I'm Back!!!!

I have to apologize because it's been soooo long since my last post. Since my last post I've been pretty busy. I ran a 1/2 marathon in Green Bay, WI that went through Lambeau Field (!!!), I went on a 10 day vacation which was a Mediterranean Disney Cruise, I quit my job and started a new and very busy job, our house was struck by lightning which left two holes in our roof and many appliances and electronics got fried at that time including our computer (one of the reasons I haven't been able to post), I registered for a running class and joined a run club at a local running store.

I don't want to bore you tons of details at once so I'll do a few short and sweet comments. First of all...I got to run through Lambeau Field two days in a row. I'm a huge Packers fan so this was a dream come true for me. First my friend Kelly and I did a 5K on Saturday. During the race Kelly wore a shirt to support her friend that had recently had a bone marrow transplant. The front said "Team Leigh" and the back said "Bone Marrow Recipient 4/2013". Great shirt. But from the back people just saw the "Bone Marrow Recipient 4/2013" and they all thought it was Kelly that had the transplant! So during the whole race Kelly had people telling her what a great job she was doing, patting her on the back, and telling her she was an inspiration. We laughed about it but really, her friend Leigh is the true inspiration. Our time could have been a lot better but we spent as much time down on the field as we could to savor the moment. Here's me!

 

 

Doing a slow run/walk for the 5K left me surprisingly achy that night. I was surprised/scared by that because I'd been training for a half marathon yet this 5K kicked my butt. So the next morning Kelly and I woke up early, got ready and took the hotel bus to Lambeau Field. I was scoping out the fellow runners to see how much better prepared they were for this than I was! haha! Kelly is so awesome for hanging with me before the race and waiting around the whole time until I finished. The race itself went pretty well! I felt good and liked the nice flat course. It was purely residential and the spectators were lined up the whole way. Would you believe that I made it to mile 8 before I had to stop and walk? That's really good for me but once I stopped, I ended up stopping quite a bit more than I'd wanted to. It's like in college when you "break the seal" and then you have to pee every 10 minutes. I also had that stupid knee pain like I got at the Princess Half Marathon. I got it around mile 9 and it's frustrating because I don't get that knee pain during normal training runs, only at races! But I made it through and my time was 2 hours and 27 minutes!! This was 7 minutes faster than my last half I only wanted to beat my previous time so I was happy. At the very end of the race you get to run through Lambeau Field, you go outside and there is the finish line. Just as I was about to exit Lambeau, I saw some girl being taken away on a stretcher. I looked at her and it happened to be one of the people that we rode to hotel bus with that morning. How much would that suck to run 13 miles and then you can't make it just that .1 to get to the finish line? I hope that is never me. Here's me afterwards sporting my football shaped medal!

So then I started a new job only to take a 10 day vacation shortly thereafter! I went on a Disney cruise with my sister and my 13 year old daughter and had an amazing time. Here's a photo from that even though it's not running related.

This is me in Positano! I'm actually wearing my running shoes in this photo but you can't tell. I brought my running shoes and several running outfits on vacation with me. But needless to say, I didn't run once. There was this tall, extremely thin woman that ran every day on the ship and she made me feel very guilty but not so guilty that I ran.

When I came back I did a 10K with my friends Sadie-jo and Karen. It was the worst 10K ever!! I hadn't done any running since my half marathon the month before and it...was...awful. I know I sound like Grumpy Cat but it taught me a very important lesson - don't stop running!! My time was 1 hour and 7 minutes. My best 10K time was 1 hour and 2 minutes so a full 5 minutes slower. This picture doesn't show how much I wanted to barf. But we all had on fabulous skirts that you can't see!

Also, I went to the free Run Club last Wednesday at the local running store, the Running Room and I had a great time so I plan to keep this up. I also have my first running class on Tuesday at the same store. I registered for this 10 Mile training class because they didn't have a half marathon training class at this particular location but I figure that it will help me out a lot anyway (it's only 3.1 miles difference, right?).

My next race is the Go Commando mud run next weekend with Sadie-jo. For some reason I'm really nervous about this. I can run but I have zero upper body strength so this worries me. How will I be able to pull myself up and over things? I will post an update on this as soon as I can. Wish me luck!