Running

I never thought I'd actually get addicted to this thing called running. It started off about 5 years ago with a desire to loose weight. Xavier was in kindergarten and Quinn in preschool. I had a job in Blue Lake, so I began walking EVERYWHERE! Then we decided to do the Foggy Bottom's Milk Run in March of that same school year as a family (We had done it one other year the year before too, but kids were so little, I walked that!) I did my first stab at running that year - it was 2008. After that, I still didn't have much of a desire to run. I remember I could barely make it down the street without huffing and puffing. A couple years later I decided to go for it. A few of my other friends had just recently gotten into running. I decided to do more then just a 2 mile run, once a year. In 2010 I did my first 5 mile run with my friend Susanne. I think I ran about 2 miles total, perhaps I ran 2.5 miles, but I walk so fast that my time was only 7 mins longer then hers. In 2011 I got REAL serious. I ran the Foggy Bottoms 4 mile run (it's really more like 4.1 or 4.3 miles - there were different opinions on the length) and then in June I did the Atalanta 5 mile run again, this time with my mom. I not only wanted to run that whole time (which I KNEW I could do since I had just done the 4 mile in March and ran all of that!), but I also wanted to run it in about the same time I did the 4 miles at Foggy Bottoms (which was around 56 mins) Well, I crushed that time and did the full 5 miles in about 52 mins!! Time to go on to something more. I decided to do my first 1/2 marathon. Wow... 13.1 miles. It wasn't until October, so I thought I had plenty of time to train, but once school started and kid activities took hold, I found that my time was highly compromised. Though my training wasn't as complete as it could have been, I still ran the entire 13.1 miles of the Humboldt Redwoods 1/2 Marathon in about 2 hours 51 mins. It was an accomplishment that I thought once complete, I'd never do again.

Well, It's a new year, and I have decided that running 1/2 marathons aren't that bad. In fact, having that goal makes me work harder for it. It gives me something to really strive for. This year I have decided to do the 10 mile run at Foggy Bottoms - March 11th. And I will do "The Avenue" - 1/2 marathon in May and I will do the Humboldt Redwoods 1/2 again in October.  I already have next year's runs all mapped out as well. Since I'm on this kick, I might as well explore some other places that offer these longer distance runs. So, next year I want to do a 1/2 marathon through Bidwell Park in Chico - that is held every year in March. Then the Hippie Chick women's only 1/2 marathon in Hillsboro, OR - an annual event held on Mother's Day, and then the Disneyland 1/2 marathon. Seem a bit ambitious? Well, it may be, but I am enjoying my training and looking forward to these races!

I won't bore everyone with my training schedule or my runs, like I do on Facebook, but I'm most definitely right on track - getting a 7 mile and 5 mile run in this week. One of the things I learned about my training was that I needed to do more longer distance runs in a week - not necessarily back to back, but I would run 4-5 days out of the week, and only one of those would be more then 4 miles in length. Because of this, my legs were not as strong as I had hoped. So, I still run 4-5 days a week, however, only 1 run during that time is under 4 miles, 1 run is between 4-5 and the other 2 are the longer runs... whatever the goal length is that week. So, for example, this coming week's goal length is a 7 mile run. So one run will be 2-3 miles, one at 4-5, one at 6 and one at 7. But as I get closer to say my 9 mile week, it'll be more like 1 at 2-3 miles, 1 at 4-5 miles one at 7 miles on at 9 miles.... etc.  And I've been lucky to have the weather currently on my side - giving me plenty of non-raining days for me to train outside.

Well, I will keep you all updated on how the Foggy Bottom's Run goes - this year my parents are also coming out for the event. :) As long as it doesn't down pour on us like last year, it'll be a blast!

This picture is from the Atalanta Victory Run June 2011.