Chevron Marathon and Surf N Turf Half Marathon

Ok I decided I would just combine this blog post because it seemed the week ran together for both of these runs. The full marathon was in Houston on Jan. 19th and then less than a week later I ran a half marathon in Port Aransas.... was I crazy? FULL ON!!! Let me say that this was a good learning experience. I pushed my body to limits it was not ready for but succeeded. I hurt, I was tired but I survived and came away a better runner for it.

So we headed for Houston on Jan. 17th from Rockport- 3.5 hr drive but we have made it so many times it doesn't seem that long. The drive to Houston always feels like the drive home. Houston is home for us and always will be. Early Friday we learned our Uncle was sick and we decided to go ahead and rent a hotel to avoid getting everyone else sick. Plus we could come and go and be lazy if we wanted to without bothering anyone. Which we took full advantage of. We got in late Friday and just relaxed because we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn for the 5k on Saturday morning. Both of my girls were going to run the 5k with me but we had to take my husband to the VA Hospital for a tooth that had been bothering him, so my son was left either running the 5k with us or sitting with strangers. UGH... SO my oldest decided she would hang with him and my middle kid could run with me. The oldest (Haley) has always been my "runner", but let me tell you that middle kiddo (Alli) is sure stealing the title quickly. Alli has run with me several times now and I think she likes it... shhhh, don't tell her I said that.
So Alli and I ran the 5k, not a fast pace but a nice steady pace we finished in 28 mins with a 9:05 min pace. Which was great for us since I was running the next day. The 3 kids and I then went and ventured to the expo to pick up my marathon packet for the Chevron Houston Marathon. We made a few rounds, checked out a few booths. Alli won a $10 Chevron gift card from the Chevron booth!! (YAY gas money) haha. Haley found a new pair of running shoes for only$40. Alli bought one of those headband things that doesn't move for a whopping $15. -1 head band! And Nick walked away with some free cars from the Chevron booth. Everyone was happy. We headed back to the hotel after picking up the hubs. We ventured out to eat once and the rest of the evening and night was spent in the hotel doing NOTHING. It was a great evening.
Sunday morning- up bright and early at 4:45 to leave by 5:45. WOW... up so early. I never wake up that early haha. We got there in good time, found my coral and said good bye to the family. I would be seeing them around mile 15 and then again at the finish. Have I mentioned how amazing my family is and what a great support team they are? They really are AMAZING and so great to me!!!
Anyways...waited for my friend Carolyn to show up and find me so we could run together. Which was amazing. Its always so nice to have someone to run with. We ran and we did great. We were on track for a 4:30 finish up until about mile 20. After that I didn't do so well. My longest training run had only been 18 miles. So lesson learned there. Valuable lesson... more miles next year. At mile 25 my legs cramped so bad it was almost unbearable. I have NEVER had that happen before. I don't believe it was my electrolytes or lack of water/Gatorade/ salt. I believe it was my lack of training. Which really sucks and only leaves myself to blame. Live and learn! I survived and I got an amazing medal, I had a great experience and I learned a lot about  myself. My ending time was 4:50 which is still 8 minutes faster than last year. So I am still proud of it. Just slightly disappointed in myself for my training.
Less than a week later I was out there running a half marathon in 30-40 degree weather on the beach for the Port Aransas Surf N Turf race. But it was a planned run with most of my ladies from the run group. Alli ran again with me, Haley again chickened out. My mom took her place and ran in her spot. So that was cool to have them both there. I was doing really great for the first 8-9 miles of the half, I was kinda shocked my body was holding up so well. I also practiced something I had just read about... walking for 3-45 seconds every water stop. The water stops were about every 2 miles so it worked out great. I think this really helped me keep pace and not suffer too much. Mile 9 came around and my body was just DONE... My hip hurt, which spread down to my knee. My hamstring and quad both hurt by the end. And when I finished I wasn't sure I would be able to stand or walk at ALL that day. At mile 10.5 I started texting Alli to come meet me. I needed support, I needed her by my side, I needed her to push me through. She met up with me around mile 11.5 and finished the race with me. The last quarter mile was Linda, Kelcey and my mom, they all ran a bit with me to the finish line. It was so exciting having them finish with and really helped me a ton. I love the support and love we have for each other. I finished with a time of 2:12 which is technically the fastest half marathon in a race and only short 5 minutes of my fastest half I have ran personally. So not too shabby for a gimp runner haha. I have decided to slow it way down and work on strength for awhile. I need to build my hips and leg muscles up. I have a huge run in March over a couple of mountains in Utah( Buffalo Run)! Then just a week later is Texas Independence Relay -200 mile relay!! So need my strength and legs for those for sure.
In every race I learn something about myself and learn how strong I am.
Until the next one~ Becky

