the same hard trail running that went on for a while. It seemed the trail curved over and over and was the worst trail in the woods you could possibly pick.   After the second creek crossing, it seemed like I was running up a mountain forever up up up and the trail was rough. Everyone by this point was power walking the mountain trail, but really we live in Iowa, so there are NO mountains here, just really steep hills. It was so hard, my breathing was feeling harsh, but I did it. Then down a small hill and we had to crawl through tunnels half filled with mud and water. That almost felt refreshing, but it was cold water, thank goodness it was a perfect day for this. The weather was in the low 60's with bright sunshine. After crawling through the tunnels there was gatorade or water to choose from and they said we were almost halfway.

I'm thinking by this point, "Really we aren't even half way, how will I ever finish this, I'm exhausted" I told myself that I'd come too far to quit and I didn't quit anything so I proceeded on. There was a balance beam to walk across that was super skinny and you had to balance yourself and walk across and not fall or you would be in DEEP mud. Then more rough forest trail for a while. Then a pile of tires and the only way to get through this obstacle is to go through them, that must have taken me a few minutes. The pile of tires was huge. Then we run down this enourmous hill for what seemed like a half mile and it was semi steep and you couldn't bolt it, you had to be careful.

Then the big creek again, but before you could cross it, you had to turn your body around and use the rope to get down the 10 or more feet. When you ran out of rope you had to get on your butt and slide in the mud down the steep edge of the creek, run through the creek and continue on.

Then more running for what seemed like a mile or so in the rough forest trail and it was bad news, lots of holes and rough running spots. Then the sand, then the creek, then the hay bales one last time and then about a 1/3 mile run to the finish. Wow was I wiped out and could hardly walk and fell against the fence when I got through the finish line.

That seemed harder than any running thing or anything I've ever done. I wiped myself completely out. My final time for the 4.89 miles was 1 hour and 11 seconds. I was so relieved to finish. I really didn't think I'd make it.   If you want to see all the results go RESULTS.

Here are pictures to enjoy from before, during and after the race:

Before the race in my warm clothes since it felt a little chilly out. I had no idea what I was about to go through.

My AWESOME race number. I actually got a 13!!! My lucky number is 13.

The race start, can you find me?

The beginning of the forest trail. This part was out in the open and Jason happened to get a picture of me.

This is me behind Ed, another runner I had been running with for about a mile. Ed also helped me at the creek by catching me when I had to let go of the rope.

I'm in the last 1.5 miles of the race. If you double click on the picture you can see I'm quite muddy by this point. I'm very tired in this picture.

A close up of my muddy clothes. I was trying to point out my muddy clothes to Jason as he snapped the picture.

Almost to the finish. I was so happy to see the finish line by this point.

A side view of my muddy self. My backside was the muddiest. Thank goodness for hoses to wash off with.

I found this picture of me on the CVRA's running website. This is me running down the large hill after I had ran about 3 miles of the race. Edward Green from Anamosa, Iowa is right behind me. We ran a good portion of the race side by side and he helped me go down that muddy hill at the creek, he caught me when I had to let go of the rope. Thank you Edward for keeping me motivated to finish this run, it was super hard for me. Talking to you during our running in the woods helped me to continue to run and finish this race.

A picture of some of the results. I placed 7th of 13 in my age group. I was place 89 of 107 total people and 37th of 50 females. I feel great with my 1 hour 11 second time. The feeling of finishing this race was amazing.

2011 Ponsetti Races 5 & 10K, Iowa City, Iowa

2011-10-02T09:56:00.002-05:00

Saturday, October 1st started out as a very cold yet sunny day. The weather was around 45 degrees and the air was crisp. My friend Amber showed up at my house at around 8a.m. and brought Alyssa and I to the race. This year the race started at the Sports Medicine clinic so we parked over near that. Everything started out well, there were activities for children. Herky the Hawk arrived and then the opening ceremony was amazing. This race was dedicated to Caroline Found, see this link http://www.uiortho.com/races/ There were doves released at the beginning of the race with her teammates all standing around the doves. I have a picture of that below. Then there were a few announcements and we were going to start the race. However then an announcement came that said, "There are people that are running the 10K race that haven't found parking yet so we have to push the race start back." My friend and I both discussed this and this is what I think, when you come to do a race you get there an hour early like the rest of us so we can start the race on time and if you miss the start of the race because YOU got there late, that is YOUR fault and you should miss it. So as a result of this the 10K race started late, then the 5K races lined up, but NO ONE in the back heard go, so all of a sudden I noticed a bunch of people were moving and said to those around me, "It looks like the race started, guess we go. I ran fast and got a pretty good start, but wasn't happy that I missed the starting gun and wondered if I missed valuable time. We were chiped timed, however the starting mats were gone so we didn't have a starting time. Last year there were starting mats that we had to pass over and we were being chip timed by the same company as last year so I don't understand where the mats were.

There was only one clock going and that was for the 10K racers and no one seemed to know how long after the 10K people started that the 5K people started. It was so disorganized and both my friend and I were frustrated. At the end of the race I tried to find someone in charge. Finally I located a woman dressed in purple and I asked her this, "Do you know where the instant result machine is so I can find out my time or do you know where the results will be posted?" She snapped at me and said, "We don't have one this year and that guy over there is doing the timing" as she pointed to some random guy over by the finishing line.

I walked over to this guy and asked about the results and if there was an instant results machine like last year. He said, "We couldn't have the instant results machine because we don't have an internet connection." Now this is where I was totally confused because we were at the Sports Medicine clinic that HAS INTERNET and the building was open so people could go inside and use their bathrooms so he could go in there and use their internet.

The other thing about this race that was completely annoying was that the course changed completely from last year. Last year we started at the University of Iowa over by the stadium and we ran West on Melrose Street all the way to Mormon Trek Blvd. and then on some trail that led us back to the University. My time last year was 28:02 and I hoped to finish faster this year. However, the course was changed to running through the cross country course on grass and up hills and the grass was rough and had some holes and was uneven. The water stop was poorly placed so you couldn't get to it unless you went out of your way, off the race course, to get water. I just skipped it. Then we had to run on sidewalks back to the sports medicine clinic.

The race officials let people run with their dogs and people run with strollers and that creates problems everytime race directors allow this. Try running with dogs chasing you, or dogs crossing in front of you on their leashes. I almost tripped twice. There were many people that obviously never ran with their dog until this race and obviously didn't know what to do to keep their dog beside them and not let their dog cross out in front of others. People with strollers I don't mind, but they shouldn't be allowed to be in the middle of the race, only in the back with the walkers. I feel this way because the back wheels of the strollers sometimes trip people up if the runner with the stroller isn't paying attention. I once got sideswiped by a stroller when running, so I'm very opposed to strollers up with the runners.

Lastly, by the time all the 10K runners finished, most of the food was gone. The race people didn't plan well for all the racers to get food. This was one instance I was grateful that I did the 5k race so I could get a bagel.

Here are some results for us, however there won't be all the results because whoever is in charge of posting those to the Ponsetti website still hasn't done that.

I had a time of 29:08 and placed 3rd in my age group. When you finally go to the results on the website you will see that I'm 4th of 15 of the 35-39 year olds. However this is what I found out after the race. The person listed before me on the results named Elisabeth Erickson didn't really run. A friend of hers that is 12 years younger ran for her since she couldn't be there. This means Elisabeth Erickson was a no show and wasn't the person that was really 3rd. Kelsey, who is 27, was the person who ran for her and she would be in two age groups ahead of me. This threw off the results. But it didn't matter in the end because the person in charge of the race said this, "We aren't doing age group awards anyway so it doesn't matter. We are only doing awards for top 3 Overall."

Alyssa's time was 37 minutes on the dot and she placed 6th of 16 in her age group of 14 and Under. The most awesome thing about this is, her last 5K time was 38:29 so she beat her time by 1 minute 29 seconds.

You can see how sunny it was from how we were squinting. In this picture is Amber, Alyssa and Me.

Amber and I taking a picture of ourselves.

The timing chips on our shoes.

Hawkeye cheerleaders.

Some doves being released before the race.

Alyssa with Herky.

Amber playing checkers on the giant checkerboard.

Alyssa and i right before the race started.

Another picture with Alyssa.

Alyssa about to cross the finish line. She beat her last 5K time.

Amber just crossed the finish line.

My results, to see them better double click on the picture to enlarge it.

2011 Indian Summer Distance Classic 4 & 10 mile race at Lake McBride in Solon, Iowa

2011-09-24T12:16:00.006-05:00

Today started at 6:45 a.m. I got up and showered so I'd feel amazing for this race. Stephany and I arrived at Lake McBride in Solon, Iowa about an hour before the race began. We picked up our timing chip, shirt and race number and then waited for the race to start. I decided to run only the 4 mile race since I save my long distance races for half marathons only. It was only 43 degrees so we were cold. Luckily it was warming up quickly so I think it was around 48 degrees when we started running. By mile 2 my hands finally felt normal again. By mile 3 I was able to take my long sleeve shirt off and tie it around my waist. My goals of this race were these:
1. To finish
2. To have a time of 36 minutes
3. To place in my age group.

I accomplished Goal 1 and 3. I finished and I placed 3rd in my age group of 30-39! My final time was 37:37 which is pretty impressive for me and I'm really happy for that time. This means my mile pace was 9:24 mile pace. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Rhoni Jo, Stephany and Me just after we picked up our shirts, timing chips, and race numbers.

Stephany and I taking our traditional picture of ourselves.

Brownies, cookies and muffins.

More sweet treats. Oh how I LOVE CVRA races.

Me with Bill Johnson, Murial Naumann and Stephany Coleman after the race waiting for awards.

Race results!

Murial receiving the award for 3rd place Overall female!

Here is my award for 3rd place in my age group of 30-39.

2011 Spartan Fund Run 5K in Solon, Iowa

2011-09-18T13:34:00.002-05:00

I knew on Friday, the day before the race, that on Saturday morning in Solon it would be cold. Not freezing, but nice and chilly at around 55 degrees, which in my opinion is PERFECT running weather. I also knew that this course for this race was flat from what I had read. So I was excited for the possibility to get a new personal record. I dressed that morning in running skins and shorts over top and a tank top with a running coat over top. I knew I wouldn't run in the running coat, but as the race approached I was cold, so I found a jacket to run in that I could just throw to the ground around mile 1 or so where a volunteer of the race could bring it back to the school. This way I would be warm, but not too hot and be able to run fast.

The course ended up being nice and flat with only a couple tiny hills that really couldn't be called hills. I ran super fast, well as fast as I felt I could go and accomplished an 8:33 first mile and a 17:27 time at mile two. That third mile is always difficult for me, but I wanted a new personal record so badly that I ran super fast trying to catch my friend who was just a few hundred feet ahead of me. I must have been running and over doing it more than I thought because when I came within 2 car lengths of Stephany my body said no and I had to walk about 10 steps to regain breathing control. I feel that it was these 10 steps of walking that cost me my 6 seconds.

Either way I haven't seen a 5K time of mine in the 27 minute range all summer, so to finish at 27:16 was very exciting. I'm glad I finished without passing out and I'm glad I did well for my age!

Here are the final stats:
Time 27:16 Mile pace of 8:46 minute mile
I placed 5th of 13 in my age group of 30-39
18th of 66 Women and 38th of 120 total people.

