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I’m Running Bloomsday!

By Dawn on May 4, 2012 Comments { 0 }

Yankz laces on my running shoes

After not nearly as much training as I should have been doing, Bloomsday 2012 is upon me. This Sunday, at 9 o’clock in the morning, I will be joining over 50,000 runners and walkers for a 12k race!

This is my second Bloomsday.

I still don’t really consider myself a “runner”. I don’t run consistently enough. I just don’t feel like I fit that term very well… yet. But run I will. Last year, I completed the race in 1 hour, 35 minutes. I was placed in the Lilac start group, which is waayyy in the back, just in front of the moms pushing strollers. I did a LOT of dodging walkers. I mean, a lot. You’ve never seen a crowd until you have been among 55,000 people all walking, jogging and running on the same single city street.

Credit: BloomsdayRun.org

“Walkers to the left, runners to the right” was the request that blared over loudspeakers throughout the first mile of the course. I think I was the only person who heard it, because the walkers sure didn’t! There was a single file line of joggers/runners that hightailed it up the sidewalk– and through people’s front yards– on the left side of the street. Treacherous pathways! But I did it. In fact, when I hit the 1-mile marker I realized that I had run the entire first mile, something which I had never done before.

This year, I was placed in the Orange group because of my time from last year. I’m excited about it, and just a bit nervous. This means I will be with people who plan on moving their feet– jogging or running rather than the snail’s pace walkers I was stuck behind last year. In fact, I caught up to a lot of Orange group people last year about midway through the course, and they started 15 minutes before I had. This year I just hope they don’t leave me way behind.

Have you ever run a race before?

categories: All About Me

Tags: Bloomsday, momsrunning, running

Comments { 0 } :

Race Motivation

By Dawn on April 15, 2012 Comments { 2 }

@MamaKautz and I before Bloomsday 2011

NOTE: If you’re visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party, my PARTY post is right HERE!

I recently mentioned that my husband and I are wanting to take control of our eating and eat better so we’ll FEEL good. Along with this goal, I have another one. You see, I’m a wanna-be runner. I enjoy running, most of the time. Okay, actually I don’t enjoy it unless I do it fairly often. Then I LOVE it.

I ran this morning. I made it 3.03 miles. The last mile I was able to get into my “zone”. I wasn’t looking around, or thinking about a whole lot, or dodging rocks, I was just running. I love it when I get to that point. I can just GO. But I lost “the zone” after just a few minutes when a dog stepped out of its driveway, causing me to be on the alert. Then I was tired. Seriously tired.

You see, I have a bigger goal than just running: I’m running Bloomsday again this year! Bloomsday is 12k– 7.46 miles of fun with 55,000 other people! And if that sounds kind of crazy, that’s because it is. It was my first real race ever, last year, and I had so much fun! Mama Kautz and I both ran it last year. Not together, because she was in an earlier start group than I was, but we rode the shuttle there together and met up afterward. Do I want to win it? NO WAY. I’m happy with my 10.5 minute miles!

My plan this year was to get a personal record–a PR– on last year’s time. Last year I finished in 1:35. This year I want to do it in 1:25. Only trouble is, in order to get ready for something like shaving off ten minutes, I need to actually BE RUNNING. Regularly. This week, I ran Tuesday morning (2.68 miles, following my boys on their bikes) and this morning (Sat., 3.03 miles). First runs in 3 weeks. I’m back to needing to walk a lot more. I’m fatter. I’m tired-er. This is not going down the way I’d planned it.

Bloomsday is Sunday, May 6th. I have 21 days. Three weeks to try to get myself ready to run it. I can do this! Last year I didn’t do much training at all and I did pretty good. I have somewhere between 9-14 training runs I can take before the race. Potential. Motivation.

They say the hardest thing when it comes to running are the first few steps out the front door. I agree. And I’m going to do it anyway.

So tell me, what do you have to psych yourself up for in order to get it done?

Today’s Ultimate Blog Party free download is McGuffey’s Eclectic Speller! <– (downloads expired) And here are Friday’s and Saturday’s freebies!

categories: All About Me

Tags: Bloomsday, getting healthy, running, UBP12

Comments { 2 } :

Running to 40

By Dawn on May 30, 2011 Comments { 6 }

gettinghealthy2 Back in October, I wrote about counting down to my 40th birthday. I recently read a post by a lady who is counting down to her 40th and getting fit too. (If I can find it again I’ll link it!) Well now I’m looking at five months until my 40th, and thinking seriously about what I want for myself as I move into my next decade.

I don’t want to be too tired or lazy to enjoy life; I want to feel healthy and active.
I don’t want to be a whiny woman with dozens of aches, pains, and illnesses; I want to be fit and ready for anything.
I don’t want Type II Diabetes; I want to change my lifestyle to avoid that.
I don’t want to be fat; I want to be HOTT. You got it— a HOT 40-year old. Hott with TWO T’s!
I don’t want to grow to be a sickly, frail, complaining old woman; My lifestyle changes should help prevent that from happening!

