40 X 40 - 3 Down 37 To Go!!!

So, the MiniMarathon is finally over and I'm officially 3 races closer to my goal of 40 races by the time I turn 40, which IS still far away - thank you very much!  If all of my training runs would have been races, I'd be at my goal by now.  (I'm trying not to be bitter that my 12 mile runs, 10 mile runs, 8 mile runs, etc. counted for nothing towards my goal.)  More importantly though, I've learned to actually enjoy running and now find myself itching to get out there.  

My race times weren't the best, but I achieved one of my goals by finishing the race without walking; thanks to my friends cheering me on the last 1/2 mile!  I officially count this race as the biggest physical athletic achievement in my life... I wonder what will come next?

8 MILE RUN!!!

I just finished my NEW official longest run ever... 8 MILES!  It's amazing how your body can just keep going and going and the impact that your mind can have.  I've been listening to a group called Dispatch,  an American indie/roots folk jam band, while I run.  Music plays a big part in my life and helps me to get through the run with a little less pain.  I've always found my life to be one big musical.  I'm not sure what I'd name it though.  I just always have a song in my head and my emotions are so easily changed by the tunes.  With tonight's run, I kept repeating over and over Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."  So true... So true!

Here's a snapshot of the runkeeper I use with my iPhone to track my run.  Again, not the fastest time, but baby-steps!  =)

This Is Too Cool!

As I train for my first mini-marathon, I've been trying to keep track of my miles and times along the way.  I have this app on my iPhone call RunKeeper; it uses GPS to track my fitness and then saves it on their site.  When I log in to see the stats for a run, this is what I see.  It's fun cause I can drag the mouse along the bottom graph and watch the little blue dot move on the map to show where I was at that speed and elevation.

The past two weeks I've been running 5 miles on my "long" runs, which ties the furthest I've ever ran consecutively.  Sadly, it was when I was in middle school running a Popcorn Panic up in Valparaiso where I grew up.  Well, today I shattered that record with a whopping 6.2 miles!  (Baby steps... Baby steps...)  My goal was just to finish the 6 miles and I had a great game plan.  I ran the first half as far away from my home so that way I had no choice but to finish the 6 miles on the way back.  The best thing about it was that I felt that I could have ran another 2-4 miles.  I figured I better be safe and just achieve my goal (which I actually exceeded by .20 miles, thank you very much!!!)  =)  

My training schedule has me running 7 & 8 miles in the next few weeks, so I look forward to scoring some new personal highs.  Hopefully I make it back to post about it!  =)

40 X 40 - 2 Down 38 To Go!!!

A handful of months ago, I posted about a goal I made to compete in 40 races by the time I turn 40.  Fortunately, I still have just under 7 years to complete it.  This past weekend, I came one step closer!!!  Crazy me signed up for the mini-marathon, here in Indy, for my first time.  I've heard it's a little bit further than my previous longest race of 5 miles in 7th grade!  To be prepared, I also signed up for a training team (I even caught myself training for the training).

This past weekend was race #2, a 5K that is part of the training series.  As you can tell by my time below, I still have a ways to go.  Baby steps!  Baby steps!

P.S.  If you're that walker that passed me... vengeance will be mine!  (If I can catch you!)