Chevron Houston Marathon - Sunday Jan. 19th

This Sunday is my BIG Marathon! I usually one run one a year and its that time of the year. 

I am most definitely nervous about this one, I have not put in as much training as I usually do. Which sucks but I know I will be able to do it. Its all in the mind, right?!?!  :) 

So Saturday there is a 5k and Sunday is the marathon. You get a medal for running the 5k, one for the marathon and another for running both!!!!!!! AWESOME!!! Did I mention Im a medal whore? Yep, thats right MEDAL WHORE!!!! I Love them and want them all!!!! hahaha! I will update the blog Monday and let you all know how I did. Im praying for sunny skies and no wind LOL Lets hope. 

Links and Sites I LOVE!!

Ok here is a few sites that I really love and want to share with you all.

First I just discovered this website, Co-Founded by Kate Hudson (Love her), but its athletic clothes put together in outfits for one great price. Totally awesome!
Here is the link to check it out  Fabletics

Next I have recently discovered Hips Sisters … OMG you have to check out their site. You know those ugly fanny packs us runners wear? well they have taken fanny pack to a whole new level. Like out of this world level. You will love these stylish hands free hip bands.

Fellow Flowers!!! OMG this is a great page, great inspiration, great motivation and a great group.

TrailHead Hats- this is a really awesome hat company. I am so in love with their ponytail hats. Go check out their great products

First run of the year! Jan 4th Portland Sunset Challenge 5k

Jan 4th was my first race of the year and what a race it was. I'm still on cloud 9 from the run. LOL  Here's the race report… 

 

Luckily the night before I had laid out my run clothes ( I always do this, its a habit). I had not been able to pick up my packet so we had to get there early to pick up packets. I wanted to leave at 7am so like an idiot , I mean for some reason I wasn't thinking and set my alarm for 7am. So when I woke up and realized I should of been leaving already, I didn't bother waking the kids up, they could stay home. Hank and I got up quickly and did a rush job out the front door. We headed to Portland (about 35 mins away). By this time it was already 7:10am, so I was already running late. Then I almost get pulled over for speeding, luckily the guy in front of me was speeding and the cop passed me up to pull him over. Thank goodness (sorry dude in front of me). 

Anyways we got there by 7:30 (still speeding). We parked and got my packet. Had time to take a pic in front of the fire truck (see above picture). Hank and I ran to the near by store for some caffeine. I am currently giving up sodas but knew I needed a little push this morning. I got my usual Diet Coke and he bought a coffee. We returned to the parking lot to wait till 8:30 until the race started. While we were waiting we noticed the Welch girls were at this race… wth? they are from Houston, why would they be down HERE. (they travel all over for races but why at MY race, MY neck of the woods) Now they are great girls, at the young ages of 11 and 14, they are kicking serious ass in the race world. They will be Olympians one day. They are sweet and beautiful little girls but fast as f*ck all get out. I mean super fast. Seriously watch for them at your race… you'll know if they are there. So with the sighting of these girls my dreams were crushed of winning overall female. Ok I know it was a long stretch but a girl can dream right?!?!? LOL Anyways looking around I kept getting more nervous. My goal was to do better than a 26:30 time and place in my age group. I had looked at the previous times and this was a doable goal. The last time I ran a 5k for time I was around 27-28 mins. It had been close to a year since then. I have struggled and had issues (emotional) with running and life in general and wasn't sure how I would do. I have been training for my marathon but was unsure of my pace. Hank suggested I try for a 23 min time hahahha, Ok that was really funny I thought. 

