It's official

I'll finally call myself a runner now. Was it the 10 miles I ran during training a few weeks ago that pushed me over the edge? Was it the 10K race I ran last weekend? Nope, though those things still feel good.

Today at the airport, I bought Runners World magazine. It's really a pretty good magazine, by the way, and their website is really good. The cover story was all about beginners to running. And, they refer to themselves as RW, which is me! It's kismet.

It's official. I'm a runner.

The Get in Gear 10K!

I have officially completed my first 10K race and it went really well! Sean and I were joined by 7000 of our closest friends in the race on a cool but sunny day. And, my sister Bethany was there to cheer us on, even though she missed us both coming across the finish line. Such a bummer!

Here we are getting ready for the race:


That's me in the pink shirt and hat and Sean walking toward me. It's really quite something to run with such a big crowd. This is really what it looked like for most of the race:


I felt really good the whole way. With that many people, you really are distracted most of the time by trying to move around people and keep your pace going. I kept an eye on my NikePlus and was feeling really good about the pace most of the way. Of course, my iPod was blasting in my ears too. Here was the rockstar playlist:

Paper Planes - M.I.A. (always my song for the start of a race)
Because of Love - Janet Jackson
Just a Ride - Jem
King Without a Crown - Matisyahu
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
Stronger - Kanye West
Someone to Call My Lover - Janet Jackson
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) - Wyclef Jean
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
Mercy - Duffy
Freedom - George Michael
September - Earth, Wind & Fire
Final Countdown - Europe (always the best song for the end of a race)

And yes, I do go from listening to Matisyahu, the Orthodox Jew rapper to Jay-Z singing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder."

My goal was to finish the race in under an hour, which would be a pace just under 10 minutes/mile. I finished at 58:35 and felt GREAT about it! Here's a link to the official results. You'll see I placed 604 out of 1766 women runners. Not too bad! Sean seriously rocked it. He finished in 45 minutes and placed 319 out of 1647 men!

Here's Sean and I after the race. Pay no attention to the fact that my face is the same color as my shirt:

So it was a good day all around. Special thank to Sis for cheering us on!!

Ode to my first pair of running shoes

Alas, the time has come for you to retire, dear running shoes. You were the first pair I ever purchased specifically for running. How have I loved you? Let me count the ways:

• You are silver and sassy and that makes a girl think that anything is possible.
• You are the LIVESTRONG brand from Nike and therefore my purchase donated money to cancer research. You know I'm always a sucker for a good cause.
  
• You introduced me to my second running-related love - my NikePlus. It's so very clever of you to get me hooked on your brand like that. And it worked. Oh, how it worked.
• I never once had sore feet or blisters and that's pretty remarkable.
  
• You took me so much farther than I ever thought possible. 268 miles farther, to be exact. I never thought I'd be the person who ran more than about two miles and only then it was because it was required for the volleyball team my senior year in high school.

So thank you, first pair of running shoes. You have shown me that I can do things I never thought I could.

Two big milestones in one day!

Yesterday was a big day, my friends. For so many reasons!

First:

This is the face of a girl who just ran 10 miles. Yes, 10. And it actually wasn't too bad. I finally made it to a team run with Team in Training down by the river again. It was another beautiful morning - about 40 degrees and sunny.

The group met up. We discussed the route - "turn at the Ford bridge - turn at the Franklin bridge - keep the river to your right." Seemed easy enough but for some reason I had to ask which bridges we were turning at about 10 times. I think it was the combination of the early morning fuzzy brain and the nerves over running 10 miles. I noticed a few other people did the exact same thing. Then someone shared a "mission moment", which is our reminder why we're raising money for cancer research. One person shared that she's a teacher and she's running in honor of one of her students.

Then it was time for the cheer. Oh yes, the cheer. It's a lot to ask at that hour on a Saturday morning, but I did my best to get in to it - "I say purple, you say green - purple! green! purple! green!" You get the idea. It did occur to me that there would probably be some form of the cheer on race day too. Since I'll be wearing a bright purple jersey along with the rest of my teammates, I decided that I'll just go with it and love the cheers. There's no acting too cool for school here.

And off we went! I kept up with the group out front for about two miles. I felt pretty good about keeping up with the "fast kids" as I called them in my head, but decided that I wouldn't be able to finish if I kept up that pace. So, I dropped back a ways and rocked out to my iPod. I think I'm better at running solo anyway. I like to jam out to the music and I'm not much for talking when I'm working that hard at keeping my legs going. I kept a pretty good pace for most of the 10 miles as you can see here:






Second:

I reached the halfway point for fundraising! And a few days ahead of my goal, too. I have been so humbled by the generosity of each one of you. Thank you so much to all of you who have helped me get this far!! And thanks in advance to those of you who will help me get the rest of the way there!

I added a thermometer to the side of the page here and I'll keep it updated as we get closer to the final goal.

Third:

I'm sending in the recommitment paperwork today, which means I can't back out now! I'm really going to do this!

Happy Easter, everyone!

NikePlus rocks

I am completely addicted to my NikePlus thing. I use the wristband because my trusty iPod mini doesn't officially sync up with it. I actually like my setup a little better anyway. So the sensor goes in my shoe and I keep the wristband on while I'm running.





It keeps track of my distance, pace and time while I'm running. When I get home, I pop it in to the USB port on the computer and it loads my runs to the website. The website kicks butt too. It keeps track of all of my runs and shows how my pace varied throughout the run in a graph like the one above. (You can see that I'm not so great at keeping a steady pace but that's okay since my goal is to cross the finish line with my legs still moving.) The graph above is my run from today.

So if you run or walk, you should seriously check NikePlus out.

PS - Did you see on the graph above that I ran for 50 minutes?? I'm very close to calling myself a runner.

Today's playlist - Brought to you by the letter "S"

Here's what was on my iPod for a 6.4 mile run today. (The links will take you to iTunes for the songs):

September - Earth, Wind & Fire
SexyBack - Justin Timberlake
Shake Ya Tailfeather - Murphy Lee, Nelly & P.Diddy
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) - Beyonce
South Side - Moby
Song 2 - Blur
Stronger - Kanye West
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Say Hey - Michael Franti & Spearhead
Say Na Say Na - Aneela, Johan Bejerholm & Robert Uhlman
Say You'll Be There - Spice Girls (yes, I'm appropriately embarrassed about this one)
Seventeen Years - Ratatat
Smile - Lily Allen
Son's Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope
Someone to Call My Lover - Janet Jackson

I'm getting ready for the Get in Gear 10K coming up in a few weeks. Not too shabby - I finished in just under an hour, which is faster than I've done it in the past!