RunBrenda.com

Congratulations to everyone who participated today!

I am not sure where to begin.  Between the beautiful weather, the beautiful scenery, the excitement of the crowd, and what appeared to be the flawless execution of an inaugural event I would say it was pretty close to perfect.  As exciting as it was to be part of the happy and anxious crowd waiting for the green flag to tell us the last of the half-marathon participants had cleared the 5k course and that we could begin, it was hard for the photog in me to see the amazing site of the crowd of half-marathoners beginning their journey and not be there to capture it with my camera.  It was a breathtaking scene.   I am sure there are pictures out there from my vantage point from the top of the hill looking down at the Olio Bridge; I will post one if I come across it!  Please send me one if you have it. 

Coming in 266th of 1029 females at an 11:03 average I crossed the finish line 34:16 minutes after I started.   I DID IT!  I know those are not terribly impressive numbers for all you true athletes, and they are numbers I am anxious to beat, but from where I was 5 months ago this is really something that I am proud of.

I thought the course was beautiful and challenging.  It’s funny, but those hills in Cambridge are not nearly as intimidating while viewing them from your windshield! (I can’t wait to hear from my friend Bob Jule about how he conquered the mountain that is Courageous Drive in Feather Cove!)  I probably would have been smart to have run the course before today since I didn’t find it to be as easy for me as I thought it would be.  All of my training has been based on relatively flat land/treadmills, but regardless, it was empowering to push myself up those hills and not slow down to a walk even though I considered it several times.  What was my motivation?  Well, first and foremost of course was the personal satisfaction of completing the course without walking, BUT ALSO (and this is kind of funny to me….) Kevin called last night to wish me luck and to let me know that he would be “somewhere” along the course to offer encouragement, so any thought of slowing to a walk was completely out of the question, I just knew that the second I stopped running that I would run into Kevin!!!!  That was NOT going to happen so I pushed on. 

Speaking of Kevin, let me just say that he has been really great with helping me achieve my fitness goals.   He met with me religiously 3x per week since mid January for weight training sessions that were vital to what I was trying to achieve. Together we worked very hard and efficiently.   I didn’t end up loosing as much weight as I had wanted, (only 20 pounds, but that certainly was not Kevin’s fault) but it isn’t like this is over.  I will continue with my new routine and constantly strive to make healthier choices in general.      THANK YOU KEVIN!

To Tom Britt and family, the Board of Directors, Sponsors, the many volunteers, and people along the route encouraging participants onward….
To John, Nicole, Mom, and my atGeist friends for their encouragement.
To Nate and Alyssa for putting up with Mom leaving to“go running AGAIN”
To Stewart Fitness Training and Cardinal Fitness….

Many Thanks.

Nik – I couldn’t have done this without you!

Tomorrow!  Wow, the time has flown.  It looks like the weather tomorrow morning will be perfect.  Hopefully those predicted thunderstorms wait as long to roll in as the weather man is predicting.

I have not been at all nervous.  I can run 3.1 miles no problem.  But then, yesterday afternoon, out of the blue, I got sick.  Fever, sore throat, etc….  I could not believe it.  All I kept thinking was “I WILL run this race.  period.”    I woke this morning still feeling terrible, but thankfully it has now (at 3:30 the afternoon before the marathon) passed.   Still not 100%, but much better.   I can not tell you how relieved I am!

 Best of luck to you all.  See you tonight at packet pickup or tomorrow morning!

I just returned home from the polls.   My voting site is only one mile down the road so I thought I would get my exercise in by running down there and back.  It is a beautiful day and I am glad I decided to leave the car at home.  It is something we don’t do enough (or EVER) in this day and age.  If you haven’t already gone to vote consider going for a walk or run.  It is a good for your health,  good for your mind,  and you save a little gas while helping the environment! 

Best of luck tomorrow to all you Mini participants!  I heard this morning that the weather might be dry after all.  Be careful and have fun!

  Wow, time really does fly.  I didn’t realize it had been so long since I last blogged.  Maybe subconsciously I knew but kept putting it off because…….well……(hmm, how can I put this off any longer)…..My ortho doc and I  decided that running/walking 13 miles would probably put me back in that dreaded “boot”  (air cast) for yet another 6-8 weeks.    As much as I don’t want to let anyone down,  I really do not like that boot.   For THIS year it appears I will be running the 5k instead of the half.  Which is still great, but I am disappointed because of everything I have put into it.  I do believe that endurance wise I could have handled it.  BUT this is not over  Even though May 17th will come and go, I still have a goal of running a half marathon that I should be able to do as long as I keep progressing like I have been.   

The bottom line is  how much improved my overall health is due to the exercise  and eating habits that Kevin has helped me with along the way.  If you can not afford a personal trainer that does not mean you can’t get in shape on your own, but if you can, I highly recommend giving Kevin a call.  (432-2179)   He has been great to work with.

