Midnight Sun Midnight Run

Yesterday, or maybe rather early this morning I guess, I ran a race called the Midnight Sun Midnight Run. It's a race to celebrate the summer solstice. I ran it for the first time last year, and I thought it would be really fun to do again this year. It starts at midnight (duh), and it is a 5 K distance. The course is right next to Lake Superior on a route I am very familiar with because I use it for my long runs when training for marathons or half marathons.  It's really pretty during the day and at night.

I went into this race with the hopes of a PR. I've been running some lately (finally a decent amount after being injured), and I thought it was possible. My goal was to do it in 25 some minutes, or at least this was the goal I told people. My secret keep-it-to-myself-to-avoid-embarrassment goal was to to do it in 24 some minutes. Well, my official time ended up being 23:47! Boooya grampa! I feel like a freekin' cheetah! Haha. I felt like I was dying the whole race, and my dinner from earlier in the night was like a rock in my stomach, so maybe I could run faster? It definitely a thought to keep in mind.

Bronson was a good sport, and he came along to cheer. At the end of the race he said I looked good, and he told me he thought I was in the first 20 females to cross the finish. I told him that was bullshit, and he amended that to say maybe the top 40. I ended up being the 38th woman to cross the line out of 385! Sweet! I placed 19th out of 132 people in my age group. I like to see that I am getting faster. I started out with 11 or 12 min miles when I first took up running, and I ran that same pace for many years.

I'm hoping that someday I can somehow trick Bronson into doing a 5 K, but he says running is a deal breaker. I had a Runner's World magazine that had an article about how to start running, and for the longest time I couldn't find it. My secret hope wast that he was reading it, but it ended up it fell behind my nightstand...sigh. But that's ok because I couldn't ask for a better cheerleader. He's so awesome for coming to all these races to just stand around and wait for me. I'm a lucky lady!

Grandma's Marathon--Father's Day Edition

This past Saturday was Grandma's Marathon, and it was the first time I wasn't taking part in any of the running festivities since 2005. It sucked! I pretty much moped around the house most of the day. Bronson wasn't really sure what to do with me. It was hard to go to the gym and then watch finished runners walk around with their new shirts and shiny medals. This race holds a special place in my heart. It is my favorite race in the world, and I think I've referred to it as the greatest event on the freakin' face of the planet more than once. I love the atmosphere, I love the view, and I love how the city embraces the race.

The race has been a part of my life since I was very young. I remember my mom dragging us on a short walk from our house to the race course to watch my dad and my uncle run by. We would proceed to get sweaty high fives from them as they ran by. I thought it was gross. I remember my dad coming back from training runs, and I would inform him that he stunk and was icky. What a nice daughter right? As we got older sleeping in was more of a priority to us kids than watching Dad run by.  I wouldn't have been able to tell you how far a marathon was, and I wouldn't have had any concept of it even if I knew the distance. Running didn't really become part of my life until I was in high school, and even then I didn't do track or cross country or anything like that.

Then, I started increasing the distance I ran, and I got it in my head to try and run a half marathon. The Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon run in conjunction with Grandma's Marathon was the obvious choice because it was in town, and my dad had run it before. Dad promised to run it with me. We trained separately, but we ran the race together, and I had a blast! Dad told me all the secrets. Be sure to drink at least a little at each water stop. Don't dump water on your head. It will get on your feet, and you'll get blisters. Don't run through the showers for the same reason. He made sure I got through my first race in my entire life alive and well, and then we celebrated later that night by eating steak and shrimp, which came to be a tradition after finishing the race. Soon I was running the race without Dad and he was cheering me on and driving me to the starting line. He made sure I got through my first marathon (Grandma's Marathon of course), and told me to trust my training. I think he was more nervous for my first full marathon than I was though, and I was really nervous. It was about 85 degrees and really humid, but the whole drink at every water station thing got me through the race (thanks Dad!).

So you see why I was bummed about not running this year. I know there is always next year, but running the race brings back all sorts of good memories for me. It's kind of an emotional thing. Maybe next year (I plan to run the half) my dad will run with me again. That would be awesome. Thanks Dad for getting me into running!

June Goals

So, I accomplished my goal! I lifted weights twice a week for the month of May! This is the music I got as my reward! I'm not sure if I feel any different for it though....I don't know if I feel stronger or if I feel like I look any better. I have decided that I really like this goal setting thing. I have been trying to come up with goals for June now. I think I want to buy a special little notebook where I can write down my workouts for the day and possibly what I have eaten for that day too. I want to be able to see improvement in my workouts. I also want to look at what I have eaten. I know I can improve my diet.

I think for June my goals will be as follows:

1. Continue to lift weights twice a week.
2. Run (hopefully) 3 times a week.
3. Write daily exercise and food entries into a fitness notebook.

I say hopefully run 3 times a week because my sacroiliac joint has been giving me problems if I run too hard on it. I did really well in May by running twice a week like I wanted to, but at the end of the month I ran a really fast five mile run, (when I say fast, I mean fast for me...about 44minutes) and it was really sore after I finished. It has been bothering me a little ever since.

I want to work on my running because I am tentatively planning on running a half marathon in the fall called the Whistlesop. I really want to PR at this race. My best HM time is 2:04. My easy goal would be to just beat this time. My realistic yet harder goal would be to get under 2 hours. I feel like this is a good one to shoot for. I have to work hard to reach it, but it's definitely not impossible. My super hard goal would be to finish in 1:50. This is really an out-of-the-park kind of goal though, so I don't know if I can accomplish it. More of a wishful thinking kind of goal.

Oh! I went to the cabin last weekend and tried out an app on my phone for exercise! It was actually pretty cool. It's called Endomondo. It uses GPS to track how far you have run. Every mile it tells you the distance you have run and how fast you ran it. At the end it saves your workout and gives your splits for each  mile so you can compare them. You can also compare different workouts with each other so you can see any improvements! You can use it for other things like biking too, but I'm not a huge fan of biking. My butt always gets sore! I have the cushiest seat possible on my bike too, so you would think I would be comfortable! Anyways it was really cool and fun to use. I'm not sure how accurate it is though. I think it might make the  miles slightly shorter than they really are. Some of my times were a little fast for me. I plan on taking it on one of my normal runs here at home where I know the distance to see what it says about how far I go. I just haven't done it yet because I have to carry a fanny pack to put my phone in, and I feel kind of dorky doing that when I'm only running four or five miles. If I run 14 or more miles  I don't feel dorky at all wearing a fanny pack with water, but for some reason if I'm running a short distance wearing a fanny/water bottle, I feel like a loser. Weird right!? I mean who's going to know how far I am running anyway? They can't  judge!

Well that's the update!  I mostly just didn't know what I wanted to write about, so another goal entry seemed appropriate haha. I think the next entry will actually be something interesting.