Here We Go...

Last Saturday, I got to enjoy a nice short run.  The week before we did 13 miles in 2:05, so the 5K last weekend was a nice break.  I guess we are jumping right back into it this coming Saturday.

Looking at the map of this weekend's route really makes me want to throw up.  16.3 miles seems like a really long distance to run.  I realize the stupidity in that statement, because it IS a really long way to run.

Being mentally tough as a runner is more than half the battle in my opinion, and I try to be as mentally tough as I need to be.  One of the best thing about having a group of people to run with is that their support helps to make up for any shortfalls I might have in my mental toughness.

Maybe I need to do some deep breathing to help calm the butterflies in my stomach, because it is only Wednesday, and if it is stressing me out this much already, I am going to be a mess by Saturday.

I know that each week from here on out will be longer and longer, so maybe after this weekend my nerves will calm down.  Physically, I believe I can do it, but there is always that little voice in my head telling me that I am crazy.  I need to start ignoring that little voice.

So I'm gonna see about getting a hand held water bottle, and some Jelly Belly Sport Beans to carry with me, and I'm going to make sure that my ipod is loaded with good running music, that my Garmin is fully charged and just get out there.  I am thinking that Friday night will be spaghetti night at the Craig house for the next couple of months.

Thanks to THIS lovely lady for the idea that came from someone else.

ABC's of ME!!
(A) Age: 36

(B) Bed Size: King, seriously, I would never go back to a Queen!

(C) Chore You Hate: dishes period.  I love to cook and bake, but I would pay someone to come do the clean up for me if I could.

(D) Dogs? Boston Terrier, Lucy, she was 14 when we had to put her down last year, Boston Terrier, Rocky, he's 3 and he's the sweetest most sensitive dog with the lowest self esteem you've ever met, French Bulldog, Penny, we call her Penny the Pig Dog, and she would be a vegetarian if she could, she loves her veggies.

(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: A good workout.

(F) Favorite Color: Pink, definitely

(G) Gold or Silver? Silver

(H) Height: 5'8.5''

(I) Instruments You Play: Saxophone in junior high.

(J) Job Title: Contracts Administrator, this translates into a job where some days I don't even know what I do.

(K) Kids:  Camy and Carson 10-year-old twin girls.

(L) Live: Norman, OK.  Boomer Sooner!

(M) Mom's Name: Diana

(N) Nicknames: Beck, Becks, mom

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? 1. 27 weeks pregnant, 5 days for a fever and contractions 2. C-Section

(P) Pet Peeve: Diets, and people thinking that eliminating carbs (or sugar, or whatever) from their diet is going to help them loose weight.  Diets don't work.

(Q) Quote from a Movie: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

(R) Right or Left Handed? Right

(S) Siblings: Older sister, Jen, twin sister, Karen, little brother Billy.  (These siblings have made it possible for me to have 12 nieces and nephews!)

(T) Time You Wake Up?  5 on week days to usually get in a workout before the rest of the family is up, and usually by 7 at the latest on the weekends.

(U) Underwear: yes

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: green beans.  I LOVE green vegetables, broccoli, peas, spinach, but I hate green beans.

(W) What Makes You Run Late: I work hard to be on time but sometimes life just gets in the way.

(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: both ankles (fell down the stairs at work once, sprained both), both knees (have had lateral releases on both R in 2006, L in 2010), had a chest x-ray when I was pregnant and in the hospital for a fever and contractions.

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: I love to bake.  Cookies and cupcakes.  I also love to cook.

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: I love the monkeys.

If you do this on your blog, leave me comment and let me know- I want to know that ABC's of YOU!

Heart for Haiti 5K...

I ran my first 5K race in 133 days yesterday.  My last 5K was the Race for the Cure in October and I had a PR of 26:18.  I had been tasked, by Tommy, to take 30 seconds off my training pace for the Marathon.  While I don't believe I am running a 9 minute pace for the marathon, I was shooting for an 8:30 pace.

I set my Garmin to beep at me if I dropped below my set pace and just gave it everything, and I didn't leave anything out there.  I finished in 24:36, a time I NEVER thought I would see as a runner.  It was a small race, but even so I won my age group and was the 4th overall woman in the race.  So now I don't ever need to run another 5k again, right?

This is our picture of irony.

Christie, Stacy, Kim, Holly, me, Jesica, Bob, Jeanne and Cherri

Kim, me and Jesica

Stacy and I before the race.

Getting ready to run!

I sure look silly when I run.

Here's me during the race.  I don't know why I look like such a dork when I run.  I don't feel like a dork when I run, but I just don't seem to photograph well in action.  I think I look like I am walking instead of running, and what's up with the thumbs?

 Stacy, Bob and I with our post race snack.  The dorkiness seemed to remain after I finished running.

Holly, Cherri, Jeanne, me and Kim.

The beauty of the small race is that five of us from our running group at the Y won our age groups!  My first medal for placing in a race.  It wasn't a very nice medal though.  Maybe one day I will win a trophy!

Holy Cow!

So I had planned to meet some running friends this morning for a short 3 mile run outside.  Yesterday the prospect of the temps being in the 50s seemed very exciting.  With all the record breaking freezing temps and snow of the last two weeks here in Oklahoma, 50s seemed like heaven.

