Confidence Builder/ 16 miles SOLO

I decide last week I needed to challenge myself.   I haven't  been doing any long runs, because my running partner has been to busy.  What a great excuse not to run any long runs.  I was starting to question ,why I even run.
 
Why I keep  running
1. I run to stay in shape.
2. I love the way I feel after a run
3. It makes me feel more confident
4. I love looking sexy for my hubby
5.Running makes me love myself.   I'm my own worst critic

I haven't ran more than 7 mile since I did the DAM TO DAM race the first of June.   I was just feeling like I needed to do a long run. So with no running partner I would be running this one  SOLO . My running partner is doing some other things right now and is not running as much.  DARN IT. 

I decide to do a 16 mile run.  Am I crazy I haven't been running long distance for a while.  Something in my head just keep telling me to do a 16 mile run.  So I said what the HECK, it might be a good run or it might be the run from hell.  God only knows.

I didn't sleep last night at all.  I hate to say this, but I must of ate something that gave me a hell of alot of gas. Because my  stomach  hurt and was so bloated.   Thank god for peppermint. 

As I am getting ready this morning I am  feeling a little nervous.  Can I really run 16 miles by myself?    My mind was going a hundred miles a minute. 

The first 3 miles felt pretty good, just trying to get into a rhythm.  At mile 8 I'm starting to fad a little, but I take a GU and keep on trucking.   At mile 10 my stomach is cramping a little so I  take a short walk break.  I was keeping a look out for the nearest cornfield..  By mile 13 my quads are starting to feel the burn as Jillian calls it. Decide to take another GU.   At mile 14 I  am thinking when the hell is this going to be over.   I  had to keep telling myself  2 more miles you can do this.  My mind is saying, I just want this run over with now.  At mile 15 I just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  16 MILES SOLO.  Holy Crap I did it.

All of you runners out there that run SOLO are amazing in my book. This was tough. When I run with my running partner the miles just fly by, because we are talking so much.   I thought this was never going to end. 
I'll not give up or use the word can't.  I will just dig deep within myself and get it done.

 

	Hour:Minute:Second Time	Miles Distance	Minutes per Mile Avg Pace
Summary	02:48:04	16.00	10:30
1	00:10:08	1.00	10:08
2	00:09:54	1.00	09:54
3	00:10:03	1.00	10:03
4	00:10:18	1.00	10:19
5	00:10:23	1.00	10:23
6	00:10:08	1.00	10:09
7	00:09:57	1.00	09:58
8	00:10:22	1.00	10:22
9	00:10:51	1.00	10:51
10	00:10:58	1.00	10:58
11	00:10:45	1.00	10:45
12	00:10:38	1.00	10:38
13	00:10:51	1.00	10:52
14	00:10:47	1.00	10:47
15	00:11:04	1.00	11:04
16	00:10:44	1.00	10:44
17	00:00:03	0.01

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOBBIE

Happy Birthday Bobbie

 Hope you have a great day.  Checkout Bobbie's blog over @ Journey in Running and wish her a Happy Birthday.

Birthday Celebration



My twin sister and I will be turning 49, on August 8th. We are celebrating early.  So this year for our birthday  we decide to go see Hairspray at the Playhouse.  The Playhouse  is a community Theatre in Des Moines.  



My sister and me



I picked my sister up at 4:00 to head to Des Moines.  I had a few stops to make before we went to supper.  I've been hungry  for the  salad that I seen on Julia's blog @  Pain,Pride and Perseverance;My Running Journey with strawberries, feta cheese, pecans,lettuce.  It called for crispy chicken, but I don't like breaded chicken on my salad so I got it with grilled.   We decided to go to Perkins, nothing fancy but we know they have good salads. This salad was so good.  I loved the fresh strawberries, and the pecans were awesome. I loved all the different textures in the salad, sweet,crunchy, soft.


Doesn't this look so YUMMY

From Perkins we headed on down to the Playhouse.   We were excited to see this play, because we love musicals.

