Marion Arts Festival 5K and Half Marathon--May 18, 2013

The weather was a beautiful 65 degrees when I left for the race. This year I did the 5K alone without my husband or children. Some of my other running friends were at the race, but most of them ran the half marathon and those who did choose the 5K were much faster than I was so I ran alone. I was hoping to break 30 minutes, but the heat got to me and I had a time of 31:00 even. Oh well, didn't work out this time, but I am grateful to be able to run at all. The results are HERE.  My personal results are here.  Personally after reviewing my results and comparing my overall stats, they aren't that bad considering I finished in the top half for my age group and for the gender.  Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Me before the race began.

My friend Tyler Sullivan who placed 2nd overall
in the 5K

My friend Lisa Flatery after her half marathon.

This guy finished as 10th place overall in the
half marathon and he ran in this costume for
the entire race.  It was hot out by this time
so I'm sure he was boiling in that.

A picture of me after the race with my race shirt on.

stuff from the packet.

Left to Right:  Tracy, Lisa, me and Rhoni Jo.

Training for a Triathlon and a Duathlon.

Two of my major goals this year are these:  Doing a Sprint Triathlon this year faster than I did the one last year.  Doing an entire Duathlon all by myself.  I would also like to fit in either another Sprint Triathlon in August, or find an Olympic Triathlon somewhere and do that.  My Sprint Distance Tri is this:  Swim 600 Yards, Bike 15 miles then run a 5K.  The Duathlon is this:  Run 1.2 miles, Bike 15, then run 3 miles!

Part of my training is done with a friend named Deb.  On June 15th will be her very first Sprint Triathlon and my 2nd.  I get up at 4:30 in the morning to get dressed to ride to the North Liberty Recreation Center which is 9.11 miles away.  Then we swim for about 20-25 minutes, then I ride with her to her work, then I ride home.  Total distance for me is about 22-23 miles on the bike depending on the route I take.

I am running 2-4 times a week, teaching Zumba only once a week since my ankle doesn't like the lateral movement I cut my classes from 4 a week to only 1 and during that 1 I wear a couple ankle braces at once.

I also teach Body Sculpt 4 times a week. In that class you do everything from a massive amount of squats, to planks, pushups, burpees, crunches, lifting weights for several different muscle groups and also using the exercise ball, medicine ball and resistance bands.  I do something different in every class to get an all over muscle conditioning workout.

I'm hoping that by keeping up this crazy schedule that I'll be super fit by June 15th when I do the Triathlon and then the Duathlon is on July 13th.

Right now I weigh 149 and this is up last year by 6 pounds.  However it's down from the 162 pounds I went up to in January of 2013 during my massive ankle injury that happened back on October 26th, so I feel great that I've lost 13 pounds, but seriously need to take the other 6 off and continue to tone.

With hard work and dedication to my goals I know I can continue to get fitter and stronger.  The lowest weight I've been since having my 6 children is 137 and I felt amazing at that point, so I'm wondering if I'll ever see that weight again.  Time will tell. Either way weight is only a number, it is really all about how you feel, what your blood pressure, pulse and cholesterol numbers are.  I donate plasma twice a week so this is a time I get to have my blood pressure and pulse taken along with my protein and hematocrit levels measured in my blood.  Lately my Blood pressure has been 120 over 70 so I love that.  My pulse tends to be around 66-70.

What I have learned in 9 years of working out is this:  You are never too old to try new fitness goals and achieve them.  Keep working hard each day, eat right as often as possible, and you will feel better.

Bear Stampede 5 & 10K--West Branch, Iowa--May 11, 2013

It was a super cold morning in the low 50's with wind gusts up to 22 mph. However I decided that since my husband and friend were going to still do the race I would too. Thank goodness it stopped raining. I was up that morning at 5a.m. to take Alyssa to a Speech and Debate field trip for school and it was raining.  I saw sun in the distance and hoped it would come out.  Sure enough the sun did come out and except for the cold and windy day, it was gorgeous.

