Pensacola Marathon

I. DID. IT!!!!! It's official, I'm a marathoner! I am so very, very proud of myself. I can't believe it!! 26.2 miles at one time. Just amazing. I have come so far since I started this blog and running. Just three years ago I started the C25K with a double jogging stroller and now I'm a marathoner!
I was so nervous the week leading into the marathon. I had trouble eating and actually had to force myself to eat several times. I was a huge bundle of nerves. I had some of my Team RWB teammates come over on Friday night and we chowed down on spaghetti, ate chocolate cake, drank some wine, and made a ton of motivational signs for the marathon. Arin, Alyssa, and Laurel did a great job at helping keep my mind off the upcoming race.
Saturday Chris and the kids went with me downtown to the expo to pick up my race packet. He bought me the pink 26.2 sticker for after the race and even found the pair of patriotic socks I'd been wanting. We drove the course one more time on the way home. It felt like a long way just driving it which probably didn't help my nerves any. When I got home I crossed off the last day on my training calendar and then laid out all my race stuff. The only thing missing was my trusty Garmin which hasn't been so trusty lately. It's been struggling to last longer then 90 minutes, so there was no way it would last the marathon.

Gathering all my gear helped calm my nerves. I did the mandatory post to facebook and then logged off to unwind. I forced down some rice and chicken for dinner and then I made myself some sleepy time tea before getting to bed. Chris was so helpful with getting the kids cleaned up and in bed so that I could relax and destress.
I contribute the majority of my success on race morning to the support of Chris and the kids. They got up with me on race morning, dropped me off at the start, and then randomly popped up along the course for the next 26.2 miles. It was so wonderful having them along for my journey. It made my heart skip a beat and brought a huge smile to my face every time I spotted them along the course.
They dropped me off at the start around 540ish (race started at 630). It turned out to be a little warmer then I was expecting so I left the arm warmers in the car, but kept my throw-away gloves. I ran into some of the mom's from my playdate group before the start (Michelle, Lisa, and Jennifer). We didn't train together, but we followed each others progress online. I'm so glad we snagged a picture together at the start because we actually ended up running a lot of the race together.

Stan wanted to run the entire race with the American flag and asked if anyone wanted to run along with him to help get it done. Kelsey, Katie, and I offered to run along with him. Unfortunately, they ended up going out faster then me and I was never able to catch them. I'm sure this turned out for the best since it was my first marathon and their pace plus the added weight of the flag would've surely made the race turn out completely different for me. After watching them complete the marathon and now finishing one myself my goal for next year (because yes I want to do it again) is to run the whole thing with the American flag.

My goal from the start was to join the 5 hour pace group and try my best to stick with them. In the beginning it would be to keep me at a slower pace and in the end it would help keep me going. I did the first mile with them, but as we came up on the first hill I pulled ahead and stayed ahead for quite some time. I ran into Michelle, Jennifer, and Lisa around mile 3 and we stayed together for probably the next 10-15 miles.
I saw Chris and the kids for the first time around mile 5. They were waiting for me at the top of a steady climb.

 They were giving high 5's to the runners!

He drove past me a little bit later honking the horn with the kids cheering and waving flags - it was so awesome! I passed the 10k mark at 1:10 (11:22 pace) which was great! That meant I was successful at keeping those first few miles at a reasonable pace and not too fast.
I saw Chris and the kids for the second time around mile 11.5. He got some photos of me running with Michelle and Jennifer. We were still smiling at this point of the race.

 

We ended up losing Jennifer around mile 14. She started having a side stitch and leg cramps. Michelle and I were still feeling strong so we pressed on. I passed the half way point around 2:28 and was still feeling really strong. I had just gotten done telling Michelle that I was starting to get hungry when I came up on my running Coach Michael's beer aid station. He was there with Charlie and they were cheering and hollering. He had a pb and honey sandwich for me!!! It was so awesome. I gobbled up two quick bites then pushed on. I was getting close to the 12th avenue hill (mile 17). I was so happy when I saw Chris and the kids at the top of it!!
Katelynn ran down it and gave me a huge hug...