  I am no doubt stronger, healthier, and have more endurance for everyday routines than I have had in many years.    With my photography business I am constantly carrying around large photography equipment for location shooting or spending 10 hours shooting weddings.  Being in shape simply makes life easier.

Kevin’s endurance exercises are working well!   Yesterday I ran 3 continuous miles without being tired.  I am quite confident I could have gone for 4 or 5 miles, but I still have to take my foot into consideration.  I have never run that far in my life and it felt great! How awesome is that?  This is turning out to be a very rewarding challenge.   The pounds are not dropping like they originally did (oops-my fault) but the feeling of accomplishment after running 3 miles is worth all the hard work.  I only hope I can continue to add the miles over the next few weeks to build to 13!

Because I have heard comments about how much more difficult it is to run outdoors than on a treadmill I wasn’t expecting to just start out jogging 10 miles, but I have to admit, it is more different than I expected. 

Keep in mind that I have my feet to take into consideration so I expected to have to start with a shorter runs and build over the days.  Yesterday was my second time going out for a run, and I was disappointed to have to walk some of the mere 2 miles that I covered.  When I told Kevin that I thought it was difficult he started me on some different exercises.  Hopefully I can build the endurance I need (and find that mouth zipper I have been looking for to help with the diet end of things) to do this!

Hi everyone.  I hope you are doing well with your training!  I ended up taking a mini break.  Not a big one, but enough to get me motivated again. (Thank goodness!) There was a little weight gain, but it was temporary.  I am now down 18 pounds which is very encouraging.

In addition to my regular work out schedule I started treadmill walking a few days ago (see earlier entry about a metatarsal stress fracture).  Kevin and I want to take it slow and build the time I spend on the treadmill in hopes to avoid another stress fracture since I am obviously prone to them.  It is hard to run a half marathon with broken feet.  If anyone has had experience with this and has some good advice for me please share.

I can’t say enough about how great Kevin has been.  He really is a fantastic trainer.  While he is very serious about what he does, (he was in Chicago last weekend for a training course) I think he has a way of adapting to each client’s personality in a way that makes him a great fit for almost anyone looking for a good trainer.  He works out of Cardinal on 96th, but he also will come to your home.  Kevin Stewart.  Stewart Fitness Training.  317-432-2179.

My 11 year-old son came home from school last week and asked me if he could participate in his school’s “Kids up and Running” program.  They will be meeting after school 2 days per week to train for the Geist 5K.   HOW GREAT IS THAT?!  It makes me very proud to think that my training may have helped influence him in that decision.  I will let you know how it goes.

As far as my training…….I have done really well until this last weekend.  I just sort of “hit a wall”.  I skipped my Saturday work out and didn’t do too well on the diet I have been following.  Sunday was better, I met with Kevin to train, but then blew the diet side of it afterwards.  Monday I had to MAKE myself get to the gym (only making it because I felt miserable for not doing well and because I knew “weigh in” was happening the next morning!  I mentioned my dip of enthusiasm to Kevin this morning and he told me that it was my bodies way of telling me I could use a rest day or two.  No big deal!  He told me to take a break tomorrow. Well, with me and my all or nothing way of doing things I guess I didn’t realize it was really that easy.  That I didn’t have to stress over missing a planned day at the gym or eating a couple of my kids French fries.  It is all right to not be perfect, just pick it back up the next day.    Who would have thought?

(Weigh in day just proved that I might tend to over react a tad.  I am not sure how, but I was down yet another 2.5 pounds since last week and even if I didn’t have the most positive week, I have to admit, it feels great!)

Tom posted a comment with this question….”How is your overall health going? Are you still carving off weight? Keep on going!!!”  Good question Tom! 

I feel fabulous.   Really great!

I have now lost 14 pounds since starting this a little over 6 weeks ago!  I want to tell everyone that has been putting off getting into shape to stop putting it off.  Do it now.    When you can start your day looking forward to “slipping” into your jeans how can it NOT be the start of a good day?
Yesterday I met with Kevin (trainer) at Cardinal Fitness at 9:00 for ½ hour then hit the bike for another 60 minutes.    On my way out the door my friend Radka called to see if I might want to take the kids swimming later at another gym.  Sounded great.  I have been looking on runnersworld.com for some alternative exercises that runners do when they have injuries and one of the things I found was “pool running.”  I thought the kids could have fun and I could try out some pool running.  What I did not expect was that Radka wanted to take a Zumba class before swimming.  I have never done Zumba and I wasn’t planning on MORE exercise in one day, but after watching a few minutes of the class I thought it looked like so much fun that I wanted to at least try it for a few minutes.  It was a blast! 

 I was glad Kevin wasn’t there because he would NOT have been happy with me (we are trying to get my foot healed in time so I might actually be able to run!).  But Kevin will be happy to hear that I only participated for about 20 minutes and it did not mess up my foot!    I am really looking forward to more cross training.  I wasn’t able to do the pool running because the pool at this gym was too shallow.   Like a lot of people, I find repetitive exercise to get a bit boring.