Easy 8 Miles

It takes awhile but, it's finally happened. My body has become accustomed to running long distances.

This weekend was an EASY 8 MILES. I mean, I was relaxed and I ran it one mile at a time without stopping. I even ran half of it without my music. I might soon begin to run it without music just to listen to the birds maybe.

I kept thinking to myself that this is SO EASY. I loved it.

I'll be changing my tune next week with a whooping 18 miles!!!!!!! WT....

Get Moving Tucson

7:30AM

A sunny Tucson morning with 10 miles of road ahead of 2 of our Raptors and a leisurely 5K for Katrina and Jas (hubby of MacKnitty).





Most of the morning was spent pinning and registering our runners. Amanda was nervous and very excited.

I, MacKnitty, was mainly strutting around like a proud mama duck. I am so proud of my Raptors! Many of them have never run before and look at us.


Dolce and MacKnitty chilled and set up some breakfast for the Raptors in a nearby shady area. We chatted about Vegas, movies and hypothesized about Earl running too fast in the beginning.

After 15 minutes, the first 5K runners emmerged. Slowly our Raptors came home.

Katrina with her new friend- "Triple S".
Official 5K result-
325th place
5K time: 46:30:00
Division: F35-39
Division place: 23
Female placing: 192
Pace per mile: 14:58.0
Check out that time! You beat your best mile! That's so cool.


Jas and Leah in a slow trot to the finish.

5K results
place: 368
total time: 50:55:00
Division: M20-24 (Does he know he's really 29?)
Division place: 11
Male place: 147
Pace per mile: 16:23.3
Hopfully Leah placed. Does having a snazzy stroller count?

10 mile results AMANDA
place: 330
total time:1:40:19
Division:F20-24
Division place:8
Female placing:120
Pace per mile:10:01.9

Go Amanda and Tyler! They jog to the finish. Amanda says, "I'm never doing that again." But I think she says that after all her long runs, she'll be back.

10 mile race results for Earl
place: 459
Total Time:2:32:10
Division: M35-39
Division place:35
Male place: 241
Pace per mile:15:13.0

Slowly, more and more people finish the 10 miler. We kept looking and looking and looking for Earl. Katrina thinks about asking some of the finishers if they've seen a big guy on the course still. Finally, our Earl walks into view. Go Earl Go! Run Forrest Run!

Moral of the story: Never go out faster than you think you can run and never underestimate the 80 year old lady in Nikes.

Good job Raptors!

Best Mile Ever!!!!!

Finally, I am down to a 15 minute mile. Originally, I could do mile in 21 minutes. Babies were crawling faster than I could walk. I dreaded the marathon. Visions of myself crossing the finish line and no one being there constantly ran through my head. I could just see it.....Finally I finish the race and there is no evidence that a race had ever been there. Who knows what my pace will be when Dec. rolls around. I am ready for the 5k this weekend. Oh, by the way.....I can run part of the way now!!! Yeah for me!

Meet the Raptors-AZ Daily Star article

(Click on photo for larger picture)

Thanks to the Southern Arizona Roadrunners, we met with Inger Sandal who writes for Caliente. Because of our good luck we were able to make a cameo in the Arizona Daily Star's Caliente.

Yay! Us.

HALF MARATHON + 1 mile!!

So, umm...what did I do on Monday????

Well, I spent all day teaching my wonderful third graders, taught Homework Helpers after school, caught up with friends for a little bit, and then...hit the River Path for a 14.08 mile run into the sunset and darkness!

I started out at Campbell and River and headed west on the River Path to just under the La Cholla bridge, turned around and headed back. By the time I got to Oracle Road, the sky was getting too dark for comfort (I'm a little scared to run under the bridges in the dark), so I decided to switch from the path to the road. I ran up Oracle Road to River Road and ran River Road back to Campbell (with a water stop at Buck's Exxon). I made it back to the River Path parking lot with 1 mile to go, so I headed down Campbell to Allen Road, turned around and ran back! That last mile was more exciting than anything...actually, from mile 12 on was pretty exciting. The last 2 miles, I kept telling myself that I was a ROCKSTAR for running farther than I EVER HAVE IN MY LIFE!!! Once I passed the 13.1 mark, I was super excited--HALF MARATHON, BABY!!! The last .9 came surprisingly easily and I was crying as I finished--just super emotional to have achieved such an accomplishment!

