Running Chick

I have lost all motivation to run or do anything exercise related. I'm sure it's partially because of the weather ( it never stops raining!) and that for the past five months I've done nothing but build myself up mentally and physically for the HM. Now that that's over, well, I've got nothing to motivate me. I'm thinking that I should find another race to run - a 5k or something and work on getting faster at that distance. Right now, the only thing I'm going consistently is my "8 Minute.." series of abs, arms, buns and legs dvds, which I suppose is better than doing nothing. Meh.

I did run once since the HM. Last Saturday I went for a quick 2-miler. I say quick because I hit a new PR in the mile - 10:23. I was pretty pumped about that, but then I ran/walked the next mile and ended up with a 17:09 mile, ha! Oh well.

I ran the Fox Cities Half Marathon in Appleton, WI on Sunday, September 23rd. This was my first competitive running race and, all in all, I think it went pretty well.

Outside of a few hills (which were overpasses) here and there, the course was mostly flat, and traveled through the cities of Appleton, Menasha and Neenah. Crowd support was fantastic - I don't think a quarter-mile went by without somebody cheering us runners on.

Here are my results:

overall place:	1442 out of 1726
division place:	145 out of 175
gender place:	785 out of 1027
time:	2:42:04
pace:	12:12
chiptime:	2:39:48
6.9mi:	1:21:14

And my splits:



And some photos and videos.

Josh chased me around the course on his bicycle. Here's his report.

I'm already making plans to run this race again. I'll incorporate hill running and weight lifting into my running regime and hopefully my legs will last past mile 11 time.

I just noticed that it's been a while since I've posted. I'm such a bad blogger.

Let's see, what have I been up to since my last post. Camping in Copper Harbor and the Thimbleberry Jam Fest, went to JP and Danielle's wedding, the annual Tubing Extravaganza on the Otter River and oh yeah, running. Lots of it. It's a good thing I like running because it seems like that's all I'm doing.

Running: I've been dealing with some nagging aches and pains but nothing major. They seem to switch back and forth from the area around my left knee area (not the knee itself) to my right Achilles. I've started swapping out a day of running with riding on the bike so I'm now running three times\week rather than four. My PT says it'll help me in the long run with injuries. My longest run to date as been 6-miles. My time was around 1:14, which included two stops up the Festival Foods hill to get my heart rate back down to a reasonable pace, and another to chat with some women who told me that she wished she had my energy (ha). I also added another piece of equipment to my arsenal. A foam roller. Using it hurts like crazy, but it gets the knots out. Oh, and I spent $13 on some fancy Smartwool socks. I used them yesterday for my 6-miler and they felt great.

Saturday I went to cheer on James in the Copperman Triathlon in Copper Harbor. James picked me up at 5:30-ish AM. Josh and his dad showed up a few hours later, here's Josh's photos. After celebratory beers and lunch at Zik's, we hiked out to Hunter's Point and headed home.

Well, this blog is now up-to-date. Until next month.....