Back 2 Back :: Prairie Fire Spring Half

On Royal's birthday, I ran my 12th half marathon.  That's a whole dozen of them!  Funny how after like the 2nd one I swore I was never running them again.

Once again I was debating whether or not I even wanted to run it.  But then enter the challenge.  The Back 2 Back Challenge - where you sign up for the Prairie Fire Spring Half Marathon AND the Prairie Fire Fall Half Marathon, and you get a special racing bib, and a special medal, and a special shirt.  You know me and "challenges" and swag, I just can't turn it down.  So on the very last day to sign up for the challenge I did it - which was about 2 weeks before the spring race.  The next day I came down with a fever and cold.  Of course I did.....

I coughed and hacked my way through a couple weeks, did one mid-distance run, and figured the half might be painful, but I knew I could finish.  The real benefit from having run so many of these distances is that I know I can do it, there is no doubt in my mind.  It might hurt, I might slow down, but I will finish and if I can just keep running I will get to the end faster than if I walk.  :)

The run was fairly uneventful.  Tonya and I were planning on running it together, neither of us wanted to "race" it.  I had a chocolate cake to make for Royal when I was finished, so I had to be functional.  :)  Sadly, I lost Tonya at mile 4 due to a bathroom emergency, so the last 9 miles were a bit boring and I was wishing I would of brought my ipod.  Really the hardest thing was the weather.  It was a beautiful morning to run, sunny and in the 60's, but it was my first 60 degree run,  The psycho Kansas weather had just flipped and I had done all my other running in 40 degrees or below, so even though I started hydrating 4 days prior to the race, I was feeling like I needed an iv at mile 11.  :)  And my new recipe for my homemade deodorant hadn't been tested in a tank top, and while it totally kept stinky pits at bay, it was lacking a "glide" that I didn't plan for, so my underarms took a bit of a beating and looked and felt like someone had taking a lemon zester to them.  :) 

 I think I finished in 2:06, which is a typical time for me.  Maybe I'll fun the fall half a little faster.  Maybe not.  :)  I have found I have loved running these distances so much more now that I don't put any pressure on myself to constantly beat my time.  I mean really, it's not like I'm gonna win the thing or anything.  :)

Tonya crossed the finish line just a little bit after me, so we still got some finish line pictures. :)

Super Hero 5K

It was another 5K kinda weekend!  There are so many races going on sometimes it is hard to figure out just what ones we want to do!  I haven't ran too many 5K races in the past few years, but now with the kids wanting their own collection of running medals, they are asking to do one all the time.   We're shooting for maybe 1 a month, but we'll see.  :)

Jayden picked out this 5K to do.  Obviously he was drawn towards to the whole Super Hero thing, but his real criteria was, "Will I get a medal at the finish line?"  We ran the Say Grace 5K on Thanksgiving and they didn't hand out medals for that particular race unless you had also done the Turkey Trot the weekend before, so for next year Jayden is now constantly reminding me to sign him up for the Turkey Trot 2 mile AND the Say Grace Run so that he can get a the special Double Gobble medal.  These kids take after me in picking races based on what kind of swag you are gonna get.  :)

We brought capes for the kids to wear, but Royal and I ended up wearing them.  :)

We all started off running together, while Royal and I tried to teach the kids some running etiquette - don't swerve all over the place, keep your eyes looking forward, don't pass someone and then cut right in front of them and run them off the road (they did that to Royal like 5 times).  Some of it was for their own safety as we watched a guy with a stroller run right into the ankles of another runner...ouchie...

We ran together for about a mile and a half before Willow finally declared she needed to walk.  The entire time leading up to it she kept saying, "My legs are feeling tired, but I am telling them to just keep going!  They might be tired, but I'm not going to stop!"  So, I stayed back with Willow while Royal ran ahead with Jayden.  Willow walked and ran the rest of the way.  She's a tough cookie, that Willow.