When I started the 10k I thought I'd pretty much take it easier that day so I would treat it as a training run for fun.  Well my competitive spirit came out around mile 3 when I saw this girl about 2/10ths of a mile ahead of me and I was determined to catch her.  I kept trying for two more miles and finally got her just after mile 5.  Then I passed her and kept going strong.  All of my mile times recorded were in the 10:30's to 11 minute miles until that last mile and it was a 9:37 minute mile.  I was cruising (for me) and it was still windy and the two hardest hills were yet to come, but I did it.  I stayed strong and I conquered those hills and the cold and the wind and finished strong.  As a result I placed third in my age group.  Turns out that girl I passed was in my age group and finished just 50 seconds behind me.  I'm so glad I set a goal in the race and kept at it.

I talked my friend Deb into doing the 5K and I'm so proud of her because she not only did this race, but she pushed her grand daughter the entire way in the stroller and this was a TOUGH course of hills and trails with rocks and weeds and chip wood and grass.  Jason, my husband, finished in under an hour and he also placed 3rd in his age group.

This race has yummy home made treats at the end and prizes for EVERY runner.  Jason won free Cold Stone ice cream and I won a $15 gift certificate to a running store.  Deb won a FREE massage.

I would do this race again because of these things:

• it started ON TIME
• it was chip timed so we have accurate times
• it was challenging
• there is yummy food at the end, both healthy and not
• water on the course in 3 different spots.
• prizes for everyone.

Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Left to Right:  Jason, Michelle, Deb and her granddaughter.

Happy Racing Feet

Kris and Brian Tharp with their We Run display at the race. We Run is
a great running store located in North Liberty.  See link  HERE

When I took my headband off my head following the race it
was super heavy.  I squeezed it out to see if it had anything
to squeeze.  Ha ha, it sure did.  Sick and Gross I know.

Jason won third in his age group.

I also won third place in my age group!

Jason and I after the race with our Bear shirts on.

Close up of the medal.  It has glitter.

Both of our racing bibs.  Mine was #2 and Jason was #39

The shirt.

Columbus Distance Classic Quarter Marathon--Columbus, Ohio--May 4, 2013

Every year I travel to Ohio to see my parents and run the Columbus Distance Classic race. I love this race because 8 years ago it was my very first race ever so it has a special place in my heart.

 There are three races at this event--5K, Quarter Marathon and a Half Marathon. This year I did the Quarter Marathon because I wasn't quite ready to do a Half.  The weather was PERFECT and I had a great time and felt great.  Here are my results:  Michelle Clark's results.  Overall results  Here are some pictures:

The race bib with my name on it!!!

My awesome medal I earned for finishing.

Close up of the medal.

After the race my Dad gave me flowers which were gorgeous
by the way and he took this picture.

Growl Prowl 8K--Marion, Iowa--April 13, 2013

Very Cold morning. First 8K race ran since my ankle injury. I was able to run the entire race and felt great. Results are here:  RESULTS

Left to Right:  Tracy, Stephany, Denise, Rhoni Jo, Me

Happy Racing feet.

My race number

After the race we met up with Lisa and I had to get a picture with her.  We were
very cold, it was freezing out.  Left to Right:  Me, Lisa, Tracy, Rhoni Jo and Stephany.

Front of Shirt

Back of Shirt

FOOLS 5K--April 6th, 2013--Cedar Falls, IA

Back on January 1st the Fools 5K registration opened.  I happen to love all races put on by Trekman Racing that I wanted to run a 5K put on by him as well.  Dave (the race director) puts on a race called Park to Park in September and it was listed as one of the top half marathons by Runner's World.  So if you are looking for an awesome Saturday Half Marathon, you should check out the Park to Park race on his link.

