I'm Back and with Challenges!

So I know its been FOR-EVA since I last posted. Sorry about that for those that care. I haven't been sitting on my rump though. I have been running!! My goal is to run 10 races in 2013 the last being the St. Jude Half Marathon. Eeeek! I've already registered for 5 of the races and have 5 others picked out I just haven't made the commitment to them yet. 

I have an awesome running partner. We try to meet 3x a weeks but it doesn't always happen. She is going to run the 1/2 with me so we are training together and I LOVE it. Running it so much more enjoyable with a partner. 

This is one of my most recent runs. My pace has slowed considerably because of my "break" during the winter. So I basically started from scratch (boo). 

When I'm not running with Sara I try to do 6/2 splits running at about a 11:00 to 12:00 minute mile. 

Sara is a newbie but it doing AMAZING! We started a few weeks ago doing a 2/3 split and are currently doing a 3/3 split and are running anywhere from a 11:30 to a 13:00 minute mile. She doesn't know it yet but our run tonight we are going to a 3/2 split. :) 

I am joining some blogging friends and am doing the #4MChallenge 

I already had a few Jillian DVD's on hand and decided to go with the 30 Day Shred. I have serious Love/Hate relationship with ole Jill. I usually "mute" her just so I can make it through the workout. :) 

How my morning started

*side note* Are you following me on Instagram?  You should (ebob86)

I also recently found these apps by "Runtastic* 

PushUps Pro

SitUps Pro

and Squats Pro

Yes I had to pay for them but for me that helps hold me accountable. The Squats Pro is pretty "easy" because I could probably knock out 100 squats in my sleep. But having the goals and training schedule is great for my "type A" personality and knowing that I have a schedule to follow means I'll actually do it. My goal for the PushUps Pro is to get through the training with the modified push-ups (on my knees) and then when I finish go back through it again doing  "real" Push-Ups.

You should check out the apps! They have free ones too.

I also just started an accountability group for morning quiet times called "Hello Mornings". My morning quiet times have been nonexistent recently. I don't really have a good excuse just laziness really. I love having accountability wether it be in exercise or my time with God. If you have an area in your life that you feel you are failing try getting someone with the sames goals to help hold you accountable. It will make a huge difference. 

An email sent by "hello mornings" this morning really convicted me.....

"Rising early to meet with the Lord — not because I am rested, but because He is worthy — is an expression of trust that He will supply what I need to get through my day." 

Such powerful words. Am I trusting God to supply what I need to get through the day? 

I did today :) Now to make it my habit again.

So will you join me in any of these challenges? How about just one? Let me know if you are! I'd love to be an accountability for you :)

Check out the hashtag on instagram #4MChallenge for motivation with the Jillian workouts. Or #operationredbikini 

You can go to Hellomornings dot org for more information about the accountability for your morning quiet times. 

I'm also linking up with Megan over at SkinnyMeg for Workout Wednesday 

So go check that out for motivation and ideas for workouts!

Have a great Wednesday!

{The Happiest 5K On the Planet}

The Color Run was exactly what they said it would be

{The Happiest 5K On The Planet}

What's kind of funny though is that is wasn't actually a 5K. It ended up being like 2.67. I don't know who dropped the ball on that one.....
But it was definitely focused around fun and people of all different ages, shapes, sizes, and athletic abilities showed up for this colorful race. I use the word race lightly because nothing was timed and most people would come to dead stop in the color sections, some even got down and rolled on the ground.
 Some of the people working the color stations were pretty hard core. My friend Ashley took some pink paint in the mouth and I got nailed in the forehead with orange.
 It was super fun though and I got to hang out with some of my best friends. I even ran into my best friend from high-school!

Enough talk enjoy the pictures!

Some of the {Color Me Fab} Team

Waiting to Start

Headed towards the Orange Cloud

After I took some orange to the face

So Colorful

Best friend from high-school

 Such a fun race

      

    Allie and me rocking our shirts

Look how white our teeth look!

getting doughnuts

aren't we cute?

