Mother, Run, Hike

April 2015- Completed my first 10K, and survived with no major injuries! Meaning, I had shin splints for a while, but they have for the most part gone away. My grandmother passed the day after, and while grieving her passing, my heart was not into running, or really moving at all, but I forced myself to get up and go to work. Roger and I started talking about the Hershey Half Marathon, and jokingly I mentioned that it could be split up, because they offer a relay option. He could do half and I could do half. We laughing agree to split it. It would still be finisher medals for both, Hershey In the Dark tickets for both and tshirts for both. We left it at that and continued eating our French toast. May 2015. I had 3 5Ks runs that month, Kat’s Angels, Kennett Run, and the Color Run. I kept up with some of my 10K training, but wasn’t overly worried. I started doing more weights and yoga, and again Roger and I talked about the Hershey half. I don’t know why we are not capable of be...

Date of the race: September 11, 2015 Time: 6:30 pm Weather: 72, sunny, slightly humid. Fee: Registered the week before $30 Shirt: Navy blue tech shirt, pretty sweet shirt! I might even wear it. Goodie bag: one whoopee pie, a couple of coupons and a pretty hilarious exercise block. Lots and lots of portable toilets. I want to say first that I was green with envy for those doing the half marathon! I have been training for the Hershey Half all summer, according to my Map My Run, I’ve logged over 200 miles of Runs, including races, training and hikes, so I felt that I would have been ready for the half! I’m glad I didn’t run in, because I was nowhere near ready, and I hope all the runners had a fantastic race!     I have been excited for the 5K for months! I knew I would not do the half from the beginning, but also knew that I would be there at least to have the opportunity to meet Christopher McDougall, since he would be there to promote his...

Back in the spring of 2014 Roger and I looked at the 13 places to Visit in Pennsylvania article we found in Penn Live. One place that caught our eye was The Ganoga Falls in Ricketts Glen State Park. He kept begging for us to go, but I kept rolling my eyes at him and thinking it was too far to drive, and at the time, I wasn’t sure what the hike would be like or if the drive would be worth the hike, but he kept insisting and I agreed to go. I’m pretty sure it was because there was no zumba at Art in Motion that weekend. Looking back, I was pretty negative about the idea of the trip, and how I regret not having gone sooner. These are some of the things I remember about it, it has been one of the best trips we took last year. Early that morning we packed some water, some Kind Bars and I also packed a yogurt. No, we had no idea what we were doing, how long the trail was, or how long it would take us to hike it. We only knew that the hike was difficult and muddy, but we didn’t look ...

  Aah!! It has been a long week, a wonderful weekend, but exhausting. I’m out of sync with my half marathon training and it’s beginning to stress me out a little. Here is how I came off the plan, and how I hope to correct it soon. Saturday Aug 29 I did my 10K- and got firs place female. It was awesome. I was a little tired, but rested most of the rest of Saturday and was ready to run 6 more miles on Sunday. Sunday Aug 30 I was feeling good, and rested. All ready to run 6 miles. But I made a mistake. I wore shoes that I hadn’t worn in a few runs, and I only wore one pair of socks, after having been wearing two pairs of socks, to prevent blisters… a big investment on socks is needed soon. \ I was feeling really good, considering that I had ran 6 miles the day before, and then my left toe started to feel tingly and painful. I stopped. I had the exact same experience at the Color Run in Philadelphia in 2014, and ignored it then. And the ball of my toe was never the ...

The Day I won 1 st Place Female Race: Ninja 10K Where: Harrisburg PA, City Island. Weather conditions- Sunny, and humid. Temperature : 72. Organizer: US Road Running Shirt : Red tech Ninja shirt Number of runners – 23 Part of our training for the Hershey half includes a 10K, so I picked the Ninja 10K   in Harrisburg, because it was giving out finisher medals. It seems that at some point, collecting shirts and bibs is not enough. So early Saturday morning, we went to get our bibs and shirts, and then headed to get some food. The 5K started at 8:00 am and the 10K at 9:10 am. It seemed weird that the 10K would be the last to start, and so late, but we just went with it. As the time was getting closer to the run, we didn’t see many other people getting close to the start line. I didn’t think anything of it, I was excited and nervous, and ready to just start running, it was getting hot! We started at exactly 9:10, and all 23 of us took off running. At ...

Getting ready for another race The summer went by really quick! It had been my goal to do a ton of 5Ks and maybe more 10Ks, but financially, I wasn’t able to. And physically, I have been training for a half marathon, and that takes most of my energy and time. I’m running a 10K this Saturday and I’m really excited for it! My last race was the Library Loop, which I loved, and did my best time yet. 25.30. I have searching and searching for another race, but between time, money and being tired, I didn’t find one. Last week I was feeling really down on myself for not having done a race in 4 weeks, and I realized that I run more for the excitement of the event than for the physical benefits…. I don’t care if it makes weird. But here are my reasons for enjoying race more than training T shirt and Bib! – I’m a terrible hoarder of those! I have a pile of shirts that I don’t wear, and probably will never wear, but I just love them. Every now and then I just take them out of the c...

I signed up for the Hershey Half Marathon with Roger. We agreed to train together and do the half marathon together. Because of our schedule, we would do some work outs on our own, and even a few runs. But we were always clear that we would do our long Sunday Runs together. And then we got into a fight, and he ditched me for our long Sunday Run. We had gotten into a small argument before, but we still went for the long run together, but not this Sunday. I have run alone many times before, but mostly short runs and I would lie if I said I wasn’t a little nervous and scared. Roger snuck out earlier than me and left for his long run at Hershey…. So,   as hurt as I might have been… I packed up my shoes and went for my long run; there was no way to make up this run later on the week. …. Those 9 miles were not going to run themselves. I set out my clothes, sneakers and food the night before. The one thing I hadn’t decided on was the route I would take. We have done Camp Hill, Hershe...

5K, 10K, 3.1, 6.2, 13.1, 26.2, bib, tech shirts, training, PR, sprints, hill training, splits, carb loading, ct5K, ultramarathon…. And so many I more I can’t remember. I started running just for fun, my sister and I did a 5K… I honestly didn’t know how long a 5K was, just knew I had to run it. We did well, but people started asking me things, that I didn’t know how to answer “What was your time?” what ? Time? We started at 9:30 and finished at 10:02… that time? “What was your pace?” I was going slowish…. That pace? “how was your split?” I went running, there was no splitting. “Was this a PR for you?” A PR? Puerto Rican Rice? Where I want some, now please. Carb loading? Why, yes please! I have learned a few things, mostly by trial and error. I have learned others by researching and others by reading books, magazines and blogs. Here is a few things that now I know 5K (Kilometers) - is a 5 Kilometers run, or 3.10 miles. My most popular run! I like to tell people how far 3 ...

Running in Costumes Last year I ran the Harrisburg Hero Run dressed at El Chapulin Colorado, to my knowledge there is not many Mexican Super Heroes, I appreciate and love comic book heroes, Wonder Woman totally rocks those shorts and boots, Batman broodiness is super rock and roll and I will never deny the appeal of Chris Evans as Captain America, but neither appealed to me in thinking of a super Hero costume. In Mexico, We have El Chapulin Colorado, a parody of superhero shows, and I was determined to run dressed as him for the Hero run. Lucky for me, Trick of Treat weekend was the same as the Hero run, and The Art In Motion Fitness Halloween Party was that Sunday as well….. I got a lot of mileage of the $18 costume!! This year, I was inspired and have wanted to do more runs in costume, just because it gets me thinking of costumes, working on them and adding to the fun of the run. First run this year was the Irish Jig Jog Run, with a costume contest. I wanted to dress u...