5 days

5 DAYS

 

Today marks 5 short days until race day! 

 

I find myself with a mix of emotions today.  I'm feeling excited, ready, nervous, anxious & overall just pretty emotional.  While I'm feeling better, I'm still not 100% well yet so I'm sure that is playing a part in my emotional state :)  Here's the deal, I've trained my butt off the past 16 weeks & the realization that in 5 short days I will have completed a race I've worked so hard for, seems well, overwhelming.  Not to mention the fact that I love St. Jude and how they help thousands of children each and every year.  I am honored to run for such amazing kids.  So, if you think about it this week, please say a prayer that I'm 100% physically ready to run my best!

Coach Kevin Leathers is the national coach for the St. Jude heroes program.  On his blog, he has a detailed course description and I've included it here if you are interested in checking it out.  I have to say what I'm most excited about is running through the St. Jude campus.  I'm fully prepared to be an emotional wreck that mile so I'll make sure to have plenty of tissue! 

He also talks about proper tapering.  Read all about it here
With this annoying virus that hit me late Thursday night, I do find encouragement in his tapering plan.  I had to miss my final long run this past Saturday and I wasn't happy, but I don't feel like missing it will affect me in the end.  I did run this morning.  I did an easy 2 miler/19 minutes and that was it.  The plan for the week is 3 miles tomorrow and 2 on Wednesday.  Depending on how anxious I'm feeling Friday, I may go to the gym and bike gently, just to work out nerves.  We'll see.

Final Training Days

Final Training Days 

 

11/20/2012

 

I headed to the park on this gorgeous Tuesday morning for a fun 3 miler. 

 

I'm feeling super ready for the half NEXT SATURDAY!!!

 

My splits were...

 

Mile 1 - 9:21

Mile 2 - 8:38

Mile 3 - 8:15

 

Total Time - 26:26

Total Distance - 3.02 Miles

 

 

Later that day I was able to pick up my heroes singlet! Yippee!!!

 

 

 

Sara, Me, and Candace after we rocked the Turkey Trot

 

Turkey Trot Mile Splits

 

The Turkey Trot was a fun race.  We made the mistake of starting too far back in the pack of 3000+ people.  It's just so hard judging where to line up when it isn't broken down into race paces.  We spent the whole race passing person after person.  There was a lot of running in the grass and passing passing passing.  That's ok, it was a gorgeous day and I'm already looking forward to next year's race. 

 

 

 

 

                                                   

Thanksgiving was a success.  We had delicious food, desserts, and wonderful family time.  Unfortunately Brock woke up that morning with a cough and fever.  I felt a little off but nothing serious.  Until Friday morning, when I woke up with a sore throat :(  Needless to say, I'm loading up on my vitamins, esp. vitamin C, gargling with salt water, drinking plenty of fluids, and resting!  I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE SICK NEXT SATURDAY!!!!!! I really hated to miss my final long run before the race, but figured to be smart and not make myself worse, I should sit it out.  I feel very ready as far as training goes for next Saturday, so I didn't think missing one run would be a huge deal.  I'm hoping to get my short runs in on Monday and Tuesday.  Then rest Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Packet pick up is Thursday afternoon!!! I'm hoping to get a cute shirt or something at the Expo! It's crazy to think that this time next week, I will have completed my first half marathon!!! Bring it, I'm so excited!

 

 

 

let the countdown begin!!!



almost time...

 With only 12 days until race day, to say that I'm excited would be a major understatement!!!! I absolutely cannot wait to get out there and run for the precious kids of St. Jude.  My passion to help these precious little ones is ever growing and I just feel so blessed to have the privilege to help in any way that I can.

I'm also THRILLED to announce that, with your help, I've reached 105% of my personal fundraising goal!  A HUGE thank you to those of you who have donated! That is what makes this race so special! Y'all are amazing!  In fact, since I've been writting this post, it went from 77% to 105%. Thanks SO much!!!!!!!!!!!! 

If you are still wanting to donate, please do - I'd love to raise as much as we can!

It's super easy.  Simply follow this link and follow the instructions.

Training Update!

Let me tell you something, I've learned so much about myself these past several months.  I've learned that I'm physically capable of so much more than I have ever given myself credit for.  I'm not bragging,  I'm just saying that I'm proving to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind too...with a LOT of hard work, sweat, and tears!  It's so liberating and I'm loving every second.  Of course there are painful moments involved in training but the pay off is so worth it!

