New Training Session- New Blog Use

Holy Cow it's been forever since I've posted a blog entry! Almost a year. 

Recently I have been inspired by my friend Sara and her blog (it really is great you should check it out!), to get my own blog more active.   So here we go! I'm going to try to post something at least once per week about running mostly but probably with some other things thrown in there as well.

I recently completed my 6th half marathon, the Flying Pig in Cincinnati- what fun! It was a great race, well organized, tons of crowd support and you just can't beat the theme! Pigs and pink everywhere! In fact I wore a pink sparkle skirt for the race, along with several of my "sole sisters".  The race was a little rainy and a LOT hilly, so it wasn't a personal best time, but I was proud of finishing strong and running the second half of the race faster than the first!

Then the following weekend (May 7th) I was privelaged to pace a group for the Cap City Quarter Marathon (6.55 miles).  In 2006 I ran this half marathon as my very first half marathon and that was the race that started it all for me- so it seemed appropriate to go back and lead a pace group and give back just a little bit to the running community to  has and continues to give so much to me.

 I had fun and had many people come up and thank me aftewards and tell me they were watching my sign for pace. Many of my Marthoner in Training (MIT) friends ran the half, and for some of them it was their very first half! In additon many, many friends (far too many to name here less I leave anyone out) ran personal best times! In fact many ran what I call "Rock Star" times and paces! Go MIT!

So that concluded my winter season with MIT! This weekend Sara, Jessica, and Bill (all MIT friends) will be running their very first marathons in Pittsburg (Sara) and Cleveland ( Jessica and Bill). I know they are all going to do awesome, and I can't wait to welcome them into the marathon club! 

Next week I will begin a brand new season with MIT and will train through the summer for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30! Many MIT friends including some of my favorite sole sisters are going to run it as well! It's going to be a fun summer of training (well mostly fun), of course it will be hard work  but in the words of my favorite running author Kristen Armstrong.. "We don't run because it's easy, we run because it's real."

Looking forward to posting more as the summer progresses, maybe I'll even get all fancy and post a picture from time to time too!

Run on friends,
Heather

The Week in Review or something like that!

I had a very good week- of course helped by the fact that it was a short one! :)

My Cousin's wedding was very fun and I enjoyed myself. The reception was a lot of fun and the food was good. Maggie made a beautiful bride, it's hard for me to believe she's married since I remember when she was born.

My three nephews had a lot of fun too and enjoyed going with Aunt Heather to get Green Pop (aka Sprite) many times. Braydan enjoyed that the bartender gave him cherries! :) The also enjoyed the dancing and since the bride and groom are both Ohio State Graduates they played Hang on Sloopy and I taught all three boys the fine art of the O-H-I-O. Hey what can I say have to train them young!!

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing a cookout on Sunday and then we just hung out on Monday. I took the dog for a couple of walks as well as getting in my run on Monday.

The rest of this weeks running has been good- although on Wedensday I got my run cut short by a thunderstorm, last time I believe a 10% chance of rain! :)

In WW news I lost 2lbs last week and 1 lb this week, which I will gladly take! I also tracked all my points for all 7 days, which is a big improvement over what I had been doing. Hey if I don't write it down it doesn't count right? Umm not so much.

This weekend I'm looking forward to a great run tomorrow with MIT in the morning! And then my parents are coming into town so we can go to Peyton's Tap and Tumble recital. He does this every Monday at Day Care and loves it so he's excited to show off what he's learned.

The Weekend is here!! Very exciting no?

First a quick re-cap of last weeks MIT run- oh so much fun! (hey that rhymed!) J Anyway I ran with the 12/mile group and my friend Pru is coaching it this season- YEAH! That in itself is very exciting for me, I adore Pru, she’s one awesome lady! Anyway that’s my goal for long runs this season, nothing slower than a 12 (since I hope to run Chicago at an anything under 12 minute average this should work out well), I hope so anyway. I ran 5 miles with the group and stuck with them the whole time- yeah! And my friend Wendy is committed to 12s as well, Yippee!

So this weekend is a busy one- first up tonight I got my finger and toe nails painted.

Then tomorrow is my run with MIT (7 miles planned) and after that home for a shower and then off to my parents house for the weekend. Tomorrow evening my cousin Maggie gets married. Should be fun! Cocktails and cake oh my! Hey at least I’m running 7 miles in the morning, bet no one else in my family will be able to say that!

And on that note I’m back on Weight Watchers (WW) full time hard core like I was when I first started. I have tracked every day this week. I’ve been trying for over a year now to get back on the WW wagon fully and completely and with full commitment, and I’d do fine for a few weeks or even a few months and then I’d fall off the wagon and be right back to eating unhealthy food. I know I run better when I fuel better and so for this whole summer I’m going to track, eat healthy, and exercise (that part should be no problem, what with the marathon training and all) We’ll see where I end up at the end of the training season. In any event I’ll be lighter than I am right now! I’m hoping for at least 20 lbs on Marathon Day- 20 weeks- 20 lbs.

In other news my nephew Braydan (pictured above) had his first stitches this week- he fell from a tree and a tree branch cut him right across his forehead (ouch!) he needed 19 stiches to close the gash! Poor guy! But thankfully no broken bones or concussion or anything.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend all and THANK YOU to Servicemen and Women, who have sacrificed and continue to do so, so I can enjoy the freedoms I am so richly blessed with!
Have great weekends all!

Getting Back into Blogging and Good things Come in Threes

Well it's been a long time since I update the blog- yikes! But for this training season I'm going to try to at least post every couple of days, and I promise to try to upload some picture too. It's a good record for me of my training and other things in my life too.