 Royal said Jayden ran all the way to the 2 mile water station before stopping and then only walked once more after that.  So he figures he ran at least 2.5 out of the 3.1 miles.  He did amazing!  He ran it in 35:20 and placed 3rd in his age group!

Willow and I finished the race in 44:10.

Diva Dash 5k

This weekend, Willow and I were signed up to run the Diva Dash 5k.  Willow couldn't decide if she wanted to run the 5k race or the Lil' Princess race, and in the end she chose the shorter race because her best friend, Emery, was doing the Lil Princess race and "if I run the big race then my legs will be too tired to run with Emery".

So, I ran my fastest 5K race ever with Tonya at 25:29, placing us 6th/7th in our age group.  I figure the longer I continue to run races the fewer and fewer people will be in my age bracket and eventually I will be top dog.  :)  We'll see how my theory pans out...

I'm turning into my dad...."hello friends!"

Turns out the kids pretty much just ran around the entire time I was running.  They'll be doing the 5k in the next race.  :)
Me right after the race with Willow's best friend Emery, waiting for Emery's mom to cross the finish line, and I'm not sure what exactly Willow is doing.

I love these two girls together and am so sad Emery and her family are moving in just 6 weeks...:(
We had a little bit of time to kill before the girl's Lil' Princess race started, so we just took silly pictures and ran some more around the field.  :)

Willow is one of the happiest kids I know, except when she's whiny and cranky....

Starting Line for the 5-6 year old Lil' Princess Dash

Double Gobble and Thanksgiving

Wichita started a new race series this year called the Double Gobble.  Basically if you participated in the Turkey Trot (on Sunday) and the Say Grace 5K (on Thursday), you got a special bib and a special medal.  I'm all about "special" things, so I signed up for both!

The Turkey Trot was freezing.  I'm talking stupid cold.  I talked myself out of running it like 5 times and changed what I was wearing probably 20 times, trying to figure out how to be warm enough, but not so warm that I'd be sweating the whole time.  That morning when I woke up, it was 20 degrees outside, but felt like 10.  I had 2 layers on the bottom, 4 layers on the top, and omni-heat layers on my head and hands.  My feet were freezing.  I just wore my regular running socks, but my running shoes are so "breathable" that all I felt was icy air coming in.  I couldn't make myself switch my socks to wool or something because talk about holy blisters....  At the start line, I was pretty darn cold.

By mile 1, I was warmed up and felt good, except for a couple really cold toes, and I actually had a pretty fast race for me.  I started out running with 2 other people, but lost one of them at mile 4.5 and the other at mile 7.5.  Usually by mile 8 or 9, I'm started to feel tired and slow down a bit, but it must of been because of the cold air, it was like an ice bath for my legs or something, they just kept pushing along and I didn't feel fatigued or anything, other than ridiculously tight hips and a knee that was bugging me, but with those kind of pains I find it doesn't make them feel any better to slow down or walk, so if I keep running I'll get to the finish line faster.  :)

I felt toasty warm all during the race, and even took my gloves off at one point.  And then I crossed the finish line and 3 minutes later I was so cold it wasn't even funny.  Where in the world were the finish line space blankets???? Here are the 10 mile finishers (there is also a 2 mile race as well, but they finished way ahead of us) with the finish line turkey. 

Because I was one of the first 2000 people to sign up for the race, I got a free turkey!  However, it was brutal carrying a frozen turkey back to the truck, when I was so cold myself.  I didn't stick around for any of the post race activities, I took my frozen self, my frozen turkey, and my new 10 mile PR of 90mins flat(wooo hooo!!!) home to a super hot shower (well not the turkey, it stayed outside)!

