First Injury

I have my first running injury.  Yesterday I ran with a friend on our lunch break.  I realized that I did not bring socks when I went to change.  I had a choice to make - run without socks or run later by myself.  I decided to run with my friend and without my trusty socks.  It was okay for a little bit, but after a while, I felt it...a blister.  When I got done running and changed out of my tennis shoes, I confirmed what I already suspected.  I had a blister on my toe.  Ouch! Want to see it?

Okay, it is not the worst thing in the world, but it does hurt a little bit.  I am not going to let it get in my way.  I am still running with my running group tomorrow evening.  Running with someone makes it more enjoyable and the time passes quickly.  I love running with people!  I found this, and it perfectly describes how I feel about running with a partner:

I also very excited about group tomorrow night.  I was able to get someone from Runners Forum to come and talk to our group about running shoes (our running topic for the week).  I am excited to hear the expertise this person can bring to our group tomorrow night!  I will let you know how it goes! 

Mini-Marathon

Things just got real...I am officially registered for the 2014 500 Festival Mini-Marathon!  I will be RUNNING 13.1 miles on May 3, 2014!  I am so excited!!!!  This was the best birthday present ever!  My sister and brother-in-law bought it for me.  My brother-in-law is going to be running the Mini with me.  This means that I have some work to do.  My brother-in-law is in the army and a Fishers police officer so yeah, I have some work to do if I want to run with him.  I am going to have to find a training program and get started on it pretty quickly!  This gives me something to look forward to and to work towards.  Yippee!  Who wants to be in my cheering section? 

In other news, Warrior Dash is less than a month away.  I am not going to be ready for it, but I am still doing it.  I will do what I can, and maybe that will be something else I can work on for next year.  Halos have been ordered for the Warrior Dash, and we will be wearing t-shirts that say "Virgin Warrior" on it.  At least we will look cute before we start the race! 

I cannot believe this, but I will be back in school with students in less than two weeks!  I am looking forward to it because I desperately need the routine.  I think my eating will be better and will be working out in a more consistent manner.  It is amazing what a creature of habit / routine I am! 

I hope you are all doing well! 

Class Has Officially Started!

Last night was our first Run for God bible study class.  I was a nervous wreck.  I did the whole talk really fast because I was such a nervous wreck thing.  Leading up to the evening I kept having all of these negative thoughts like:

*What happens if a seasoned runner shows up, takes one look at me as the "leader", and bolts?

*What do I really know about running?

*How can I be a good leader for this group?

*What in the world was I thinking?!?!?!

*What happens when we do the training portion, and I cannot keep up (even though I have been running for months now)?

Why was I so anxious and nervous about it?  It did not add a single hour to my life by worrying.  And, I should have known that God has it all under control.  I am in awe of what He is able to accomplish.  I left Run for God last night more jazzed about running and ecstatic knowing that I was drawing closer to God.  He knew what he was doing. 

I was blown away by the people in my group.  We had different ages, different ability levels, both males and females, singles, and even married people coming to the class together!  When we did our training, yes, I was slower than a lot of the people in the group, but I quickly realized, it does not matter!  Already seeing the camaraderie developing in the group is humbling.  The best part?  I know that we will be adding people to our group next week!  We are going to keep expanding, and it is awesome because we all need each other. 

I am believing that lives will be touched and changed through this group.  I am believing that connections will be made.  I am believing that God will be glorified.  I cannot wait until next Thursday!

Run for God

It is time!  Run for God is starting at The Blended Church on Thursday, July 11th, starting at 6:30 p.m.  I am SO excited to be starting this bible study / training program.  I meant to check the sign up sheet at church before I left today, but I did not get back to the main building after teaching children's church.  I will have to go tomorrow to see how many people signed up. 

I am nervous about leading this study because I don't know who all signed up.  There could be some people who are way more proficient at running than I am.  They may took one look at me trying to lead this group and walk out!  Ha!  No, I don't think anyone would really do that. 

