First 5k!!! Woohooo!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope you had a WONDERFUL New Year's Eve!! I know I sure did!! Emily here, and I finished the first 5k of our resolution! Okay, so technically it's not ACTUALLY in 2010, but I'm still counting it as the kickoff of our project. Today's run was the 5k (3.2 miles) around CSU campus. This is where I went to college and it was so much fun running around the really familiar places, including the dorms and my most-visited buildings. We even had to hang out in Clark A101 for awhile where I spent many long, annoying hours in biology class. It was a blast though! I'm not quite sure what my time is yet. The ticker was at 36:20 when I crossed the finish line, but we were some of the last to cross the starting line. I will just have to wait until the results are posted online. I did finish an entire song earlier than last time though so I'm pretty sure I beat my last time! Woohoo!! I unfortunately had to walk a bit on this one because of some ice on the road and around 1 1/2 miles my calf hurt like a mother. But once I gave myself a good kick in the butt (figuratively) I started running again and that made the pain go away for the rest of the race. I got to run this one with my friend Sarah and her friend Tanya. They are so fun, but man they are hardcore!! They are trying to talk me in to doing a half marathon with them in August or September. We shall see, we shall see :) Here's a few pics for your enjoyment:



Yes, you guessed it. I was running so fast that the camera couldn't keep up with me :) j/k My husband tried to use the "burst" mode on our camera and apparently it doesn't work with the flash so this is all we got of the actual race. My mom wanted me to post it anyway.



Here is me (on the right) with Sarah and Tanya and Sarah's sons Judah and Ian. Sarah pushed Judah for the whole race in a jogging stroller and Tanya is halfway through her pregnancy. They both smoked me. Go figure :) They sure are fun though!!



And last, here is me with my new t-shirt and racing number, all tired and sweaty and cold at the same time. All in all it was a blast and I'm so excited to start our blog this way!! Happy New Year everyone!

<3 Emily

It's official!

Today we start counting the miles! It's so weird, and so exciting all at the same time. I still totally freak out staring down the 0 side of 1,005, so I can't wait to actually start putting the miles behind me!

Here's the breakdown of what we have to do:

2.75 miles a day

5.5 miles every other day

19.33 miles a week

83.75 miles a month

1,005 miles a year!

Oh My Gosh!!!! What The Heck?!?!?!?

That's the moment I had this morning when I tried to put on my left high heel (we're not talking really high, just dress shoe.) Apparently my left calf has gone on strike, and instead of just communicating that to me like a decent muscle would. You know,"I'm just not feeling the heels today... Maybe not even tomorrow." It, in really, quite a maniacal way, said: "Ha ha ha ha, that's what you think! &$^@&#%^@%#^%&!" I'm not kidding you! That's word for word what it said.

Sigh, guess I'm going with the tennis shoe/dress pant combination that looks so amazing. Everyone else at work does it, but, I would not jump off of a bridge if they all did it. And, I really like to wear cute shoes, Dang it!

Dear Left Calf,

You may have won this time, but THIS IS WAR!

Best watch your back,

Liesl

Probably should have stretched better last night...

Random Woohoos from Liesl

I got my rings back today! Woohoo!!! My finger has been feeling weirdly naked for the past couple of days! I never take my rings off for anything. So, to not have them for three days was really strange. I have a new plan for them too, in case I forget to take them off before I hit the treadmill. I'll take pictures and show you. I love my rings, can't pass up an opportunity to show them off!

I read a very motivational fact today. This, if nothing else, will keep me running... Runner's diets should be 80% carbs! That's right, ladies and gentlemen! You probably didn't hear it here first, but you heard it here. It's exciting, it's enthralling, it's the best thing that ever happened! I am a carboholic, rice, potatoes, bread... I'll take it all! I will run 1005 miles and a marathon to eat carbs! Woohoo! Oh, yeah, let's not forget pasta! :D

I ran on the treadmill tonight. Over 3.5 miles running/walking. And, I burned over 540 calories. Woohoo! I'm not really a calorie counter kind of girl, but still I think that's the small mocha with whole milk and whipped cream I drank today, at least I hope so!

