YMCA Christmas 2.5 miler

Merrrrrry Christmas Eve everyone!

I am so happy that I got to hit up Boise’s YMCA Christmas race yet again this year. I’m going on three years in a row!

Though I will admit that the race was a bit different this year being preggo and all –it was my first my time walking the whole 2.5 miler course. In 2010 I ran the 2.5 miler and last year I completed the 10k option.

It was super duper awesome though because I was accompanied by Becky my Sister-in-law-to-be and her dog Diesel.

Yeah, Diesel was pretty much the star of the whole day. That great dane sure knows how to make an entrance!

As usual my absolute favorite part of this race is simply just people watching. There are so many hilarious and awesome Christmas outfits, I was pretty much LOL-ing during the whole race watching everyone prancing by.

We started the race with a mass of people, I think I overheard them say something like 3000 people had registered.

It was supposed to be really cold, but as soon as we got going we were shedding layers. It seemed that the weather gods had the perfect mix of weather for our race.

Our 2.5 mile walk was over before we even knew it. It’s crazy how quick time flies with you have an awesome friend chit chatting next to you.

I’m so happy to have gotten to do this race for three years in a row. Becky and I were seriously scheming for a group themed Christmas outfit next year. And hey who knows, even little baby Alabama might be able to join in the fun!

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I feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends this year. But I would also like to send my love and prayers to all those who are not able to be with their families this holiday. And I wish everyone a wonderful and Merry Christmas!!

Turkey Trot 5k

Alternative title to this post would be “Baby’s First 5k”!

On Saturday I signed up J. Alabama & I for our first ever Texas race. The Fort Bliss MWR was hosting a Turkey Trot and it was too good to pass up (all active military entries into race were free).

The plan was for J. Alabama to run the race, and I was going to walk it with a friend. Plans changed at the last minute and my walking partner couldn’t make it, so J. Alabama offered to tag along with me instead.

I was happy to have J. Alabama by my side as my partner in crime and personal photographer for the morning.

The morning started off chilly (at least for us Texans) but as soon as the race started we warmed up quickly.

It was a perfect little race, roughly about 200 people. I so wished I was able to race it for time, as it would have been an easy peasy one. The course was a flat and easy 3.10 mile loop around the army base.

 

As soon as the clock struck 8:00, we were off! I’m not sure what came over me, if it was old habit, or the rush of the crowd but as the race started I was shuffling right along with the crowd.

After a bit, I looked over at J. Alabama and was freaking out because I was running (sort of). It was a funny combination of a waddle, shuffle, trot but it was definitely faster than a power walk.

I told myself that I was going to take it easy and stop if anything hurt. It just felt so good to be out in the fresh air moving.

I mean, I know it sounds weird for me to be shuffling around only days after I posted that I wasn’t running any more, but I promise that I was listening to my body.

Baby and I were enjoying being a part of the Turkey Trot, and definitely took a lot of walk breaks.

It’s funny for me to look at the photos and see the baby bump, as I wasn’t sure it was that noticeable (until I saw the after photos). I felt like I may have looked a little ridiculous shuffle/waddling along the course, but I didn’t even care.

J. Alabama shuffled right along next me the entire way, just making sure that I felt good the entire time. It was actually really fun being able to trot along side him at  a speed where we could talk, joke around etc. Typically if we ever ran together it was at such a pace that there was no laughing going on!

We finished out the race strong, with an amazing time of 45:54!

My only goal for the day was to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. I had no idea I would feel good enough to shuffle along most of the race.

I’d have to say that baby and I (and J. Alabama) had a great time!  Though, I don’t forsee many other races for this pregnancy as I was feeling the aftermath a little later that day from the 5k. I was literally doing the pregnancy waddle all day afterwards, but note, that the day following no pelvic pain!

Are you participating (or have you already) in a Turkey Trot this year?  This was only my second ever Turkey Trot, my last experience was the Gobble Wobble in Denver a few years back where I walked it with a friend.

Why I’m not running while pregnant

After seeing pictures and hearing stories of those woman who run half-marathons or are doing CrossFit workouts into the later part of their pregnancies, I secretly hoped I would be hard core enough to be like them.

Its weird to think that just a few short months ago I was running and doing crazy intense CrossFit workouts myself.

