Marathon Relay

Yesterday was the big day.  I got up at 4:45 AM.  If you know me, you know that I don't do 4:45 AM.  I met up with one of my teammates, Becky, and we carpooled downtown together.  We joined the rest of the team (aside from our first leg who was already at the starting line) at the shuttle buses.  Around 6:30, we said our "good lucks" to one another and parted ways.  The next couple hours for me were spent on a bus with other people running the 3rd leg of the relay.  We were driven to our exchange points.  Since it was cold and dark outside, most of us stayed on the bus where there was heat.

I got a phone call from Mallory right around 7:30 saying she had finished the first leg of the race with a sub 25 minute time.  Woohoo!  Bobby was next and he was running a 6 mile leg, so I had about an hour before I had to run.  Around 8:15, I got out and starting stretching and warming up.  Mallory ended up joining up with me and saw me off when Bobby got to the exchange point.

I took off and tried to keep up with the pacers.  After the first mile, I started falling back a bit, but I was still running sub 9:00 minute miles (I never said I was fast).  Around mile 2, it started to get really hilly.  At first, I felt like I was doing okay, but then after a while, I was pretty sick of hills.  Around mile 3, my back and ribs started to really bother me (I've had a history of this since a bad back injury 6 years ago).  They continued to bother me for the rest of my leg and I feel like that slowed me down quite a bit.  In the end, I ended up with a time roughly around 37 minutes (a little over 9 minute mile pace).  Overall, I was pleased.

When I was done with my leg, the officials grabbed my timing chip and gave me a participation medal.  I hopped on the bus and once it was full, they took us back to the finish line where I met up with Bobby.  We watched the marathoners run in, which honestly, was a little emotional for me.  It was just so inspiring to see these people finishing strong (or not so strong for some of them) after running over 26 miles.  I can't even imagine.

Mallory and Becky met up with us and we cheered Jenna on and she came barreling down the finishing chute like a champ!  We ended up finishing in 3:54.  Not too bad.  We then went around and got some fun team pictures taken, enjoyed a post-race free beer, and then headed home.

I'll be honest, this past week was crazy (grade cards, field trips, and upcoming conferences).  I was starting to wish I wouldn't have signed up for this relay...especially when I realized how early I was going to have to get up.  But when it was all said and done, I was glad I did it.  It was a fun experience and I like being able to say "I participated in a marathon."  I don't think I'll ever have the desire to do a full marathon myself, but maybe in a few years, if my body cooperates with me, I'll try out a half.  We'll see...

And now...some pictures:

Our Team - Post Race

Kickin' Asphalt

Runners or Olympic Gymnasts?

                                                            

October Running Log

Once October hit, I kind of started freaking out.  Less than 3 weeks until this marathon relay thing!  So, I decided I should probably start running again.

10/1 - 3.64 mi

10/3 - 2.74 mi

10/4 - 1.27 mi (not much, but I was rushed on time and figured something was better than nothing)

10/7 - 3.0 mi

10/8 - 4.15 mi

10/12 - 2.5 mi
10/13 - 2.5 mi
10/14 - 2.5 mi
10/15 - 3.23 mi
10/16  - 3.0 mi
10/17 - 3.83 mi (6 days in a row...woo!)

10/20 - Race Day - 4 mi

Total mileage - 36.06 miles...not bad for three weeks!

September Workout Log

9/1 - Ran 2.56 miles
9/2 - Ran 2.15 miles
9/3 - Wii "Just Dance" 30 minutes
9/4 - Walked 2.03 miles (with hubby and dog)
9/5 - Wii "Just Dance" 30 minutes
9/6 - Walked 1.05 miles (in the heat with 100+ lbs of bad dogs...harder than it sounds)
9/7 - Didn't get a workout in
9/8 - Ran 3.15 miles
9/9 - Ran 3.2 miles
9/10 - Ran 2.5 miles
9/13 - 20 minutes cardio
9/18 - Ran 2.02 miles
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9/19-9/30 - Runner's hiatus (initially due to a foot injury, which then turned into laziness)
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Total mileage for the month - 15.06 mi.

Getting Back in Shape!

Over the past year or so, I've been really unhappy with my body and weight.  I've kind of become one of those people who complain about how I look, but then I don't really do anything to fix it.  It's become somewhat of a trend for me to hop on the "My Fitness Pal" bandwagon for a couple weeks or so, then let it go for a few months.  In doing this, I've never really made enough of a commitment to see any results.

I decided I'm over that.  

I recently committed to doing a marathon relay with some coworkers on October 20th.  I'm really determined to do a good job because I'm on a team with people who are all better runners than I am.  To help get myself into shape, I've set a goal for myself.  During the month of September, I'm going to try to exercise in some form EVERYDAY.  I know that life gets busy, so I'm going to define "exercise" as some type of physical activity for 20 minutes or more: walking, running, exercise videos, etc.  

To hold myself accountable, I'm going to keep a log of my exercise on this blog.  Here's what I've done so far:

8/26 - Walk with dog and hubby 3 miles

8/28 - Walk with dog and hubby 1.88 miles

8/30 - Walk/Run with dog and hubby 3 miles

9/1 - Ran 2.56 miles

9/2 - Ran 2.15 miles

Total mileage for the week - 12.59 miles

Hoping I can keep this up!  I'm thinking it's time to buy some new shoes!

Waddell and Reed Marathon Relay

A coworker of mine recently sent out an email to our staff asking if anyone was interested in doing a marathon relay with her in October.  I've always wanted to participate in a marathon but know that I don't have what it takes to run the full 26.2 miles.  So, a marathon relay would be perfect for me!

http://www.waddellandreedkansascitymarathon.org/race-info-team-relay.php

I'm probably in the worst shape of my life right now, so I'm thinking this will be good motivation for me to get back into running/exercising.  I'm running one of the shorter legs (4 miles), so it shouldn't be too bad.

I've already paid and committed, so there's no backing out now!  I'm going to be "Kickin' Asphalt" in T minus 48 days!