What kind of woohoos have you had lately? Let's hear 'em.

Not Me Monday Runner's Edition.

Ok, Liesl here. Let me tell you how this works. This was a fun blog idea started by mckmama. The idea of this blog is to confess things that you "didn't" do all week, but you really did, and you'd be totally embarrassed if anyone ever knew about it. Emily and I will start, hopefully, you'll get the idea. We won't tell you which one of us actually posted which confessions... Have fun guessing!
You heard if here first, but you know we didnt' do it!
- This week I did not leave my wedding rings on a treadmill. I'd been running on. Nope, I never ever take mine off, and if I do, they're locked in a safe at my house!
- And, you know that post with the shoe pictures? I did not have to upload and delete the pics 8 or 9 times while trying to figure out how to get them in the post where I wanted them. I got it right the first time!
- You know it's not me who likes to wear a headband and a ponytail. It doesn't make me feel more like a real athlete. What a nerd, whoever that is. And, if it is me, I have short hair so I have to wear it like that.

-It is most DEFINITELY not me who invited all 430 of my facebook friends to be a fan of this site (and our facebook site) so that all our friends can cheer us on. Someone must have hacked my account :)

-It couldn't have been me whose three-year-old runs around the house and then stops, lays face down on the floor for a few minutes, gets a drink, and then says "okay Mommy I'm done with my run too."

-It's not me that passed on the beautiful sweater (on clearance!) at American Eagle today to save money for running gear. That's just crazy!

Present #2

Aren't they pretty? I know that that's not the most important part of a running shoe (in fact, it shouldn't be a factor at all). But, still, it's pretty fun :)

These are my first pair of running shoes. I've been wearing cross trainers until now. So, I'm pretty excited to have some real running shoes. I did the best I could to pick a pair that fit. We don't have a running store here in Gallup, so, I'll have to make it to one before the marathon for sure!

The average life of a running shoe is 300-400 miles. So, looks like I'm looking at 3 pairs over the next year, crazy huh?

Here's the plan: I'm not going to wear these shoes until the first day we start counting miles... Then, since we'll be keeping track I figure it will be really easy to know how many miles I go in them. Then, evey 100, or so, miles, I'll take pictures and we'll see what they look like through all the wear and tear.

They're Women's Nike Compete. Thought I'd put it out there on this blog. Hopefully, they'll be the perfect pair right from the start. Then I know what to get the next time I need shoes.

What kind of shoes do you wear? Do you have a favorite brand? Have you ever been to a

running store and been fitted? I'dlove to know what you think!

As Promised

I promised you yesterday that I'd tell you about my presents, and, have pictures. So, here you have it, present number one...

My friend, Vicki, sent it to me, after I hijacked her copy and read the first chapter one night. It arrived in the mail the day after I made the commitment to do all this running. How cool is that???

I highly recommend this book, and I haven't even finished it yet. Every time I pick it up I laugh out loud. I even woke my husband up one morning laughing at it. The best part is that she can laugh at herself, and all the goofiness she feels about running. All the while, she talks about training schedules, and gives helpful pointers. She makes me believe that I can do it, and love it, and laugh through it. Gotta love a book that makes running enjoyable!

I'll give you a little taste:

Ode to Running

What's the point of running?

What reason could there be?

Running twenty-six miles

Makes no sense to me.

We have planes, trains, and automobiles,

Helicopters, scooters,and boats.

And if you really really need to

You could even ride a goat.

With all these options to move you

Why would you want to run?

Compared to running for hours

Riding a goat sounds like fun.

Running makes you sweaty

And tired and cranky and sore,

And running around in circles

Can be really quite a bore.

But the worst part of running,

What drives me out of my mind,

Are the Chipper Happy Runners

Who are Chipper and Happy all the time.

They get up at 7 AM

To run too many miles,

And whether it's Mile 1,5, or 10,

Their faces are covered in smiles.

I fear that I'm outnumbered,

And they're trying to wear me down,

They're trying to make me chipper,

But all I can do is frown.

