Grantham Run for the Rec 5k!

I've happily and successfully completed my second 5k! The past few weeks, I've had some great runs. I've been doing longer distances and kept a pretty good pace. My longer runs usually have me running 9 minute miles, but that's fine with me as long as I can get through the distance. I've been averaging 15 to 20 miles a week, which seems to be a nice healthy balance. I've kept up with taking days off, because I've realized as much as I love running and hate taking a day off, my body needs the rest and I run better when I balance it out.

I woke up this morning a little after 6 am, already thinking about the race. I wasn't planning to get up until well after 7, but I usually wake up early when I know I have something exciting going on. I spent about an hour on the couch, watching re-runs of the OC and reading. It was a very relaxing morning. A little after 7, I made some coffee and had a bagel.

I wasn't feeling as pumped for the 5k as I was last time, partly due to the weather and partly due to a late night last night. I ended up being DD for a friend, which I didn't mind, except this morning on my way to the 5k, I saw that someone had hit my car. At this time, no one has come forward and I'm still steaming about it.

Anyways, I had breakfast and continued to relax. I left the house a little after 8 and made my way to Grantham. Its about a 25 minute drive into the country. On my way, I noticed that the mountain had its first white covering. We got some snow yesterday and it definitely stuck on the higher grounds.

I got to the race location around 9 and immediately saw Chris. We ran the last 5k together. And when I say together, I usually follow him and then towards the end he takes off. I did a lot more warming up today, since it was pretty cold. About 40 degrees out, but with the wind chill, definitely in the 30s. We also ran part of the course, because neither of us knew the route.

A little before 10, everyone lined up. I learned from the last race to get a good front spot, which I did again this time. At 10am, we took off. The first half-mile is all up hill, which is a hard start. But I pushed hard to the top, and I pushed hard. About half way up the hill, I figured out I was in 7th position behind 6 guys, so I was the first girl (I kept this as the motivation for the race). At the top, you turn off onto a wide, steep downhill dirt path. It was a rough run on the legs with the terrain. I was definitely afraid of either slipping on the wet gravel or twisting an ankle. The rest of the run until the half way point was a dirt road.

At the water stop, everyone turned around and ran the same route, except this time, you had to run up the rough dirt path. It was the worst. I've run hills, but this was hard and it was a long hill. I had a few moments that I thought I wasn't going to make it, but I pushed. I could hear women behind me and I was afraid they were going to pass me. I made it to the top, still pushing. The rest was a half-mile down hill on pavement. A little down the hill, SHE passed me! She congratulated me on the pace I kept but she perused right by. I was irritated that I let a woman pass me, but either way I was feeling good about my run. I kept close to her for the remainder of the run.

At the bottom of the hill, I heard someone else behind me, and I wasn't going to let it happen. I knew it was another woman and I was determined to keep my position. And I did. I flew to the finish line. I finished 9th overall, 2nd for women, and 1st for women in my age group. My time was 25:14, which was a minute slower than my last 5k but given the brutal hills, I am definitely happy with my performance.

Overall, I'm really happy that I've taken up running and stuck with it. There are days where I definitely don't want to do it, but I do. Its not just physically beneficial, its definitely beneficial to my sanity as well. Running gives me time to think about everything, and it keeps me focused on something other than the actual run.

Next up might be the Monster Dash on Halloween. Its another 5k but everyone runs in costumes. Its a debatable run, since I don't want to push myself too much. I have registered for the Sunapee Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day and I'm trying to recruit more family and Appleseed team members to do it too!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

This week's been good. Been really busy at work, which is a nice change since it was so quiet this summer.

I started the process of applying for new jobs. I haven't led on to my boss that I am looking but with the summer work coming to an end, I have no choice. I've applied for two this week and will keep applying until I find something.

I've got a busy Columbus Day weekend planned with tons of work, and a few social plans here and there. I'm working two boats on Saturday and two boats on Sunday. Makes for long days, but the money's good and hey who couldn't use some extra cash. Secretly I'm planning on finally getting a new laptop and possibly an ipod touch after this weekend.

Running has been somewhat painful lately. I don't know if sometimes I've just pushed it too hard or what, but about once a month I have some ailment that causes pain when running. Right now its my left calf. Last month, I had the same problem with shin splints. I figure I'll take it easy for a few days maybe just do small runs every other day and pick back up next week.