And now those types of workouts are definitely out of the question for me. I had at least thought my running would still be happening even at a minimal level at this point, but sadly it’s not.

I never had a doubt that my running would be halted at such an early stage in my pregnancy journey, somewhere around the 9 week mark.

My fitness journey during this pregnancy has been a weird one for me. The first two months of pregnancy (most of which I wasn’t even aware I was preggers) I was feeling really blue. I attributed this to our El Paso move, as I was feeling really out of place. The feelings of depression were so bad that it was a struggle to even get me to leave the house, even though we had a nice air conditioned gym in our apartment complex. It just felt like too much work.

I started to emotionally feel better around the 7/8 week mark and tried to add running and light crossfit workouts back into my routine. Then began the irritating pain in my pelvic area.

I started noticing this weird pain in my pelvic area after I would run on the treadmill and thought it was related to my running. It felt as though I had stress fractured my pelvic bone. So I completely stopped running in hopes that the pain would go away. This seemed to help for a few days, then the pain started coming on more frequent and still continues now.

I started talking to other people who had already had children and found out this feeling was normal. What I was feeling was stretching of the ligaments in my pelvic area and pressure from my growing uterus. [This totally makes sense, though I wish more people talked about it as I seriously was freaking out by the odd pain down there].

So apparently the pain had nothing to with the fact that I was running, but I did realize that running was making it more painful. Then I knew I had change my workout routine immensely, no more running and a lot more low stress workouts.

What you will see around here is a lot more yoga, zumba, power walking and weight lifting.  All of those workouts seem to make the pelvic pain go away (at least temporarily afterwards), instead of increasing the pain.

I’ll be honest when I say that I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not able to run, but I realize that my job of keeping my body healthy and happy is more important for the lil pumpkin right now. And I’m excited that I feel well enough to keep zumba-ing, as I have a feeling this baby is going to coming out dancing.

My hormones seem to shoot through the roof whenever I make it to zumba class, the latin moves and music has put me in fits of tears (pure happy tears). Pregnancy hormones are so crazy!

So I’m taking it easier than I thought I would workout wise during this pregnancy journey, and I’m okay with that.

***

Have any other mom’s out there experienced this pelvic pain? Are there any suggestions on how to make it feel better?

Trail Runner

As you know, I’m back in Boise, Idaho for awhile visiting family. But I just couldn’t be in the same town as Cynthia, my Boise blogger/friend without calling her up for a run.

You can bet that I was super excited when she agreed to meet up with me on Saturday and show me some new-to-me trails in Boise that I’d never ran on before!

 

It was great to catch up after 8 months, (I haven’t seen her since we ran the Christmas 10k race back in December)!

The trails were glorious and the weather was perfect. There have been a lot of fires in Idaho lately, and we managed to squeeze our run in before the valley got too smoky and hot. 

The landscape up in the foothills actually are very similar to the landscape of my new home in El Paso, Texas. This run kind of got me excited to seek out some dirt trails in EP to run on when I get back. 

We were enjoying the trails so much that we ended up hitting over 5 miles, which seemed to fly right on by. I’m actually amazed because that’s the farthest I’ve ran in a long long time!

Running in Idaho just felt so easy! I’m not sure if it was the great company, the nice cool breeze, or just the fact that I was back in the comfort of what was home to me for the first 28 years of my life. I’m hoping to snatch up this feeling and take it with me back to EP, as running has just felt so h-a-r-d and not fun over the last 7 months.

And maybe I just need to switch it up. Running on those trails just felt way more fun than a normal road run. I’ve got my eye on something crazy in EP, we’ll see if I can be trained and ready for this intense Half Marathon Trail Race by October.

Happy Running friends!

Rave Run: El Paso’s Scenic Drive Park

One of our first stops upon arriving to El Paso last week led us to the local running store in town. There I met a women who told me of the amazingness of Scenic Drive Park here in El Paso.

LOCATION: Scenic Drive Park, El Paso, Texas

RUNNER: Linzi Alabama

THE EXPERIENCE: Every Sunday between 7:00 am – 11:00 am this almost two mile road is closed to all motor vehicles. It’s a a twisty and hilly road that hugs the mountains and overlooks all of the city. We heard it was the best place to run in EP so of course we hit it up last Sunday morning!