First up a brief recap of my half marathon in April:

I ran the Kentucky Derby half Marathon Lousiville, and I traveled there and stayed with my friend Amy! It was great fun to hang out with her and get to know her better.

The race day conditions were slightly less than ideal- rainy at the start and then the sun came out which quickly made for a great deal of heat and humdity. But I made the best of it and still had fun! The hills were challenging and I already mentioned the heat! I did run a personal best time, not quite the time I had been hoping for, but that's okay. I ran my best and had fun and that's all you can ask for.

I'm now beginning my 3rd summer of training for a full marathon! This years race in Chicago on 10/10/10. It's a huge race, as I've been saying just me and 40,000 of my closest friends. My third full marathon. I've never been to Chicago so I'm looking forward to it. But first I have to get through the training, which offically starts tomorrow at my running group Marthoners in Training (MIT). Tomorrow is a 6 mile run.

After my run tomorrow I get to see the other three good things in my life-my three nephews!! We are meeting to celebrate my sister's birthday so it'll be fun to see "the boys".

Hope all of you have wonderful weekends whatever you do!

Ready for a new Season and a New Challenge!

Well the off season is almost over- next week (December 19) my MIT running group will start again- I can't wait. I have kept up with my running base much better than in past off seasons, due in no small part to the fact that I scheduled a couple of races in there. Maybe that's the key making sure to keep a goal in sight at all times.

I have enjoyed some fun runs on Saturdays as well so that's been nice to explore a little bit different parts of Columbus instead of the same trail all the time.

For this session of MIT I've decided to do something that I have never done before- I am going to run two half marathons back to back on consecutive weekends. Kentucky Derby half on April 24, and Cap City Half here in Columbus on May 1st! I plan to run the Derby one for speed, with my goal being to complete it in under 12 minute mile averages- I don't care if it's 11:59! And then Cap City will be just for fun! That will make a half dozen halfs for me! This is from the girl who never even wanted to run a mile! :)

I can't wait to get started out there on the trail with my friends! We had dinner on Tuesday night and I looked around the table my eyes were filled with tears of joy and gratitude for all running has given me!

The Off Season?

Right now I'm not in offical training for any event, so instead I'm maintaining my base of miles and having fun running just for fun! In December our MIT group will start up again and I'll be back into a training program for the half marathon I'm planning this spring.

Yesterday I did run a race the Buckeye Classic 10K at Highbanks, which is quite the hilly course and challenging! I paced the 13 minute/mile group and as usual I had a great time, and I made a new friend too. We had perfect running weather. Many of my MIT friends were out running the race as well and it was fun to see them! And my friend Julie came out to cheer us on which was very nice of her! Thanks Julie!

Next up on the Racing Calendar is the Flying Feather Thanksgiving Day Race- I love that race it's so much fun, so I'm looking forward to pacing for the 13 minute per milers again- enjoyable for me and not to hard of a pace to maintain for me at this point. I like being able to offer encouragement and support to others so the 13 minute pace is perfect for that.

Am I sure this is the off season?

On a totally unrealated note- GO BUCKS!! Who clinched at least a share of the Big Ten Title with a win over Iowa on Saturday! Rose Bowl Bound Baby!

Marathon Number Two Complete!

With the ladies after the marathon
(Kristen, Hannah, me, Julie, Shannon)

Finish Line!! My time is one hour later than this clock shows!

Expo on Saturday.

Last Sunday, October 11, I ran my second marathon, and yes I finished! This Marathon was very different from my first one in that it was a much smaller marathon. I ran the Tow Path Marathon which runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, in between Akron and Cleveland.

This Marathon was about 35 minutes from my parent's home so I stayed with them on Saturday. They drove me up to the Expo where I picked up my packet, race number and chip. The rest of Saturday was spent resting and eating carbs

Sunday morning was a cold start (about 37 degrees) and I had opted to do to Start Early Option at 7:00 am as opposed to the 8:00 am start that the rest of the runners did. It was myself and about 5 other people who started out in the pre-dawn. For the first hour and a half or so it was very solitare on the trail, quiet (except for my i-pod of course), but beautiful. A family of 4 deers crossed the trail right in front of me at about mile 6 or so. Now that is something you don't see in the Columbus Marathon

I felt really good for the most part. The last 6 miles are always the hardest for me, but in this marathon I had the best suprise ever! Four of my running friends (Julie, Kristen, Hannah and Shannon), came up to the Marathon to suprise me. So there I am running along at mile 21-22 ish and I hear someone calling my name- as in Go Heather. In my head I'm thinking hey I don't know anyone here except for my parents?? And then I saw Julie and Shannon! I ran up a little further (closer to mile 24 ish) and Hannah and Kristen were hidding in the bushes, they ran with me as far as they could before the trail police told them they couldn't. Then the finish line was in sight- woo hoo!!

My parents, brother, sister-in-law and my two nephews were there to meet me! It was a great experince and I'm proud that I ran a personal record time, I wanted to run faster than I did in Columbus and I accomplished that goal and I wanted to finsh stronger and I did that as well.

So I'm pleased with my second marathon- next fall it's on to the third! This spring I plan to run a half marathon in Louisville KY with some of my running friends.

This weekend I get the honor and privelage of being on the other side of the marathon and half marathon experince as I will be going to the Columbus Marathon and will be helping out in the MIT tent after the marathon. Can't wait to see my friends finish!

Hannah is running the half marathon, Julie is pacing her husband and her sister (her husband's first half marathon), Kristen is running her third marathon as is Shannon. I want to wish all of them, along with all the other MITers a great run and strong legs! See you out there on Sunday! I'll be the one screaming the loudest!! :)

It was a fun race to run- different from a city marathon that's for sure.