Then we jog/walked to the top.

She kept asking me, "Aren't we going to run Mom?!?"

 

I drank some stuff at aid station 18 that I thought was Nuun, but it didn't taste like Nuun, it tasted like Gatorade and I can't do Gatorade when I run. I ended up feeling super sick for the next several miles. I've never felt like that while running. I really wanted to take another Gu too, but I was worried that it would push me over the edge and I'd get sick and not be able to finish, so I just kept sipping on water.
Chris caught up with me right sometime in mile 18. I was still feeling okay in this first photo.

This is at mile 19 and I was just starting to feel crummy from that crap I drank. Jamie, the 5 hour pacer, had just passed me. He is just in front of me in the yellow tank top holding the pacer sign in this picture.

Mile 19, 20, and 21 all seemed extremely far apart. I never felt like I wanted to give up, I just felt like it was taking forever to reach aid stations and people. That stretch along Palafox was long and quiet. This is also the stretch when I realized how hot the race suddenly seemed. The sun was just beating on me. No shade for the rest of the race. Chris and the kids drove past me and he knew something was wrong. He drove really slow and then went ahead of me and pulled over.

 You can see the expressions on my face, I was less then thrilled.

I just kept telling myself that it was okay to walk, that I needed to enjoy this moment, don't dwell on the heat or the fact that the pacer (and Michelle) was now in front of me instead of behind.

Then just like that - Look! The kids and Chris! And this time they are waving flags and cheering and jumping up and down shouting, "Go Mommy!" Oh, I feel good. I love them so much. I can do this! I see the church, it's all downhill from there. I've run this loop lots of times. I am doing this! I can do this!!

Alright, I'm off and running again!!

I ran into downtown Palafox, caught up to Michelle, chatted with her for a bit, and pushed on. Grabbed two bites of a banana at mile 23 and no longer felt like I was going to be sick. I'm nearly there! Only a 5k to go! I so got this!!
At mile 24 I heard someone calling my name. I looked up and it was Kristy. Smile, she said. Okay, I can do that. I've got this!! 2.2 more miles to go!!!

Just past mile 25 I saw someone in a blue Team RWB shirt coming towards me with a flag. Is that Bill? What in the world is he doing? Why, he was coming to help get me to the finish. You couldn't ask for a better teammate! With only a mile to go I found Chris and the kids. Chris handed me an American flag and we all took it to the finish - Bill, Katelynn, Denver, Chris, and me. All one team.

Passed my girls Victoria, Alyssa, and Arin at a motivation station with only half a mile to go...

Every time I see these photos of that last half mile my heart just swells. It was a wonderful way to finish my first marathon. I walked a little, ran a little, cried a little, and crossed that finish line in 5:14:45!

 

 

 

My favorite photo from the entire day:

And just like that I'm a marathoner!! I chugged a chocolate milk, ate a banana, and then got some hugs from my girls...

Then Chris drove me to the Gulf and I climbed in up to my hips and just let the cold, gentle waves wash over my tired legs. We went home and I soaked in an epsom salt bath, put on my compression leg sleeves, put my feet up and marveled at all I had just accomplished. I stressed all week about all the horror stories I had heard about people running marathons. I had wondered if my longest run at 15 miles would be enough. In the end I was so thankful that I had all my toenails, no foot issues, no chafing, nothing was wrong with me other then some tired legs. Every time I stood up on Monday I was reminded about what I had just accomplished. By Tuesday I was walking in the parade and doing our Team RWB WOD with Warriors (that included sprints, squats, and box jumps) with no pain, just soreness. Today, three days after my marathon my legs feel great. What an absolutely wonderful experience. I am so proud of myself and all that I have accomplished. I can not thank my husband and children, my running Coach Michael, and my Team RWB family enough!

