The Anti-Running Runner

I have yet to blog about the last races I did before summer. Next time, I'll blog about The Claw Run 10 miles, which turned out to be quite a wonderful adventure with a big surprise at the end. After that, I'll blog about the Police Appreciation Run 10K where I had a great time with my hubby. In the meantime, I was thrilled to run 15K (about 9.3 miles) on Wednesday because I haven't gone that far in a while. The summer heat has been ferocious, so it's difficult to go more than 3 or 4 miles at a time. I still refuse to get up early enough to avoid the sun, so I have to suffer for it when I do run. I've been fairly consistent, running every other day between 2 and 6 miles. My neighborhood is okay, but I like some variety in scenery. I searched how far it was to the nearest beach (Treasure Island). A round trip was about 15K. I decided to run part of the route on Monday to see how it felt. Much of it was beautiful with lots of cloud cover, which I appreciated. I...

After a hard rain yesterday, the cold weather flew in on the back of gusty winds, making the Jingle Bell Run feel just about right (freezing!) at 7:30 pm. Team Hea and Bria made it, and we did awesome, I'm not ashamed to tell you. And I'd like to thank Jesus for that. For those who don't know, Team Hea and Bria is what I like to call my running partner, Heather, and I when we race together. We almost always stay together during races, and last night was no exception. We ran into a group wearing shirts with Isaiah 40:31 on the back, which drew my attention because that's the verse I repeated during the Gasparilla Marathon when I thought I would die. Then I noticed the shirt also said Calvary Chapel where I go to church. They started a running team, and the director was there and said both of us could join, too, even though Hea goes to a different church. He gave us each a long-sleeved dri-fit shirt (amazing, as you can see) and trusted that we would pay him la...

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 ...