Strength in numbers

Today I set out to do my second week in a row with a 10 mile run.  Last week I ran by myself in the afternoon instead of with the ASR group because of a schedule conflict. This week I dragged myself out of bed, respiratory cold and all, and met the group. I knew I probably wouldn't have someone going my pace today since I planned to take it slow and see how I was feeling. I actually wasn't too far behind the fast group by mile 3, they were about a quarter to half a mile ahead, so o evaluated how i was feeling and told myself I should keep going as far as I could to get to 5 miles before turning around. At my 4 mile mark I started seeing fellow runners encouraging me on, letting me know I was doing great, so I pushed on at my somewhat leisure pace. On my way out I saw 2 individuals and 1 group on their way back, all cheering me on. On my way back I was lost in my music and somewhat startled when I heard a voice say "hey Kayla", it turned out to be Adam, we chatted briefly then he was on his way. After I saw Adam I decided I was feeling alright so I picked up the pace. Soon after I ran into a few people still on their way out, so I tried to encourage them as others had done for me. Despite not feeling the greatest having others out running with me kept me going. I'm glad to have such great people to run with.

The miles are adding up

Here is my training overview from December to current from Daily mile.  I love how the miles are noticeably see the miles increase.  It will be fun to see the miles increase as I add biking and swimming for triathlon training. 

What I love about running

The other night I had indoor co-ed volleyball, and we were playing the team that had beat the #1 team in all 3 games, so naturally everyone on my team wanted to do well and beat this team. Unfortunately the games did not go as well as planned.  We were close in the first game, but then fell apart when the other team had a great server.  Going into game 2 was not very pleasant then, and we choked ourselves.  Then game 3 came along, and we pulled our game together "had fun" and won.  I was happy that we won one, but at the same time I was SO frustrated that I considered going home at 8:30 pm for a run to blow off steam, so this got me thinking about what I love about running.  Everyone has their own reasons for loving (or not) running, here are mine:

• There is ultimately 1 person who controls how far you go and how fast, that person is me!
• The competitive side of me wanting to catch up to whomever is ahead of me
• You can run alone
• You can run with friends
• Improvement is measurable through heart rate, pace, distance, etc.
• Tons of other people also run, you automatically have something in common
• Stress-relief!
• Sometimes you just want to get away from everyone
• The adrenaline rush after a good sweaty run
• Carb loading
• Sharing runs on daily mile
• Meeting new people
• Staying fit
• The sense of accomplishment
• I have a reason to buy new shoes!
• You're a mini-celebrity when you are in the local paper ;) !

These are just some of the reasons I now love to run, what are yours?

ASR winter group run.

The Sundown Dash is in the works!

Yesterday started out on the right foot.  I went to bed early Wednesday night and woke up somewhat early Thursday, went to work to drop off a couple of checks around 7am, then decided to go turn in the event application for the Sundown Dash to Leisure Services.  Sundown Dash is the race that will be replacing the Twilight run this year in Janesville.  The people who ran the Twilight run were unable to continue the event this year, so Tawnya and All Season Runner wanted to take the event over to keep the fun run in the community.  So far step 1 down, we picked a new name, and have submitted our application.  We will be on the agenda March 26th for City Council to vote on.  Cross your fingers there are not any questions and it is approved! Step 1 down, many more to come! I'm very excited to be working with Tawnya and Steve on putting this race together.

Mark your calenders July 25th 7pm Monetery Park

After e-mailing Tawnya and Steve the good news that the application was submitted, I decided it was going to be a great day, the sun was shining and I was in a great mood already!  I'm glad I had the positive attitude yesterday because I encountered some negative feedback from a customer and was able to turn it around with some compromising.  The continued to go well, so I told myself I was going to rock the run tonight.  6pm came around and we took off on a "pub run" from Orileys.  I started off running with Laurie and Aaron, then Jacky and John were running with us.  Jacky turned around to get 4 miles in, so I ran with John.  I was feeling pretty great the whole time.  I ran 5 miles in 46:42 (probably a little further actually, my garmin was slow to start). That's an average pace of 9:19, a personal best for 5 miles :)

It's amazing what a little postive attitude can do, I thought it was going to be a good day, and it was.

Improvement

Last night was the All Season Runner run and whine series "hearts on fire" run. The run was complete with several hills, and a "treat" from Kitty, which happened to be a trick.. 2 hill repeats up Lawrence street by the Rock County courthouse, that definitely pushed me. It was nice on the 2nd repeat to hear encouragement from Kathy and Jacky behind me saying "come on Kayla" when I started to slow down. The rest of the run was a breeze after those hills, we sped down main to Milwaukee and headed back to the store. My run measured in at 4.27 miles. At the store there was plenty of fruit, crackers, cheese, and wine to go around. I hung out for awhile, and then headed to Marshall for co-ed volleyball league. So needless to say, I got my workouts in! You would think today I would have taken a rest day, but no... I came up to volleyball in Edgerton to relieve some stress. At volleyball we had 7 on our team, so we were subbing players out. Halfway through the night I decided that when I subbed out I would do wall squats. I feel that I've never been very good at holding squats, but tonight I felt as though I could hold that squat for twice as long as I'd previously been able to. Thank you Jillian abs and hill runs! It's a small, but huge victory when you see improvement; a much needed sign of improvement after a week of what felt like runs recovering from a cold.

13.1 here I come (again)!!

Today I was e-mailed a badge for Ragnar Ambassadors, so while I was on the basno site I realized I had 2 other fun badges.  One of them is the above, Rock n' Roll finisher.  I thought I would post it on here to brag a little, and announce that I am all signed up for the Wisconsin Marathon (for the half marathon) May 5th.  I've been running 4-6 miles pretty consistantly twice a week, so I'm excited to step it up a little and push myself.  Hopefully by the end of this year you will see badges for Ragnar Chicago and Tough Mudder!  If Muscle Milk offers up another free entry to the Rock n' Roll again of course I'm in for that too :o)

Big Plans for 2012

Last night I was filling out survey and realized that I hope to do at least one race every month from May-September.  Here's the proposed schedule for this spring/summer/ fall, subject to additions of other races of course ;)  I was actually quite surprised I had so many I want to do!

March 18th Rockford Shamrock Shuffle 5k- Let me know if you would like to come with me!!!
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site/TR?fr_id=2160&pg=entry

April 28th Madison Crazy Legs
http://www.crazylegsclassic.com/

May 5th Kenosha Wisconsin Marathon (half marathon for me)
http://wisconsinmarathon.com/

June 8th-9th Ragnar Relay Chicago
http://www.ragnarchi.com/

June 16th Janesville Pancake 5k Race to end racism (first race I ever did)
http://www.ywcapancakerun.com/

July 7th Janesville Rock Roll n' Run Triathlon
http://rockrollnrun.com/

August 26th Pleasant Prarie Danskin Sprint Triathlon with Elizabeth
http://www.danskintriathlon.net/wisconsin.html

August 18th- Up in the air.  SWAT for Ragnar Great River, or Warrior Dash

September 8th Cascade Tough Mudder?
http://toughmudder.com/events/wisconsin-2012/

September 9th Madison Volunteering for Ironman WI
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/wisconsin#axzz1mbY02r6x

Wow, it looks like this is going to be a busy summer!