Welcome Back!

I am welcoming myself back to blogging. It's only been since May of '07 that I last posted! Oops!

Lots has changed, and lots has stayed the same.

Changed:

1) I'm growing my hair out. (not weight or running related item though)
2) Right foot injury, so this years running schedule will be interesting since I have *several* 1/2 marathons planned. But I will be good and do what needs to be done. I'm sure loosing weight and stretching more would help.
3) I'm back on "the diet". Although yesterday and today I didn't journal my food (YET), and it's only day 4. Another oops!
4) That's all I can think of right now!

Same:

1) Still need to lose weight.
2) Still thinks that the act of weight loss sucks badly.
3) Still knows it must be done.

4th Annual Mackinaw Memorial Bridge Race

Last weekend was a blast! J *finally* got to run over the Mackinaw Bridge, and we actually had time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

As usual, we did little to nothing to train for this event. J stuck with me for the first mile and when we got to the first mile marker and his watch read 11 mins, he freaked and took off. I forgot to put gum in my mouth so I was unhappy to have a dry/pasty mouth.

The online results don't give a pace, since the actual mileage of the run is semi up-in-the-air J and I choose to go with a guy we overheard saying his wrist GPS read 5.08 miles. Sounds good to me. The paperwork we received from the event coordinator says "The course is approximately 5.4 miles from start to finish." That would bump my pace up from a 11.23 for 5.08 miles to 10.43 for 5.4 miles. I'm not sure I was doing a 10.43 pace, since my first mile was closer to 11.23 by J's watch. I guess we will never know for sure!

We stayed at a hotel which is located at the base of the Mackinaw Bridge, Mackinaw City side. That was nice because we were able to walk around downtown instead of trying to find a parking spot. A couple of things could have been a little nicer though - the pool was across the parking lot and Mackinaw City in May isn't exactly steaming hot. Also there was some sort of water leak (I'm thinking since we were near the elevator, we had an ice machine right above us), so we had to keep the bathroom door closed to quite the noise. Also, no Food TV channel! Other than that, we were very happy with our accomodations.

Here are some of the pictures we took:

This is us (duh!) before the start of the race. It was around 6:00am and the sun had just started to come up. The weather was in the high 40's, but we were so excited to be there that we didn't care!

This is me being goofy before J took off ahead of me. I ran up ahead a bit and then turned around and was running backwards to the best of my ability. I remember asking him (jokingly) "I'm not going to run into anyone, am I?"

Here we are after the race at the ice arena after breakfast. We didn't stay for the results, because . . . we just aren't that fast. I did sprint past two gals at the finish who were in my age group, so I feel pretty good about that!

05/16/07

Call me a slacker - call me whatever will make you feel better. I'll call myself fat. Got on the scales this morning and saw 141.2 pounds.

I did run today - a 1/2 of a 5K. I need to start taking my vitamins again, and running more, and eating better. The list goes on and on.

Since I just started training for my new job, I think I have enough on my plate right now to keep me busy. :-) Baby Steps! I thought updating my blog was a good start!

04.22.07

Did pretty darn good at the Flushing Tax Trot. Wish I was in better shape that I could have ran the 10K or 15K, but right now I'll take what I can get. It was another hot one, just like last year. Finished with the temps in the mid-70's - and last weekend at Beach Wellness (or was that two weeks ago??) it was in the mid-40's. Kinda hard for a body to get used to that kinda shock!

I finished in 33.00. My first mile was around 10.22, my second mile around 21.18. At least I'm fairly consistent. :-)

What's next? I have to check the calendar! J & I would like to add the Detroit Free Press 1/2 marathon to our list for this year, it will be a nice warm-up for the Disney.

That's it for now!

Life update

Yes - I'm still here. Barely.

As of 04/02 we have our house up for sale (no bites yet), so that had kept me busy. Other things have been brewing as well that have been keeping me from my running and blogging. Excuses, excuses! I know. Lame.

Yesterday we did the First Annual Beach Wellness 5K Race out at the State Park. I enjoyed it, because it was the same course for Run By the Bay so I knew it. Didn't set a PR, but it was good to be out running! Ran into my trainer JH - always good to see her. Hopefully the weather will warm up and we will be able to resume our workouts like we want to.

Next weekend is the Flushing Tax Trot. Another good race. Nice residential run through a pretty neighborhood. My mom will be there to race also. Last year the Tax Trot was my first run ever. I finished in 35.22 (11.24 pace), I see no reason why I can't beat that! (keeping fingers crossed)

Off to do more laundry!

Bay City St. Pat's

If you have been checking here every day, wondering how the race went . . . wonder no more. I even have pictures!

For starters, I did not beat my best time. I was 5 seconds off. Will try again next time. J on the other hand, smoked his previous PR with a time of 25:21! I finished with a 32:32 and mom walked across the finish with a 52:29.

Here we are after the race. Thanks to our friend B for taking our picture!

Next is a picture of me, far left. The best part of this picture is the fact that J wasn't taking a picture of me, he was shooting the girl in front of me who is our friend B's niece.



J didn't even see me, nor know I had finished the race until I walked up to him after I finished. He pointed her out to me later and I told him she was either right in front of me or right behind me so I should be in the picture too - and I was! I did pass her in the end, and beat her by 11 seconds. That gives me great satisfaction, because she walk/ran the whole way. There are always people in a race that I am in that will run fast, then walk . . . then just as I catch up to them, run again . . . then walk. It is as if they hear me coming and think "OH NO, we can't let HER beat, me!"

Sorry the pictures are so dark, it was very sunny that day.

So now you ask what's next? What's next is the Flushing Tax Trot, which was the first 5K I ran (last year). It is a nice residential run that is pretty flat, and I'm pretty confidant that I'll beat last years time of 35:22. :-) At least I had better!

Besides the Tax Trot, my treadmill training from here on out will not only be rolling hills, but also inclines - since the Mackinaw Bridge Memorial Day Run is about 68 days away, and I need to start working on my 5% incline! You might think a 5% incline is not that much and you are right, but a 5% incline for around 2.5 miles which is also the Entire Beginning of the Race - then it turns into something!

Another thing I seriously want to start working on is my EATING! Yes, I know how to eat . . . too well actually! I need to forget how to eat a few hundred calories per day. So even though you've read it here before, I'm going back on the food journal. Wish me luck!

70 degrees!

I took the opportunity yesterday to run 5K outside, in the 70 degree weather. I did that yesterday because by the end of the day today we are suppose to have freezing rain. Welcome to Michigan. :-( It was great running outside again even if the wind was at least 15 to 20 mph in my face most of the way home. I still managed a decent time - 35:45.

I am definitely looking forward to the St. Pat's race on Sunday.