10K on Turkey Day

My sister and I started running a 10K on Thanksgiving together a few years ago. While the logistics have become harder for us to do this, I decided I still needed to do a race this year. I registered for the 10K on Turkey Day in Deerfield Township. Mojo Nation was loud and proud and I'm very thankful to be a part of this group.


Team Mojo pre race



I had only run once or twice since the Indy marathon, so I really didn't know what to expect. Two miles in I realized I forgot to eat breakfast. Oops! I ran most of the race with people I also ran the Columbus marathon with as well as my swim coach.

The course was a little hillier than expected, but a pretty nice course. I KNEW I needed to run this Thanksgiving...and once I started I didn't want to stop.


I finished in 48:36. 34th woman, 8th in my age group, and 122nd overall (out of 732 runners).




LOVE the back of the shirt!

 I wish it had been faster, but then again I wish a lot of things were different this holiday.

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Equation for Soreness

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60 minutes with an INSANE instructor

I attended my first STRIKE class at LT this weekend. I know at certain times I looked like a complete goofball but that would happen even if I wasn't in the class. I was nervous, as I am anytime I attend a class for the first time, but I really enjoyed it. I've taken a few kickboxing classes before, but this was by far my favorite.

My body definitely feels the workout. I'm not so sore I can't walk, but I can definitely tell where the muscles are that I don't work out often enough.

Thank you Leslie for encouraging me to go and thank you Christy for kicking my booty.



GOTR 5K!

The Girls on the Run 5K was Saturday at Sawyer Point. We had a gorgeous, sunny fall day. It started out a little chilly, but by the time the race started the sun was out and it was perfect!

They danced, made tiaras and head bands, painted their hair and danced some more!

Then they ran a 5K!

All of the girls did awesome! The pride and smiles on their faces must last the rest of the weekend!

The spring and fall GOTR races are definitely 2 of my favorite days of the year!

Thankful Thursday

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1. Healthy family. Although the last 6 months have sucked been very hard, everyone is healthy, alive, and well.

2. Friends. New, old, ones I see every day, ones I rarely see, friends I talk to everyday, friends I haven't talked to in years. I am blessed to have true friendships that melt away the days, months, years we go without seeing each other or talking as soon as we reconnect. For this I am very grateful.

3. Being able to turn my heat off for several days earlier this week! 70+ degrees in November!

Why I Didn't Tri More

I know I've hinted at the mutliple reasons I didn't do more triathlons this past season, but I have yet to actually blog about it (at least if my mind serves me correctly).

So here it goes...

1. They are expensive. I invested in a bike, cycling shoes, tri gear, etc. this year. It all adds up so quickly, but at least I won't need to buy all that again next season!

2. Since I just bought my bike this spring, I was nervous on it at first. 150 miles in 2 days helped cure that!

3. Several of the triathlons I wanted to do (and were close by) were on days we already had something going on or were out of town. We had a very busy summer!

So now that I already have my gear and I feel more comfortable on my bike I am ready to focus on my swimming this winter (yikes!). My plan is to focus on strength training and swimming while continuting to do one running speed work out a week along with one long run and spinning class at least once a week as well.

I hope I can stick to it and become a REAL triathlete next spring/summer.

Thankful Thursday

1. Shannon is getting married tomorrow! So thankful for such a great, long (since Kindergarten) friendship with her and being able to be in her wedding tomorrow!

Louisville finish, Columbus goodies, Indianapolis

2. Running 3 marathons this year injury free! (Knock on wood)

3. Lots of girl time this weekend. Bridesmaid pampering all day Friday then Cindy (my college roommate) comes to visit! Yes!

Marathon #8 Race Recap: Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

The 26.2 crew pre race

After much debate about what to wear due to the weather prediction, I opted for capri tights (just below the knee) and short sleeves. It was 33 degrees at the start, but going to be about 50 by the time I finished. I had a throw away zippy that I ended up wearing until mile 4 or so which is a little longer than I normally wear throw away clothes.

Me and my new friend Dan

I started out with the 3:55 (8:58 minute/mile) pace group. I didn't really like them though. We were too fast, then slowed down and it was very difficult to follow the group in the early mile congestion. I finally settled in just ahead of the group when I came upon 2 runners I had seen with the pace group the first few miles. I started chatting with them and we continued to run together. The girl fell back after a short time, but the guy (I later found out his name is Dan) and I ran from mile 6 to mile 22 together. We would chat for miles, then be silent for miles. It was actually really nice. We kept each other in check and made small marathon talk.

