Showing posts with label race schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race schedule. Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Breaking the Bank!

It's been an off week for me with my husband gone.  I haven't run since Tuesday and I am feeling pretty bad about it.  Wednesday I decided against running because I just wasn't feeling it (achy and tired) so I was already considering skipping, then I did something to my back while getting my daughter ready for school.  Not sure what it was, but it was a sharp intense pain - it eventually went away but I didn't want to risk it.  Then today I woke up to a school cancellation.  This would seem like a good thing to many people, but for me it slashed my motivation.  I normally work out while my daughter goes to preschool, so with school cancelled, I opted for another rest day.  Honestly, I could probably use it.. my feet and ankles still ache!  (Is this normal?!?  They ache when I am NOT running but I typically can run pain free.. injury?  or just normal runner's aches?)

After struggling with some pretty serious depression on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was feeling much better today.  I am happy to say that for the first day since my husband left I have not relied on food to calm me down. I came in 10 calories under my calorie goals for today and I am hoping to see some sort of movement on the scale.  But, as long as it doesn't go up I will count it as a win.

Source
In an effort to make myself feel better about not running today, I have been researching the Disney Marathon.  My race plans have changed and I decided to shift it out a year.  Because we live so far from Florida - if I was do go by myself I would have to fly which would be terribly expensive.  So, instead of spending $1500 (I am guessing here, I have no clue) to go for a few days by myself I figured I should make it a family vacation.  I sent some initial requests trying to get pricing.  Granted, I know its not going to be accurate, but I figured at least getting a ballpark figure could help me start planning our plan to save money.

Let's just say that I had a minor heart attack when I got the quote... combine the fact that we will actually have to pay for both our kids next time, plus the prices just seem to inflate every year - our trip is going to cost us probably double what it cost us in 2010.  Yikes!  And, that doesn't include race costs and souvenirs.  I am really hoping we can make it happen... but the sticker shock has me reconsidering! But, really, who wouldn't want to earn a pretty Mickey medal?  I have heard there are 2 "must do" marathons (well, besides Boston... but I have no chance of every qualifying for that!) - Disney and Greece.   While Greece may never happen, I would love to cross Disney off my list.

Not to mention if I start saving up for this it affects my plans to do several Rock n Roll races in 2013... hmmm
Anyone know where I can find a money tree?! Hah!



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Weekend Recap

It was a pretty uneventful weekend here.  It's hard getting used to not having a race or a long run to squeeze in... I am sort of looking forward to getting back on a set training schedule so I have something to look forward to every weekend!  It may only be a long run, but I thrive on schedules and "getting it accomplished."

I spent most of Saturday looking at schedules and trying to figure out my race schedule and vacations with my husbands time off available for the year.  We have "big plans" for the end of the year and my planner-self needed to know if we could pull them off!

While doing my searching, I found out that I could register for the Detroit Half Marathon in October for only $45 if I did it by the end of the day Saturday.  That left me with a pretty big decision to make.  My original plan was to apply for Nike Women's in San Fran this year and if I didn't get in Detroit was my "back-up plan."  But the price was right and with trying to raise money for St Jude this year it just didn't seem like the time to waste $800+ on a cross country race!  Hopefully I will get to do it in the future though - will see how that pans out...

Long story short after this weekend I am officially planning on completing the following races in 2012:
   - Oak Barrel Half in Lynchburg, Tennessee on April 7, 2012  - registered
   - Indy Mini in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 5, 2012  - registered
   - Indy Women's Half in Indianapolis on September 1, 2012  - will register by the end of the month
   - Detroit Free Press International Half in Detroit, Michigan on October 21, 2012 - registered
   - St Jude's Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee on December 1, 2012 - registration set to open in May

Anyone want to do the Indy Women's Half with me?  Pretty please!  I was hoping to find some people to do it with me and maybe we could split the cost of hotels or whatever.

We are making the Detroit trip as well as the Memphis trip "extra special" trips by adding a day to do the zoo at each location.  Not a huge expense (especially since they are reciprocal zoos with our zoo membership so we should get 50% off the admission prices), but it will sure make it more fun for the kids and more like a family vacation than just me dragging the family along to watch me run.   In addition we are planning to go to Alabama  this year for Christmas - hooray!  I am SO excited about that!

The kids spent most of Saturday and Sunday coloring up a storm.  I swear I have never seen two kids spend so much time coloring in two days... if they weren't eating or sleeping, they were coloring!  I felt like the probably should done something else, but hey... they enjoyed themselves.  Natalie wanted to help with my blog post so she decided to color a couple pictures especially for me to share with you guys..



