Nomination for Team Blue Mile 2014

I ran my first half marathon in 2013 - the Hendricks County Half Marathon in September.  I had volunteered at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon, handing out snacks to the finishers, and I was so inspired by all the people I saw - both walkers and runners.  Some people looked as if they'd just finished a relaxing morning stroll, while some people were limping and in pain as they finished.  But they all had an air of pride and accomplishment that I wanted for myself.

So I signed up for the Hendricks County Half Marathon, and began training with a group of runners from Living Faith Church, calling it Pew2Half Training.  We met for long runs on Saturdays, and additionally I followed a training plan I found in the July issue of Self magazine for the rest of the week - intervals, hill work, strength and cross training, etc.

Right around the corner from the finish line!

At first I had serious doubts, and I struggled;  but once I finished the 7 mile run about halfway through training, I realized I was going to be able to do it and I started having fun.  I finished the half marathon in 2:50:07, and you can find my complete race recap here.  Pretty much as soon as I finished, I knew I wanted to do it again.


Which brings us to 2014.  One of my goals is to run two half marathons this year.  I want to repeat the Hendricks County Half on September 13, 2014, but I'd also like to run one earlier in the year.  The training for it was really hard, but I liked how it felt.  Even the boring strength training made me a stronger runner.  Since the race, I have kept up with running but not the additional training, and I can tell I'm getting weaker.  Winter isn't helping either, as the cold and the early darkness make it so easy to log excuses instead of miles.

So here I am, nominating myself for Team Blue Mile 2014, because knowing I have committed to a training regimen and people are counting on me will make me get up and get out there and run, no matter the weather.  I'm still pretty new to running - less than 2 years - so I could use all the expert help I can get.

Team Blue Mile, here is what you get if you chose me:

• Someone who will definitely show up for all scheduled training and give it my all
• Someone who will finish the race
• Someone who will blog about the experience just as I did with training for the Hendricks County Half in 2013, and even more if you need more
• All our blog followers - about 120 after 6 months and still growing - most evenly split between Indiana and North Carolina but a few in other states as well
• Bonus - you get my two sisters who also blog here and will share and tweet my posts to their friends/followers as well

14 Things for 2014

Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  (James 4:15)

So, if the Lord wills, in 2014 I would like to:

1. Run 451.25 miles, or the distance from my house to my parents’ house.
2. Bike 345.80 miles, or the distance from my house to my in-laws’ house & back.
3. Play 2 rounds of golf with my handsome & patient husband.  (He’s a very good golfer, and I am not, but he’s very patient with me when we play.) 

13 Things from 2013

2013 was an awesome year! 

I give thanks to the Lord.  I praise Him in front of everyone.  (Psalms 109:30)

1. Together with Laura & Cindy we started this blog!  It's been fun writing up our training and events, and thinking up other topics like product reviews.  It's been pretty interesting too - learning about how to use social media to promote our blog and to connect with people who might be interested in what we have to say.  And I feel like it's made the three of us even closer - I hope Laura & Cindy feel that way too. Checking out the stats from our blog year-to-date, here are our top five posts in terms of page views:

Entry	Pageviews
Gatorade Energy Chews Aug 3, 2013, 2 comments	51
2013 Walk to End Alzheimer's Recap Oct 14, 2013, 1 comment	48
CareNet Feed the Need 5K Recap Nov 11, 2013	39
Hendricks County Half Marathon Recap Sep 17, 2013, 2 comments	39
Creeper Trail 10k Jul 27, 2013, 4 comments	36

A lot of our page views came from Facebook, but a surprising (to me) number also came from Google searches.  We have 120 likes for our Facebook page, and 34 followers on Twitter.  I think that's pretty good for 6 months.  84% of our Facebook fans are women, which is who we are targeting.  We do wish you all would comment more, both on our blog posts and our Facebook posts.  We enjoy hearing what you have to say & learning from your experiences, too.  

marathon training

Been forever since I blogged but I thought a quick catch up on my marathon training.  The last 6 weeks have been our biggger longer runs with some tapering in between.  Unfortunately the turkey trot was my last race, I was hoping for at least a 10k, but ive had some amazing fast six mile runs with my training partners, almost pr's.  The 14 mile run wax actually the hardest, and since then my body seems to be healing better.  Partly, I believe because ive added an all natural energy/health food shake that helps with energy, hydration and recovery.  Tomorrow is our longest run before the race.  My plan calls for 20, but a friend who followed program recommended 22 to 23.  She said the last 6 miles were mentally hard because she had never done that much...so 22 to 23 it is.  If it goes as well as the 18 miler, I think ill be able to stay more positive the next 3 weeks.  I get nervous butterflies every time I think about it,  its good

You know you are a Runner when....

Winter Weather Wimp

As Fall progressed, I promised myself that I was not going to let Winter derail my running.  And here it is, December 16th, and I haven't run since November 30th.  And it's not even officially Winter yet!

I see other people out running after dark, and several of the other running blogs I follow have posted lately about running in the snow.  So I know it's possible, but I have not done it.  It does appear right now that this coming week will be warm enough to melt the snow, so hopefully I can get out there next Saturday.

In the meantime, I did get a nice walk in Saturday after the snow had stopped.  I put on my boots & walked around the neighborhood on the route I often run.  Walking through the snow was almost like walking on a sandy beach.  Not with warm ocean breezes, of course; but the leg motion of walking in the snow was much like the leg motion of walking in the sand.  So hopefully I got a good workout, and I snapped a few pics, too.

I'm going to try committing to a few events, because knowing I've signed up & spent money will make me get out there no matter the weather, at least for the event itself.  I'm also pondering group runs or a Mini training program by one of the local run clubs, as that commitment will force me outside, also.  What does anyone else do to stay active in the Winter?