Bootcamp Month 2, Week 1

For the month of November I changed things up with my schedule. I opted to do the FLEX option which allows me to do 8 classes during the month. I did two the first week and I'll do two the second week. That leaves me 4 more classes that I unfortunately won't be able to do with the group because of our trip to CO. However they do supply you with additional workouts you can do, so I'm going to take them along and have Chris and his family do them with me.
With the beginning of the month comes fitness assessments. Here are my results from the first month:

It shows a one pound weight loss, but according to my scale at home I'm back in the 150's and officially lost those 5-6 pounds that I've been holding onto since we moved here. I could not be happier with my results!! I'm still surprised when I see photos of myself. In my mind I'm a lot bigger...

I really am enjoying the bootcamp classes. I've noticed an increased level in my energy and mood. The first two classes for the month were:
Day 1

That is not a 50 mile run - HA! It's half a mile. We did the half mile run and 50 pushups, then a half mile run and 50 burpees, then a half mile run and 50 situps, etc. I think there was a recovery period before each run and the 50 reps of an exercise *might* have been timed. I do remember getting the whole way through the board and then requesting to start from the bottom up instead of at the top again. I made it half way through the squats (or was it dips...) before the workout for the day was over. I asked to start from the bottom because we had Burpee-palooza the Friday before and I didn't want to do more burpees; I also promised to use the 15 lb medicine ball for the russian twists since he let me do it the opposite way.
Day 2:

Another running workout, but at least the exercises with it were mostly upper body. I was actually glad that during the week leading up to the marathon the workouts had running in them. It's been super dark at the evening workouts so instead of "flying" down the field we "flew" around the track for one speedy lap. It was a timed workout. Each set was 5 minutes long - 20 seconds, 10 second break for 4 minutes then 30 seconds and 30 seconds followed with a speedy lap and recover.
Wednesday night was my weekly run with Team RWB. I ran the 5k with Alyssa. It was so good to be back and running with the group again - I missed them while Chris was on nights. We ran the route pretty quickly - 3.2 miles in 30 minutes (9:16 pace). My only issue was my left knee started to feel funny, so I decided to not do bootcamp or run until the marathon; I didn't need to aggravate it any.

Week 4 of Bootcamp - End of First Month

I need to work on getting my weekly posts done in a more timely fashion; makes it easier to remember the workouts. Last week was the end of Month One. I feel stronger and have managed to get back down into the 150's (159) which also means that I busted right through that plateau and have lost the 5 lbs I've been sitting on since moving here. I've been doing really well with tracking my food and logging all my workouts and I think that's made all the difference. I ate Halloween candy (probably a little too much), but thankfully it didn't seem to mess me up any.
I don't remember the workouts from last week and I only remembered to take two pictures. This one is probably from Monday. I don't even remember if I made it the whole way through the board. The numbers on the board are distances on the field, I think. Anyway, here is the board.

I took a picture of this one because it was ridiculous! Burpee-Palooza! I never even knew there were that many types of burpees!! I did them all, with a partner. We finished the board and then did 2 more sets. Tough workout, but excellent workout! I felt super awesome after finishing this board!!

I am doing the bootcamp class this month too, but it's a FLEX plan so I am only doing 8 classes. I did it this way because of 1) the marathon and 2) we're going to CO for two weeks. Thankfully Chris is back on days too so I get to "sleep-in" and do the evening classes.
My marathon is in a few days. All my runs lately have all been short and fast. I am beyond nervous about the marathon and have been trying really hard not to think about it or how unprepared I feel for it. I will be spending some time over the next day or two searching for positive motivational thoughts to help keep me going when those miles start to get tough. It's going to be a challenge, but honestly I feel like all the work I've put in this past month has made me a lot stronger. August and September tried really hard to beat me up and knock me down, but I've been fighting back and have had a very strong October. I can see the finish line!!!