But I'll be nice to the Chipper People

And I'll tolerate their smiles,

'Cause they have so much friggin' energy

Maybe I can ride on their backs for awhile.

From: Dawn Dais, The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide For Women, Get Off Your Butt and On With Your Training (Seal Press, 2006), p. 20

Merry Chistmas randomness from Liesl

Today would have been the perfect day for a run... It's cold, but sunny, and I think the snow has melted off the sidewalks enough that they wouldn't be slick. But, Santa stayed up until almost 3am wrapping presents last night, so, said Santa, took a nap this afternoon instead. I know what you're thinking, and yes, Santa is a procrastinator. Hopefully Santa will remember how early the kids got up next year! Ha! Apparently, Santa is also an optimist!

I got some really fun running themed presents this year! Which, I plan to tell you about, but not in this post. You'll just have to wait and see. But, I promise, if you come back soon there will be pictures too.

Today I came here for two things. #2: Rewards. I've been thinking of rewards for myself when I hit certain miles. Like, I'm toying with the idea of professional pedicures every 100 miles. Doesn't sound too shabby huh? And, if I'm going to be running a lot, certainly appropriate. I've also been thinking about other bigger rewards for bigger miles. So, when I hit 251.25 miles, I think I'm going to get my nose pierced! Just a one of those little tiny barely visible studs. ssshhhhh.... I haven't even told my husband yet. Surprise hunny!

#1: Merry Christmas! I hope that your day was wonderful! Full of unexpected blessings, and the love of the people that you spent it with. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world

Welcome to our World by Chris Rice

Emily - 2 mile cross training

Merry Christmas Eve! (or as my oldest calls it, "Christmas Steve!") Emily here. Today's workout was cross-training to get geared up for my 5k on New Year's Eve. We got a good 6-10 inches of snow in Colorado last night, so it was way to nasty out to run outside and I had to resort to the treadmill. Let's just say I HATE the treadmill. For some reason my legs always hurt a LOT more while running on the treadmill than they do running outside. But enough whining :) I started with 5 min (1/4 mile) of walking to get myself warmed up. After that I sprinted (well, ran at about 7mph) for 1 minute and walked at 3mph for 3 min. I repeated that until I had finished 2 miles for today. I had a goal of 3 miles but I just about passed out after finishing mile 2 and decided to call it a day. I ended up doing a total of 7 full sprints and had to stop halfway through the 8th one, which is better than the last time I did cross training and had to stop after 5 intervals. I love seeing this progress! I hope to see the benefit of doing this type of training by my time being lowered for my 5k. Anyways, that's it for today from me! Saturday marks the official launch of our blog, so be sure to check us out then! Have a wonderfully blessed Christmas!!

3.85 Miles... That Don't Count Yet :)

Good morning everyone! Emily here. I just finished my workout for the day. Definitely not quite up to where I will need to be to keep up with our program next year, but I'm definitely working on it. Today I walked/ran 3.85 miles around the lake in my hometown. (BTW, we are counting the miles we walk as well as run in this blog. You will see some alternative workouts here like cross training that include walking, but it's still part of the workouts so we will still count them :) I also did this same route on Sunday afternoon at a time of 58:38 and today I cut it down to 50:48!! Woohoo!! I pushed myself a lot harder this time to keep running. I have a playlist on my MP3 player and I just kept saying "go one more song... one more song...." I did have to stop and walk a couple of times but overall I am really proud of myself! And majorly sore.... :) Even though Thursday is Christmas Eve, I plan on doing some cross training with some sprints to get my times down even more so I can get a decent time on the New Year's Eve run. Here's hoping I won't be one giant sore muscle for Christmas!! Anyways, thanks for reading!

