Azalea Trail Run 10'

Okay so I decided to run my first race in my ankle brace. I have not ran the Azalea Trail run in Mobile in over 10 years, so I was pumped to run it! Its a great FLAT course in downtown Mobile. I have been running with an incredible group of Ladies from Church who have really given me great support. Over the past few weeks I have been mentally struggling and I mean beating myself down! I have had a hard time with my confidence. I know I will never be able to maintain a 7 min. mile again and I have really been beating myself up over the fact that a 11 min. mile is the best I can maintain. Physically I have more body fat than I have ever had before and its tough to be mentally ready and physically NOT! On top of my mind games I am also struggling with this stupid ankle injury and its not making things any easier! I still cannot bring myself to look up my old 5K and 10K times, but I do remember finishing several 5K's in 21 mins.....a far cry from my now...31-35 min. times!! Anyhow, these ladies have really helped put my mind at ease while I am running and I am starting to feel more confident in my abilities! Not to mention my gym workout partner is pushing me outside of my comfort zone to do try things I dont really like. Overall I am starting to feel the results of my training and I hope SOON I will start to see the results (because honestly thats what really matters to me=). Okay so back to the Azaela Trail run, I did the 10K and I finished it this year in 1:04:52....which gives me an average of 10:32 minute a mile...I was pretty excited to have been able to maintain the pace throughout the race. I was a little disappointed that they merged the 5K runners with the 10K runners because it came VERY congested at the end and I think it slowed us down, but I was very happy with my overall performance! I can see I am making progress, slowly but surely! Also over the weekend I have decided that I am going to join Team in Training and run in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Fransisco, CA on October 17th. I have been praying about it since the Disney Half Marathon when I was introduced to TNT and after talking to the local TNT chapter and praying about it, I think its the right thing for me to do! Sounds cheese, but my heart is telling me that its something I need to do! Even though its 6 months away, I now have a new goal and new journey to strive for!!!

Hurt....awwwww.....

Well about a week before the princess race, while training, I thought I may have sprang my ankle....I was on the treadmill running and all the sudden I felt a pop in my right ankle. I tried to not pay much attention to it because it happened just a week before my event and I had been training so hard! I ran the race and it hurt majority of the race....then following Saturday, I ran the McGuires race and it was throbbing almost to the point I could no longer put pressure on it! I made an appointment with a podiatrist, on that specialized in sports medicine...I went on Tuesday and found out that I had torn ALL the tendons in my right ankle!! Not a good thing for a beginning runner! I have had injuries before (I have broken both my feet from stress fractures) so I know what its like to be stuck recovering from an injury! The Dr. was really good and put me in a brace for 2 weeks and had my feet scanned for orthotics! The dr. said I needed to take it easy on running for the next 6 weeks or so...mostly hard pavement pounding....yeah right....So for the next few weeks I am going to really try and not run too much outside and really focus on my cross training, building more muscle strength and healing my ankle! I realized after my last few races that I really lack in these areas and if I want to improve my times I need to really build my muscles!! I hate cross training...it makes me feel sooooo weak and worn down! I love to spin, but I would rather run 10 miles than do cross training! But I will say I have made a new friend, Amanda in my cross training progress and she helps me stay motivated in going to the gym and attending the dreaded classes! I will keep you updated on my healing progress and how it goes!

Well I guess I did not do too well updating the blog on my training for the princess half marathon! The race was awesome!! Disney did an outstanding job organizing the race, especially with over 11,000 runners! I had to be up and ready by 3 a.m. on race morning! I could barely sleep with all the anticipation, so I was up dressed and out the hotel door at 3 a.m. sharp! I grabbed the bus from our hotel and went to the starting area! They had a HUGE prerace party with a great DJ and vendors.....however, on the Morning of March 7, 2010 Orlando broke a temperature record and it was 35 degrees outside, so it was freezing out there! I danced and sang (along with 11,000 other women) to keep warm until we could walk to the starting line! The starting line was about a mile or so away from the prerace party and it was pitch black outside...it was kinda cool though! Once we got to the starting line, we found our corrals (the starting point for your assigned running time). Because I had never run a half marathon, I got stuck in the back...with 8,000 runners ahead of me...boo! The race was to start at 6 for corral A, but my corral, corral D did not start until 6:28 a.m. It was pretty cool waiting though...besides freezing, they had a DJ down there too and he kept playing music and making announcements! When corral A started they had a great fireworks display and the fairy godmother was up front wishing everyone good luck! They did that for every corral's start time, so it was really neat! After finally crossing the start line, we were off! I got real emotional when I first started running....the fact that I was actually doing it was overwhelming, but even more so why I started in the 1st place. As I was running, I cried for about 5 mins. then turned off the water works to focus and not run into all the people I had to weave through! It was awesome though...characters were all throughout the race, not to mention LOTS of people cheering and lots of high school bands playing! After about mile 2 I had a pretty good consist pace going. I was determined to run the entire race. At about mile 3, i got thirsty because the sun had come up and it the temp was rising, I got some poweraid from the water stop....Disney had water stops at just about every mile so it was nice....I drank the entire cup not thinking I was going to have to go to the bathroom in a few mins. At mile 5 I had to potty so bad....I stopped at the closest porta potty and so did about 500 other ladies...I had to wait 10 mins. just to use one...but after I was done I was ready to run....at mile 5 I entered the magic Kingdom, it was so cool to see all the princesses there! Most runners stoped to take pictures, but I didnt have my camera, so I kept on running! Before I knew it, I was out of the magic kingdom and back on the road. Of course I had hit up a few water stops, so I waited for a porta potty again, but this time only about 5 mins. I was feeling great miles 7-8 came and went before I knew it...then came mile 9....ewwww....mile 9 I knew I still had 4 miles to go and I was getting tired.....I pushed through it with the help of the faries and then came mile 10....yipeee only 3 miles to go.....I picked up my pace and started running faster....not a good idea for a novice runner...when I hit mile 11 I was out of breath and slowed way down to almost a jog....I was beat, but knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel...I past mile 12 and was back in Epcot....I rounded the ball and then saw the finish line! My official time was 2 hours and 39 mins. My original goal was 3 hours, so I did manage to beat that, but I was hoping to finish in 2:28 mins. With my water stops and bathroom stops I figured I did it in my goal time or a little under! It was an awesome experience and I cannot wait to go back in October to run the Wine and Dine half Marathon at Disney....this time my other half is running with me so I know its going to be a blast!! Keep checking back for my latest updates!!