I am excited to be doing a bible study focusing on Jesus and running.  I think it will be a great study for me, and I am praying it is a blessing to all that are involved.  Why not praise God while doing something I love? 

I have not selected the 5K that our group will run together in October.  I thought I would talk to them to see if they had any ideas.  If any of you know of a 5K that is being held in October, feel free to let me know!  I thought I had one for the last Saturday in September, but unfortunately, it was an evening 5K, and it would conflict with our Saturday night service.  We cannot be having that!  I also want to find an affordable 5K.   

Our group will be training together so I will be doing those workouts, but I have several 5Ks coming before the 5K our Run for God group runs together so I am going to keep on my training program.  That means I will be running for 9 minutes and walking for 2 minutes four times for a total of 44 minutes when I work out.  I plan on doing this three times during the week.

I hope you have an awesome week!

Busy!

Well, by now, I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon.  I have also fallen off the eating well bandwagon.  I plan on climbing back on both of them, though.  I will be blogging more.  I will be eating better. 

The good news?  I have still been doing some running, though!  That is something I can be proud of.  I have been running for six minutes at a time with a two minute walking break in between. 

I am using a lot of excuses, and I know I have to stop using excuses.  I am working this summer part-time.  I am so thankful for this part-time job.  I have not done a great job of establishing a routine sine I began this job.  I am definitely a girl that loves her routines. 

One routine that I got out of is going to bed at a decent time.  I have been staying up later which means it is harder for me to get up in the morning.  It just has become this vicious cycle!  I am going to have to force myself to get back into my school routine, which means getting up early and going to bed by ten o'clock.  Doing that now will help me tremendously when I go back to school at the end of this month!  My summer is almost over.  Can you believe it? 

I saw this article on Runner's World (my new favorite website), and it really inspired me:

How Running Changed Me

My goal is to have my own before and after picture with a stunning new Allison, one that is fit and happy and healthy. 

The most humbling thing happened to me after I posted this article on my FB wall.  I got a comment from someone that I used to work with.  It was the highlight of my day, made me cry (of course!), and motivated me to keep trucking with my progress.  This is what she said:

Allison...I wanted you to know you have inspired me. I HATE RUNNING! So I set a goal to be able to run for 6 minutes by the end of July without stopping ( I could never do more than 2 minutes...yet I ZUMBA all the time!)...well, I am now running 2 miles in 23 minutes without stopping! Changed my goal to run a whole 5K before starting back to school!!!! You go girl!!!!

Isn't that awesome!  I am so proud of her!!!!!

I hope that you are all working to achieve your goals.  I know that I am going to be working on getting better at blogging more often and tracking what I eat / my caloric intake. 

Have an awesome weekend!

PurpleStride 2013

Another reason I have not been blogging as much is because we were in the final stages of and having our third annual PurpleStride.  PurpleStride was held on Saturday, June 22nd.  I posted a little bit about the event because that was the 5K that Kristal ran in, and I was so proud.  However, being a volunteer at the event had me busy leading up to the big day. 

PurpleStride is the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's race to raise money to benefit our cause.  It is one way that I get to honor the memory of my hero - my dad.  Team Whisman was formed, and we raised about $500 (next year I am hoping to raise way more!) and had eight people join our team (again, hoping next year to have more recruits join our team).  Overall, though, Indianapolis had over 1,300 participants, 33 survivors, and raised almost $130,000!  That has been our best year ever, and it is truly humbling to be a part of that. 

Why didn't I run this 5k? Glad you asked. I couldn't. Since I was volunteering, and I am one of the core roles of the Indianapolis affiliate, I could not run in the race. I had to man my booth the entire Stride. I was able to do the family 1 mile walk so we did that one while Kristal ran the 5K.

Here are some pictures from the day of the event:

Lori, Kristi, Me, Jared, Kim

Leslee and I honoring the memories of our wonderful fathers!

Our tributes to Pops on the Memory Wall

Walking the family friendly 1 mile