This is my #What'sBeautiful story

*This post is sponsored by Under Armour through FitFluential.


I have the hardest time writing my version of What's Beautiful.
I've had plenty of time to think about it since this campaign started but I've put it off because so many things have gone through my head.  Am I being the best version of What's Beautiful that I can be? Am I truly redefining the female athlete in my sport?

The answer is YES.

I started a little journey 5 years ago and even though I didn't think I was an athlete or even beautiful at 248 lbs, I was both. I just didn't know it at the time.

I did not come in first or even in the middle of the pack at this race that day (my first 5k in 2008) but I was not any less of an athlete or beautiful person as those folks that did. I didn't come in dead last that day either. My placement that day didn't matter really. What mattered was finishing.

What matters even more is that I have never since that day given up. I've ran through pain, injury, tears. I've ran through snow, rain, heat. I've ran on good days and bad days. I've had great races and bad races. I've Prd and I haven't. The most beautiful thing is that since then I have kept pushing forward through it all.

What matters is that all those in betweens are what has gotten me here.

I had someone recently ask me how I lost all the weight. I answered simply, "watching my diet and running..a lot." The reply I got from her, "Ugh, I thought maybe it was something easy that I could do."

If you're reading this and ask the same question. My answer to you is this.. it may not always be easy but YOU CAN do it. You can write your own beautiful story even when it is hard.

What do I hope to accomplish through this campaign?
Here is what I wrote for my goal to be (you can find my page here)...

To finally whole heartedly accept myself as an athlete, accepting the challenges before me and knowing that I'm not the girl I was when I started my fitness/running journey 5 yrs ago. Run, race, train my way to marathon #2 with more determination than I did the first time!! #I WILL.

So, that's my beautiful story and my goal. Be sure to check out my page or join my team here. 

WW- Happy National Running Day

Skeeter Run 5k - race recap

My girlfriends and I decided a few weeks ago that we would do a girl's day/night out. The original plan was to head away from town for the weekend but we decided to save money on rooms and stay local. Once the date was picked things fell into place and the day's events were decided.

We started our day with a little local 5k race called the Skeeter Run 5k- Imagine No Malaria. Of course by the sounds of the name you can determine where proceeds were going. Great cause! We all signed up and that was how our Girl's Day/Night out began.

This was the same course as another local 5k race that runs here in July. An out and back on Neyland Drive in Knoxville. It's pretty flat and a location that I've ran many times. I wasn't worried about the course. Actually I wasn't really concerned about the race at all other than the fact that I had raced/ran hard the weekend before and it was much warmer and humid this weekend than last, but I would succeed.

There was an early packet pick up so I took advantage of that on Friday evening after work.

We did our 2 mile warm up, a few leg swings and used the port-o-potties before lining up for the 8am start and we posed for our first Girl's Day/Night out pic of the day.

 I was already a hot sweaty mess but felt as ready as I could to run. My race plan had me set to start the first mile at 8:20 pace. I went out a bit fast and much to my dismay had to even stop to tie my shoe that had come untied. Grr. Even so I pulled out mile 1 with an 8:06.

Mile 2 was hard for me. I was mentally not in it after the shoe tying fiasco and did not hit my goal pace of 8:10-8:15. I walked at the water stop (which for me is dumb since it was an easy 5k) and ended mile 2 with an 8:47, much slower than my 5k pace. Bummer.

Once in mile 3 I felt back in the game but was still hitting it slower than I needed to be. I could tell looking at my Garmin that if I just pushed I could possibly get a 5k PR.  Mile 3 was 8:18.

Not at all my best 5k performance. My Garmin read 25:21 which would have been a 30 second PR however, the distance read 3.03. Unfortunately on a short course (certified or not) it just doesn't count. In my mind I want it to but reality is I just did not run 3.10. If I was to do the math I think I could still have pulled off a slight PR even if I had ran the .06 missing, but oh well.

Even though I was disappointed I was still happy considering I spent :39 seconds stopped to tie my shoe. Just how does it take that long to tie a darn shoe!?
 I had convinced myself that 25+ minutes was just to slow for any awards and was focused on what else the day would hold for fun but imagine my shock when they called my name for 2nd place female in my age group (30-34)!?

I'm not the only one in my little circle of friends that won some bling! Check out my awesome friends....

So, despite the short course we were obviously all very happy with our performances!

Tell me:
Do you count a PR even if the course is short? Or do you accept it for what it actually is and set out to achieve the goal the next time?

Wordless Wednesday - Mile PR

This happened on the track at my workout Tuesday. It's a big fat mile PR baby! My Garmin shows 7:46 but I actually logged it as 7:51. My last mile PR on the track was a few months back and 8:09. Still stoked about this. More details about the workout later.

KTC Expo 10k - race recap

Rather than bore you with my usual lengthy race recap I am going to keep this one short and sweet and just hit the major high points. Really there was only one low point and I will also hit on that.

I was excited to get to run this race this year (even though I said I didn't want to) because I was injured last year and had to sit it out. I was able to volunteer last year so that was at least fun. Difference in last year and this year weather wise:

Last year - 80 degrees and humid as all get out
This year - 55, cool and very very low humidity

Packet pickup was on Friday night. This race had a portion of registration proceeds going to the Boston One Fund. The bibs and shirts were designed by someone local. Each word/phrase in the heart represents someone local to our area that was in/ran Boston on 4/15.  I thought it was a really nice touch.

I did my warm up and a quick potty break before meeting the Socialites for a quick group pic.

After the pic it was time to line up. It's still weird to me to line up so close to the front of the pack but so far it works and at least with this particular race, even though people were passing me I was not out of place.

Goal for this race was mainly to finish. As I said before, my coach told me several times this was not a PR course/race. Then I got my race plan and remember emailing him back that I was intimidated. Based on the race plan it meant I would have a pretty significant PR and my start pace was at least a minute per mile faster than my last 10k.