So we lined up and did the 10 second count down, ya know all 250 of us runners. The horn blows and we are off. I make my way to the front of the pack in the first 1/4 of a mile, I'm pretty proud of my pace, my phone says about 7:58 and I'm like ok it will say that for a bit and then catch up, I know I'm running fast I will settle into my pace here in a minute and carry on. Then there are a couple of women in front of me and I have to pass them to place, so I maintain my pace, because I know the first mile weeds out the weak. So I start passing more people and I'm content with my pace still. Its fast and I'm pushing it but I can maintain it. First water station passed (no water on 5k's, they just slow ya down). Then there are 2 girls still in front of me. One was there and one had passed me but was hanging RIGHT in front of me. I was pushing them for about a mile and half. One lady was in a nice pace and you could tell she was comfortable there. She wasn't going to be speeding up maybe slowing slightly, the other girl in front of me was pushing herself and I could see she wouldn't last, so I stayed on her heels and steadily pushed her. We hit the back of the course and it was steady hills, up and down, up and down, the concrete was wet and a bit slippery. But hills don't scare me, I eat hills for breakfast hahaha. No really I love hills, I try to work them in my runs for this very reason. Oh and going down a hill, i look like a little bunny, nice open wide stride and a little bounce, letting the hill do the work and the body just flowing along. This is where I could eat her up, she didn't know how to work hills; going up or down. So rounding up the end of mile 2 right before the flat road again I passed her and never seen her again, I'm pretty sure she was hurting. She was breathing hard the whole time and I know I made her work. I WAS working. I could feel the burn in my lungs and thought a couple of times of puking but knew I could do that at the end. After all this was only a 5k. 

So back on flat ground and headed back to the finish/start line, only a couple of guys in front of me. Everything is looking good. All of a sudden i can see the finish line and my time is looking great. My phone has been bouncing around with pace time. 7 some times, 8 and 9 sometimes. So really I was unsure of where I was and what my actual time was. Then I'm about 100 yards and I usually save a little  for the end and try to push it but there wasn't much there. I had used it all on the last 3 miles. But feeling good and proud, knowing there was only the little Welch girl and one other girl in front of me, so I'm happy with my place and know for sure I'm securing an age division spot. I cross the line and the announcer says 24:45….. WHAT, WHAT was that ? 24 mins? seriously? I don't believe it, I had to turn and look at the clock to double check. No freaking way had I just ran that in 24 mins…. no way. Not me….  I wish someone would of got a picture of my face, it probably had about 100 emotions going on; pain, surprise, excitement, wonder, uncertainty, happiness. I mean it was a ball of emotions for sure. I keep walking and see Hank coming up to me and was like did you hear that? did I hear that? was that right ?  was someone lying to me? LOL He smiled and high five me and said 24:45 babe… I told ya to go for 23 haha… Holy smokes, he had heard it too. It was 24 mins. Well shit…. look at that. I JUST RAN FAST!!! :) 

They give ya little print outs of your time, division and gender division. And sure enough unofficial time was 24:47. 

They had a wonderful breakfast inside the Country Club, I mean the best spread I have ever seen. They had it all. Even had real waiters waiting on us. LOL And Mimosas for those that wanted it…well of course I had to have one. You can't pass a mimosa up and especially one for free with GOOD champagne. LOL  (insert pic) 

So we ate and had mimosas and enjoyed the moment. While impatiently waiting for awards. Of course the Welch sisters took the overall place for 5k and 10k. One ran the 5k and the other ran the 10k… little sneaky turkeys. They could of gave someone else a chance hahaha… But who can blame them right? They finally get to my age group- 30 to 39 and guess who gets called for 1st place……… Yea buddy! This girl right here! First freaking place for my age group. I am beyond stoked. Hows that for the first race of the year. Talk about setting the bar high! Its awesome. 