Here is the breakdown of the 13 times in my age group,and I share this because usually (at least the last 10 races, I've been at a 29 and 30 minute time)and had I done my "usual/comfortable pace time" then I would have been 10th or 11th place. I tried extra hard to do better this time. Now I know I need to work on mile splits to become faster. There is always that "What if I hadn't walked those 10 steps?" But then again, maybe I would have passed out. Either way when you see this list below of how far away I was from 3rd/4th even if I had sprinted at the end, I wouldn't have come in 3rd and that is just okay with me.

1st 24:17--33 years old
2nd 25:23--34 years old
3rd 25:47--37 years old
4th 25:47--38 years old
5th 27:16--39 years old ME
6th 28:22--32 years old
7th 28:59--35 years old
8th 29:17--33 years old
9th 29:30--39 years old
10th 29:43--32 years old
11th 30:00--36 years old
12th 36:10--31 years old
13th 36:21--36 years old

Stephany and I before the race.

Our race shirt. I think it's a very interesting design.

The famous picture of ourselves taken in the car.

My race number

Park to Park

2011-09-12T08:29:00.003-05:00

I normally don't write about a race when Michelle has already written about it but we did different races at the save venue this time.

I am not crazy enough yet to do anything longer than a 10K so the idea of a 1/2 marathon makes me a little queasy. I am still concentrating on getting my 5 K time down as low as I can. I knew this race would be a good race to go for a PR since it was a flat course and the temperature would be in the 60's. Also, Michelle's running partner, Stephany, was gunning for me. The only time Stephany has ever beaten me was at the Marion Art's Festival when I was running with a bruised medial meniscus. However, Stephany's PR was only about a minute off of mine going into Saturday's race. Is all it would take was for me to have a mediocre day and Stephany to have a great day. She has been running a lot lately so the chances of her coming off the victor were quite real.

We lined up at according to our pace - Stephany and I were at the 8:00-8:30/mile pace marker. The gun went off and Stephany shot off to her normal pedal to the metal pace. I wanted to keep her within reach because I knew if she got too far ahead of me, her traditional sprint at the end would put her out of my reach. At one time she pulled about 50 feet in front of me. I could tell she was worried because every time someone would come up to her shoulder, she would look over at them. I wasn't feeling very good at this time. I was running faster than I normally do and was having a tough time finding a rhythm. I had also been having some problems with a sore left glut muscle that had me worried. After about 1/2 mile, I began to feel better and realized that nothing really hurt (Ibuprofen is my friend). I concentrated on increasing my cadence and having mid-foot landings. This actually increased my speed and I caught and passed Stephany. She yelled at me as I passed, "How's your butt?" I yelled back, "It feels fine. I have no excuses." The day was beautiful and I was actually enjoying the run. The turnaround at 1.5 miles was not marked well - only an orange cone in the middle of the trail. Several people, including my son, Brenden, who is much faster than me, ran past it not knowing it was the turnaround. I actually stopped for a moment with a couple of other runners as we debated what to do. We decided that the cone was the turnaround and started running again. I saw Stephany about a minute or so later and then saw Amber and a bit beyond Amber was Allison (a fellow Zumba instructor doing her first 5K). We cheered each other on and I decided to push a little harder. Mile 1 to 2 is the most difficult for me so I really have to dig in and make myself work. Sometimes I count steps, other times I use my feet to provide the bass drum for a beat that I ring out inside my head. I was getting tired but still felt relatively good. Brenden caught up with me just before the mile 2 marker a bit disgruntled because he missed the turnaround. We ran together for a bit and then he pulled ahead. As I came around the end of the lake, I knew that I was on the home stretch. I could feel myself slowing down and had to really work to pick my pace back up. I knew that if Stephany was anywhere close to me that she would leave me in the dust at the finsh with her sprint. The UNI drum line was playing for us along the trail at about a 1/2 mile from the finish so I began to pick up the pace even more. By this time, I was in a lot of pain but knew that it would be only momentary. Finally, I could hear the announcer's voice and began to see spectators lining the trail. This provided the final push I needed. I rounded the final corner and saw the finish line. Even better was the view of the clock. It said 25:05. I was shocked. I had never run a 5 K that fast. I sprinted the best I could, finishing with a final time of 25:18. I was very satisfied with my time and ended up getting 2nd place in my age group.

I really don't like running that much but I love to race. I love the atmosphere, the people, the challenge, and particularly the emotional high that I get from finishing a race. I also love introducing people to racing. I have had the opportunity to run in races with 2 friends who were racing for their first time. I love seeing the emotion they feel when they successfully finish. Racing is about people making positive changes in their lives and I very much enjoy being a part of that process.

2011 Park to Park 5K, 10K and Half Marathon. Cedar Falls, Iowa

2011-09-10T17:02:00.005-05:00

Last year I did the Park to Park Half Marathon in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and had such a fabulous experience that I talked several of my friends into doing this race this year. Tracy my friend from Williamsburg who I met 1 year ago next week did the Half Marathon with me. Stephany and Amber from North Liberty who I both met because they attend my Body Sculpt class both did the 5K. Allison Haack who I met from North Dodge Athletic Club did her first 5K race today. Allison's husband Ryan did the Half Marathon and I managed to stay running his pace for the first 5 1/2 miles. Jason (my husband) and Brenden (my son) both did the 5K race as well.

Most of us stayed in the same hotel that was connected to the Convention center so we could be right by the race in the morning since we had to be at the Park where the race was at by 6:30a.m. to get decent parking.

We got up at 5:30a.m. and dressed for our races. By 6:10a.m. we were off to the Park. 6:30 on the dot we pulled into a parking space. There was a ton of excitement going on and I decided to take a lot of pictures which you will see later on. At 7:20a.m. Tracy and I started lining up for our Half Marathon race. The National Anthem was sung. The girl who sang it had a FABULOUS voice. I didn't like her arrangement, but her voice rocked. I was choked up at the end of the song. At 7:30a.m. our race began. At around the end of mile one I looked next to me and there was Ryan (Allison's husband). I was able to keep with his pace for the next 4 miles but then after stopping to stretch I never did catch him again.

At 7:50a.m. the 5K race began. Allison, Stephany, Amber, Jason and Brenden all ran that race. There was a bit of a problem at the turn around for the 5K because the volunteer was missing, so both Stephany and Brenden ran a little further than they should have. However even with running a little further than they should have Brenden placed 2nd in his age group of 13-19. Also Jason did so fabulous and not only did he place 2nd in his age group of 40-44 but he got a personal record time of 25:18 which beats his last time by over a minute. This was Allison's first 5K ever and Amber's 3rd 5K. Amber beat her personal best and met her goal of 35 minutes!

By the time their 5K race was ending, I was on about mile 6 on my race. This was just about the time I started to hurt badly. My IT band was tightening again and that made it difficult to run. I walked for about 1/4 mile in mile 6 then decided that it hurt as much to walk that it did to run and I might as well just run so I could finish faster and get food! I talked to myself and told myself that I would run from mile 7-10 and only then I would walk some. When I arrived at mile 10 I felt okay and decided to just keep running till mile 11. It was then I did some walking and then continued on. By mile 12 I was in serious pain, not as bad as the Columbus Half Marathon in May, but bad enough that I wanted this race to be over. About 3 tenths of a mile before the race was over Jason was there to run in with me. I was having a hard time running and felt he had too much energy for me so I sent him away. He took some pictures of me. Then right at the very end of the race, the last tenth was Stephany and Amber. They ran to the finish with me then held me up so I wouldn't pass out. I was close to passing out and my left leg hurt so badly.

After a cold ice towel on my neck and a finishing medal around my neck I was officially done and could eat as much food as I wanted! I'm so glad I finished.

Tracy Schmidt, myself, and Amber Burgus on our way to the Park to Park race. I asked Jason to drive so us girls could talk and be in the back seat together. Brenden sat up front with Jason.

Jason was driving and the speed limit was 70m.p.h. He came up upon a slow car. The slow car was going 65m.p.h. and Jason followed the car for a little bit, then pulled out and around the car. That car was a police car and after Jason pulled out and around him, the policeman put his hat on, put his speed radar gun in the window and flipped the lights on to pull Jason over. This picture is of the policeman walking away after he issued a warning.

We all arrived in Cedar Falls, checked into our hotel and then went to the Packet pickup area at the Convention center. We met up with Allison Haack and her husband Ryan.

To get our carbs in before the race we went to a local restaurant named Doughy Joey's. Jason and Brenden had mini pizzas. Amber, Tracy and I had spaghetti.

These two goofballs were trying to give eachother bunny ears.

Tracy, Amber and me outside of the restaurant.

The convention center advertizing the race.

My race number and it adds up to my lucky number 13. 1 plus 4 plus 8 =13!

Saturday morning around 7a.m. Brenden standing under his race pace sign.

Tracy and I standing under our DREAM race pace sign.

Left to Right: Amber, Stephany, Jason, Brenden, me and Tracy.

Tracy and me

Stephany and me

Amber and me

Jason and Brenden after their race at the awards ceremony with their 2nd place medals on.

Me running in for the finish. I was at mile 12.8 in this picture. I was smiling the best I could to have a great picture, but was in severe pain.

Stephany and Amber running with me to the finish. I had .1 to go and could see the finish line. Stephany was pointing it out for me. You can tell how much I'm hurting by the look on my face.

Tracy running in for the finish.

The Half Marathon finishing medal!

The race packet bag that we were given with our race shirt and timing chip.

This is my 2nd favorite part of a race. First is finishing. 2nd is food and lots of it. This is only part of what I received. There was also chocolate milk, bottled water and a vitamin enhanced water called vidration. Then there were pulled pork sandwiches from the local HyVee grocery store. At the very end of the race I was over at the food table getting some chocolate milk and the race volunteer loaded up my son's bag and my bag with extra chips and other things to eat on the way home. The pizza was AMAZING. It was from "The Other Place" pizza restaurant and they made pizza right at the race. Everyone in my group LOVED the pizza. The sandwiches from HyVee were great as well and I'm glad that the race director cared enough to have lots of food for all the race participants.

I won socks through one of the race drawings.

At last, home with my park to park shirt and finishing medal!

2011 Captain Midnight's Run for Cystic Fibrosis 5K

2011-09-03T19:06:00.004-05:00

Since my birthday is on Labor Day weekend, my request was that Jason would do a 5K race with me, a really great race, as a birthday present to me! I found this race advertised on www.runningwall.com and decided that since it was on a Friday night it would be fun to travel to Des Moines, get a hotel, do the race and then just enjoy a 24 hour period of time without children. Jason booked our hotel at Drury Inn in Des Moines. A great hotel by the way. We had a fabulous room. There was a hot tub and pool at this hotel so we were able to spend time in both of those before and after the race.

The race was in Ames, Iowa and started in the parking lot of a mall. The weather was super muggy and around 80 some degrees. I was almost dreading running because of the humidity and hoped it would cool off even more, but it didn't. It was such a great feeling to finish this race because it was one of those that I wasn't sure I could run the entire way or finish.

Jason did an amazing job on this race and as a result got a new personal record. He finished this race in 26:15 and was 7th of 20 in his age group of 40-49. He was 51 of 109 Men and 74 of 241 people overall.

My final time was 29:13 and I placed 11 out of 37 in my age group of 30-39. I placed 39 of 132 Women and 110th of 241 runners overall.

Here we are before the race taking a picture of ourselves. We were on our way to the hotel.

A picture of our room at the hotel.

The other part of our room.

Free pop all day as much as you want in the hotel lobby.

Free popcorn all day as much as you want.

Jason and I right before our race.

Our race numbers

Taking a picture of ourselves right before the race.

