Drunk Push Ups

We went to the friends after Beggar's Night and started in on the Pumpkin Ale, a specialty brew from our favorited Pub. I had enough that at one point, I thought I should show the friends my push ups. Today I asked PT (physical therapy) guy if drunk push ups still count. He said he can't vouch for my form but he thinks so. Cool.

Jenny The Hardbody suggested that if I can do 25 girlie push ups, I might be able to do some regular ones. I doubted it, but tried. They aren't very deep or very strong but I can do a few, maybe 5 or 6. I'm going to shoot for 10 good ones. Jenny does some loooooong planks, I've been working on those too. Huge improvements so far, PT guy was impressed. I will have to time them and post. PT guy seems determined to tone and strengthen me from the ribs down. He says it's going to make a huge difference in my running :D

So maybe Runnerbody doesn't just happen, I think I will try to make it happen...

Getting on Track

I need to find more uniform icons for this. Maybe I will steal Chad's. If anyone else has good ones, point me in the right direction.


Three miles with Amy (kind of sounds like Tuesdays with Morrie, although I think she is healthy). We met up after work at Gray's Lake and we got 3 miles in. I struggled some, and probably would have quit after 2, definitely would have quit at 2.89, but she said, "we've come this far, we have to do 3!" Thanks for keeping me going!! Then, let the coughing ensue.

11:13
11:17
11:28 - included me re-tying both shoes.
3.01 miles ~ 34:03 ~ 11:19 pace





Did my PT work last night while watching Bourne Identity on the new surround and hi-def that hubby has been slaving over. God, I love that man. Great gadgets.
Squats, lunges, stretches
Girlie pushups ~ 25


Food could have been better for the first day of the challenge. I'm going to try to crack down today, even with the vat of candy and the little munchkins spooking about.


Have a great day, everyone, and enjoy Trick or Treat!!

Ladies, Start Your Metabolic Engines

A big congrats to Rob who has already won our bet in his latest 5k. He ran 3 miles at 11:00 or better. Okay, so clearly I was deluding myself that we were close to the same place. :P (I AM good at the delusions.) I will have to be more careful who I tangle with or at least more careful about what bets I take. The main thing is it motivated Rob to make this goal so CONGRATS!!

I did TRY to run a 3 miler on Sunday but it was somewhat of a debacle. I had a slight hangover and had taken the kids to Sonic for some greasy fun. UGH. Good for the hangover but overall, not a prescription for a good run. The whole family has this crappy, nagging unproductive cough and that certainly did not help matters. I didn't feel like I could get a full breath in. I'm trying to just do some short running through it until better. The run did exacerbate the coughing fits quite a bit. It went something like 12:03, 12:43, walk(cough, cough) walk (cough) walk (cough, cough, cough), feel better and feel guilty, run my a$$ off for about .5 miles home. 15 something for that last mile. I'm hoping my run with Amy this afternoon goes a little better.

My oldest boy (almost 5) has gotten into the running and now says, "Mom, I need to run today." It cracks us up. We let him run our little circle which is .25 mile. He runs them as intervals, we time them and even log them in Favorite Run. He knows that 4 = mile. So cute. When I got back we headed out and he did his intervals, 2:51, 2:38 (I went with on this one), 2:50, 3:01. Here is a picture of him doing these last week in his "running outfit".

A few of us girls were talking over at Pieces of Me about needing to do a diet challenge. I decided I better do a weigh in and get serious. Double UGH ~ 158 ... there, I've said it. The goal? 145.

I found this great article today, nothing I didn't already know, but I thought it was very well done and a great reminder. Why Every Woman Should Strength Train "Every pound of muscle on your body burns between 30 and 50 calories a day — even when you're sleeping. Every pound of fat burns only two to five calories. Women often blame their weight problems on sluggish metabolisms when what's really to blame is their lack of muscle."

Ladies, start your metabolic engines...

Blue Hair?

I've been meaning to post this for awhile but that darn race got in the way. So many things to share....so little time. The week of Iowa vs. Iowa State (practically a state holiday), the boys had different fun days at school to celebrate the week, pajama day, backwards day, and WILD HAIR DAY.

Nothing to do with running, but I guess this is my blog, right? :D

Planning for the Future

Last night, I did 2.89 miles with Amy around Gray's Lake. We met up after work, ran, chatted and then dashed home to our families. It was beautiful, great company and just what I needed to get the legs moving after Sunday. I am not very good at running and talking yet. Thankfully Amy had more breath than me!

1 - 11:02

2 - 11:31

.89 - 11:43 pace

33 minutes ~ 11:24

My hip started talking to me during cool down and after I drove home. I'll be glad to start working on some solutions. I am seeing PT guy today to map out some long term plans.

I've also been thinking about goals and noticed many of you have been mapping them out as well. I am hesitant to go overboard until I talk to PT guy and decide the focus for the next few weeks/months, but I also know that I do have some goals floating around in my head. The main one is to protect the gains I have made. (this was my husband's term, which I have adopted because it makes a lot of sense to me.) Also known as: don't slack off, stop running, and go backwards in your training. That should be a given, but has been a problem for me for the last 4 years and was the main reason I embarked on this journey in late May. I have come way further than ever before and intend to protect those gains.

Other goals include possibly a warm weather winter race and for sure Dam to Dam in the Spring. Now that the race is over, I think I need to make the diet a bigger priority and want to lose 10 lbs. I would also like to pick up some speed and want to incorporate speedwork as long as PT guy permits.