The climb of this short run is no joke, I was huffing and puffing the entire way. And you better believe that I took advantage of the scenic overview stops to snap some photos. You know for a photo break not a walking break. Riggggght.

It was fun to see bikers, runners, and even walkers out enjoying the beautiful morning. And I was just so excited to have at least one running route here in El Paso, even if it is only available on Sunday mornings.

There is something so freeing about running in the middle of the road without worry of any traffic, all whilst looking over your shoulder and viewing the heart of the city. Amazing I tell ya!

Happy Running my friends! And now that I’m back in Idaho for almost 2 weeks, you can bet I will be hitting up some of my favorite running paths here! So exciting.

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If you are interested in sharing a RAVE RUN of your own from your favorite running path please feel free to shoot me an email at destination26.2 at gmail dot com. I would love to feature other Rave Run’s here.

North Face Endurance Challenge Giveaway

As you all know, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and run with Dean Karnazes, “The Ultramarathon Man” a few weeks ago.  Boy am I excited to tell you, that YOU may also have a chance to meet him and other amazing athletes too!

I’m super excited to announce today that I was asked by North Face to blog about the upcoming North Face Endurance Challenge October 13-14, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia.

This race weekend is sure to be an unforgettable experience, complete with an opportunity to meet and get a photo with Dean Karnazes on Saturday after the race.

This weekend of races includes a 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon, 50k or 50 miler option on an amazing course. If you like trails and hills, then this is great challenge for you. Click HERE for more details about the race.

Check out this video to see for yourself what The North Face Endurance is all about!

When I was asked to blog about this race, I was also given the chance to run in the race. As much as I would love to take on this challenge, my recent move to Texas is making training for an epic race like this a little bit harder. That and the fact that we should be closing on our home and moving around the time of the race.  So I decided that I would like to go ahead and pass this opportunity onto someone else. Lucky YOU!

This event is going to be an amazing experience, and from what I saw when I met Dean, North Face knows how to throw a great event!

So if you have any desire to push yourself to a new limit, or just want to give yourself a challenge, I would like to encourage you to enter my giveaway to The North Face Endurance Challenge in Atlanta, GA.

The Giveaway rules:

1. Go to the Endurance Challenge website (HERE) and read about the race and let me know what race distance you would be interested in running (1 entry)
2. “Like” Beyond Destination 26.2, Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know (1 entry)
3. “Follow” Destination262 on Twitter and leave a comment here letting me know (1 entry)
4. Tweet about this contest “I registered to win an entry into the NorthFace Challenge in Atlanta, GA at http://wp.me/F74A  #TheNorthFace #EnduranceChallenge” and leave a comment here letting me know (1 entry)

So there you go runner friends, you have several chances to win! The winner will receive a promotion code good for one individual entry into one of the races at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Atlanta, GA on October 13-14, 2012.

Contest ends Tuesday, August 28th at noon (MST).

Happy Running and good luck!!

Running with Dean Karnazes

I was beyond excited when I found out that Dean Karnazes “The UltraMarathon Man”  was coming to small town Columbus, Georgia to run with our running community last Friday night.

I will honestly say that I have never read any of his books, but I knew of his amazing accomplishment of running 50 marathons, in 50 states in 50 days.

I think that takes an amazing amount of talent, determination, and willpower to accomplish a feat like that.

He came to our running store to kick off The North Face Endurance Challenge that will be happening October 13-14, 2012 in Pine Mountain, GA.

It was pretty inspiring to hear him speak about his adventures in running such races as the Bad Water Ultramarathon. You know just a little 135 mile race through Death Valley, no big deal!

Well it was actually really cool for me to watch our store owner introduce the Ultramarathoner as he is also a big Ultra runner himself. And has also competed in the Bad Water Ultra.

Being around such inspiring running talent was such an amazing feeling. I was seriously jonesing for our ‘Run with Dean’ to start!

Dean gave a few more words of wisdom, and then we were off on our run. They arranged the route so that there could be a 5k turn off, or you could push on through the whole 10k.

Once the run started, I was full of energy and adrenaline. The cool thing about this run was that it was simply that, a run. Not a race. So I didn’t really feel pressure to run super faster or worry if I needed to stop and rest.

Though according to my mile splits, I was running WAY faster than my normal easy run pace.