Hairspray is about a girl that runs head-on-into societal rejection--because of both her appearance and ideas--she gains acceptance through steadfastly being who she is.  The person on the outside isn't necessarily the person on the inside, and bias against those who don't fit  in neat societal packages turns out, in the end, to be in correct. 

OMG, This was such a great play the message and the characters  in it where amazing.  The girls mom was hilarious.  She was a man dressed as a woman.  I would recommend seeing this play if you ever get a chance.

   

                      

This is the girls Mom and Dad.  He was so funny.

                          Do you like to go see musicals?

                          What musicals have you seen?

                      How do you celebrate your Birthday?

County Fair

Sorry I've been MIA.  We have been camping at the Madison Co. Fair.  My youngest is showing a couple of breed heifers and two feeder calves.  We had a great time, but boy was it hot and humid.  The first night there  our air conditioner decided not to work right.  It wasn't keeping the camper very cool.  Good thing I took some fans, they helped circulate what little air it was pulling from the air conditioner.   The next day I told Mike we had to do something, because I was not staying at the fair if the air wasn't working.  Luckily  the trailer company that we took our camper to get fixed last year was at the fair.  They had a service guy come and look at our camper.  Bless their Hearts they were able to  get it working right. OH BABY, We got air now. 



This is my two boys geting the feeder calf ready to show.

Love seeing them work together

I tried to get lots of pictures of the two boys working together.   Believe me they don't always get along that well.   Parker only has one more year to show cows.  I just wanted to take it all in, because I know we will only be doing this one more year.   When  I look at them I cant believe how grown up they are.  Where did my baby boys go? 

Parker's feeder calf he got first place with in his class.

Parker's breeding heifer that he got RESERVE CHAMPION with.

We had alot of fun at  the fair and Parker did great.  Now we need to get ready for the State Fair.  Parker will be showing his breeding heifer at the State Fair in about two weeks. 


My oldest boy is on a Livestock Judging Team in college.   He will be Judging at the Humboldt County Fair on July 29.   This is his first time to be judging livestock at a county fair.  The whole family is going to Humboldt so we can see him judge.   I'm so excited to see him actually be judging  livestock. 

Where has the summer gone?  I can't believe it is the last week in July.  Our kids start back to school on August 15.  That is before the State Fair even gets over.  Luckily we show the week before school starts.


                             How is your summer going?

  Do you go to a County Fair or State Fair during the summer?

RazzyRoo Sports Headband WINNER

The winner of the RazzyRoo Headband is- Christy@MyDirtRoadAnthem. Christy just completed here #3 half marathon, plus  a new PR.  That is awesome Christy.  Go check out her blog at  My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog.  Christy email at pinkhatrunner@hotmail.com with the headband that you want an your mailing address.  I will send it on to Cheryl at RazzyRoo Sports Headbands .  Thanks everyone for participating.

RazzyRoo Sports Headband Review/Giveaway

I contacted RazzyRoo Sporty Headbands to let them know I loved the New Funky Runner Headbands  and that I would love to do a review for them on my blog.  Cheryl from RazzyRoo Sporty Headbands contacted me and told me to pick two Funky Runner Headbands,to review. How awesome is that.
  

I wore this  Funky Runner Headband on several of my runs and I absolute loved it. The material is soft and it didn't fit to tight  around my head so that I would get a headache, which happens more  often than not with headbands I have wore in the past.



This is the Animalicious Headband



RazzyRoo Funky Runner Headbands are:

Non-slip sports headbands

They are made of Nylon spandex giving them a wicking like capability

These headband stay put and help keep the sweat from your face


I also wear glasses and I'm always looking for headbands that are stylish and will keep sweat from running down my face and into my eyes.  These headbands fit that bill. They are awesome.

I absolutely loved when I was running, that I didn't have to keep wiping sweat from my forehead and face.  It's hard to keep focused on your run or keep your pace when your constantly trying to keep sweat from running down into your eyes.



This is the other one I picked. The Shazam Neon headband.  I absolutely loved all the bold colors in this headband. 




They have a lot of different kinds of headbands along with tutu's and  Funky & Fun socks.

