Still Running

Hard to believe it is already November 20, and a month has past since the half marathon.  Since then I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K in Chicago, Illinois with a friend from college, my sister, and a neighborhood friend.  It was fun to run in a different city.  I complete the 15K (9.3 miles) in 1:36:29 with an average pace of 10:22.  After the race there was hot chocolate and chocolate fondue from Ghiradelli.  It was a lot of fun and a nice distance to run after completing the half 2 weeks before. 

My next race was a 5 mile run yesterday ("5 Mile Run for Remembrance").  My finish time was 49:11 with and average pace of 9:50.  It was hilly (the hills didn't go on for miles, but they were steep) and windy.  I am happy with my finish time.  It was nice running with a little over 300 people after running the last two race with thousands of people.  I felt like I had room to run and could just get in my own grove.  Other than the wind, the temp was nice and cool, and I really enjoyed the distance and the challenge the hills gave.  There were enough sections of downhill to balance out the uphills and give some nice variety.  My mom, dad, and Erik also participated.  Erik and Dad finished in 1:12:00.  Dad had to double back and slow down a few times for Erik.  Erik found the hills and wind a bit difficult, maybe now he'll actually want to train a little for these runs.  I am hoping to model a healthy lifestyle for my children so they won't have to go through the ups and downs with weight and body image.  I'm so proud of my mom.  She completed the race in 58:31.  Her goal was to finish in under an hour and she did.  She never ran before this last year, either.  It is so wonderful that my desire to get healthy has become a whole family affair.  We are all enjoying setting goals and working hard to meet our goals.  It give such a sense of accomplishment.  My goal for this race was to get in under 50 minutes, and I made it. 

My next race is a 5K on Thanksgiving.  My parents and sister are running one closer to their houses, so I will be on my own this time.  My goal is to keep it under 30 minutes.  My last 5K time was 28:51, so I'd like to meet or beat that time.  Dave was running with me and helping me pace myself at that race.  It was the perfect temp for running that day, but it was also raining the whole time.  I think that made me run faster to get out of the rain!:)  So I guess that's my time to beat.