Loving Jillian Michaels!

I must say I love Jillian Michaels new show "Losing It". It's very emotional, watching her help these families who are basically hopeless, and within a week of working with them, literally turning their lives around! I can't watch it without getting a lump in my throat, but boy it sure is a positive and uplifting show. It should be an eye opener to everyone, that when you get your body moving, and feed it healthy nutritious foods, you automatically feel better...physically and mentally. Anyway.....
Sunday afternoon was spent cleaning, Stephen's basketball game, and then grocery shopping.
Monday, all day, walking around six flags.
Tuesday, working...
Wednesday, working...
Today, working, doing laundry, then ran 5 miles and did Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred 20 minute workout.

Running....

Friday night (the boys were with my parents), and Stephen had taken our camper out to the lake. So I stayed up working, until he got off of work and got to camp around 1:30am. I changed clothes and we went for a run together. We ran awhile, then we went down to the dock and did push-ups, then ran some more, and walked to cool down. It was so fun to run with him. After our run, we showered and climbed in bed around 3am.
Saturday I met my parents and picked up the boys, then we went back to the lake. Stephen had picked up the boat and brought it out to camp. We met him at the dock and went for a ride. We put the anchor down and swam awhile, then went back. it was extremely crowded on the lake that day.
Sunday I ran 6+ miles after breakfast, while Stephen and the boys worked on the boat. After I got back, we took the boat out and Levi skied! He loves to water ski. I also got to ski. Forgot how much I love it, and what a great workout it is! (especially after running 6+miles! LOL!)
Monday we were going to go home, but decided to stay instead. I had to go to work for a little bit, then we took the boys out to go tubing and skiing.
Tuesday Stephen had to work that morning, and I took the boys to the swimming beach. Stephen then picked us up and we ran to the house for me to fax in some work, while him and a friend shot their bows. We then went back to the lake and let the boys tube and ski again.
Wednesday we had to pack up and leave. I was exhausted. It was nice to get home, but sure was a lot of work to unload.
Thursday the boys had to go to work with me. It was a very busy, stressful day. So that evening I ran 7+ miles to relieve the stress. I felt much better afterwards.

still here....

I'm still here.
Still running regularly. I try to run at least every other day, if not every day. I loved running when we were camping because I could run outside, however far I wanted, without worry about dogs. I tried running out here where we live, a couple of weeks ago. The weather was so nice I hated to run inside, but I had to carry my pepper spray with me, due to all of the loose dogs around here. One good thing about trying to run past the houses with loose dogs, it will definitely help you increase your speed! I was running between a 7 1/2-8 minute mile! LOL! However, right before I got back home, I actually had to spray one of those dogs, because he came running out across the road to my right leg and was running with me, getting closer and closer to that leg, barking...so I reached my hand back without even looking and sprayed. He yelped and ran with his tail between his legs and was shaking his head like crazy. I felt bad, but really, if people don't want their dogs hurt, they should keep them in a fence or inside or something. If you let it run free, it's your own fault if it gets in the road and gets ran over, or sprayed with pepper spray.
I'm not signed up for any new races yet. It's just been a whirlwind around here lately. But I have decided to reward myself with a "Full Marathon", after I complete my 175 hours of additional Appraisal courses, 3 college courses, and pass my Appraisal Certification Test. Once I am officially a "Certified Appraiser", my reward will be training for and running my first FULL Marathon. :-) (Added motivation to get all of this additional "education" done with and out of the way).

Saturdays 10K

I really enjoyed this race. It was an hour later in the morning than my other races, and we didn't have to drive as far. The boys enjoyed it to, because there were bounce houses, face painting, side walk chalk, food, etc. They had a lot of fun with Dad while I was running.

It was the first year for this race, so it wasn't really huge, but was a lot of fun. There were 48 runners in the 10K (98 people ran in the 5K). I placed 17th, with a time of 54min 16sec.
In my age group, I placed 4th out of 8. LOL! I was please though, because half of the run was 3 HUGE hills up & down, in a row. When you finished them, you turned around and then ran back, so you ran the same huge hills again. It was tough, and the wind was blowing hard. So I was happy with the time. It made me glad that I had ran all of those hills at my parents house back at Easter. I KNEW I could do it! I just had to pace myself.

At the start line, ready to run!



Here, I'm coming back into the downtown area. I was very close to finishing at this point.

I'm waving to my hubby and boys. Mommy's almost done! At the point Seth started chasing me toward the finish line! LOL! He stayed up with me until I rounded the last corner and then ran as fast as I could to the finish line!

In the distance, that's me crossing the finish line!

Whew, I made it!

After I finished the race, I talked with one of my friends who ran in the 5K, she actually placed first in her age group! I was very proud of her!

The boys played some more while I drank two bottles of water, and ate a banana. Then I got a free cup of coffee and we went shopping. Stephen bought me a new pair of running shoes!!!!

It was a great day!

10K

Running a 10K in the morning. This is my third race, but the shortest distance. Hopefully I'll do well. I felt great after Sunday's Half-Marathon. I even ran on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (no more than 4+ miles at a time though). Feeling great!

Half Marathon Official Results:

I'm still in shock.....

I finished in 1:56:30.4 (translation: 1 hr, 56min, 30.4 seconds)
I placed 95th out of 662 runners.
In my age group, I placed 9th out of 64 runners.

