I’m a runner.
Although I ran cross country in middle school and my senior year of high school, I didn’t really get into running until college. Near the end of my college career I started running races to stay active, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I definitely love to race. I love the atmosphere, adrenaline and competition. Being in London has kept me away from the race scene and I miss it dearly, but I plan to get back into it once we move back to the States. Below are most of the races I’ve participated in, and at the bottom I included some info for runners.
HALF MARATHONS
2008 Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon (Chicago, IL) 1:35:15 40th female
2007 Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon (Chicago, IL) 1:36:40 55th female
2007 Nashville Country Music Half Marathon (Nashville, TN) 1:33:20 36th female
2007 Madison Half Marathon (Madison, WI) 1:34:02 13th female
2006 Janesville YMCA Half Marathon (Janesville, WI) 1:31:48 (personal best) 1st female
10K
2010 Cooper River Bridge Run (Charleston, SC) 42:08 69th female (more here)
2008 Woodstock Challenge (Woodstock, IL) 43:05 1st female
2008 Run for the Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL) 42:57 8th female
2007 Woodstock Challenge (Woodstock, IL) 44:20 3rd female
2006 Henry Vilas Zoo Run Run (Madison, WI) 41:51 (personal best) 3rd female
2006 Woodstock Challenge (Woodstock, IL) 43:52 2nd female
5K
2008 Race to the Taste (Chicago, IL) 20:45 16th female
2007 Bob Blazier’s Run for the Arts (Crystal Lake, IL) 20:19 3rd female
2007 American Cancer Society Run (Madison, WI) 20:45 3rd female
2006 Heathbridge Roadrunner 5K (Crystal Lake, IL) 20:12 (Personal Best) 1st female
2005 Bob Blazier’s Run for the Arts (Crystal Lake, IL) 21:01 3rd female
OTHER
2008 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K (Chicago, IL) 32:58 63rd female
2007 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K (Chicago, IL) 33:24 49th female
2006 Walter Payton 16,726 Yard Run-9.5miles (Arlington Heights, IL) 1:05:25 2nd female
TRIATHLONS
2009 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, sprint course (Minneapolis, MN) 1:35:06.3 56th female
2008 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, sprint course (Minneapolis, MN) 1:35:09.6 66th female
FOR RUNNERS
Garmin 405 Watch- I love this watch! Josh bought if for me for my birthday and then a second one after I lost it in Rome. It is great for keeping pace, time, distance and much more. It is quite big on my tiny wrist, but small compared to most GPS watches. I would highly recommend it!
Mapmyrun.com- This is a great website for runners. I started using it to map out my routes or see how far I ran (before I had my Garmin GPS). The website also has lots of other stuff to offer runners!
Half Marathon Training- I used Hal Higdon’s website for training for my marathons. Why you ask? Because it was one of the first sights that came up when I googled, “half marathon training” and it seemed good. He has lots of different training programs for beginners through advanced runners. Sometimes I use it just to get new individual running workouts.
Team Hoyt- If you have not heard of Team Hoyt it is definitely worth checking out this inspirational father son story. If you don’t think you can finish a race, this will surely give extra motivation! It touches me every time I watch!
Athlink- A great website to see many of your race times and where stats like best times, pace average times, etc can be viewed for your races. It is free to join, and I found most of my races were already in their database.
Shoes- My go to running shoes are Asics. My favorite shoe is the Gel Nimbus 12 because there seems to be more width and room in the front of the shoe for my toes. I also run in the 2100 series and have recently tried the Nike Frees. I use the Nike Frees for cross-training and weights, but have not run in them too much. I love their light weight feel and flexibility.