House of Hope Run Around the Pines

Before the race, I was even thinking about blogging about it. I knew I had to find something a little more interesting than talking about the actual road during the race.

So here it is: What is your ritual before racing? Do you even have one? Have you ever noticed that you actually DO do the same thing before every race? Well I do! I get up, do the whole regular morning thing; brush my teeth, bathroom...so that's pretty standard. But then I always make sure my arm pits are completely shaven. Because, they will be soooo irritated if they're not!!! :) Make sure my clothes are right, make sure I have pockets for the iPhone and keys, and then off to the kitchen. Sometimes people like to eat a big breakfast, so their stomach isnt't empty, I definitely rather have my stomach be empty while running. I grab a huge cup of water, which I usually never finish before arriving at the race, and one slice of bread. Completely dry, no butter, not toasted, no jelly, NOTHING! I figure - since my stomach is constantly upset, atleast there will be a little something in there.
Before going to bed I arrange everything I'll need the morning of the race. My clothes, my sneakers, my number will lay flat on my dresser, with the saftey pins already attached. The night before races, I realize I have a bit of OCD about it all. I want to make sure I have everything. The comfiest clothes, and not fogetting my number or anything!

And then the race begins. There was a lot of people at this race!!! Me, Heidi, Jaklyn, Lindsey, Kristen, and Tinkerbell. But unfortunately, we couldn't all come together and find eachother before or after the race :( Pretty depressing, but we all ran/walked our best!

The race began and I stuck with Lindsey for around the first mile, then I knew it was time to break away. I really was feeling good, listening to my HARDCORE Rap music on Pandora, and I really wanted to try and break this 30 minute mark I've been trying for! I started off that same pace but picked it up a bit. According to the clock I was around 10-11 minutes for the first mile. I knew it was less than that based off of the chip, so I was feeling alright. Between mile one and two my left arm started going numb!! Probably not the best thing, but I just tried to shake it off and work through it. (Side note: that's definitely something I've struggled with my entire athletic career was extremely bad circulation. This is probably the reason, I hated running! :)) By mile two, the clock was around 20-21 minutes. And then the worst thing ever happened....

MY BLISTER!!!! I could feel it just getting worse and worse in my shoe. I honestly, need to go buy new shoes today! It was literally right after crossing mile two. It hurt so damn bad, but I didn't want to stop, if I led up at all, my pace would be shot to shit! My pace was great, I was feeling good, except for my foot, and this race was so flat, I just COULD NOT stop! I kept it going :)

There's always a point when I know I'm close to the edge. And that's when all the fast men from the race, start running back to cheer everyone on. I always know there's not much further, because I see the same black guy, and the same older Florida alumni guy! The race ended on a bike path, which was cool. Really scenic, but there was no time to look around, my eye was on the prize and I needed to start kicking! Right at the three mile marker is when I really like to haul ass. At that time, the clock said 29 minutes and some odd seconds! I couldn't believe it, was I really going to do it! I kicked and kicked and raced this little girl beside me, and we both crossed the finish line at the same time.

I crossed the finished line at 30:10. Beating my other race time from the previous one of 30:20. But then I remembered the chip!!!!!

And hour or so later after the race, my time was 29:02!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally did it! I couldn't have been more proud of myself for finally reaching my 30 minute goal time!

I even did it with this horrible blister! I really need new shoes now!

I bandaged myself and it was off to the Addys!!!!!! :)

Florida Hospital Lady Track Shack 5K

RUNNING FOR BOOBIES!!!!

This race may have been the most rewarding! There was a TON of estrogen on the roads for this race. Around 2,000 women all running for a purpose, for a reason. All to support a great cause of Breast Cancer.

I was dressed from head to toe in PINK and so was every other woman there! :) Fantastic pink sea of women running around Mead Gardens. This course was extremely hard actually. Very hilly, a lot of turns and cobblestone at one point too. The hills are definitely what killed most people. But I trekked through them! I hope most people know that when running through hills like that, you should just put your head down and take LONG strides. Taking short and quick strides will just tire you out. So that's what I did. I think because of those hills, was what made this race feel the best.

I ran the ENTIRE thing AND I almost beat 30 minutes!!!! I ran 30:21 chip time. I started slow, of course, because of the pack starting out slow, and then I had a really great kick at the end, which definitely helped my time.

After the race, there was water, bagels, fruit cups, bananas, and they gave away little plants for all the women.

http://www.trackshack.com/events/race_results/view_results.php?Link=201&Type=3&LName=flannery&FName=nikole&City=altamonte%20springs&State=FL&Country=

Run Around the Universe

One week after the Season's 5.2K, I talked Heidi into running the Run Around the Universe race at Universal Studios. This was an EXTREMELY cold morning. I'm thinking the temperature was around 30 degrees!!! I couldn't believe it. But again, I run better in the cold.

