10K Race Report/Weekend Report

Big weekend!!!
Friday night at around 9:00PM, we welcomed Ari Benjamin into the world, I am now a lucky aunt of three nephews. First was Solomon (my sister's first son), second Lionel (my sister's second son) and now Ari (my sister-in-law's first son). Very exciting time for the Chassy family!!
Sunday morning marked my first 10K race!!! The Morgan Hill Wildflower Run. My husband and I drove down from our place to Morgan Hill (about 45 minutes) to get there in time for the 10K start of 9:00AM. We had already registered, but picked up our t-shirts (really scary btw, a dark turquoise blue, oh well) and then I headed over to the start for the 10K, my husband didn't start the 5K until 15 minutes later.
Comparing the two races (my first being the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente 5K) with this race.
Here are the pluses to this race and my overall experience.
1. Less People!!!! No bobbing and weaving at the start and we ran on local roads that were blocked off from traffic, so I had PLENTY of room to spread out and enjoy the race and the scenery a lot more.
2. Mile Markers at every mile. This was a huge plus (I'll explain later). Plus at each mile there were volunteers cheering us on, a very nice touch.
3. Water stations at about every mile and a half.
4. Free Jamba Juice smoothies at the finish!!!
5. I was happy with my time!! I finished with a time of 58:40, not a bad pace!!

The Minuses were minimal:
1. I forgot to turn on my Garmin and realized it about 1 mile into the race! And, I didn't reset from my last run and didn't realize that until the race was over. I was so upset with myself. I was so excited to have the Garmin for this race to track my pace, etc. and I totally missed out!!
2. The crappy T-shirts....Oh well

Overall, I enjoyed the race and would be happy to run it again next year. I especially enjoyed the fact that it was a small race and there was plenty of room on the road.

New Shoes are on their way!!

Thanks to all of your advice on getting new shoes. I went with Run to the Border Blogger, Jesse's suggestion and videotaped myself running on the treadmill and sent it in to the Runningwarehouse.com for an analysis. Turns out that I was not a neutral runner anymore or maybe never? The running warehouse said that they notice over-pronation in my stride and that I needed a maximum support shoe. I ended up purchasing the Brooks Trance 9 and I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival. The running warehouse is a cool site with really good prices, and they offer free two-day shipping. I'm excited to try them out!!! Thanks to Jesse for the great tip! Maybe my knees will feel a little better!
I also put up a pic of me from St. Patty's Day, yes, that's a shot of Jamison, BUT I'm too chicken nowadays to drink it all at once, I usually sip it with my Guinness, I know I'm lame!!

The luck of the Irish to ye!!!

So, if you haven't already guessed, I'm totally into holdiays (hence my excited Valentine's Day Post)!! But as far as holidays go, St. Patrick's Day was never a big deal to me, until I met my husband. He takes this holiday seriously! So serious, he takes the day off work to celebrate. So serious that for the past 10 years (maybe more) he has gotten up at the crack of dawn to be one of the first ones at his favorite pub on St. Patty's Day. We are talking, 6:00AM!!! When we first started dating, I thought he was nuts. Then I joined him before work one year and I was hooked. It is kind of fun to have a holiday as an excuse to enjoy a few (maybe more) Guinness' at the bar. I'm now into it full force. I have my Flogging Molly tee and my green feather boa all ready to go for tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I don't see a run happening tomorrow.
Training is going OK. I ran another 8 miler on Sunday, but it was hell! The wind was whipping me like crazy, which made it so hard. Plus, I had a side-cramp the entire way. I still made it, though. Today I did a 5 mile treadmill run to relieve some of the pain that I've been feeling in my knees from running outside on the pavement.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Anyone doing anything special tomorrow??

New Shoes?

