2013 Goody Challenge: Week 9 – Disneyland Half Marathon

Week 9 Recap:

What a week!   It’s a vacation week at Disneyland as well as my half-marathon!   Even though I skip one of my mid-week run, I didn’t feel like I’m slacking off due to many miles of walking I did around the park.    The race itself was a lot of fun!   It was Disney race after all, so you know that they were going all out to make sure the runners had a great time.

9 weeks down, 19 weeks to go!

Plan for this week

Tues: Run for 45 minutes

Thur: Run for 45 minutes

Sun: Half Marathon!

Tuesday 8/28

Drew and I met up after work for a quick run.   She took me to a different trail this time, which turn out to be the same trail that I ran every week, it just more east.   I didn’t feel too hot as I had cramp and my stomach was giving me all kind of grief but I ran anyway.   I kept up with her for the first 20 minutes and I told her to ran without me as I just need to run slower than normal and took more walk break.   I finished 3.16 in 40 minutes.

Thursday 8/30

I skipped the run, but I walked around at Disneyland Park all day.   My fitbit indicated that I walked for 8 miles so I was calling it good

Sunday 9/2

Another half-marathon!

Race day!   I woke up at 3:30am and was having major abdominal cramp.   I was not happy camper and really didn’t want to get up and move.    I slowly got up and put my running gear on, ate breakfast and head out.   Our hotel located 5 minutes from the start line, which was awesome.    I met Kendra, Brent and Ben at the corral.   After the usual ‘before race’ photo, and it’s our corral turn to start.

First 6 miles went by fast and I was having a great time.   I paced myself really well and felt strong.   The sun started to rise and it got really warm, really fast.   I slowed down a bit due to my cramp and the warm weather, plus it was really, really crowded in some area of the course.   Disney always organized an awesome race.  There’s a lot of supporter, cast member, cheer leaders and you will get more high-five during this race than you can even imagined!

I saw my husband and my girls standing on the bleacher with their signs and cowbell shortly before the finish line.   It was SO awesome to see them and my girls was smiling cheek-t0-cheek!   I crossed the finish line shortly after, felt strong and happy.   I PR’ed my last half on the same course by12 minutes!!   It was an awesome day and absolutely a fun race!

Fundraising

I hit $6,000!   This is so awesome and I am just amazed on how generous people are!   I’m not done yet, and visit my fundraising page for more info at http://tinyurl.com/GoofyChallenge

2013 Goofy Challenge: Week 8 – Another 12 Miler

Week 8 Recap

What an awesome week!   After kinda lame week last week, I could not as for a better week!  I felt strong in all of my run and felt like I’m getting better and better (thanks for the running partner who pace me!).   I do really need to incorporate strength training and cross training on my schedule or doing tempo/hill run (ick).   I’m going to try to start that after my half-marathon next week.

8 weeks down, 20 weeks to go!

Plan for this week

Tues: Run for 45 minutes

Thur: Run for 45 minutes

Sat: 12 Miles

Tuesday 8/21

My new running buddy, Drew, and I went out to the trail around 6:30pm.    We started from the east part of the trail at Snoqualmie and run west to Fall City.   I had an awesome run!   Drew paced me really well, and boy, that girl run fast!   It made me run faster than normal and I wasn’t huffing and puffing.   That definitely is a confident boost for me!   I did 4.14 miles  in 45:20

Thursday 8/23

Another date-run with Drew.   We did the same thing like last Tuesday, just a shorter distance.   She totally kick my behind, and I was trying to keep up with her which made me run faster again.   It was awesome.   We did 3.16 miles in 33:16.

Saturday 8/25

Another 12 miler!   I started at the east side of the trail again at Snoqualmie and plan to run west for entire 12 miles.   I felt good and felt strong from the beginning.   The first 3 miles went by so quick!   Drew and Elysia joined me at the mile 3 and we ran together for a couple miles as Elysia need to turn around.   Drew kept running with me and she continued to pace me (you are so awesome!) and patiently take a walk break with me.    She stopped at miles 10 and wait our car and I continued to run another couple miles with my husband next to me on his bike.    It was so great to be able to do the long run with friends and love one!   I finished my 12 miles in 2:23.