This leads me to blogging friend Rob over at Run to Lose. He has embarked on a journey to become a runner also. Only HE has made amazing gains on his pace, I have made SOME improvement..... He posted some new goals and I think we are really similar right now, so similar that I bookmarked his goals and was trying to decide if I ought to just adopt them as my own. Anyway, what I decided was to take his first and offer a wager. This is probably not that smart of me as he is probably slightly faster than me in reality and is improving at a faster rate, but why not make it fun?

First one to 3 miles with EACH mile being under 11:00 wins 5 bucks. Good luck, Rob!

PS Many of you asked my secret to looking so fresh and happy in my race pictures. Well, I'm not sure I completely agree, but, there may be a few things contributing:

1. I don't run very fast so I probably didn't look that spent!!
2. They said to smile for the camera so I did if I knew they were there
3. I have horrible posture so I was physically working at chest out, shoulders back, gut in.... you know what I mean. There just isn't anything like that for your thighs, though. ;^)
4. I WAS really happy and enjoying myself.
   

More Pictures from the DSM IMT HM

Beautiful picture of the first part, running toward the State Capital Building.

Both are courtesy of Des Moines Register

Thumbnails from Marathonfoto dudes.

Des Moines IMT Half Marathon 2007

I finished my first Half Marathon today. I started off the day extremely NOT nervous. I've been working on this, but I'm not sure I expected that it would actually happen. Cool. I had everything I needed, plenty of glide and gel and a charged Garmin. Plenty of time to hit the port-o-potty's before the horrendous lines ensued. Also, plenty of time to check out the not-so-virtual Runner's Lounge and say hi to Tom and Amy and Running Hawkeye (he rocked his half!). It was sort of surreal, 5 minutes to go, 2 minutes, 30 seconds and we're off, well, not for a couple minutes anyway. I found the actual mat for once and hit Garmin.


The first mile or two were just okay, I ran them pretty well but felt just okay. I figured I would either settle in or not. I never really did, but it wasn't horrible either. In the first mile, I saw a beautiful dark pony tail bobbing, angled for a better view and decided it was Coffee Betsy. I was right, said hello and wished her good luck. She totally rocked the FULL, by the way.


Unfortunately I had some GI *issues* and had to stop at around 2 miles for around 90 seconds. That mile was slow but I was mostly around 12:30 for a couple miles. We headed out to this pretty loop in Waterworks Park and started to see people coming back from the loop. I must have been around mile 5 when my PT guy spotted me, moved to the center and high-fived me on the way by. He was around mile 8 or so. I thought that was so cool of him.


The loop looked huge and I started to hurt, mostly in my hip, but my feet already, too. I finally got to 6 and my hubby called to see where I was. After he called, I felt a little better (maybe it was the walk break? Then I got to see my sweeties shortly after. (the first two pics are at mile 6.5) That lady in yellow thinks I am so lucky. She would be right! :D

We exited Waterworks and moved in to Gray's Lake, what an incredible day. One cool thing was, by this point the Marathon Leaders started passing us. This was the most incredible running I have ever seen. The frontrunner had an amazing loping-like huge stride and looked so ho-hum, and he was way out in front. After that I continued to see the front of the pack and it was really fun.
Hubby noticed this shot of the skyline and lake with a marathon sign and got into the weeds to get me. I was already waving at the kids wondering where he was. Then I saw him come out of the weeds. I am so lucky! He also got a close up and one of me talking to the kids and my mother-in-law. It's so cool to have pictures. Thanks so much, Curtis.

Right after this, unfortnately, I had about a 5 min bathroom break. Oh well. Next came the bridge over the lake, should make for a nice shot from the Marathonfoto dudes. Will post those later if they are cool. Around the lake, I went.... I had about 4 miles left and 1 hour to make it under 3hours. I was pretty tired and decided to take a walk break. That coupled with that long bathroom break made for quite a while to get around.

The gang met me one more time and snapped a picture of "mile 24" (for the marathoners!). After that I alternated walking and running and basically just gutted it out to the end. I tried to run about the last 1.5 miles but I couldn't do it and ended up walking some of the last mile. Not what I wanted to do, but I did run most of it.

There were way more people around than my last race where I was practically out there by myself. I'm not sure if this helped or hurt my pace, but it certainly made it fun and interested. Lots of neat people out there really working hard. I had no idea so many people did this!! :D I did have a thought that I am mostly with the fat girls, the old girls and the really old men. Oh well, my times will come. They were all really nice.

I did finish really strong, passed several run-walkers trying to put on a last kick and rolled in at around 3 hours. I figured I would be slightly under with the delay. The kicker? Garmin said I did 13.6. As I finished, I heard my name over the loud speaker. Then, I heard it again from my neighbor who was there looking for wounded. I told her I was proud to be on two feet. Then I got a little teary going through to get my medal. I DID IT!!

2:59:31 (under 3 like I'd hoped, but plenty of room for improvement)

I stopped by the Runner's Lounge and Tom and Amy seemed to be as happy about my finish as I was. We took some pics before I headed out. Thanks so much for your support, you guys!! (they had a great picture taking spot, check out their blog for more runners.)

I was hobbling around pretty good, but came home and helped hubby in the yard!! It was probably the best thing I could have done eventhough I wanted a nap (and looked like a real penguin). My feet are feeling better already (without ice!) so maybe the orthotics are working.

We ate like kings on a meal literally from the cover of our latest Cuisine at Home, complete with Champagne and good wine.

My boys were the best today, big and little. Thank you sweet family for your love and support. Thanks to all of you, too, I thought of many of you today and know that you were thinking of me too.

I AM SO LUCKY

I AM A MOM

I AM A WIFE

I AM A HALF MARATHONER

I AM A RUNNER