Around mile two, I was trucking along minding my own business and I heard a group of people coming up behind me. I moved to the right of the path and looked over my left shoulder.

There was Dean Karnazes with a pack of 10 or so people running next to me. Dean looked over at me and said “hello!” and then continued to truck on forward with his pack.

I jumped into the back of the pack for a good quarter mile or so, before I started to lose steam.

I had literally just ran with the UltraMarathon Man himself. So cool!

I started out thinking I was going to do the 10k, but my legs started to feel like I was dragging tree trunks around mile 3. So when the 5k turnoff was visible I ran back to the store to further help with the event. I mean I was still working!

My final mile splits: 3.5 miles/36:00

• Mile 1: 9:19
• Mile 2: 9:38
• Mile 3: 10:42
• Mile .5: 6:30

As you can see, there were two miles under 10 minutes! And that first mile, are you kidding me?! I don’t run 9:00 minute miles people. So awesome!!

Back at the store…

We had pizza ready for all the runners, as they waited to get autographs and pictures with Dean.

It was really a fun event, and a fabulous send off. If you remember, I mentioned that Friday was also my last day at the running store.

The whole event was a blast! All the people who attended the event were so genuinely excited about the opportunity to meet Dean Karnazes, and were super pumped about the upcoming North Face Endurance Challenge.

I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of this experience, as it was such an awesome way to end my time at the running store!

Running on the Green

It all started when our bosses told my fellow co-workers and I to meet them at a random location instead of our office for the Tuesday morning staff meeting.

We showed up at a random church parking lot at 8:30 a.m. on the dot, donned in our running gear as requested, ready for whatever adventure they had in store for us.

I assumed some sort of group run. I mean what else would a bunch of running store employees do…right?

We were then split into teams and told that we would be able to pick two items from the van for our adventure. I still didn’t know what the heck was going on…

Until they pulled out a few bags of golf clubs and told us to follow them to the golf course. What???

I wasn’t sure how golf was going to tie in as team builder for our running store group but I was kind of excited anyways.

We definitely were not dressed in the proper golf attire, but apparently we were dressed for the proper speed golf attire.

Once we were armed with golf clubs, balls and tees we were ready to get a run down of the rules for this speed golf competition.

Each team of two would complete 9 holes of golf. Once the first swing was in motion we were to start our timers and let them go until we finished the final hole.

In the meantime, each team had to switch off who was swinging and the object of the game [as golf goes]  is to get the ball in the hole in as little swings as possible. We were keeping tally for each hole.

The kicker was this…after you swing you and your teammate had to run as fast as you can to your ball. From there you continue swinging and running until you finished all 9 holes.

I’m just really glad my teammate was patient with my non-existent golf skills. And let’s not forget to mention I had just finished up my morning boot camp session and sprinting through a golf course was a bit of a struggle.

Once the teams were off we really began to focus. I honestly had never played real golf before and was pleasantly surprised that I had some decent swings.

Though the real hero was Buddy my teammate who usually drove the ball to the green, and I was able to putt-putt it in the hole.

After running from hole to hole I was sweating up a storm and feeling the effects of both workouts, but was kind of on a happy cloud from the activity.

It was funny to think we ran 1.35 miles during our golf game. It really didn’t feel like we ran that much, as each hole only seemed like a quick sprint. It adds up!

Whew! Glad to be done.

After the game we were to add our swing count to the time it took us to finish and that would be our final score. Whichever team had the smallest total was the winner.

I think our final score was something like 74?

Sadly, our team did not win, but I think we came in 3rd place. Not too shabby for a first time golfer.

The whole crew had a blast running, golfing, and just hanging out.

This was definitely one of the most fun staff meetings I have ever been to!

And I did look up Speed Golf on the internet…apparently it’s a REAL thing. Who knew? But now that I know, I would honestly consider this way as the way to do it. It was quite the exhilarating workout!

***

Have you ever played Speed Golf? What are some fun team builders you have done for work?

Beer Mile 2012

‘Will run for beer’ just doesn’t even cut it. It was more like ‘will run after chugging beer’. Ugghhhh…why?

When I was invited to attend the 6th Annual Beer Mile on Saturday by my fellow co-workers I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Back home we do a Booze Cruise every year [beer + bicycles.. probably not the safest of ideas] but here in GA they do their own version of a Booze Cruise [beer + running = Beer Mile].

