Ran with my sister today

Today I ran with my sister. We ran the course of the 5K we are running on Sunday. This will be her 1st 5K. Her goal is to break 30 minutes. When I ran my 1st 5K in June 2004 my goal was to break 30 minutes and I had 28:55. I think she will do fine.

Today was target tone class too. I went very light on weights, only 8 lbs, we did high reps today. Sometimes this trainer goes a little crazy! I feel like I did something but so far I am not sore.

I am still here and running!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since the 4th and now it is the 25th. I have been training for my half marathon, things have been going good. Sometimes it is hard to get my runs in. I've been doing hill workouts on my hill. I got soaked a couple of weeks ago on a 6 mile run. It wasn't raining when I started out and started sprinkling when I was about 3 miles into the run and was only a half mile from home at that point but it wasn't bad so I continued on. The last 2 miles were in a hard steady rain. I looked like I was in a wet tshirt contest! My shirt was clinging to me and you could see through it! I went straight to the shower and took the hottest shower I could stand. After my shower I picked my clothes up off the floor and there was a puddle of water and my clothes were dripping!!
Sept 17th I ran an 8K race. I had never run 8K before but was going to try for an 8 minute pace. My time was 41:17 which is 8:19. Yesterday I ran a 10 mile race. I just ran it to practice my half marathon pace. My time was 1:28:03 which is 8:49 pace. I was hoping to be just a bit faster but I will take it. After the race I ran 4 extra miles. They left the water out on the course for another hour so people could run extra miles for training for half and whole marathons. Next Sunday is my last race before my half marathon. I am only doing it because my sister is running it, she just started running this summer and can run 3 miles now. Her goal is to break 30 minutes. I am going to run the course with her tomorrow. She lives very close to where this race takes place. My nephews are going to be running the kids runs which are after the 5K so I will run with them. One is running the kids mile and the other the kids dash, not sure how far it is but probably a 100 yd dash. I will then need to run 10 more miles that day. I want to get a good time on my 5K because it is the last race in this series of races that I have been running. I am considering doing a long run on Friday, not sure what I am going to do yet. I have some friends who will also be running this race who are training for half marathons too so I will see what they are going to do.

Yesterday was 5 weeks out from my half marathon! After the hotel fiasco in Mackinac City I confirmed that I did have a reservation at the hotel that is 4-tenths of a mile from the start of my half marathon and it is there!

Mackinac Bridge run

Today was the run across the Mackinac Bridge!! What an awesome experience! It was just beginning to get light when I started. The wheeling athletes started first and they were almost out of sight when the runners started, they started groups of about 30 at a time. The governor was standing on a platform with a red flag and would first ask a few people which county they were from then would say on your mark, get set, GO! I started at 6:46am and crossed the "finish line" at 7:28am so about 42 minutes, I didn't time myself, just looked at the time. I just jogged along taking everything in so I could remember it! A man who finished in front of me was wearing a Garmin and I asked him what distance it showed and he said 4.32 miles. It got more and more light as I went along and by the time I was at the highest point it was fully light out. The first part of the run was uphill then it was down hill, it was so cool running under the suspension lines and the towers that hold them up. It's a view I've never had before! We got a bottle of water, a little mini clif bar and a little bag of dried cherries as we finished. Then we had to line up along the sides of the bridge at the finish area and clap as people came in and finally the governor came in. There were several different color shirts and we had to get in groups according to the color of shirt we had and pictures were taken with the gov with each group. Then it was over. It was over so fast after looking forward to it and talking about it for 2 months. I walked back to the place where we left our cars and talked with quite a few people who were doing either the Detroit or the Chicago marathon. I met alot of people who are doing either the full or half in Detroit! A man told the funniest story while walking back to the cars! He said that when he ran his first half marathon he crossed the finish line and then people started screaming and clapping and he looked around and finally figured out that the marathon winner was coming in behind him! I am hoping that by the time the marathon winner comes in I will have already been in atleast a few minutes.
After I got back to my hotel and showered my daughter and I walked around Mackinaw City. I wore my run shirt (I didn't care that I had sweat in it while running, although I had worn another shirt under it) I had quite a few people ask me about it!! I was so proud to have run across!!
The drive home was not fun. There was so much traffic headed south. Had to slow down alot. I was so tired too. We left the hotel at 11am and it took a long time just to get back to 75 to get out of Mackinaw. We were both starving and there is nothing between Mackinaw City and Gaylord so we had lunch at Applebee's in Gaylord. I felt much better after lunch! She wanted to stop at Seashell City on the way back. Anyone who has travelled up north in Michigan has most likely seen the signs for Seashell City. I've never seen anything so dumb in my life!
We finally got home and I fell asleep for about an hour and a half.
I took some pictures on the bridge, I had a disposable camera, I am going to get a picture cd made when I get the pictures developed and will post some pictures when I get them. I hope they turn out.

14 mile training run went great!!!!

This morning I ran 14 miles in a training run that is put on by a running store. It took me 2 hours,2 minutes which is 8:43 pace!!!! I was at 1:53 at 13 miles so I am confident that I can break 2 hours in my half marathon! The run went really good until 12 miles, those last 2 were really hard. After the run I headed home, showered, dressed and headed to Mackinaw City. I got to my hotel and they didn't have a reservation for me, I had to call expedia who thought they were just going to find me another hotel room in Mackinaw City on Labor day weekend. Yeah right. I ended up calling hotels on my own and found one that had a room, the man there told me I should take the room and that expedia has to let me even though they are trying to find one. It was getting to the time I was supposed to be somewhere to check in for the bridge run and get my shirt and info. Clerks at both of the hotels said that this happens alot. I thought booking hotel rooms online was the thing to do, I guess not. I am just glad that I found something. There was a pasta dinner for the runners. The governor showed up too. She just came walkin in. She went around to all of the tables and I got my picture taken with her. My daughter and I walked around Mackinaw City this evening after I got back from the dinner. I haven't been here in years.
It's time for bed since I have to be at the check in place at 5am tomorrow morning.