Zoom Zoom Zooma!

Well I did it!  I completed my 3rd half marathon.  My second since Little Britches has been born!  The Zooma half marathon was Saturday.  My running group and I, which included Andrea, Elisabeth, and Lucinda, set out for Bastrop at 5:30 am!  My mom-in-law came and kept Little Britches while my husband, Andrea's husband, and Andrea's two older girls came out to the race to cheer us on.  The course was very hilly for the first sixish miles and then the hills were few and far between.  The last two and half miles or so was on a golf course so it sort of wound back and forth.  You felt close to the end, but you were not as close as you felt.  All in all, we did pretty well.  Lucinda and Andrea had run the Zooma last year and they both improved their times.  Elisabeth ran her first half, so she set a PR, or personal best record.  And I improved my time by 20 minutes over my November race.  You can see the clock time in the picture, but my chip time was 2:19:07 What's next?  The Blue Bell Fun Run!  It is a short road trip, a short race, and then all the ice cream you want to eat!  Yeah!  We will take Little Britches with us to that race and push her in the stroller.  It should be fun!  Here is another picture from the race.

Here we are, picking up our packets!

Blister

Well I finally got new running shoes and this is what happened!  I had been wearing the same shoes for over a year.  You are "supposed" to change shoes every 300-500 miles.  And while I did not keep close track of how many miles I had put on my shoes I know it had to be more than 300 miles because just in this training alone I had put 129 miles on my shoes before buying new ones.  And that was in a 7 week period, so I think it is safe to say in a year I had hit the 300 mile mark.  I went into my local running store and told the sales lady that I needed new shoes.  She asked me if I had any complaints about my current shoes.  I mentioned that I get blisters on the tops of my toes.  She checked the fit of my current shoes and said they were long enough so she was going to put me in a different brand with a bigger toe box.  I thought that sounded great, so I bought some Asics.  They felt good in the store, so off I went.  I ran 3 miles in them and felt great.  But when I headed out for my 5.5 mile run a few days later I could feel the shoe rubbing on my arch.  I cut the run a little short, knowing I had a 12 mile run looming on the weekend.  I thought the problem was my sock.  I was runnign in a thicker sock on teh 5.5 mile day than on the 3 mile day.  On the 12 mile run I wore thicker socks and heade out on a loop.  I could feel the shoe rubbing my arch, but thought it was because it was already irritated.  I adjusted my sock, I changed my gait, I walked some, I ran faster, I ran slower....none of it helped.  I was on a loop with a group, so I just kept going.  At the end of the run I pulled my shoes off and found this blister! OUCH!  It hurt as bad as it looks.  I did not even go home before I went back by the running store and showed the sales man my issue.  He announced I was in the wrong shoe.  I guess so!  He said they did not have any the new model of my original shoes in stock, but could have a pair from their other store there in a few days.  Perfect!  I went back, used shoes in hand, and they gave me a brand new pair of New Balance.  YEAH!  I have since run 17 happy miles.  I am so thankful I bought my shoes from a specialty shop with such great customer service.

First Annual Run with EMU 10K

Family Picture on Race Day!

Look at those cute race shirts and race day onesies!

Last Saturday Little Britches, Little Britches' Daddy, and I ran in the First Annual Run with the EMU.  It was a lot of fun.  What is the First Annual Run with the EMU you ask?  Check here to find out. 

So it was unofficial race with t-shirts and prizes!  How great is that?  After the nearly disastrous half marathon the week before I was not sure how I would do.  I had to walk with Little Britches because she is not big enough to be jostled about in our jog stroller since it doesn't recline at all.  I had a friend who was going to come and walk along with us, but she did not end up making it to the race, so Little Britches and I set out to walk alone.  Now, I usually walk this trail with Elisabeth and her cutie pie daughter, and I did not realize how much having someone to talk to substantially decreases your perceived time and distance.  It seemed like it took Little Britches and I FOREVER to walk around the trail's loop once.  When we had done just over one lap we got lapped by the first two runners- Little Britches' Daddy (along with our two dogs) and our friend Chris!  Way to go guys!  Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner and saw Little Britches' Daddy standing there waiting on us.  He took Little Britches and I took the fast dog and we traded.  He walked and I ran.  I thought I would catch back up to him in a lap and a half, but it took two laps.  We passed Little Britches off to a friend and ran the last lap together with our two dogs.  It was fun to run and finish together.  All in all we finished our 10K in one hour and nine minutes.  That is just over an eleven minute mile.  Not bad for having walked over 1.5 miles of it. 

Now the question is do I sign up for the Zooma Half Marathon?  I think my friend Elisabeth is going to do it too- maybe!  I like doing races with friends, so I think I am ready for the challenge.  I have heard the course is hilly, so I need to stop avoiding the big hill in our neighborhood.  I am looking forward to starting my training right after Thanksgiving! 

