PRISON BREAK...

Hello! Well today is a day after the Prison Break 1/2 Marathon and I am still alive : ) It was such a great experience. Well, first of all I must thank everyone for ALL of their great support!!!! Muchas gracias! Muchas gracias! Here is the break down of the miles and how I felt.
1.) The first mile was a little distracting because I was trying to get the watch to start (Which I initially had prepared but it didn't start ; ) SO, I need to make sure that that was taken care of before the race and not during the race. The first mile or so was ran with Monica. She was giving me a few keypoints so that was helpful.
2.) Mile 2-5 was my warm-up.
3.) Mile 5-6 ran with a gentleman but lost him after I made a pit stop (moderate pace).
4.) Mile 6-10 ran with a lady who was a great running partner (moderate pace). This period was my prime because the pace was moderate and having someone run with felt good.
5.)Mile 10-12 ran byself because I wanted to kick it up a notch. Felt good and was able to breath without a lot of trouble.
6.) Mile 13 - Team Apex was waiting for me to run the LAST mile. It was great but that little hill was a challenge. I was anticipating the hill to take place during mile 11 so I thought the hills were behind me, NOT! They were waiting for me. The last mile was the most tiring for me. My breathing was not great and I really pushed myself. I would focus on what Monica would tell me, just look at their back and nothing else. Of course, Scott mentioned that we were almost there and Kevin would say just do what you do at practice! Oh, how I wish that at that instant I felt like I do during me practice with a little bit more energy but it all worked out.
7.) Made the finish line thanks to my GREAT coaches and team support!!!
Overall, I am truley gratefull that I could experience a half marathon because it gives me an idea of what to expect at the full marathon.

Something that I would like to work on is my mental training and I think that this marathon will help me prepare for future runs. It's amazing to know how strong the mind will work. I think mental prepardness and speed work will definatley help me build a stonger foundation. One step at a time.

After the marathon I felt tired and got about a half hour nap and ate lunch. I took Saturday easy in regards to physical work and drank lots of fluid. My body felt a little pain but nothing too extreme but the only thing that did hurt was my knees. They both felt bruised and I would massage them.

The day after the marathon - got plenty of rest and coninued to drink lots of fluids. My body was in little ache and the knees were both hurting. I ran an easy 30 minutes and that felt good!

Well, I am still survining and it was a great experience and I am looking to do this again.

Once again thanks to EVERYONE for their great support! It's so encouraging to have the best team run and encourage me every step of the way. THANK YOU!!!

Run 10/14

Today's run went good! I felt good. No major pain just a little at the beginning but as I warmed up it eased up. The run was a little faster and it felt good to keep that pace without feeling pain and still having breath : ) Thank you team for your encouragement and help!

Run For 10/04-06

Run 10/4, Long (Easy) 2:10
I ran my long, easy run on Saturday morning at the Foothills. My warm up went well and the it took a while to get into the jist of running (but it usually takes me a while to get into the running mode). After I got into I was ready to go and overall I felt good. I did feel a slight pain on my left knee (on the side). As I was coming back I took a wrong turn and got lost which made my run longer than I had anticipated. Can you believe that I got lost?!? It happens to everyone : ) I just wanted to go downhill and it seemed like the mountains were getting steeper by the second! After I traced back I eventually made it to Camel's Back Park. I was very tired after the run and throughout the day, but it was a good tired.

Run 10/5
Today I did my slow recovery run for about 30 minutes and it felt good to let it all out!

Run 10/6
Today I did my slow run for about 40 minutes and I felt much better compared to yesterday. The weather was beautiful and I felt good.

Overall: I am getting blisters and it could very well be from my socks. I purchased some socks for running about a month ago, but I think I will need to make a stop at Shu's to confirm that I have the correct socks.

I will have the coaches take a peek at where my knee was hurting for any recovery tips!

Wow, one more run down and many more to come!

Thursday's Run (10/2)

Hello Running Blog! Well today I felt MUCH better compared to Tuesday's run. I felt my legs a little tight even after the stretching but after my body got warmed up I was up and going. The run wasn't too fast but we (Kevin and I) kept it at a slow to moderate pace. Even though Thursday's should be a day to work on speed I felt it was a good recovery from Tuesday.

Saturday's Run - I will not be running with the team this weekend since I will be going to Burley for the weekend but will do my running either Sat. or Sun. I will blog to let you know how I feel.

Team thanks for your great encouragement!!!

Running Mode...

Well, yesterday I didn't get to blog about my running but wanted to keep you updated on how I felt. When we were doing our warm-ups I felt my legs and body REALLY heavy. My meals were normal (nothing heavy). It took my body a while to get into the running mode but about half ways I was feeling a little better. Kevin asked me about my breathing techniques and honestly I have never put much practice into it so he suggested the breath, breath, breath out method. While we were running I was trying to focus on it and I think it helped. My goal is to try this method so I focus more on my breathing and get a rhythm (like Kevin said). At the end I felt much better and felt a little push to run a little harder since we started at an easy pace. I felt good and boy was it a work out. Yesterday was the first day that I felt a different tiredness in my body. Mike said that it is normal since I am in my base training. Today throughout the day I felt my body tired but as this moment it feels GOOD! It's so amazing to see the different stages that our body goes through. I will be ready to run tomorrow.