Since we both live in Dallas and have been cheering on the Mavs we had to dedicate our first post of the day to the Mavs!! So excited and very well deserved!! So much heart on that team!
Wounded Warrior10k
June 10, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Miss us?? Well, we are back! Still trying to find some balance with all that is going on, BUT it’s another race weekend!! And we are excited to be apart of the Wounded Warrior race this weekend! I think it’s safe to say we are both VERY glad we did not select the half marathon for this race and stuck with running the 10k!
This race supports SUCH a great cause! It honors the men & women who serve in our military and helps raise money for the Semper Fi fund which gives assistance to Marines and Sailors who were injured in post 9-11 combat. I am sure each of us out there knows someone, whether it’s an acquaintance, a close friend from growing up or a family member of a friend, whose spent time serving in our military; and I know we are proud to be apart of a race that honors these great men & women!
We are excited to be running the 10k with our friends Traci, her hubby Mike, Ashley and Chris! Our friend Joe is running as well but taking on the half marathon!
We are also excited and want to give a shoutout to one of Teal’s fellow teachers, Chris (not the same one as above), who got back into to running this year and will be completing his first half marathon this weekend at Wounded Warrior!! We are so excited for you and appreciate all the support you give us!! Chris actually ran with us at the Kacie’s Run put on my Carrollton/Farmers Branch ISD back in March as well though we didn’t get a picture with him that day, but there’s always Sunday! 🙂
Goals:
This weekend we both share the same goal – to not die!! Haha, this will probably the first HOT run either of us have really done so we are not anticipating a PR. We just want to run the whole thing and not be dying at the end.
Weather Forecast:
Wind: 7 mph
High: 99*
Low: 74*
Precip.: 0%
What Do YOU Do for Cross Training?
June 3, 2011 by · 5 Comments
What is your go to cross training workout? We just want to see what other people do on their cross training days and see how many people do similar activities or if they vary far more than we even thought!!
Do you spin?
Do you kickbox?
Do you do crossfit?
What is it that we’ve mentioned or even left out that you do for cross training? Let us know in the comments section! Look forward to what you all have to say!
– Teal & Beth
National Running Day
June 1, 2011 by · 2 Comments
We have finally reach the point in the Texas weather where the heat is really starting to pick up and be consistent. This the first summer where we will both be running through the heat, which is a weird mix of excitment and “Oh, God, are we going to die?”
Since the half we ran in May neither one of us has logged many miles running. Sorry just being honest! Like we have said many times we both stay very busy and for Teal this time of year means her school year with the students she teaches is coming to a close as well as her school year where she is a student. For Beth it has just been a busy season in her full time job with a handful of jobs in her part time job that have also kept her busy.
Now just because we both haven’t logged a bunch of miles running in no way means we aren’t still working out. You can still find Teal diligently working out with her trainer, Will, two times a week and Beth with her trainer, Johnny. And you can always find Teal either running stairs at a local high school or if they’ve locked her out at her gym. Beth you can find sweating her butt off while holding warrior one in the yoga studio.
And then there was Memorial Day Weekend where we had lots of days to put in some running miles, ya, that didn’t really happen either. We both, along with our significant others spent Friday night at the Rangers game. Teal woke up bright and early Saturday morning for a 14 hour trip to Vegas to see a friend get married, and Beth ended up glued to her couch and/or bed sick, with what exactly? Don’t know but there was a sore throat involved.
Being that today is National Running Day – there couldn’t be a better day for us to jump back in and get some miles under our belt! How many miles will you be running today? And those of you out there running in heat – what tips do you have for us for running in the heat?
Heroes for Children 5k
May 21, 2011 by · 1 Comment
I, Beth, recently have gotten back into volunteering and specifically with Heroes for Children. One day at the end of January I decided to try out yoga at an actual studio and ended up meeting one of the co-founders of Heroes for Children that same day. Talk about perfect timing as I’d been looking for one charity or organization to get involved with! Both co-founders of HFC lost a daughter to cancer and throughout their daughters’ battles with cancer each family was blessed by friends, neighbors and family and through these people in their lives were able to overcome many of the obstacles their family faced. They saw many other families, as I am sure some of you reading this blog have seen, struggle financially amongst other things while their children battled cancer. In December 2004, Heroes for Children was formed and since have provided over 2 million dollars in program services!