Rock N Roll

On Sunday my husband and I will "run" the Rock N Roll half marathon for the second time in San Antonio, TX.  Last year I was 6 weeks pregnant and ran it in under 1 hour and 57 minutes.   I am not NEARLY as trained up as I was last year or as I need to be, but I am going to do it anyway.  This week I ran 3 miles in 28 minutes and 2 miles in 17 minutes and 45 seconds.  That is not the only running I have done, but it speaks to how under prepared I am. Tomorrow I am going to walk 6.2 miles with a friend and on Sunday if worse comes to worst I will walk double that amount and still cross the finish line.  That is my goal- to cross the finish line.  I am going to be hopeful and say I would like to do that by the time 2 hours and 10 minutes has past.  That would be a 10 minute pace, but I am not going over react if it takes more time than that because, well, I haven't put in the work to do well, so what do I expect?  Oh, yeah, I already said- to finish!

Kyle o Meter 5K

This Sunday I ran in a local 5K.  It was a part of the Kyle Fair.  Lots of friends from church also  ran in it.  I wanted to place in my age group, but I knew that meant I couldn't do any walking, and my running hasn't come without a little walking lately unless I am on the treadmill.  My problem is I have not logged enough miles since the birth of Little Britches to be able to feel my pace yet.  I start out way too fast.  I used to not do this.  So I started out at what I felt like was a good pace.  There were no mile markers, so I couldn't really judge.  I held that pace all the way to the turn around at the cattle gate.  (I did mention this was a local race, right?)  On the way back though I started to give way mentally and started to fatigue a little physicially.  There were some rolling hills on the way back that tempted me to walk, no taunted me to walk and I gave in.  I did finish the race in 29:30, which is about a 9:30 pace.  This is the pace I would like to do the 1/2 marathon in November.  I must log some more miles before I can reach this goal, but I am on my way.  Here are the results in case you want to size up the competition for next year.  See you out there!

The weekend recap

Well, weekends around here are busy! 

On Saturday I did go for a run.  I decided to cut my postpartum body some slack and run/walk my runs until I don't feel like I am going to die.  That might mean I don't quite run all 13.1 miles of the half marathon in November, but I am okay with that for now.  So I set off Saturday morning with my ipod and ran a song and then walked a song.  I did that for 40 minutes and covered four miles.  I was feeling good so I went to the end of our street and back for a total of 4.76 miles.  Not bad.  I actually felt like I could keep going for a while if I needed to.   I need to do a longer run tonight, but it has been rainy here all day, so I might do it tomorrow night.  After the run Little Britches's dad and I did a few things around the house.  Boy is he getting some stuff done!  The house is looking great.  There are those few areas that have to look worse before they look better when you are cleaning them out....we have one or two of those areas right now, but we also have several areas that have come out on the other side of that process and look fantastic. 

Also on Saturday Little Britches's Bella came for a photo shoot and quality time.  Here a few of the results.

It was a little chilli outside on Saturday and I did wake Little Britches up from her nap to take these pictures, so no smiles, but no crying either!

We then met Papa D for dinner and dancing...well not too much dancing, but dinner anyway.  After such a full day Little Britches slept all the way through the night.  Woo hoo!  Sunday was also full, as it usually is with church stuff and she slept through the night again!  The two days daddy can be on duty- slept.  Monday night, when daddy is sleeping because he has to get up for workout and work.  She woke up at 11, 3, and 5.  I love her, though and will miss those sweet night time visits soon enough! 

I am currently "working" on a few sewing projects, meaning they are rolling around in my head.  I am going to make Little Britches an outfit to wear to my college's homecoming at the end of the month.  I will be sure to post pictures as I go.  Well I hear someone waking up from their nap, and it is not me, so I better go get the doll and feed her!

This weekend we are headed out of down for the day to visit with cousins.  That should be fun.  I will let you know. 

The 8 miles that almost killed me

Okay, so I did "run" my 8 miles yesterday.  I put run in quotes because I did not run it all.  I didn't even run most of it, but I did run some of it and walk some of it.  Over all I kept my pace average to an 11:40 pace, so it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either.  As I started running my shins started aching, then as I kept running my toe started hurting (I have one toe that bruises and looses its nail every race season), then as I kept running I started to get rubbed all the wrong way, so I didn't keep running.  I walked.  I didn't stroll.  I pumped my arms, moved my feet- walked.  I made myself go the whole distance even though I passed my house at the half way point.  When I finally arrived at home I had gone 8.56 miles in a little less than 1:40.  Upon coming in the house my lower legs hurt so much I couldn't really move them.  I felt like I had WAY overdone it, but much to my surprise this morning I could actually walk without any trouble.  I guess that means I am capable of putting in a few miles today!  Run on, my friends, run on!  

