5k PR!

Well, it was only my second 5K so the fact that I set a PR isn't that surprising. My previous 5K that I ran in May was a time of 38:25, an average pace of 12:02. I decided last night I wanted to shave at least three minutes off of that and get my time around 35:00. I ran with the husband who usually averages about a 10:30 pace. I was nervous I wouldn't be able to keep up, but I also didn't want to slow him down. Let me tell you how surprised I was when my app came on after five minutes and said I was running at a 10:37 pace! Wow!! My average pace for the entire race ended up being 10:47 and my total time was 32:22. Yup, I shaved six minutes off my time! I was pretty pleased with myself, I have to say. I don't think at this point I could have sustained that pace for a much longer run, but it does give me hope for my next half marathon in January that I could potentially average a pace closer to 11:00.

Measurements

The husband and I have decided that once we meet a fitness goal of some sort, we need to have another one in mind already so that we don't just get lazy and fat again. I had decided after the half marathon that I was going to do P90X. I've known several people that have done it and had great success with it and really liked it. Plus I had to take a temporary leave from my gym membership, so this will be a great way to stay active and fit while I can't go to the gym. Yesterday I did a bunch of pre-P90X stuff, and today I'll actually start it. I had to take my measurements so I can track my progress at the end of the 90 days. Once I was done I remembered seeing a notebook in my bathroom recently that had measurements I'd taken one year ago today. it must have been when I started South Beach Diet for the first time. It's amazing how the numbers have changed!!

September 8th, 2010
Weight: 187.2
Waist: 35"
Hips: 40"
Thighs: 22"
Arms: 12"
Chest: 40"

September 7th, 2011
Weight: 160.8
Waist: 32"
Hips: 38"
Thighs: 17.5"
Arms: 10/5"
Chest: 36"

Wow. Those are some pretty significant number changes!! I'm curious to see how my numbers compare 30 days from now!

Run a half marathon - CHECK!!

I ran my half marathon on Sunday! With strep throat and maybe whiplash. I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with myself and think I'm bordering on rock star status because of that. All last week I was paranoid I was going to get sick for the race because my youngest had a cold, my BFF had a nasty cold, and we knew a few other people we'd been in contact with that were sick. Thursday night I thought my throat was starting to hurt, but I was trying to convince myself it was all in my head. Friday morning I woke up and knew that wasn't the case. My husband was trying to convince me still that it was just anxiety or allergies, not strep like I was thinking it was. He was going to Dallas for the weekend for the LSU season opener, so we took him to the airport then went home to pack up and head out. The plan had been for the boys and me to go to my mom's so we could leave for CA around 9:30 or 10:00. Plans changed so that I dropped my kids off at her house then went to one of the Walgreens clinics to get a strep test done. I tend to get strep about once a year, so I normally know when I have it. While I was waiting I had pretty much convinced myself it wasn't strep. It didn't hurt as much as it had in the morning, so I thought maybe it was just allergies. Even the nurse at the clinic didn't think it was going to be strep, but it was. Thankfully I knew that by day three of being on antibiotics I was usually feeling mostly normal, so I wasn't quite as worried. I figured at that point I'd run what I could, take walking breaks when I need them, and go in knowing I wasn't going to have an awesome race.

I got a little worried at the race expo because I felt pretty lightheaded most of the time we were there. Thursday night I woke up and had gotten up to shine a flashlight in my throat to check for white spots to see if it was strep, and while I was up doing that I got really dizzy. I was in my kids' bathroom and went to sit down on the floor outside the bathroom and ended up collapsing as I tried to sit down. I banged my head on the floor pretty hard, so I was worried then after feeling lightheaded Saturday that I'd end up passing out at the race.

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 3:20. I caught the shuttle to Disneyland, met up with Jen, and we headed to the race. We got in our corrals around 5:15. A little before 6:00 they had fireworks at the starting line and then the race got underway. The official start time was 6:00, but it was about 6:20 I think when we crossed the starting line. Right away, I felt awesome. My breathing was great, my legs felt great, the energy from the crowd was fantastic. We started out running on a street by the Disney hotels then around Mile 2 got into the parks. There were Disney characters all along the route, and you could stop to have your picture taken with them, but the lines were all really long. Phineas and Ferb were there, and I would have loved to get my picture taken with them, but not at the expense of waiting in line and losing time. After we ran through California Adventure and Disneyland, we went out on the streets of Anaheim. Every mile or so there were high school cheer squads and marching bands--it was pretty cool. We ran around the Honda Center where the Anaheim Ducks play, then along a river, then into Angels Stadium. We got to run on the track of the baseball field in the stadium!! It was so cool!! They had the Jumbotron camera there so everyone ended up on the Jumbotron.

The stadium was around mile 9.5 of the race. I felt great until Mile 11. Eleven miles was the longest training run we had done, and as soon as we hit it I thought "This is longer than I've ever run." I was just tired at that point. The only walking I'd done was through the water stops. I really, really, really wanted to walk for awhile, but I had made it that far without walking and only had two miles to go, plus if I kept running I'd be done a lot sooner. So I kept at it. I remembered when we got to the Disney parks initially there was a sign pointing one way that said Mile 2 and the other way said Mile 12, so I knew once we got back there we were almost done. I was so relieved to see that Mile 12 marker! One mile to go. At that point there were starting to be a lot of spectators along the course cheering everyone on which was great. I was just so ready to be done! Once we saw the Mile 13 marker, we started sprinting for the finish. It was so crazy--I couldn't even feel my legs, it felt like I was flying! Ah if only running could always feel like that.

My official race time was 2:48:32 which took into account two bathrooms tops. I have a running GPS app on my phone that I use, and I paused that at our bathroom stops, so my time on my app was 2:45:03. I was pretty pleased with that time--I had estimated my time as 2:46:00 when I registered but didn't take bathroom breaks into account. It was just so fun, and I'm so ridiculously proud of myself. Honestly running a half marathon was something I never would have expected to do. I'm already excited for the next one I'm signed up to do in January!

Here are my official stats:

OFFICIAL TIME: 2:48:32
Distance HALF MAR (13.1 miles)
Clock Time 3:05:41
Chip Time 2:48:32
Overall Place 7554 / 12785
Gender Place 4328 / 8368
Division Place 770 / 1241
Age Grade 39.4%
5K (my time isn't posted for some reason)
10K 1:17:08
15K 1:58:08

Seriously?!?!?!

My race is the day after tomorrow, and I was diagnosed with strep throat this morning. FML. I guess thankfully I'm allergic to penicillin so I always get a Z-Pack when I have strep. It's just five days of pills instead of 10. The nurse said as ling as the first dose doesn't cause me problems I could double up and take 500mg for three days instead of 500 just today and then 250mg for four days. I may do that. I think I caught it earlier than I usually do, so that's good. Normally I'm feeling better with strep by day three of antibiotics, so I should be okay come Sunday. I just can't believe it...of all weekends!

By the way I'm in the car writing this while my mom chauffeurs my sick ass to Anaheim. Isn't technology amazing?!?!