Slow and steady...

My first 5K is in the books! I decided to start adding weekend 5K's to my training to help me get used to the distance and the feel of a race. This one was a fundraising event for the local Goodwill Industries. Ringling Brother's was the main event sponsor, and there was a clown theme to the "Red Nose Run". (luckily, very few creepy clowns involved)

It was cold enough for all of us to have a red nose without any help from the plastic ones they provided, and it was misty/rainy, but that just makes it more fun to be able to say "I did it!" As my friend Joan loves to remind me, we're hard core!

They had only scheduled 30 minutes between the opening of registration and the beginning of the race, which I thought was a tight window...until we got there. There were only 22 people pre-registered for the race, and I think they said a total of 27 by the time the race started. I have to admit, this made me nervous! The more people you have in a race, the more likely there are others with my lightening speed. (aka...I won't be LAST)

Joan generously stayed with me for the whole race (she's MUCH faster than me), and I was bringing up the rear for much of the race, but I'm proud to say that I did not stop to walk at any point. It was a pretty challenging course, lots of hills to conquer, but it was a nice route through Roger Williams Park. Beautiful park! I'll have to go back there for some training runs. Toward the end, my slow and steady approach paid off a bit, and I think we ended up finishing ahead of 3 others.

I've been running with a Nike Plus running monitor, and it's kinda fun to see my distance, pace, calories and time at the end of each run. Yesterday's run cut 30 seconds off of my mile pace and clocked me at a personal best. Hopefully, that's a scenario that I continue to experience.

My training schedule calls for a 4 mile run this week. I just ran 3.5 for the first time last Sunday, so I'm a little nervous to add that half mile, but I'm surprised how much I'm actually enjoying this process.

Got my bike back after it's tune up, and I'll start rides to the training mix now. Much more fun than spinning wheels indoors!

Whether or not my body is going to keep up with my goals remains to be seen, but so far I'm learning a lot about myself and having fun. Hard to ask for more than that.

On a more somber note, my grandmother (who we called Tutu) passed away this week. She's had a long battle with Parkinson's Disease, and the last few years have not been an easy road for her. She is finally free of pain, and reunited with Grandfather and it's hard not to be happy when those two things are taken into account. Despite the sadness of loss, this is a time to celebrate the life she had, the love she shared, the family she created and the memories she left us. Rest in Peace Tutu.

In the Pink?

So I decided I needed to buy a kickboard to use in my swim workouts. Target had them on sale for $4.36...great deal! Downside? They had two choices...blue Dora the Explorer or pink Hello Kitty. I opted for Hello Kitty. Perhaps I will be mistaken for someone trendy and very cool. Either that or I will be the subject of much pointing and laughing. BUT, I will have a great kick workout!

This past week was kind of a bust as far as my workouts were concerned. I came down with a killer cough that had me hacking up a lung with any physical exertion. I didn't even try to swim for fear of choking mid lap. I'm sure it would have been entertaining to watch, but the discomfort and potential need for lifeguard intervention kept me from attempting it.

I'm hoping the time away from my runs hasn't affected my distance much. I'm excited about my progress, and am looking to add an additional half mile to my distance this week. We'll see how that goes!

On a more serious and reflective note, heading into this week, I'm reminded of the beauty of the coming holiday...Easter. The celebration of the gift of Life that Christ gave us through his sacrifice. It's a time of redemption...of new beginnings. What a beautiful thing to be reminded of as we enjoy the emergence of Spring.

Life is a beautiful gift. May we all look forward with gratitude for the past and hope for the future.

Love to all!

Time to get back to the Blog!

Ok, it's been nearly a year since my last blog, and that is just embarrassing! Let's see if I can be a little more regular with these things. Sheesh!

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up with the events of the past year because that would take forever and only serve to dissuade me from completing this oh, so interesting post...SO you're stuck with me here and now. :)

I just got back from a run, and I'm having a battle with my brain, trying to convince it that the pain I feel is "good". Not sure exactly what that means, but I've got to believe it if I intend to get back out there and do it again tomorrow...which I have to do if I intend to be able to run the Bolder Boulder in May.

Surprisingly, I really am enjoying this whole running thing of late. Until now, I was never able to run a full mile without really, REALLY wanting to quit, and hating every minute of it. The few races I ran were torture. Not sure what has changed, but I'm glad it has because I'm going to be doing a lot of running this Summer.

I've registered for the Bolder Boulder 10K (6.2 miles) which will be in, yes, you guessed it, Boulder, CO...which means it will be at altitude. Not sure what I was thinking, but I'm dragging all sorts of people into the race with me to run in honor of my Bob Amato as a part of TEAM ANDREW, so there's a bit of motivation to do it right.

After I torture myself in CO I'll be back in RI to ride a 150 mile bike ride for MS at the end of June. Feel free to check out my profile for the ride, join our team or donate to my effort by clicking this link: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/RIRBikeEvents?px=7796836&pg=personal&fr_id=13992

By that time I'll be in such great running and riding shape that the Sprint Triathlon season will be like CAKE! Since I didn't update this blog last summer, you may not be aware that I completed my first Sprint Triathlon last September. A Sprint Tri is a shorter version of the Ironman Triathons (which I have NO desire to attempt). Most are a 1/4-1/3 mile swim, 12-20 mile bike ride and a 5K (3.1 mile) run. I didn't set any records, and it wasn't exactly pretty, but I finished, and I met all of my personal goals. Most importantly, I loved it!

I discovered that I really love to bike, and that I'm pretty good at it. I've always loved to swim, and I can hold my own there...and that just leaves the dreaded run. I'm really slow, but the fact that I'm running at all is really kind of miraculous. Seriously...ask my dad. I am not his athletic child. I think he's still in shock over this whole thing. With all this training, I almost qualify as an athlete (almost). How crazy is that?

This year I'm planning to do 4 Sprint Tri's, including the one I did last year at Buzzard's Bay. At very least, I should look great by the end of this craziness...if I don't kill myself training for it!

Anyway, Happy St. Patty's Day!! I hope no one got overly pinched!! Speaking of which, most of the people I talked to here in RI today were completely unaware of the rule that you get pinched if you're not wearing green! What's up with that?!?! I enlightened them, although I refrained from pinching in an effort to avoid being reported to HR for harassment.

With that, I'm going to call it a post. Much love, many hugs and infinite smiles to all of you!

Always,

Amy