The 2nd part of the Double Gobble took place just 4 days later at the Say Grace 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  A couple months ago, both of the kids decided they wanted to do a 5K.  "A real one, with a number and everything", so I signed them and Royal up for the Say Grace 5K and figured we could do it together.  I was so afraid of it being brutally cold out that morning that I made them wear long johns under another layer of clothes, and I brought the wagon full of blankets and winter coats and hand warmers just sure they were going to give up half way through the race because they were too cold and then Royal and I were going to have to carrying a 70 and 40lb kid the rest of the way.  Let's just say I overpacked and darn Wichita and it's weather I will never get used to.  It was still cold Thursday morning, but not 10 degrees.  It was like 30 degrees, but warm and sunny and no wind and totally lovely, and I totally didn't need to bring my wagon full of blankets and hand warmers.

My mom still being in town signed up for the 5K too!  We got up in the morning and prepped our turkey and stuck it in the oven and headed out the door to the race.

We met up with some other friends at the start line.

Tonya's daughter Skylyn signed up to do the race too, just because Willow was going to do it, it was her first 5K too.

It's pretty amazing to think that we started working out with Tonya when I was pregnant with Willow and Jayden was 2, and now they are running a 5K with her!  We just love Tonya. :)

So the race started and low and behold the kids did not want to walk, so I ran ahead with Jayden and Willow stayed with Tonya and Skylyn, while Royal pulled the wagon and walked with my mom.  Royal and my mom eventually caught up with Tonya and the girls because they were kind of sprinting, then walking, then sprinting, then walking.  :)

Jayden did awesome and ran the whole first mile without stopping.  Then he would take little walk breaks and keep running, I'm guessing he at least ran 2.5 miles of the whole 3.1.  I am so mad I accidentally left my darn phone in the wagon when the kids shot off the start line like rockets, and Tonya and I were just trying to make sure they didn't trip anybody or get lost in the crowd, so I didn't get any pictures of Jayden during the race.  Big. Fat. Bummer. During the race, he did get a moment of "this is the worst idea I've ever had, I can't go on, my legs are tired", until he saw the finish line and then he picked up the pace and ran across the finish line with his arms raised above his head.  He was pretty darn proud of himself and declared, "I want to do another one!  I can totally do it faster!  And next time I want to do a race with a medal!"  Oh yeah, I'm teaching my kids right, you gotta pick the races with the best swag bags and finish line goodies.  Jayden did pick up a key chain and a hand sanitizer and he was pretty happy with that.  He finished with an official time of 45:49!

Then we walked back down the road to wait for the rest of our party.  It wasn't too much longer before we saw the girls running down the street.  Willow being with Tonya (who actually HAD her phone) meant I got a few pictures of Willow out on the route.

Willow finished with an official time of 51:01! (you gotta add a couple minutes onto the clock because we started in the back of the pack and it took us a couple minutes to get across the start line)

It was a really fun way to start our Thanksgiving! 

Well, I did have a moment of panic when the kids and I (Royal and mom headed back to the truck) walked to the post-race party to grab some water and a muffin and banana, and Jayden decided to play hide and seek in a crowd of a few hundred people.  Not cool, Jayden, not cool.  Luckily, the girls filled me in on what they were doing, so I knew he wasn't abducted, but still, total heart attack.

We got back to the house with our turkey already cooking and mom pretty much made the rest of the meal.  I made the mashed potatoes and cranberry-pomegranate sauce, so I contributed, but really mom did all the work.  Thanks, Mom!

Since my friend Nicole and her family moved to Wichita 4 years ago, we've always ended up doing Thanksgiving together.  We're both used to a big family and loud Thanksgivings, so we combine forces and try to make it special for the kids.
Our feast, buffet style, I just don't have a big enough table to put people and food on it. :)

And the kid's table.

It was a fun and loud and tiring Thanksgiving.  We were going to go look at Christmas lights that night after dinner, but both of my kid's were kind of losing it (running 3 miles will do that to you), so we opted to put them to bed and look at Christmas lights another night.  :)

See Jane Run Half

Saturday morning I ran half marathon #11, at the See Jane Run race.  It's a women's only race where at the finish line you get champagne and chocolates.  Finally a race where there is motivation to actually cross the finish line.  A finishers medal is nice, but champagne and chocolates?  I'll take it!

