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18.5 miles is a record for me. I'm happy w/ that. I rode 2 miles on a dirt road near the end that was mud and uphill mostly. That was a challenge. Learning that the terrain in life will change and get challenging at times, but if I don't faint then it will strengthen me rather than derail me.

I begin eating vegetarian tomorrow for a cleanse. I made beans in the crock pot today. I ate salmon for dinner tonight since fish is a good transition food. I also ate a good salad. I drank a ton of water. I lost count of the liters I drank, but I kept re-filling the bottle. Needed it after that ride.

I'm biking again tomorrow, but not so far. For an hour, so maybe 10 miles. I said I was going to start P90X this week too, but the biking and running keep getting in the way. I need to decide if I'm going to do it, b/c I do need the upper body workout too. I need to get sleep and do other things besides workout! LOL. Love how muscular my legs are getting, but I know my core neck and shoulders, and back need work, especially since I fractured my neck in the car wreck years ago. I did neck exercises tonight, about 20 minutes from Total Body Solutions. I'm supposed to do those exercises every other day. I can do them in front of the TV, or while visiting w/ my family since I have them memorized.

I need to keep my Tah Dah list, To Do list, in front of me tomorrow on my pc so I stay focussed and get more done in less time. It really helps. 

I just got done running a mile. I wanted to run more, but I didn't have time before church. I'm doing Chest and Back from P90X later this afternoon. 

I need to fix my bike tire. I've been putting a lot of miles on it, 12-15 at a time. I'll have to see if we have a tube in the garage or a patch today.

I felt really good biking 15 miles the other day, like I could have done at least another 10 miles, but the dog was DONE, so I took her home and got dinner for the family.

My Beachbody business is also going well. I talk to new people nearly everyday about what they are doing to get and stay in shape and I'm having fun. Having people that depend on me for advice and encouragement, which is what coaching is, helps to keep me workingout and moving forward, eating healthy etc.

My husband is going to turn 50 in a few days, and he's going to run 50 miles in a week, and cut out sweets. U Go Steve! I'm joining him on the no sweets challenge, but I think I will cut out all refined sugar, brown sugar, honey etc, to kind of do a mini-cleanse. Fruit is fine though. I am not ready to run 10 miles a day for 5 days though! I may try to get myself up near a 10 mile run that week thoogh just for a challenge.

I took it easy the week before the race. I did a few easy runs and a couple bike rides. I wanted to be fresh for the race. 

Race day we got up early, around 6AM and got our stuff gathered for the day. I thought I was pretty organized. We got on the road just after 7 for a 9AM race time and an hour drive. Actually, a half hour to a shuttle that takes participants into the race. This 12K is the 2nd largest in the world. It has between 40,000-60,000 participants every year. This year there were over 48,000 participants. So it's a big deal and quite an organizational feate. We had gotten our numbers and packets the day before. About half way there in the car my husband looks at me and asks if I had my race number. "Oh No!" I say. So we high-tale it back home, get the number and race back to the shuttle bus-stop just in time to catch the last shuttle to the race! 

Needless to say, I didn't get to stretch, and the people I was supposed to connect w/ could not be found before the race started.  However, b/c the race is a staggered start, my section didn't start right away. My husband, on the other-hand, had to run to get in place in his section and somehow managed to make his way up front, in the sardine-like crowd. You are placed in sections according to your estimated finish time.

I felt good starting out, but stiff from not stretching. I had to take it easy and pace myself for the 7.5 miles. In training I had not run more than 3.5, maybe 4 miles at a time. Since the shin-splint fiasco I had taken to running up-hill and stairs in order to keep training and not aggravate the injury. I'd say it was successful in doing that.

Getting out of the crowd and into my own spot was tricky. There are a crazy amount of people there, and they're all going a different pace. You have to just keep readjusting your position to keep a good pace.  

The hills in this race are incredible. The first is Happy Valley which is a descent, and it's tricky. Then you have Cemetary hill. It may be one of the hardest, but nearly everyone agrees that Doomsday Hill is the most gruelling. They had a timing mat at the bottom and at the top of that hill in order to time it alone. I did that portion in 6:6 seconds. 

I finished the race in 1:35:28. My mile pace was 12:45. Not too shabby. The fastest mile I've done so far was 11:30, but keeping that up for 7.5 miles isn't something I've worked up to yet.  I was aiming for an Hour and a half, but that was my ultimate goal and knowing I had shin-splints to make sure and not aggravate, I did very well.

I think I was sore more after last week's race than this one.  I made a point to find a time to stretch before we got back on the bus and it really helped. I did some P90X lower body stretches, Kenpo-stretches, etc.

I would reccomend this road race in Spokane, Washingtion to anyone who wants a fun and challenging race. It's always on the 1st sunday in may. The crowd of runners, and the spectators are so fun. Some wear cool or silly costumes. I don't know how they can stand the heat though! Families make this a yearly tradition and all ages are seen walking, wheeling, or running their way to the finish line. Some of the older runners, even 90 year olds, are such an inspiration!

I figure I did alright for only having begun running 4 months ago.

If you want to see pictures from the race go to bloomsdayrun dot org

All the stats are listed there, including the wheelchair race results and the elite runners times.

This week is all low-impact for me. I'm biking and doing some upper body P90X workouts too. I'd like to swim, but the closest pool is over a half hour away. We shall see about that.

It feel good to have done this race in my fastest time yet. I've walked/jogged it before, but never that well.

I was satisfied w/ my time last Saturday @ the Hog Jog. I jogged all but a short distance on the down-hill portion in order to save my shins and knees. I came in at about an hour and 6 minutes. I can't remember my exact time and I haven't seen the paper yet. An hour would have been 12 min mile pace so I did better than I expected since I haven't run 5 miles all at once yet. It's been 4 months since I started running and w/ shin-splints being a recent issue I was just glad to have been able to run!

Sunday is Lilac Bloomsday in Spokane. It's a 12K. I plan on doing it in around an hour and a half. That would make me really happy!  So tomorrow being the day b4 the race I'm doing a walk and maybe some biking as to take it easy and be fresh for the race. Steve is running it too, and he should come in around 49 minutes. You Go Honey! I'll be in his dust :)  He's more experienced at this than me. I try not to push myself too hard so I don't get injured. I'd rather be able to continue this habit than spend time nursing an injury. 

After this weekend I'm looking into a half marathon. Before I know it the Portland Marathon will be upon me! 

This month there's a local even called Iron May. It's basicly doing an Iron man, or more than one over the course of a month, w/ a team or individually.  My team and I are on the top of the leader board, and lead by quite a bit! So proud of all of us clocking our miles, swimming, biking, and running.  Y'day one of my team mates and I went on a 9 ml bike and I also ran 101 times up and down my 16 stairs in the house in a half hour period. That's a record for me! I've only done about 91 times in a half hour before that.

I'm happy w/ my progress. I haven't done too much P90X this week b/c of training for these races, but I'll be back doing doubles next week.

I started running again after the bout w/ shin splints. It's going well. What worked was to go up stairs in place of running and jogging up hill then walking back down.  I only have 3 weeks until a 12K so I wanted to stay in shape for it and still be able to compete w/ minimal shin splint problems. Looks like I'm on track and I'm happy!