Race Catch Up - PART II - Sharing the love one mile at a time.

This past summer I was training for the Rock-n-Roll Philly Half Marathon. 

This was to be my redemption race for 2 past races. 

One, the Broad Street 10miler that I pushed really hard at but was pretty unsuccessful - even though I did finish - it was just a miserable race for me. (I knew exactly why - I was undertrained - or not trained at all. Either way it was tough.)

And two, the Crawlin Crab for 2013. I felt great that race, but my buddy needed me more so my hopes of a PR just didn't happen. And most days - I'm ok with that. Running for me is about who I'm with, and not always about what I'm achieving. The fact that I can say I've run a bunch of races is pretty much a huge achievement to me. 

So all summer long, beginning in early June, I was out running. Usually this happened before I headed off to my summer job. I was up and out the door by 6am - the latest. It was a schedule that I actually stuck to. I even began to notice that I felt like crap if I didn't run. Hmmmm....must be something with those positive endorphins I hear people talk about!! 

Somewhere around August a friend of mine told me that they were walking the Crawlin Crab Half and I was more then welcome to join them if I wanted to. 

A light bulb went off! Hey! I could get Janet to run the 5k with me, walk the half and then get the awesome challenge medal! You know I LOVE the bling!! Done and done!

So I convinced Janet to run the 5k with me. 

She had been looking for a new fitness goal, so it was a win win. 

Now I just needed her to train. 

While she wasn't getting up and running at 6am with me, she was making an effort, as long as I was with her. For the month of August, we sporadically made some "training" runs. I got the extra "cross training" because I got to push my 30something pound nephew in his stroller while we did our runs. 

Not every run was great for her, but she did it. 

Most runs, we would finish her portion of the run, and then I would go run another few miles while her and Donnie played on one of the many playgrounds at Ft. Monroe. (Note to self though - don't run past a playground during your run, or you will have a very unhappy 2yr old to push!) 

Race weekend came and Janet wasn't as confident in herself as she wanted to be. School for me had started so there wasn't much running time for us, and the house was also plagued with this horrible cold. To say that morale was done would be a correct statement. 

However we pushed through and stuck to the interval plan. 

It was actually a pretty decent day for a race. 

Janet might not have been a fan of my constant motivation and she probably wanted to give in and walk at about mile 1.5, but she did it. She finished. 

She stuck to the plan. 

And she finished just  seconds over where she wanted to be. 

So for her first officially timed 5k, I was very proud of her.

And now we have a new PR to meet at a future 5k. 

Gineff and I are always looking for new running buddies! The more the merrier!

Oh - and she thought I was crazy for turning around and doing the half the next day! I probably was, but wait till you see the bling!!

Pre-race. She has no idea what's she's getting into!

Traditional post race bling selfie!

Double Trouble BLING!

Added two more to my collection after the half the next day! I swear those challenge medals just keep getting bigger and bigger!

Getting back in the groove

Since coming home from the Broad Street Run, I've been nursing an injury. The Dr. says its Plantar Fascitis, but now that's healed up and I have some ankle pain. I'm giving it a few more days and then I'm going to get a second opinion. 

I felt super motivated after Broad Street because it's one of the first races in awhile where I ran the whole thing without going to my run/walk combo.  But now my injury has side lined me. 

While I know that I need to train for a distance race like the Broad Street. I also know that I just need to get back on the pavement, and rekindle my love strong like of running. 

Because lets face it - I don't love running, I complain, I hurt,  I have blisters, I'm sore, I want to give up....but I keep doing it. Like the picture above states....I like dessert! And if you know me or my sister, you know that a Ben and Jerry's pint of ice cream is a serving size, and I can eat it in one sitting. 

But no more. 

I think my injury and all around sluggishness of running has come from the extra 10-15lbs I've been toting around for the last 6-9months. 

Not cool. Not cool at all. 

But I have no one to blame but myself, and probably the guys who makes the milkshakes at Sonic.

So this week marks a new change. 

Janet and I have re-joined Weight Watchers and we are going twin tag team these extra lbs!!

It's time to get serious and focus on me. 