A Bit From Emily

LOL Liesl you crack me up. Misery loves company, ha ha ha :) Well, I supposed I should introduce myself too :) I'm Emily. I'm a 25 year-old mom of two who for some crazy idea thought this thing up. Actually, though, Liesl was the one who got me started running. She messaged me asking me to do the Bolder Boulder with her this coming Memorial Day and pointed me in the direction of C25k. My sister started doing the program too, and the competitive side in me thought that I couldn't just let them do it and not join in too :) I never did fully complete the program since I had a couple weeks of being sick in there but I did run my first 5k race on Thanksgiving at our local Turkey Trot. It was the first time I had completely RUN that far without walking and I finished in 35:12. Honestly though, until Friday of last week though I had not run one single foot since then. I had all kinds of excuses, bad shoes (though they really WERE terrible), too busy, didn't want to take my kids, etc. etc. I figured out it just came down to I had gotten lazy again and I needed to get back in gear. What I realized though was that I needed a goal, something to strive for. That's where this challenge comes in. I figure this will push me hard enough and keep me accountable that maybe I will actually stick with it and finish something! It sure helps to know that I have Liesl to do this with too. It's like she said, misery loves company :) But seriously, I know that when I am running my 3rd mile of the day, tired and sore and thinking about stopping, that there is someone who I love 600 miles away that is doing the same thing and in the same boat as me and as we finish each step we can pat each other on the back (panting) and say "we did it!" So yes, I too will now describe myself as a runner. Holy crap.

I am a runner... Wait, what?!?!

My name is Liesl. I'm 28 have been married for almost 8 1/2 years, I have four amazing children, and as of 6:37pm, December 21st, 2009, I am a runner.

I've never been a runner before. Even when I was a little kid I hated running. So, let me tell you where it started. I found c25k this past spring; while looking for an exercise program to shed some weight. I thought it looked like I might just be able to do it. I knew that Emily had been wanting to train for a 10k, so, for some extra motivation, I offered to do it with her. I laced up my cheap Payless cross trainers and hit the dirt road I was living on. I've been running off and on now for about four months. But, I wasn't a runner until last night. Because, before last night my plan was to run the 10k and then be done. Another thing to put on a list of achievements.

Then, last night, while I was still loving the endorphin rush from my run, Emily sent me a message asking me to join her and set some lofty (at least for me) goals. I quickly agreed, and then, panicked. Now, I have a whole lot of brothers and sisters and, there are about four who I have really talked to about running. All of them are incredible athletes, and all of them know about running. So, at 8:59pm, December 21, 2009 I sent the following text to J,M,H, and T:

OMGosh just committed to running at least 1005 miles in 2010. And maybe (hopefully) a marathon next December! What was I thinking? I'm not a runner!

I got varied responses, but I'll share two with you.

T: Ha ha, now you are. :)

J: You will certainly be a runner by the end of 2010!!! That's just 2.73 miles every day of the year!!!!

Then, I realized, I can't start this project thinking I'm not a runner. There's no way I can commit to running 2.73 miles every day for a year or 5.5 every other day for a year if I'm not a runner. So, as of last night, when I agreed to do this project, I'm a runner. I may not be that great yet. But, I am, I'm a runner. YIKES!!!!

So, I hope you enjoy reading about our endeavor. I'm writing this because I want people to know that if I can do it, you can do it too. And, I want you to join me.

Because, well, misery loves company ;P

The Challenge

Hey everyone! Thanks SO MUCH for visiting us on our new blog! We are two cousins that live a LONG ways away but stay connected through the internet. We both started running in 2009 in the Couch to 5k program (which we LOVE and highly recommend). But now the question is where to go from here? That's where the New Year comes in.

We have decided to set a challenge for the two of us. From December 31, 2009 to December 31, 2010 we are going to run a total of 2010 miles between the two of us. That's 1005 miles each. At first it seemed REALLY intimidating, but then we worked out the math. It's an average of 2.75 miles per day, and when broken into alternate day increments then it's 5.5 miles per workout. This past summer we made the goal of running a 10k by Memorial day so we figure it's totally doable to keep up that routine for the year. We also plan to finish our miles together around December 31, 2010 by doing a half marathon or (gasp!) an entire marathon together. Both of us are going to log on here to update the blog on our progress and experiences. It's definitely going to be an interesting journey, but we invite you to join us as we run more than either of us ever thought we could possibly run. If you have a fitness resolution, please tell us about it and keep us updated on your progress! Enjoy our blog!