Our timing chips on our ankles.

The leader of the race.

This is Alvin Ravenscroft from Ames, Iowa who is 77 years young and has ran in hundreds of races over the years. I had to have a picture with him because he helped me finish this race. I saw him up ahead of me and thought that I should be able to catch him, however he was so fast that it took me a good mile to catch him. Then his pace seemed to match mine and I was running next to him for the rest of the race. At one point I felt that I was running too fast and it was so hot outside so I started to walk for about 5 seconds, and had mentioned that I wasn't feeling well. Alvin stopped, turned around and said, "Are you okay?" I told him I was, just felt super warm and a little sick. He then said, "Just keep going, You can do this." At this point I had renewed energy and was able to run with him all the way to the finish. It is because of Alvin that I finished this race.

All the pizza you could consume was at the end of the race!

Lots of cookies of all types from Cookies and More!

A final picture of us taken today on our way home from our mini trip. We had a great time! This is my last day at age 38.

2011 C.A.R.E. 5 & 10K Run, North Liberty, Iowa

2011-08-27T21:35:00.004-05:00

Today started at 6a.m. I got up, dressed for my race, ate half of my banana, drank some water, grabbed my stuff for the race and left.

I arrived at Curves right at 6:30 to pick up my new friends Deb and Wendy. I talked up this race a lot and hoped they'd sign up for it. I met Deb and Wendy in my Zumba class at Curves.

The weather was a cool 68 degrees, but had humidity of at least 80% so I was sure running in this would be hot.

My stats were these: Time 30:16 with a 9:44 mile pace. Placed 3rd of 12 in my age group of 30-39. Overall I placed 30th of 68 runners. I was 12th of 41 females.

This was a flat course so I'm not sure why my time was even close to 30 minutes. I ran the entire way and felt that I was going fast, so I expected a 28 something time as in other races. I am super happy that I finished 3rd in my age group, and received a medal for my efforts, that was fun!

Many of my friends were at this race today so there are lots of pictures to enjoy.

The front of the shirt. I like this shirt a lot so I'll wear it with pride!

The back of the shirt. This will be great for advertising organ donation. I am an organ donor and proud of it!

Deb and Wendy about an hour before the race.

Before the race I was wondering where the heck Stephany was, then she drove in the parking lot with a police officer following her. Here she is talking to him. She was speeding on 240th street, but got off with a warning. Amber, Deb, Wendy and I were laughing at her. I was snapping a few pictures to tease her with later. Double click on the picture and you can see her having a conversation with the officer.

From Left to Right Wendy, Me, Stephany, Amber and Deb.

All of us being silly. I'm pretty sure I have bunny ears behind my head from Wendy.

To my surprise Bella (the little girl I watched for 3 years) and her parents were both at the race. This is a picture of Janeen (Bella's Mom) Bella and Me.

Amber running in for the finish. Stephany and I were yelling for her.

Amber again right at the time clock. This is only her 2nd 5K.

After the race I met up with another friend Jennie. From Left to Right Jennie, Stephany, Me and Amber.

Wendy and Deb walking in to the finish.

We were all yelling for them, then Deb and Wendy started running. Both of them finished under an hour!

Super cool Praying Mantis on the wall of the North Liberty Recreation Center posing for a picture.

Coolest thing ever happened. Stephany placed 2nd in her age group of 20-29. Jennie placed 2nd Overall Female and I placed 3rd in my age group of 30-39. Here we are posing with our medals.

A close up of the front of the medal. It's really neat looking and kinda heavy.

My race number.

The back of my medal.

2011 Watermelon Stampede 5K and 10K, Muscatine, Iowa

2011-08-20T14:43:00.004-05:00

The day started out a littler warmer than usual. It wasn't bad for August in the low 70 degree range,but add humidity to that and it's warm. My favorite running weather is 50's. This morning my son Daniel had to work at 6a.m. and that was perfect because I was going to leave the house at that time anyway, so I just left 5 minutes earlier. On the way out of town I realized that I didn't grab my banana in the house for my breakfast (I don't eat much before a race, I make up for that after). Anyway so I stopped at a gas station for a banana and to my surprise they had a perfect (yellow with a slight green at the end) banana. When I arrived outside the gas station there was a truck pulling an antique tractor. Since my Grandpa Lewis collected antique tractors and I instantly thought of him, I took this picture in memory of my Grandpa.

Then I traveled to Muscatine, Iowa for my 5K race. The weather had seemed to cool a bit on my drive there and it was overcast with some dark clouds. I was sure it would rain. Even the race director made an announcement that he hoped we wouldn't get lightening. Wouldn't you know it that with Iowa the clouds just passed on by without a drop. Even the sun came out to fry our bodies while we all ran.

The race started within a couple minutes of 8a.m. as scheduled. We all ran past a Farmer's market and I secretly wished it would be open after the race so I could get a few fresh produce items.

The course was brutal. A LONG gradual hill that extended most of the race. It went for 1.5 miles and by the top I thought my legs were burning off. It hurt me so bad to run today, however there was no stopping for me. I had decided after last week's race of (run walk run walk run walk) placing 4th and missing 3rd place by only 20 seconds that this time I would run the entire way without stopping and I was determined to find a good pace. I started the race with some stomach cramping and then an ankle hurt and then 2 miles into the race I had a side cramp so big it felt like being stabbed. But I plugged on and kept running since that was my goal. I heard another runner say that after the turn around point (1.5 mile mark) that it was downhill all the way to the finish. I was happy, but then it was WRONG. Sure the downhill came because I don't think we could have climbed much further up, however the downhill was only for about .75 of a mile and then the rest was up and down till the end.

I think this was the hardest 5K course I have ever ran and I used to think that about Williamsburg runs.

I felt like I was running fast so I hoped for a great time of under 28 minutes. Instead 28 came and went away. My time was 29:19 and I was 5th in my age group of 35-39 out of 8. 109 of 244 Overall and 39th of 144 Women.

The best thing about this day was I won a watermelon. That was cool! Here are some pictures:

The cool looking antique tractor.

Something else on the trailor with the tractor, maybe my Father can identify it.

My shirt.

my race number and if you read it backwards then you will get my lucky #13

Since I attended this race alone (no friend Tracy or Stephany this week), I took a picture of just myself, but forgot to do that until after the race. So here I am within minutes of finishing the 5K looking massively sweaty and red.

There were a bunch of older Watermelon Stampede shirts so I took a picture of every past year shirt I could find. Here is year 2000

2001

1987

2008

2010

The race director in his watermelon shirt.

My friend Muriel with her race medal. She ran the 10K race and placed 1st in her age group.

After the race there was a drawing for 30 watermelons to be given away. My number was chosen. Lucky me!

I had to have a picture with the race director because I thought he did a great job and I liked his shirt.

2011 St. Judes Sweet Corn Festival 5 and 10K race in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

2011-08-13T14:10:00.002-05:00

Great day for a race. When I woke up and went outside the weather was gorgeous and in the low 60's. I picked up Stephany and we headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to race our 5K. Before the race some dark clouds were rolling in and it was getting windy. We weren't sure what to expect for weather. I took some pictures of some cool looking divided clouds as you will see later. The clouds rolled by quickly without a drop of rain and even most of the wind disappeared. The weather was nice for the entire race and post race activities! The course was mostly flat with a small gradual hill in the first mile, then it seemed to be downhill the rest of the way to the finish. I finished with a decent 5K time, not my best, but I was happy with my time of 28:49. This means I had a 9:17 average mile time. The stats have already been posted so my official results are these: I was 4th of 32 in my age group of 30-39, 102 of 224 total people and 32 of 121 total women. Had I been only 21 seconds faster I would have placed third. I am kicking myself now because I walked a few times super briefly to catch my breath. I couldn't seem to find a comfortable pace today.

Reasons to do this race:
Chip timed
Race number for your scrapbook
massive amount of food after the race
lots of door prizes
volunteers at every turn
Accurate results that matched my stopwatch
nice shirt, with the option to upgrade to a technical shirt
local race
massage therapists to help you recover quicker
packet with freebies inside
good friends to do the race with you

Me, Waterboy from Z102.9 radio station and Stephany

my race number

Some crazy looking clouds were rolling in and I thought there was going to be a storm, but then it rolled past, cleared up and got hot within a matter of minutes.

Stephany and I taking our famous picture of ourselves before the race.

massage therapists were there after the race for massage!

post race food!

Chex mix as another option for post race food.

grapes and tons of them.

COOKIES!!! And whoever made them is amazing because they know how to cook a great cookie.

Stephany's and my shoe with our timing chip.

Almost ready to race, just about to get in line.

My friend Bill Johnson who used to take my Body Pump class was at the race so I had to have a picture with him.

Stephany Coleman, Muriel Naumann, and Me before the race.

Stephany was estatic about her race time. She got a new Personal record of 26:59 and was literally jumping out of her skin. She was standing on my car while talking on the phone to her Dad about the race. Stephany not only set a P.R., but she also placed 4th in her age group.

Prizes after the race. I actually won 3 things! 2 bags and a lanyard from Chick-fil-A!

This is my friend Muriel Naumann who ran the 10K (6.2 mile) race today and placed 1st in her age group of 50-59 with a time of 47:01. Stephany and I see Muriel at most of the races we do and she always places in her age group. She is an amazing runner.

Here is my friend Bill Johnson, he ran the 5K. He won one of the first door prizes which was a bowl full of stuff for a movie night. AND he placed 4th in his age group of 50-59 with a time of 24:22! Way to go Bill!

At the end of the race I was admiring the leftover watermelons when the volunteer race ladies said, "Would you like to take one home?" heck yes, so there I am with a watermelon and my other prizes.

Crossroads Triathlon

2011-08-07T20:11:00.002-05:00

What a great race. This was where I ran my first triathlon in 2006. This was the third time I have done this race but the first time since 2007. It is still a very well run race and I had a blast. Unfortunately, with all the other plans our family had this last Saturday, I went up to DeWitt to do the race myself. That means that I have no pictures to post.

I was a little disappointed with my swim time (11:50 for 500 yards) but I had a good bike leg. I actually had the 29th fastest bike time out of 155 competitors, averaging 21.4 mph over the 15 miles course. The course was a little hilly but nothing like Lake Geode. The running leg is always the most difficult for me but I still managed to run a 27 minute 5K which for me is pretty good even without having done the other two events first. My final time was 1:25 which is a new personal best for me by 5 minutes. I'll be back next year.

2011 Swisher, IA 5K race

2011-08-06T10:24:00.002-05:00

Another week, another race! This time it was in Swisher, Iowa. I actually did this race last year and it was great to do it again so I could beat my previous year's time.

The day started out in the low 70 degree range, overcast and a little bit muggy. My friend Stephany picked me up at my house since we are down a vehicle. Our van is in the mechanic's shop for repair.

Last year at this race I had a time of 31:45 and I placed 13th of 16 in my age group, and I didn't feel very well.

This year I was a little bit faster with a time of 30:38 and I placed 6th of 16 in my age group, and I felt pretty good overall.

I was joined by many friends this year to race with or be cheered on by:
Danyel Kolek, Janeen, Andy and Bella VanEtten, Patty Urban, Natalie and Ryan Empey and family and my running friend Stephany Coleman!

I love the Swisher 5K race because it is a challenge for me. It has massive hills and at least 5 of them. There are 2 water stops, lots of volunteers, food, door prizes and massage tables at the end! If you don't like hills then don't sign up, but if you want a challenging course, then this one is great!

