Hello. It’s Me.

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Running and tagged with 2016, Brother, Family, Goals, Husband, New Year, Running, Team RMHC January 4, 2016

Hi 2016 and blogging world!!! I feel like I’ve been off the blogging radar when really, it’s been a week since I posted…right? A week? Lemme check…

Anyway, I’ve also haven’t been able to catch up on reading others and/or commenting–the holidays are so time consuming!

I hope everyone has been doing well. We’re in a new year and everyone has recapped their 2015 and discussed their 2016 goals and well, I’m not sure I have a whole lot to say about either just yet, lol!

2015 was a tough year for me running wise. I had my first DNF and zero PRs or AG placements. I started the year with a half marathon where I was less than 15 seconds from a PR, had two half marathons where I was less than 2 minutes from sub 2 hours, one marathon where I was again, seconds from a PR. Yeah, it was that kinda year. Don’t really have much else to say about that, lol!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR: Running for charity ❤

Looking back at last year, 2015 wasn’t about me at all. It was all about these two guys.

brother, husband

My brother had an absolutely amazing 2015 losing more that 75 pounds and finishing two half marathons and snagging a sub 2 hour one at that! There is no way that I won’t think of 2015 and not think about him and everything he accomplished. It means way more than anything I could’ve done.

My husband is on a rampage. He was never a long distance runner but has grown to love a sport I’ve loved for a long time. I’m so happy we can now share this amazing part of our lives. He completed his first full marathon in Chicago in October and improved his half marathon time so much this year, finishing with a 1:36:31 last month. He’s currently training for Phoenix full in February and I can’t wait to cheer him on ❤

I won’t look back at 2015 and be sad. Not one bit.

2016 is exciting. I have so much unknown as I don’t have a lot of races planned. I think this is good. With that lies so much promise. It’s nice to not have any idea of what to expect. The only thing we have planned is crossing the Grand Canyon (R2R2R) in May.

I’m home now, and I think that will help with my running–not having the stress of work and just being able to focus on family. I know that will be something positive for 2016 in many ways.

Like I said, I haven’t really thought about the future so I don’t have any “goals”. I think maybe this year I’ll just take it day by day and not put so many expectations on events/races/things.

That sounds like a pretty good goal actually 🙂

–2015 highlight?

–What are you looking forward to in 2016?

–Do you have any goals/resolutions?

Friday Five Link Up!! 5 Goals for 2015

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Goals, Link Up, Marathon Training, New Year, Running January 2, 2015

I’d been wanting to write about what I want to work on/improve to in 2015 so I decided to go for a 5 miler this morning to think more about it. When I came back, I opened up my laptop and started checking my e-mails to see two always anticipated alerts–new blog posts from my faves Salt and Mar!

Mar and her buddies Cynthia and Courtney host a weekly Friday Five link up and it’d been a while since I’d joined and it’d been a while since Salt had participated too. I had already wanted to write about this topic so I figured I’d join in on the party too!

Here they are! My 5 goals for 2015!!

1. Challenge myself

This was a repeat from last year. I want to continue to challenge myself and find opportunities to do so. I find that I need challenges to help keep me focused and motivated. I like doing hard things.

That being said, there are times where I get complacent and start to make up excuses on why it’s okay for me to not try. The Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon last month is a perfect example and that race taught me and showed me that if I combat those negative voice and challenge myself, I can do some pretty awesome things.

2. Drink more water

I’ve been a lot better about this having gone through my 100 Days of No Soda challenge but now that it’s been over, I find myself going more for a can of coke instead of a bottle of water. While I haven’t drank as much soda as I used, I could definitely be drinking more water. So I downloaded a free app that alerts/reminds me to drink water throughout the day. Yesterday was my first day aaaand I failed 😦

I feel so guilty for having let down the poor water drop 😦

3. Practice better time management

I’m a busy girl. Between working full time, having two kids, running and training, I often tend to neglect things or prioritize other things that maybe I shouldn’t.

I love blogging and most often than not, I just don’t have the time. And even though I really want to write more, it’s not something that will ever take precedence over more important things in my life.

4. Run more with my family

I love that my husband runs and I absolutely love running with him.

One of my friends sent me this picture of me and my husband approaching the finish line 🙂

And lately, my daughter has said super freaking adorable things–like when she sees me lacing up, “Mommy’s going for a run!” and then, “Run fast mommy!”

And when I get home she’ll tell my husband, “Your turn to run Daddy!”

