5k Santa Sprint.

"Let me win, but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt"- Special Olympics Oath

I don't know why but the Special Olympics Oath really reaches out to me, and I really like it. Today I did a Santa Sprint 5k that was put on by a local running store and the Special Olympics of our county. It was really neat.

They did the Pledge of Allegiance before the race started. I haven't said the Pledge since highschool, 6yrs ago, and even then I didn't "appreciate" the words of the Pledge of Allegiance. I got kinda teary as we were saying it.  I mean, think of all our military men & women who serve to keep our country free, so that we can fly our flag, and have our Nation UNDER GOD. I think the Pledge is important. I appreciate it.

On to the race. A cold front came through last night so it was pretty chilly this morning, 44 when I got up. Yes, I know, that is not cold if you are reading this and you are from anywhere north of Florida. I know some of you raced in snow today, or couldn't race because of the snow... I originally wore shorts & a long sleeve shirt but it was to cold for shorts. I went to the kohls next door to the running store and bought some Fila tights...not the best, but they got the job done.

I've been battling a cough for about 2 wks so I wasn't sure how I would run. I only ran twice last week, 3 miles one day, and 1 mile another day. I ran a pretty steady pace. The whole entire race i was looking ahead at all the women ahead of me thinking "how many of them are in my age group?" "Who do I need to get ahead of".. apparently i'm much more competitive then I thought.  At mile 2 a girl started to run by me, and she looked my age, so this really got my competitiveness flowing.. I sped up but then leveled back out. I finished in 25:40, which is a little faster then my previous 5k which was 26:30.

I plan to start upping my mileage and hopefully run a 10k in February.

Day 3 of 30 Day Shred.

Today was day 3. Some of the stuff is getting easier, but other aspects are not. I HATE the 1 minute ab workouts. I just feel so stupid doing them. I don't feel like i'm doing them right at all. I think i'm going to find another AB work out and not worry so much about the 30DS Abs. Other then that I really like the work outs. I sweat hardcore.....that makes me feel like i'm actually accomplishing something.

I have my 3rd 5k on Saturday. I don't feel like i'm going to do that well. I haven't been running as much as I could. Wednesday I only ran 1 mile bc i had this side pain that wouldn't give, and i thought it was going to rain. I was in downtown Winter Haven and I really don't love running in the rain... i didnt want to get stranded so I guess I gave up. stupid.

Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

30 day Shred with Jillian Michaels.

Last week I discovered that BrightHouse has exercise on-demand. I've been wanting to add something new to my excercising. Running is great, but I want more. So i decided to try out some work outs.

The first one I tried way weird. It was called back.2.bollywood. It was an Indian Lady and you did some Indian dance moves, it was fun, but not my cup of tea. I was sweating, but I didn't feel like I got to much out of.

So the next day I did Biggest Loser Cardio Max- OMG. I didn't stretch before or after- bad, bad, bad idea. I was so sore for the next 3 days I could literally barely move. I was also coming down with a sore throat and a cough, throw it all together and i was extremely miserable. Nothing helped my muscles. I took muscle relaxers, IBuprofen, and soaked in an epsom salt filled bath, nothing helped. I just had to let my muscles do their thing.

So this Sunday (Dec 13th), I decided to start Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I've read alot about it on a Health & Fitness board that I frequent. I googled results, and saw some good results. I don't want to necessarily lose alot of weight, but I want to gain strength and tone.

The workouts are based on 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of ABS. She goes through the cycle 3 times, and thats the entire workout. There are 3 different levels. From what i've read, you do each level for 10 days, and then move to the next level- hence the "30" day shred.

Tuesday I did a 3.13 mile run, and today, Wednesday, I did the 2nd day of 30 Day Shred.  Tomorrow i'll be out after work getting in another 3 miles.

I have my 3rd 5k this weekend in Lakeland. The Santa Sprint 5k. Hoping to PR, but 26:30 is a pretty good time, i'm not sure if I can beat that.

Gotta go study.

Bartow Turkey Chase!

Today I ran my second 5k ever. It was a great run!! Registration was from 630- race time. Chris didn't want to get there "to" early so we left around 6:15. I got up at 5. I ate some oatmeal, took care of the dogs and just did whatever around the house. We left at 6:15 and got to Bartow around 7ish. I was nervous, again. Not to sure why I get so nervous, I know no one really cares how i'm running or is watching me, besides Chris. It was a small race. Maybe 100 people.

My only complaint was the course was marked off in 1/2 mile increments... which is fine, but I couldn't keep track, i couldn't remember if it was the 3rd 1/2 or 4th 1/2.. it would have been better if it said 1/2, then 1 mile, 1.5, 2 miles, but no it was just 1/2 mile. Oh well.

I actually got to see Chris during this race, the last race I didn't get to see him at all. He got a few pics of me.

and my finish! I was super excited he got a picture of me with the time clock! Awesome!

1st in my age group!!! Holla!!! This was so exciting! Chris & I were standing there watching the awards and they get to my age group 20-24 (i'm 3wks from being 25)... so i was at the tippy top of my age group... They said "and in 1st place in the 20-24 with a time of 26:30  (i looked at Chris and i said "Holy Shit, thats me").... Jena H..."   WOW! I was shocked..

