4 miles

Happy Birthday to MCM Mama!  To celebrate her birthday, she created her own virtual race, "Mama Goes Masters".  To help in celebrating her 40th birthday, you had three options:

• 4.0 miles in honor of turning 40
• 8.25 miles in honor of the actual day
• 40K if you dare.

I choose the 4.0 miles.  Though when I had first signed up, I was actually considering the 8.25 miles.  Good thing I choose the four since my ankle tendon / soleux issue hasn't allowed me to run much in the last 2 1/2 weeks.  Even though this is a 'race report' in actuality, I didn't race it.  I had to force myself to keep it easy.  I did not want to risk re-injury especially since I have a half marathon (or full???) in the beginning of October with my sister and my mom.

I choose my normal 4 mile route, but changed it up at the end to avoid more hills.

My normal four mile route:

The 4 mile route that I ran for the race:

It was a beautiful morning.  The sky was just starting to glow in yellow and orange as the sun was picking out.  The temperature was an awesome 42 degrees.  I wore my black running skirt and a blue short sleeve shirt.

After a warm-up with some stretching, I started out.  How happy I was that my ankle felt great!  First mile beeped:  11:10.

A gray fluffy bunny hopped across the road.  Second mile beeped:  11:42.  I was surprised at the pace since I had walked most of the hill.

Today, I ran a bit on the sidewalk.  There's construction throughout town; adding a bike path that will eventually be 15 miles long.  With the road all chopped up, I didn't want to risk twisting any ankles.  Third mile beeped:  11:26.

I decided to change up the ending of my normal four mile route.  Instead of running more hills, I did a few laps around the track.  I don't think that I could have done the entire four miles around the track ... it would be like running on a treadmill for me; without the belt pushing me to maintain speed.  As I was approaching home, the mist was sitting along the tree line in the valley.

God is so good to me.  How beautiful He made this place where we live temporarily until we go home.  The fourth mile beeped:  10:34.  Ooops, got a little carried away that last mile.

4.0 miles

44:53

11:14 pace

This run bumped me over 500 miles for the year!

Wordless Wednesday - Can't wait for school to begin

Had to run

I haven't been running in over two weeks ... well, I had tried running last Monday, but my ankle was in so much pain that I walked back home after a mile.  Last night, I was itching to run.  My ankle has been feeling better and my body was just craving activity.  Unfortunately, I haven't been working out at all.  This injury got to my head.

It's 83 degrees.  I don't like to run in warm weather.  It's after five o'clock.  I like to run in the early morning hours.

Dinner is in the oven when dear husband arrives home.  I explain that I have to run, literally.  He doesn't think that it's a good idea yet ... same opinion as my little sister.  I know, I know, but I have to run.  He smiles and says, "You look ubber cute in your running outfit.  Walk the hills and only two miles".

Fantastic!  I stretched and stretched some more.  I started Gunner (my garmin) and off I went, walking at first since it was downhill.  At the bottom of the hill, I started running.  I had to be grinning from ear to ear.  It felt so good.  I did a little skip of joy.  A hill approached and I walked up it.  Once leveling off, I started running again.  Ankle tendon was still feeling good.  Yeah!  More hills, more walking, and then more running.

When I arrived home, I made sure to stretch and then stretch some more.  I placed Gunner next to my computer and he relayed all the info of my run.  I logged into my favorite running log software, SportsTracks, and showed my dear husband that I had obeyed his wishes.

"See dear, if you look at my pace and the elevation charts, you can see that I walked all the hills.  I have proof."

"Ah ha, but you said that you would only go 2 miles."

"I did."

"No, you went 2.05 miles." ...grinning

Next time, I will stop Gunner right at 2 miles.

Looking at my data, I was surprised.  The moments that I was running, my pace averaged 9:40.

Lake Antoine Classic 15K Race

**I was waiting on the posting of the results before I published this post.

August 7th:  A local race to support Special Olympics!  I signed up the for 15K and the oldest three children decided to run the 2 mile race.

This race was full of lessons.

Lesson 1:  Have everything ready the night before.  Make a race checklist.  We turned around once to get my handheld water bottle (good thing).  We turned around a second time to get the camera.  Luckily, this race wasn't too far away from home.

Lesson 2:  Go to the bathroom at least 30 minutes before the race ... you may be waiting 15 minutes for your turn.

Lesson 3:  Wear the right shoes.  If the course description sounds like a trail race, chances are it's a trail race.

Lesson 4:  Set up your Garmin before the gun goes off.  Make sure those satellites are in sync with you.  Yes, I stopped and waited until my Garmin was ready before I began my run.  It added 2 minutes and 30 seconds onto my time because I was impatient and not standing still.  And I was not going to run unless I knew how fast and how far I am going.  I guess I have some running OCDs.

Before:

After running for 15 Kilometers:

1:42:11 was the official finish time.

Lil' Chef, Mr. T, and Squeaker all started their 2 mile together.

Then Squeaker took off after the first mile leaving behind her two bigger siblings in the dust!

She placed 2nd in her age group with a time of  23:30

Lil' Chef and Mr. T finished together with a time of 32:19 and 32:18, respectively.

Windsor Rodeo Run - 10K

It was a beautiful morning for a run.  The temperature at 8:00 am was 63 degrees.  This was the first year that the Windsor Center organized the run.  They were surprised by how many runners showed up.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on which outfit I should wear.  I went with the majority.

A very good friend of mine (another homeschooling mama) was running her second 5K.  We stayed together for most of the first mile.

Mile 1:  10:20
Mile 2:  10:10
Mile 3:  10:20
Mile 4:  10:32
Mile 5:   9:59
Mile 6:   9:54
The finish:  9:09 pace

Time:  1:02:53

PR!!!  (I beat my last 10K time by 1:39)

Placed 1st in my age group!

Elevation:

Lil' Chef (#343) ran the 2 mile with a good friend of hers (#340).  They are standing next to their swim instructor (bib #370)

Her friend finished first in her age group and Lil' Chef finished 3rd in her age group with a time of 27:20  (39 seconds faster than her last 2 mile race)

Next, Mr. T and Squeaker ran the kiddie race.  Squeaker was disappointed that she wasn't running the 2 mile race.

At 10:00, the town had a Rodeo Parade

We had lunch at a local sub shop and then onto the rodeo!  A big thank you to Babcia and Papa for taking all of us to the rodeo!