Some stats were posted so my stats as of now are:

Time 30:38
Running pace 9:51
1st mile 9:08, 2nd mile 20:50
6 of 16 in age group
81st of 126 overall
31 of 59 females

My friend Natalie and her adorable family. Her baby was in the stroller nearby

Natalie, myself and Stephany

Stephany and I taking a picture of ourselves before the race!

Running Again

2011-08-04T12:36:00.006-05:00

I'm pleased to write that I'm running again. Yesterday I ran 4.05 miles and then today I did 5 miles but it was all speed work (walking, jogging, fast running and sprinting) planned by my friend Stephany. I have a 5k race planned for this Saturday morning that I hope to do as well. I had a couple small walks last week of about a mile each, but no running. I wanted to but just couldn't do it. My heart was hurting and still is.

Last week I didn't run at all because I was sad and grieving my dear little Niece that passed away. Last Sunday on the 24th of July Laila went back to her loving Heavenly Father while taking a nap. She was almost 12 weeks old. I felt a special connection to her because I had the opportunity to hold her when she was just 6 days old and this isn't something I ever get to do with any of my nieces or nephews because I live so far away from all of my family. I think Laila is the only niece that I have held that young. Her parents are amazing and I love them very much. I feel that they have raised their family so well, and I look up to them with great respect.

I was so sad last week and this week that I didn't want to do anything but stay home and in bed. I did manage to get up last Tuesday only because I have children to take care of, and I had 2 Zumba classes last week that I was scheduled to do that I knew that I really shouldn't sub out or cancel. Since I had already cancelled my Body Sculpt class the day before and didn't want to cancel any more classes I did those two classes anyway. Then on Wednesday most of my family traveled to Colorado to see Laila's family and mourn with them.

I'm only sharing this because there are times in each of our lives that we just want to stay in bed, not see anyone, cry, cancel everything in our life etc. These are times when our life can take a turn for the worse and we can then just become sadder, more lonely and distance ourselves from others. Thus only hurting those who are still living around us that love us.

I didn't want to teach Body Sculpt on Monday of this week. It was one of the hardest things to do (go back to teaching with a smile on my face when my heart was so sad and broken). After class I just came home and did next to nothing for an entire day. I think if it wasn't for my wonderful family and my teaching schedule that I might have done nothing for a while. Then Tuesday came again and I had two Zumba classes to teach. I once again smiled when I was hurting and did my classes anyway. Tuesday night I realized that I need to run again and that perhaps might help me heal. I knew running (although not fun at all when doing it) feels amazing when it's over and if you are anything like me, you like to mark down your miles on a chart or in a running log.

So I got up on Wednesday morning (yesterday) and dragged myself to a treadmill at the local community center where I teach. First I just set up equipment for my Body Sculpt class starting in 2 hours and was putting off running by setting up all the equipment super slowly, but I knew deep down I needed to just get started. Eventually I got on the treadmill and started walking which then lead to running. I accomplished 4.05 miles and had tears of joy when I was done. I knew I could run again. Hopefully through running I can heal my pain and feel better. When I run I think about others that are going through trials and I think about ways I can help them. I also think about things I can do better in my life so I can enhance someone else's life and lift their spirit.

Walking, jogging and running have always helped me feel better. I hope that others can find this kind of joy like I am finding in doing things they love as well, and through doing these things their hearts will heal .

Downward Dog 5K in Coralville, IA

2011-07-23T10:21:00.001-05:00

This was such a small race that only about 12 people were there. The race started at 8a.m. and I didn't even set my alarm to get there. I guess being a Saturday and being up a little late on Friday night that I technically could have slept through the race. However I didn't sleep through it. At 7:30a.m. Jason woke and said, "You are going to that race right?" I said, "Yes!" and I got up and ready for the race. I didn't even eat my banana. Usually I do eat a little something before running, but I just didn't feel like eating.

I arrived at the Downward Dog Yoga place at 7:50a.m. and it was raining. Not a fun way to start a race, but for as hot as it's been around here (in the 100 degree range) rain felt nice. Although it was still muggy and my hands were sticky the entire race.

They started the race with just twelve people. Eight of us were 5K runners, and the other four were 10K. I placed 5th out of 8 with a time of 29:28. Not my best time, however I think that because I didn't eat any food made me have absolutely no energy which may have resulted in this bad time. Either way I finished. This race was only $5.00 so you couldn't really complain that you didn't get a shirt or a race number for your scrapbook. They did have food at the end. Gatorade, water, bagels, cookies, bananas and apples. Bummer is, they had 8 door prizes and I'm so unlucky that I didn't win anything. Even though this race was only 3 miles from my house, I won't run it again next year. I will pick a race that I have to drive further to that has a shirt, race number and possibly chip timed.

Stephany and I after the race was over.

The Downward Dog Yoga place in Coralville, IA where the race started and ended.

I finished

2011-07-16T20:54:00.007-05:00

Today was the Lake Geode Challenge. It was the longest race I have ever done. 15oo meter open water swim in Lake Geode, 40K bike ride through steamy Iowa countryside, and a 10K run through the hilliest state park in the world. I am glad this is over. Every part of my body from my waist to the tips of my toes hurt. I also forgot to put on Body Glide so I am severely chaffed where my arms rubbed my tank top. I don't have all my splits yet but my final time was 3 hours and 5 minutes. I was aiming for a sub 3 hour race but at least I finished. The winner finished in 1 hour and 59 minutes. I was about 200 yards into the run, climbing this insane hill when he passed me coming into the finish. Talk about having the wind taken out of your sails.

The swim was a water start with all the men 44 and under starting in the first wave. The water was almost unswimmable due to coliform contamination but the DEQ decided that the water quality was just above allowable limits. Still, the water smelled and tasted a little on the skanky side. I didn't have any trouble sighting for about the first 1000 meters but as I got tired, I started to pull to one side and had to start sighting about every 6 strokes to stay on line with the finish. As I was finishing up the swim, the sun came out from the clouds and I knew that it was going to start getting hot. Running out of the water, up the beach to the transition, I was breathing pretty hard and my legs were a little unsteady. I took a little longer than usual to throw on my shirt, socks, and bike shoes hoping that I would calm down a little. Hopping on my bike out of transition, I tried to get a little speed in the first 200 yards because we had a huge hill to start climbing out of the beach area. As I started up the hill, I was pedaling pretty hard and as I geared down, I lost my chain. I quickly got it back on but it is very hard to get going back up a hill from a dead stand still. Once we got out of the park, I was able to pick up some speed but the hills kept coming. After flying down into the Skunk River valley at 40 mph, I had to immediately climb back out. I was largely able to hold my own during the 25 mile ride but I did get passed a few times. The scariest parts of the ride were during a couple of the descents that ended in blind curves but the speed was a rush. Since this was not a draft legal race, all riders had to be careful to stay away from the other riders. One rider actually got a 2 minute time penalty for riding too close behind another rider. When I dismounted the bike, I actually had to lean on the bike for support so that I wouldn't fall over. I quickly slipped my running shoes on, got rid of my bike helmet, and took off on the run. Right away I had to run up the same hill that I lost my bike chain on. It was incredibly miserable. I was feeling pretty badly and actually ended up walking part of the hill. Unfortunately, the hills just didn't stop. Thankfully, there were water/gatorade aid stations about every 3/4 mile. They also had bags of ice and ice-cold sponges. The ice bags were the best thing. I crunched on ice most of the race. That was the only thing that kept me going. I walked several times throughout the run portion but once I hit mile 4 I ran the rest of the way in.

running towards the finish

Finishing!

The plunge bath was wonderful.

Happy to be done!

I hate pseudoscience

2011-07-14T08:28:00.002-05:00

Michelle keeps threatening me that she is going to make this her own personal blog since I very rarely write anything. I guess I had better step up and say something.

One of my big pet peeves is pseudoscience, particularly when it involves health and fitness issues. I saw a short video yesterday entitled "Why Diet Soda Makes You Fat." As a drinker of diet soda and as a 40 year old man that has trouble losing weight even though I put in about 10 hours of hard cardio and resistance training a week, I was interested. Unfortunately, it was a load of dung. The guy in the video started talking about how most of the food we eat these days (including diet sodas) are highly acidic and this "acidification" of our body makes us leach minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iodine. Iodine is extremely important to our metabolism because it is used by our thyroid gland to make the hormones T4 and T3 which, among other things, help to increase our metabolism and therefore burn more calories. What he over looks is that it is nearly impossible to acidify our body. If our blood pH decreases below 7.35 (normal physiological pH ranges from 7.35 to 7.45) we would be seriously sick. The other thing he over looks is that no matter what the pH of the food we intake, it all gets acidified in the stomach during the process of digestion (stomach acid pH is about 2). As food is released in small amounts into the small intestines, the pH is increased to physiological levels. There is also no evidence in the peer-reviewed, published biomedical literature that supports this body acidification and leaching hypothesis.

Now, I am not suggesting that we should all feel good about chugging vast amount of soda, diet or otherwise. Soda, particularly Mt. Dew and colas, have negative effects on our teeth. One of the traps I fall into is believing that because I am drinking a diet soda, I can eat more. Also, artificial sweeteners (and excessive sugar) are thought to perhaps be able to "train" our brains to crave sweeter foods. If we give into these cravings and eat that extra piece of cake, we increase our blood insulin levels. While good for glucose uptake, insulin inhibits fat metabolism (this is the basis of the Atkins diet).

In short, it is important to limit the over consumption of any one food - particularly those with limited nutritional value. We need to focus on eating nutrient rich rather than just calories rich foods.

On another subject, I am competing in my first Olympic distance triathlon this Saturday. It is a 1500 meter swim, a 40K (25 miles) bike ride, and a 10K run. I am not a very strong runner and am nervous about having to run 6.1 miles after everything else. This is also a very hilly course both for the bike (we climb nearly 14oo feet over all) and the run (700' overall). My goal is to finish in 2 hours and 50 minutes or less.

Tri in July Sigourney, Iowa

2011-07-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

You may ask, where is Sigourney, Iowa? I asked that same question. It is 53 miles Southwest of Iowa City. It's a small town with a great mini triathlon.

About a month or so ago my friend Tracy told me about this triathlon race. My first thought was "No way, because I don't swim." My main fear was swimming in an outdoor pond or lake with many others swimming at the same time and pushing my head under as I flail around helplessly and drown slowly. That is the main reason I haven't ever signed up for a triathlon. She let me know that this tri was so much different than the rest. First of all it's a mini sprint (330 yards of swimming, 6 miles on a bike and then a 2 mile run) and you swim in an outdoor pool and everyone starts 30 seconds apart, so your chances of being pushed under the water aren't as likely. I told her okay, but I was worried about the swimming part, plus I hadn't been on a bike in at least 4 years that I could remember, so that would be challenging for me as well. Running isn't strong for me either, but since I try to do at least a 5K race almost every Saturday I felt that I would be fine doing that.

Over the past few weeks I have tried to swim laps, but not knowing how to breathe properly has been an issue, plus not having the right swimsuit or goggles wasn't a good thing either, then lastly the NOT KNOWING HOW TO SWIM can create many issues when trying to swim. My swim portion was rather frightening for me. I started out too quickly because of excitement, then when I saw that the bottom of the pool dropped by 10 feet I freaked out and my head came up out of the water, I then swallowed water and panicked a little. I then decided that I was going to do this no matter what and flipped to my back and did a back stroke for the rest of the swim.

