Kayla & The Giant Penny

I did it!  I have my very own, hard-earned giant penny medal!  The Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon was yesterday.  It was a perfect race day-- 50s, slight breeze, partly cloudy.  I ran with one of my co-workers, Gretchen and it felt like a surprisingly quick route.  There were a few hills that I thought were going to kick my butt, but I recovered pretty quickly.  Best of all, I finished with a personal best time of 2:16.43, which is almost 15 minutes faster than my previous best!  On to the next... 

Week 6 Training Update

Considering how busy this week was, I'm happy with my progress.  I made it to the gym a few times for cardio and weights and ran outside twice, including a long run on Saturday.  We ran with the group again, but it was actually just one other guy, Chad, me and a coworker I invited.  She is running the same half, so it was nice to run with her and maybe I'll have a running partner on race day!

This week's mileage: 14 (double digits, yay!)

Week 5 Training Update

I'll keep this post short, because there's not much to write about!  This was a weird weather week-- rain, snow, thunder, warm, cold, etc.-- so I was a little unmotivated.  I only ran once this week, but as you can see in my mileage, it was a decent run.  Chad and I ran with a running group on Saturday morning, which included two dogs!  I was pretty worried about running that distance, but I felt surprisingly good for most of the run.  Next week, I am holding dance team try-outs Monday through Thursday, so I'll be busy, but hopefully I can tack on some extra miles and cardio this week!

This week's mileage: 7.5

Week 4 Training Update

This week was an improvement from last!  It was really nice all week, so I was able to run outside again.  It's amazing what a difference it makes to run outside compared to run on a treadmill.  This week was a little low on miles, but I followed the training schedule.  I fit in two days of Pilates, but still haven't done much cross training.. maybe this week?  This weekend we were back in Wisconsin for a visit and went for a run Sunday morning.  A few hours later, we had about six inches of snow!  Guess there are some advantages to getting a run in first thing... 

This week's mileage: 7

Our dance season is over, so I should have a lot more time to run.. here's hoping that's true!

Week 3 Training Update

This week was not nearly as productive as last week.  It turned out to be a busy week between school and dance practice.  I made it to the gym a few nights and did some Pilates at home.  Today was the best, because it was nice enough to run outside AND Chad ran with me!  I think it's probably been a few years since Chad ran more than two minutes with me (I'm usually too slow and he either runs way ahead or runs circles around me).  We ran three miles between 8:30-9:00 pace, which is awesome for me!

This week's mileage: 5.5

I'm going to be really busy again next week, but I need to re-focus and add on some extra miles.

Week 2 Training Update

Another week closer to the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon!  My training is actually going much better than I expected, considering it had been a while since I've spent any time running.  I've been training around a pace of 10:00-10:30, and have been able to add an extra one half to one mile at 9:00-9:30 pace.  Next week, I just need to work a little harder on the cross-training days, since I've been skipping those so far.  I'm also looking forward to some nicer weather (who knows when that will be!), so I can get off the treadmill and run outside.  

This week's mileage: 9

So far, so good.  Let's hope this keeps up!

Ready for the Weekend

I feel like I've been on the go non-stop for the last two weeks!  Last week, especially, was a crazy week at school.  Even though it was a short week, I was gone on Wednesday for a PBIS conference and Thursday morning for CPR training.  There were other meetings, practice and paperwork during the week... AND worst off all, I only had one prep for the entire week!  I feel like I'm still catching up this week.

To make things a little better, last week I started a Maerchen (fairy tale) unit with my German 3/4 class.  It's one of my favorites!  There is a lot of grammar, culture and history to discuss.  We ended the week by watching The Brothers Grimm.  I think it will end up being a five-week unit and hopefully, the kids (the majority of which are male) enjoy it as much as I do!

On top of that, Chad's basketball team has been playing in their regional tournament (which they won last night!).  I've had the difficult job of keeping book, which is really just to help me watch (pay attention to) the game.  The dance team and I have also been hosting our annual Kiddie Camp at the elementary school.  I've been making the rounds between all three schools in our district!

I've also managed to stay up-to-date with my training schedule.  As the weather has been cold and snowy, I've been running inside and making use of my gym membership.  I've been trying to keep a pace of at least 10:00 miles on my training runs.  It might seem slow, but my fastest half was at a pace of 11:30.  Since I'm only training eight weeks, I thought I should try to pick up the pace... we'll see how that turns out. 

So, here's to a relaxing weekend!

Abe & the Giant Penny

So, last night I finally made the commitment and signed up for the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon.  No more making excuses, no more ignoring it, I have to start running now!  I also have to admit, one of my biggest motivators for this run is the finisher's medal-- a giant penny!  Hopefully, in just over two months on Saturday, April 2nd, I will be proudly wearing my very own giant penny around my sweaty neck!

With that said... guess I'd better go lace up my shoes!