Race for the Cure!

What a great race!!!. It was a chilly but beautiful morning!. Tati made us matching shirts and they were so cute!. I am very proud of her because she's not a runner and ran the entire race... finishing at 33 minutes!. She said that thinking about the tough fight her friend Daniela is facing gave her strength to keep going. All the women that are in this fight are just amazing. It was very emotional to see everyone there that day supporting this great cause. I think I will definitely keep doing this race every year.

From an actual "race" perspective it was great too. Like with my 10K, I was on my way to set a personal record no matter what my time was...this being my first 5K!. My goal was to come in at 25 minutes (8 min/mile). We had a slow start...we were way in the back of the start line and there was so much people! (plus we were taking a few pictures and shedding the occasional tear).

My final time was 26'15''/ 8'26'' per mile and I came in #20 in my age group (out of 200+ women!). I am pretty excited and felt great during the race...so even though I didn't come in at 25 minutes I'm still happy with my time. I'm looking forward to doing another 5K with less people, to see what my time would be. This racing really gets addictive!. I'm also well on my way on my secret evil plan to turn my sister into a runaholic so I have someone to train/race with ;)

I did catch a cold and have been sneezing all weekend!. I guess I'm not used to running in cold air!..I don't know how runners do it in the freezing temperatures in other states!! I'm a spoiled runner with great weather and flat terrain! ;)

In January I met my 40 miles/month goal. Actually I barely made it...the total was actually 39.9!...but nothing in the rules said anything about rounding ;)

Here are a few pictures from the race. Happy Monday!




Here is me taking off (Tati agreed with the husband and confirmed that I run "funny"...I guess I move my upper body more than it's needed...lol).



And here is Tati coming in!!! Good job sis!!!!

Guess who's back?

Me! :)
...and Morton :(

Last week I went to NYC for work and boy, it was CHILLY!!!. I still love NY and got to visit a lot of our friends. It was great to get a little taste of real winter and then come back to the great FL temperatures, gotta love FL in the winter! :)

I hate running in the treadmill and tried while I was there. After 1-2 miles I was done and bored so I opted for the stair master. Yesterday was a beautiful day here so I went out for a long run, 5.8 miles. I felt tired and it wasn't a great run, but I finished it and my pace wasn't terrible (9'5'' per mile, I believe).

Part of the problem while running yesterday was my foot, looks like my old "friend" Morton is back :( ...I better get back to the Podiatrist and finish my alcohol treatments for the Morton's neuroma. I think walking in NY in high heels disturbed the nerve or something because yesterday the numb feeling was back after mile 3 or so. Before this it really was feeling better, but I know I have to finish the treatment the Doctor recommended (7 shots, so I have 4 to go!).

I still got a few more miles to run to hit my 40 mile run in January....but I'm on track!.

Just two weeks for the 5K, I have to determine what my time/pace goals will be for this race!.

Happy Monday :)



Update: Going for my 4th Alcohol Shot tomorrow morning...so I better get a good workout in today since I'll be down for a couple of days :(

Under 58 minutes...

* Before the update I just wanted to let you all know I am running the 5K Race for the Cure, to support my sister's friend, Daniela. Please visit the link on the right and support our team (Tati is our team Captain!). You can sponsor us and/or come join us. Come on, a little bit can make a big difference and we want to show Daniela that she's not alone in this fight!. What better way to start the year than by giving to an important cause while getting fit in the mean time!!. Papi, gracias por tu apoyo :))) te quiero! *


Ok, now to the update you all have been waiting for...yeah, yeah, I know nobody was waiting, but humor me :)

Under 58 minutes...

Is my goal for the 10K race next weekend!. Today, I had my long practice run...while I won't tell you it was *easy*, I will tell you I felt ok throughout...a little tired right around Mile 5, but decided to drop the pace a little bit to catch my breath. I finished strong (or so I thought)...completing 6.33 miles (my farthest run yet..and I had Lance Armstrong on my Nike+ to remind me about that fact!). My average pace was 9'35'' mins/mile...not too shabby :)

The last time I ran over 6 miles, was October 24th. That day I ran 6.23 miles and my average pace 10'13'' min/mile...so I shaved 38 seconds per mile in under 2 months. This may not sound like a lot, but it is!!

That long run in October, was when I decided to go to the Doctor for the foot pain and found out about the Neuroma...shortly thereafter, I started the alcohol treatments which has definitely slowed down my training (since I am down for two whole days every two weeks!)...but it has been all worth it!.

Why under 58 minutes?...well, I used a handy little Calculator and decided that I *think* I could average 9'20'' min/miles on race day. I didn't have a method for estimating this, and I'm sure serious runners are probably laughing at my estimates and less than scientific method for selecting a goal, but it just seemed like a good number to me...so we will go with that!

That's 15 secs less per mile, which is 93 seconds less for the 10K (1.55 minutes less than my time today). Again, seems like a little goal, but it really isn't. I'll be thrilled is I can achieve that goal!.

After the run it was time to get dinner ready. The husband asked for "Beef Tostadas" for dinner and even though I was tired, I couldn't say no because he never has any requests when it comes to dinner (and some days I need some help with ideas!), so when he does have a request, I simply can't resist. Let me tell you, I enjoyed them so much too!. They were Delicious!!...of course I had to have fresh salsa and guacomole as add-ons (yummm!). While we were eating I told Alejandro one day I will take him to best tostada place ever. If you are from Caracas you know what I'm talking about...Santa Ana Tostadas!....ahh, so good. Now, I am ready for a warm shower and then going right back to my vampire stories! (I'm almost at the end of the book! sniff, sniff!).

I leave you with my graph from Nike for today's run..Not sure if you can tell (you can click it to see a bigger picture), but I slowed down to about 9'49'' and then sprinted a bit at the end, pretending I was finishing the race..hehe, my head just works in funny ways! (the top there is about 6'59'')