This was a race to hang with Heidi. I really wanted to push her to see how far SHE could run. (Side note: Heidi was only planning to WALK the entire thing) I don't run a 5K and WALK it. We needed to run! So we started off with the crowd. There was only about 2,000 people there. Kind of a smaller race, but it was fun weaving in and out of the Studios and getting a "behind the scenes" look at Universal Studios. We RAN the first 2 miles!!!! Okay, we stopped RIGHT before the 2nd mile mark. But, for Heidi's sake, we ran the 2 miles! :) The "Behind the Scenes" look at Universal is what did it. It was absolutely BORING to run back there. Nothing exciting about it. There were workers all back there, either taking their breaks or started their mornings, all completely looking like zombies and depressed. And no, they were not in costumes! It was just depressing.

After we had gotten out from back there, the race went onto the streets through Universal and we ended up on a damn COBBLESTONE ROAD! UGH! Worst! But we made it through there.

Al Roker was even there for the news! But we missed him :(

Probably the best part of this race was Heidi running 2 miles continuously and getting MARDI GRAS BEADS AT THE END!!!!

Race Time: 38:34

Season's 52 Park Ave 5.2K

Technically, this was the first race of 2009. Ran on January 24th, the COLD morning air windy as all hell! It was crazy. And very cold. I think I've come to the realization after this race, that I really enjoy running in the cold more than the heat. I can't stand the heat, and getting OVER-heated :(

This race was up and around Park Ave in Winter Park. It was a great scenic route! Really beautiful houses and streets I never knew existed here in Orlando.

I felt a lot better running this race. I didn't even bring my iPhone for sweet sweet Pandora Radio, which has become my friend on these runs! I just wanted to try and run the entire way. Sadly, I did not. I got over-heated and felt like I was about the pass out. Which is the worst feeling ever! Legs start to go numb, breathing gets really hard, you want to keep going but your body is just telling you STOPPPP!!!! (More like a yell, than telling) I walked somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd mile for about 2 minutes, and then started back up again.

It was nice running alone. I'm starting to enjoy this whole RUNNING thing a lot better, than I ever have before. I find myself worrying about the race, but worrying more about my day and my life. It's become a great time me to think about what's going on in life. Realize things I should do, things I need to do, and things I would like to do. :)

At the end of this race, I decided that the next one, I wouldn't be so worried about my time, but just focus on running the entire way.

Time: 32:34 for the race, but remember - this was a 5.2 K

My First RoadRace

So, I have been playing sports since I was 3 years old. Pretty much out of the womb, I could kick a soccer ball, throw a baseball, and shoot a 3 pointer, so why did I hate running SO much? Who knows! But I was never a fan of it. I could run continuously in a GAME, but just me and the road, or the grass, were like oil and h2O, we just didn't go together well, or at all. The whole reason I went to college, was to play soccer - got recruited by the coach and could run a mile in 8 minutes. After playing soccer for two years, I switched to Lacrosse. EVEN MORE RUNNING. Lacrosse is a game of endurance, there was hardly any time during games that you would be standing still! At this point, I could run a mile in 7:30. Ridiculous! I couldn't even imagine doing that now. But here was the day I started getting back into shape...

I had a pretty depressing Thanksgiving in 2008 and was invited by a co-worker to run the Turkey Trot the morning of Thanksgiving, I figured why not! I had nothing else to do. I ran that race, and ended up running with some girl I didn't even know. We ran together and did it in and around 32 minutes. Okay, so that's around a 10 minute mile. Totally depressing, but just the feeling of completing something like a 5K was an amazing feeling. Running with the pack, hearing everyone stomp around you, I just wanted to keep up with the momentum. Crossing the finish line, I knew I had found something I would and could be passionate about. Something I could really make a goal about, set it, and then execute!

And this is when I realized my love for 5Ks, and made the New Years Resolution of more 5Ks in 2009!

The First One

Okay, here's my first blog post for this whole running blog that people may or may not be interested in!
This weekend is the Run Around the Pines race. It's an all Organic and Eco-Friendly race. Racers are encouraged to walk, run, roller blade, or bike TO the event. Sounds great, but not when you live like 10 miles away! I'll be driving to the event, but I will be sporting my great organic cotton t-shirt that all participants received! This shirt is probably the best from all the races I've done so far! Besides it being organic, it's GREEN, and the logo is awesome!!!

Time to run: 30 minutes

Cost for this race: $24.00
Beneficiary: The House of Hope is a non-denominational, not-for-profit organization established to serve as a Christian residential program for troubled boys and girls ages 14-17, across the country.