The temp was just right and my body was completely in tune for this race. It's a bit downhill the first 2 miles, then flat the next 2 miles before running up a decent hill or two in the last couple, and finally finishing downhill.

Splits:

8:16
8:32
8:48
8:35
9:06
8:49
7:19 (.21)

The first 2 miles were well below my goal pace. Mile 3 was just slightly above goal pace while mile 4 was below. Mile 5 was a slight little walk/water break where I had to beg for water (ask the water station volunteer 4 times for water) and the last mile was a bit slower than goal pace but still within range. The downhill finish produced quite a speedy pace for me.

Finish time: 53:41

This was good enough for an almost 8 minute PR, my first time breaking an hour for a 10k race AND....

 Another 1st place Athena win! Check out that cool trophy! Since they only went 1 deep for awards in my division I'm not entirely sure how many other women raced in my category but it really doesn't matter. I hit my goal and pulled another win. :)

For the low point in my race:

Major under boob chaffing. Despite my best efforts at BodyGliding myself up I had some issues.

Overall I am 100000% pleased with my effort in this race. I usually end a race with a smidge of regret (I could have pushed faster/harder here. I shouldn't have walked there.. or one thing or another), but that was not the case on Saturday. Training is paying off and I left this race satisfied. I may still be on a little bit of a runner's high from this race as well.

Work hard, enjoy the rewards!!

I am not your competition.

I feel like I should state first that this post isn't my normal type of post nor am I complaining or being negative in any way. This is me...real, raw and emotional on a specific issue that has bothered me as of late. I've touched a little on this topic before so it's really nothing new. However, it's gotten a little more personal for me lately and I feel like putting it here in my little space will help me completely get my feelings out.

Facts:
I love to run. I love to race. I love competition.

The first two are a given. The third well it may not be well known about me. My husband knows, my coach knows and I know. But when it comes to competition YOU are not it.

Is you a person? Maybe.

I've been running for 5 years now. I started out not even really running because as I look back on where I was then and where I am now and compare my 15 minute mile to my now 8-9 min racing miles there's quite a difference. There is nothing wrong with a 15 min mile, let me say that. If you run a 15 minute mile you are a runner just like the 8 minute mile runner. And when I line up at the start of the race I am not judging you by your pace. In fact, at the end of the race I am not judging you by your finish time.

I don't set foot at the start line of any race and scope out the competition. It's not my game.

When I sign up for a race I sign up for me. I sign up for my goal, for my run, for myself. And maybe lately I sign up because my coach says to or because my girlfriends all did and it will be a fun addition to an all day girls day/night out. (that may or may not be a true story that I may or may not soon share..haha)

I know going into a race that most of the women my age are going to be considerably faster than me. It's just how it is. But again, when I line up with these women I do not even consider them my competition.

I run/train with many women in my age group on a regular basis. We do not compete. It's not how we are. It is not the dynamic of our relationships. We're friends. We're running buddies. We are a support system to each other in a sport we all love and happen to compete in.

So where am I going with all this?
Here...
There seems to always be that one person in a group or an acquaintance, just someone.. that has to try to bring you down. Someone that takes the term "friendly competition" to another level. Someone that thinks their random inquiries about your racing schedule or training are just friendly conversation when in reality it comes across as being overly competitive before a race even starts.

I may  not be making any sense. I seem to always be able to write posts in my head so much better than I can on the screen.

My point is... you are not my competition.

When I line up for a race I am competing against one person and one person only.
ME!

I'm happy for you that you are there. I'm happy for you that you have a goal. I'm happy for you when you reach your PR. I'm happy for you no matter the reason you run.
But know that as a runner I want the same thing in return. I don't want your competition, friendly or not.

Let me run my race and I'll let you run yours. I am not your competition. I am MY competition.

Tuesday Randoms

What the what!? It's been almost 10 days since I last blogged. Yikes.

I'm not lazy, but super busy. Going to bed early so I can get up even earlier and get my workouts done. I'll be up and out of the house 4 out of 5 days this week just to beat the heat.

There's a lot to be said about the weather all over the country right now I know. The tornado damage in Oklahoma is so very sad. I promise to only say this about our current weather... humidity sucks. It's so hard to run (well) in the humidity. However, I have had some decent runs. I attribute that to the fact that I've been going early.

Now that school is out I can make Monday morning practice in my own city which is nice because it's so close, on the greenway and the run is done early so that I am home to enjoy my family even sooner after work!

Also, now that school is out and I'm finally (after 8 months of coaching/training) use to my training schedule, I will be adding in at least one BodyPump class per week back to my schedule. I start that tomorrow morning. I'm super excited about it even if it does mean one of two things.
1. I need to also get my 4 easy mile run in before/after class.
2. Get my 4 easy mile run done after work.
Of course because of heat/humidity I am leaning more towards the first option, but still trying to work on the logistics of that. That means it's 9:30pm here and I don't have my bags packed nor am I in bed yet. Must.get.busy.

I have a race this weekend. A local 10k that I am nervous about but looking forward to just running. It's not a PR course (according to my coach) and obviously the temps won't be ideal, so the goal? Finish and have fun. Since I have a total of 10 miles on my schedule for the day it will definitely be an interesting day. I'm looking forward to it even if nerves are involved because last year I wanted badly to run the race but if you recall I was freakin' injured! Gah. I did have fun volunteering but I'm happy I get to run this year.

Speaking of that. I have worried almost all year long about being injured again or my hip injury flaring back up. I'm happy  my training has been going well and I've been able to think less about that.

So much fun stuff going on. Gotta keep this randoms short and sweet but I have some good stuff coming soon!! Happy Tuesday!