Walking in the Rain

I had originally wanted to walk run with the Diva's in the Dark- Black Girls Run Group at 6am. I woke up at 4 and then woke up at 6:30. Disappointed that I missed the morning group, I felt somewhat relieved when I heard the rain coming down.

I thought about hitting the gym for a dance class or something to avoid the weather, then I remembered how I used to love running in the rain and snow and negative degree weather. I knew I was a runner that one summer day when I got caught in a down pour and enjoyed it!   Now a days, I look for every and any excuse not to get out.  But today, I thought about my BL3 friend, Tim Clausen, who posted online that he has run 5 miles for 2000 days in a row. And I thought about a video that blogger Fitbee posted with her running journey and I knew rain or shine it was time for me to get dressed and get it done!

Close to my turn around point what did I notice? A Great Blue Heron!

There's something wonderful about living on the edge of downtown and getting to notice trains, rivers, trees, important birds, and skyscrapers...seemingly all in the same breath.  In awe...

Emmanuel

Merry Christmas! I'm happy to report that I exercised on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  I can't call 15 and 16 minute miles running, but I can say "fake it till you make it. " Eventually, I will reach the goal! Getting out both days reminded me of how revived I feel when I finish.  I am finally facing the fact that I've sinned my way almost exactly back to where I started this journey in 2006.  Its difficult to realize that I went from 234 to 144 and back up to 228 with in 5 years!  I am really struggling with everything:  eating, exercise, health and my faith.

I love a good story and Matthew's telling of the birth of Christ captures my imagination each time I read it.  Starting in verse 21 when the Holy Spirit appears to Joseph saying do not be afraid she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name of JESUS because he will save his people from their sins. In verse 23, it reads The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him EMMANUEL which means God with us.

I don't even want to wait until January 1 to start over.  Right here, Right now, on this Christmas day, I am reminded that God sent his son to save us from our sins! And He is with us still still today and each and every day!  Knowing that he is with me is the only thing that gives me hope in starting this journey over again!

On my run today,  I noticed these bright blue berries with the Christmas red vines!  I have no idea what they are but aren't they beautiful?

Sharon Woods

Today after church, I decided to exercise at Sharon Woods instead of waiting until 2PM for Black Girls Run group.  About half way through the work out, the rain poured down!  I did a combination of walking and running/jogging and it took me a good hour to finish the loop.  It was wet fun!  I stopped by the health food store on the way home and plan to spend the afternoon preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week.   I also made one of my favorite smoothie shakes that, kills my appetite!  Of course its almost 300 calories but it wards off my desire to eat for a good 4-6 hours.   The shake consists of : 1 acai smootie pack, 1/2 scoop of protein, 1/2 cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of water.  It's yummoo!

Thanksgiving

This year I took picture of my thanksgiving plate of food! What did you eat for your Thanksgiving dinner?

Flying Feather 4 Miler

This year I did the Flying Feather 4 miler on Thanksgiving Day. I usually run the 5 miler Turkey Trot but at the last minute, I changed my mind and did the Flying Feather. Black Girls Run - a running group I run with picked it as a group run and last I heard there were a total of 22 girls registered to run! Back in 06 when I started running, I would hopefully see 2 or 3 black women running at various road races around town. But now it's nice to a variety of women wanting to make fitness a priority. Over all, it was a nice race course a little over a mile on the road and the majority of the race when through Glacier Ridge Metro Park. I enjoy running on trails through the parks. There was one water stop at 2 miles and the swag bag included: hat, gloves, and long sleeve race shirt. All finishers got a bottle of wine and a medal. I think next year I'll be back to the Turkey Trot but overall it was fun and nice to run with Black Girls Run- Columbus!

November Already?

Where has the time gone?
* First quarter of school is gone.
* Nike Womens Marathon came and went!
* Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year will be here before I know it!
I'm thinking about completing a few road races before the year is finished!
I'm thinking about a Thanksgiving Day Run- Jingle BellRun- New Year's Day Run!
What do you think?