Outside of grocery shopping, my only other excitement for the weekend was a nice 4 mile run I got in this "morning."  I say morning because we chose to lounge around in bed and take our time getting moving this morning so I didn't head out until like 11:00 but it was the first thing I did when I "got up" this morning.  I haven't had a lazy day like that in a while.

I grabbed Phoenix (my mini crazy, overweight australian shepherd)and headed out for 2-3 miles.  It's nice not having the stress of a plan right now, I can run just what I am feeling that day.  It was beautiful out today... not too cold but just cold enough to make sure I didn't get too hot while running.  About 1.5 miles in I decided I was just going to run until I wanted to stop, I was thinking 5-6 miles.... unfortunately my puppy had other plans.  He was dead at about 3.5 miles so I had to come home at 4 miles.  I suppose I could have went  back out by myself, but that didn't happen.  Either way it was an awesome, enjoyable run at a pretty good pace.  I ran 4 miles in a little over 33 minutes.... my average pace worked out to 8:21/mile.  Not bad for a relaxed Sunday run!

As far as my "diet resolution" - I did pretty good this weekend as compared to other weekends when I was in my hardcore "dieting" days.  I ate slightly more than during the week but felt like I chose wisely and 98% of the calories I ate were healthy foods.   I managed to get in 8 bottles of water both days too... so we shall see what the scale says tomorrow morning!





Wednesday, August 31, 2011

More than Half Crazy?

So, I have seen a lot of things with the slogan "only  half crazy" in reference to half marathons, but I may have surpassed half crazy.  I think I may have caught the "bug."  While I was laid up last week resting my knee I spent my "free time" searching the internet for more half marathons that I wanted to run.  Yes, I am INSANE.  But, I have a huge list of races that I want to do.  I have races laid out until 2014 in some of the more "race heavy" months.

Obviously this is not set in stone or anything, but here is what I have laid out so far.  If all goes according to plan, I hope to do most of these races.  Its all very exciting! :) 

2011 -
Sept 3 - Parlor City Trot 10 miler - registered
Sept 10 - Defender Dash 5k - registered
Sept 18 - Pufferbelly Trail 5k - registered
September 24 - Fort 4 Fitness Half Marathon - registered
October 16 - Matt Reinke 5k
October 23 - St Louis Rock n Roll Half Marathon - registered
November 5 - WOOF
November 12 - Veterans 5k (?)
December 10 - Jingle Bell 5k (Indy)

2012 -
April 7- Oak Barrel Half Marathon
May 5- Indy Mini - registered
September - Indy Women's Half Marathon 
October - Nike Women's Half Marathon (if I get in... if not .. Detroit Free Press Half Marathon)
November: Fall Classic Half (Ohio)
December - St Jude Memphis

2013 -
January - Walt Disney World Full Marathon (will I ever be able to complete a full?!?)
March - Rock N Roll Half - New Orleans (?)
April - Rock N Roll Half - Nashville
May - Cleveland Half (?)
August  - Rock N Roll Half - Chicago
September - Rock N Roll Half - Philadelphia
October - Detroit Free Press Half Marathon (or Nike Women's Half if I dont get in 2012)
December - Rocket City Half (?)

2014 -
March - Run the Bluegrass Half
April - Kentucky Derby Half 
May - Flying Pig Half
September - Victory Junction Gang Half
October - Mackinaw Island Great Turtle Half

Other races I would like to run at some point:  (If you are interested in more info on these races, google... I am tired of adding links! haha)
January: Tinkerbell Half Marathon
February: Disney Princess Half Marathon
March: Little Rock Arkansas Half
March: NYC Half
March: DC National Half
March: Rock N Roll Half - DC
April: Crossroads Half
April: Martian Marathon Half Marathon
June: Charlevoix Half
September: Women's Half - Nashville
September: Emerald City Half
September: State to State Half
October: Halloween Half
October: Harbor Springs Half
October: Iron Horse Half
October: Myrtle Beach Mini
October: Disney Wine and Dine Half
October: Red, White and Blue 26.2 
October: Army 10 miler
November: Atlanta Half
November: Space Coast Half
December: Kiawah Island Half
Stomp the Grapes

Short Distance Races:
October:
   10/30 - pumpkin run 5k
   10/15 - run for sleeping angels 5k
   10/6 - run for Riley 5 miler
   10/9 - salamander sprint 5k/10k
November:
   11/19 - FWTC Turkey Trot 5k
   11/24 - galloping gobbler

If you have done any of these races, or have any input on any of them, PLEASE feel free to share, it would be greatly appreciated.  I realize that I may find there are too many races per year, but I wanted to lay out what I COULD do if my training went well.  These would technically work out together timing wise though.

Readers Poll Time:  How far in advance do you start planning out your future races?