Of course, my run wouldn't be complete without calling my support system to share the joy. I called MacKnitty, my Mom and Dad, and my wonderful boyfriend, in addition to texting half of my phone book just so I could share the news.

But, in my mind, my runs are not official until I upload them to the Nike+ website, so...as soon as I walked in the door, I ran to the computer, plugged my iPod in and made it official!!! INSANE!!!!

After the upload, it was time for a freezing cold ice-bath of tortureous goodness. It was cold. It was numbing. It felt damn good after the first few minutes. The rest of the evening was spent laying around and relaxing!

Now, it's back to school like a normal person, but you can guarantee that I'll be smiling about this for the rest of the week!!!

Happy running this week!!! See you all on Saturday for a short 8 miler!!! :)

Katrina on KVOA

Our Katrina gets her 3 minutes of fame on KVOA channel 4 with Martha Vasquez and John Overall. Check out her interview (coming soon). You did us proud!

Also check us out on Caliente on Thursday. That's the other 12 minutes of fame.

Check her out here, Look for Hurricane Katrina Survivor clip.

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/category.asp?C=109704&nav=menu216_4

Half Marathon!

You better believe it! I deserve a medal for running my own half marathon today.

I was pretty good off at the 7 mile marker and when I hit the 10 miles, I was thinking, "no problem."
Then my brain got the best of me at the 12 mile mark.
"I gonna finish."
"2 more miles to finish. 1 more mile to a half marathon."
"When I ran half marathon I was tired and sleepy and tired."
"I'm tired."
"1 mile to go, .1 more mile until my longest run ever."
"half marathon, with the full I would have to do this again. This is scary."
"My legs hurt, what' s up with my toe."
".6 miles." That's too far.
"If you count my warm up that's 14 miles. I can stop."
".55 miles. What! You are kidding me. I've run at least a mile."
".35 miles. This is taking forever. I 'm sure my Nike+ is broken."
500 meters to go- I can't take another step. Why am I holding this water bottle?"
400 meters to go- I can see my car. It's too far away... It's too far away.
300 meters to go- WHAT! Do you want to kill me? I can't make it. I should just walk.
200 meters to go- Must stop.
100 meters to go- This is the most grueling run of my life. I see the light.
Congratulations!- FINALLY! After how many freakin' minutes!

Hey- I beat my half marathon record by 10 minutes! Mmmm.... protein shake and bagels.....mmmmm...nap..............ICE BATH! (no mmmm)

It's all a mental game! We can do it Raptors- finish strong on Saturday ( I don't recommend doing it alone!)

Fear This!

Tomorrow, I'm running my 14 miles solo and I'm freaking out.
The longest distance of my whole life- Half a marathon and an extra .9 of a mile.
Will I finish strong or begin to wilt at the 10 mile mark?
Only time will tell, it's off to bed early tonight. If I blog tomorrow then I survived!

PLAY TIME IS OVER!!!!!

This is my biggest problem. I can tell that I have improved significantly in cardiovascular endurance but my muscles get fatigued after about 1.5 miles. And quite simply it's the weight. I have to loose weight. No if ands or buts!!! The good thing is I am now 272lbs, which is a total weight loss of 27lbs (I'm excited!). More importantly my blood pressure is 116/76 and considering at one point it was 140/90 I am extremely excited about my efforts. But back to the point at hand, weight. I have establish my "fighting" weight, which is what I want to be weighing when the race starts. And that weight is........252lbs. Yea, that's significant considering it took me almost a year to lose 27lbs. 20lbs in 2 months is huge. But, I ain't scared. I'm focused! "Play Time Is Over", my friends. It's all business from here on in. Hey that rhymed. Anyway, what was I saying, oh yea.. I'm focused on the task at hand. 13 minute miles for 26.2 miles, and to accomplish that I need to be at 252 lbs. It's on like Donkey Kong.

Final Motto: Play Time Is Over....PTIO baby!