You might be wondering, How exactly does HFC provide for families? – “[we] provide direct financial assistance to families with children battling cancer. The average gift is $750 to assist towards such necessary expenses as mortgage/rent, utilities, car payments, or even funerals for children who have lost their battle to cancer. This is the largest program and main focus of Heroes for Children. More than $45,000 is spent each month on direct financial assistance.”
There is also the Laptops for Love program which “donates new laptops to teenagers battling cancer. This unique program provides teens with a link to the outside world while undergoing cancer treatment and allows them to keep up with their school work while away from the classroom.”
This is just one of a number of other events throughout the year to raise money and not only here in Dallas, but also in Houston. Please take a look at the HFC site to learn even more!
Finding an outlet to volunteer got me very pumped up and when I learned that Heroes for Children holds a 5k annually I got even MORE excited and knew that I needed to be apart of the 5k committee. Each year the Heroes for Children 5k is held in September at the Shops at Legacy in Plano, Texas. I am excited to see the behind the scenes part and all the details that go into organizing a race! I am glad to finally be able to see just how much time, dedication and hard work goes into planning such an event. Our first meeting as a committee was in April and we are all deep into the organizing process! You are probably wondering – if it’s in September why are you already talking to me about this now?? Well, that’s a GREAT question! We are starting team recruitment already and are looking for team captains! The first chance to learn about being a team captain is Wednesday, May 25th at 11:00 a.m. at Ringo’s Pub at the Shops at Legacy. Lunch will be provided for you and if you’d like to attend please feel free to leave a comment on this post or you can email me at ealynch12@gmail.com. There will be other opportunities to attend a team captain informational and I will be sure to keep you guys updated (like a happy hour next month in Dallas)! If you live in the DFW area, we would love your support in the 7th Annual HFC 5k even if it’s just you signing up to run and not bringing a full team! If you have any further questions feel free to contact me!
May’s Race
May 8, 2011 by · 2 Comments
before the race started
Well, we now have half marathon number two under our belts! And we are about 17 weeks away from our next one! This past Saturday we ran in the White Rock Centennial Half and as we mentioned before did not really get a lot of training in before doing it. For this post we thought we’d let you into our minds as we ran so enjoy…
Teal: This race was seriously a mental game for me. I knew going in that I could finish the race even though I really hadn’t trained consistently, but I was very nervous about what that would do to my head. One mile in I was completely off, I had accidentally turned my runkeeper app off and my music kept repeating the same song and I couldn’t get it to stop repeating. In my head I was like, this is going to be a long 13 miles if I can’t even get this stuff under control and was annoyed that my mileage and time was now off for the way that I track my running. I finally just decided to stop and fix it all after mile 1. After getting everything set I was now officially in the race. I started with my normal counting, but felt very tired, my knees were tight and I just felt like I was running heavy. The first 3 miles seemed to take forever. At the beginning I had decided that I would try to make sure I stayed between the 2 hour and the 2:10 pacers. I lost track of the 2 hour pacer by mile 3 which was slightly frustrating. I decided that the only way to get through was literally go one mile at a time. I started to get really nervous that I had overdone the week. I had run 9 on Sunday and 10 on Tuesday, and thought maybe my body was just worn out. Starting at mile 4 I just started saying to myself, less than 10 minutes to mile 5 and kept that up. Mile 4 was a huge tease, because they ran us through the finish line, so I felt like the race was super long knowing that I still had to make it all the way around the lake. After each mile I just said to say to myself less than 10 minutes until the next one. It worked and by 10 I felt ok, I ran a next to a trainer from my gym for about 5 miles and it was motivating, we kind of went back and forth in pace with each other, but it kept my mind off of being tired. It was at mile 10 that the 2:10 pacer passed me. I stayed with them for a while but then lost sight; I literally didn’t have much left to keep up with them. The hills were crazy and I hated every last one of them. We had run the Tour des Fleurs last year and they ran us up the same hill for this race that I had to walk in the 10k, so I was very proud of myself for making it and actually making all of the hills. The bridges scared the crap out of me too. Every time I ran on one they moved. The first one I ran across literally made me think I was passing out. It was that weird feeling you get when you miss a double bounce on a trampoline. It scared me to death and literally my heart dropped to my stomach. At 11, I seriously didn’t know if I would finish. I really wanted to walk but kept saying to myself you will be mad if you do. I had a goal to beat my last ½ by 5 minutes. I, however, decided to stop at the drink stop for the first time, I had been drinking the water from the bottle I was holding. I walked the entire water stop; it probably took me about a minute and a half. At the end of the 11, I ran the rest and was determined to not stop even if I was running 11+ minute miles. I finally made it to 13 and I swear on everything it seemed like a ½ mile from 13 to 13.1. I just kept thinking, you made it this far keep going, start counting and just freaking finish. I crossed the finish line and was kind of dizzy and seriously worn out, way more worn out then White Rock in December. I looked for Beth who was just outside the fence and I looked at her and said “that has to be the longest .1 miles I have ever run!”
