Ready for 10K

I'm so ready for my next adventure - conquering the 10K next weekend at the Wine and Cheese festival. The event is local and very affordable. Last week, I emailed the race director to find out the exact route being used. I'm very familiar with the neighborhood, as it's where my in-laws live. It's full of rolling hills as it butts up to the river, it's similar to where I live but this portion has more rolling hills and is probably at a higher incline. Zamara and I wanted to be able to do a practice run through the course, so that we know what to expect come race day and we know how to pace ourselves.

Last night, we decided to run it. We got a late start, we drove the course first and it took us a long time. The streets were dark and it was hard to read signs. When we finally arrived back at the movie theater (the start and finish point) we were both a little intimidated it seemed so far! Even though it was late (after 10:30 pm) I knew the neighborhood well enough to feel safe. We ended up running the course as well as the distance of the parking lot at the theater because I didn't know where the start and finish lines would be exactly. We did a short cool down walk, stretched and got water. Oh was I thirsty. It was after midnight by the time we got in the car and came home. What kind of crazy people run this late at night, you might ask? lol

I guess we're just driven and motivated to run. Zumara and I fit it into our schedule no matter what it takes. For me, that means running after I put the kids to bed. It really is the only time I have to run. It works well for the both of us. Yeah, I seen several people staring at us like we were on something to be out running that late. It's much healthier to be out running until midnight than drinking and partying like most of the people we ran past last night. So I don't feel to bad. Once I came home, I drank another glass of water and got in bed.

This morning, I decided to use mapmyrun.com just to make sure we covered the course correctly. We did plus some! Due to the run in the parking lot, we ended up running 6.5 miles!
Taking my total running mileage this week to 22 miles! Which, makes me want to go run 4.2 miles today, so I can say I ran 26.2 miles this week, the same distance as a marathon. For that reason, I just might :x

My little athlete

At last nights event, flyers for other activities were placed on my car. One of them was for the California kid's triathlon on August 8th. I cleaned out my car today bringing in several flyers. Mariyn picked them up and was looking at them talking to me about racing. I told her one of the flyers was for a kids race where you swim, bike and run in the same race. Immediately, she said, Cool, can I do it? Ahh warms my heart, my little athlete.

I asked her if she was sure she wanted to do it and talked to her about the distances. For her age it's a 50 yard swim, 1 mile bike and half mile run. I explained to her how many laps in our pool that would be then how far on the bike then how far she would have to run in terms (to places) she would understand like biking to school and back and running to her school. Of course, she would have to practice but I'm already training for my tri. She could easily tag along and train with me. Plus, her distances shouldn't be too fun. All participants get a medal and I know she thinks that is really cool.

I'm going to talk to her more about it and her dad but it looks like I have a future triathlete on my hands. After dinner, we went swimming and before I even got in the pool she swam 5 laps. I think she ended up swimming about 15 laps total. Soon, we will going biking as soon as we are done swimming just so she can see how it feels. I love my little athlete.

On a personal note, even though I slept most of the day, I swam 60 laps. 50 free style 10 back stroke.

Weekend

I started my long weekend early on Friday. I went to bed trying to figure out how my day was going to go and where I was going to fit in gym time. I was suppossed to watch my nieces and nephew,or at least that's what I thought. I figured I'd worry about it in the morning when they got here and figure it out. I ended up sleeping in until almost 10am! Crazy, I know. When I got up, my girls were quietly watching a movie and I checked my phone. Apparently, I was texted that I didn't need to watch the kids. I had a few errands and such to do and planned on watching Eclipse Friday night with my girlfriends. Plus, I wanted to wash my car, it was DIRRR-Ty. Normally, I take it to the car wash and have them do it. But I was feeling cheap money is tight and really the car wash never really gets it 100% clean, probably because I wait too long between washes ;-) The girls and I were on a mission to clean the car and I knew it was going to be WORK! But the girls had a blast. Mariyn said to me, "Mom have you EVER washed a car like this before?" HAHA HA Umm.. YES but it's been a while. I have a lot of memories of washing cars/trucks as a kid.

Eclipse was AMAZING and I've decided Emmett is really good eye candy! Good thing eye candy doesn't make you fat because I was drooling over him a lot! I did splurge and get a large soda (Dr. Pepper) and pop corn. Not because I needed a large but because it was cheaper to buy it as a combo. I can't believe snack prices at the theater! $12.50 for the soda and pop corn. Seriously! I hadn't had a soda in a long time, so I pretended it was worth it. Honestly though, I don't really miss soda. Crazy, I know. I'm happy with my water and crystal light. Sweet tea, I miss sweet tea but everything in moderation, right?

Saturday I went river rafting with my friends. My kids stayed with my brother, my nieces were babysitting in exchange I bought them Eclipse tickets, and Rich was on call. It was a beautiful warm day and very relaxing not having to worry about the fam. I love them, but I love me time too. I bought my food with me: seafood salad, almonds, nectarines and plums. I bought a 12 pack of Smirnoff ice, not because I would drink all 12. I figured I'd share, I rarely drink. I won't drink around my kids and I won't drink unless it's safe and really I don't drink because it's wasted calories. I had two drinks out of the 12 pack. I helped row all day in the heat and swam. I'm pretty sure I burnt off the extra calories. I had fun rafting. I really only knew 2 of the people in our group of 16. I was nervous about going and being that fat girl again. Lets face it, most people who are willing to swim in public are probably skinnies. While, I am looking skinny for me, I am not looking skinny. I am feeling confident with my body and in better shape. I think I look fit - except for my gutt. The funniest thing is I am really more self conscious about my body now that I ever was. Maybe it's more aware? I can easily see how obsessive someone can get about their weight and body now and could see how it could turn into a problem for some people i.e. Anorexia etc. I never really understood eating disorders before but I think I do now. Not that I have one or anything, I just see how easy it is to become obsessed. Good news: I got a ton of compliments on my suit and I had a GREAT time doing something active with friends. That is the goal right, to live a healthy ACTIVE life style!

