Rollin' Nolen 10 Miler

Holy Smokes. The inaugural Rollin' Nolen lived up to its name. Hill after hill. After hill. However, it was probably my favorite race to date. The Volunteers were amazing, all the runners were just in an awesome mood on this chilly morning. Finally a morning without humidity and 90 degree temps. It was a brisk 40 degrees. Whoo Hoo!!! And most importantly, running this race with my buddies Miranda and Teresa. We use to run together all the time until Miranda and I moved away. :( But we decided to run this race together and we had tons of fun. Even with all the hills. ;)

Back together again!!!
Before we started eating hills for breakfast. ;)

I am finally beginning to realize that just going out and having fun while running is totally helping me in not being so stressed about getting a PR. And I came pretty darn close to getting it. My PR in a 10 mile race is 1:56. I finished today's race in 1:58:07. But I totally redeemed myself from the Moon Pie 10 miler back in June with a finish time of 2:16. Whoo Hoo!!! Why couldn't this race have been my half from 2 weeks ago? As Miranda said, "you did so well because there wasn't any pressure." Now, I can't wait for the next race. And I can't wait to run the Rollin' Nolen again with these two girls!!! I'm now half (see what I did there ;) tempted to find another half before the year is out. Huge thanks to Alejandro at work for the fueling tips, I was able to fuel much better with this race than I did at the Middle Half.  The only thing I hated about this race....the chafing. But I guess you're not running unless you're Chafing the Dream. Hahaha!!

Happy & No Pressure Running!!

One Year Later....One Less House

 Time moves fast when your older. I remember when I was a kid and it felt like forever before Christmas would come again. It seems like it was just yesterday our world turned to flames but a year has came much quicker than it did when I was younger.

I never cried when we lost our home. I even surprised myself with how strong I was in telling the firefighters to just go ahead and toss the nightstands out. He kept saying "are you sure?" While they were still fighting the flames. I was already making a toss pile of items we wouldn't be able to keep. A few people that stopped by said to me "this will all hit you later and you'll lose it." But I didn't.

 But I finally did after the house was finally torn down. For the longest, it felt as if we still had 2 homes. One just didn't have a roof. Or water. Or a mortgage payment. ;) I wanted to be there when it was torn down but I had to work. Ray sent me a photo and I got a little teary eyed seeing nothing be concrete slab for the garage. But quickly pulled it together. I've learned so much about myself since the fire. I really am a strong person.

Standing in what use to be my kitchen

Found this baseball card. 

So now we just have an empty field with a drive to nowhere and a mailbox at the end of it. We are undecided on what will happen with the property. At the moment, we are very happy where we are. Being close to everything is awesome. I love my new job at Fleet Feet and all the new people we've made friends with. Ray loves being closer to work. I still drive to McMinnville every now and then. And honestly, it feels like it takes forever to get there. I like the closeness of everything here. But at times, I do miss the country life. The quietness. But I love where we are. This is home.

The Middle Half & Intro to Irene

Yesterday I did something that I should have been doing for all my races. Not setting a goal for a finish time. Goals are great to set and I'm certainly not saying not to make them. But I had the best time at my 11th half marathon. Even with feeling like puking towards the end. I still haven't got a new PR, but I still had a blast out on the course. All 2 hours and 56 minutes of it. My hubby was right, I would enjoy running more. I'm going to try my best to do the same at the next race.

It felt amazing not having that pressure on me to try and beat my goal. Sure I wasn't pleased with my time but I wasn't upset and Irene (more on her later) didn't make an appearance. ;) I have realized that I am not fueling properly during those long runs, which is probably the main reason my past races haven't been the best. So nutrition is at the top of my list to get under control.

Since I didn't have a goal time, I asked to join in with Ricky, who I call Ricky Bobby. ;) It was his first half and the past few group runs with the Monday Misfits, I've worked to try and keep up with him. If I got a PR, great. But if not, that was ok too. No pressure. ;) Sadly, I lost him around Mile 2 after I got trapped behind a row of 4 girls. After I got around them, I tried to catch back up but only ended up getting side cramps so I pulled back. And I'm proud to say, Irene still didn't show up. ;) I told him not to wait at all during the race, to just keep going. It was his first half and he did awesome, finishing in 2:23:44!!!!! Welcome to the Club!!

Racing Tip: Please don't run side by side. It makes it hard to get around you. Especially when there are four running together.

It took a few shots.

I have to give another "welcome to the half marathon club" to Hollie. She ran her first half marathon in 3:03:36! I knew she would do awesome at this race after I saw her do the Moon Pie 10 Miler. I may have pressured her into doing the Middle Half. ;) But as I told her, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't already know she could do it. 

She says this is the "first and last time" for a half. ;)
But I think she'll do it again. 

Here are a few shots from the day...feel free to laugh. I did.

The BBC group

Hoping to cry instead of puke 

This would have been hilarious had Ray captured me doubled over
dry heaving. Hahaha

Love this guy!!

Whooo Hoo!

Now about this Irene chick..... 

My buddy Miranda decided to name my running personality. Sometimes, ok pretty much all the time. I get upset while running. The smallest thing can set her off. Like getting nearly hit by a car. Or getting nudged while running. The list could go on... ;) Miranda named her Irene. And now everyone in our running group finds it funny. I kept Irene in check during the race. For one, I was running with Ricky and I didn't want to taint his first half marathon. However, he did say if Irene showed up he would just take off and leave me. Which I would have been fine with. ;) Here's to keeping Irene in check. 

Happy Running Everyone!!