You can imagine my surprise this morning when I got up and checked the temp on my iPhone and it said 61 degrees!  61 degrees?  That's almost bathing suit weather in comparison to what we have been suffering through for the last few weeks.

I do still live in Oklahoma so it was pretty windy out, but in my running capris and my long sleeve shirt I actually got a little hot.  The winds were pretty strong, but I'll take a little wind over temps that are 30 and below.  It's so nice to have run outside twice already this week.

Now I get to take it easy and rest up for the race on Saturday.  I seem to get knots in my stomach whenever I think about it.  It's only 3.1 miles, and I did 13 last Saturday.  Tommy have tasked with running it at about a 8:30 pace, which is kinda freaking me out.  I remember not too long ago when 3.1 miles wasn't something I could run continuously.  My how things have changed!

Happy Thursday, and if you can get out there with this beautiful weather today, I would highly recommend it!

Frosting for the Cause

So I stumbled across a new blog the other day.  Turns out it's a blog after my own heart!  From the blog,  the info about the project is:

Beginning January 1, 2011 a total of 365 sugar cookie & cupcake bakers/decorators and bloggers from across Canada and the United States will take turns doing a guest post here at Frosting for the Cause. Once a day, every day for a year you will be treated to a new and talented blogger who will showcase their home-made, hand-decorated cookies or cupcakes together with their recipes. Almost everyone, everywhere, has been touched by cancer in one form or another. The guest bakers will also share in a very personal manner with readers of Frosting for the Cause, about a woman in their life who had to face this terrible disease head-on.


So I volunteered to submit a guest post.  I have already registered for the Rock N Roll half marathon in Dallas next month, and committed to raising at least $1,000 for Komen for the Cure, so this is just one more think that I can do.


In fact, I am getting closer and closer to my goal of $1,300 for the half marathon.  My newest fundraising strategy, rather than just asking people for money, is to bake for my donors.  For each donation of at least $25 I have been baking cookies, either chocolate chip or sugar cookies.  This seems to be working out quite well for me so far.  I am currently at $670 raised, so I'll keep pushing my baked goods on people in return for donations.  

Race this Weekend...

So I ended up not running the Sooner State Games trail run last weekend.  After all the snow, and having to run inside the weekend before, my body was really wanting to run outside, but it also needed to get some serious miles in.  The fact that I don't like mud, was also a factor, and from what I hear I made a good choice for me.  I hear the trails were muddy and wet.  So maybe I'll give it a try next year, or later this year when all the ticks have died out!

Had a great training run on Saturday, we did EXACTLY 13 miles, and which is .1 short of an official half, but I was ready to be done and my Garmin said 13 so I stopped.  We finished in 2:05, which is over 11 minutes faster than the Route 66 half in November.  Not sure where that speed came from, I keep saying that I am trying to keep up with Abby, but she claims I was setting the pace.  After about 11 miles I had to consciously think about my form, I could feel my body wanting to break down, but I stuck with it and it was a great run.  Makes me very excited for the Rock N Roll next month.

My legs did feel like they had been run over by a truck though, and when Kendra and I ran a short three outside (Yeah!) on Monday morning, I was surprised that my legs would even move after doing nothing all day Sunday.

So now, Kim has me signed up for the Heart for Haiti 5K in Norman this Saturday.  Our training was only supposed to be a short 4 miles, so why not run a race.  But then I started to think about it and it's been three months since the half, and a full 133 days since my last 5K.  Holy smokes!  133 days since the RFTC?  I ran my fastest 5K ever then, and I am wondering if I should call it a day and not run another 5K so I can say that the 26:19 is my best.  Can I run faster than that?  I have no idea.  Can I run slower than that?  You betcha!  I guess we'll see what happens.  After the unseasonable highs we get to have this week after the all time lowest temps in Oklahoma we had last week it should be a great morning for a race.

So Sick of Snow...

Okay, seriously, we live in Oklahoma.  I don't know what sort of alternate universe we have stumbled into in the last two weeks, but enough already.  Snow that lasts for days, and sub zero temps are really starting to get on my nerves.

My daughters have only gone to school three out of the last 9 school days, they are going to be in school well into June if this doesn't end.  We had record low temps in the state this morning, measured in NEGATIVE numbers.  By Tuesday it's going to be close to 70 degrees outside.  Really?  That would be about a 100 degrees warmer than it was in some parts of the state this morning.  Snow days that turn into sick days, that's what I am predicting.

Something you might not know about me is that I am really not much for the outdoors.  As a kid, I preferred to stay inside and read to going outside and getting dirty.  That being said, as I officially became a runner last year, I discovered that I love running outside.  I can't believe I used to actually enjoy running on the treadmill.  What the hell was I thinking?

I finally got to the point where I believed that I would not die running outside when it's about 35 degrees out, and mother nature give me snow, ice, and temps in the single digits.  Although, next week's temps are going to seriously feel like summertime.

I am hoping that I will only have to suffer through one more Saturday of treadmill/track/treadmill running.  I didn't get my full 10 miles in last week because I opted for some cross training, which means that I pretty much have to run 11 miles on Saturday or I will feel very behind on my marathon training.

This is Oklahoma, and they say if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute.  I wish this wintry mess would be gone in just a minute.