Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Gasparilla 5K


I have never been a runner. I always wanted to be able to run…more than 100 yards. I can bike for miles, swim, but I can’t run. Since my friend Denise had come so far in her running, it motivated me to give running another try. My goal was to be able to run a 5k without stopping to walk.



This all started in about October 2008.

I found a great 10 week beginning running program on line. It was perfect for my level of training. The first week was one minute of running, one minute of walking for 20 minutes. Second week was two minutes of running, one minute of walking, etc until you built up to running 20 minutes. I trained on my treadmill in the house. Well, I slacked on the training program and never finished past 6 weeks. I was up to running 6 minutes at a time. I knew I could do more but I didn’t push myself!

I decided to register for the Gasparilla 5k and either be ready or die trying. My husband also registered and committed to running with me instead of leaving me in the dust. He was a runner since high school. A 5k would be easy peasy rice and cheesy for him.

Two days before Gasparilla, my last day to run before a day of rest, I thought it best that I actually ran outside at least once before the race. I ran 1.84 miles in a strong wind before I gave up and went home. See what I mean…you runners are probably laughing at my 1.84 miles! It’s OK…I laughed at myself. I also thought I would die running Gasparilla’s 3.1 miles. In all my “training” I didn’t even make it to 3.1 miles.

I was nervous Gasparilla morning. My goal was to finish the race in 45 minutes or less, not puke or pass out. I succeed in all three! Mike and I finished in 36 minutes 9 seconds. I did have to walk a couple times, but limited it to only one minute each time. The race was fun and not nearly as bad as I thought.

Or was it like child birth….adrenaline and time dull the memories of pain and suffering. Either way….  I finished my first 5k!!


Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Christmas in Buffalo, NY

Being a FL girl, I do enjoy visiting the snow. I'm prepared with warm jackets, hats, gloves, snow boots, etc. and usually end up hot under all the layers. Here's the only snow fall while we were there.








Having never grown up with snow, I love playing in it! Fortunately, so do our boys! We visited Jodi & Bobby's new place on Christmas Day.






Bobby bulldozed through some earth to create a great sledding hill (it was done before we got there). I was ecstatic that the new house was just as much fun as the old.

Chrissy & Jared

Mike & Jared

Dylan with his sheet of ice


Tubing here we come! This was the first year the boys were old enough to go tubing on their own. Jared dove right in and loved it! Dylan needed to spend some time on the bunny slopes first but eventually made it to the big hills. I'm so proud of both of them!









Down came the rain and washed the snow away. On Saturday, it warmed up to a FL winter. We got a full day of rain. The snow pretty much melted where we were staying. I wanted to go to Niagara Falls that day. But we postponed the visit for Sunday. Mike wouldn't be joining us because he had tickets to the Bills game.


On Sunday came the hurricane force winds! It didn't seem that bad at the house so we braved the falls anyway. Whoa! The winds were 10x worse at the falls! I was afraid Dylan would be blown away.


Us in front of the Horseshoe Falls



Brett & Jen in front of the American Falls



What a terrific trip! A bit long but still enjoyable. Our pets at home were starved for our attention. We were all glad to be back in sunny FL.