A family that runs together....

Well we all did it! Several months ago, my family decided to sign up for a race together since we had all gotten healthier and fitter over the last year. My brother and sister-in-law (and new little nephew Henry!) live in Cleveland so we all signed up for a race - either the 10K or Half-Marathon on May 19th. It was really cool having a bunch of our family run a race (longer than they typical 5K) together, as some of us had never run that far before! Both my parents had run their first race last fall with Tim, my boys and myself  for the March of Dimes Night Moves 5K in Columbus, but they had never run further in a race, so it was great that they were willing to sign up and run, especially since before last year my mom had never run before! I can only hope in 20+ years I can be in as great of shape as they are! (Not to mention it was my mom's birthday on Sunday!!!) My younger sister A, (who's live in Virginia and is a very talented Graphic Designer) has also recently done some amazing things, including running in her first race (a 10K at that!) in under an hour, and losing more than 70 pounds. My brother C, ran the fastest time among all of us but A came in right behind him! My sister-in-law S, and her mom ran the 10K together, but an important thing to note is that she just gave birth 14 weeks ago to her first child! I can tell you when my boys were 14 weeks old, I would have never gotten my butt out of bed at 5am to run a race, especially if they had been sleeping at the time, so I am really proud of her! My other sister B, (yes we have a LARGE family :) ) ran the Half Marathon with her boyfriend and they both did great as well...I ran a 1/2 a few years back, and it is a hard race to run!

So that leaves me. I am not a distance runner. I usually "endure" running as a form of exercise as I much prefer other forms, like fitness classes, yogasu, or doing steps or something that isn't so monotonous as running in a straight line for - ev - er. I think it's because I typically get bored with running, partially because I haven't done it consistently enough and haven't been in great shape before, leading to what I call wogging (read walk + jog = wog). I would say I typically in the past have jogged so slow that it could be considered walking :) BUT.....I am happy to say that I actually ran the 10K race this weekend and hit a goal! I have been hesitant to set running time goals in the past, most of the time my goal is to finish. However, my combination of food nutrition/health (thanks to willpower and Advocare - ask me about it if you're interested), as well as being in better shape now than I have ever been gave me some confidence to actually set a goal. I was hoping to run between a 10 and 11 minute mile pace (in the past it's been closer to 12) and finish in under 1hour, 6 minutes. So, drumroll please.......my time was 1:02! I used my GPS watch and it put me at a pace of 9:57 miles, which made me feel great! As mentioned above, I'm not a great runner and not fast at all, so this pace was a pretty big accomplishment for me! I think I was able to run at this pace because I had been training with the jogging stroller (which added some resistance to my workouts), cross-training with boot camp and yogasu classes so my muscles are toned, and I used some racing supplements from Advocare including spark (which is an energy drink that contains amino acids) and O2 Gold which helps with oxygen flow during exercise. I think I also could have benefited from some gel pouches during the race as I did have a little fatigue around mid-way through, however that will have to be for next time.

Yes - did you see that right?  Did I say next time? I am thinking I would like to keep doing some more races in order to have goals to work towards and keep me motivated. I am also thinking about doing a Phitatholon in July - my current gym Melt Hot Fitness is doing this race - Phitathalon - together on July 27th. I typically don't do races that include obstacles, but it's a group thing, and everyone is so motivating there that I think I'm going to do it (yikes!), so wish me luck!

Anyways - just wanted to pay tribute to my amazing family and their accomplishments this weekend. I will also mention my husband who is not a runner stayed behind and took care of my little munchkins while we were running, which was almost a race in itself since they got up at 5am when we all did! I have a few pictures posted below from before and after our race! I also put a few pictures up from the rest of our weekend festivities since it was my nephew Henry's baptism as well!

Pre-Race Getting ready!

Pre-race Pic - Mom, S and A - some amazing ladies in my life!

Group Shot Post Race

The Half-Marathoners D and B!

Mom and Dad Post Race - So proud of them!

Baptism & weekend Photos