Week 3 of Bootcamp Class

Week 3 of bootcamp was good. I've been going to the morning classes (they start at 5:45) and actually really enjoy it. It's dark when I walk over, but we get to workout with the sunrise; that might be changing with day light savings coming up next weekend. The only thing I'm not a fan of is that on the weekends my body tries to get me up before 6am. I do run on weekend mornings, but I start later then my bootcamp class, so technically I get to "sleep-in" on run days!!
I'm glad I take photos of the workout board or I'd never remember what my workouts were. I'm fairly certain this is the order we did the workouts. I do know that I'm loving these classes! They are fun and change up from my same-old, same-old routine.
On Monday Troy brought back his Chargers board (he was giving me a hard time about the upcoming Thursday game between the Chargers and the Broncos).

 I liked this workout. He gave us all random numbers of 1, 2, or 3 then we went to our stations. 10 minutes of as many rounds as possible in each station. When time was up we ran 2 laps (half a mile). I started in #3, then #1, and finally #2. Great board to start off the week on!
Tuesday was Pain-a-palooza. I liked this board because we could pick and choose. I started off with the slam balls/reverse crunch, then I did the C2F pushups/squat jumps, and finished with the jumping rope/jumping jacks. There was not enough time to get through all the exercises. It was also a little early in the morning for all the math! You did a total of 15 reps, so for my first set it was slam balls and reverse crunches. I did 14 slam balls, 1 reverse crunch, then I did 13 slam balls, 2 reverse crunch; 12 slam balls, 3 reverse crunch, etc. all the way down until it was 1 slam ball, 14 reverse crunches. When you were done you went to the next station (which you could choose what you wanted). I went for pushups to get them out of the way. C2F pushups were actually kind of fun - you did the down motion of the pushup, lowering yourself all the way to the ground, then you raised just your arms up and brought them back to the ground, then pushed yourself up - that was one. All exercises went the same way 14, 1; 13, 2; etc. My last set was the jumping rope/jumping jacks. These were a little different. 1 = 10, so it was 140 jump ropes, 10 jumping jacks. If I remember correctly I made it to 90 jump ropes, 60 jumping jacks. I've never really been good at jumping rope, but I pretty much mastered it Tuesday!

Since Chris is on night's we've been able to spend a lot more time together during the day. After we took Katelynn and Denver to school on Tuesday we decided to go for a run at the beach (not in the sand, but on the road around it). It was a 4 mile loop and when we were done we went and stood in the nice, icy cold gulf. It felt amazing!!!

There is no morning class on Wednesday. I did go for another run though. Chris took Denver to the airplane museum while I ran around NAS. I did 6 miles in 60 minutes. I was very proud of myself! My runs have been getting so much stronger since the humidity has gone away. I'm actually starting to enjoy running again - which with my marathon coming up in two weeks, it's a good thing!
On Thursday it was another fun board!! I dubbed myself the Queen of Push-ups for this board. We got partners for this board which was also a nice change. We had to run down to a box of cards (I think it was at the 50 yard line), grab a card, come back and do the exercises. My partner grabbed a lot of clubs so we were doing a lot of rockers and pushups. On our very last set I grabbed the queen of diamonds and had to take a photo. It felt like every card I picked it was pushups. The workout was to do the card so if I had a 10 of diamonds and she had a 10 of clubs we'd do 10 pushups and 10 rockers then run and get 2 new cards.
My only complaint with this workout was I wish he'd change up the exercises half way through. 45 minutes of just these 4 exercises made the workout kind of long. It was still fun though since you didn't know what card you'd get. I think we only pulled a heart card twice, but the poor girl next to us was dubbed Queen of Burpees.

I did not take a photo of Friday's board. It was very similar to Thursday which was a good thing! We lined all of our towels up in a row. On the 50 yard line there was a long line of cones. Taped to each cone was an exercise. We had to sprint to the cones, back to our towels, sprint back to the cones, grab a cone, and then back to our towels. While we recovered from our sprint everyone else completed the exercise on the cone. I seriously picked the cone that said "burpee" both times I ran. I took a short break, and then jumped in and did burpees with everyone.
I'm really glad that I signed up for this class! It's been a lot of fun and I really am starting to feel stronger and more confident. It's been just what I was looking for!