 With an official time of 24:37 and mile time of 7:56…… yea you read that right. This 9 minute mile girl just ran a 5k in 24 mins and a 7 min mile pace. Holy shit!!!!!! That's all I have to say… holy shit! LOL This race just did so much for my self esteem and confidence. I still can't believe that is me, but it is. I DID IT! I EARNED THAT TIME AND AWARD. I can honestly say I am proud of myself. This was a big HUGE win for me. This is going to be a great year, I just know it. I see big changes coming my way and with each step I'm less afraid of the future. THIS is what running does for me. Reassures me that I CAN do it and I am worth it. Nothing will hold me back. This is a sign of how great this year will be.

So I'm going to go finish gloating in my victory and enjoy this moment a little longer. 2 weeks till the marathon. Cant wait for that one and to just have it over with LOL . I hope we don't have rain this year. And I hope we have a tailwind that helps carry me along. :)  This is going to be an EPIC year, EPIC!!!! 

Peace, Love, and RUN!!! 

~ RunnerGirl

Who's ready for 2014? I am!!!!

This past year was a rough one for me, lots of ups and down. I have given up on myself more times than I can count. I even threw my hands in the air and said "I'm done with life" a few times.  But I have decided I AM worth it and I will keep moving forward one way or another. I have set myself some goals and I'm going to accomplish them. I have decided to start teaching classes in health and wellness again even though i have hate public speaking haha. I have already taught a class on essential oils and it turned out great. I plan to do a few more of those. I am bringing my Fit Club back - 3 days a week. I'm going to run at least 3 days a week and never stop again!!!!! I already have my calendar set for the first few months of 2014! I'm working on me and making ME better. I don't care about anyone else or what anyone else thinks or what they do with their time. I want a better life for my kids, they deserve it. I'm going to open myself to new possibilities and let the pieces fall where they may. I'm tired of being depressed, hurt, angry and feeling like a failure! This year is MY year! 

I found some cool quotes/ pictures to post that just seem to stick with me.


This first one is one of my favorites!

 Ok and this one is one we should all pay attention to! Self Care…. we forget that sometimes. We get so caught up in taking care of everyone else that we don't stop and take care of ourselves.  These are just simple rules but very poignant.

Races for 2014!

Making a list of some of the races I plan to run for 2014. I will try to run a race every month!

Jan 4th - Portland Sunset Challenge- Im going to run the 5k for time and try to PR. I haven't ran a 5k in a long time, so this will be fun!  (PR 24:37) 1st place age division

Jan 18- ABB 5k (pre-run to the marathon the next day, plus you get 3 medals- 1 for this race, 1 for the marathon and 1 for doing both races. How can you say no to that ? ) (28:11)

Jan 19- Chevron Houston Marathon - Yea baby!!! Marathon time!!!! (4:50:06)

Jan 25- Surf and Turf Half Marathon - Half marathon on the beach at Port Aransas (2:12) 3rd place age division

Feb 22- Port Aransas Beach Dash - Running Port A beach, again! :)

Mar 8- Whooping Crane Strut - Rockport at Memorial Park (28:14) 2nd place age division

Mar 22- Antelope Island  25k in Utah !!!!!!!!!  With my best friend- Fawn! Cannot wait! BTW my birthday is March 24!!

Mar 29-30- Texas Independence Relay - 200 mile relay from Gonzales to Houston Tx

April 13- Divas Half Marathon- Galveston Tx - Super excited about this one, its finally in Tx!!!!

April 19- Rockport Earth Day and Redfish Run- MY OWN RACE! Come run it and enjoy the views!

May 4- Flying Pig Half Marathon- Going to Cincinnati to run with my best friend Lindsey

May 17- Beach to Bay relay - this race sucks every year and I swear Ill never do it again and yet again I sign up for it! hahaha Its a fun run with great views but its usually sooooo hot. Almost dangerously hot.

And from this point on I have no idea what Ill be running or where!!!

RunnerGirlNutrition- Yep, thats me! Here's to a New Year and New Adventures!

Hello peeps! 

I'm so excited to get this blog going. I have my own site but the blog is so confusing on it, so I thought I would give this a try! Here is my first blog and  here's hoping to keeping up with it this year. 
The year of NEW for me! 