Overall the race was rough there were lots of hills, lots of wind, and not too many cheering spectators. The spectators are my favorite part. They literally make it easier to keep going. I kind of felt alone in this race and was sometimes bored, which makes it much harder to run. I should be incredibly happy that my legs can carry me that far!!
Beth: We started the race right around the 2 hour pacer. When we got started I saw the pacer and said to myself “I will not see you again during this race!” I had my runkeeper app on during the run and it was updating me every half mile how I was doing. This isn’t an app I want to run with regularly while the coaching feature is on. I prefer to be my own motivator and pusher, but nonetheless I had it on. I was talking myself through the hills and was proud of myself for keeping my miles under 9 minutes for the first 7. It was when I got to the mile 8 marker that the 2:00 pacer passed me. And I wanted to just break down and cry right then and there as I watched my goal pass me. I let it get to me and I took a minute then to walk, but started again as this guy who introduced himself to me as Ryan later said, “Come on runner! Let’s go” I started up again and ran on and off with him some – he was a great motivator for a couple of miles for me. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so for me when I tell you on this blog that my goal is this if I don’t achieve it that makes me feel like complete crap. So that first time of walking I was just like “great! You know you are now going to have to blog about this! And now you didn’t even complete the half without walking!” And honestly, I had to do a couple more brief walking periods in the last 5 miles. When I was approaching the 13 mile marker I heard my runkeeper app say “..distance: 13.1 miles..” All in all when I crossed the finished line I think I had done a distance of 13.3 miles. Thinking about my time it’s very bittersweet – I am kind of impressed I finished it just over 2 hours considering how my last 5 miles went, but I am disappointed with myself for not keeping it together and staying under 2 hours and running the whole time. But on a positive side my favorite part of the race was high five-ing some of the kids out there cheering on their parents and the baby I passed that was at least old enough to be waving his arms around in excitement as people ran by! That big grin on his face put a smile on my face!
Us with Bitner
Our Results:
Teal: Hit a new PR at this race! Finished in 2:14:52, was 53rd out of 140 in her age group and finished 831st overall!
Beth: Finished in 2:06:35, was 39th out of 140 in her age group and finished 617th overall.
We mentioned in our pre-race post that Bitner was supposed to run with the half with us in December at the White Rock Marathon, but was sick and unable to run. This was his very first half marathon race ever and we just had to acknowledge how awesome he is! He finished in 1:44:39, was 21st out of 94 in his age group and finished 106th overall!
White Rock Centennial Half
May 6, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Well it’s finally that time. The DRC White Rock Centennial Half is tomorrow! We are both a little nervous as usual but ready to go. Beth ordered us really cute tank tops to wear that say “Life is a Run,” so if you see us come say hi! This month was crazy as always and we were only able to get a few long runs in together and a couple of them did not go all that well, but we were able to get a good long run in on Tuesday night. Each of us ran 10 miles and felt MUCH better about running this weekend. What’s 3 more miles right? We definitely know we will make it, but we want to be improving our times each time we run so that puts a little more pressure on ourselves to do better! We are excited to be running with Steven this time. He was originally going to run the White Rock Half with us in December, but got really sick the day of the race and couldn’t make it. This is his reprieve! We hope to see you guys out there and we will of course let you know how it goes.