Back In Check

* Aug 1 back to work 'check'
* Aug 21 Birthday 'check'
* Aug 22 Teacher's Report 'check'
* Aug 24 1st Day of School 'check'
* Sept 4 Labor Day- 1/2 Marathon 'check'
* Sept 9 Visit nieces in AZ 'check'
Summer has come and gone! Still have Nike Woman's Marathon on the schedule for Oct 16, 2011- but the days are getting shorter and the races is approaching. I plan to get over this cold very quickly, run with MIT on Sat and set up a doable training schedule to get me to SAN FRAN!

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Made Up MInd...

A made up mind can be a dangerous thing! I've made it up in my mind that I will run a marathon on October 16, 2011! The marathon that I'm signed up for is the NWM! I've joined a running group and I have 20 weeks to get ready! Today I did 4 miles I ran with the 12.30 pace group for the first 2 miles and walked/jogged my way back. Sunday officially starts week 1 of 20! Discipline, focus and a made up mind! I'm wondering about this running plan that I found on the intranet but I like it because I can still cross train on two days and low milage on 3 days. So I know, I can always do at least the minimum miles, I'll more than likely do more but I gives me a sense that this is a doable plan. What do you think?

Here's my stats for today! Looking forward to seeing growth :) I figure when you start at the bottom there only one way to go. Up :)

Tomorrow I am scheduled to do two miles! Consider it done!
Gotta run,
Nikki

NWM Training Begins!

"Failing to plan is planning to fail!"
Saturday marks my official start of my Nike Women's Marathon Training. I'm following a 20 week plan with very doable miles during the week! I already know the challenges will come the weekends that I'm traveling but I know if I plan it out well enough I can overcome all challenges. Saturday I meet with my running group the plan is to do between 3 and 4 miles. This evening I'm doing a dance class at the gym and I am so looking forward to an extra long weekend. I'll keep you posted!

Cap City Inaugural Quarter Marathon

I'm so glad I signed up for the Cap City Quarter at the last minute! It was a great race! I made my ipod play list the night before and I woke up in a good mood feeling GREAT! I ate a mini cinnamon bagel. We ran the first two miles and then did 4-1 run/walk for miles 3-5 and ran mile 6. During mile 6 we somehow got caught in the 1/2 marathon 2.25 pace group we hung with them for about 2 minutes. In that minute, the memory of the runner that I used to be came back and I thought if I pushed myself, I maybe could have hung with them to the finish line. But I didn't push it, I just hung on to that memory and the feeling gave me the motivation to stick with this running thing for the long run- no matter how difficult. If I stick it out long enough before I know it, I too will finish a half in 2.25 hours, in fact my first ever half was 2.20 min. Right now, the one strategy that has helped me most to keep on running when I am tired and want to walk is pick an object and keep my eye on the object and run to it, as I approach the object I quickly scan for the next thing to make it to. I usually pick trees, signs, benches, stop lights, people, and just about anything. In the moment, I focus on only getting to that object and I do it over and over and over again. Before I realize it, I reach my destination.

So are you wondering what makes a race GREAT? Rubric 0 bad, 1 OK, 2 Great 3 Excellent
Race Niceties would include:
Swag Bag: 0 no goodies, no coupons, it had a couple of fliers!
T-Shirt: 2 women's cut shirt, could been a better color, or have a better logo
Ease of start line: 1 the corrals were a little confusing, and not clearly marked and I ended up in the 5k group
Race route clearly marked: 1, there was no sign for the Quarter marathon split.
Water Stations: 3 Excellent water stops and people to distribute the water
Post Race Party: 3 Excellent sponsors- White Tail Bubbles- Champagne, Donatoes pizza, dark chocolate, Victoria Secrets water bottle, brooks run happy skull hat, banana, and apple
Music on Route: 2 Good music and I loved the rapper close to mile 3.
Route Diversity: 2 Victorian Village, a little of OSU, and the short north,
Race Communications: 2 Got a couple of emails and facebook updates
Race Stories/ Celebrity: 2 It's always nice to wave at Mayor Coleman at the start of the race and Andrea Cambern actually ran.
Cap City Quarter RACE = 18/30
0-14 need new race director
15-20 Good Job
20-25 Great RaCE
25-30 Excellent RACE!
Next Race is the the Columbus 10K. on June 12. 6.2 mile run I'd like to complete it in 1.15.
Total Miles for the week 10.