After exiting the pool I ran barefoot to the bike. I quickly put the bicycle helmet on, dried off my feet, put on socks and my shoes, then got on the bike to start the 6 miles. I did well on the bike, especially considering that I don't have my own bike and have only ridden a bike about 5 times in the last year. I was borrowing Tracy's bike and I had only ridden it for the first time the night before. There were hills to ride, but nothing too crazy. I finished the 6 miles in 23 minutes and then ran to put my bike up so I could start running.

The run felt so weird. My legs were like jello and it was extremely difficult to put one foot in front of the other and run. I felt like I was going so slow, but by the first mile mark my time was just at 10 minutes so that wasn't too bad.

When I finished I felt amazing and I'm glad I did this race. I highly recommend this race to anyone who likes to do triathlons, but to those especially who need a good first time tri!

My first goal was to finish. My second goal was to do this entire thing in under an hour, my third goal was to do this race in 50 minutes or less since last year's top 3 in my age group all had 51 minutes or less so I figured I could have a chance at placing in the top 3 if I just had a 50 minute time.

My final time was 55:18 and I placed 4th out of 6 in my age group of 30-39! I was 4 minutes and 13 seconds away from being 3rd place. Not bad for a first time out.

13 is my lucky number and when I saw this sign on the way to the race, I just had to have a picture!

There were big painted rectangles on the grass and this is how I laid my stuff out for the transition between events.

Here I am in Tracy's triathlon suit that she let me borrow, showing off my number that was written on my body for the race.

A really awesome triathlon bike that I was sure Jason would want, so I took a picture.

Tracy and I before the race!

Just before starting the race

Getting ready to start the race. You can see a variety of swimsuits and triathlon suits in this picture.

Tracy took this picture of me through the fence of me waiting in line getting ready to start my swim

a picture of me struggling to swim. I'm so glad I was able to finish this part of the race.

running to the bike

getting ready to ride

just finished the biking portion.

some of my first steps of the running portion of the race. My legs were so heavy.

Running in for a great finish!

After the race!

Amazing post race food. There was breakfast pizza from Pizza Ranch, cookies from Subway, then bananas and water from a local grocery store were all donated for us!

After the race and a shower, Tracy and I posed in our race shirts!

If you double click on this picture you can see some of the race results bigger.

2011 Heritage Days 5K in Mt. Vernon, IA

2011-07-09T15:30:00.001-05:00

Today I woke up nice and early before my alarm at 5:30a.m. I felt great, so waking up so early wasn't the worst thing. It was my turn to drive and I picked up Stephany at 6:30 to go to Mt. Vernon. We arrived right on the dot of 7a.m. and went inside the high school to check in and get our shirts. It was nice and slightly breezy outside and 70 degrees. At 8a.m. the weather had become a bit humid and hot. I'm not sure of the temperature, but it was definitely much hotter than when we arrived. The race started and the first mile went ok. It was really hot to run in. My first mile was 9:44 and that is slow for my first mile. I had thoughts of not running, but knew I would because I came to finish. There was this massive steep hill at the end of mile one. It was so steep that it was taking all I had to run up it. At one point I must have been running so slow up it that a power walker walked right by me, so I started walking instead up the hill.

I picked up the pace a bit in mile 2 and felt like I was running at a fast pace. However by the end of the race my time was a disappointing 29:50 I received a popsicle stick that had my place number on it. I was place #130 out of about 300. I ended up placing 6th in my age group which at the time I looked at my age group sheet it had 24 people in it. It's not the worst race I've ever done as far as time goes, but it's definitely not my best. I'm glad I finished given how hot I was.

Positives of this race:
Low Cost
You get a shirt
Bananas, watermelon, granola bars and water after the race
Indoor bathrooms!
5K and a 10K so if you like to go to longer races, then here you go.

Negatives and reasons I won't do this race again:
No doorprizes
No prizes for top three in age group
No medals of any kind for top three in age group.
No race number
Popsicle stick timing--I don't like this because it is so inaccurate because there are always people that don't turn them in, so you may think you have one time, but then get recorded as another.
The race organizers seemed a bit frazzled at the beginning of the race and not organized. They didn't have the 30-39 5K Women's registered sheet.
At the end you run on the high school track, but people were actually exiting the track so it was a little confusing where to go, they needed one of the volunteers at that turn.
Only one water stop on the course. Usually that is fine, but for as hot as it was, they needed two water stops and they needed gatorade or something equivalent.
I like bagels at the end and there weren't those.
No packet of goodies
Not chip timed.

Next year if I have to do a race on the 2nd weekend of July I will be glad to travel further for a better run race.

A picture of my shirt, that I can't find currently.

Stephany and I before the race.

Eating watermelon after the race.

Stephany and I after the race.

Lots of watermelon to eat, it was amazingly good!

granola bars too!

Stephany and I about an hour after the race waiting for results.

2011 Alliant Energy 8K race, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

2011-07-04T14:58:00.002-05:00

Because it's a holiday there are a variety of great races around the area. The one I chose to race is the Alliant Energy Fifth Season Races 8K. For those of you who don't know an 8K distance is within .03 of 5 miles. So basically it's a 5 mile race. This race had cash prizes and some of the best people in the country come to this race to run for the cash. The winner of this race today was Macdonard Ondara from Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is 26 years old and ran this race in ONLY 22:41. Amazing. This means his pace was a 4:34 minute mile. WOW!

The day started out just gorgeous. 64 degrees with medium humidity. A slight breeze and sunny. I ran this race in 48:38 for a 9:55 mile pace. I placed 747 of 872 total people. 281 out of 346 females. I placed 49 out of 65 in my age group of 35-39.

I started out the race not feeling 100%, but my motto is: You sign up for a race, you run it no matter what. The first mile I felt ok, but my first mile was 10:36. That's really bad for me. I hoped to run a bunch faster than that. By mile 3, my time was 29:39 so I had sped up a tiny bit. My shins were hurting in both legs today until mile 2 1/2. Then my IT band was hurting in my right leg until around mile 3 and both my ankles in the front were hurting. After mile 3 I felt amazing and ran a great last 2 miles! I think I could have ran 10 miles today the way I was feeling, but who knows since I haven't run further than 5 miles since my half marathon on May 7th. I'm trying to up the miles super slowly so my next Half Marathon on September 10th is done with better leg health.

There was lots of food at the end to choose from, ie: oranges, bananas, apples, granola bars, fruit treats, water, cookies, gatorade and muffins!

In our race packet there are free sandwiches for Chick-fil-a. I think I got 5 free sandwiches, so those will be fun to redeem. There was also a massage table at the end of the race so I took advantage of that.

After the 8K race was done there was a 5K race. I stayed around to watch a couple friends run that. Overall a great race!

Before the race at 6:15a.m.

Race just started. I'm off to a great start!

Running in to the finish. Thank you Jason for coming with to take great pictures!

Almost at the finish!

Very festive shorts. Jason thought I was silly to take a picture.

2011 Reagan Run, Dixon, Illinois

2011-07-03T08:21:00.004-05:00

Last week my parents called and offered to buy Brenden a plane ticket to Ohio so he could visit for a few weeks all by himself. Brenden was super excited and said he'd love to go. While talking to Brenden I joked about how it would be so cool to find a race in Chicago on the way to the airport and how his flight was in the afternoon so we would have time to do a race most likely. Brenden and I googled races in Illinois. We found several. Then I mapped out our way to Midway airport. We found a race called Reagan Run in Dixon, Illinois and it was right off of I-88 which was on our way. Only problem is, we would have to get up super early to get to Dixon to pick up our packet in time.

So the plan was made and I registered online for our race. The race was set for Saturday, July 2nd at 8a.m. and we had to be there at 6:30a.m.ish to pick up our packet. We got up at 4:10a.m. to leave by 4:30a.m. along with my daughter Alyssa who wanted to take pictures and went to Dixon.

We arrived in Dixon at 6:20a.m., stepped out of the car and it felt like a heat wave had hit us. The weather didn't cool down in the night. It was so hot that our hands were sticky. Neither of us were sure how we would run this hot race. However we were there to race so we picked up our packet and walked around Dixon to find the start and finish line, make ourselves familiar with the area, took pictures of Reagan's boyhood home and had a great time. It was a fabulous race.
Positives: Chip timed, great shirt, lots and lots of food at the finish. Well organized with volunteers at every turn. Streets closed for racers. Lots of bathrooms without too much of a wait. A packet with some goodies in it. Drinks at the start and finish and water on the course a couple times. Split times called out to you at your 1 and 2 mile mark. A special timing chip we got to keep. 1500 other runners to talk to. Beautiful town! Oh and the best part was that the local YMCA let Brenden and I go there and shower for FREE so we wouldn't be stinky at the airport. They were so nice on the phone giving us directions to the Y and were really nice in person when we arrived to shower!

Enjoy the pictures that Alyssa and I took:

picture right off the freeway

Picture of our race route. Double click to see it bigger.

Ronald Reagan boyhood home.

Statue of Ronald Reagan on the right side of his home. Brenden was fascinated with.

Brenden found his race pace.

My race pace, which is quite a bit slower than Brenden's pace.

Cool street sign.

There were signs showing quotes of Ronald Reagan all over the city. My favorite quote was one I saw while running that said, "All great change in America begins at the dinner table."

A picture of Brenden's and my shoes with our special Centennial timing chip that we got to keep.

A before race picture.

The finish line.

Pizza after the race

Food of all kinds!

Even Italian Lemon ice. It was super yummy!

Brenden and I in our race shirts at the airport later that day!

Addicted to Running and loving it!

2011-06-29T17:03:00.001-05:00

There are so many things people can be addicted to that are bad. I don't think running would be one of those "Bad" addictions. But I don't know, you tell me.

Here's my running story:

6 years ago my sister and I decided to train for a half marathon in Columbus, Ohio. My sister had run a marathon a few month prior to us deciding to do this Columbus race, so I figured a half marathon was totally doable. I started to train, as best as I knew how. I didn't know what I was doing, but ran anyway. I developed horrible shin splints in both legs and running was massively painful. When I arrived in Ohio a few days before the race, both my sister and I decided that changing our race to the 5K would be best for both of us. For her it was best because she hadn't trained much and didn't feel ready. For me, the decision to change races was because of my shin splints. Race day arrived and it was super cold out. It was 32 degrees and snowing of all things the first weekend in April of 2005. Both my sister and I were miserable and the rain/snow was hard to run in. Neither of us had proper clothing, but we ran the race anyway. After the race I said I'd never do it again.

5 Years went by and I didn't run at all.

Then in February of 2010, my friend Stephany asked me to do a 5K in her hometown of Burlington, Iowa and I told her I wasn't a runner, I didn't enjoy running and didn't want to ever do it again.

She asked me why. I told her the story above.

She didn't take No for an answer, instead she said that we could train slowly so I wouldn't get injured and she would teach me how to love it. We ran 3 days a week usually and within a couple months of training we did our first 5K together. I loved the race and couldn't wait to do another race.

This I would say would be where the addiction to running started. I signed up for a couple races a month, but craved many more. By the end of the year I had run in all kinds of weather conditions (rain, snow, extreme hot and extreme cold) I did 17 races in 2010. I ran in many 5K's, then I even did an 8K, 3 10K's the 7 miler Bix race and two half marathons. I was sad come December because I really didn't want to run outside in the cold, so the last race I did in 2010 was a Turkey Trot in November.

I figured I wouldn't be running again until Spring because of the weather, however the bug of running bit me once again. I was at my parent's home in Ohio visiting when an e-mail came through on my computer about a race on New Year's Day. First on the First. I checked the weather and it was due to be in the 50 degree range. So I signed up for the race.