And then when she says, “My turn!!” I just die…

I mean, c’mon ❤

5. Have more confidence

I struggle a lot with this. I mentioned in #1 how I often make excuses on why I can’t do something and I really almost gave up at my recent 1/2 marathon PR race. I don’t know why but I have this thing where I just psych myself out. Like I’ll run and I’ll be scared to run fast because I don’t want to burn out. And that totally makes sense, but how will I ever know how fast I can really go if I don’t ever try? That’s what I want to work on. I don’t have to go fast every. single. time. but once in a while, why not? I don’t want to get stuck in a comfort zone of a pace because I feel like I shouldn’t go faster.

This is something I’ve known about myself and something I’ve been working on throughout this training. For example, the last two recent long runs have been two 14 milers and the usual me would’ve run those at best at a 10 min average thinking that’s what I should do. BUT, I ran both at what felt good and natural and just going with the flow and ended with a 9:25 average on BOTH!

14 miler Part I

14 miler Part II

Tomorrow I have a 16 miler and already I’m starting to hear the voices in my head telling me how 16 miles is always where I fall apart, where I struggle, and how it’s likely I won’t do well.

I need to tell those voices to shut it! Yeah, I might not run a 9:25ish pace (and really, I should probably slow it down) but I need to believe in myself that I can do it and do it well.

–What are some things you want to work on/improve in 2015??

Commitment Day 5k Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in 5k, Race, Running and tagged with 5k, Challenge, Family, New Year, Personal Record, Race, Running January 2, 2014

I have to start by saying that I’m officially not a fan of 5Ks. Holy cow do they take a lot out of me!

I was looking forward to this race for a couple of reasons. One, I don’t run many 5Ks so this was an opportunity to get the under 25min I’d been shooting for and I also really wanted to run a New Year’s race.

The start time was 10:30 a.m. but I had to get there earlier than usual because I completely forgot to pick up my bib the day I was supposed to. So, to beat the crowd and get good parking, I arrived at 9. Yeah, I was way early. I got my bib and then walked back to my car to drop off the swag we were given (I do like the shirt!). I noticed on the bib there was a space for us to write “Our Commitment” for 2014. I thought this was so cool and I grabbed a pen and jotted, Challenge Myself. That’s what I want to do this year.

I hung out in my car for a bit since it was cold out (for Arizona) and when I saw 9:45 I started walking to the start line.

There was a big crowd and this was an untimed race so I knew people would be all over the place as far as speed went. I decided that even though I wasn’t the fastest out there, I’d scoot myself closer to the front so I wouldn’t have to doge around too many people.

The national anthem was sung and then a countdown was started. At one, a bullhorn sounded and we were off!

I started running and made sure my watch was at its pace setting. I prefer looking at my pace rather than time/distance.

Once I felt settled in, I glanced down to check out my pace and saw 6:40. I was so confused; that couldn’t be right. I clicked to return to time/distance then clicked to return to pace thinking maybe I had it on a wrong setting. No, it still read 6:40. I stopped looking at my watch and started concentrating on running but was bummed that I must have pressed something to mess up the watch.

I knew we were approaching the first mile because I had studied the map the night before, and soon enough my watch beeped the first mile done. 7:25. WHAAT??!!??

I was in shock seeing that time displayed and realized my watch wasn’t broken, I was really going that fast! I couldn’t believe it. I decided heck, since I was feeling good, I might as well shoot for somewhere in the sevens for each mile.

Mile two-7:42.

I seriously was running in complete disbelief. I knew I was well on my way to getting that sub 25 and told myself to just kill it and get the best time I could since I was already here.

I turned the corner and heard my name shouted out. Who was that? I’m always in such a zone when I run but my name is pretty unique so when I heard it, I turned my head at the direction it came from. It was my husband! I was excited to see him there with my kids and I told myself to go, go, go! The faster I finished, the faster I’d see them.

I could see the finish line in the distance and mustered whatever energy I had left to pick up speed and finish strong. I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch before almost collapsing on the event volunteer leading runners towards the water/food table.

I looked at my watch and saw 22:05. NO. WAY. I looked at the distance and saw 2.87 miles. Wah waaah…it was a short 5k course : ( I was a little bummed because I wanted an official 3.1 for my PR 5k. (ETA: A fellow runner friend said she re-mapped the course and got 3.05 miles. Not sure what the actual distance was, but that made me feel a little better) I told myself that even had it been a full 3.1, I would have definitely, without a doubt, gotten a sub 25. Plus, my average pace was 7:41. 7:41!!!

My husband found me and I showed him my time. He’s my biggest fan and supporter so he knew how much I wanted a sub 25. He had the same look I had when he saw 22:05 and 7:41 avg/mile : )

I walked around to cool off. Reaching my goal and seeing that number makes me so happy and proud of the hard work I’ve been putting in lately. I did what I said I wanted to do and that was challenge myself. I’m excited to continue doing that this year.

My favorite cheerleader

–Did you run a race yesterday?

–How was your New Year’s?