Pre-shower Lovely-ness

pre-shower praying it would all come off

If you want to check out some other blogs about the Color Run you can check out.....

Allie @ In Stride

Dawn @ A Day in the Life of Dawn

Candace @ The Jerkins

Emily @ The Story of (US)ssery

Not all of them have updated about the Color Run yet but I know they will (No pressure ladies) : )

I'm still waiting on a few pictures from some friends so I'll post them on another post after I get them.

Have a great Monday!!

Race Results and Training

Race results are up and I'm proud to say that I got 10th in my age group (25-29) and 103rd over all (out of 355 runners) with an official time of 35:17.

Not bad for my first race.

A few "borrowed" pics from the race

Stretching takes deep concentration apparently....

I look like death but I promise I'm ok

Crossed the finished line. You'd think I'd look happy....instead I look like I've been run over by a mac truck a few times...
Any-who


With my first 5k and goal completed and behind me it't time to start focusing on my next 5k and goal.

The Color Run and my goal to finish it in 30 minutes....
I'm not as determined to meet this goal the more I think about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to train like heck but if I don't finish it in 30 minutes I won't be upset by it. This race is about having fun and thats what I'm going to do.

With the Women Run/Walk group over for the year I needed to find a new training program to keep me motivated. RunKeeper now has the ability to "Coach" you in different trainings so after I browsed a few different ones I decided to go with on of the Half marathon trainings. Not because I plan on running a half race anytime soon but because the training had everything I wanted/needed. It does interval training to help increase your normal pace, and adds milage to your runs.
Today was the first day and I did interval training.

5 minute warm up
3 minutes of hard running (more intense than your normal pace)
3 minutes of light running or walking (I went with walking)
five times

I was averaging on my 3 minute runs about a 10:20 pace. My first two I was probably more around 9:45 and my last one I was probably more of a 10:45 but overall still more intense than my normal pace.
Tomorrow is a rest day and Thursday is a light to moderate 3 mile run.
I'm looking forward to this new training program that by the way is 6 months long.
Next year I plan to run the St. Jude half and I'm looking forward to crossing it off my bucket list.

First 5K Race

Well, I did it! I completed my first 5K race :)

Allie, Ashley, and Ashlee all met at my house at 6:40 this morning for us to ride together to the race. We were all super pumped and ready to go.

We made it to the park around 7:10, checked in, and got our bibs

We had some time to kill so we made a quick (and gross) stop at the porter-potties, did a warm up walk, and snapped some pictures...

At 8:00 we started the race with my goals of running without stopping and to a least finish at the 37:20 I had done on Tuesday.
I was running with Ashley and Marie with the hopes that we would be able to pace each other well. We (being the rookies that we were) started off way too fast and were going at about a 10:15 pace. We started to try to slow down and ended up getting a little slower than we wanted at about a 12:30 pace. So it took us a bit to get it right and at a 11:30 pace. Between mile 1 and mile 2 there was a killer hill that really took a lot out of me but I didn't let it slow my pace down and I kept going. I was really hoping for that second wind or for the adrenaline to kick in after mile 2 but it never happened and I felt like I was barely making it. I really wanted to stop to walk but refused to do so and just kept going.
I finally made it to mile 3 and was met by a coach that helped motivate me to the end by running beside me. It gave me that extra push I needed. I really thought my time was going to be awful because of how exhausted I felt and I was completely surprised when I took the turn and saw 35 on the clock.

I finished the last minute with everything I had (which wasn't much) at a 9:30 pace and crossed the finsh line at 35:17(ish) (I will have my exact time later next week)

I was so excited and couldn't believe I cut 2 minutes off my time from Tuesday. So I completed both my goals today : )

My self portrait with my glittery pink medal for finishing

All the girls showing off their medals

Allie and Me. Allie got 2nd place in her age category with a time of 25:49. Whoa.

My mile break down ended up being

Mile 1 11:29
Mile 2 11:24
Mile 3 11:25

So next up is the Color Run (that is just a month away) I can't wait!