May the wind stay at my back and may angels give me wings to fly.

I started avidly running in April of 2007, 8 weeks after my little boy was born. I was only running about 15 miles a week just to lose baby weight but a friend of mine was thinking of running the Honolulu Marathon. I made the bold move of doing it with her with the simple goal of just to finish. I finished my first marathon in 2008 with a time of 5:13. In 2009 I started running more miles, up to 40 a week when my schedule would allow that much. I signed up for my second Honolulu marathon and finished with a time of 4:48. That was with only 6 weeks of training, two of them being taper weeks. I finished with tears of joy and one other thing, the strong desire to run every runner's dream...BOSTON! I have some real good days and some real bad days but I hope someone finds inspiration in my spirit and strength. If you dig deep enough you will find the strength to do whatever your heart desires. "Don't follow your dreams...CHASE THEM!"

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Successful week

Well, I've had a great week. I've learned that my migraine trigger is caffeine so now that I have eliminated any source of caffeine in my diet I have had a week 100% migraine free! Not even a hint! What a great feeling that is!
Anyway, on to my actual training...I did well this week and had an extra motivator of Boston being held this past Monday. On Tuesday I found out I can try and qualify here at the Honolulu marathon. I think it may be a little tricky being a "tourist" marathon but I'm going to give it a go. I've been consistent with my strength training because I see the results in my speed and being able to maintain it more each time I run. I've amped it up to 6 reps of 8 on all leg exercises and finally hit my plank goal of 3 minutes and even hitting a few seconds beyond that. My weekly miles are not where I want them to be so I have to work on getting out the door by 5:25 to be running by 5:30. I can get 6-7 miles in a hour and that is what I need with an occassional 8 and then my weekend long run. This week I got my first long run in since about 3-4 weeks and I think I did pretty good. I need to do better but that's work in progress, baby steps. I was scheduled to do 12 but the route I planned out came out to be 13 and I ran a PR of 2 hours. Last year I ran 13 in 2:04. Now to work on getting that down to 1:51. Today's run was an avg of 9:13 pace. I actually did mile 7 in 8:05 if I remember correctly, mile 6 was 8:30ish. I tuckered myself out by doing that but it felt great and I'm glad I did it. My marathon goal pace is 8:35. All week I've been running nice and fast once I've warmed up my legs. I feel wonderful and hope to get better over the next 7 months. Time's a tickin!

Overall, great week and got at least 36 miles in. I would like to be doing 40-45 a week before peak training starts. I've also got to work on my endurance again so maybe I will concentrate on that over speed for the next couple months on my long runs.

Now to see what I can do this next week.

I live. I dream. I run.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

My exciting news of a BQ right here in Hawaii!

So I was casually looking for a BQ for 2011 in CA since that is where we will be moving to in January and guess what I found? The Honolulu marathon is a BQ! I got so excited I was all giddy and then started to sweat.... ANYWAY, I told my trainer and he got all excited for me as well and it's a go. I am going to try and qualify this December!! I still have a lot of work to do but I'm feeling confident. I've done up to 6.7 miles at around a 8:30-8:45 pace minus my warm up mile that is, so I still have 20 miles to go and I know it will be tough. I have an advantage, I know the course already and where I know I will have to push instead of slacking off. Diamond Head. Not so much the beginning as the end at mile 24. I have to believe in myself and have faith in God to help me accomplish this dream.

The past couple weeks have been trivial with migraines and sinus infection AND sore throat, but I have still been able to hold that pace and it feels good. I have increase the reps and weight to my strength training and I finally hit my goal plank time of 3 minutes. Today I surpassed it by 10 seconds. I am very encouraged at this point and I am maintaining my discipline to get strength training in at least 5 days a week. I feel my two days off are essential to my training just as the running itself. It keeps me from feeling bogged down with college, the kids, kids activities, housework, errands, and running. It gets a bit crazy and tiring. This summer I will have off from college so I should be able to get good solid training time in and hopefully I can hold it through the fall semester.

I'm very excited and have a new sense of motivation because I will actually have the chance to qualify this year. I was thinking about it earlier today and I thought to myself that other than the birth of my two children, this would be my biggest accomplishment. My heart and spirit want it now I have to train my body to take it.

My destiny awaits in December 2010.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Ford Island Bridge 10k race 2010

Well, I had two goals in mind today and I knew I would meet at least one of them. Keep my pace under 9, preferrable between 8:30-8:45, and/or run it in 52:30. Well, I met the goal pace but missed my goal time. That's okay though because I know I did my best today.

I woke up at 5am with finally a full 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The past two nights I've been woken up every couple of hours by the kids for some reason or another so last night I went to bed at 8:30 and was fast asleep in a matter of minutes. I woke up with a positive mindset and refreshed. It was rainy and a little cool out before the race started but the rained stopped and the weather was beautiful but a little windy. Before I got out of the car I prayed for strength, endurance, and courage to fight and push myself.

I started up in the front of the pack with the elites just to find my own road and I did and it was great! I stayed focused and ran my own race. I held my 8:30-8:45 pace for 98% of the run. I got slowed a little when we hit the runway due to wind but not too much, only to about a 9:09 but I got myself back under that in no time. I lost time again going back across the bridge from wind and pushing up the hill and slowed to a 9:44 at one point. I was not happy about that at all but made sure to pick the pace back up once I got to the top and had some downhill slope. Once I rounded the turn for the finish line I just went as fast as I could trying to avoid any dips or holes in the ground.

Garmin time was 53:55, not sure of chip time yet. I bet my time from last year by 2 minutes 51 seconds. It was a good day and a good race. Next up for me in a 5k in May then a half marathon in June.

My overall pace was 30 seconds faster than last year. Training is paying off! Now to train harder.
Lap 1: 8:37
Lap 2: 8:35
Lap 3: 8:42
Lap 4: 8:46(wind runway)
Lap 5: 8:51
Lap 6: 9:02 (bridge/wind)
Lap 7: .2 miles 7:53

I live. I dream. I run.