Charity

This year I've decided to make a difference. I've decided that with all the money I spend on racing, why not make that money work for something.... like charities :) I'm a giver, I always have been. Show me a puppy, child, elderly person, or sick person and I'll show you my wallet. We've even "adopted" a homeless man on the corner we see all the time. He's our guy, we like him and he gets our spare change or sometimes our 5 dollar bills. As I was looking at the/my race schedule for California for 2011, I noticed something I normally don't - the charities. I've always seen the running groups and think it's really cool to be a part of that, but it's never dawned on me that I could do it too. So I am. My first run will be the Surf City Half Marathon on Super Bowl Sunday! I'm very excited because not only will I get to run this with a couple of really great family members, but also my goal is to raise $500 for The Run for Mobility!

You can click here to see my official fundraising page and donate and to also learn more about this particular cause!

One of the things I hope to accomplish this year by doing this is to become more aware of  the different causes all over the world. I know the major ones, but I'd like to become more educated on not only WHAT they are, but specifically WHAT DO THEY DO TO HELP? I believe awareness is very important, especially in the world we live in today. Can't wait to see where this journey will take me in 2011!

Goals

I've learned that sometimes it's okay to make not yours goals. Sometimes it's actually a good thing. It's an important learning experience. You get to evaluate things you did right and wrong and things you can do diffferently and how to improve... or maybe if you did things just fine and it just didn't work out. I did not make my 25 point goal.... but I made it to 23 :) And I was really proud of myself.

I'm currently looking at the 2011 race schedule for California.... I like to do my traveling around races, so this is the point in the year where I do get to do some fun planning for the upcoming year. It's a very exciting time in my personal year because races excite me and give me a new push to be better at everything I do. When I'm running I'm just a better person over all :)

I only have one specific goal in 2011. No matter how many races I get in, or don't get in, I want to run a sub 2:00 half marathon. This goal will take work, but will be fun work and is a completely attainable goal. I have complete faith in myself that I can do it.

First run of 2010!!

Yippppeee did it feel good! Kev is all healed up so he went with me. I am absolutely 100% SO proud of him! He said it's the longest he's ever run and he did a really great job. K, Enough about him... it's also the longest I've run in a year. It felt really good, needless to say, I am so motivated and inspired to go further and further. By the end of the run I still had energy and believe I had at least 1 more mile in me, which is good because we really paced ourselves. Ko Olina is also a really nice area to run in, the ocean sounds amazing at night and the atmosphere is really relaxing and chill. I'm stoked because I got this new widget over there to the left... -------> to keep up with all my miles on here. It's a really cool website and I'm enjoying it so far. Another cool way to share my bests and totals with you all as I move along this journey. If anyone knows any other websites clue me in. I'm in absorbtion mode for new running info. I'm reading The Non Runners Marathon Guide For Women right now and I love it. Although I'm a relatively experienced runner and have been for awhile, I don't know a lot about serious distance training and I was sort of starting from scratch after having Scarlett. Anywho, tonight I realized that I am "Chipper Jen"... you gotta read the book. Basically Chipper Jen is the peppy, always happy, running, pain lover... yep that's me. I'm all like "I love this, this feels SO great" and Kev's like...."you're nuts"! It's cute! Back to Kev for a moment; it is so great doing this with him. I remember training before and wishing I could share how stoked I was with him and he could understand it, now he does and not only does he understand it, but I'm sharing the experience with him. I think this is going to be one of the funnest things we've ever done together (there goes my Chipper Jen-ness again!). Alright, don't really know what else to say on top of that... I've decided NOT to list my goals yet. I'm going to go through Jan and evaluate my goals as I go. Then, at the end of January, I'm going to lay them all out. I like this plan.

Happy New Year

Seems like I'm about 10 days behind on this, whoops. Where does the time go? Oh, I know! It goes to running, kids & holidays, lol! I'm happy to report that this has been a very good week. Apparently it's only Thursday, but I guess since it's the end of the year I feel like it's the end of the week. I ran a good 5 miles on Sunday, Monday was a rest day, Tuesday we spent 3 hours hiking at a pretty decent pace with Scarlett on my back, and yesterday was 4 miles. I had this big idea that for the last day of the year I wanted to get up super early and run up diamond head... last night my legs said, "No!". They're pretty tired and honestly so I am; I still very much plan on accomplishing this goal though. Stay tuned to see when it happens! I'm feeling stronger and stronger. I've got my pace at around 10 minute miles consistently, which is nice to be back at. At the end of this fantastic 2009 I have to say I've come a really long way. At the beginning of this year I was pregnant and exercising regularly but I'd pretty much quit running. And here I am at the end of the year 3 lbs away from my post-pregnancy weight ( I did end up jumping on the Wii Fit) and well on my way to my first half-marathon. I have so many dreams for 2010 and running and over-all body well-being. I should write them down, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. The 1st seems like a good day to log my goals for all to hold me accountable, lol! Happy New Year!!