Back in December I was at his Snow Shuffle race, however I was injured and couldn't run in the race.  My friends were going to push me in a wheelchair, but we couldn't locate a wheelchair so I just went to the race to watch my friends and have fun.  While I was there I won a 55 Minute massage at Elements Massage so since I was going to Cedar Falls a day early I decided to finally use my gift certificate.

Tracy and I left on Friday around 12:15 p.m. for Cedar Falls.  Our first stop was The Runners Flat to pick up our shirt and racing bib.  Then Tracy and I had some lunch, then off to Elements Massage to redeem my gift certificate.  I had a nice massage then Tracy and I checked into our hotel.  We stayed at Country Inns and Suites and that was so nice.  We got a super cheap rate since Tracy is a State worker.

Race day was windy and cold, however within a couple hours the sun did come out and warm things up a bit.  If you are looking for a great 5K then definitely book this one next year.  Why?

• It has wireless chip timing
• flat course
• cool looking race bibs
• door prizes
• LOTS of volunteers to make sure everything goes smoothly.
• dri fit shirts that you could choose your color.
• costume contest
• Best of all, all kinds of food and drinks at the end so you can be refueled to go run again.  Even Gluten Free options.

Here are some pictures:

My racing bib.  Backward the number is 169 and divide that by
13 and you get 13.  13 is my lucky number so I'm always trying
to find a 13 in my bib somehow.  I know silly.

Front of shirt.

Back of shirt showing all the sponsors.

A before picture of Tracy and I.

We didn't know what to dress up as.  I was blank
with ideas, until I remembered seeing a group of
people at a gym do a swim party and they were
all wearing swim suits over their workout clothes.
It was hillarious.  Since our hotel was right next
to a Goodwill store we went inside and found very hideous
bathing suits that were way too big for us and we wore them
over our race clothes.  We had our swim caps with us and we
found super cheap (1.00) goggles to wear to complete
the costume.  We had brought our very cute
long running socks that Rhoni Jo gave us and wore them.

Other costumes we saw.

Here we are at the end of the race.  Too funny.

After returning to the hotel we put on our race shirts for another picture.

We went to the local STUFF consignment store to
do some shopping.  I found these silly 5 inch heels and had
to get a picture with them.  However I couldn't even stand in
them because they were so high.  I'm not sure how people walk in these.

WE RUN 5K--March 23, 2013-- North Liberty, IA

On March 23rd the weather was cold, but perfect for a great run. The running store that I just LOVE called WE RUN in North Liberty, Iowa, see link here:  http://www.werunllc.com/Home_Page.php
was having it's FIRST birthday and hosting a 5K/1mile run,

Since it had a finishing medal and I was finally able to run again, and since I work at this store occasionally and just love it,  I signed up for the run.  Kris Tharp, the owner of the running store, had over 600 signed up. I ended up doing awesome with the run.  I had a new post injury personal record of 30:58 and I did run the entire race without ankle pain.  In addition to running both Jason and I volunteered at the race.

 Below are some pictures:

Some old shoes were lacquerred and then painted gold, silver or bronze.

Rhoni Jo arrived bright and early so we grabbed a picture together.

Jason helped out in a variety of ways for this race.
He mixed powdered Gatorade in huge coolers, he
helped new runners attach their timing chip
to their shoe that didn't know what they were
doing.  He also worked at one of the corners on the
race route, directing runners where to go and cheering
them on.

Here I am with Sharon passing out timing chips before the race.

Here are two of my students in my Body Sculpt class that I encouraged
to run/walk in a 5K.  This was their FIRST 5K ever.  Left to Right:  Me, Deb and Jill.

Me being silly picking the nose of the statue.

Our cute running legs.  However I forgot to get my running socks on.

My great running friends:  Stephany, Tracy, Rhoni Jo, and Me.

The awesome finishing medal!

Too cool that my number for the race was #4.  Bib numbers were
assigned by what order you signed up for the race.  I don't think I've
ever had such a low number.