I knew going into this race that I was going to be pushing it training wise to get ready.  I always have such high aspirations of keeping up my running when we go to Washington in the summer, but it just never seems to happen.  I did do the Seattle to Portland bike ride, so it wasn't like I was completely sedentary, but bike legs and running legs are totally different.  When we got back to Wichita, I was pleasantly surprised by the cooler temperatures we were having for summer here, so getting up and running in the morning didn't start off to bad and I thought I was acclimating pretty good.  Well then came the 90-100 degree days with high humidity and it was only cooling off to the mid 70's at night and all the sudden my running game turned on it's head.  I went for a 9 mile run and it was terrible, almost bad enough to make me quit running all together.  So, the next weekend, instead of increasing up the next week to 10 or 11, I tried my legs again at 9.  It was a better run, but I still felt like I was sucking swamp water and I was so glad to be done at 9, I did not want to run anymore.  And the on Monday night of that week I came down with a terrible cold.  Of course I did, I was close to an endurance race.  So for the next week I didn't run at all, I barely got out of bed.  I got up in the morning, got Willow off to preschool, did Jayden's lessons with him, went and picked Willow up from school, fixed the kids lunch and then went back to bed for the rest of the day.  It was brutal.  Being sick is really the only time I really hate homeschooling.  And that following weekend (the weekend before the race) I was going to run just 6, but I was still so sick I didn't get out and do it.  I kept talking with Royal about maybe not running the half at all, he of course didn't really care what I did as along as it was what I thought was best.  But then (when I could finally breath out of my nose again) I just decided to do it.  I have been struggling with a bunch of personal issues and I just needed a "win" in my bank.  I needed to do something hard and I needed to finish it.

So, Saturday morning I got dressed and went through my ABC's.  Advil and Apples, Banana, Caffeine - I use Arbonne's Energy Fizzy Sticks, Drink lots of water, Extra trips to the bathroom, and Foam roll.  Then drove to the start line and met up with the girls I usually run with when I'm running with my running club.

I wasn't expecting to run with anyone, since I felt like I would be so slow, but that's one thing I love about all the ladies I run with, is there is usually someone who will stick by your side for a good portion of the race.

The race itself wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  My legs felt surprisingly good.  It must of been the 30 minutes I spent on my foam roll the night before.  By mile 10, I was definitely feeling it, but trying to convince myself that a 5K more was totally doable.  I saw Royal and the kids somewhere between mile 10 and 11, and that was a nice surprise since I wasn't expecting them out on the course at all.  Then I got to the mile 12 water station, downed a huge cup of water and pretty much knew I was spent.  I had 1.1 miles to go and I was looking for the finish line around every corner.  And brutally enough the finish line was on the top of a hill!  You had to run up the bridge to get there!  That was not exactly super fantastic, but it was a finish line and that means water, food, and no more running!

I was pretty surprised at my time.  I finished officially in 2:05:17 and 28/105 in my age group.  Going into the race and knowing how my training had gone, I was hoping for 10 minute miles, which would of had me finish around 2:12, so 9:37min/mile was fantastic I thought.  I'm not too sore, mostly just my knees and hips, which isn't surprising since I hadn't really "pounded" them down enough pavement before the race.  And really I find myself just so thankful for a body that can do this.  In my miserable miles of the race, I really found myself being thankful that God has given me legs that can run, and a mind that is strong enough to keep going, and a family that lets me disappear for a couple hours every Saturday morning to go running (or cycling or whatever), and for friends that I can run with.  I really am blessed, and sometimes I just have to remind myself of the things I do have, and the things I can do, and just be satisfied being thankful for that.