The weather ended up being perfect. Cool and misty out. Perfect day for a run. I ran a great race and placed 4th out of 44 in my age group. From that moment on I decided to do at least 25 races this year. I'm at 14 so far, but have several scheduled for July.

On July 2nd I will be running with my son Brenden a 5K in Dixon, Illinois. This race is on our way to Midway airport. I just happened to stumble across this race online and it's perfect because it's right off the freeway and we have time to do the race, stick around for the post parties, take a shower at the local YMCA and still make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Then on July 4th I have race in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's an 8K race. (5 miles if you want to really know).

July 9th I have a 5K race in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
This same weekend I have a mini triathlon that I'm doing which consists of 5 laps in an outdoor pool, 6 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. It's a Mini Sprint Triathlon. Super excited to try this out.

July 16th a 5K race in Solon, Iowa

July 23rd a 5K in Coralville, Iowa (for only $5.00) This is the cheapest race I've ever signed up for and it's only 2 miles down the road!!!

Then lastly for July on the 30th the Pickle Days 5K race in Walker, Iowa. I did this one last year and it was so fun. My friend Stephany and I even went to a Pancake breakfast after.

You may ask, how do you find all the money to do all these races? Well if you really care that much. I donate plasma twice a week. At the first donation of the week I am paid $20 and the 2nd donation of the week I get $40. My first donation of the week pays for my entires to races. The 2nd donation goes to the family. When you donate plasma you are getting paid for your time (according to them), that's why you get money when it's really a donation. Since plasma regenerates within 24 hours, that's why you can donate twice a week. I'm glad I'm healthy enough to both donate plasma to earn extra money, and also healthy to run.

So there you have it. I have officially signed up for a race every single week in July. What a great month this will be! I guess because of signing up for a race every week means I'm addicted to running!

Two Races in One Day

2011-06-25T22:38:00.002-05:00

I met the challenge of two races in one day. My day started early at 12:30 a.m. when I did a Zumba class as the Entertainment for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I did a 1 hour class and had around 50 dancers in the beginning and around 30 at the end of the hour. I arrived home around 1:50a.m. and was so wound up that sleeping was super difficult. I went straight to bed for I knew I had a race in the morning, but sleep didn't come easy. My heart was racing and all I could think about was Zumba and how much fun that last class had just been. I had at least 4 Zumba dreams and at one point woke up to my feet dancing. At 6:10a.m. the alarm went off. I got up, but it was extremely difficult. At 6:40a.m. Stephany and I were leaving for our first race to Kalona, Iowa. This was a 5K Race called the Hymn Sing Hustle. I thought it was just a cute name for a race, instead we really sang hymns that were the tunes of church hymns, but songs about running. Too funny.

The race was partially a trail run in the woods. The other part was mostly on gravel roads. I've trained on gravel roads before, but I don't ever remember gravel so large. I slipped a few times and once almost rolled my ankle. In the woods there were spots of mud, standing water, slippery grass, rough terrain, sticks, rocks and branches in our way. I took it easy and careful so I wouldn't fall. As a result of this "taking it easy while running" my race time was a disappointing 30:29 I'm pretty sure that is. They did the results in a weird way, they didn't record times, they yelled out your time to you and then they placed your tag from your racing bib in the order in your age group. So your age group results are correct, but no times will be listed.

I came home from this race and took a long nap. I think the nap was 2 or more hours. I even inserted ear plugs in so I wouldn't hear anything. I slept well!

That afternoon I packed my gym bag for yet another race. This time I went with my daughter Alyssa. Alyssa did the 1K Children's race and I did a 5K race. This race was in Monticello, Iowa. A very small town in Eastern Iowa. It was pouring rain when we left the house, but by the time my race started at 5p.m. the weather had cleared. It was overcast and a tiny bit breezy, yet beautiful. It was 64 degrees and the sun peaked out occasionally, but not a bit of humidity. This race had cash prizes and some of the best runners in the state were attending this one. I was in the biggest age group there. There were many amazing runners with super fast times of 20 minutes to 24 minutes. My time was 29:28 I felt super lucky to finish since I was so tired by mile 3. Mile 1 I did in 8:44, then by mile 2 my time was 17:30 so I was on track for a personal record of 27 minutes something. However in that third mile I slowed down by a couple minutes. It took all I could to finish and I felt my tired body saying No. I ran anyway and finished, but not with the time I had hoped for. Would I do two races in a day again. YES you bet, however I would not do Zumba in the middle of the night before doing such a thing. My overall time for both races was 59:57 for 6.2 miles, so doing a 10K under an hour is possible.

Next race is July 4th at 7a.m.!

Stephany and I before the Hymn Sing Hustle 5K Race in Kalona, Iowa

The shirt

My race number

Stephany and I sipping on smoothies right after the race. YUM!

The top three women in the 30-39 age group. I placed 3rd. The lady in the grey placed 2nd and I was just behind her the entire time. If only I knew she was in my age group I may have pushed myself to catch her.

Both Stephany and I placed 3rd in our age groups. Here we are sporting our medals!

After our race I took Stephany to the Scratch and Dent Grocery store called Central Discount. She had never been there and wanted to see what kind of store would sell food like a garage sale. Too funny. Here is her stash of goods!

After Central Discount I took her to the Cheese Factory and had to get this "Cheesy" picture after she bought her cheese.

Ok so call us Nerds or whatever, I don't care, but our race medal sashes said "Super Stars" on them, so we were trying to do the Super Star thing from Saturday Night Live. However it looks like we are signaling "Looser"

Several hours later, after I took a 2 hour nap, Alyssa and I left for my next race. She decided she wanted to do the 1K Children's race. Here is a picture of her before the race.

This is Alyssa running in for the finish. She looks amazing!

Alyssa right after her race. She told me she was really tired. She is showing off her finishing medal. Her first one.

Alyssa and I taking a picture of ourselves before my race.

If you look to the left of the picture it is me running in to the finish. My official time was 29:28. I'm the one in the pink shorts.

Alyssa grabbed this picture of me after my race. I was completely exhausted.

Since the results were posted, I took a picture of them. In case they are still too small, here is a better description of them--Time 29:28 9:29 Mile pace. Placed 18 out of 32 in my age group of 30-39, placed 121 of 177 total runners. Placed 55 out of 93 females. I was hoping for even better results since the weather was PERFECT out. 64 degrees and breezy and overcast. It had been raining on our way there, but stopped for my race. I know my time would have been better had I not been so tired.

New Challenge

2011-06-22T17:06:00.000-05:00

I want to see how I will do with two races in the same day, so this Saturday the 25th of June I will be doing a 5K race in the morning at 8a.m.

then at 5p.m. that night I will be doing another 5K race.

I'm hoping that both are around 28 minutes or less so that when added together I could say that my 10K time is under an hour.

Only problem with this particular day is the night before I won't get much sleep because at 6:30p.m. I will be teaching Zumba at the North Liberty Recreation Center, then at 12:30a.m. I will be teaching Zumba again to a huge group that will be doing the American Cancer Society Relay for Life that goes for 24 hours. I was asked to do an hour of Zumba as part of the entertainment. When I agreed to do this I forgot that I had a race on the 25th and now I have two races. Crazy me, but the entire day will be fun!

2011 Burlington, IA YMCA/YWCA 5K Race

2011-06-18T12:57:00.001-05:00

On Friday, June 17th Stephany and I left for Burlington, IA. This is her hometown and we were going to do a race the next morning. It was a beautiful day out without any storms.
The next morning we woke to extremely high humidity, in fact weather.com said it was 100% humidity, not sure how that could be because that would mean it's raining out and it wasn't raining, but there was fog everywhere. The temperature was 72 degrees out with a ESE Wind of 3 m.p.h. and it was extremely muggy. At the start of the race we met Stephany's parents who took some pictures of us. I got 3 bug bites in just a couple minutes and I was super warm. I wasn't sure how I would run 3 miles. However, I did run it because I had already decided to do it when I registered for the race.

The first mile I did in 8:45, by 1.5 miles I was at 13:51 so I had slowed down a lot. Mile 2 I was at 18:45. My breathing didn't seem to be in control today and I heard a little bit of wheezing going on so I hope I'm okay. I did walk at some parts of this race, but only to catch my breath and bring my breathing back to a comfortable/normal level to run again.

In the end I ended up 51 out of almost 100 people. I was 5th in my age group of 30-39 which I was told was the largest age group there of 22 people, so 5 out of 22 isn't bad at all.

My final time was 28:27 which beat last year's time by 46 seconds.

A picture that Stephany and I took of ourselves. We were on a crazy ride at the Steamboat Days Carnival in Downtown Burlington, Iowa. That ride made us both sick and we were dizzy for about an hour after.

Stephany and I before the 5K race.

Another picture, this time closer up, taken from Stephany's parents before the race.

The race start

Me at mile 1.5

Running in for the finish.

Stephany with her 3rd place medal for her age group!

2011 Freedom Run 5K in Williamsburg, IA

2011-06-03T22:52:00.003-05:00

This past Monday my friend Stephany and I started Memorial Day with a race. The day was 70 degrees with humidity, wind gusts of 20 m.p.h. or more and the course was hilly. Despite those three H's (Hills, Humidity and Hot) we still had a great race!

Here are my stats:
My time was 29:04, not a personal best, but for the conditions I felt great to be under 30 mintues.

I was 4th out of 11 in my age group of 30-39.
I placed 42nd out of 87 total people.
I placed 19 out of 51 females!

Stephany placed 6th out of 12th in her age group.

Before the race. Stephany and I taking a picture of ourselves!

Stephany and Tracy before the race.

A picture of our shirt.

Tracy, Stephany and I before the race.

Another picture of us. Tracy wasn't racing that day due to not feeling well.

Somebody's really cool looking running shoes.

Almost ready to race.

Running towards the finish.

A close up of me running to the finish. It looks like I'm eating ice cream. Must be a sun glare. I need a better camera. Look I'm not touching the ground!

2011 Marion Arts Festival 5K Race in Marion, Iowa

2011-05-22T13:19:00.001-05:00

A great race that I think everyone should try at least once for their first 5K or their 100th 5K. It is well done and many details are paid attention to.

Only thing that could be improved would be finishing medals because for some those are important.

Here is the link to the race I did with my friends and some of my family: RACE

On thing I didn't mention in my original race post is that the weather was perfect. It was scheduled to storm big time and all day and super heavy, but the storm changed it's mind and went another direction, the skies cleared for our pre-race, during the race and then for most of the post race. Then it rained for about and hour and then it cleared up for the entire day! I am very thankful for that.

2011 Columbus Distance Classic Half Marathon, Columbus, Ohio

2011-05-09T20:53:00.002-05:00

The day finally arrived. May 7, 2011. I was super nervous, but did it.

Here is the link to the details of that race: Half Marathon

I'm glad I did it!

the next Half Marathon is scheduled for September 10, 2011 in Waterloo, Iowa. The race is called Park to Park and it's put on by the Trekman Racing company. Dave Trekman is the race director and he is awesome at putting on races. If you are reading this and are local and you would like to sign up for a fabulous race I recommend this one. It also has a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon walk and Half Marathon relay.

