Last summer was a fun and very hard summer. I had 3 kids under 3. I didn't fit any of my clothes. We did so much going to the parks and playing and enjoying summer but not having any fun clothes that fit and still looking and feeling 7 months pregnant just didn't have me in the greatest of moods.
In September I randomly started working out. Nothing consistent. Then in October I joined together with some friends and we started working out at the church 3x a week in the mornings. It was great. It lifted my mood and helped get me wanting to workout. Then we started a 6 week Health challenge and $$$ was involved. I was all over that. I ended up getting second. Not to shabby.
During this Healthy Challenege I started running again. I mean I have a treadmill in my house. Had I really used it though.. no. But I did during this Challenge and I started remembering how much I liked running. after a couple weeks though I really had to push through because it wasn't so fun. haha Passed that and all was good.
The 6 week challenge ended just before Christmas and even though I got 2nd place I was still pretty dang proud of myself. I was even more proud when I realized I lost 11.5 inches on my body. The scale didn't change a whole heck but losing those inches made me feel good. And so I kept working out and running.
Somewhere in all this I remembered this Run people did once a year at night. So I did some googling and boom Moonlight Run.
I convinced Dan to do it with me because I really didn't want to do this alone. He's great and agreed even though he told me time and time again he was going to die.
So now I had another end goal to work towards. And I even convinced my sister Phoenix to run with me.
So I kept working out and running and juggling these three crazy boys.
Well the day of this Race finally arrived and I couldn't believe I was actually going to do this. 6km. Down and up a HUGE hill. oh man.
We got there though and it was kinda exciting to see how many people were there. I had no illusions I was going to win or anything. I was just doing this for me. And honestly my goal was to finish it in 45 or less. But no longer than 45. At home I only ever really ran 3 miles and this was all on a treadmill. So I knew i wasn't as prepared as I could have been but I was more prepared than Dan. (Love you babe!)
Gotta say it was pretty exhilarating. Especially because I was constantly passing people. haha boosted my mood. Once I got to the downhill part a lot of people were pulling back and slowly down not me. I sped up a bit and let gravity help me out. Zoom zoom.
Once we got into Indian battle park the crowd had thinned some and I had some space to run. All along this run they had drummers and bagpipes and people cheering everyone on. It was really a positive thing. I felt so good! Before I knew it people on the sidelines were shouting you're half way! you're half way! (I found out later they had KM markers, lol I only saw the 5 KM marker on my way up the hill.) It was'nt even as dark as I thought it would be. Everyone had headlamps (so did I) and that helped a lot. Before I really knew it I was at the base of the hill ready to go up.
That hill does ya in though man. It is WAYY bigger than it seems to be. and brutal!
There were two people who would pass me and get up just far enough pass me and they would stop and walk.. and so then I'd start running until i was just enough passed them and I would walk. and back and forth until I was finally at the top of the hill. My friend even passed me at the top (she's amazing and did the 10K) and my goal was to just keep pace with her. but the dang cramp in my side wouldn't let me. but I still kept moving. and then at the end I mustered up the last bit of strength I had and just let it fly! :) Yet again another mood boost when I passed 8-10 people before crossing the finish line!
Seriously. What a High! It felt so good. I found my sister. and Then we found Dan who also did amazing and crossed 4ish minutes after me. Not to shabby considering he did not practice or prep for this in anyway.
It was so fun. Such a positive thing. I amazed myself and finished this 6K in 39 mins and 29 seconds! (thats my chiptime. the actual time from the air horn was 41:27. But I count it for me from when I crossed the startline. :)
So fun! I can't wait to do this again next year(Dan even said he would do it again!) and even some others throughout the spring and summer! Ladies Fest anyone?
