holiday running

And like that Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. I'm very happy to be back in my own bed for the night at least. It was a long weekend on the in-laws pull out couch.

There was no Turkey Trot for me. None were happening in or around the small central Illinois town. Instead, I woke up early enough to go for a run before we had to go elsewhere to celebrate the day by stuffing ourselves. Going for a run is kind of difficult when staying with the in-laws. No one likes me to walk out the front door and run because of all the country roads. I don't mind too much but they all freak out. At least they care ;) There is a 6 mile path relatively close but I still need someone to drive me there since I can't take the car just in case. I'm not use to waiting on others when I want/need to run! I pretty much gave my husband no choice in taking me once I walked upstairs in my running gear ;) It ended up being one of those runs that got done. I was having issues the entire 6 miles and really couldn't find a good groove but I'm still glad I was able to get out there and do something before gorgefest 2010.

Friday was an off day then another 6 Saturday afternoon. This time I did the reverse of the route from Thursday. It worked out much better for me! The wind was in my face the entire time, there were 2 hills, but over 4 miles of the trail were downhill. Yea for the downhill!

Sunday I ended up having to run after we got back in Chicago. We wanted to get on the road before hitting a lot of traffic and because I hadn't slept well I didn't wake up early enough to go for my 12 mile run before packing the car and leaving. Not the best idea to try to run after being in the car for about 3 hours AND getting stuck in Bears game day traffic. It was nearly 4pm before I grudgingly changed into my running gear. Starting a long run in the dark is no fun. Even though I wasn't feeling the run at the start and there was an intense headwind miles 3-6 I was feeling dang good. I finished in some serious negative split land with the help from some tailwind and nervousness from being in the dark sections of the trail (I thought a cute little bunny was a gun wielding crazy man!) It may be time to invest in a running lamp of some sort...

How was your weekend running?

catch up

Ummm... when exactly did Thanksgiving sneak up out of nowhere?!? Although retailers would love to have you believe it's already Christmas time. One holiday at a time people! Where did this year go?

After returning from vacation it's taken me longer than I would like to get back to the swing of things. Of course as soon as I do it's time to go on vacation again (for a few days). Not that I'm complaining; though it's not really a real vacation at the in-laws. At least it's a 4 day break from work.

This past weekend I had one of my biggest running weekends in the past several months. 10 on Saturday and 20 on Sunday. May I say I forgot how much 20 hurts! I truly blocked out the pain of 20 and took being able to run the distance in the past for granted. Plus, I didn't realize much more it would hurt after running 10 miles the day before. Luckily, I had a fabulous running weather day Sunday to relish instead; it was in the mid 50's and overcast... perfection! What wasn't perfection was how much my body started to ache at 12 miles and how much my left hip and knee hurt to try while trying to sleep.

In order to make the increased miles slightly less painful and slightly more bearable I realize how important it is for me to not only focus on the distances but also incorporate so much more stretching, core work, and epsom salt baths. These back to back mid/long to long runs are for lack of a better term kicking my a**.

Maui in pictures

Maui was incredible! I can't even properly explain how amazing the trip was. Everyone needs to visit at least once no matter the cost or time spent getting to/from there.

We did a lot over our 10 days in Maui. It wasn't all laying around drinking fruity drinks; though I could have spent a couple more days doing just that ;) Between 2 camera's we took close to 500 pictures. A bit much I know. So I'll recap our 10 days with a taste of those pics... settle in this may take awhile.

The 10K started 2 hotels down from mine in front of the Four Seasons. It was a smallish race with a simple course on paved roads and through neighborhoods. The swag was okay; a cotton shirt and reusable bag. They seemed to put all their effort into the post-race party. The buffet was ridiculous!

Swag and number

mile 1ish

mile 3 - sandwiched between the ocean and a golf course. rough I know!

nasty sweaty but happy I did some sort of activity over vacation!

view from the post race party at the four seasons

wake-up call before 3 am to catch the beautiful sunrise at the top of a volcano

then we biked down the volcano at speeds of 15 - 20 mph which freaked me out! luckily there were a few breaks to enjoy the scenery

rafting on the ocean - it hurt to hang on for dear life but was ridiculously fun. The snorkeling was just okay but we finished it off with seeing turtles and spinner dolphins. AWESOME!

our mode of transportation for the next 5.5 hours

during one of our stops by some of lava tubes

enjoying a day trip to lahaina

in the middle of the largest banyan tree

shaved ice. there are no words for this amazing treat

doors off helicopter ride

the road to hana. beautiful but a very long day

laying around enjoying fruity drinks and the pools/beaches

enjoying the incredible sunsets. I love how everyone stopped what they were doing to take it in every night.

Below are most of the pictures if you are really into seeing too many pictures of sunsets/sunrise, the road to hana, the helicopter tour, and us being fools/taking self portraits.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Add Hawaii to the list...

of states I've raced in! Saturday morning I ran the Day of Hope 10K. I went for a 3 mile run along the path behind the hotels Wednesday morning and when I came back from the run I realized it might be kind of fun to see if there were any small races happening in Maui while I was here. Nothing like last minute. The Day of Hope started 2 hotels up from where we are staying - perfect! Even better proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. I signed up online before the deadline.

I decided to not really "race" the 10K. 1) It's hot. I don't race well in heat and haven't run in the heat in awhile. 2) there are some significant hills 3) I'm on vacation and want to have fun. So I took my camera with me along the course and enjoyed the 6.2 miles! Pictures will be posted when I can get my hands on my USB cord. I may have pushed too much the first mile then backed off significantly to work my way towards some serious positive splits ;) Since it was a small race I found myself running by myself a lot but I passed a few runners over the last 2 miles and found my race rabbit to finish strong in front of the Four Seasons Hotel around 56:40. I pretty much ran my marathon race pace but it's all good. Afterwards, I enjoyed the amazing breakfast buffet (amazing fresh fruit, bagels, water, juice, snack mixes, muffins - oh my!) they had for the runners and walkers overlooking the ocean. Not too shabby of a way to spend a morning in Maui!

my "what's next?"

It's official! I waited until it was nearly 90% full. I started the training program a couple of weeks ago to see if I could do this. Tonight (early Monday morning) I stayed up late to financially pull the trigger.

Your registration is complete!

Event Name: 2011 Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

Date & Time: January 08, 2011 05:40 AM

Location: Walt Disney World® Resort

Gah! What have I gotten myself into?!?

Anyone else planning on running Disney 2011???