4.69 Miles...By Myself!

Well my morning running partner, Jen, is out of town this week. And the other girls couldn't run this morning with me. So I decided to run on my own. It has been months since I have run by myself! I mapped a new route last night in the hopes that different scenery would keep me from getting bored or stopping. I won't lie...when the alarm went off this morning I seriously considered staying in the bed. It is so easy to do that when no one is waiting on you to come run! But I knew I would be upset I missed my run later if I did that. So I got up. I put my running clothes on. We were out of bananas so I ate a special K bar instead. I stretched. Then I walked out the door. I turned on my iPod....which I haven't used in a while because I like to talk while I run with my friends (but I knew I would need my music this morning). I walked off the front porch...into a light sprinkle of rain!!! I had just looked at the radar and it looked like the rain was moving away from us so I decided to go ahead and venture out. I began running. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! And the rain STOPPED! I tried to pace myself (which I have a horrible time doing). The new route was awesome!!! I mapped out 4.29 miles but felt so good that I ended up running more. I came home and remapped it and it was 4.69 miles! I ran it in about 49 minutes at an average pace of 10:34!!! I thought that was pretty good for a 4.69 mile run! At least I know now that if I HAVE to run by myself I can do it and be successful! Here's the map of my new route!



The only bad thing about this morning is I discovered that my left earbud is NOT working. So I had to listen to my music in my right ear only. Gonna have to start shopping for some new headphones!

I want to run Thursday morning too. And Laura has PROMISED me she will run with me that morning. Right now the rain forecast doesn't look too good. But hopefully the rain will wait until we finish running!

On the other hand, I am running The Firecracker 5K in Pensacola on Saturday. Several of the Sole2Soul Sisters are running it with me! So it should be tons of fun! AND I just found out this afternoon that my mom and my sister Amy and her 3 kids are coming to the race to cheer me on! I am sooo excited! This will be the first time anyone has come to see me run a race!!!

'Till Thursday (hopefully)!

12 Miles!!!! Half-Marathon Here I Come!!!

Woke up at 3:15 AM this morning! Yuck! But I do it all for the love of running! I met my girls Katrina, Christina, Jennifer, and Laura at Jen's house at 3:40. We jumped in the car and rode over to Fairhope. We first rode our route and dropped our Gatorade and water every 3 miles. Then it was time to get started! We ran in Fairhope next to the bay...beautiful! We ran 3 miles past The Grand Hotel and then turned around and headed back. The last mile we picked it up (about a 9:30 pace) and I thought I was going to die lol! We were going fast PLUS it was up a hill! But we all made it! We ran the 12 miles in about 2 hours and 35 minutes. Slow but steady. The run felt great but my right knee on the outside is pretty sore...not liking that. And that is discouraging me a bit from thinking about running the full marathon instead of the half in November. All the girls are trying to talk me into running the full but that REALLY scares me lol! Gonna be praying hard about that!

Speaking of the girls...here we all are at The CAUSEway 5K last weekend! I love these girls and would have never made it this far without them! Thanks to Emily Peak Photography for taking both of these awesome photos of us!

Jennifer, Christina, Katrina, Me, and Laura!

A Hilly 4.24 Miles!

Jen and her neighbor Andrea headed to my house this morning to run. It was very HOT and very HUMID! When we finished sweat was literally dripping off of me! We ran the yucky hills of Whispering Pines Road. I know that hills are good for me but I HATE them! The run turned out to be a great one though! We had a pretty fast pace for hills! We ran 4.24 miles in 46:35 at an average pace of 10:58!!! Whoop Whoop! Jen's Data of our run: RoadRunner GPS.

Another 5 at 5!

Jen and I ran 5 miles this morning! We met at her house and ran our normal 5 mile route! My legs were pretty tired the first mile or so but then they were fine and the run felt GREAT! When we hit 5 miles and started walking to cool down, it started sprinkling. By the time we got to her house it had started pouring! I was sooo glad we got the run in before the rain! We ran 5.05 miles in 59 minutes and 20 seconds at an average pace of 11:43. Here's the link to our run: RoadRunner GPS!

10 Miles...Whoop Whoop!!!

I did it! I ran 10 miles this morning!!!! Me, Katrina, Christina, and Laura all ventured out at 4AM this morning to begin our run. The first half of the run was very dark since we were running on country roads and we could see heat lightning way off in the distance. It made it a little eerie! But the weather was great...there was a coolness to the air that made it perfect for running! It was gorgeous as the sun started to rise...we could see the fog and the sunrise across a field filled with cows! I wish I had brought my camera! And we saw another bunny on this run...they seem to like us...or maybe just the early morning lol! We ran 10 miles in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 7 seconds. That is an average pace of 12:54. Below is a map of our route...it looks like such a long way!!!

The CAUSEway 5K!!!!!

The day finally arrived! The race we have been training our Sole2Soul Sisters for for 10 weeks! Their first 5K race! They did AWESOME!!!!!! I was so proud of them! Being a part of this has been an amazing experience for me! To know that I have shared my passion with such a great group of ladies is such a blessing! And I have formed so many new friendships through this!

Today, I ran with my new friend Eva. Her goal was to run the whole time and finish under 40 minutes. She DID IT!!!! She finished in 39:02!!! I had so much fun encouraging her along the way...although I am sure she wanted to hit me many times lol! The route was a lot of fun! We ran in one lane of the causeway. We ran over a bridge (that was a first for me) and it was beautiful looking over and seeing Mobile Bay! The only bad thing is it was very very hot and the water stops ran out of water!!! But we made it! I guzzled down TWO bottles of water right after because I was so thirsty! I had such a great time today and I felt like a momma watching all her children cross that finish line!

Group Shot of the 46 ladies that ran today!!! Looking good in our purple shirts and bondi bands!!! (Picture by Michelle Thomas)


My amazing running partners! Jennifer, Christina, Katrina, me, and Laura! (Picture by Emily Peak)


Susanne, me, and Eva...Mile 1!


Finally...a picture of me RUNNING!!!




Paige and me before the race!


My boys welcoming me home after the race!


It's been a great day! Waking up early in the morning for another long run...10 miles!!!

3.5 Miles Turns To 4.43 Miles!!!

Jennifer came my way to run this morning. We planned on running a 3.5 mile route. The beginning of the run was hard for me...my legs just felt really tired. But we were going faster than normal too. We ended up running about a 10:35 pace. Towards the end of the run I was feeling great! We got to our stopping point and both looked at each other and said we would run to the YMCA and back. We were feeling that good! Well I had only mapped out the 3.5 miles...thought going to the Y and back would put us at 4 miles. But when I got home and remapped it we actually went 4.43 miles! It turned out to be an awesome run!!!! Below is the map of the route we ran...pretty cool! I mapped it at a website called Map My Run. I found this website when I first started running but had forgotten about it. I really like it!