Kid's Marathon Recap

Amara still has 2.5 miles to make up in order to have officially completed the distance ( 26.2 miles).

She was very nervous!! She even took about 3 bathroom breaks in the 30 minutes before the race! She is a true athlete! I tried to explain to her the jitters and nervous excitement and that it was in fact, a good thing! I am not sure she believed me. She was very worried about not meeting her goal. I never asked her what it was, I thought that might make her feel even more pressured.

The Grand Rapids Kids Marathon was very organized. The kids were to start in waves...depending on your last name you were assigned an animal. Amara was a cheetah and in wave 2. She had on my Garmin of course! I did not notice any other kids with fancy GPS gadgets on..whatever.

We were off and running and she did really great! She seemed a lot more relaxed and dare i say focused?!?! She ran the whole way- I found out at the end of the race that that was her goal all along-not to walk! Her time was 13:36 ish. She was flying! The cool thing is that the kids started and ran on and finished at the same start/finish of the real marathon that took place on Sunday.

The kids were treated to water, yogurt, ice cream and apples after the race. The YMCA also had a harvest fest party that we went to after the race. There was lots of stuff going on-face and nail painting, pony rides, coloring cider and donuts and lots more.

I wished I had more action shots, but it would have been kind of hard running with a huge camera! Amara had gym today and you better believe that she is wearing her marathon medal around her neck!

1 Mile Fun Run

Amara ran her 2nd 1 Mile Fun Run and improved her time by 20 whole seconds (but who's counting??) 12:17 was her unofficial time! She had a lot of fun and asked if she could run another 5k race on the 26th! I am very proud of her and love to see her so happy after crossing the finishing line! Actually I am sure she is all about the medal!!

Bummer...........

I have been gearing up to start my new goal in January. That would be to start training for the grueling 25k race that I swear to NEVER RUN AGAIN every year. It hurts so good. My goal is to run in under 2 hours. That's pretty quick for 15.5 miles. I have been thinking about joining up with a running club again for at least 4 months now. I took it upon myself to email the new coach and ask( brown nose) a few questions about the upcoming season.
The running club offers guidance on how to train for races. They have a speed session workout during the week and a long run on the weekend. It's up to you to do the other prescribed runs during the week. I really love the group aspect of training, doing something besides teaching group exercise, being outside and just enjoying other grownups! There are people there who are at or around my fitness level and can really push me when I need it. I need that push.....
So it really saddened me to find out that the speed sessions are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't attend either of those days-stupid work.
When I was last with this club the speed sessions were offered on Tuesday and Wednesday-perfect for me and would have been again. I would have to give up my Wednesday Zumba, but dare I say this would be worth it?? YES-it would have been. So now I don't know what I am going to do. I really feel the speed work is in intricate part of me doing well and achieving my goal. I really don't see myself on a track by myself doing 800 meter repeats anytime soon. Lame.
So I apologize for the pity party. This is just a total bummer.
OK, moving on to some positive things.......
I don't get to do Power Pilates on Wednesday because Matt is hunting early. Oops, that was negative. Zumba- take me away!!! I still have that hopefully........
Amara had her gymnastics class today during school and I am able to log onto the computer and spy on her whenever I want. I was able to see her in action as she had tons of energy this morning even before school started. She was as funny as I expected. She jumped on the trampoline, walked the balance beam ( just a line on the floor I think), did a somersault and a cartwheel and the while a big smile on her face ( I wish there was sound..I am sure she was giggling the whole time). She gave a couple high fives after the stunts and then repeated the process again. I think she wore herself out. She was pretty tired for us today after school ( ie: whine bag).
Miles had a pretty big day as well. He signed his first word--SHOES! Proud mom over here!
His exercise of the day was dancing to the opening theme music of Yo Gabba Gabba! This show is either the coolest thing ever or it can be scary. I play it a few times in a row so he can get his heart rate up ( kidding).
I pretty much took the weekend off from, well, everything! Monday and Tuesday have been great exercise wise. Monday- not so well with a minor almond M & M attack. Moving on.
This weeks ( maybe tomorrow) recipe will be homemade macaroni and cheese. Stay tuned!