WTF Half

I got up and drove to Ft Walton beach for my first half marathon race since last October. I was really excited and hoping to have a great time. It took me about an hour and 40 minutes to get there (thanks to hardly any traffic and a lot of green lights). There was ample parking and not a whole lot of people there when I arrived, and as it turned out there wouldn't be too many more runners. I'd say there was less then 200 runners. It was a very small race and not at all what I was expecting. We ran on roads that had cars driving around us, a few small aid stations, and no port-a-potties. I found my rhythm fairly quickly and was probably running a little faster then I wanted. I started my 4:1 intervals just after 4 miles, and then at mile 7 my watch died. I was super frustrated and tried to do the intervals in my head based off of how I felt. It didn't work. My last two miles were a lot of walking. I basically got trapped in my head and kept telling myself how horrible I was doing and that I'm sure it would be my worst time ever with all the walking - which didn't help me any. When I rounded the corner to the finish there was hardly anyone there at all. No one clapped or cheered, I crossed at 2:22. I was only 2 minutes off of my best time. Turns out I wasn't doing as bad as I told myself I was, but when you're in the middle of no where surrounded by no one it's easy to tell yourself how bad you're doing and believe it. I've never ran a half marathon with that few of people before, and while my time was very normal for me, I guess for that community it was slow. When I signed up for the race a few months back I thought it would be a great training run for the marathon. I was hoping for that race atmosphere to help me control my nerves. I really, really hope that the Pensacola marathon has more support and more of a race atmosphere. It will be a very long marathon if it's just me and the road. I'll get through it, but it will be tough. It's so much better when you're surrounded by other runners who are encouraging and motivating each other. I can run alone for free all I want, when I sign up for a race I'd really like it to have that race feel. It's part of why I've enjoyed doing so many races. I guess this is part of the FL racing experience.
My team, Team RWB actually had a great representation at the race. I'd say half of the racers were in red shirts. Unfortunately, I didn't know any of them. I had met one or two back when I first moved here, but only one of them remembered me and came up to talk. I've never been very good in social situations and I have trouble approaching people; throw in a race first thing in the morning and I feel quite awkward when I don't know anyone even if I was surrounded by tons of people in the same shirt.
The Ft Walton chapter had one of the aid stations on the course and it was seriously the best one. They had about 8 people and they clapped, cheered, held signs, and took photos for us.
Here I am around mile 4.2:

 and on the way back around mile 8:

I love that I'm smiling in this picture because by this point I certainly didn't feel happy. I still had 5 miles to go, my watch had just died, and I was not feeling so hot. When I got home and took off my shoes I had a nice size blister above my toenail. I need to figure out a way to protect that toe before the marathon so it doesn't give me any trouble. It's the way I push off, I curl my toes up and then push down as I land. I'm not sure if it's something new I started, but I've definitely been noticing it more and more. It's also the same toenail that turned black on me back when I first started speed work and wore the Nike Air shoes (probably 2 years ago now). It bothers me more in my Glycerin Brooks shoe then my Ghost, so I'm leaning more towards wearing my Ghost shoes for the marathon. I might even head into the local running store this week and take a look at their shoes. I've got 2 weeks to break them in for the big day.

Week 2 of Bootcamp Class

This pretty much sums up week 2 of my outdoor bootcamp class! It's a good feeling though, I'm working some muscles that have not been worked in awhile. I'm hoping it's only going to make me stronger and help get me through that marathon.
Monday was a holiday and it threw my schedule completely off. We didn't have bootcamp class and I didn't go for a run. In fact the only day I managed to get a run in this week was on Thursday, but it was a good run!
All the classes this week seemed to be go-go-go. Tuesday was fun since I got to jump rope - haven't done that in ages. We did pushups, 90 seconds jumping rope, in and outs, jump rope, forward/backward lunges, jump rope, scuba steve's, jump rope, Russian Twist (holding 12 lb medicine ball), jump rope, squats, and then for the last 90 seconds we had the option to jump rope or hold a plank. I did the plank. We went through it twice I believe...can't remember any more.
**My trainer does seem to think he's pretty funny. He's a Chargers fan. I make it a point to bring my Bronco's towel every week...

