Getting There + Anna's First 5K!

This was a fun-filled week in the running world here!

Monday

Monday was altogether a good day, start to end.  First of all, my best friend, Anna Donovan, RAN HER FIRST 5K!!!  Not only was it her first 5K, but she finished with a time of 31 minutes and 14 seconds! AND she came in first place in her age group!!!!  Hot dang!  Great job, Anna!! :D

Again, she did a great job, and she had only been able to get up to 2 miles before she embarked upon this race!  Commemorative quote from the journey: as she and her dad passed the 2 mile mark, her dad alluded to Samwise Gamgee saying, "this is the farthest I've ever run!"  Proud o' you!

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Next, Frank and I ran tonight as we've been trying to stay consistent on.  And Peter joined us about a month ago, so he was there.  AND we had someone else join us today: Terrance!  The cool thing is, that I would like to let Anna know is that she's the cause for all of this ;) Ask me, why? How? Anna running at the beginning of the summer inspired me to run; I inspired Frank to start running; we inspired Peter to start running; and then the three of us inspired Terrance to start running!  All because of you, Anna ;)

Here were our times and distances from Monday night:

Frank ran one last 3.1 miles before his race this Saturday.  Frank ran 3.1 miles in 30:46!  He's a bit nervous right now, but I KNOW he'll do great this weekend!

I ran 2 miles with a time of 22:55.  I need to remember not to beat myself up; I've been trying to get my pace faster, but I keep ending between 22 minutes and 23 minutes for my two mile run.  I know that's still a good time, but it's hard to feel good about it when I'm consistently making the same time no matter what I'm doing different.

Terrance ran and walked his first mile, and did great!!

Peter also ran a full mile, even though he wasn't feeling the greatest.  He still did a great job!  

Neither Terrance nor Peter recorded their times.

Tuesday

Today we cross trained.  Peter wasn't able to make it tonight, we missed him, but we still had a great time!

Terrance, Frank and I all started with a quarter mile warm-up run on the treadmill.  After running for the past few months, a quarter mile was a breeze.  

Next, the three of us took turns doing the weight machines.  They use them for strengthening, I use these machines for toning... so I felt a little like a wimp when I lifted 20 and 30 pounds. Ha!

After that, we did a few agilities - this was the first time for both Frank and Terrance!  But they admitted - it wasn't so bad ;) And then I told them they 'd be feeling it tomorrow!  Sure enough...

Wednesday

Tonight was another great night!  

Frank ran 1 mile for "fun" tonight in an effort not to kill himself before his race on Saturday!  During this, he helped Terrance finish his first running mile!  Way to go, Terrance!  And although he was late, Peter also ran, he did a mile and a half though!  Great job Peter!!

I didn't do so shabby either!  I ran 2.5 miles in 28:44!  I'm still a bit discouraged, because as I crossed the 2 mile mark, Frank read me the time: 22:55 - the same 2 mile mark time as Monday.  I thought I was pushing it a little bit more tonight, but I guess I wasn't... I know I still didn't do so bad, but I would really like to beat 33 minutes for my first 5K of the season.  I can do it!  

One thing I noticed in growing in my relationship with God through all of this:  as I've grown closer to Him, He has encouraged me by putting songs of praise into my head.  Not secular songs, not slow songs, but songs of praise to Him that glorify Him and give me a good beat to run to while I'm running :)  That's my love language between God: singing.  And He's sure using that to help me!  I can run, focus on Him, praise Him, give Him the glory, and He gives me the strength to keeping going and to finish!  Praise God!

Thursday

Today, Anna and I went to church before Women's Bible study because our church wonderfully offers a pilates class for women to attend!  Oh my gosh, my hips were cramping, and I kept laughing because some things made me feel awkward!  But we had a great time, and I'm glad she and I did it together :)

Friday

Rest Day - getting ready for Frank's big day tomorrow!

Saturday

To be continued...