Success!

The Girls on the Run 5k on Sunday was awesome! Even with a broken toe (mine) and two short walk breaks (hers), my lovely fifth grader and I pulled out a 33 minute race. We started late because traffic into the venue was unacceptably ridiculous, and we spent the whole race dodging people. It was kind of fun weaving in and out, finding holes and sprinting in the open spots. It went by so fast, and she was so proud when she finished. I think it is such a great program!

Girls On The Run

I joined a club after school at the beginning of the year. It's called Girls on the Run, and it is awesome.

Here is the info from their website:

About

Girls on the Run® is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.

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Objectives

The objective of Girls on the Run is to educate and empower girls at an early age in order to prevent the display of at-risk activities in the future. At risk activities include substance/alcohol use, eating disorders, early onset of sexual activity, sedentary lifestyle, depression, suicide attempts and confrontations with the juvenile justice system. 

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The Program
Girls on the Run® is a 501(c)3 positive youth development program which combines an interactive curriculum and running to inspire self-respect and healthy lifestyles in pre-teen girls. Our core curriculum addresses many aspects of girls’ development - their physical, emotional, mental and social well-being. Lessons provide girls with the tools to make positive decisions and to avoid risky adolescent behaviors

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Vision

We envision a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.



So basically it is a group of 19 girls training for a 5k together with many more added benefits. Each girl is matched with a "buddy runner" adult for the 5k so no one runs alone. My girl is a fifth grader. She is fast. One of the fastest in the group. I was matched up randomly, and let me tell you, this girl makes me WORK. During our practice 5k after school one day (22 laps around a soft-ball field-oy), we finished second, and I am pretty sure that if I had timed it, I might have made a PR!

Over the last week I had wanted to really push myself on the treadmill to work on some speed. I managed to do a 5k in 28:58. I wanted to try to do it again at least two more times because our race is this weekend.

I broke one of my baby toes two nights ago. It is black and blue and taped to its "buddy toe" for the foreseeable future.

I am resting this week but still plan on running. I cannot let my "girl on the run" down.

Wish us luck! It's going to be great!

Army Ten Miler- Volume 4.

Last Sunday, my husband and I ran the Army Ten Miler together. I wasn't expecting him to run with me, so it was a nice bonus to the run. I also have to add that I am really impressed because he didn't train at all for the race. Just rolled out of bed and ran 10 miles. If only it was that easy for me. I worked really hard for three weeks prior and gave it all I had. This was my third year and the hubby's fourth year running this race (but only because I was pregnant last year, so I think I get a bye for that one!). It wasn't the fastest I've run, and it wasn't the slowest.  I felt great the entire time and was really proud of my performance. I downed three "GU" packs along the way, which I know also helped tremendously. I love those things. Anyway, Army knows how to put on a race, and organizing 30,000 runners was no sweat for them. It was a beautiful semi-cool day, and there was lots of free food after :) I had a few gripes, but with that many people, nothing will go perfectly.

Running post baby has really been an experience. Not just finding time to run- so hard- but my entire body just feels....different. I can't quite find that groove I used to have when I ran where I felt in tune with my body and completely comfortable. Even if all of my clothes fit again and the scale isn't scary anymore, it all seems like I was taken apart, mixed around, and then put back together. I guess that's kind of true! Oh well. I plan to follow a new mantra I saw on a sign during the race that really stuck with me- "Keep calm and carry on."

What's Up, Abe?

This past weekend, once again with the well-wishes of an awesome babysitting husband, I went for an 8 mile run. It was definitely the longest by far since June of 2010! I was getting sick of the routes closest to my apartment, so I drove a few miles down the road to our old stomping grounds close to the Pentagon. I did a "memorial" run. Literally. I ran through the Pentagon parking lot, past the Pentagon Memorial and continued on in to DC proper. I hit up my friend Abe Lincoln for a nice drink of water at the fountain at his memorial and continued on past the Reflecting Pool (that isn't reflecting anything at the moment and will not be for awhile as they re-do it. It is a HUGE pile of mud) to the World War II Memorial and finally looped around the Washington Monument (also closed due to the earthquake two months ago- not a good time to be a tourist right now!) and back to where I started. 