Injured

2011-04-28T08:24:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks back on Monday April 11th I ran 11.34 miles. After my run my left knee felt hot and I couldn't even walk correctly. I was super worried. I iced the area, took ibuprofen and massaged the area. I then cancelled all my Zumba  classes for that night and the next morning. Within about 12 hours my knee felt better but the pain on the side of the knee and part way up my leg was horrible. Come to find out my IT band muscle was too tight. I was told by my fitness coordinator at one of the gyms I work at that I should buy a foam roller  and use that to loosen up the band of muscle.

So I went to Running Wild and bought one. It helped a ton. I figured I was done being injured. I resumed teaching Zumba on Wednesday of that week and took a week off of running.

On Monday of this week I went out to run 8 miles. I'm tapering in my miles now since my half marathon race  is a week from this Saturday. I was 3 miles into my run when the same thing happened to my knee that happened two weeks ago, it felt hot and stiff.

I immediately rolled it out on the foam roller and did IT band stretches and other stretches. I couldn't walk correctly so I didn't run anymore, I went home and iced.

I was super sad and worried.

I had to cancel my Monday Zumba at the VA again and then my Tuesday morning Zumba at North Dodge. I was so upset by this, but knew I needed rest to heal this injury. I began calling every physical therapist in the Iowa City/Coralville area. I wanted to get into somebody immediately. I got super lucky and got into my old physical therapist from years ago when I hurt my back. I got started on some exercises to make my I T Band Muscle  stronger and was also given a couple different types of massages of the muscle to help loosen it up.

That was Tuesday and then I went back on Wednesday. I have an appointment every day until I leave for my race next Thursday.

I'm resting for the most part (well as much as a mother of 6 can really rest),icing and doing my exercises. I'm hoping that by a week from Saturday that I'm able to run the entire 13.1 miles since I've trained for that and hope to do that.

I'm bummed to have this bump in the road.

It's so dang hard

2011-03-28T15:05:00.000-05:00

Another week another long run. Well that's not exactly how it went. Last week I ran 1.5 miles total. WHY? I'm really not sure. The week started out with a half mile run with my friend Stephany and other friend Amber. Amber hasn't run in a long time and so this particular day she wasn't prepared for her run. She decided to run around the track with Stephany and I. She did well for 4 laps, then looked pale. I asked her how she was feeling and she said she needed water. Stephany and I went with her to get water. Amber passed out. What a scary time for her and for us. Come to find out she didn't eat enough at the start of the day, so because she did my Body Sculpt class and then ran she didn't have enough in her body for all that exercise.

On Wednesday of last week I ran with Stephany and Amber again, but we only went a mile and Amber was ready to be done. I could have continued running and didn't. Not sure why. Then Friday came and Saturday came and I didn't run. I was putting off the long run and as a result didn't do any running.

I decided on Sunday that this week would be different for sure. That starting on Monday I would do my long run and get it over with for the week so at least all week I could say, "I did it!"

So I planned out a 10.5 mile run. On the computer it looked so far away and it is. It was from my house on the West side of Iowa City all the way to our old house on the East side of Iowa City and back. While on the East side I took an extra distance around the block just to check out the old neighborhood.

I came home and mapped out my run on the computer. I had gone 11 miles exactly. How cool!!!

The not cool things about this run are these:
I'm really tired and I still have 2 Zumbas to teach tonight
My right knee hurts pretty bad
I'm freezing

But Hey I did it and that is AWESOME!!

Long way, but not long enough

2011-03-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

Each week I'm scheduled to run further than the week before in order to properly train for my half marathon. This past week I kept putting off the long run.. I was very nervous to do it. I had major anxiety towards it. Every time I would think about it, I quickly thought of better things I could be doing and then did them. I cleaned my room and closet so well that I was able to get 3 garbage bags of clothes and other items to either donate at Goodwill or consign at STUFF. So one could say my room looks awesome. When I finished cleaning my room on Friday afternoon, Jason said to me, "Aren't you going to do that long run?" I told him I could still do it on Saturday and it would be in the week. He suggested I just get it over with because Saturday could be full of things to do as well. I already knew the route I'd run because I planned it out on the computer on a site called www.mapmyrun.com It's fun to plan your routes and it's also fun to just go running and come back and see how far you actually went. Last week I did 8.5 miles so I had to run further than that to meet my goal. So I left on the run. My run included Mormon Trek Blvd., Melrose Ave., Westgate St., Benton St., Camp Cardinal Blvd., and 2nd Ave. It seemed at one point that I was running forever and I guess I kinda was because it took me an hour and a half to run the 9.5 miles. There are parts of the run I don't quite remember so I guess that means I was focused. I know I was paying attention to my right knee and trying to land lighter and not strike so hard.

I'm so glad the long run is over and I hope that next week when I have 10-10.5 miles that I can get through it without problems.

8.5

2011-03-09T11:29:00.002-06:00

Another week another long run. I had a hard time around mile 4.5, but kept plugging on. At mile 6 I was ready to be done, but still kept going. Somehow I did it. I had to keep telling myself, "you can do it, only 2 miles left."

Next week is 9-9.5 I hope I feel this wonderful next week after the long run cause it's getting so hard.

Did I miss anyone?

2011-03-03T08:48:00.004-06:00

I have finally gone in and added all the blog addresses that are in the family and a few of my friends as well. At least I think I have. Did I miss anyone? Did I spell names wrong?

Just let me know and I'll add it, or change it.

Or is there someone that reads this blog on a regular basis that would like their blog displayed on the right side?

it's getting harder

2011-03-02T11:56:00.003-06:00

Today was a long run again, this time 7.5 miles. It was so hard and I wonder how I've ever ran further than this.

I feel blessed to have run this far and hope that I'm able to continue to increase my mileage each week.

A few goals for the upcoming racing season

2011-03-01T10:27:00.003-06:00

Unlike Michelle who is a bit nuts, I don't like running outside when the temperature is below freezing and there is ice/snow on the ground. Actually, I don't like to run very much. However, I do like to compete.

I will do a few 5K's this year but they will be secondary to my real races. I have two triathlons planned for this summer. The first one will be the Lake Geode Challenge. It is an Olympic distance race (1500 meters swim - about 0.9 miles, 40k bike - about 25 miles, 10k run - 6.2 miles). Last year I did the Okoboji Triathlon which was a near-Olympic distance race so this year I thought I would jump in with both feet and really challenge myself. I did the Okoboji race in 2 hours and 9 minutes on a 97 degree day. My goal for Lake Geode is to be under three hours and hopefully do so with the temperature under 90.

I've done a lot of cross training all winter but now it is time to start stepping it up and get back in the water and actually hit the pavement. My other triathlon is the Crossroads Triathlon. I have done this one twice already and really enjoy the race. It is a sprint distance race which is a 500 meter swim, a 15 mile bike ride, and a 5k. My goal for that race is to break 1 hour and 25 minutes. That will be 5 minutes faster than my best time. There are two things (besides overall fitness and weight management) that I need to work on. First, and this will be particularly true for Lake Geode, will be race management. Since cycling is the strongest part of my race, I tend to push too hard in the bike portion and leave nothing left for the run. I am very competitive on the bike and am always trying to catch the rider in front of me - even during training rides. If I can find the fine line between too hard and just right, I will be much more successful. The second thing I really need to work on is my transitions. I am pretty slow and could potentially save a couple of minutes by speeding up the time between each event.

The last race I am really looking forward to is the Flying Pigs Duathlon in Washington, Iowa. We did it as a team last year and took 2nd in the team category. It is a fun race and gives me the opportunity to really focus on going as fast as I can on my bike without having to worry about running.

Zumba

2011-02-24T15:03:00.008-06:00

All of us from Left to Right:
Kim, Holly, Sandra, Jason, Me, Allison

Back in January the club that Jason and I both work for had a Zumba party. I was put in charge of it since I've been teaching Zumba the longest out of the 6 instructors that teach it.

I planned a 2 hour event complete with snacks and lots of prizes!

One girl took pictures of me teaching and just barely sent them to me, here are a few. I'm not sure if I like the look of the mic on the side of my face, either I look funny or like a rock star, not sure which.

I love teaching Zumba and currently teach at 5 different locations on every day except for Sunday. To find a Zumba class in your area just go to www.Zumba.com and then click on Find a class, then put in your zip code.

Starting to get serious

2011-02-23T14:24:00.002-06:00

It's the end of February and I'm well on my way to my half marathon training. I was due a 6 or more mile long run by this week. Since I have a small 5K race this Saturday I knew that day couldn't be my long run so I did it today.

I ran 6.5 miles today!!

AND

it felt great. It was one of those days that running just goes well and everything about it feels right.

Next week is 7 miles and I hope I can report great news that time as well.

Far from home

2011-02-20T14:34:00.003-06:00

As some of you know I'm training for a Half Marathon. That's 13.1 miles just in case. I only mention that because years ago I wouldn't have had any clue how far a Half or Full Marathon was.

Anyway yesterday I should have ran 6 miles because that's what I'm up to as far as mileage goes. I asked my son, Brenden to run with me. He was more than excited to run and started to put on his running clothes.

I put on my colder weather running clothes since it was only 44 degrees out, this included dri fit long running skins, a sport tank covered by a long sleeve dri fit running shirt, followed by a long sleeve running jacket.

Brenden asked me how long we would be running. I told him I really needed to do 6 miles, but would run however far he felt comfortable and then we could either turn around towards home or call Jason (my husband) to pick us up. I made sure I had my cell phone in my pocket.

Brenden was excited to run with me. So we set out and ran for a while. When I checked my stopwatch it had only been 30 minutes and it seemed like 45 or more. Brenden was a trooper and continued to run. When we got to Coralville we both needed a break and were walking for a short bit. It had only been 42 minutes.

Brenden then decided he was done and we were no where near home.

I then saw a lady who was my boss at Curves. She was in the back of her store loading stuff in her car. She spotted me and said, "What are you doing over here?" Knowing I was far from home. I mentioned to her I was out running with my son and we were going over to HyVee to get a drink of water and then continue running.

She said we both looked worn out and then Brenden said, "I sure am and I'm ready to be done."

So she offered to give us a ride home. So nice of her. She clocked the drive home to see how far we had run. I was bummed to find out we had only ran 4.1 miles since it seemed like so much farther. However I'm glad I was able to run with my son. A special memory.

2011 Winterfest Amana, Iowa Freezer 5K Run

2011-01-25T06:19:00.003-06:00

One of my goals this year is to run 1 race every month this year. Here is my race for January:

http://lewisnclark.blogspot.com/2011/01/amana-iowa-winterfest-5k-freeze-run.html

I hope the next race is in much warmer weather.

2011 First on the First 5K--Columbus, Ohio

2011-01-11T16:47:00.005-06:00

I went to my parents home in Columbus, Ohio right after Christmas.

While there I received an e-mail from Premier Races that said that they were doing a 5K race on New Year's Day. The weather said it was going to be an awesome temperature of 52 degrees.

So I thought, "What a great day to run and start the year out right!"

So I registered for the race.

As the week was ending the weather wasn't as nice as it has stated it would be on weather.com

By Saturday morning it was pouring rain and in the high 40's. I was bummed out because I don't like to run outside in less than 50 degrees and I can't stand running in the rain. Every person at my parents house mentioned it was raining outside hard. Yes I could see that.

But since I registered for the race I went anyway. It started at 11a.m.

The entire way to the race (which was a half hour North of my parent's home) it poured rain.

By the time I arrived at the race the rain had slowed down a bunch.

I went inside and grabbed my packet complete with my racing number and timing chip for my shoe. Then I just waited around for the race to start. I warmed up and stretched.

