A Well Deserved Break

Not much running has been done in the last few weeks after the Monumental Half (still smiling from my PR! woot!). This could be because Alex and I went on vacation! That's a great reason to take a nice break from running. Alex and I have been trying to check some places off our bucket list (also known as the "before kids" list), and took a trip out to Hawaii! We spent our first few days on Oahu. Beautiful and extremely busy. We stayed by Waikiki beach, near a whole bunch of stores I cannot afford to shop at ;) We ate a lot of good food, took a nature tour of the North Shore, and visited Pearl Harbor (on Veteran's Day ... pretty awesome). 

Waikiki Beach at sundown

Where they film all those Hollywood movie scenes

My tootsies in the sand at Waikiki Beach

Scenes from North Shore nature tour

Monk seal on the North Shore

Waikiki Beach at Sunset

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

 We then spent 4 days on the island of Maui! Maui is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to! Amazing! Green scenery, mountains, blue water, beautiful beaches ... just paradise. One of our favorite things that we did was travel the Road to Hana. We saw waterfalls, stopped at local food stands, swan in the Seven Sacred Pools. It was awesome. We also went snorkeling, visited Haleakala National Park and drove to the summit (over 10,000 feet up!), and went to a luau. It is so much quieter there than Honolulu lol. Again, we ate lots of delicious food and our resort was beautiful. We also ate ice cream or gelato most nights ... it's vacation! 

Standing in front of a waterfall

The view from our balcony ... Amazing!

An artistic shot of Alex

Apparently this is from an opening scene in Jurassic Park

Eucalyptus Tree

Beautiful Black Sand Beach 

Self explanatory!

On our last day in Hawaii, we decided to hop a flight to the big Island and went to Volcanoes National Park. Alex really wanted to see the active volcano ... and hey, this was a once in a lifetime trip. Why not!? We saw some active lava flow, visited steam vents and hiked on hardened lava fields. It was a whirlwind trip, but I'm glad we did it!

Active Lava Flow

On top of hardened lava

It was an amazing trip! Some hiking, but no running! Alex and I did start back up when we returned home. I have just been doing some easier running to try and stay in shape and will build back the mileage up before half marathon training begins again. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and Alex and I participated in the Gobble Gallop at our local YMCA. My intent was to just run it comfortably. I wanted to do this anyway, especially since I unintentionally found myself in a P90x workout class the night before the race. To my credit, it was supposed to be PiYo ... they had just moved up the class after PiYo because the gym was closing. My legs are so angry lol I did end up getting 3rd in my age group, no PR, though! Alex got first in his age group and won a pumpkin pie! Hooray for a fast husband :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A Triumphant Return!

The Monumental Half Marathon has come and gone. All of the training miles have been completed and now it is time to rest. And I can rest knowing that I have done my best! I was not sure what to expect with this weekend's race. I still had some residual foot issues and had been working on my right hamstring muscles. Alex did one more round of dry needling on me Wednesday before the race .... in my opinion, it helped tremendously! I felt minimal strain in my hamstrings during the race, which was great! I was hoping to get in the ballpark of my PR (1:49:59 set in May 2014). I was not expecting to smash that PR by 4+ minutes! I ended up finishing in 1:45:50! With minimal discomfort in my hamstrings, and some mild foot issues, I was able to focus on the mental aspect of my running it seemed. I decided before the race that I was going to dedicate my efforts to the memory of my Grandma who passed away last month. She experienced so many hardships in her life and managed to stay strong in her faith and sense of self regardless of these struggles. If she faced these challenges with grace and strength, certainly I could focus for less than 2 hours on running a road race. My first mile was my slowest, but the rest of my race was consistent. My last 3 miles were actually my fastest. Usually, I tucker out around mile 11 and just try to keep moving to the finish line. Not this time! I feel like my training, better eating habits, and better fitness helped me tremendously. I also had thoughts of my grandma and all of the people I love to keep me strong in those final miles. It kept my head in the race. The 40 degree temperatures (perfect for running!) didn't hurt at all, either :)  Alex also had an amazing race! He set a PR by running the half in 1:39:02. I am so proud of him and how hard he has worked. We both made some big life changes this summer by kicking our eating and exercising habits in better gear, and it seemed to pay off.

Me ... waiting to dive into that post race chocolate milk!!! And Alex is there, too :)

The Monumental races are great. I love the course. It is so nice and flat! The volunteers were enthusiastic and helpful. There are cookies at the end ... and chocolate milk! I love chocolate milk. The medal is awesome (the Statehouse is on it ... my old tour guide stomping grounds)! Many of my friends also participated in one of the races that day. It is always fun to see them work for their personal goals. The only unusual race day detail was probably the announcer at the beginning of the race. He kept telling us to get into our "carols" .. pronouncing corrals like the tunes you sing at Christmas time ... lol. He must not have announced any running races before. Several of us who were already hanging out in our "carols" were getting some good giggles at this. Overall, it was a great day for racing. I am proud of my efforts and proud of my husband and his hard work. Now, it is time for some much needed rest. I need to work on my left foot a bit and hit some heavy glute strengthening so my hamstrings don't do all the work when I try to run fast. So here is to the beginning of an "off season." My next big race planned is the Mini Marathon in May 2017 (with the training series for this prior to the Mini). I will be sure to keep you updated on my running adventures and include some more personal posts over the next few months. 

Also .. go vote on Tuesday! I did my early voting last week!

Hallowellness 5K and the Tapering Chronicles

This past Saturday, Alex and I participated in a Hallowellness 5k at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds. My glute screamed the first quarter mile and I felt a little disheartened, but magically ... it eased up. I felt pretty good after this and had a pretty good race. Not as seamless as the Fallen Heroes 5k, but pretty good! Some mild strainI ended up getting 3rd overall woman and Alex won his age group! He had a PR! The weather was spectacular for the end of October and pretty good for running (if not a little warm). The wellness event was great and well attended. Looking forward to doing this one again next year!

Volunteering at the Hallowellness event with my borrowed shark hat!

Like Mother, like son - Tobi in an adorable shark outfit ... that he utterly hated!

We are down to the last week of training for the Monumental Half Marathon this weekend! I am hoping for the best. The dry needling has been helping my hamstrings. They aren't perfect, but they are better. I am hoping my hamstrings and that pesky left foot hold up. I am not expecting my PR, but if the race goes like my training, I think I could be in the ballpark of that range. Let's see how it all plays out. Alex is running it, along with many of my friends! This may inspire me to push myself more than I would on my own! After the half, I plan on taking some time off to help with some of the residual injury issues. I think Alex and I would both like to work on improving our speed for 5k distances. I think we could both be really good at this distance with some work! Anyway, it's go time this weekend, wish me luck!