The Anti-Running Runner

2016  Boston Marathon Baysa taking the lead (left) for the women while Hayle and Desisa hold tight (right) Never Say Never I should clarify. I'm NEVER going to Boston as a marathon participant. For several reasons, but the main one being that I'm way too slow. I know. I should never say never. But I feel really confident in this particular never statement. Cheering On Everyone Else St. Pete Running Company hosts a Boston Marathon party every year. I never to miss it because I LOVE watching the race. It's one of those epic, heart pounding thrills to see these athletes battle it out through a world-famous American course. The 2016 Boston race was especially awesome when Baysa came out of NOWHERE and overtook the second and first-placed females to win by a long shot. At a race where runners have to qualify with a certain time to participate, Boston becomes something of a golden snitch (except is it really that hard to catch the snitch? For now...

Yes, it's mid-November and I'm just getting around to the Halloween Halfathon. In a nutshell, Team Hea and Bria had a blast! Before: Pumped up and ready to go! I'm Wonder Woman (the lazy version), Hea is a cat After: We did awesome! Mike helped us keep a good pace We finished faster than I expected: 2:17:52 chip time. That includes a bathroom stop. We averaged 10:37 mins/mile. I'm really happy about that! Because Mike came as support, he helped push Hea and I along perhaps a bit faster than if he hadn't been there. Not too bad, though. Mile 11 was the longest of all (strange how that works), but we still managed a strong finish. Hubby brought Lance to cheer, but I had told him to expect us no sooner than 2:25. Thinking he was early, he showed up literally one minute after we finished. But he did capture the above photo of all three of us. One of the best things about this race (besides the wonderful organization, fun medals, and route through Ft....

If the horrible 8-miler I did the week before The Claw Run was an indicator of my finish time for the 10-mile race, I would have guessed a three-hour, sluggish, slow, and painful finish time. Praise God that wasn't the case and my time was a respectable two hours and nine minutes. Luckily, the adventure run took my fears away as soon as the horn sounded. My cousin, Alyssa, and I took off through the woods on a shaded path behind my hubby and Hea's boyfriend, Mike. They got ahead of us pretty quickly, but Alyssa stayed with me the whole time. The sad part was the fact that Hea of Team Hea and Bria had a knee injury and couldn't race with us. She was a trooper and still came to cheer. Two other friends, Robert and Russ, ran the 5 miles and did great. Robert was kind enough to drive us again this year. Alyssa and I raced through forest trails, open fields, up and down "hills" (he...

I got a new running skirt for $10 at the Gasparilla Expo. I love getting running stuff at expos because they usually mark down their products. Sometimes way down. Lance and I ran today and I wore the skirt for the first time. I really like it. I can't even say why, except that it was fun to feel feminine while running. I love that picture of the beautiful and sleek runner with a great stride that says: "This is how I feel when I run." Then at the bottom there is a little girl veering rather than running and her face is skewed: "This is how I actually look." I know that is so true because out of hundreds of photos from the photographers who come to races, I think I've only looked good in about two of them. I guess it doesn't hurt to try to boost the feeling when there's nothing I can do about how I actually look while running. It even has a key pocket! I have good intentions for my running, but I don't always follow through. I want to mak...

I had such a pleasant and enjoyable 5K Sunday morning with the Race for the Greys. The only downside was losing that hour of sleep. And, sadly, I didn't bring Lance but ended up wishing I had. Because hubby couldn't come, I wasn't very comfortable running Lance in a race with other dogs. He's never done that before, but I realize now that it would have been fine. Seminole Lake Park is beautiful, and I hope to bring Lance to run the trails another time. It was a casual and friendly atmosphere. The race began with a volunteer shouting, "Ready, set, go!" after explaining the course. "Follow the yellow ribbons" was pretty much all I heard. The trails in the park did a lot of winding, which I enjoy in a race. I actually passed about five people, which is not the norm for me. I'm usually the one getting passed! I started out slow to see how I would feel, probably an 11-minute mile average to start, and eventually I must have increased to something b...

This book makes me appreciate that I can run. And that I can race. I started running in college, and it's a very uncompetitive, casual sport for me. I'm not fast, and I don't try to be. When I race, I simply want to finish. Maybe PR if I can. This book makes me want to run more than I do, and makes me want to set goals that I never set for myself before. Much in this book made my jaw drop. I enjoy my restful and lazy days, but reading about the life of Kathrine Switzer makes me think I'm enjoying far too many of those days. Her push for the inclusion of the women's marathon in the Olympics started with the simple notion in college that she wanted to run the Boston Marathon to see if she could. Medical experts in the 60's were telling women their uteruses would fall out if they ran that far. Yet Kathrine ran with the men on her track team and thought, if they can do it, I can do it. And she challenged her coach to train her for a marathon the same way he wou...