Sunday - July 4th. Swimming, BBQ and Fireworks! American tradition, right. I did ok and planned healthier foods. My mom and step dad came over too. My mom tried her best to bring healthier stuff too. We did good until Rich sabotaged us by asking for potato salad and chips! I limited my portions though and tried to eat mostly healthy. Hopefully, I didn't eat too much. It's hard not too when the summer if filled with such delicious foods. Good thing is I LOVE fruit and veggies. I really do :) I just also love potatoes and deserts and well... FOOD! ha ha

6-6-10

My internet is down, kinda sucks. Ok really sucks. My modem broke so I’ve got to replace it. In the meantime, I’m journaling in word and will post it when I have access again.

I got up early, 5 am and had to leave the house before 6 am in order to make the hour and half drive to Sacramento. Let me preface by saying, I’m not a morning person. I’ve never been a morning person. So getting up that early for me is a challenge in itself.

One word to describe Sunday’s 5K event at the Nike Women’s Fitness Festival – Amazing. I’ve lived in California my whole life and never actually been to the state capital before and it’s less than an hour and a half away. Kinda odd, I know.

I was excited and nervous to go to this event. Nervous because it was a really large event. Rich had to work. It was too far and early for my mom, so my daughters spent the night with her and she baby sat them so I could participate. None of my friends registered to run. It was me, all alone for the hour and a half drive and run. Over 3,400 women participating, the event sold out. It’s my first big event and I was excited. It was an awesome event and organized great. There were a few big sponsors and lots of vendors geared towards health and fitness. I actually found another event that I want to do, Princess Promenade, the largest all Women’s cycling event in California. Best part is it’s geared towards mothers and daughters. I promised Mariyn she could do a bike event once she got better with her bike. This seems like the perfect event for that.

The day was gorgeous and the atmosphere friendly, supportive, fun and breathtakingly beautiful. The weather was ideal. I arrived there around 7:30, I picked up my packet and walked around until the first wave began then watched and waited for my wave to start.

There were two waves running an 8 am start and 8:40am. I really debated on which wave I should do. The 8 am wave was for runners with a 10 minutes mile pace or faster. 8:40 for runners slower than 10 minutes including walkers, and those with strollers. I decided to register for the second wave. My decision was because I thought I could run the race between 10 and 11 minutes per mile pace. Awards were given in the first race to the top 3 finishers in each age bracket. I knew I wasn’t going to be one of those top 3. In the second wave, the awards were given out randomly. So I figured, I belonged in the second wave. I lined up at the front of the start line for my wave. I can’t how I felt. Nervous because it was such a big race. Excited to be able to participate and confident because I knew I was ready and able to complete the 3.1 mile distance.

My stomach had been upset for days. TMI WARNING I was constipated. I had had a BM since Weds. I felt extra heavy and bloated. I tried to eat lots of fresh fruit and fluids to get me going but nothing worked. When I told my mom Saturday night, she said I needed to be careful because I would have to go during my race. I was really hoping this wasn’t the case. I wanted to go before so I would feel better and be able to do my personal best. Yeah that didn’t happen. At about the 1.5 mile mark, my stomach just started turning. That meant 1 thing. I had to go soon. Ugghh… Should I stop and find a restroom? What would that do to my time? I know I’m not going to be happy if my time was bad. I wanted to be able to run this race because I knew I can. Despite the pain, I decided to push threw. I couldn’t see a restroom and I didn’t really know the area anyways. I knew there were restrooms at the finish line. I’d just have to make it.

There were so many runners. The route overlapped at times and you could really see all the women running and walking many with their children. I ran as quickly as I could. I pushed myself hard. I was able to sprint the last stretch. I could see the time clock at the finish line from a distance. It said 32 minutes (can’t remember the seconds) and I said to myself, run faster, run harder. Make it in less than 32 minutes 30 seconds and I did! My official time was 32 minutes 25 seconds.

Nike was at the event with a demo. You could actually test out Nike’s products for the race and return them at the end of the race –FREE. I’ve really been wanting a new pair of shoes so I sampled a pair and this pedometer/timer thing. So cool. To be honest, the shoes aren’t the right ones for me. Wrong fit I think but just to be able to essentially borrow them, run 3.1 miles and be able to give them back was really cool. I mean, what shoe store lets you do that? Not any that I know of. The gadget was pretty cool, not at all necessary for a race but would be great for training.

The free-bees were awesome. The event T-shirt is a super cute Nike dry fit T- designed for women. I love it! And it’s been so long since I’ve gotten anything new, I just might wear this one out! Ha ha. Plus we got a matching tote bag and water bottle. Super cute!

After the race there was a huge breakfast buffet and sampling by Blue Diamond Almonds and Whole Foods Market. The food was awesome and all health conscious. I got a variety of cereal, fruit, and drinks: almond milk, coconut water, and orange juice. Samples included trail mix, almonds, java city capital blend and organic tea. To be honest there was so much food, it’s hard to remember everything. Everything was so nice.

Oh - and I had my blood pressure taken while I was there. Kaiser Permanente had a huge health pavilion. I don’t have health insurance so I rarely go to the doctor. My blood pressure is usually on the high side of normal. It’s been a while since I had it checked but for the last few years that is where my blood pressure kind of hangs out at. Well, not any more! My blood pressure was 11/74 and a resting heart rate of 69. The nurse even commented that she wishes her resting heart rate was a 69 and that it was great! Amazing what diet and exercise can do for you.