Grad School is finally done! YIPPEE!!

School will be out in 22 days! (But who's counting)

And it will be all about getting in as much healthy food and activity as possible. 

Stay tuned for my progress...... 

Brownies - Baking actually happens. 

So I know my blog is titled Run, Craft, Bake but there hasn't been much baking or crafting going on lately. It's probably because my life has been consumed with teaching, working at the restaurant, running and every extra thing I signed up for this school year. 

But have no fear - I live with my suzie homemaker sister who whipped these bad boys up when I was taking a nap last week before my shift at the restaurant! Everyone at the restaurant loves it when I bring in some home made treat my sister has made. I think these bad boys were going in a matter of an hour!

I don't have the recipe right now but I'll try to put it up soon. 

They were super yummy too!!

Playing catch up....Glow Run, Kuddos to Janet

Ok so it's been months since I've blogged. Its not that I didn't have anything to write about. I just didn't have the time! End of the school year, starting to train for my 4th Half Marathon (eeekkk!), starting a new job, and a new relationship left little time to to sit down and put my thoughts together. I haven't baked in forever, and my craft room has become a storage closet (but that's a whole other issue!!!). I have however, been doing plenty of running. At least I have that to write about. 

So now that I've caught up on why I haven't been here....let's talk about what I've been doing. 

Glow Run 5k - May 11th, 2013

Richmond Raceway

So my twin sister Janet has been on a weight loss journey for the last few months with weight watchers.  She's been incorporating walking along with her diet. While I keep trying to persuade her to join me in my running adventures, she tells me no. I finally got her to agree to do a race with me in Richmond, but that we'd walk it. We picked the Glow Run 5k because it was close to her house and if you know Janet, you know that she loves glow necklaces and light up things. (At her wedding the only DJ giveaway she had was glow necklaces). So on a cool Saturday night in May we headed out with our new sparkle skirts (she's very handy with a sewing machine) to the Richmond Raceway.  My nephew Donnie was with us too (his first race!). 

Packet pick-up was super easy. We had Donnie's jogging stroller with us so we didn't have to worry about gear check.  We decked out his stroller in some extra glow bracelets we picked up in the target dollar section (I told you -  Janet likes glow stuff!!) and waited for the race to start. 

All the neon colors waiting for the race to start. 

The start of the race was one of the things I was disappointed in. It was supposed to start at 8:30pm, but  it wound up starting closer to 9:00pm so that the sun could go down. 

Here's me and Donnie waiting for the race to start. He sure is one cute running partner!

Janet and Donnie 

Here's all three of us! Donnie really liked the race bibs. He kept playing with them whenever one of us was standing close enough to him. Janet did a great job on the sparkle skirts too!!

The race was actually pretty fun. They had speakers set up along the route as well as "glow stations" in two of the overpasses we had to go through. The "glow stations" were equipped with black lights, a DJ and a fog machine. We thought Donnie was going to freak out about it but it turned out that he liked it. 

The next thing I was disappointed in was that when we got to the water stop - somewhere around mile 2 - they were out of water. I know we were the walking section of the race, and it wasn't that hot - but I get really frustrated when a race runs out of water!! Come on people!! You know how many people register!!  Thankfully Janet and I had our own water bottles with us.

Overall it was a fun race.

For a 5k it even came with a medal that glows in the dark! The volunteer was nice and even gave us one for Donnie. Hey - he was along for the whole thing, he deserves some bling! The size even rivals some of my half marathon medals!

I can't say that I'll ever run another glow run, but I was happy that Janet got to experience a race atmosphere and how enjoyable they can be. I think I may have convinced her to sign up for a few more. I don't think she'll be by my side at any half marathon, but she may have caught the racing bug.

This is a picture of Janet's weight loss journey so far.

I'm really proud of what she's accomplished. She keeps shrinking. Pretty soon I'm going to be back to sharing all the clothes in my closet with her. 

Way to go Janet!!

Ok hopefully I won't go MIA for another 3mo. I have a whole lot to talk about and have some fun races coming up. Not to mention my adventures with my running buddies leading up to them.