What I am doing about it:

I am learning where are food comes from, how it is processed, and how to find and buy healthier foods locally.

I started a beginning runner’s training program called Couch-to-5k, using this app for my iTouch.

It sounded scary the first time I heard about it. 5k? That’s… what? Three miles. And since I began running last fall I have discovered that three miles really isn’t that far to run. Heck, I ran Bloomsday for crying out loud, and that was 7.5!

I started going to Zumba fitness classes 2-3 nights a week with my 16 year old daughter. It was hard and sweaty at first. I sort of enjoyed it but not a whole lot. It has just been lately that I have realized I’m getting hooked on Zumba! I love it. I wish I could do it almost every day. It’s an incredible workout AND it’s a lot of fun. It’s a total blast and I sweat my butt off. Pretty soon I’m going to get myself one of those fun jingly hip scarves! If nothing else it will sufficiently embarrass my daughter. What more could I ask? Mwahahahaha!

My weight loss has been going very slowly. I average about 4-5 pounds per month. THat’s not the 2# or so that I would like to see, but what I have noticed is that my shape is changing. My endurance has DEFINITELY changed. I have also lost inches!

From my:

Hips -2”
Waist -2”
Bust/chest -3”
Thighs -1”
Arms -1/2”
WEIGHT –16#

I have a waist again. It’s not real dramatic yet, but it’s there. A few months ago I was almost straight on the sides. I’ve had to wear my bras on the smallest hooks. I took my belt in TWO holes. I lost the size 14 jeans, and I’m in a loose 12 to a snug 10. I fit a women’s medium t-shirt for the first time in five years.

I’m not done yet, not by a long shot. I have a couple pants/dress sizes to drop, a shirt size to drop, and 30# more to lose. I’m on the road. I will get there.

My friend Katey wants me to run the Lewiston Half Marathon with her in October, and I am honestly considering it. I have five months to train for it, and I’ve heard that is plenty of time to do that. If I do it, the race is the weekend after my 40th.

So I’m running to 40.

categories: All About Me

Tags: Bloomsday, getting healthy, half marathon, running

Comments { 6 } :

I Did It!

By Dawn on May 2, 2011 Comments { 8 }

America’s largest annual 12k race took place yesterday, Sunday May 1st 2011. I signed up for it a couple of months ago, not really knowing what to expect or what I was getting myself into. I’ve never walked Bloomsday, or even watched it. I’ve never run in a race—any race.

I joined DailyMile about two months ago, and the profile asks for goals. Mine say “Run a 5k, then run a 10k”. It doesn’t say anything about a 12k in there, and I certainly never thought it would happen before I had done shorter ones! Now I definitely feel good about all of those possibilities.

Katey & I before the race

All in all, my first Bloomsday experience was great. It was a beautiful day, people were excited, and I felt really good. I got into a good comfortable pace before I hit the 1 mile mark, which never, ever happens for me. I don’t know if it was knowing that I had almost 7.5 miles to run, or just the fact that I was running with other people, but I found a pace and kept it up. I remember being amazed when I realized I had actually run the whole first mile & and half.

I had layered up because it was 34 degrees when I left the house, and I shed my jacket at 1.5 miles. I shed my Bible in 90 Days finisher t-shirt from Mom’s Toolbox around the 4.5 mile mark. I didn’t throw them in a tree though, like so many others did when the race first began. I tied my jacket around my waist and tucked my shirt under my water belt. The trees all along the race route were littered with clothing. Volunteers were ready and collected everything afterward, to be donated to the needy.

I walked and ran alternately, dodging walkers who didn’t “stay to the right” like they were supposed to. One man ran me off the road when I tried to pass him, “On your left, sir” and he ignored me and continued walking. I slipped off the blacktop and twisted my ankle a little, attempting to get back ON it rather than fall down the 2’ embankment next to the road. I succeeded in saving myself but hurt my ankle in the process. He shot me back with a “My other left.” Uh, no. Your ACTUAL LEFT. Thanks man. I did a lot of zig-zagging.

The hills weren’t fun, and while Doomsday Hill is the one with the bad rap because it’s SO long, that first hill was a killer for me! Here’s the elevation map, so you can see what I mean. The second hill wasn’t much better either.

Katey was in the start group ahead of me, and she started out a good 15 minutes before my start group did. I was constantly on the look out for her, but never did find her. Heck, with 56,000+ people around, I’m just glad I didn’t get trampled. Smile I did spot her husband on a hill, and headed over to see how he was doing. Katey had left him behind and he was limping a bit but still making good progress.