Glitter Bands

Narrow Bands

Wide Bands

  



  Cheryl from RazzyRoo has offered  one of my lucky followers any headband they want from RazzyRoo Sporty Headband.  These headbands are  perfect for  the " Sassy Sporty Gal"



 
Here's how you can win a RazzyRoo Sporty Headband 

(MANDATORY)  Become a follower of my blog, if not already one + 1 entry
(MANDATORY)  "LIKE" RazzyRoo Headbands on facebook  HERE  and let them know the Pink Hat Runner  sent you + 1 entry

Facebook, blog, twitter, etc. about giveaway  + 1 entry each

Go to RazzyRoo website HERE and let me know which headband you like + 1 entry

The winner will be chosen by Random.org on- 7/16/11

Disclaimer- I was in know way compensate for this review.   This  is solely my opinion on the Funky Runner Headband, after I had tried it out on  several of my runs. 



The Old Gray Mare Isn't What She Use To Be.

Yesterday was the first time I had worked out for at least 12 to 15 days.  I haven't been sleeping well and when it was  time to get up, I had just gotten to sleep.   At one point I thought,I  just  might become a couch potato.  " JUST KIDDING".  I just was not feeling like doing much of  anything.  I got threw my daily stuff, but not much  more.   I  know how great a workout would make me feel, but not able to accomplish that even.

When I woke up yesterday I felt like I actually had some energy and  a run would feel pretty good. I got my running clothes on and headed to town. " I all most forgot where I keep my running clothes".   I turned my Garmin on to get a satellite, but it said low battery.  So know Garmin, that's OK I would  only keep looking at it to see if I was keeping on pace.  Not feeling a pace today anyway.  Than I get my Nano on and earphones in my ear turn it on and it has low battery.  WTH is up with all the low battery crap.  Apparently I forgot to recharge them since I haven't ran for so long. I got 6 good miles in and it felt so good getting back in the saddle as they say.  How easy it is to forget, how  great you feel during and after a run. 

This morning was a little different.   I really needed to get some weed eating and weed pulling done before it got to hot here.   So I decided that I would do my workout after I got all the other stuff done.  This is outside my routine, because usually if I don't do it right after I get up it does not get done.  Actually I was feeling like this was doable today.  When I got done with all the other stuff, I was still feeling like I had a good workout in me so headed to the gym. 

I decide to do my workout inside. 
Elliptical 30 minutes
Weight DVD
4 x 400 with a RI x 400
1 @ 2.20
2 @ 2.25
3 @ 2.00
4 @ 2.00
Boy this interval stuff is tough and tiring.

I have  noticed  as the years creep up on me, my body is changing.   The  women thing comes every 3 weeks instead of 28 day.  Which by the way sucks.   From one month to the next I feel like my body is doing things that I'm not use to.   My emotions are off the chart  and physically I'm not feeling as strong. Needless to say I think the OLD GRAY MARE ISN'T WHAT SHE USE TO BE.  I'm approaching 49 in 39 days.   That is way to close to 50 for me.  My two boys and I along with some other siblings moved  my Mom and Dad to a retirement home closer to where we all live.   My Mom has had a slight stroke, but she is  still able to drive. My dad is blind and has had some heart problems.  As we are moving things into my  Mom and Dad apartment, I tell my mom to be careful while she is trying to help move things.    I keep telling her to let us lift the heavy things so she doesn't get hurt or have a fall.  

As I'm telling my Mom this, my boys are saying the same thing to me, when I'm trying to help lift a dresser.   OMG THEY THINK I'M NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING BECAUSE I'M GETTING CLOSER TO 50, WTH.  It really did make me feel  a little old.  I know my boys meant well and that they were just making sure I  didn't get hurt moving Mom and Dad. 

  

Actually the 40's have been awesome.  My oldest boy will be in his 3rd  year of college and youngest  boy  will be a senior next year.  I'm  really enjoying  watching my boys turn into young men.   Life just doesn't get any better than this. 

          Have you notice your body changing as you get older?

   Does you parents live close to you?

           Do you have a race this holiday weekend?