Soooooo about RunnerGirlNutrition! That's me- Becky (right) and 2 of my good friends here in Rockport, Tx! Christy (Rawyall.com) and Kimmi (Coastal Bend Health Food) and then me, Becky (RunnerGirlNutrition). Together we established Rockport's first ever Earth Day and Redfish Run. It was a blast. We are working on this years as I speak  type. (April 19th, 2014- Downtown, Ill post more updates later). 

Ok so have I mentioned I have a wondering mind- so back to me! I am a mother to 3 amazing kids. Two teenage girls and one 10 year old boy (he's the baby and spoiled rotten). The girls run with me a lot, and my son bikes with me! My oldest holds the 800 record at her her old high school and qualified for regionals this year at her new high school. YAY Haley! :)  My middle child is your A typical middle child- smart, sporty, overachiever, perfectionist. LOL She's an amazing girl for sure! They are both in public school this year. I homeschool my son, he was being picked on in his class and just marches to a different beat than everyone else. He's smart, funny, loving and kind. He loves nature and being outdoors. It has been fun and interesting at the same time this year. Homeschooling your child takes a lot of dedication and time. Oh did I mention patience? LOTS of patience!!!!!! LOTS! :) I wouldn't trade one minute of it. Ok so that's my kiddos. 

Haley, Becky, Alli and Nick

I have been married for 17 years this past November to my high school sweetheart, except now I have new names for him and sweetheart isn't always one of them! haha. Some how we make it work. It has been a LOOOONNNNGGG journey for sure. So far its been totally worth it. Even on the days I want to pull my hair out, I still love him and can tell him anything. He's been a great support when it comes to my running. He will literally get up at any time of the morning to follow me in the truck while I have crazy adventures, like running the over-passes because its the only hill training I can find in South Texas, and follow with the flashers on so I don't get ran over. He will meet  to bring me water at designated times for marathon training, and when I need to run for 3-4 hours on a Saturday morning, he doesn't complain. I have put many, many, hours into my running and he never once has protested it. Oh…. and this one time I ran Ragnar in Pennsylvania he literally followed my van for every mile and when it was dark and us ladies didn't want to be by ourselves he would drive at 3mph right next to each of us, staying up the whole time and never nagging. I think he ended up with less sleep than any of us! So even the days I'm totally pissed at him, I have to remember how good he has been to me and my running. Every new adventure I come up with he just goes along with. I mean seriously how can I complain! 

I have always loved running, just wasn't good at it. So about 8 years ago I started caring for my grandmother who was bedridden and diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I was taking care of the kiddos, going to college full time and helping my husband diagnose his PTSD. It was a very rough time in my life. I remembered how bad I wanted to be a runner and thought "you know what? I'm going to do this". So it began… I couldn't even run 1 mile when I started. Everyday I got out there until I could run 1 mile, then 2 miles and then 3 miles. It was amazing. I could actually breath again! I could run and cry if I wanted, I could pray when I needed and just be quiet when I felt the need. It was the best release ever and I started feeling good again. I rarely pay attention to my weight, as in on a scale, but I could tell my clothes were starting to fall off me; which I was loving because I did NOT like being a size 14. UGH. When I am comfortable at a size 6. So it was nice watching the pants slim down further and further. It was easier to care for my grandmother when I was happy. School was better as well. Life itself was good! My crazy best friend Fawn asked me to run a half marathon with her, she would fly down to Texas from Utah to run it with me if I would do it. So I started training. When she flew down I had never ran more than 8 miles… yea I slacked at that whole training thing. But we ran it, we crossed the finish line holding hands and the spark was born. I wanted to cry so bad when we finished, I had DID it, I actually ran a half freaking marathon. I NEVER in my life thought I could. I can't even explain the flood of emotions I felt that day. I haven't stopped running since then and keep finding new and bigger challenges. To me that is what life is about- Finding that next big challenge. Constantly challenging your body and keeping life fresh and new. 

Fawn & Becky- Houston Half Marathon 2010