I didn't have a chance to take a photo, but while I was doing the jump rope on Tuesday he thought he would be funny and place his #1 Chargers Fan license plate on my towel. I just ignored him until he tried to take it away and then I told him he needed to leave it because it was firing me up - HA! He took it away because he didn't want me to spit on it.
Wednesday he showed up with a new white board. Yea, he thinks he's pretty funny!

Chris is on nights for a few weeks, so I didn't get to do my weekly run downtown with my team. No worries, I got lots of running in with all the suicides we did Wednesday night! I kept my weight light on the routines (only 10 lbs) since my back has been bothering me.
**Side note - I did finally break down and go to the doctor about my back. It's been sore for almost 5 weeks now (ever since we traveled to Atlanta to see my brother and Katelynn got really sick - lots of carrying her and sleeping on the couch that week). The doctor believes I might have sprained it and has given me stronger medicine, a patch, and referred me to physical therapy and OMT (occupational massage therapy - which he does in his office, I go on the 30th to give that a try). He did not put any restrictions on me for exercising because it actually seems to help - I get really good stretches in after a class or run.
Thursday night just wasn't happening for me. Katelynn had her occupational therapy appointment at 430, so it was 550-6pm before I made it to class (it starts at 545). About 20 minutes in (enough time to get through the first 4 exercises on the board) and Denver had to go potty (and not pee), so I just called it a day. He does the same workout Thursday night and Friday morning.

My legs were sore when I headed to class this morning; however the sky was full of stars and the sunrise was beautiful so I had plenty of distractions. I started where I'd left off so I was on 60 broad jumps/burpees - oh my!!! It actually worked out really well. Those bear crawls were a lot easier once my body was warmed up. The double walking lunges however sucked both days! It was probably not the best workout to do two days before my half marathon.

I signed up to do the half marathon in this series. It's on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't ran a race since May and I haven't ran a half marathon since last October. It should be a great training run for me. I'm hoping to get a PR and beat my 2:20 time, but we'll see how the day goes. 

Adding Something New

I've been struggling since moving here to FL. It's been hard to find my motivation to get moving. I've started and stopped several workouts without any success. I signed up for the Pensacola Marathon earlier this year in hopes that it would keep me motivated and moving; however with the heat and humidity here my runs have suffered which in turn have me hating running. I don't want to run. I don't want to workout. I don't want to eat well. I don't want to do anything. It's making me a pretty miserable person to be around.
Last week, I decided that enough was enough and it was time to get back in the game. No more pitty-parties, no more woe-is-me attitude. I talked to Chris about it and we agreed that the bootcamp class I'd been talking about would be a good start. So, I did it. I signed up. It won't hurt my marathon training any (mostly because I haven't been able to stick to the training), it will only make me stronger.
The bootcamp class meets 4 times a week at the track across from my house. It's at Katelynn's school so there is a playground. On evenings when Chris works the kids can come with me which he ends up bringing them over anyway and they love going and playing with the other kids! We started off the first class with measurements:

My home scale says 164. Other then that the measurements are not that far off from the last time I had them taken. Day 1 was a Ladder Workout.
Bicep Curls
Overhead press
v-ups
2-count russian twist
squat
reverse lunge
reps: 10, 20, 30, 40, 30, 20, 10
Suicides between each set of reps (do 10 of every exercise, do suicides; do 20 of every exercise, do a suicide, etc). I used a blue band. For the lunges if it's 10 reps, then it's 5 on each side for a total of 10.
When the workout was done we did core.
45 second plank
1 minute plank
alphabet plank
**45 minutes to do the ladder workout. I made it to the second set of 30, but only did 5 squats before time ran out. My planks were quite pathetic.
I ran Tuesday morning with my friend Suzanne. We actually ended up doing 9.8 miles at a run/walk (average pace of 12:14). I was only planning on about 4-5, but we ended up going further. The last 2 miles were mostly walking. I know I wouldn't have gotten out without her!
Tuesday evening was Day Two of bootcamp class. This was the workout: Bear Down