I'm scheduled to run my second 5k next Saturday. Its another small fun run. My friend Chris is running this one again too, so I'm happy I'll have a running buddy, even if I'm just chasing his dust the whole run. I also signed up for the Sunapee Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I'm hoping that more of Team Appleseed will sign up too.

Its about a month until my swearing in and my parents' trip to NH. I'm more excited to see them than I am for the swearing in. The last time I saw my mom we were both 30 plus pounds heavier, so I think it'll be great to see each other so thin.

My wise words of advice for the week: if you're not happy, you're the only one that change that. Go out and do something about it!

73 Miles!

Seriously, I've been tracking my running, including mileage, times, and my average running time for a mile. Over the course of September, I ran 73.13 miles! I wasn't expecting it to be that much, but I'm excited just the same.

I'd like to hit 80 for October but if I don't, I wouldn't be let down. I feel a whole lot healthier these days, and some days I can't believe what I looked like and felt like a year ago.

Besides running and spending time with friends, life has been pretty quiet lately. I've been meeting up with friends a lot more, which is nice, but I realized the toll of my social life when it took me over 3 hours to clean my apartment yesterday. This weekend its all about working, and getting my resume in order to begin the arduous process of job hunting.

Good News all Around!

Good news all around today! I got my NH bar results, and I passed! Relief has definitely come over me; I'm done with bar exams forever!!! Of course, jokingly, people have asked which state I'll be barred in next, but I'm serious when I say I'm done with these exams. The anxiety of studying, taking the test and waiting for the results is just brutal. I wouldn't put myself through that again, I promise!

I've started to look for something full-time, since my current position is only part-time. I'm still really interested in following something in family law. There is a child support enforcement position that I am really interested in. I need to start working on my resume again, and get myself out there.

I've had a good week of running, as well. I've done a bunch of short runs, but I'm ready to dig in for something longer this weekend, maybe 5 miles. Wednesday, I ran one of the usual routes, but cut it a little short. 2.4 miles, with an average mile of 8:15. Thursday, I ran a mile to softball (a 7:39 mile), played softball for about an hour and a half, then ran the mile home, on a different route (with an 8:05 mile). Friday, I tried anew route. Not new to me at all, actually, I ran down the road I lived on for 12 years, though I hadn't run that route yet. It was a nice change, and definitely a more grueling route. 3.67 miles in 32:25 minutes, an average mile of 8:49. Despite my tiny hangover on Saturday, I ran my usual Southgate route of 2.6 miles. And on Sunday, I set out for a longer run 4.33 miles, with an average mile of 9:29 minutes. I've definitely noticed that I do slow down on my longer runs, but I am still able to run them and finish them. Slowing down doesn't bother me, I'm just anxious to be faster.

I'm determined to run another 5k in two weeks, and then the 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Right now, I am debating a 5-miler on Columbus Day weekend at the Warner Fall Foliage Festival. I don't know the route at all and I've been told there is a pretty serious hill involved. If I can run a few longer runs before then, I might just do it. I wouldn't register until the day of, just in case my body isn't ready to do it then.

The only serious issue I've had with running is taking days off. It literally kills me not to run. I enjoy that time so much that I crave it. I'm going to start looking for either a yoga class or a cardio class in the area, because I need something else on those days.

I did it!

After a week of bad runs, horrible shin splints and feeling like my body was hating me, I ran my first 5k (3.1 miles) on Sunday and out performed myself. Throughout the week, I had horrible runs; my body just wasn't handling the runs very well and I was feeling very discouraged. So on Thursday, I decided I really needed to invest in good running shoes if I was going to stick with this. I went to this great store, Runner's Alley in Manchester, and they were amazing. I spent about an hour there trying to decide between two pairs, both of which were great, but just trying to figure out which pair was the best for me.

Thursday afternoon, I took them for a quick test run. Despite the pain in my body, I knew it wasn't a result from the shoes, and I was happy with my purchase. I knew though that if I wanted to do well on Sunday, it meant no running until then. I was nervous because it seems like anytime I take a break, I regress, and I didn't want that to happen on Sunday. So I didn't run Friday or Saturday.

I went to bed early on Saturday night, and woke up feeling refreshed and anxious to run. I arrived at the State Park around 9:30 and immediately ran into a few people I knew. I felt better, because I had gone alone and it was nice to see some familiar faces.

