Playing Catch-Up

Well, obviously, when I went back to work full time in early September, I had too much going on to keep up my workout routine AND my blog! :) However, I just want to have a quick recap of things that have happened since my last entry so that I can write about my big race that just happened last night/early this morning!

In early September, I did my first 12-mile run on the hills of Apopka. I am SO THANKFUL for my group who absolutely got me through that run! I did fine until that last hill, and I swear - Dennis and Amanda practically pulled me up it! They are awesome. :)

Rebecca & me, coming in for the finish!

I completed the Miracle Miles 15K in mid-September. It was my first 15K race and longest race to date. We had some seriously hot weather and intense sun that day, but despite that, I actually felt pretty good. I ran with my friend Rebecca the whole time and it was quite enjoyable!

Before the race

After, complete with medals! (I'm in the lower left corner.)

After that, I had two 14-mile runs in October...one at the beginning and one at the end. For the second one, I'm so thankful for Rebecca who agreed to run with me on Friday instead of Saturday! (Brian & I were going away for the weekend for our anniversary, so I wanted to get the run in early!) It was actually a chilly run that morning, but we made it. At one point we could see our breath, which is quite unusual for Florida!

After my first 14

Rebecca and me after my second 14

In early October, I did the UCF 5+2 miler and got the "distance dare" medal. All of my running buddies who raced that day had just run 22-24 miles the day before - they are all training for full marathons. I was AMAZED at their abilities and heart! So...go Rebecca, Amanda, and Leah!

2 races - 7 miles - DONE!

We got our Distance Dare medals!

With all of these runs under my belt, I was feeling pretty confident about my half-marathon. However, after my second 14-miler, I did something to my back. I don't know what I did - I think it must have been a combination of shivering during that cold run and sleeping in a horribly uncomfortable bed at our hotel that weekend. Regardless, I woke up the next day with some pretty intense pain in my upper back.

Luckily, my massage therapist was able to come over soon thereafter and help me. I had some seriously tight muscles in my back, but she worked them as well as she could. Thank you, Cristy!! I didn't run for almost a week, but finally took a walk on Oct. 30 and then ran a little over 4 miles on the 31st...and that got me to 100.5 miles for the month. Did I mention that I challenged myself to walk and run 100 miles in the month of October? Well, I did...and I succeeded!

The Saturday following that, November 2, I ran 8 miles with some friends. I was planning to work out as usual and do an easy 3 miles on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, but my back was hurting pretty badly and I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize my race. I worked out with Bruce on Monday and was ok, but I skipped my workout with him on Thursday in lieu of another massage with Cristy. It seemed to help, and I made the decision to just rest until my race on Saturday night.

I will stop there, but in a little while I will recap the race!