 

Me, Sara, and Candace after our 8 miler on Saturday

Saturday morning was gorgeous! It was a little chilly at first but it quickly warmed up.  I have been nervous about my knees and the fact that they have been hurting during and after some of my runs.  I was grateful that they didn't hurt during my run on Saturday. We decided to tune into Pandora and run to some Christmas tunes.  I'll admit, at first I wasn't crazy about the idea because we haven't even made it to Thanksgiving yet! However, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the fun and festive music!  I can't convince D to listen to it yet...he says, one holiday at a time! Haha.


Around mile 5 I spotted a runner sporting the St. Jude Heroes 50th anniversary singlet! Let me tell you,  it pumped me up!!! I believe I saw at least 5 runners during the course of the run wearing them.  It made me want mine so badly!  I received an email today that mine is ready for me to pick up! Yay!!! I plan on picking it up tomorrow! I'm receiving mine a little later than most people because Team Ingram/Vining is just plain awesome.  They are having our team logo printed on each and every team members singlet! All 200 of us! By the way, our team has collectively raised OVER $300,000!!!! Seriously amazing!

So, For those of you who are wondering what in the world I'm talking about - a singlet is basically a running tank top and this year's is super special because St. Jude is celebrating 50 years of saving lives. 
 

 

here is sweet Ingram sporting the awesome 50th anniversary singlet!

 

 

Blast from the Past

 

Last year my awesome sister, Ashley, ran her 1st half marathon with her best friend, Kathy.  They did amazing and I had the best time cheering them on and tracking their time!  I'm telling you what, it ignited something inside of me and I knew that I would be a part of it this year, Lord willing.

 

 Here are a few pics from last year's race. 

 

 

Ashley & Kathy just before the race. 

 

They did it!!!

 

I'm a proud little sister!

 

 

 

 So, in 12 short days I'll be lining up to run in this amazing and life changing race!!! I can't wait!!!!!

 

 

 



 

God bless!

Allie

update

Goodness, how I have slacked on this blog!  A lot has happened in the 2 weeks since I last blogged. 

 

A few memories...

 

 

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary!!!! We had a fun date and I got some killer cowgirl boots! He got his Trek road bike ( a month or so ago )

 We also celebrated Brock's 5th birthday! We had a fun day at the Children's Museum, lunch at Macaroni Grill, shopping at Toys R Us, plenty of cake, and lots of laughs. 

 

Cannot believe my BABY is 5!!!

 

 

 

 

We also had a fun Saturday hanging out at the Collierville Square.  We shopped, played on the train tracks, ate a fantastic lunch, and just had good old family time!

 



 

 

Emma had her first Ignite ensemble performance at the fall fest at church on Halloween.  Then we had a fun time of playing games, riding ponies, and getting way too much candy!

 

 

  She is the cutie with the boots on in the middle.

 

 

Emma was an equestrian rider, without her helmet - and Brock was Darth Vader, without his mask! LOL

 

 

Brock learned to swing all by himself!!! He gives all the credit to Madi, his cousin, for teaching him,  but he forgets the many times I showed him. :)

 

I've enjoyed some seriously beautiful sunsets!

 

There are so many other little things that have been blessings in the past few weeks, but those were just a few. 

 

 

 

Now for an update on my running...

 

 

The last time I blogged I had just run 11 miles :) I've been training hard the past 2 weeks but have been battling my left knee off and on.  It started hurting the day I did 11, so I rested it for several days.  The next few runs were short and it didn't bother me so I figured it was over.  Unfortunately, my next long run the following Saturday, it started hurting again.  This time it was at mile 8 and I had to cut the run .20 of a mile short.  I was so bummed because I felt amazing everywhere else and felt like I could run forever.  The weird part was as soon as the run ended it stopped hurting??!! It felt great the rest of the day.  I'm so confused at this point because I've run several times since then pain free but yesterday I just felt like it was weak.  It felt great when I ran yesterday morning but started a dull ache for the remainder of the day.  Today, I ran 3 and it felt good, but it's been that dull ache all day again.  I wore my knee brace for most of the day today in hopes for a quick fix.  So, for now I think I need to take it easy and just be safe and cautious.  The LAST thing I want to do at this point is make it worse and not be able to run the 1/2 in 3 weeks. I know I've put in the training the past several months and I know I'm ready to run a good race.  Now, I need to focus on making sure my knee is well rested for the big day! So, I'm not sure what my training is going to look like the next few weeks but I do know that I'll be ready to race!!! 18 short days left!!!

 

 

Allie