Fundraising

Wow.   This week, I have total $1,200 in donation!   Thank you for those who donated!!  I appreciated that very much!!   If you are interested and want to donate, please visit my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/GoofyChallenge

2013 Goofy Challenge: Week 7 – 10K Race

Week 7 Recap:

I feel like a slacker this week.   I skipped my Tues, and Thu run, and replace it with mid week run (Wed).   I have no excuse.  I mean, yes, the weather been super warm but consider with what the rest of the country experienced, our weather was NOT that bad.     Anyway – it wasn’t my best week but I am moving on and aim for better next week.   That’s all we can do, right?

Plan for this week

Tues: Run for 45 minutes

Thur: Run for 45 minutes

Sat: 10k Race!

Tuesday 8/14

I skipped the run. Yes, it’s lame – I know but life happens.

Wednesday 8/15

I made up yesterday’s lameness and went out for an evening run around the neighborhood. I did really well actually, considering it was pretty warm outside even in the evening. Finished 4.04 miles in 47 minutes

Thursday 8/16

Skipping run again. Sigh. What can I say, sometimes things weren’t working the way I want it to be. Let’s stick with that.

Saturday 8/18

My little runners!

10k race! It’s a neighborhood 10k race and it was a lot of fun! My girls were running kid’s 1k race and I was so proud to see my little runner. I want my girls love running the way I do, and they seems to have a lot of fun! Their race started at 8:45am and I ran with both of them as my warm up and was ready to roll at the start line by 9am.

It was a warm morning, and there was about a few hundreds runners. I started strong and kept my pace pretty even the entire time. However, this is a fast race – or should I say, everyone that ran this race is a fast runner because even though I broke my PR by 90 minutes on the same race/course from last year, and I did really well – I was the 5th person from the last to cross the finish line! My Nike app said I did 6.52 in 1:14. Not to shabby!

Fundraising

I am surrounded by so many generous people!  Wow!  I am really speechless to see my fundraising page that keep climbing up!   Keep it up, and I appreciate every one of you who support me!   http://tinyurl.com/GoofyChallenge

2013 Goofy Challenge: Week 6 – Twelve Miler

Week 6 Recap

It’s been six week!  Wow!  Time flies and I know that I am stronger today than I was when I start this journey.   I had great week with great runs.  Can’t complaint at all.   I did my 12-miler, and I was not feeling out of it afterwards.   With everything else that is going on with my health in general, I am very, very happy with where I am at today.   I’m not a fast runner by any means, but I am proud with my accomplishment so far!

Plan for this week

Tues:  Run for 45 minutes

Thu: Run for 45 minutes

Sat: Run for 12 miles

Tuesday 8/7

I felt somewhat antsy and I couldn’t wait to go out for a run when I got home.   The husband and I was on the trail shortly after we got home from work.   I had a great run and finish 5.01 miles in 1:02.   Not too bad

Thursday 8/9

We left a bit early from work and hit the trail as soon as we get home.   Another awesome run in the book.   I did 4 miles in 49.:13 and didn’t feel even tired afterwards.   I hope that’s a sign that I’m getting better at this!

Sunday 8/12

It’s the husband’s birthday, and of course, he have to be different and asked me to run my 12 miles on his birthday instead of yesterday.   Today is also Nike’s ‘Run your town’ challenge, so I told him yes.   We went to church as normal, and when we got home, it was a really hot day… like 90 degrees hot and I was just not up for running 12 miles on that!   So we waited, and waited and waited.   I almost didn’t go, but promise is a promise, and I was not about to bailed on the husband’s birthday present so I went out at 9pm.   Yes, that’s PM.   It took me 2:07 minutes for completing 12 miles and surprisingly, I felt really great after!

Fundraising

Well, you know this is coming.   I decided to join Team In Training again for my upcoming Goofy Challenge race.   If you don’t know who are they, go ahead and click the link and read up on them.   I’ll wait.

