May 29, 2010 - My First 5K !!

Well I did it ~ I ran my first 5K. I believe everyone needs to do a race at least once in their life. It was very exciting standing at the starting line waiting for the race to begin. If you don't feel you can run, walk it. There were many walkers at the race last Saturday, even an 8 and 6 year old boy and girl. Kudos to them!! It was very encouraging and all the fear and anxiety before seems foolish now. But at the next race it probably will be there again.

Greg, my sister Martha, and my friend Tammy ran the race with me. All of them had trained for a couple of months. Greg has been running for over a year and he finished his first 5K with the time of 26.42 - I am very proud of him. It took me longer ( a lot longer) I finished in 46.17. Tammy finished around 40 min. and I have to give her props because 3 mornings out of the week she would get up early and go running before work. On days she was not running she was walking. She put the work in and it paid off. I saw her at the bottom of the first hill and that was that, she was gone. Run Tammy Run!! Martha removed all excuses because she has been training for 2 months and really watched her diet - she wouldn't even eat BBQ the night before. Plus, she has asthma and did not let that hinder her in the least, she finished the race. I am very proud of her!

The runners who had finished well before me were running back or standing on the side offering words of encouragement to the runners topping the hill. Such as, "you are almost there", "you have made it", "You are doing great, keep it up", "you are almost at the finish line don't give up now". After Greg finished, he ran back to find me and ran beside me until I could see the finish. At the bottom of the last hill, I told him I didn't think I could make it and then a friend from work (who came to cheer us on) was running down the hill shouting "you are doing great, you are almost there". Just what I needed to go the extra 'mile' (really an extra 1/10 of a mile). We topped the hill and then Greg left me to go get the camera to take my picture crossing the finish line.

I learned a lot in my first 5K
1. Never give up in training - put the work in and it will pay off (I did
not train as much in May)
2. I need to lose weight
3. I need to make better food choices
4. Do not stop just after the finish line to hand race official tab keep moving
5. Go to bathroom before race
6. Wear sunglasses, sunscreen or hat
7. Do not pour water on Ipod
8. Start as close to front as possible
9. Do not slow down to hug people
10. Races can be addictive

My niece Petrovia had to work that day and did not get to run with us but the next time she will.

To view race results visit Terry Times

The Run!

Well the day is here! Tomorrow morning the race begins and it is what it is. I have really let myself down this month with my diet and my running. First it was a very busy month (excuses, excuses) although Greg kept his running up I didn't. Second, I pulled a muscle or something in my right hip and had trouble running. When I did run, I would just run at a slower pace and put ice on it when I got home. I actually gained 1.5 lbs this month. Bummer.

Best wishes to all who are running in the morning - God Bless!!

April!!

Wow! A whole month has gone by and I did not write one thing :O(. So I am going to recap the whole month of April with one try - short and simple. First, I need to say that I had some goals that I wanted to reach for the month: run 3.1 miles without stopping, lose 10 lbs, spring clean, and keep a food dairy. I accomplished all but one. See if you can guess which one I did not reach? My goal for May - keep my journal up-to-date. LOL!

Apri1 1-10, 2010: On April 1st, I booked the campsite for our annual family camping trip. I always look forward to this wonderful time and I can't wait to get up early and run the campgrounds (never thought I would say that). As far as running, I met Petrovia twice this week at Shaver to run, I had a hard time running or finding my pace. Everything just seemed difficult and it was really discouraging. Plus, it was hot here - what happened to Spring? Because of the heat I decided to have my hair cut short! I love it! On the 10th, I finally made it for 1.4 miles but it was really tough - I really felt like quitting.

April 11- 17, 2010: I just continued to run and go to the gym. I have added at least one day of swimming to my routine and I am hoping that it will get easier. On the 17th, Greg and I went to Six Mile to run. I told him my goal was to run one mile, I was disgusted and did not feel like pushing myself. He encouraged me to slow my pace and of course I argued that I slowed down any slower that I would not be moving. Also, he encouraged me to keep running if I felt good after one mile and I said, "sure, whatever". Well, I slowed down my pace and after 1 mile I felt like I could go on so I ran for 1.5 and I could see the end of town. After all was said and done I ran for 3.2 miles. I was amazed that after I slowed down how much farther I could run. Now when I say slow I mean slow, Greg ran 5 miles the same day and he passed me. But I now know that I can run a 5k. Talk about encouraging!!

April 18 - 24, 2010: This week I ran 3.2 again! Greg and I went to Charleston for a wedding. It was a beautiful wedding! We got to the beach around 7:30 - boy was it cold! I ran a total of around 2.5 miles and Greg ran 3.1 miles but it was a lot tougher running in sand than on concrete. That evening we went to the wedding and had a blast hanging out with the folks Greg works with!

April 25 - 30, 2010: For the past month, I have walked everyday at work, ran or went to the gym in the afternoons, and have kept a food dairy. I started a journal on my weight loss journey because if I put it out there for people to see it I stay motivated. On March 31, 2010 we had a weigh in for a 'Biggest Loser' contest we are doing at work. I weighed in at 175.2 lbs on March 31. On April 30 we had the months weigh in and I weighed in at 164.8 a total of 10.4 lbs. We are doing it by percentage and this was 5.9% and that just happened to be the highest percentage. YAY!! I left work yesterday $70 richer!! The best part was that Greg took me to Run-In in Greenville and bought me a pair of running shoes. I love them!! 4 Weeks till the Race!