I'm seriously thinking about getting a better pair. I currently run in the New Balance 1063s but I keep thinking in the back of my mind that my feet and knees might thank me more if I had a better pair of shoes. It is not like I am running huge weekly numbers or anything, 20 miles is not that big of a deal, but I just keep pondering that maybe my legs and feet might feel better if I took the plunge and got a new pair. Before I ever really ran more than 2 miles at a time, I went and got fitted and they put me in this pair of Brooks. I don't even know the model because they were from like 2000, but they were seriously the best pair of sneakers I ever owned. I'm thinking about trying the Brooks Glycerin 7. I do know that I need a shoe made for neutral runners, and I have normal arches. I'm avoiding going to a running store because they don't have the same great deals as amazon does!
I'm going to mull it over some more. Any of you out there that use shoes made for neutral runners that might have a suggestion?

Talking myself into it

That is exactly what I did on Sunday for my long run, my first ever run of 8 miles at once. I was not feeling it when I woke up and even when I started out on my run, this nagging feeling of needing to quit kept creeping up on me all the way through mile 4. The entire 4 miles, I just kept telling myself, you don't need to do the full 8, you can do another 7 miler like you did on Monday, just keep plugging and don't worry about the pace, take it slow. Then on mile 5, I felt a need to complete the entire 8 miles. I started feeling better and was more determined to actually complete the 8. I basically talked myself into it and it worked. I find that I do this often. One of the reasons being, is that my training schedule has several weeks worth of padding built into it, meaning it is much longer than the timeframe it is meant to be because my half-marathon isn't until the first week in May. I don't know that it's a good thing to have extra weeks built in because it does allow me the chance to chicken out on some weeks. At any rate, I made it! I felt so much better after, knowing that I did it just by mentally giving myself that extra push.
One of my best friends who moved from California to Chicago about 6 months ago, was in town. We met up with her and her fiancee at BJ's and we all shared some good beer and good times. After drinks, we went to see Alice in Wonderland. I LOVED it!! I now want to go back and read the book because I never have before. Johnny Depp was awesome in it. I love Tim Burton's movies.
I found a 10K to run on March 28th that is local. It's the Morgan Hill Wildflower Run. My husband wants to do the 5K and I'm going to do the 10K. I'm excited that he is showing at least a little bit of interest in running 5Ks!! Nice bonus is that we get a free Jamba Juice smoothie after the race! And it's in the same town where my in-laws live, I think my mother-in-law is going to do the walk and then we will all go out for brunch afterward, should be a nice morning.
Have a great week everyone!!!

When Life Throws you Lemons!!!

Arghh, does anyone else feel this way lately!! Stressed out!!! I feel like this whole bad economy is affecting so many people around me, including me. I try to stay positive and remain hopeful and then something else happens to someone close to me and I get beat down again!! I'm still trying to squeeze my way into the health care industry, but dang it's so tough when you don't have direct work experience. I think I'm doing all the right things like working on a Masters degree in the field, volunteering at a hospice and looking and applying for jobs at least every day. But I feel like I'm head-butting a brick wall!!! And, the stress of it all caused an unnecessary fight with one of my best friends this week, who now could be potentially stuck jobless, due to a downsize.
Not to mention, I had a wicked cold this past week that interrupted my training schedule. I just couldn't bring myself to run the 7 miles that I was supposed to yesterday.
BUT, I woke up this morning refreshed that it was the start of the new week. And as I laid in bed this morning, I quietly went through in my mind all of the things that I am so very thankful for. I realize that my world and my problems PALE in comparison to what other people in this world are going through right now, such as the earthquake victims in Chile, or one of my classmates, who just lost her Dad to terminal cancer. In comparison, I am so blessed!! I'm thankful for my ability to use both of my arms and both of my legs, that I am in good health and I am surrounded by people who love and care for me.
After counting my blessings, I got myself out of bed and laced on my shoes and decided to tackle my 7 mile run today. I went incredibly slow and walked about a quarter of mile halfway through, but I made it!! I ran the other 6.75 miles and it felt good!! I felt my thoughts clear up and realized that I can make the best of my situation and I need to be strong and continue to push through, continue to visualize what my life will be and how I will eventually get that job that works out to be just right for me. It's a struggle sometimes, but I just need to focus on the positives in my life right now!!!
Wow! I feel so much better getting that out there!!!
Have a great week everyone!!!