5.35 Miles

My run today felt really good. My goal was to run for about an hour (I ran 56:49) and try and get at least 5 miles in (I ran 5.35 miles). My legs are doing super good, I don't really get too tired. But today my left deltoid was cramping big time. I've never been a runner (at least not without a soccer ball at my foot) so I don't know if I'm running wrong or what but about 10 minutes in, it was not in good shape. I might do a little research and see if I can find and fix whatever I'm doing incorrectly to cause the cramping.

And on a side note: I got hit by a truck today on my run. Nothing serious but it definitely could have been. I was minding my own business, running on the sidewalk, and a guy started backing out of a business without looking behind him. I had no clue what happened at first, just that something huge ran into me. But when I stopped and looked back I saw him. He just casually backed out and went along his merry way like nothing even happened. Jerk.


Check out my run today!

4ish Miles

My schedule didn't allow me to run yesterday and strangely enough, I really missed it. It's become a part of my routine, a part of my lifestyle and being the routine-oriented person I am, if its not in that daily schedule I feel a bit out of whack.

So when I took off this morning bright and early I could feel the blood pumping through my veins excitedly. Had Hillsong in spanish playing in my iShuffle and set my watch to go.

I did repeats today. Never knew what those were until I started training for this thing. But I jogged for about 10 minutes then I ran a mile as fast as I could. Then jogged another 10 minutes then ran a mile as fast as I could. Then jogged home. I did my mile times at the Leon Jimenez park just so I could keep track of them better. My first mile was 7:45 and my second mile was 7:05. Not bad for an (almost) 29-year old mother of two! Finished 4.1 miles in 43:10.

Check out my run today! I ran from our house to the park, did my repeats at the marker "Centro Leon," then from the park back to our house.

1st Cross-Training session

Well today I was supposed to not run but do some other type of aerobic exercise for 30-60 minutes. So my friend Jen came over and we did Tae Bo....holy cow. Billy Blanks kicked my behind. Forget Insanity. Forget P90X. Just get a little Tae Bo up in there and you'll be good. I'm glad I only have to do THAT once a week! I have running repeats tomorrow! We'll see how that goes!

3.5 Miles

Welp. This has been my hardest run so far. I think I'm still very sore from the almost five mile run yesterday and I didn't properly stretch after my last run...but today, for all intensive purposes, sucked.

I think I was ready to quit after about five minutes of running. I ran a very slow pace. 3.5 Miles in 35:15. Although I reached my goal of doing a 10:00 mile, I felt like my whole body was ready to give out on me. The other days I would start naming off the kids in The Hole to help motivate me but today I couldn't even do that. Yesterday God used a song to motivate me but when Jay Z came through my headphones it didn't light my behind on fire. But...I didn't stop running. And I'm going to cling to that. If I keep the purpose of my runs at the forefront and keep all the other things I am NOT running for behind me (i.e. weight loss, competitiveness, etc.) then all that matters is that I run the 13 miles and that I cross the finish line on November 13th.

Switched up the route a little today.

4.7 Miles Down

Today I ran 4.77 Miles...I think this may be the farthest I've ever purposefully run in my life! I finished in 50:00. A little over a 10:00 mile. Seems kinda slow to me but I keep trying to remind myself that I'm a mom of two now, not an in-shape soccer player from 10 years ago. I hope to get my time down over the next few weeks of training, though.

With about a mile to go, I wanted to quit. I don't even think my body was as tired as my mind was. But just as I was talking myself into stopping and walking, these words came through my headphones:

"I trust in you. I trust in you.

I believe You're my Healer.

I believe You are all I need.

I believe You're my portion.

I believe You're more than enough for me.

Jesus You're all I need."

And then, the words I needed to hear right then:

"Nothing is impossible for you.

Nothing is impossible.

Nothing is impossible for you.

You hold my world in your hands."

How cool is it, that even doing something like running, God knew that I needed Him right then to spur me on? Because I'm not running this race to get in shape. I'm not running this race to dig up some old competitive feelings I used to have in the old days. I'm not running this race to prove to anyone that I've still got it. I'm running this race for Minino, and Simon, and Yajaira, and Wilson and all the kids in the Hole. And all the pastors and Christian workers I've grown to love and respect here.

God knows there's a different purpose...and quite frankly, He's got my back on this one.

i ran this loop today, twice.

MMF PARTNER TOOL -

Day 1 of Official Training

Today marks the first day of my official training for the mini marathon. Although I started running about 4 weeks ago and only decided to run the mini about 2 weeks ago, today I signed up for the race, paid my fees and ran my first run on my training schedule. I ran a 2.77 mile interval run which basically means I jogged some, ran hard some and sprinted some in an effort to start increasing my endurance. Tomorrow I have to run five miles. This will be the longest distance I have ever run in my life!!!!

Check out where I ran in Santiago!