Our Goals:
Beth: My first 1/2 was 1:56:39 and I am SO nervous about this 1/2 that I just don’t want to be above 2 hours. Ideally I’d beat my first 1/2 time even if it’s just barely, but it makes me nervous to put that out there and be disappointed!
Teal: My first ½ was 2:18.06- I would like to beat this time by 5 or more minutes and of course the usual, don’t die!
Weather forecast:
Wind: 18mph
High: 91
Low: 70
Precip.: 0%
What Motivates You?
May 4, 2011 by · 3 Comments
We have been asked by a few people what motivates us to run – we want to know what motivates YOU to run!
For both of us it is a means to staying active, healthy and in shape! We set goals through signing up for races and maintaining our running ability.
Do you have differing reasons or an additional reasons why you run? We want to know! Leave us a comment w/motivates YOU!
– Beth & Teal
April’s Race Part II
April 19, 2011 by · 2 Comments
This weekend just so happened to be the annual Crawl for Cancer in Dallas, and as tradition would have it we decided to partake in the Pub Crawl festivities again. Originally we signed up for the Crawl for Cancer at the end of January before we had even started thinking about running a race in April. It turned out Beth had 3 weekends of traveling in this month so we ended up settling on having Pub Crawl as the same day as our race, but in being consistent with our craziness we went anyways. After leaving the zoo run we headed home to freshen up then headed to Lemon Bar for brunch before the Pub Crawl. We were team red this year and had a completely different bar path than the years before – we went from Lotus to Ginger Man to Trophy Room to Sfuzzi and ended at Uptown Bar & Grill.
We had discussed the level of drinking that would take place this weekend because as you may know we plan on running the White Rock Centennial Half Marathon on May 7th. We need to train for this, as our last half was in December and we have not run that far since. Both of us were a little nervous signing up for this race because of the time frame and that fact that our longest race this year was the 15k, Too Cold to Hold, we ran in January. We were scheduled to run at least 8 miles Sunday and both had every intention of powering through even if it was a slow pace. Just get the mileage in!
We headed out on our usual path which we took when preparing for White Rock Half last year and at the 5 mile mark were in need of a break! We had spent the previous day drinking after all, so we stopped in Starbucks, got some water and headed out to finish the last 3 miles. Tonight we are having our 8 mile run do over and hope to run it all consecutively! The plan is to stay on track and run 9 miles this Sunday and 10 miles the week before White Rock Centennial. Don’t worry we will be sure to keep you posted on our 1/2 training progress!
And we will leave you with one last pic from Saturday –
April’s Race
April 18, 2011 by · 4 Comments
We are now a third of the way through our 2011 running goal!! Yet again we had a VERY busy race weekend – are you starting to see a theme with the two of us? Busy, busy, busy! Beth and Joe picked up Teal and made the roughly hour long drive to Ft. Worth to meet up with Mouyyad! Since the race was in Ft. Worth one of Mouyyad’s friends picked up all of our race packets and it was very out of the ordinary for us to be standing around at the start line without our bibes 15 minutes prior race, but we got our bibes and were ready to go with time to spare!
We thought the majority of the race would be throughout the zoo, only part of it was and as it turns out that was perfect since the zoo part was pretty smelly! For the first half mile of the 5k I think we both regretted reading this blog on clock blocking and all the people we were having to dodge (not because the blog is bad – it is SO true was just at the forefront of our minds). I think we both were pretty tired early on due to that and we have both been a little spoiled with our last couple of 5k’s being pretty small there was no need to dodge other runners. There were also a few hills throughout the course. Both of us never really felt like we were running in a race where we would do well.
But then you look at our results and see that we were completely wrong:
Teal: 25:55, finished 6th in her age group and set a new PR!
Beth: 26:11 and finished 7th in her age group
Also, both Joe & Mouyyad got new PR’s out of the 5k Zoo Run!