I ran 4 races in November!! Holy Moly!!

Yes, you read that correctly my friends!  I ran four races in November!  Two of which were virtual races through my beautiful Milton!!

My first race was for Team Fabulous through the facebook page Not Fast Just Fabulous.  (Go check Krissy out.  She's awesome!  She is a stroke survivor who dropped her cane and picked up running!  She is a true inspirational Mom on the Run!!) This run was for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.  A great 5K for a great cause! 

No PR for this race as I ran it on my treadmill at 5:30 am on a glorious Tuesday morning!  I did use it for some speed drills though.  I ran interval for 20 minutes with 10-1 minute drills at 7 mph with 10-1 minute recoveries at 5 mph.  Beastly run!  My legs were tight to begin with so I wore my compression sleeves while running, but they were still tight and sore after so I ended up wearing compression sleeves under my pants at work all day!  

These are sweaty pictures of me after my run!  Love the feeling of being drenched in sweat after a run!!

Wow!  I totally forgot that my sports bras were hanging in the background!! Yes, I treat my bathroom like a gym!  Some days it smells like one too!  My family hates it, but it makes me feel accomplished and proves that I work my butt off!!  FYI: My mom gave me a satchel of potpourri for Christmas to hang in there because of the smell!!

One to race #2.  This was my 2nd time running the Jingle Bell run for arthritis in my hometown of Janesville!  I love this run because it's close to home and it's not a large run with thousands of runners.  I also love to run this race for my mom and mother-in-law who both suffer from arthritis.  This race took place Saturday November 9.  I knew the course from the year before so I trained for speed during the week as the course was fairly flat.  Good plan on my part as I PR'd for this race from the previous year! Official time of 29:02 which is almost a minute faster than I was last year!  No negative splits for this race as I once again started out too fast.  First mile was 9:04; 2nd 9:40; 3rd 9:49.  Very respectable times for me, I just wish the times would have been the other way around!!  Another one of my goals for 2014!!

Before the race

Finishing Strong!!

Sweaty after pic!

Love that my red hat kept my head warm!  Check out Jully's Fashion Design.  I absolutely love how this hat covers my ears and lets my ponytail fly free!!

We have a family tradition of stopping by Dunkin Donuts after this race to warm up with coffee and donuts!  The kids love this part!!

Race #3 was the longest officially timed race that I have ever run!  It was also the first time I participated in a partial trail run!  I loved it!  On Saturday November 16 I ran in the inaugural Frosty Rock Challenge 12K in Fort Atkinson.   The Frosty Rock Challenge benefits Tomorrow's Hope, who's mission it is to foster health related research, education and support activities that have a direct impact on individuals in our health care service area touched by Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, seizure disorder and other life-limiting illnesses.  

I actually found out about this race while waiting in the doctor's office for my daughter's allergy appointment and had to look up how far a 12K race actually is.  This one was 7.26 miles according to my Nike + watch.

Here I am in the pink top freezing at the start line!  It was a cold and misty morning and I probably should have been dressed in warmer clothes, but I went by the temperature alone and did not factor in the rainy weather.

Once again I started off way too fast.  I did end up with a couple negative splits towards the end of the run when we were back on pavement!  Here's the run down: Lap 1: 9:52; L2: 10:29; L3: 10:46; L4: 11:17; L5: 11:17; L6: 10:45; L7: 10:32; and L8: 2:34.  Some very respectable times considering I did not train for trails or mud or rain or cold.  My official time was 1:17:36, which is a PR regardless because I have never run this distance before.

My Hubs always catches the best finishing photos!  Love them!!

I can't wait to run this race again next year!  I only hope for nicer weather!

AND last, but not least, Race #4: On Thanksgiving morning I ran a virtual 10K for Team Sjogren in honor of my friend Lisa who was diagnosed with this disease about a year ago. Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease in which a person’s white blood cells attack their moisture-producing glands.  Lisa and I have ran several races together and she is an inspiration for me and others that have the privilege of knowing her.  She is amazing!

I was only supposed to run a 5K but the day before I found out our neighbor's son Colin was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer.  Colin is my daughter Maddie's age and they played together virtually all summer.  I struggled with this news and felt like running a 10K instead of a 5K in honor of each of these special people just made sense.  I thought about each of them as I ran and how thankful I am that I have the ability to run and run for those who are not able.  This is one of the many reasons why I run!

Decent time today of 1:09:22.  Not a PR but decent.  Times as follows: L1: 10:13; L2: 10:51; L3: 12:01; L4: 11:05; L5: 11:42; L6: 11:11; and L7: 2:17.

All bundled up and ready to go!!

I loved this collage I made on Instagram!  Truly shows the meaning of the run this day!!

Well my friends, November was chock full of races and adventures!  December held almost as many adventures.  Until next time!