This past weekend I went down to my "2nd home" of Birmingham, Alabama! I went for a long weekend of visiting and running! Yes, I went down to run in the Mercedes Marathon, well not the 26.2 just the 13.1 of it! It's kind of funny in the past 2 almost 3 years of running, I never ran in that race because it is ran during my husbands birthday weekend and we usually would be out of town. But this year, still his birthday weekend I was the one who went out of town without him to run in the race. I promise to make it up with a special weekend get away of his choice soon!
I arrived in the warmth of Alabama on Thursday night, and spent the 1st night with my running friend, Liz, in Helena. We were the early (running) birds of the Helena area and were ~Freaklishy Amazing~!
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| Liz & I... |
On Friday, I enjoyed another warm wonderful day, and I started wondering why did we move north again?! But I enjoyed a few hours with my old work people before heading downtown to go to the expo and see the rest of the running crew.
Friday night I got to spend time with my running team. Yep, team. I have been lucky enough for the past (almost year) to have an awesome running coach who is building a great team, the Resolute Runners. No I may not live in town anymore, but with the great world of technology I can still feel like a part of it.
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| RR Team Pic prior to Race |
Plus I got to start to know most of them after spending a little weekend running from Atlanta to Birmingham as part of the Dixie 200 relay. So for me seeing and catching up with everyone Friday night was a perfect way to start the weekend.
Saturday I needed to get a nice easy 3 miles in before the big race on Sunday. So Vann, Tanya (Tanya's Blog that you really need to follow! click here), & I set out on little run through downtown Birmingham.
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| Tanya & I, with a little view of Bham |
And I got to re-learn what real hills are....oh how I used to hate them, and now living in the flat land I missed them. But those 3 miles seems so short, because it was with great peeps and good conversation! Afterwards we had a delish breakfast and more chatting! Plus it was so amazing to see so many other runners I haven't seen since I left Birmingham a few months ago.
I will get to the race on the next part, but going back to the title of this post....I have not really spoke much about weight, but that is one of the main reasons I got into running. Now I just keep running not only for weight management but also because I actually kind of love it! But over the last few months I have slacked a bit on what I have been eating, the post marathon, the holidays, the winter, & yes the excuses! But sadly like most others its a picture that speaks to us. I am so happy to have pics from this past weekend, great memories, but memories of a not as healthy me. And I am super happy that I made my PR, but I know I need to make a change back to old new me! SO when I got back I told my self that I will go back to a veggie diet! I did that as part of my training for Detroit and I felt great! Plus I need to get myself back into a workout other then running routine. I will be going and trying yoga and make use of my bosu ball that I bought a few months ago. I know I can do it, I just need to get myself back on that saddle! I have some lofty goals for my next couple races so I train hard, win big, then play big! oh and by the way one of those races will be the Chicago Marathon! Yes I was 1 of the lucky to get in before the big crash!!
I do also promise myself as getting back at it also means blogging my journey to the next accomplishment. If you wish to follow keep an eye out for the next posts and beyond. Next one will be a recap of the actually huge PR on my Half Marathon in Birmingham at the Mercedes Marathon.
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| Running towards that PR! |
Awesome post! I loved seeing you again, and you killed it at Mercedes! We need to swap veggie recipes, because I'm trying to lean down for the NJ Marathon.
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