Done?  Good.   They are part of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which is a wonderful organization that really dear to my heart and people at Team in Training are absolutely fantastic.   They created you a training program, schedule training run, assign running coach for you, and the spirit of the team within the program is incredible

2013 Goofy Challenge: Week 5 – Travel

Week 5 Recap:

I didn’t follow the plan this week.   I missed a run and didn’t bother to make it up.   Lame, I know.   There were no excuse as I could’ve gone to the (air-conditioner) gym at the hotel and did at least 30 minutes as supposed to glue my bottom to the couch at the hotel room.   I am not too happy with myself at the moment, however, I also am not going wallow about it.   It’s in the past.  Hakuna Matata.

One thing that I realized this week though, I definitely stronger and better.   My pace is slowly increase and I am no longer huffing and puffing the entire run (only in the first 10 mins as my muscle and the rest of me warms up).    This part made me so happy.

5 weeks down, 23 weeks to go!

Plan for this week:

Tues: Run for 45 minutes

Thu: Run for 45 minutes

Sat: Run for 6 miles

Tuesday 7/31

I felt like kaka and didn’t really want to get out, but I did it anyway.   I went to the gym and tried to put in 45 minutes, however, I can’t seem to get my rhythm.   Everything off, so after a half hour or so — I gave up and stopped.   I put it 2.7 miles in 30 minutes

Thursday 8/2

I arrived at Chicago around 7pm and was really surprised on how hot it was.  It’s not only the heat, it’s the humidity.   I believed the temperature was hovering between 95-98 degrees at 9pm with (or so it felt) 100% humidity.   I quickly surrendered with the weather and decided to hang out at our air-conditioner hotel room instead.   Lame, I know.

Sunday 8/5

It was too chaotic to run on Saturday, the day we came back after our trip, so I did my run on Sunday.   We dropped the girls at grandma-camp, and head out on the trail.   I have to note here that it was HOT.   It wasn’t as humid as Chicago, but it was very warm.   I struggled the first couple miles due to the heat and had to take sip of water every walk break but I finished the distance and more.  7.5 miles in 1 hour 27 mins.   Not too shabby

2013 Goofy Challenge: Week 4 – Double Digit

Week 4 Recap:

My first double digit run this year!!  I was actually excited and nervous for the long run this week as I wasn’t sure how I’m going to do.   I started the week with a really crappy news on my health, so I was NOT in good mood but somehow I managed to re-focus and redirect my energy towards my run.   My mid-week run was great and I even did one of them during my vacation, even though the husband had to nudge me a bit in order for me to get going.    In overall, I had a really good week.  I felt stronger than a week before and am very looking forward to become even stronger as the weeks goes by.

4 weeks down, 24 weeks to go!!

Plan for this week:

Tues: Run 45 minutes

Thu: Run for 45 minutes

Sat: Run for 10 miles

Tuesday 7/24

I got home a bit earlier and head straight to the trail.  I had a very crappy day and I just want to go out for run.   I did the usual route and set my Nike app to do 45 minutes and went out my way.   I ended up having a really good run and even run a bit longer than I planned.  4.0 miles in 49:13

Thursday 7/26

Our family took a couple days off on Wednesday and head out to Rosyln, WA — about an hour east from where we live.   We stayed at this awesome resort called Suncadia Resort and had an awesome time.   I did pack my running gear with me but had a motivation issue to actually did my run (who actually run on their vacation, right?)   However, after a serious smack-down from the husband, I finally put my shoes on and head out for a run.   I followed the path around the property and set my app for 45 minutes.   It was beautiful scenery and I was so glad that I did my run!   I got lost for a moment and had to text the husband so he can figured out where I was at (gotta love technology) and it was pretty hot out there.   I did 3.51 miles in 46 minutes

Saturday 7/28

Double Digit!  It’s my first double digit run since… well, my half-marathon in January.   I was pretty confident and asked the husband to drop me at the very beginning of the trail and run west.   He parked the car around the 10 miles mark and rode his bike towards me.   The first 3 miles went by fast.   I did my usual 2-1 ratio and I did great.   At half-point, I decided to change things up a bit and started to do 5-1 ratio instead (okay, it might’ve start as an accident as I miss the cue for the walk break).   Surprisingly, I did really well with that ratio and felt strong the entire half of the run with it.   I finished my 10.02 miles within 2:07:49.   Not too bad!