Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Of Races and other Busy Things

On Sunday, I ran the Zombies, Run! Spring Virtual Race.


I kicked ass.



For reference, my 5K last May was 35:56. So I'm just under 2:30 slower than I was then. Which means I'm very much on track to PR when I run the Zoo 5K again next month.

Today I ran 40 minutes and was super tired because I didn't sleep well last night.

at least I ran.

So in addition to the Zombies, Run! virtual races, I've also joined the Hogwarts Running Club. I'm not nearly as big a fan of Harry Potter as I was several years ago, but I still love it and I do identify strongly with my Hogwarts House (Slytherin). I've been having a lot of fun with the HRC, running and walking every day on Charity Miles. I usually use the Crohns and Colitis Foundation as my charity of choice, but sometimes I'll choose another one if the Slytherin house wants to support one in particular. Pretty much we turn on Charity miles each time we walk or run and each mile earns cents towards a charity. We also have big events like virtual races and actual charity drives (Slytherin just won the sock drive!)

The HRC just announced their next virtual race, and I'm absolutely thrilled about it. It's the Unmasked 10 mile Run For Your Life race, and the charity we're supporting is To Write Love On Her Arms. Last year I briefly touched upon my mental illness, so this run is near and dear to my heart. I've struggled with depression since I was 12, though I was not diagnosed until I was 15 (and then it was dysthymia. Depression diagnosis came when I was around 19). I wasn't diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder until I was well in my twenties, but I've had it just as long as depression, and it was completely untreated unlike my depression. Living with mental illness is hard enough. Growing up with anxiety, and not understanding why you behave the way you do when other people seem to be able to just DO things? Normal things, like talking on the phone and being able to order a meal at a restaurant, and to do your homework on time and to go in a new store by yourself? That's even harder.

10 miles, though, is a lot. The most I"ve run at one time is 4 and a half miles. But thankfully, we're allowed to break up the races into as many pieces as we can (it's on the honor system). I might try to push myself to do at least 5 miles once, and then maybe break up the other half into a couple of runs. Either way, I'm excited. And I'm getting the Dork Mark t-shirt!

In addition to the virtual race, the HRC is also doing a Quidditch Cup Competition, and I was selected to be a team member! I can't talk too much about it here yet, but I will say it's going to be epic. I'll go into more detail after the competition because I seem to be talking a lot on this today.

In addition to the virtual events, I also have two real live races coming up.

I'm running the Tulip Trot 5K at the Missouri Botanical Gardens 2 Weeks from Easter Sunday. It's not a competive or timed race, but I'm going to keep track. I'll probably get easily distracted since it's so pretty there. Maybe I'll take pictures!

And then in May I have the Make Tracks for the Zoo 5K again. I'm really excited about this, friends. I want to PR. I want to go to the zoo. I want to run with a bunch of other runners. It's gonna be awesome.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

SPRING has SPRUNG

Or something like it! Nonetheless it's in the upper 60's today which means it's practically the perfect weather for running (I like it around 60 personally, but I'm not going to complain about the sunshine and fresh air!).

My run was FANTASTIC today, which is good because I lost an entire week due to illness. I did a short run earlier this week and had to miss yesterday because I was too tired after work. But I went out today just wanting to do a 30 minute run to prep for a full 5K tomorrow, and, well..

I DID SO GOOD! My pace hovered around 8 minutes per km, which is reeeeeeally good considering how slow I've been lately. considering how inconsistently I've been running the past couple of weeks, I'm really proud of myself! I did a "training mission" for the spring Zombies Run race, so I didn't do a full 5K, just until the mission was over. I think it was about 34 minutes.

I found my awesome hat! And look a TANK TOP. 


Anywhosit, I'm hoping to run the actual race tomorrow if I get time. My nephew's confirmation is tomorrow and i'm going to that, and cooking my awesome baked beans, and we're having a party, but I can squeeze in 35 minutes (maybe? 37 minutes? I'll go with 37. :D) to do a 5K real quick hehe.

I have some big running news coming up. Races, goals, plans, etc. I gotta wait on confirmation for a couple things, so I'll wait until then and make a blog post about it. :D Stay tuned, dudes.