The Great 5k Nano Run!

It's time for my latest Team in Training fundraiser!  I'm once again partnering up with my good friend at Run Find your Happy Pace to bring you The Great 5k Nano Run!

The details are very simple:

Run a 5K and be entered to win one of three great prizes:
A brand new 16GB Blue iPod Nano
A pair of aqua yurbuds
A $15 iTunes gift card

Only 100 entries will be allowed, so enter today!

$10 per entry $20 for two entries $30 for three entries LIMIT OF 100 entries!!

The drawing will be held as soon as we get 100 entries and the winner will be notified via email and will also be announced on Facebook.

Thank you for your continued support of me and of Team in Training!

Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

This was a great race!  I was really unsure of how I would feel about a night time race, and I know that my nerves showed in the earlier part of the day.  I tried to sleep in, but it didn't happen.  My husband and I had planned on taking it easy on Saturday, had some breakfast and then headed over to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping.  We were also meeting up with my brother in law and his girlfriend who were driving in on Saturday.  We met up with them and had lunch, after that we all decided to head back to our hotel rooms to rest a little before taking the bus over to the start line.

The race start time was 10:00 pm.  About 7:00 we got on the bus to go over to ESPN Wide World of Sports where we checked our bag for after the race and then basically just hung out until it was time to go to the start corrals.  The really nice thing about the start line for this race was that it was so much closer to the drop off than for the princess half.  My husband and I were in corral C, so when it was time, we headed that way to wait.

Once again we were planning on a 3:1 run:walk ratio.  And for the first 8 miles that worked out great.  I  will say one thing, we went over a couple over passes and it seemed that every time we were at a walk break we were going downhill and every run was uphill.  I know that's not really possible, but it sure seemed that way.  I am not sure if it was because of those overpasses or not, but about mile 8 my back was starting to hurt.  I have a bad habit of tensing up my shoulders when I run, but this was a lower back thing that definitely felt different.  We kept pushing through, ended up walking a little more at the end than I liked, but we finished, that's all that really matters in the end!  And for me it was a new PR for a half marathon- official time of 3:14:26, my watch time was 3:10:41.

After the race we met back up with my brother in law and his girlfriend and started enjoying the after party.  This was one great thing about this race- included in your race fee was admission to EPCOT and their food and wine festival.  We stopped at several of the food booths and just hung out until it was time to catch the bus back to our hotel.  I remember thinking that there was no way I'd be able to stay up and actually take advantage of the after party, but I remember at one time looking down at my watch and realizing it was 3:30 am.  We caught the bus back to our hotel about 4 and said our good byes.

Overall, I loved this race.  I'm already trying to convince my husband that we should do it again, but given the choice, he wants to try out the Tower of Terror 10 miler.  So we are still in discussion over which one we'd like to do if we are fortunate enough to do another one.....

Wicked 10k ~ 2012

This was my first run with my husband since last year's Wicked 10k.  We talked about it before the run and I told him that I was going to follow a run:walk ratio of 3:1.  I've only done one other 10k and that was the Wicked last year.  Last year my time was 1:45, so my goal was to beat that time.  

With the help of my husband pushing me along, I was able to beat that time....by 23 minutes!  We had much better weather for this race, even with impending tropical storm Sandy.  We kept with the plan from start to finish.  This was the first race I've really ran from start to finish with someone.  I'm usually the slow one of the group and I tend to start with a group and then we all run our own pace.  The first miles went by fairly quickly to me, I was enjoying the run:walk.

I guess I'm not a very happy runner, around mile 2.5, my husband looks over at me and says "I think I'll run ahead, I feel like I'm bothering you."  I told him he was actually helping me, and he agreed to stick with me as long as I'd smile a little.  So I did try to smile every now and then.  

We continued on over the next several miles and managed to cross the finish line at 1:22:05, average pace of 13:05, my best pace for a race to date.  I'm looking forward to finding another 10k to do sometime in 2013 to try for a new 10k PR :)

A Twist for Frosty's Great Cupcake Race

If you participated in The Great Cupcake Race last month, you may remember that my friend at Run Find your Happy Pace and I agreed to run as cupcakes as long as we reached 100 participants. Well, thanks to everyone spreading the word, we had over 160 registrants!

So, since I also agreed to run the Wicked 10k this weekend as a cupcake, we wanted to come up with another challenge. My husband has agreed to run as a cupcake with me if we can reach 100 participants by Friday, October 26th at midnight. We currently have 45 people registered, so we still need 55 people to register by Friday! I think we can do it- you guys have been a great support already!

Lots of pictures will follow if we get to 100 by Friday!

Frosty's Great Cupcake Race

Registration is now open for Frosty's Great Cupcake Race 5k or 10k!

When:  December 8, 2012 (or any time that is good for you!!)

What:  You choose, 5k or 10k 

Why:  This is our third virtual race to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team in Training.  

This time we are offering 7/8" Happy Bands from Running Happy!  You can choose from two Happy Band designs,  snowflake or snowman.  These bands will be at a special price only available for purchase here!

We will be closing registration on November 18 in order to allow time for the medals to be ordered and for shipping.  Please feel free to send any questions to run.in.sanity@gmail.com.  

Thank you for your participation!  

Crawlin Crab Half Marathon

This race was much better than I had anticipated!  It was held in Hampton, VA  only about 30 minutes away.  But, because of possible traffic, we decided to stay overnight at the host hotel.  It was great to get up and be able to have breakfast and then walk over to the start line.  The race started at 8 am, so we left the hotel about 7:30 and walked right into the start corrals.

I was doing the half marathon with my friend Jody and my mom and Caleb (oldest kiddo) were doing the 5k.  It was a little cooler than I had planned for, and luckily I had picked up a long sleeve shirt at Target yesterday that I wore over my tank top.

Once we got started, I warmed up pretty quickly.  I was following a run/walk plan for this half with my ratio being 3 min run/1 min walk.  That was working really well for me.  My 10k split was 1:26:58, which would be the fastest 10k I have done to date (that's my time to beat for the Wicked 10k coming up at the end of the month).  I was moving along really well.  The course was nice, they really took us through some nice areas.  

Then came mile 10.  And the rain....cold rain.  And the wind.  Last year the only race I got rained on was also in October....if it rains on me for the Wicked 10k again this year, I may boycott October races :)  Just not my favorite conditions to run in. But, coming up at the end I had 7 really great people waiting on me :)  That in itself was worth the rain and cold!

This makes half marathon #8 of the year.  And it will definitely be my last half marathon of this deployment!

Thank you! Thank you!

So today I took all of the medals for The Great Pumpkin Race and the Mini Pumpkin Mile to the post office and mailed them out.  That means that I was able to make the donation to my TNT goal as well.  Thanks to all of the participants for this virtual race, the donation total is $1500 so far (there may be a little more later on)!  This has put my fundraising total so far at $4615, already passing my initial goal!  This would never be possible without your participation, so thank you so much!

More blogs coming soon- especially photos of my Great Pumpkin 5k and my kiddos' Mini Pumpkin Miles :)