Running Recession Proof!

HAHA!
Click here to read the article to the title.

All Star Game 5K

Starting time 7:30am July 12
The day after my 25th birthday. Goo.
This was fun but it got kind of how there for a sec. It is july in st louis, afterall. Got a pretty cool medal to add to the collection. But as Pallardy says...I only do these things for the medals anyway. :)

Wounded vet Runs 100 Mile Marathon in Honor of Soldiers

This story is just amazing - and just in time for the Fourth of July Weekend.
Hope it motivates everyone to run in between the hot dogs, beer and fireworks.
Dont forget to give it up to those who fought so you could be free!

Have a good weekend!

Oh Glorious Rest

So you know that last post where I was supposed to run 20 miles...I didn't.
I had actually been avoiding this blog for quite some time cause the training for Seattle just wasn't going the way I had wanted it to. I could blame the extreme heat that had been going on in Missouri which was a contributing factor. I could barely breathe just walking out the door, but in short I just didn't even try to push myself into it either. I had gotten one long run of 17 miles between Cincinnati and Seattle and just didn't even run the last 3 weeks before the race - heat index did get up to 110 :(

So on to Seattle. The Thursday before the race we had a softball game for our drinking league and needless to say with my lack of activity the past couple weeks took a toll on my quads. To be frank, they were burning. When entering Seattle, I realized how hilly the city was and proceeded to have a panic attack Friday night before the race.
Had I prepared enough?
Will the course be a hilly bitch?
Should I have opted out of softball this week?
Is this just going to be a repeat of Memphis? (I got really hurt and had to walk the last 6 miles)
Should I have just sucked it up and trained in the heat?

All of this was plaguing me throughout the night. Race day was saturday. Starting time was 7am, but out of the 25,000 runners didn't actually pass through the starting line until 7:40. My quads still burned from softball, but it was a good sore and I just thought we'd see how I felt towards the halfway mark cause I can always just go with the halfers if I'm not up to it - but I didn't come to Seattle to do go halfsies :)

The course was not as hilly as the city makes up think it would be and it definitely wasn't as hilly as Cincinnati. The race was quick, when it was over it didn't even feel like I had been out there for 5 hours. I raced my second best time 5 hours and 24 minites - beating my st louis time by one minute. It is such a relief to know that my body is used to this by now and that the 3 weeks off didn't hender my performance at all and in the end probably actually helped me cause it gave me a much needed rest between the 2 marathons.

To me though, the best part of running was that I added an interactive element to my race and allowed people from home to follow me on twitter throughout the race. I updated every so often and tweeted pictures and whatnot - which was nice to have something to take my mind of running. But the feedback from people was so encouraging. I'm so glad that people got into that. It felt like they were right along with me on my 26.2 mile adventure. So thanks to everyone who got involved and lets look forward to the Marine Corps Marathon in October!

Click here to follow me on twitter!

UPDATE: Pictures from Seattle

one week from today

it has been way too hot to be running lately.
the heat index and humidity is excruciating.
i can barely breathe when i walk out the door.
i know its not a great idea, but i think i have decided to
wing it till the marathon.
i'm going to try to get in a 8-9 miles tomorrow.
but i cant promise anything.
i think it will be good to give my body rest.
plus the build up and anticipation of not running all week
will only make me crave it more on race day.

leaving on friday for Seattle!

nightmare

Woke up this morning at 4:30am
to run my 20 miler (eek)
before I go into work today.
About to embark on this journey.
I'll let you know how it goes...

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8 reasons to run with a partner

Found this article outlining 8 reasons to run with a partner
and number 8 rings so true today: partners make great alarm clocks.

With summer heat index sweeping in, they predicted it would get up to 90 today with evening scattered t-storms. Me and Pallardy have the day off to work on the house (we've gone painting crazy) so I had him wake me up early so I could finally get this weeks long run in (17-18 miles). I'm not very good with morning runs. The night before, I can talk up big game about how I'm going to get up early in the morning and knock it out...but then the morning comes and I just continually hot snooze until I finally get up, then I just mope around trying to talk myself into getting it done. I usually do, but then I've wasted the whole day just thinking about it.

poop.

Today was different. I had Pallardy to push me...literally. He pushed me until I rolled out of bed. We went to Quail Ridge trails which is fast becoming my new fave running place and knocked out todays run before the heat set in.

Perfection.

Seattle in 24 days!