Strawberry Shortcut-Race #2

On Father's Day, I ran the Strawberry Shortcut 5K with 2 of my friends, Tracy & Joy. Phil graciously got up extra early to cheer me on and watch Taeya during the race. Since this race was only a 5K (3.1 miles) I tried to push myself on my time. I averaged about a 10 minute mile. My goal was to finish around 30 minutes and I came in at 31:10. Not too bad. Tracy finished about 45 seconds ahead of me and Joy was just behind me (AND she's 3+ months pregnant!) Joy's husband, John, ran the 10K and finished about 58 minutes I think. We had a lot of fun and all went to a pancake breakfast that the Kwanis club puts on every year after the run.

Taeya and Melanie enjoying a snack together. Melanie's going to be two houses away from us once we move and I'm sure the girls will be spending lots of time together. :)

John & Joy. These are our friends who got us into our new home. We always have a great time hanging out with them. Joy, Megan & Tracy

We run quite often on Sunday afternoons. We might continue in the evenings as the days have been getting too warm to run.

Right before I finished the race.

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I DID IT!!!!

*EDIT* I found out my actual time. It was 1 hour 3 minutes and 48 seconds. Here's the breakdown of my miles:

1. 9:39
2. 10:43
3. 10.52
4. don't know
5. don't know
6. 10:10

Megan, Kristi & Kerri

Today, I ran the Bolder Boulder. This was my first 10K race. For those not into racing, a 10K is the same as 6.2 miles. I was very proud of myself for not just finishing, but jogging at a pretty steady pace the whole time without having to walk once. I finished in about 1 hour 10 minutes. I'll know the official stats later on when they send out a sheet with my time on it. Each runner has a special electronic tag that they wear on their shoe that records their speed for each mile of the race. They then send out a chart showing you how fast you ran and what your final time is.

About 4 months ago, my friend Kristi's sister, Kerri decided she wanted to do the Bolder Boulder for a school project and invited Kristi to do it with her. Kristi in turn invited me and I said "yes." We started training back at the end of January and my best month of training was February...by far. Once we got into the whole house purchase, my running kind of fell by the wayside although I continued to run about once or twice a week up until the race.

Phil stayed home and watched Taeya while I drove to Boulder with Kristi. It was my first time spending the night away from Taeya and Phil's longest time alone with her since she was born. They did great and it was fun to get away for a day and a night to go do this.

Kristi and I stayed with her sister and her roommates in Boulder, CO. I got very little sleep (about 3 1/2 hours) and after a breakfast of oatmeal and a 1/2 cup of coffee for some caffeine, we headed out to the race about 7:00 am. Kristi had already registered us but we had to pick up our registration packets with out bibs. Our heat of the race started at approximately 8:30 and I finished at about 9:40. Kristi and I had a fun time talking on the way home. This was a big race for both of us. It was interesting because as we were running, we both got emotional at different points in the race. It was such an amazing atmosphere. There were people cheering us on at every leg of the race and some very interesting characters running as well. It was a lot of fun and I WISH I could have taken pictures throughout the race. The one from above was taken before the race while we were waiting in line for the bathrooms. I took a picture of a father/daughter team and then he offered to take one of us and he emailed it to me while we waited in line. How cool is technology?

The event was very well organized and flowed very smoothly. This is the 31st year of the Bolder Boulder and it started with about 2,800 runners and has grown to over 54,000 runners! Amazing!! I can't wait to do it again next year, hopefully. Kristi and I are already planning on running another 10K in June. If I'm not too stressed out with the house and moving, I'll be running in the Strawberry Shortcut in our area.

I am not "a runner" but had a great time today and am finding that if I want to get out and exercise, I need to have a goal like a 10K to motivate me to exercise because you can't just get up one morning and decide to do a 10k that day. It takes planning and some training. So, if you want to get in a little better shape, find a friend and challenge each other to complete a goal like this. You can do it too and you won't regret it!!

A Personal Goal

One of my good friends here in CO asked me last month on January 21st if I'd like to do a 10K run with her. I said, "Sure, what's involved. How far is a 10K?" That was the beginning of our conversation and that night I started running. I've been a member of a gym since August (I joined so that I could teach my swim lessons in their pool). However, I never made use of the actual gym since Taeya isn't big enough for their childcare (has to be over a year AND walking...she qualifies for the first now but is still not walking). Since the gym is a town away from where I live, it made it more challenging to want to go workout.

Anyways, since Kristi asked me to run the 10K and I agreed to do it with her, I HAVE been running and the biggest plus is that I'm finally getting in better shape than I've been in for a very long time. I have a long ways to go but I'm excited about this challenge and glad I have a friend to encourage me along the way.

We'll be running in the Boulder, Boulder on Memorial Day and for those of you who might ask, a 10K is the equivalent to approximately 6.2 miles. I used to do cross country in high school but I don't know if I ever ran 6 miles all at once. I wouldn't consider myself a natural runner. However, I'm motivated and I'm excited about participating.

Three cheers to my first race!