Galveston Beach Dash

Last weekend was the 3rd race that I have done since August but I wasn't so worried about the time because this one was a 5K on the beach with obstacles, so I didn't feel like I was competing against my Outrigger 5K time (45:46) because it wasn't really comparable. This time at least I wasn't doing it alone...my friends Jenn, Jenny, and Jenny's boyfriend also went along so that made it extra fun!

Running on sand was definitely tough but I did OK with that. I have to say though that I did pretty awesome on the obstacles. The first one was climbing over a series of 3 increasingly high walls and then jumping over them. I totally smoked 20 people on that one. In fact, it seemed like I would be way ahead of a bunch of people and then they would only catch back up with me when we would start running again because they were faster than me. I really like these adventure races...I can't wait to do another one. Too bad they are so expensive! I think I will wait until the spring. That one was actually a great deal on Groupon for $22!

I was the last to finish, so my friends were able to take some pics. Here I am at the second to last obstacle where you had to wade waist high through the water, climb up a ladder, and turn around and jump down off the wall. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to get off the wall, but I just went for it. Jenn said she just dangled there for a few seconds before being brave enough to jump off.

Then this is me wading through the water at in the last obstacle. It was actually deep enough that I could swim pretty fast.

Here I am with the girls. It's kinda tough training sometimes next to these skinny chicks but thankfully they are awesome and always help cheer me on! One day I will blend right in with them! :)

And here we all are with our festive pineapple hats on.

I finished #267 out of 347 in my 30-39 age group, and #739 overall out of 968. Not bad for a fat kid!


Until later, happy running!
Jamie

Toughest 10K Kemah

I just totally realized that I forgot to blog about my race on 9/25...

My first competitive 5K went really well back in August, but I was a little nervous about doubling the distance to the 10K. Thankfully it was about 10 degrees cooler and it was a really beautiful day.

The 10K went through the city of Kemah and included 4 passes over the Kemah bridge (5% grade). It was ROUGH! I had been training some by walking/running over the bridge in the 2 weeks leading up to the race. On my second pass over the bridge, this really fit woman (who was on her 4th pass) ran past me and cheered me on. I thought that was awesome! Because of my knee, I really didn't want to push my luck running so I ran some and walked most of it. I ended up finishing in 1:38:32 (15:54 average pace) and NOT the last in my age group...2 people were behind me! :) That isn't bad considering the field was pretty fit!

I had someone take a picture of me with my awesome medal.

By the way, I HATE having full length pictures take of me but I figured I'd do it for the blog since I don't plan to be this heavy every again!

Until later, happy running!

Jamie

10K Training progress...weeks 11 and 12

OK, I hoped to be more consistent but that didn't happen! At least this past week I had a nasty cold as an excuse.

Sunday 9/30 - 7.19 mile walk with Jenny in our neighborhood (125 minutes) @17:23 pace.

Wednesday 10/3 - 4.85 mile walk/run with Jenn and Jenny by school (82 minutes) @16:49 pace.

Saturday 10/6 - Beach Dash 5K - run/walk on the beach with obstacles (56 minutes) @18:04 pace.

Monday 10/8 - 4.27 mile walk/run in my neighborhood (68 minutes) @15:49 pace.

Saturday 10/13 - 4.37 mile walk/run with Jenn in my neighborhood (78 minutes) @17:39 pace.

I'm really hoping that my cold will go away by Monday or Tuesday because the Toughtest 10K in Galveston in Saturday and I'm going to be beyond upset if I can't do it.

Until later, happy running!
Jamie

10K Training progress...week 9 and 10

It's been hit or miss for me the last 2 weeks working out but hopefully I will be a little more consistent this week!

Saturday 9/22 - 4.28 mile walk with Jen in her neighborhood (68 minutes) @15:53 pace.

Wednesday 9/18 - 1 mile on treadmill (15 minutes) @ 14:51 pace. Really tired today!

Tuesday 9/17 - 4 miles on the treadmill (60 minutes) @ 14:54 pace. Ran 3/4 mile straight!!!

Monday 9/16 - 2.61 miles on the Elliptical (30 minutes).

I'm super excited about the Beach Dash 5K in Galveston this weekend, thought it is going to be tough!

Until later, happy running!
Jamie