I didn't know where to set myself up. There were more than 200 people and I was afraid of getting bogged down by the crowd. Fortunately the people I knew suggested we head up to the front. When we were there, Jess had mentioned she had seen me running but hadn't seen me at the last local 5k. I mentioned that while I had been running for a little while, this was my first race. She asked what my goal would be for myself. I said I'd be happy if I could get to an 8:00 mile. The fastest I have been so far is a 8:30 mile. I knew 8:00 minutes might be pushing it but maybe I needed the challenge.

There were a lot of kids on the starting line, which I wasn't looking forward to. When the gun shot went off, it was pretty intense. I took off, running pretty hard. I was trying to stay on Jess's heels, because I knew if I could do that, I'd do pretty well. A lot of the kids dropped out quickly which became an obstacle course for everyone trying to get around them.

At mile 1, I glanced down at my watch. I knew I had been running hard, but I didn't expect my first mile to be completed in 7:12 minutes. I also knew I had to slow down because I was breathing harder than I expected and I wanted to finish this race. I kept Jess in my sights for most of the run; it became my goal to keep up with her.

At mile 2, I had slowed down considerably. My second mile was about 8:45 minutes. Which I needed to recover from the first mile, and to keep myself going for the final mile plus. Finally, I heard the crowds, the finish line was much closer than I had expected. So I started pushing myself again. My body was tired and I was breathing hard, but I knew I only had a little more to go.

Finally, after weaving through the wooded roads of the Park, the finish line was in sight and I was running. I just wanted to be there! I crossed the finish line at 24:15. My final mile plus was about 8:15. Doing the math, its about an average of a 7:49 mile. I've never run that fast, but clearly I was determined. Afterwards, I did a lot of walking around, chatting with people and trying to recover with food and beverages.

I stayed for a while, waiting on awards and all the raffles. I didn't win anything, but I won the accomplishment of knowing I could finish a 5k and perform well. My body was definitely sore the day after, but I recovered faster than I thought I would. By today, my shins feel great, and I'm ready to get some more miles in. I did take Monday off, and I ran yesterday. I was pretty sore, but I did my usual 2.6 mile loop in 22 minutes, an 8:27 mile, which is where I like to be.

The official results have now come out. I finished #31 out of 207 participants. I am thrilled with my performance and can't wait to run another 5k, which I've already put on my calendar for next month. Below is a link to the results page, if you're interested.

http://www.kearsarge.org/sutton/lib/sutton/Overall10.pdf

Day of Rest

After a full week of running, 7 days and running 24.43 miles, I needed a rest. So on Monday, I forced myself not to run. I wanted to so bad, but I knew my body needed the rest. On Saturday, I ran 2.6 miles in 21:22 minutes (a 8:33 minute mile) and on Sunday, I ran 3.6 miles in 30:15 minutes (a 8:24 minute mile).

Today was the first bad run I've had. My shin splints really kicked up, and I was in pain during most of the run. I did 3.6 miles, a run I do often, but in 33:00 flat; the worst time I've ever had for this distance (a 9:10 minute mile). The time isn't the worst, but I wanted my day of rest to make my runs better not worst. Afterwards, I came home and iced my shins; they're feeling better now, so I'm hoping to have a good run tomorrow.

I'm also definitely feeling the stress of the pending bar results. Its only a few more days until the results come out, but it feels like a lifetime. I can't wait for September 24th to be here. Its also an exciting time for my friend Sara. The day after I get my results, her husband comes home for a two week break from Iraq. He'll deploy again until January, but at least she'll get to see him for a few weeks.

Its official

I've registered for my first 5k, next weekend. I finally decided that since I can handle long runs I should be able to handle an actual race. Its called the Strut in Sutton fun run. Its around a beautiful lake and there's a party afterwards, lots of prizes, etc.

On Thursday, I did 3.6 miles in 30:00 (an 8:20 mile), and yesterday, I did 4.6 miles in 44:15 (a 9:37 mile) . I don't know where my time came from on Thursday, but I'm pretty proud that I can get myself to run a pretty fast mile. My pace definitely slowed yesterday as it was a longer run and since I've been running a lot this week, I was feeling a little bit of muscle fatigue. I think I'll do something short today, and then run a 5k tomorrow to see where my time is at.

I also decided that I'm going to need an iPod soon. Running without the music can be great, since it clears my mind. But running with music will definitely be good too.

Its a beautiful day out. I'm trying to be productive this weekend, but I think I'll definitely get out to enjoy this weather too!