Praire Fire Spring Half

It has been almost 19 months since my last half marathon, can you believe it? Did you think I might have actually considered my last one, my last one????  Well this weekend was #10, and I already know this isn't my last one because I'm signed up for #11 in September - there was a groupon on a new See Jane Run race and I can't pass up a deal!  :)  I trained with Tonya's Moms in Motion group again and all winter while we were running with literally ice-icicles forming at the ends of our hair, we looked forward to this race.  It is going to be in May!  It's warm in May!  It's going to feel so good to run in warm air!  Well that didn't happen.  It's May and still freezing outside!  On race morning, it was 42, but felt like 37 outside and there was a nice freezing cold misting rain coming down that continued throughout the whole race.
In true fashion, my kids brought some infectious disease into the house the week before my race.  On Monday, my throat felt funny,  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, each day I woke up feeling worse until I had a headache, body aches, my chest was tight, and my sinuses completely blocked off.  I wasn't so sure how I was going to run on Sunday.  I had been using these essential oils my mother-in-law had brought with her, to help with the symptoms by rubbing them on my neck and chest and they helped quite a bit with that, but I wasn't feeling any better.  Thursday morning I was standing in the kitchen drinking some water when I felt one of my ribs literally going "pop!"  So after rolling around on my foam roll trying to help it back into place, I finally called my chiropractor and made an appointment for later that day.  She adjusted me and told me to try putting some of the oils on my feet before bed and then drinking a couple drops.  Um....gross.  But she insisted that I'd feel better and at this point I was willing to try anything.  Friday morning and I kid you not, I felt a ton better.  I don't know if it was the essential oils or getting adjusted or a combination of the two, but I couldn't believe it.  It made a big enough difference that I continued to drink the essential oils before bed and put them on my feet for the next 2 nights and I woke up Sunday morning at 5:30am for the race and my sinuses were completely clear.  I laid in my bed and could breathe in and out my nose.  Of course, then I had to stand up and everything started draining again and my nose started running and I still had a cough, but I felt good enough to go try and run 13.1 miles!
Here is the group that I ran with this winter.

The race was fun.  The course was super flat and I ran with my friend Dianna.  It was her first half marathon and her family was running around the course ahead of us, so we would run by them every 2-3 miles.  My family couldn't be there for this race because Royal had to drive his parents back up to the airport in Kansas City, so my kids were at home with a babysitter.  I felt okay during the run.  I could tell I'd been laying around for a week - things felt a bit rusty, and I felt like I was blowing my nose every quarter mile, and by the end of the race my stomach was so sore from trying to run and cough at the same time.  Who knew that trying to cough and run at the same time would be so hard???  And of course I hit my dreaded mile 8-10, but it wasn't as terrible as past races.  While training for this race I purposefully made myself run high miles early in my training in an attempt to get over my mile 9 depression.   Those runs felt so good that I even had a thought that maybe this race would be the race where I finished and might actually think, "Hmmm, maybe I could run 1 more mile"  You see, in the back of my mind I've been toying with the idea of running a marathon.  Before now, a marathon has been on the heck no, never gonna happen list.  But for some reason a marathon has been trying to tempt me into training for it and I thought that maybe at the end of this race if I thought that my body felt like it could run another mile a marathon might get more of a consideration.  But pretty much at the end of this 13.1 miles, I was spent and there was no "I could run just one more mile" left in me.  That might of been because I was sick, but it's still how I felt.   Dianna and I finished the race in 2:05.  Not my fastest time, but still an okay time for me, and a great time for Dianna's first half!

Turkey Trot

The Turkey Trot is a 10 mile race that I've wanted to do since moving to Wichita, but it falls so close to Willow's birthday, usually on her birthday weekend, that I've never actually done it.   This year though, we are doing her birthday party on her actual birthday during the week, so I decided to run the race!  I was especially excited since I missed the Prairie Fire Half last month.  I had plans to do that one, but when we got back from Washington, it was still so hot and humid here, it literally took me about 5 weeks before I could run 5 miles without feeling like I was dying.  I don't remember it taking me that long to acclimate before...I must be getting old.... So, I didn't have enough time to get my mileage bumped up before the actual race.  And 13.1 miles is a long enough race when you actually have trained and feel ready for it!

