Hay Fever 2013...

My first event of 2013 was the Hay Fever Run/Walk

This one is put on by the Belle Fourche Community Center, also known as "Belle Rec". It was a new route for me. They have awesome shirts and decent door prizes and their theme is based on a song every year. Love it.

You can sort of see the (red) shirt design in this one.
Forgot to take the road ID  & shirt one this time :(

My door prize was this fitness challenge pass. 

Usually I am otherwise occupied the first weekend of June with my anniversary, a garage sale and sometimes my Holdrege trip. This year I made sure to make the Hay Fever a priority though. I had goals to make at least three 5k races and beat a PR (personal record for those of you not up with runner lingo).

This is the only summer race in Belle with a kid's race, or at least the only one I know of that we are around for. I decided to put Zach in it to introduce him to competitive running and see how he would do since he could run circles around his brothers on their bikes.

The kids' race is before the other races. If you are under 6, you go .25 miles around the track once. 6 and older go two laps .5 miles around. There were actually quite a few under 6 and only one over 6, who happened to be my daycare lady and good friend Shannon's son.

Zach started out the race alright but then seen our neighbor boy walking in the back and decided to stop and wait for him. It was cute, but I wanted to let him know it is like any other sport, we don;t let up or quit or back off to wait for others.



I also had Zach entered in to do my 2 mile race with me. This race was a 2 mile or a 4 mile and I decided to start the year with a 2 mile walk. Zach was running ahead of the group with a girl then fading back to where I was, then running ahead, then fading back for the first mile and a half. By the last half mile he was getting tired and lagging behind a bit then running to catch up, then lagging  behind, then running to catch up. The end finished going up hill. Zach was gassed at this point and I told him I was going to finish at my pace but he needed to walk up the sidewalk and through the flags and finish. I pushed Jake across the finish line with a new PR and 4th place finish. Zach crossed a minute later with a 1st place finish for the kids in the 2 mile.

We were happy with this.

....and with the Orange Julius's that DQ gave us at the finish line :)

Next year.... the half mile race for Zach and the 4 mile for me.

Rodeo Run 2012....Back in the Saddle

My 1st event since High School! 12 years, 6 pregnancies, 4 kids and not really much training later.....

I Promised myself that after my last child was born, I would go back to running and running competitively. When my baby was just 7 weeks old, I put him in my Sit and Stand stroller and pushed him in my first 5K on the morning of the 4th of July, 2012.

My walking pace was decent. I stepped on the back of my stroller continuously which frustrated me greatly. My joggling stroller had popped tires and was supper wide so I wasn't using it. I decided to get a new one of those before next season.

Upon completing the 5k, I didn't grab my popsicle stick so I don't have an accurate time or place for my first event back, but I did finish and beat the heat. It felt AMAZING.

I had wanted to do a couple more events before the summer ended but was too busy and too low on funds. I did find myself a great 5k route from my house around a park and back though.

Until the next year.....

A different breed....

What is Cross Country Running?

To sum it up in a handful of words: distance, endurance, perseverance, achievement.

The detailed version:  HERE

1999.... Fall of Freshmen Year

I had enjoyed 7th and 8th grade track so much, I decided to go out for Cross Country when I entered high school. Aaron & Travis were there too. I made the varsity team! If I remember right, Travis did too. I varsity lettered my freshman year, and my Sophomore year, although it was better earned my freshman year. We had 60some runners on the team both years in a school of just short of 400 students! That was a BIG team. It was a FUN team! 

I remember one race, my shoes came untied so I kicked them off on the course and finished the race in my socks!!

I remember trading team shirts with other teams.

I remember the HUGE JACKRABBIT of the OGALLALA golf course! He might of had prongs, I'm not sure.

One of my, we won't call it a regret, but a "wish I had done differently" things from my past is that I wish I would have stuck with cross country all 4 years of high school. My Junior and Senior years I decided to work instead. Great for getting my first car and whatever all else I bought, but did not replace the life lessons you learn from sports. 

My last running event before my hiatus was fall of my Sophomore year of High School in 2000. My next event would not be until after having my 4th child in 2012!

I am a runner.....

One day 15 years ago my best friend and boyfriend said they were going to go out for track. I asked, "what's track?" They said "running". Hmmmm, that really didn't sound appealing at the time, but where there was an Aaron, there was Kandi and where there was an Aaron and Kandi, there was a Travis. We were inseparable and if they were going to go out for track, they expected I was going to go out for track. I wasn't about to miss out either. So, come March, I signed up and began my first ever running regiments. I was in 7th grade in 1998 and it turned out I ROCKED at it. I could lap people in the mile! I could run the mile in under 7 minutes! I was on a relay team that set a record! I absolutely loved it! For two years I ran the mile, the 1200, the 4x4 relay and threw discus as my events. Aaron, Travis and I would run an average of 6-8 miles a day....for fun. 

My very first track meet I was finally called for my first event, the 1200. I was in position on the line at a country school track in the middle of the open plains in the middle of Nebraska. I watched lightning strike a mile or so away and watched the clouds boil low and dark across the cornfields. There was a low dipping cloud, a wall cloud, in the distance. I told my coach that I thought I saw a funnel cloud (to me back then, a wall cloud was a funnel cloud, not the coud a funnel dropped from). Coach told me it wasn't, they would call it for that (forget the lightning getting closer, but there really wasn't a lot of thunder).

I decided, okay, if you say so. My parents didn't come to this first event, so I didn't have Dad to back me. I got into position again on the starting line where we were still stalled and standing. Instead of the gun going of to start the race, an announcement bellowed over the speakers instead for all teams to pack up and load up, the meet was being called on account of weather. I hadn't eaten since a light lunch and my blood sugar was getting low at this point, so I went to try the concession stand. They had already shut down and headed out though. Another look at the clouds told me why. They were blackish-green and the low cloud was wrapping now. I went to coach again who said they had called a tornado warning but not to say it loudly. "So......we are just going to sit here.....on the bus? In the middle of open country? That seems safe." Coach said, well there isn't anywhere else to go. We will wait it out. We sat there eating popcorn for around 20 minutes until someone either decided we needed a safer spot or that the storm had moved out of our way. 

That there was my first running event experience.