By the time 10:50a.m. came along (time for us all to line up) the rain had stopped completely and it was so nice out. A little cold, but I knew once I started running, I would be fine.

Along the way of my 3 miles there was a slight misting thing going on. It felt wonderful.

This was my best race to date because I achieved a Personal Best!

My official time was 28:31 and this means I ran a 9:12 minute mile pace.

I was 4th out of 44 in my age group. #158th out of 537 total people and 52nd out of 298 Women.

The only bummer was nobody came to the race to cheer me on or take pictures, so there are none to post. Either way it was my best race ever and I loved it. I'm so glad I did a race on New Year's Day to start the year out right with fitness goals! Can't wait till my next race.

I registered

2010-10-30T22:52:00.002-05:00

I officially registered for my next Half Marathon tonight.

This one is in Columbus, Ohio on May 7, 2010. I'm hoping my sister can run with me.

I'm excited and ready to train so that I can hopefully meet my goal of running 13 minutes faster than my last half marathon time. Ths means I need to run this race in 2 hours 12 minutes or less.

2010-10-27T09:25:00.003-05:00

It's launch week at the gym. That means that we (Les Mills Class instructors) are presenting all new music and choreography. I have to learn 34 new songs from three different classes: Body Pump, Body Attack, and Body Step. It is a bit stressful because I am a bit of a perfectionist when I teach. I don't like making any mistakes. I mean, really, people are paying for me to help them get a good workout and the least I can do is present the most perfectly executed class that I can. I probably obsess about this and spend too much time practicing.

One of the things I have learned is the necessity to know my limits. I teach a minimum of 5 classes at week with a maximum of 8. Any more than 8 and I am risking getting injured. I already get out of bed with creaky joints. Of course that might just be my age rather than my activity level. My goal in all of this is to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Races and some random weight loss stuff.

2010-10-24T21:25:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend my family and I did another running race. Read about it herehttp://lewisnclark.blogspot.com/2010/10/muddy-monster-in-cedar-rapids-iowa.html

This race was different from anything I had ever been in. It was an off road race. It had Mud, rocks, broken up trails, huge tire ruts, MUD, sand, holes, grass, slippery spots, puddles, MUD.

Ok so I mentioned the mud. Fortunately I tried to avoid mud and puddles as much as possible and only hit a couple spots that made my shoes dirty. This was a hard race for me because

1. Not knowing what to expect, up to this point I have only ran on streets, flat grass or sidewalks, so running off road in all those conditions mentioned above were hard.

2. It hadn't rained in 4 weeks, but the night before this race rained super hard several times so there was mud and puddles everywhere.

3. I was in a costume and had never run in such a thing before. I had some running tights on below the costume, but that made me very hot and during the race I became over heated many times and had to slow down or walk fast.

As a result of all this my time was slower than my last race. I had a time of 31:02 and only placed 6th in my age group. Had I ran a usual time, like 28:02 or better like my last race, then I would have placed 3rd in my age group. Oh well I guess, so great that I finished.

I haven't run much since my half marathon, in fact maybe only twice a week I have found time to run about 3 miles each time. Running is super hard for me. I find it so great to finish, but so hard to do. I am dying each time on the inside with breathing and all the aches and pains that go with running. There are times I feel just awesome when I run, but most times it's just plain hard. I have come a long way with running because I only started running in March and back then it was only a 1/2 mile and then I was done. I slowly worked up to 3.1 miles within 2 months and from there increased it. I have a long way to go before I like running, but it's getting better each week. I just need to remember that getting good at something takes practice like everything else.

Recently I began teaching more Zumba classes. I now teach up to 8 per week. There have been weeks where I have taught 9 but no more of that hopefully. I love Zumba because it is Latin Dance and it's aerobics. You have both mixed. Some songs are all dance and some songs are just aerobic moves and some are a mix, ok most are a mix. Zumba is where I can be creative and if I want to teach an American Hip Hop song, or a country line dance I can, or I can stick to the Latin stuff the entire class. Seems like most classes I have requests for one of the hip hop songs I have taught in the past.

When I started teaching more in September and October I began some bad habits of eating. I started eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and while you would think that with all this exercise that it would be okay to have cake, ice cream, candy and other high calorie food, well it's not okay all the time and that's exactly what I've been doing.

As a result I have put on 9 pounds. OUCH. This is never a good thing and that has to change.

I always have a wake up call when the scale says 145 or higher because I don't ever want to go back to 220 and with the gaining of 2 pounds a week that's where I'll be in a year if I don't stop.

Ok, so now I've written this OUTLOUD for the world to see, so it's time to do something about it.

My goal will be like in the past when I was loosing weight. I will write down what I eat and see where it is that I cheat. I'm pretty sure it's during the middle of the day and later at night, so right now it's later at night and I wanted ice cream badly, but instead I drank a bunch of water and then put a piece of sugarless gum in my mouth. That helps, but the ice cream is still calling me.

Makes me wonder: If I ate right for an entire month and did all this exercise, what weight would I be? And how much better would I feel?

I have been feeling like a slug for 4 weeks and I know it's all about the bad eating. Sugar just brings you down. There is a natural high at first that makes you feel good, but then later you feel like garbage and are down on yourself for two reasons, the weight gain and how you feel.

So it starts now. I'm 145.6 on the home scale as of this morning. I will weigh myself next Sunday in the morning and see what it tells me.

Meanwhile in addition to writing down my food for the week I will make sure I get in 8 miles of running. 5 miles on Monday is the goal and 3 miles on Friday. The reason I picked those days is because both of those days I don't teach Zumba so I have the extra energy to run.

I just signed up for what I'm thinking is my last race this year. A Turkey Trot. It is on November 13th in Marion, Iowa. It is a 5 mile race.

2010 Ponseti 5K Race--Iowa City, IA

2010-10-09T20:18:00.005-05:00

Today was a local race right here in Iowa City at the University of Iowa campus. It is called Ponseti Race. This race was to raise money for those who have club feet.http://www.uiortho.com/races/

This race was chip timed so the results are super accurate and there was food at the end of the race (always a plus)!

The picture on the left is me right after I arrived home from the race.

The weather was gorgeous today, started in the mid 60's and was around the mid 70's during the race. Beautiful weather for October and perfect for running.

I felt wonderful the entire race and only had a few moments where I had to talk myself into continuing to run. There were a couple bad hills near the end of the race, one of which was so steep that I walked fast up it.

Even though I felt great I had no idea that I was running faster than usual. My ending time was a new personal best. It was 28:02 I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the time clock at the end of the race and then printed my results and it said the same thing. And to think if I hadn't walked up that last hill I could have had a 27 minute time. In shock still. Training is really paying off.

This next picture is me later in the day at the apple orchard wearing my race shirt. My son Jared took this picture.

Busy Zumba week

2010-10-08T08:35:00.002-05:00

This week has been pretty busy and I'm glad it's almost over since I need my Sunday rest day!

On Wednesday I started teaching Zumba for the VA hospital. It starts at 4:10p.m. for a 45 minute class and then right after that there is a 5 minute break only to follow with another 45 minute class.

I thought that maybe only about 10-15 would show up for Zumba at the hospital. I thought this because the Healthy Living Director (who is also a Nutritionist) said that about 8-10 come in for the yoga and strength classes.

I show up early and begin my introduction to my class about Zumba. I usually say something like this:

Zumba is Latin Dance Aerobics. It is for anyone of any age, any aerobic capability and any gender. It takes about 4-6 classes to catch on if you aren't coordinated, but after that you will get it and love it and it will end up being such a healthy addiction that you will want to Zumba every day!

So I start the class with about 15 in the room. Then people just kept on coming in, so much in fact that the Director of the Healthy Living program had to move tables out of the conference room and make more room for us. It was crazy packed in there. We must have had at least 25-30 people in there. They seemed to love it. Many of them took my Zumba business card and e-mailed me the next day saying they loved it and couldn't wait till next Wednesday. Well I can't wait either cause I love teaching Zumba the most. In fact I cut one of my Sculpt classes so I could teach Zumba. I was teaching Sculpt 3 times a week and now it's only two and I got rid of a Step class as well so I could teach another Zumba another time. The only days I don't teach Zumba is Saturday and Sunday.

This week so far I have taught Zumba 9 times and still have one tonight. I just hope my legs don't give out cause they are super tired this morning, in fact I'm laying here with ice packs on the knees and then the ice packs will move to the shins and then to the soleus muscles (mine are always tight my doctor says) and then the ankles. You get the idea. I'm tired, but ready to do it all again in just 8 hours!

An Opportunity with LOADS of potential.

2010-10-01T12:54:00.004-05:00

I had a couple new ladies in my Zumba class a month ago. After class they asked me for my e-mail because they said they had questions.

I received an e-mail a short time later asking me if I would consider teaching Zumba at their dance studio 25 minutes Northeast of my home. Now that's quite a travel time, so I was hesitant with my answer, but then replied this:

As long as I could receive $5.00 per student who signs up or drops in for class AND if there are less than 6 students, then still receive $25 an hour to teach.

They agreed and that started last week. I teach Tuesday late morning and Thursday later evening.

Tuesday morning's class was ok, there were 5 there and so I got the minimum.

Thursday night last week was a whole different story. There were 15 in attendance (13 of which signed up on the spot for a 6 week session) so I knew no matter what I'd be paid for 13 of them every Thursday night. I was just blown away that 15 showed up on the first night of Zumba, but glad also because that meant $75 for just that hour.

This week was different. Tuesday morning's class had 5 again (but 2 people were different than the week before because 2 others were out of town)

Then there is Thursday night, not only did the 13 that signed up actually come back, but the 2 others that hadn't signed up last week, did sign up and pay. AND then 3 more showed up and paid for the remaining 5 weeks.

So this means for last night I made $90 for that class.

I just can't believe that first my offer was even accepted to get paid at this rate and second that people are so excited and showing up and coming back.

I hope I can stay healthy and be able to teach Zumba for a very long time since it seems to be very profitable and I'll be able to replace my Pampered Chef income before long if this attendance keeps up!

Awesome thing is, the owner has a huge gym so we could possibly have up to 50 people in there if that many signed up! So here's hoping that this opportunity continues to become awesome so I can pay our student loan bills.

Hard week

2010-09-23T17:53:00.002-05:00

So far I feel like a noodle. I have taught so many classes this week, in fact 8 to be exact and I still have 4 to go. Zumba tonight, then Step early in the morning tomorrow, Body Sculpt at 8:45a.m. then Zumba tomorrow night. I just hope I can make it to Friday night.

In October I will be adding a class, but taking one away. Adding a Zumba and taking away a Body Sculpt on Fridays.

I want to get rid of Step, I just don't like teaching it anymore, so I'm sure that's next to go.

I haven't had a chance to run this week and haven't felt like I should yet due to the heavy aerobic teaching schedule I have this week. Hoping that next week I can run on Monday since I only teach Body Sculpt next Monday and then run again on Wednesday since next Wednesday I will only teach Body Sculpt again.

This weekend my son and husband and I are all doing a team race. It's called the Flying Pigs Duathlon. Brenden will run the 3.1 miles to start (since he has a faster 5K time than me) then Jason will bike for 20 miles and then I'll run 1.5 miles. After this race I don't have any scheduled till October 23rd because I paid for all my races back in July and don't have any extra money to pay for any races until November and even then it's doubtful.

I want to do a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day, it sounds fun, but will depend on if I'm donating plasma again to have the extra money for the $20 entry fee.

I'm off to go teach, wish me luck since I'm super tired.