13.1 Fort Lauderdale

I had the opportunity to run this half on behalf of World Vision. I finished in 1.51 keeping an 8 1/2 minute pace and i was able to raise over $500 for those precious babies in Africa.

Not too shabby considering i haven't run since the Maui Half. Next time i plan on training as i'm sore as heck this week!

1 Day Relay Recap

This past Saturday we had the opportunity to run a 50ish mile relay from Bradenton to Venice.


This is our first relay where we opted for costumes. Superheroes we were:



Our costumes took 1st place in the theme awards. How cool is that???

Maui Half Marathon review

Maui is absolutely amazing. We flew in on a Thursday night and left on a red eye Monday. We hit the ground running.

Day 1: We did a snorkeling tour and swam with sea turtles. When you put your head under the water you would have thought you were in a Nemo cartoon. Breathtaking views:

Day 2: We went to a place called Twin Falls. Did a little hiking and jumped off some cliffs. This was my favorite part of the trip.

Day 3: This was the marathon day. My husband ran the 26.2 miles. As you remember i opted out of went with the half. I ran it in 1:51.

The event itself was okay. The locale was perfect, but they ran out of race shirts that were promised and i still have yet to receive the one they promised via mail. {{sigh}} We paid for the luau---total waste of money. Knowing what i know now i would not have paid for any of the race events offered and stuck with the locals. Locals know best!! We met some amazing people.

Day 4 was jammed packed with lots of ziplining.

Let the rainy season begin...

Went out for a 12 mile run the other night. Hubby and I left and the sky was crystal blue. The kids went to grandmas--ALL 3--Can we say rare??? So our date night consisted of hitting the payment and knocking out a run.

6 miles into the run a true to Florida thunderstorm quickly approached. No houses around...just a long stretch of pavement. I was SCARED!!!

I started reciting every scripture that i knew that consisted of "When i am afraid i will trust in you" in my head.

Needless to say, i'm here typing on the laptop.

My feet hurt

Plain and simple. My feet are throbbing. I have no idea why. I think i've been overdoing it. It's sweltering hot--into the 100s. I've been pounding the payment EVERY DAY and i'm just plum wore out.

Did i mention that i have Vacation Bible school? Yes, 20 third graders and i'm on my feet all day. Phew...i have a no found respect for teachers. I don't know how y'all do it!

Anyways...hopefully my sore feet will be short lived!

Sweaty clothes

It's hot--i'm talking well into the 90s without a break. No rain in sight. Hubby and i are both running everyday which makes for alot of laundry. Being my frugal/environmental self, i do not do laundry every day. However i'm having a serious issue of stench! I need to find a better system of removing the smell from our clothes. I'm off to research.

9 mile run

It's so stinkin hot here. I'm doing the majority of my training runs in the evening, but i can't start before 7pm or it's just too hot. 8pm would be ideal, but i'd be running into darkness. It is what it is.

The kids are home from school. I'm loving it. I love my babies. We need to get into a routine and start some school over the summer. I really think i could homeschool, but i have self doubt.

We are headed to the beach tomorrow. My little man is at grandma's so it's just the girls and I. How i love the beach!

9 mile run stats:
Duration 1:32:14 | Calories Burned 872

Average Pace 10:15 / mi | Average Speed 5.85 mph | Elevation Climb 230 ft

Whoopee!! HeHe

I'm in love!!!!!!!!!!!

You are looking at the 2010 Camelbak Annadel Hydration Pak and it's made for a woman!!! Can we say LOVE????????????

We are in the Home Stretch!

June 6, 2011 can not get here fast enough. School will be out! I am so ready for the morning madness to end. I can not wait until summer and zero schedules!
I'm sure I'll be tooting another horn come July! But seriously, aren't they cute???

7 mile long run

My girlfriend and i meet once a week to run a longer run. I drop my little man off at the sisters and we meet at 9ish. Did i mention i live in Florida and it's close to 80 degrees at 9am? CRAZY, right? I'm not sure if i hate the heat or the humidity worse. We cranked out 7 miles this morning.

I'm so over the heat and it's only May! I definitely need to carry water. I purchased the Camelbak Fairfax 50oz hydration pack for the Keys100.





It served it's purpose. However i am narrow through the shoulders and i find that it rubs me wrong. I love the extra storage pouch for my keys, etc. I share this with my husband--i know, i know--Call me Gross, but after all we do have babies together. :)

I'm going to invest in a camelbak specifically made for women. I like this one:

The drawback--no extra pouch and goodness gracious a gal needs those pouches! I'll keep you posted...

Keys100 Relay

I just love the medal:

I am hooked--to relays, that is! What a blast! We finished the 100 miles in 14 hours 50 minutes. Bob Becker hosts a fabuless event--Key West is AWESOME!

We drove down to Key Largo Friday night. The race started at 6 am Saturday. Here we are bright eyes and bushy tailed:


We all did 2 to 3 mile intervals. We were only allowed on support vehicle so we all crammed into a small minivan. By the end of the afternoon Biofreeze was the aroma.

Here is a pic of hubby and I at Mile Marker 21:


It was so exciting to see the mile markers go down. Almost to Mile Marker 0!

The hardest part of the run was refueling properly. With our runs being so frequent it was difficult to digest a meal. I was sick of gels by the end of the run. I did find that lunchables did the trick and that got me through the last couple of legs.



Can you guess where this is??? Going to Key West wouldn't be complete without a trip to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Cafe. Truthfully, i was so ready for bed, but i took one for the team. :)

Lets talk about the girls...

I have yet to find my favorite sports bra. I am a 34D so i need support. I'm a huge fan of moving comfort bras. I've heard great things about the Moving Comfort Juno Bra:

First off, i must say that the support is AMAZING! However, it's difficult to get on/off and the straps dig into my shoulders. Currently, i wearing the Moving Comfort Fiona and it's the best bra i have at the moment. I just wish there was a tad bit more support.

I have an old Moving Comfort Bra that i bought off of Sierra trading post 2 years ago, but i can't find any more like them and i'm not sure what style it is.

Needless to say, i'm still on the hunt for the perfect bra.

Oh treadmill how i loathe you...

3 loooong excruciating miles on the treadmill. It felt like 10. Seriously....how does one train for a marathon using a treadmill? I hate the treadmill, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to get the mileage in.

The alternative being strapping my 3 year old in a stroller in 85 degree weather and listening him whine that he wants to walk or ride his back. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

It has begun...

Today marks the 1st day of training. I am following the Hal Higdon novice training program. I ran my first marathon back in 2007 and followed the same program. It can be found here:

http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices.html

I went into my first marathon a tad bit under trained. I vow not to let that happen again.

It's hard having 3 kids and trying to find the balance. My husband is also training for the Maui Marathon so we are trying to alternate our schedules. Don't even get me started on the Florida heat....ARGH! My plan is to just get the mileage in--not to worry about my speed. I can comfortable run an 8 minute mile for runs under 5 miles. I'm going to run everything around a 10 minute mile to avoid any injury.

That's the game plan anyways...

Maui Marathon

It's official. We are going to Maui! I can hardly wait. The hubs and i just ran the Keys100 relay. Can we say BLAST! We had a great team and finished in 14 hours 50 minutes. We met some fabulous people!

A couple on our team is headed to Maui in September and it gave me the marathon itch. The one and ONLY marathon i did was brutal. 2007...undertrained...stress fractures...i swore i would never do one again. I jumped on the half marathon bandwagon and haven't looked back.

Until this past weekend. Now we have our flights and room. There is no looking back. Did i mention we live in FLORIDA and it's almost June? Yes, that means i'll be training in the dead of summer. CrAzY!!