I gave myself about a month to train for the Turkey Trot.  I'd been running up to 5 miles pretty consistently and felt good about that distance again, and I ran with my running group once when they met early and ran 6.5 miles.  But the rest of the time I trained by myself, and did a couple long runs of 7 and 9 miles.  And so mentally going into this race, I was ready to run it by myself, and I really didn't feel the need to push myself or beat any time.  I was just planning on taking it as a nice 10 mile jog. (does a nice 10 mile jog exist????)  Thankfully Royal bought me a new iPod Nano for our anniversary after I accidentally sent my old one through the washing machine, and I got some new music recommendations from Jordan so I felt like I was ready to go bust it out.

I knew a couple people, mostly from Mommy Movement Fitness, who were going to run today too, and met up with them at the beginning of the race.

 The person on the far left, is Jayne, and she is actually Willow's swim teacher!  Then on the other side of me is Kristen, and Stacy, and Tonya. 

The race actually felt pretty good.  I'd heard warnings that the beginning was super crowded and to be prepared to be frustrated for a good couple miles until it spaced out.  But it wasn't so bad.  There was some jostling around, but they had shut down the roads so we weren't all crammed up on the sidewalks and running paths.  Jayne took off like a rocket at the beginning of the race, so we lost her real early.  Then we lost Kristen and Stacy when we ran past Tonya's car and she jetted off to throw her phone in it.  I also ran into a couple of my neighbors in the middle of the race.  I almost felt like my dad, waving and saying hi to all these people, he would of been so proud.  :)  Tonya and I ended up running the whole thing together, and if you've ever run with Tonya, or worked out with her for that matter (worked out with her, not when she's teaching!), all she does is talk!  It was really nice to have someone to talk to and pull you along when your legs start trying to slow down.  Well, we ran together until like mile 9, when she started trying to keep up with a bunch of teenagers and well I just couldn't maintain an 8 minute mile after logging 9, so I put my earbuds in to try and help me pick up the pace for the last mile.  And this always seems to happen, a certain song comes on at just the right part of the race and I'm like, "Yes! That is how I am feeling right now!"  And even though I am so sick of listening to the song, I never take it out of my running playlist for the very purpose.  The song that started blaring in my ears right as I put my earbuds in around mile 9.25.....Misery by Maroon 5.  "I'm in misery, and there ain't nobody who can comfort me"  Oh yeah.  In case you were wondering, that is pretty much what mile 9 feels like.

But I finished with a time of 1:35, which is about a 9:20 minute mile, which is about average for me for this distance.  I didn't try and push myself too hard and when I got done I still felt really good.  Other than my legs were a wee bit more tired than when I started.   So, it pretty much was a nice easy 10 mile jog!

2/3 of a Tri Workout

So, one of the benefits of driving out to Washington this summer was my dad offered to give me his treadmill.  I. Was. Stoked!  We aren't members of any gyms or YMCAs here in the area, at least not at this point, so training in the winter is oftentimes dark, cold, and for the most part just doesn't happen so much.  Last winter, I pretty much searched for trial deals all over the place so I could get into gyms and use their treadmills and pools and stuff.  Not this winter!  All I have to do is head to the basement!  Well, at least for 2 out of the 3 sports.  Royal bought me a trainer for my bike last Christmas and now, thanks to my dad, I have a treadmill too!

Try to ignore the shelves of stuff in there, this is the unfinished part of our basement where everything is stuffed stored.   This kids and I built a mat out of their alphamat blocks for stretching and hopping and doing exercises on.  Both the kids have already run at least a mile themselves on the treadmill and played hopscotch on the mat.  I think we're going to have fun down here.  And while I feel quite strange putting on my running shoes or my bike shoes and going downstairs instead of outside with them on, I think I might be able to get over it since I won't have to run or ride in the dark!  Now, if I can only figure out a way to get an endless pool put down here, I'd be set for winter tri training!