Runners are Good People

As I have posted about before, I am a member of  the Millennium Running Social Club and I just can't say enough about these people in the club.  They have become some of my best friends and I find that we all really stick together like a family.  Just like any family we have been through many happy fun times together at the races and our weekly social runs, and we have been through some harder times like loss of loved ones (people and pets), and injuries.  We share stories about running, about our lives outside of running (yes and sometimes we even see each other in normal clothes!), offer advice and support too.  I honestly do not believe that the founder of this group, John Mortimer, ever imagined this club would turn into such a close knit group of people!

Agony...and not from running!

Last Monday, I had the day off from work so I decided to go with a friend of mine to the gym he belongs to that has crossfit workouts.  Crossfit is something that I have been wanting to try and know that many people that I know love it and get completely addicted.  So I thought...why not try it out and see if this might be something I might want to do and maybe it would help get me through the winter.
WELL.....
The workout went well but the pain I was in for four days was not fun....my whole abdominal  area was in so much pain that it hurt to stand up straight.  

 And I mean EVERY muscle in my stomache!!



 I have decided that yes, this is type of workout would be awesome, but with two more races coming up before the year is over, this is just not a good idea...this time it was my abs, but next time it could be a leg or a knee....just bad timing.

Manchester City Marathon Relay Recap

Last weekend I participated in the Manchester City Marathon as a part of a relay team.   The race had 2500 runners with 600 of those runners being people who were supposed to run in the New York City Marathon.

 Here's my team....Clinton, myself in the middle and Ericka!  We had one more member but he did not stay after his leg.
 The weekend started with volunteering to help stuff the goodie bags for the race Friday night.  This was my first time actually volunteering for a race and found that it was a lot of fun!  I met some nice people and am glad I signed up.
The next day was the Pre race Expo!

 There I was able to pick up bibs and goodie bags for my team and checked out all the booths of different running related products.  I even saw a fashion show with some great running clothes being modeled by some local runners.

Later that night was pasta time!  One of the women from the running club I belong to hosted a pasta dinner and a pre race hot tub soak.  It was a small group of us that went but a good time was had by all.

Now to race day....a chilly race day.

A group of us from the club met up before the race to say good luck and for some group photos!


For my team, I ran the longest leg of the race, 8.5 miles.


My time for my leg was pretty decent!  I ran at an 11:18 pace which I was happy with....could have been better.
Overall my team finished in 4:04:18!!!  This time was good enough so we did not have to do a shot...that's a long story..ha, ha!

Here's the latest medal to add to my growing collection!  All in all it was an awesome weekend!  One that I will never forget :)

Half Marathon PR!!!!

O.k. so I am waaayyy behind here but I am proud to say that I ran the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon on September 30th and surprised myself with a finish time 15 minutes faster then my last half marathon!  Sadly there are no pictures to post with this....the professional ones were very bad and I did not have anyone there to take any pictures...but it did happen! Oh and did I mention that it rained through the entire race?!