Wow!!!! I'm blown away. I thought I had "maybe" finished somewhere in the middle....I had no idea I had done so well. Wow!!!! Talk about filling exhilarated after seeing those results!

Half Marathon and Pictures

Woke up at 4:00am to get ready for the day. Got ready, ate breakfast and downed plenty of water. We had a bit of a drive to get there so we had to leave super early. We arrived at the parking garage at 6:30am, but had to wait in a Loooooog line in order to actually get in and parked. Finally got parked and down to the packet pickup area.

Here I am getting my packet, and directions of where to pick up my chip-timer and where to go for the actual race.

I got my chip-timer tied onto my shoe, then we walked down to where the race site was. When we got close I told Stephen I needed to find the potty, before it got to close to start time. We then saw an extremely long line...of course, with any 'mostly women' event, you are going to have a long line for the port-a-potty, no matter how many they have available. So I got in line. That's me, there at the very end.

I was listening, for them to tell us to line up, and also looking for the pace-setter I wanted to follow. They had men running as pace-setters. They had to wear skirts! LOL! They also held up signs with their pace, I got behind the one with the 1:55 pace.

Let's play "where's Waldo". Can you find me? Peek-a-boo!

Here I am! :-)

And we're off! See ya'll in a few hours!

While I was running Stephen took the boys out for breakfast. They had a great time!

When they came back they walked around the water area, and Daddy took their picture.

The race itself was much harder than the last one. I thought maybe it was just because I was running faster. I stayed with the 1:55 group until about mile 5. The aid stations weren't doing a very good job and I kept having the stop and step around people to get water. Then one time there was a young man holding out a cup and I said "water?" and he nodded so I grabbed it. Nope, it was Gatorade. I felt sick after that one sip. For a few miles my stomach was hurting, and I thought I was going to puke. But I just kept going.

Around mile 8, the original pace setter for the 1:55 came up behind me and was running beside me. I pulled one of my ear buds out and told him I'd been trying to catch back up to him for miles. He said he had fell out to go to the bathroom and the other pacesetter took over for him. He had been running a 7 1/2 min mile trying to catch back up to them but hadn't been able to. He asked me what my personal goal time was. I told him I'd ran my last (and first) half-marathon in 1:59:19 and that was in the pouring rain, hail, and thunder/lightening. I was hoping to do that well again, but this run was feeling much harder than that one. He said it was probably the high humidity. The air just felt thick. So we talked some about races, and then he told me he was going to continue to run with me and make sure I got myself a new Personal Record. Which was fine by me! I needed someone to run with me, and help me keep going. I was getting very tired, and still felt sorta woozy and sick. I just kept those legs moving and trying to keep up with him. On the last mile, he said when we rounded the corner we were going to pick up the pace and finish strong. Um...I am picking up the pace! LOL! I said "K". I was really whooped at this point and wanted nothing more than to stop and just lay down and die. LOL! But we kept going. Once we rounded that last corner and were on the home stretch, there were people everywhere, cheering. I broke out into a cold sweat and really thought i was either going to throw up or pass out. But he kept yelling "come on Kandy" "come on!" "pick it up!" "You can do it"...so I put my other ear bud back in so I couldn't hear him! LOL!!!! It was everything I had in me just to keep moving, much less sprint it out. I did try to pick up even more though right before the finish line. He was clapping and cheering me right on through it. Then gave me a high-five at the end and told me good job, and succeeded at setting a New Personal Record for me. 1:56:30something. I shaved 3 minutes off of my time! Wow! I've never felt so exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time. LOL!

I then saw my handsome husband and sweet baby boys rushing toward me, right after a young man handed me my finishers metal. It was such blessing to them and their huge smiles! At this point a woman rushed over to me and said "let us get your picture with your finishers metal". I held up my finger to tell her I needed a minute. She laughed and said "okay, after you catch your breath". LOL! When I could finally breathe again, I had my picture taken, then found me a bottle of water and downed it. Stephen then got me another bottle of water while I was taking off my shoe. At about mile 3 I thought I had a rock in my shoe, but wasn't going to stop....when I removed my shoe I realized it was the toe seam in my sock, which had somehow worked it's was under the side of my big toe. I straightened it up and it felt 100% better. Then I took the chip timer off of my other shoe and Stephen turned it in for me.

Here I am coming up to the finish line, and that's the pace-setter (there in orange and pink), clapping and cheering me on. God always seems to put the right people in the right place at the right time. I wouldn't have made that time, if he hadn't been running with me for those last 5 miles.


Crossing the finish line!!!! Woo-Hoooo!!!! Ive never been so relieved! LOL!



I made it! I didn't die, or puke, or pass out! Yea!!!!! LOL!!

Getting my photo taken, with my finisher's metal.

Ahhhh, what a relief it is to be done....


On our way back to the car, we stopped and let the boys watch some ducks swimming in the water.

Daddy took our picture.


Then Levi took our picture. I'm so thankful to my husband, for sacrificing his sleep (he'd worked Saturday night, and only got a few hours of sleep before we had to leave for the race) all so he could take care of our boys and cheer me on. His support means the world to me. :-)

What a GREAT Day!!!!!

Next race, this Saturday. Thankfully it's only a 10K. Yea!!! LOL!!!!