It was a tough, but fun workout. His handwriting is impossible to read which is probably a good thing because I might have ran home after reading it.
4 Gassers (2 minutes). This is a fancy name for sprints. Out and back two times. You had 2 minutes, so if you went out and back twice in one minute, you had a minute rest before repeating. We repeated it 5 times.
DWL/Pushups. Double walking lunge for 30 seconds, stop and do pushups for 30 seconds. Keep repeating for a total of 4 minutes. My arms were on fire by the third set.
Bear crawl/Prisoner squats. Bear crawl for 30 seconds, prisoner squat for 30 seconds. Keep repeating for a total of 4 minutes. My quads were screaming by the second set. I was literally sitting on the ground pounding on my quads to help loosen them up (I'm sure my morning run didn't help this any). Harder then it looks!
SLL/Plank. Single leg lunge and planks. Same as other exercises, repeat for 4 minutes.
Squat kicks/Flutterkicks. Again, repeat these things for 4 minutes.
4 Windy's. More sprints. Only this time it was one time down and back, but you only got 1 minute. Repeated 5 times.
Finish workout with alphabet planks. This is where you hold the plank position while the group goes through naming things in the alphabet (ie - items in Wal-mart, things you'd eat for breakfast).
It's safe to say that my abs were on fire after day 2!!
Wednesday is my weekly run. They don't have bootcamp class on Wednesday morning and I couldn't go to the night class so no bootcamp this day. My Wednesday runs happen downtown at WOB (World of Beer) with my Team RWB teammates. I opted to do the 5k since I did almost 10 miles on Tuesday and I didn't want to overdue it. I ended up walk/running it with my friend Victoria. We completed it in around 43 minutes (it was her first 5k!!).
Thursday I met Suzanne again for another run. This time we kept it short. We ran 5 miles (average pace 12 minute mile). It was a beautiful route! 90% of the course was along the water. It was a little hot, but overall a very good run. Day 3 of bootcamp was Tick Tock:

2 laps on the track (1/2 mile)
Then 30 seconds of each of the exercises, followed by one minute break, then repeat exercises 3 more times (total of 4 rounds). Repeat only exercises no the laps on the track.
Jumping Jacks
High Knees
Pushups
Supermans
Mountain Climbers
Russian Twists
Ski Abs
Prisoner Squats
After all 4 rounds, run 2 more laps around the track.
Finish with 90 second plank
I did not do the 90 second plank. Apparently bringing a Bronco's towel when your trainer is a Chargers fan warrants tire flipping. I flipped the tire for 90 seconds while everyone else held the plank. You can see by the sunset that even God is a Broncos fan!

Day 4 of bootcamp class was on Friday morning. It was a repeat of Thursday night's workout. I normally workout in the evenings but since I missed Wednesday for my weekly run, I made it up by coming to the Friday morning class. Chris has to leave for work at 630, so I need to cut the workouts short by 15 minutes, so it's a good thing it's only a repeat of the night before. I did the whole workout, but only made it one time around the track before having to head home.
Saturday was a rest day for me. Sunday was my long run. I did not want to get out of bed, but I did. The sunrise was beautiful! My photo does not do it justice.

My running Coach Michael has had an injury and has been riding his bike with me during my long runs. He actually ran with me this week! We completed 11.5 miles in 2:05 (10 of those miles were done in 1:45). We had a great run! It was my second good run in a row. I've been having so many bad runs, that I was really starting to worry about the marathon. I'm so very happy that my runs have started to turn around. Of course it has coincided with the weather getting better and not nearly as humid (nothing like finishing a run looking like you just swam in the ocean). For most of August and September when I would finish my long runs I would hobble into the house and then not move from the couch all day - I was stiff and sore and upset from having to walk so much. The last two weeks I have felt good and have actually not lost an entire day because of a run. It's a great feeling!
Tonight it's back to bootcamp! Monday's class was cancelled because of the holiday.