We had an amazing cheer crew: Carter, Steve, Marissa and Jeff. It was an awesome surprise to have so many friendly faces to look for. And of course you could hear Carter and his ginormous cow bell from a mile away!
I felt really great the whole race. I had been very worried all day Friday because I had a really bad knot in my upper left calf. The course was very pretty and every time we passed a gigantic house I looked for Peyton Manning. Unfortunately I never saw him.

The first hill I remember was not until mile 15 and even at that point in the race, it didn't seem like a very big hill. I was feeling strong and knew I was on track to PR.

Thankfully I didn't have any dehydration issues like I did in Columbus.

Mile 23

The last 2 miles I just didn't have a whole lot left in me. I remembered Maureen telling me after Columbus that's how you should feel if you have given it 100%, but I still had 2 mile to go! I knew this was the mental part. I kept a decent pace and crossed the finish line in 3:53:20.

A NEW PR!!! Only by 2 minutes and 35 seconds, but it's still a PR!

Some of our group ran the half marathon, so they were at the end cheering us in and had a nice morning cocktail waiting for us!
I went and sat by myself for about 10 minutes after finishing then headed back to the finish line to look for Megan, Jen, Erin and Jess. We all met up shortly after that and everyone was happy! We had a first time BQ (way to go Megan!), PR's and just feeling good, solid races all around.

I would recommend this race to other runners. It was a great size (but I'm sure growing each year as it is only a few years old), however they need to close more roads or have more cops on the course. I know this adds a cost to the race, but there were a few times I was afraid a car was going to hit me or someone near me. Overall though it was a well run, well organized race with a pretty (and flat!) course. Downtown Indy is also very nice and the hotels, start, finish and packet pickup are all very convenient and it is easy to walk to everything.

Indianapolis Success!

Friday morning I picked Jen up from the Cincinnati airport then we made our way towards Indianapolis.We arrived before noon, parked at the hotel then walked over to the Convention Center for packet pickup. The downtown area is so nice and everything was so convenient. We walked right past Buca - where are dinner reservations were that night - so we knew where everything was after just a few minutes of arriving.




After packet pickup we had lunch as Paradise Cafe. A very cute soup, salad sandwich place - and you get a chocolate chip cookie with your order! Thanks for the suggestion Sarah!

Once we checked into the hotel (with the minor "we're not allowing any late checkouts" fiasco behind us) we settled into our room. A little stretching, a little unwinding, a little napping (short one for me while Jen went for a shake out run), some very entertaining Say Yes to the Dress and a show about a guy who spent several years in a Turkish prison before escaping in the 70's. A perfect pre race day!

We met up with friends for dinner at Buca. Jen and I shared garlic bread and gnocchi. Yum!

Then we headed back to our room for the night.

With three girls (Megan stayed with us!) trying to decide race day outfits, sharing running stories, puking (after running) stories, and looking up races we could do in a few weeks it is needless to say we laughed a lot. 

I feel very lucky to know such fun, neat, amazing people to share my running with.

Race recap coming soon!

Thankful Thursday

Gratitude in pictures with a side note: I've learned to be thankful doesn't necessarily mean you have to be happy about it.

New Love

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Sometimes you just come across something and you can't stop thinking about it.

This website is one of those things. Believe I Am was started by 2 professional runners - Lauren Fleshman (Lo) and Roisin McGettigan (Ro).

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These images are from their site and are a few that they use on their clothing lines. Do you see the words in the pictures? Beautiful. Strong.

Check it out. And feel free to buy me presents. Just kidding. Kind of.

Race Week!

It's finally here!

I'm really looking forward to time with friends and marathon #8 this weekend! And the best part is, there is still no pressure since I ran a decent race a few weeks ago.

I'm attempting to be very good this week...comfy shoes at work, lots and lots of water (really hoping to avoid the dehydrated feeling for this race), stretching, and attempting to get good sleep each night. I still don't know what my race day plan is, but we'll just see what happens.

Sid says happy belated Halloween!