Many miles to go before I sleep, well 8 to be exact

Oh to be young again! Little Britches is one of the great loves of my life, but I can't help but be a little jealous of her schedule sometimes. She wakes and eats, plays, and then sleeps. Then she repeats the cycle several times during the day. I am happy if I get to "play" once a day, and really happy if I get to sleep once a day. Little Britches's daddy comes home from work each day and lets me have some "play" time. (He is a dream come true!) Now, what I would love to do with that play time is go to Target and shop, but since we cut down to one income when Little Britches came along that is not a good plan. So I exercise instead. It doesn't cost us money. It just cost me pain. Today I need to run 8 miles. I had every intention (well I had many intentions) of doing my long, 8 mile run, on Saturday, but it rained all day, so today is the day. Wait, what's that I hear...the weather forecast on the TV...rain for this afternoon and tonight?...there go my intentions! Just kidding. If it is raining I may just have to go run on a treadmill. Yuck! Oh well. I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. There are many who wish they could run 8 miles, but for whatever reason they cannot. I don't want to waste any of the gifts I have been given, because there is no guarantee they will be available tomorrow.    

Running into Jam

Last night I headed to the gym.  On Thursday nights I usually take a cardio class called Body Jam.  I like the workout because it is fun and constantly changing, yet I burn close to 400 calories per class.  But last night I knew I had to run because I had missed my Tuesday run due to circumstances out of my control.  A little bummed about this I decided I would go to the first half of Jam and then hop on the tredmill and run 3 miles.  Good plan, right?  Well as soon as I walked in Jam after having eaten pizza and drinking soda earlier in the day I knew I would not leave class to go run, so I made my self run the first half of class.  Boy, what a motivator!  As I was running and started feeling tired I didn't slow down because I wanted to make it to the last half of class.  It was perfect!  I finished 3 miles in 29 minutes and got to class at exactly the half-way point where there is a little mini cool down before starting the last cardio block.  I think I may do the same thing next week.  I need to run 8 miles this weekend, so we will see what kind of motivation I can muster for that.  Oh by the way, here is the training plan I follow for running.

Get Ready...Get Set...Go

These are words you hear at the begining of a race, but they are also words I hear in my heart as I begin new things.  There is nothing like just jumping into something new.  That is how I was introduced to all the things I love in my life.  This blog will focus on my running, my stitches, and my little britches with a few other musing tossed in for fun.  I am a am fairly new to all three of these pursuits. 

I started stitching about two and a half years ago.  For some reason I decided to ask for a sewing machine for Christmas and my mom was more than happy to get one for me.  She and my grandmother stood looking at me with those, "One of our children DID turn out right." looks and anticipated my first finished project as if it was the first heir.  Well my first project was a pair of pajama pants my mom helped me sew, and may I say they were awful!  Lucky for me, my birthday is soon after Christmas, so I asked for sewing classes for my birthday and there I made a pillow, a purse, a skirt, and a small gift bag.  I felt like I was off to a great start.  I have continued sewing garments, quilts, home projects, and purses, though not as often as I would truly like to. 

I started running about a year and a half ago.  My husband was a runner in high school and has taken it up again.  He wanted me to run with him, but he is too fast, and I don't like to hold him up or cramp his style.  (He says I don't, but I know I do.)  Besides I walk.  Fast.  I can walk a 12 minute mile, which is only slightly slower I ran at the time.  A co-worker of mine invited me to train for and race in the Nike Human Race 10K.  I had only done a few 5Ks before that, and I mostly walked them because I could walk faster than some people ran.  I decided to join her.  On completion of the Nike 10K my co-worker mentioned doing a half marathon.  I decided to go for it because I was already half way there, and that was better than starting from square one.  As I began training my co-worker decided not to do the half marathon because she found out she was expecting.  I continued training only because I had already paid my money and am too cheap to not follow through.  During training I also found out I was expecting and finished the half marathon at 6 weeks pregnant.  I continued to work out all during my pregnancy, though I tapered off or running because it was not the most comfortable workout.  I have signed up and paid my money to run the same half marathon this year.  So I am running again.

Three months ago I became a mom to a darling little girl, "little britches".  She is a delight to her daddy and I.  I have no idea how to be a "good" mom, but I a few years ago I had no idea how to be a "good" seamstress or runner either.  I know all things come with practice and a teachable spirit, and if parenting is anything like the other two pursuits I know I will never complete the learning process. 

Now I am starting to blog.  I am sure I have a lot to learn, so feel free to make comments and suggestions.  Ready...Set...here we GO!