Abe Lincoln. I can call him Abe because we go way back. I have a fondness for this monument/memorial for several reasons. The first being the presence on the National Mall is just so regal and important feeling. He overlooks all of DC. Another reason is that I did a report on Mr. Lincoln in eighth grade, and then he got me a scholarship in high school when I used him to answer a question about who I would like to meet given the chance. Also, the bathrooms and water fountains in the monument's base are usually clean :) So, thanks Abe- I'll say hello again soon!

Just Sayin'

I think running one mile with a jogging stroller should count as two regular miles without a jogging stroller. You push an extra 50 pounds of baby+stroller and tell me you aren't working twice as hard! Just sayin'.

Let's Talk About Full Length Mirrors

The combination of a later-than-I-thought-would-last meeting after school and lots of rain drops forced me to take my run inside this evening. (Along with the words every new mom loves to hear-"It's ok, go run. I'll put the  baby to bed." Woohoo! I was off. I live in a very large apartment building with a smallish gym containing 5 treadmills, a few ellipticals, a stepper and a variety of heavy machinery that I believe aids in muscle development. Not that I would know. Now, I have a love/hate relationship with the treadmill.

Treadmill Likes:
1. I can run a 5K with a sub-9 minute mile pace. This is blazing in my world. Even before baby. If I could keep that up on the road, I would be a respectable runner!
2. I don't have to carry my (fashionable pink) pepper spray. Yes. I carry pepper spray while I run on populated trails in broad daylight. I'm a mom now!

Treadmill Dislikes:
1. FULL LENGTH MIRRORS. The walls in the smallish gym are lined with them top to bottom, wall to wall. I understand that some people need to see their form, blah blah blah, but I particularly do not want to stare at myself for 30+ minutes (front AND back to infinity and beyond- stupid mirror tricks!) while I contemplate how much liposuction would cost because I have time to analyze every part of my body. Not helping matters was the fact that I was wearing 4 different non-coordinating shades of blue. My headband, tank, sports bra, and shorts combo coupled with above mentioned poor self image in the mirror made me feel like I resembled a warped cookie monster hitting the gym after one too many desserts.

2. People are weird. A girl got on the elliptical and proceeded to start shadow boxing every type of punch out there like she was training for the next Rocky movie (in her non-breathable Adidas track pants circa 1998, no less). She was throwing some mean hooks that were coming within 6 inches of the person on the treadmill next to her, and guess who was next to her- yup, cookie monster. I kept smiling because I imagined her swinging a little too hard and knocking my butt off the treadmill in a crumpled heap of blue. What a great story that would have been.

Map My Run- yes please!

I've been hitting the pavement trying to train for the Army Ten Miler coming up in less than two short weeks. This is a feat considering I haven't run more than 4 miles in a year or more, and I have to work with and/or around baby. So far, I've been able to keep my goals and I put in about 16 miles in the past week (3,5,2,6). Goal for this week is 20 miles (3,5,4,8). It's really amazing how you can build up endurance so quickly if you just stick it out and commit.

Since my Nike+ does not work with Windows 7 on my new computer (really?! I can't even charge the darn thing- completely will not recognize it-anyone want to buy me a Garmin?), I am newly obsessed with mapmyrun.com.  As long as I know where I want to run, I can map out how far I have to go, then turn around and come back to get my mileage. I love it more because I didn't have to create any accounts to use it. I play a lot of mind games when I am running. I like to "just make it to the fire hydrant", then "just make it to the I395 underpass and then run as fast as you can through the dark scary place that smells like pee and despair", and so on until my run is finished. With the website, I can target lots of landmarks and make this game much more fun!

Did you know it was 4.5 miles around the National Mall? Now you do!