The Anti-Running Runner

My family ran the Turkey Trot in Clearwater Thanksgiving morning, and we had such a great time. Alyssa, my hubby, and I ran the 10K while the rest of the fam ran/walked the 5K. We also ran with Hea and a friend from high school, Karol. The Thanksgiving meal was even better after burning all those calories and making room for all the food. If you've never done a Turkey Trot, I hope you'll consider doing it next year. Makes for a great start to the day. And I'm certainly thankful that God has given me the ability to run and be healthy. But more importantly, I'm thankful for what Jesus did for me when he died on the cross and of course for my wonderful and amazing hubby.

I love the feeling of finishing a race no matter what the distance. Every race is an accomplishment. There is no such thing as "just a 5K" or "just a half" or "just an insert race distance. " All races from 1K to 100 miles are difficult in their own way, though I personally will never know the difficulty of a race beyond 26.2 miles. My cousin, Alyssa, my best friend, Hea, and I ran the Women's Half Marathon yesterday. The race began at 7am amongst a crowd of 10,000 women. Right when the race started, Hea and I almost lost my cousin because she was in the eternal bathroom line. Luckily, she is a speedy girl and caught up to us about five minutes after the horn sent us all off. The pictures were taken by our good friend, Jeremy Carlson, who spotted us along the route several times. Thanks, J.J.! The downtown waterfront in St. Pete is a scene I know so well. We traveled past the Vinoy toward Snell Isle Bridge, made our way ...

This is the week I get to eat lots of carbs and train less. It's going to be a good week. Why, you may ask? Because the Women's Half Marathon is this Sunday in St. Petersburg! This last weekend I ran five miles Saturday and five miles Sunday with my hubby and Lance. Did I mention they are both in much better shape than me? They were sweet and stayed with me, though. We had a great time, and it was my last "longer" running before the race. I opted not to do 10 miles on Saturday like I originally planned and broke it up between the two days. I used my Nike+ sensor and ran at the park with the marked mileage so I know it's accurate. I now feel confident about going somewhere else with the sensor. Lance got good and tired for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, just the way we like him. I found out from Kathrine Switzer's Facebook page that she will be at the expo again this year for the race. I'm so excited to see her again. I got to chat with her...

I'm singing it to the tune of "Cel-e-bra-tion!" Another benefit of the iTouch: it comes with a free Nike+ app. Today, I calibrated my new sensor (separate purchase from Best Buy) with the Nike+ app, which means I can track my distances and know for sure that I went ten miles in Georgia! Which I didn't....because I didn't have the iTouch or the sensor yet. But the next time I'm up there, I will know for sure. Or anywhere for that matter. It began with googling "how to put a Nike+ sensor in a non Nike shoe" and of course somebody had a solution for me. Items needed: one of my running shoes, the sensor (19.99 at Best Buy), unknown number of safety pins (I only ended up needing two smaller ones), fabric scissors. Begin with a small snip using the fabric scissors. Carefully, cut the hole wider, but not too wide. Open the box and take out the little sensor guy (read instructions later). See if your hole is big enough......

My first iTouch arrived this week, and I haven't spent a moment apart from it since. Of course, when the newness wears off, I'm sure I'll be able to leave it behind on a trip to the grocery store...maybe. Today, I ran 12 miles as per my training schedule, and it was tough! Probably because I chose to run 12 laps around the park (1 lap = 0.9 miles) and completed the mileage with the 1.2 miles that it takes to get to the park and back from my house. That's the benefit; I knew how far I was going for sure. Last week turned out to be 9.8 miles instead of 10 when we clocked it afterward with the car! Oh well. Close enough. That was almost easy compared to my run today. However, I made it so I really don't want to complain about it. Because my iTouch has now been loaded with all my favorite podcasts, of course I brought it along to listen to the usual ( Dunesteef ). Then I realized I wouldn't need to bring my camera separately. The iTouch is a camera and does vid...