I will admit I was curious as to how this would work and how I would be able to handle it. But I took on the Beer Mile challenge like a champ!

The rules are simply this…you must chug a beer (at least 5% alcohol) then run a quarter mile. You continue this process as quickly as possible until you have completed the beer mile [4 beers and 4 quarter mile laps].

A penalty lap is added at the end if at any point you throw up.

Once the rules were announced the chugging began.

After each beer was downed you were supposed to tilt it over your head to signify that you were finished.

And then you run like crazy!

I wasn’t so worried about the running part because a quarter of a mile sounded super easy. But when you throw in a pretty steep hill and a tummy full of carbonation and alcohol you are dealing with a whole different beast.

I downed the first beer and completed the first lap no problem. It was the start of that second beer that was giving me some trouble. I got it down, but honestly was feeling a little rough at this point.

Once I started back down the hill I felt better [believe it or not]. Though the thought of trying to down a third beer was not sitting well.

I reached the top of the hill and grabbed beer number three.

At this point I was having some serious doubts. My stomach hurt and just the taste of this beer was making me want to vomit. I looked over to see this sight — totally didn’t help.

People were losing it right and left and I was pretty sure I was next. I would take a sip and then pace around for a minute trying to convince myself that I had it in me to do this.

Thoughts of a DNF [did not finish] were tempting.

I looked over at my fellow co-worker who was struggling just as much as I at this point and we finished off our third beer with much agony in our faces.

(this photo was taken pre-race…we did not look this happy by beer 3…trust me!)

She promised to run the rest of the race with me, but decided that a fourth beer just wasn’t going to work. I was ready to quit drinking at this point too until it happened.

I puked, but honestly felt this rush come over me. I had a second wind and was ready to finish this race strong.

We sprinted up the hill knowing I had one final beer to drink and two stupid laps to run due to my having to add on a penalty lap.

I drank that last beer as quickly as I could. It went down a lot easier then the previous two.

I was just ready to be done at this point.

Thank goodness for my co-worker. She ran with me the final two laps until I could cross that finish line as an official Beer Mile finisher. Even though she didn’t finish her 4th beer, she was still a trooper!

Me an official beer mile finisher! You can see the girl in the background bringing up the cones, as I was the last person to finish the race.

You may call that being a loser, but in this race even the loser wins!

Shortly after the race they did an awards presentation. Another fellow co-worker won fastest beer mile in the woman’s category and received the prize of the golden shoe.

And I won last woman finisher [finishing time of 25:02] and was happy to be carrying off the brick of glass chards.

Oh my! I’ve never once won anything in a running race, how hilarious that I win something for last place?

Oh yes, and let’s not forget the finisher’s medals! Check out that beer can on a shoe string. Too funny!!

I’m happy to say that I placed my beer can award on the mantel to show off my accomplishments of at least winning something at this race.

I bet my husband is so proud of me.

Sure looks that way as he was carrying out my brick to the car upon our departure of the race.

This race was by far one of the hardest races I have ever ran. I’m not really even sure if I would embark on such a crazy adventure again.

It was fun to say I did it, but the beer mile is no joke.

Our work group photo: one loser, one winner and one DNF. Way to represent!!

***

Just curious! Would you ever even consider doing a race that involved running and beer chugging?

Rave Run

 

LOCATION: “City of Trees”; Boise, Idaho

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: iPhone

RUNNER: Linzi Alabama

THE EXPERIENCE: A mix of trail and flat road, this 3.5 mile route had a little bit of everything. There were views of the mountains off in the distance on one side and a nice babbling canal on the other. A refreshing breeze flooded me during the run, and made all memories of horrible southern humidity forgotten [at least for the short time I was visiting home].

 

Even though I’ve lived next to this running route for half of my life, I never once took advantage of the easy access and amazing views. I made it my personal mission a few weeks ago when I was home to get in my own version of the Runner’s World ‘Rave Run’.

 

I may be far away from Boise, but just the thought of this glorious run puts me back into my happy place. I’m counting down the days until I get to go back and do it again. (Roughly only 60 days!).

Happy Running my friends!
Next week is a rest week for Boot Camp so I’m planning on amping up my running. Just writing this post [minus the humidity part] is getting all excited to get a few more runs on the calendar.