First of all, I must thank Jesus for getting me across that finish line. There was a man who collapsed and was obviously hurt, and I pray that he's okay. But it reminds me how careful I need to be in the heat. And this was a HOT race. I threw water over my head at almost every water station, and usually more than one cup at a time. Still, I was sweating a ton (not like me) and my face felt like it was on fire. My husband and his coworkers and his coworker's wife all ran, and they all did awesome. I guess I did pretty well, too, but I felt awful the last half of the race because of the heat. True, 79 degrees is not so bad for Florida, but I just ran in 40 degrees at the Rock N Roll Half a few weeks earlier. It hasn't been very hot while I've been training, and honestly, I haven't been training very consistently in the midst of all these races. My biggest problem, however, was starting too fast. I went out with the group, and I immediately felt the pac...

I have a hard enough time just getting through a regular road race. True, I ran an adventure run called The Claw Run in May that involved going waist deep through a river. I truly thought I would hate that...but I didn't. I kinda loved it. However, there was no mud, no getting shocked, no claustrophobic tunnels to crawl through and no ice baths to submerge into during that race. Therefore, I declined to join my husband and his team on the Tough Mudder this year, but I know my cousin, Alyssa, will be trying to talk me into it from now until next December when it's back in Florida. I did get the pleasure of spectating, which I truly enjoyed. I even got some mud sloshed onto me at a few spots, so I kinda felt involved. This amazing group completed the 12-mile challenge known as the Tough Mudder I'm so proud of my hubby for organizing the team and getting so many people to do it. They all did awesome and I got to see what hardcore really means watching this group con...

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 ...

I love this time of year. The days are getting cooler, the humidity level decreases, and running feels pretty good. My running routine changes throughout the year. I have quite a few races coming up, so my current schedule is to run every other day (average 3 days a week, sometimes 4). My favorite time to run is after work along the waterfront. I change into running clothes and walk to the security-guarded parking garage where I leave my things in the car. The route I often take from the garage to the Pier and back is about 5 miles. My next race is the Women’s Half Marathon on Nov 21 st , so I’m increasing to 8 miles today. Nice and slow. During the summer, after work is not a fun time to run, but I have a really hard time getting up at 5am to run before. The anti-runner in me hits snooze until it's too late to run before work, and my punishment is to run in the Florida deathrays of the late afternoon. Lately, I have prefered this to waking up early. I...

Today, I ran the Sunrise Run 5K with my husband and our dog, Lance. We had a lot of fun running with so many people we knew from Faith Covenant and other local churches. Karen VanderPloeg has said this is her last year to head up this race and I hope someone will be able to take over the reins for future years. At the award ceremony, Lorraine Yaslowitz, who ran the 1K with Karen, was honored with a medal and a plaque for her faith and testimony after her husband, K-9 Officer Jeff Yaslowitz, was killed in the line of duty. My husband knew Jeff from the SWAT team and it has been incredible to hear Lorraine's message of hope and to hear her unwavering faith in the wake of the horrible tragedy when her husband and another officer, Tom Baitinger, were gunned down earlier this year. A month later, another officer, David Crawford, was killed in the line of duty. They paid the greatest price, and it makes me think and pray often for my husband while he is on duty. I know so many friends...

Sept 24, 2011 ~ One Step Closer to the Cure 5K Team Hea and Bria ran this race in downtown St. Pete a few weeks ago. The race surprised us because we both felt destroyed 0.2 miles into the race. The humidity must have been at 100%. The temp likely began at 88 degrees, increasing to 91 or so by the time we finished. Those numbers may be off, but do reflect my feelings on the matter. Dawn broke just before the race began, increasing the temperature with every second. Meaning, I felt every second of that 28 minute, 11 second race. Yes, it's a decent time and I am happy with it. But in the moment, I wasn't happy at all. St. Pete's downtown waterfront area is beautiful, especially at sunrise or sunset. But I wasn't soaking in any beauty. My lungs felt soaked with water, and Hea and I could barely talk as we plodded along past the Pier and towards the Vinoy. My body felt devoid of energy, even reserves. Everything in me cried out to stop running. Around that time, Hea f...

I have a race coming up this Saturday. The Sunrise Run is a faith-based race that was started a few years ago by Karen VanderPloeg. I'm running the 5K at 7:15am along the waterfront in downtown St. Pete. It's a beautiful run and lots of fun. Karen is an amazing woman of God who has been battling cancer and still plans to run/walk this weekend as far as I know. I've always had great respect for Karen and her joyful spirit through all things. Sadly, my team will be incomplete this year. My best friend, Heather, has been sick and can't make it this time. Illness gets in the way of running and turns even the most dedicated runners into anti-runners...at least while they are recovering.  Photo by Jason McElhaney  Team Hea and Bria, The Sunrise Run 2010  Photo by Karen VanderPloeg  Team Hea and Bria, The Sunrise Run 2009