Young Party of Four

It's official! We both get to say that we are half-marathoners. 13.1 miles is no joke. There have been a few times that we have walked that equivalent throughout a day (though it is rare because that is a LOT of walking and you are hard pressed to randomly walk that amount in a day even if you are on a mission), but to purposely try to complete it in a set amount of time all at once... that is some serious stuff. The week leading up to the race was nerve racking for me. I ended up having what I think was my plantar fascitis flare up the Sunday before the race after our last 6 mile training run. It was bad. I developed it a few years back when we lived in a house with almost all tile and it comes and goes randomly depending on activities I have done or shoes I have worn. It hasn't bothered me at all though during training until a week ago. Because of course it would show up a week out from race day. Why the heck not? Let's liven up the mood a little. Freaking heel. As a

It's week two of half marathon training! Yay! So far, the training plan has remained fairly easy. I know those long runs are coming and I'm not looking that forward to them. Though I'm not worried about it either. Here's how this week went... Monday Plan: Cross Training, Actual: 1.3 mile walk with Will (2.8mph) Today the plan called for cross training. I don't have a lot of extra time to do something significant but at least walking lets me get out, get moving and is easier on my body than running. So, I'm calling my walk today my cross training. I decided this morning that if I didn't do something, I was not going to get anywhere near my step goal. So, after running a few errands, Will and I decided to go for a short walk. I tried to convince him to sit in the stroller so I could go faster, but he really wanted to walk. So I told him that if he thought he could do it without complaining, he could walk. He did great! We didn't move nearly as fast as

Well, last Saturday we did it again. Almost a full year after our last 10K, we took on our second one. And this one we did with far less training. Last year we were both doing so well in our training, but this year... not as much. I think both of us topped out at 3.5 to 4 miles over the last month or so leading up to this race. That was for a few reasons. One was timing. It felt like with Steven's work schedule and him traveling so much combined with all we had going on as a family and some things I had going on over the last month that we just couldn't find time to run more than that. It's hard to train for longer distances when there are two of you and you have small children that can't stay home alone and are too big (and way too heavy) to push in a double (not even a jogging) stroller for any exceptionally long distances. Also, we have both been dealing with some aches and pains over the last month or so. They aren't enough to sideline us entirely, but they d

Last weekend Kenzie ran in her first "real" race. She has run a few Kids' Races through Track Shack when we have run races in the past, but this was her first race that she was actually registered for as a participant. It was also far longer than her prior races and required some training rather than just showing up and taking a leisurely run. This race is done by Track Shack, as well. They remain our favorite company that puts on races. They are so well run and we would run a Track Shack race before any others. This race was called the Smile Mile and was open to kids from 5-11 years old. Kenzie was right at the bottom of this age bracket which meant that she ran the half mile race. She was set to run with other 5-year-old girls and was really excited about it. A few months ago we brought up this race as something she may want to do. She wavered a bit at first regarding whether or not she would like to do it. We decided that we would start training with her for the

We returned this year to the Run 4 Love that is part of the Track Shack Running Series. And this year, we brought along the family. Nana came into town on Friday night so she could be there to watch the kids. This time though, we decided that all three of them would come with us and then the kids could run the kids' race after the 4 mile. We got everyone up at the crack of dawn (technically before) and were quickly on our way to Winter Park. Actually, with us moving around, both kids woke up on their own which helps because sometimes Will is a bear if you wake him up instead of letting him do it alone. Kenzie was up early enough to get dressed which helped. Otherwise we would have needed to change both kids when we got there so this was good. The drive there was quick and easy but we noticed immediately how foggy it was. That fog actually hung around for the majority of the run. It was pretty serious that morning.  When we got to the start of the race, we got Will dressed a

13.1 Miles 21.0975 Kilometers 23,056 Yards (230.56 Football Fields) 69,168 Feet A half-marathon is nothing to take lightly. And it seems like the time has come that Steven and I are considering actually running one. Back in April of last year we ran the Star Wars Dark Side 10k at Disney. Our first 10k. It was so much fun. I remember when we finished that we both had this thought that one day we might consider a half-marathon. Then we never really chatted about it again. A half-marathon is double a 10k... plus some. But once you catch a running bug, it's a hard one to shake. You keep wanting to push yourself a bit farther and see what your limits are. Now, while I don't think either of us will ever consider a full marathon, we are both toying with the idea of taking on a half. This all started earlier this week when Steven noticed that Track Shack released the date for the OUC Half-Marathon which is a well known half in this area that runs though Orlando. He aske

This past weekend Steven and I ran the Park Ave 5k with Track Shack. This is another race in the Track Shack Running Series. This is actually the race that kept us from becoming Track Shack Fanatics this year as we were not sure we would be able to make it due to some other things that tend to happen in January around here and scheduling. As it turned out though, we were able to make it and the race actually ended up being pretty great. To start, my mom came into town on Friday to help us out for this one. She watched the kiddos for us while we went to the race. We were up bright and early to head out to Winter Park for the race. We were not super excited to see the car read the temp as 44 degrees on the way over but at least it wasn't earlier in the week when the temp was in the 20s. I think I would have forfeited the money and sat that one out. Ugh. I could not run in a northern state. Props to those people. They think we are crazy for running in the heat of the summer but I

Today we ventured back to what is probably very near the top of my favorite races that we do. They all really have their high points... Iron Girl is girls and women only and along the water in Clearwater Any Disney race is... well... Disney The Track Shack races are so well organized and always a good time ... but this one is one of the favorites round here for a few reasons. The main one being that we get the chance to run through our alma mater including around the baseball field and the football stadium. Can't beat that. The other is the distance. It isn't as far as a 10k, but it is farther than the traditional 5k that we often run so it is more of a challenge but not so far that it is really difficult (though we know we can handle the 10k too). We knew without a doubt that we would make this race happen again this year. We started our morning by getting up around 5:45 to head out to UCF. That was after a long night spent cheering on our Knights (at UCF... so we m