So I PR'd today! I was really really really excitded about it! I can't wait to run my next race. I'm going to register for a Santa run that is also in Bartow. Woohoo!!

My longest run yet...

On Saturday, Chris and I went to a new trail that I found online. It's the Auburndale Teco Trail, off of Berkley road. It was a pretty nice trail. There was quite a lot of shade for the first 1.5 miles, then after that the shade tapers off and it was just hot. They have trail markers etched into the trail- which sucks if you aren't looking for them. I didn't notice them until I got to 1 mile, then i saw the 1.5 mile .... good to know, I hate carrying that bulky Garmin. Can't wait to hopefully get a Garmin Forerunner 305 for my b-day. 

I ran a total of 3.6 miles on Saturday, which is my longest run yet. Not really impressive when I think of all the other girls I know that are running in the double digit runs... but i'll get there. I didn't run today (Monday), going to run tomorrow. This getting dark by 6 thing really threw me for a loop. I have to figure out where I am going to run, i need a place with street lights- uhm yah, no where in D-port has street lights! I have thought about wearing my fishing headlight, but that thing drives me bonkers when I fish, I can't imagine running w/ it on my head. Hm.

I am going to register for my second 5k tomorrow! The Bartow Turkey Chase. I'm excited. I decided that I can only do one 5k a month for budgeting reasons. This one is only $18, the first one I did I think was $25.  Crap! I just looked at the 5k I was going to do in DEC and that joker is $35..hmm I think i'll find another one. It was the NTC (national training center) 5k... I think i'll find a holiday one or something. Maybe even register for my first 10k... 6.2 miles. I think I should be ready for that by the end of December!

Good night- I have to get back to my homework now. Boo

My first 5k!

Today was my first 5k. Community in Pink 5k, put on by Health Central. The race was at Winter Garden Village. If I had a scanner I'd scan the map and but it on here, but I don't.

I got up at 4:40am. Shaved my legs.. LOL, i know important! I ate some toast with peanut butter. I got Chris up..with argument, of course. We left the house at 5:40.  Check-in was at 6:30. I wasn't sure how crazy it would be so I wanted to get there early enough where we wouldn't have to wait to check in...and i was just nervous. so i wanted to get there and just see everything so i could calm down.

We got there at 6:25, checked in and then walked over to the mcdonalds.. no way i'm usin a porto-potti when there is a perfectly good mcdonalds just down the parking lot!

The race started in the "middle" of the parking lot I guess. Where that pavilion thing is... I can't tell you the whole course.... We ran through WGV and into a neighborhood and back through WGV.

I felt good during the whole race. At the very beginning of the race my right calf started feeling tight; i though "Oh this is going to be a long run if this doesn't loosen up"...thankfully it went away and i ran fine. I kept up a steady pace. Not quick, just steady. It actually went by really quickly. I was jammin' out to my i-pod, focusing on my pace, and breathing (cuz that tends to be important!)... I couldn't believe how quickly we got back to WGV.

There weren't not very many spectators. There were some though, and it was really cool to hear/see them cheering for us. We ran through a neighborhood and there were some folks out in their yards clapping and what not. pretty cool!

I crossed the finish line in 31:07...according to my timer on my watch. There was no "official" time or anything like that. The race was kind of crazily put together. Everyone had a hard time hearing when the announcer guy said "GO!" , it was kinda crazy! 

Chris wasn't there to see me cross the finish line... He went to the mcdonalds and he thought he would have plenty of time to get back before i was finished. WRONG. I told him I wanted to finish in 35min or less,he didn't think i would finish in 31:07... So after i crossed I was kinda sad bc I didn't see Chris and it was like another 5 minutes before I found him. Oh well, there will be other races! I still had a really great time.

I am really proud of myself for 2 reasons. #1, because I actually finished in less time then I aimed for.

The second reason is more of a self thing... I am proud of myself for actually going out and doing the race, by myself. I had no one to run with me and I didn't let that stop me. Alot of times if I don't know anyone thats going to be someplace, or if there are large crowds I'd rather just not go. I do not like large crowds of people.  I am just proud of myself for finding the race, "training" for the race, registering for the race, and running it by myself. That is a pretty big thing for me.

I told Chris, "I think this is something i'm definently going to get into, I love it" It's just fun! It's great to be apart of something like that.  I've already been on Runnersworld.com looking for more races coming up! I can't wait to run again!

I am running.

I have started running, seriously. I have been jogging/walking/bike riding since June. But just recently I decided that I wanted to get serious about running. I don't just want to run a mile and be satisfied. I want to do some races. There are a few 5k's (3miles) coming up soon that I want to do.

1. Health Central is doing a 5k along with Winter Garden Village on OCt 24th... thinking about doing this one, not sure if i'll be ready in 2 wks.

2. Bartow Turkey Chase 5k on November 21st

3. Florida 5k Run- NTC Race On 12/19.

Yay! I'm excited! Today Stacey and I jogged 3 miles. i jogged the majority of the 3 miles. Had to do a few walking parts, but i was pretty proud of myself.