Hoosier Half Marathon...a run around campus

Hills, hills, and more hills. They were relentless. 13.1 miles of brutality. When the description of the race said "rolling hills" they weren't kidding. Last year we did the 5K, and we thought how bad could the half be? Well, we found out before we got to the first mile. The race started out across from the famed Assembly Hall and immediately headed downhill before turning onto a long stretch of uphill lasting for about half a mile.  

It was freezing cold! Temperature was barely
 30 degrees at the start. 

Our traditional pre-race shoe picture. We dressed in red and white to sport the school's colors. Go Hoosiers!

Blurry picture of the start, but you can see the hill ahead. Yikes!

The Sample Gates. This is the point where we could have split off and opted for the 5K, but we persevered and chose the race we came to run. Once through the Sample Gates, we continued our run through the beautiful IU campus.

There is a lot of green space, trails, and open areas throughout the campus. IU is known for its limestone buildings using the limestone native to this area.
 Contrast this to the brick buildings found on
 its rival school, Purdue University.

We ran by mansions like this one as well as sororities and fraternities on Greek Row.

Kevin tackling one of the multitude of hills on the course. You can see how steep this hill is by looking at the steps on the left leading up to the house. The man in the green shirt halfway up the hill was from California and was using this as a practice run for a 50 mile trail run in the mountains of Colorado he has in a few weeks.

A street named after me!

Official time on my Garmin. Wanted to finish in 3 hours but the hills did us in. We were happy with this since we walked more than we had planned. 

Glad to be done! Now it's time to eat!

Our shirt and medal

Assembly Hall; back were we started a
 little over 3 hours ago!

This is a race that we will NOT be repeating in 2015!

St. Patrick's Day 5K Kilt Race

Saturday morning was my second race of the year, creeping toward my 14 races for 2014 goal.  The weather was COLD! Temperatures were in the low 30's but the sun was shinning which was deceiving. I woke up 2 hours earlier than the start of the race, because I ALWAYS get nervous even if it's just a 5K. This is the third year I have participated in this race and love the festive atmosphere it brings. In honor of the occasion, I made a plaid kilt to wear over my tights. It's been a while since I've used my sewing machine, so I had to search YouTube for directions on how to make a simple kilt. It took me just a little over an hour from start to finish, with the finished product turning out better than expected. 

Pinned and ready to pleat

My finished kilt! 

My middle daughter and her boyfriend are dressed festive as well! It was SO cold waiting for the race to start.

Traditional pre-race shoe photo

A "real life" leprechaun

Starting line 

Downtown Courthouse

A downtown dining legend 

The Kilt Run was sponsored by the fire department

View of the city skyline from the course

Crossing the bridge to the finish line

Finished in 39 minutes; walked the first 5 minutes
then used a 1:1 run/walk interval for the rest of the race (I had so many layers of clothes on that I look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy)

The 5K Kilt run was only a portion of the Get Green Fest that was held on Saturday. Felt great after the run probably because I hydrated well the week leading up to the race. Thanks to watermelon NUUN for helping me recover so quickly! Then it was on to McDonalds for a post-race breakfast of pancakes and chocolate milk.  

50 Degree Weather and a Run in the Park

Finally! Just what the doctor ordered. Yesterday the temperatures exceeded 50 degrees for the first time in months which made ideal running conditions. Kevin and I met up after work at the state park and planned on running on our favorite path.  However, with the recent storm, our path was covered in 2 feet of ice and snow. So we ran through the park on the roads, finishing almost 3 miles at a leisurely pace. As usual, I took lots of pictures to document out first "spring" run.

Temperature at 5:00 pm before our run

Running trail around the lake

Road through the campground

Fire Tower near the buffalo pen

Our leisurely run/walk with many stops along the way

Sweaty after our run

The frozen lake is located in the center of the park

Our snow and ice covered running trail was impassible

Freshly painted signage, ready for opening day

Park office proudly displaying the IU flag

Hopefully our trail will be cleared of snow soon so we can enjoy some more spring running! Can't wait to see the flowers peeking through the ground with their colorful faces soaking up the sun.

Two Tickets to Paradise...

 This winter has been brutal. Two months of snow, sub-zero temperatures, and more than 2 weeks of missed school makes this winter one for the books. So...what's a girl to do, but head off to the sunny and warm state of Florida for a few days. After a 2 hour delay (this has been a familiar phrase this winter), we landed in Florida. 

Sandman instead of Snowman

Sandpipers looking for food

Residence Beach, Marco Island, Florida

Fit2Run in Naples where we picked up our race packet

Race shirt, bib, and medal

The race started and ended at the Florida Sports Park, home to the famous swamp buggy races.

Paradise Half Marathon Race stared at sunrise. The race was fairly small with only about 650 runners running the 5K, half, and full marathon combined. 

Alligator warning along the course

Such a beautiful half marathon course!

Lely Resort, Naples, Florida

Our shadow running buddies

Stopping for a picture at mile 12

The finish line is just ahead!

Finishing in front of the stadium

Finished our first half-marathon in 2014 with our longest training run only being 5 miles

Our official time. We stopped twice for potty breaks and several times to stretch. and of course take photos.  Used a run/walk ratio of 1:1 

Iced mocha and chocolate filled donut after the race. Not the best recovery food but it sounded good!

Walkway out to the beach

Interesting sign, but so true!

Only in Florida!

Jolly Bridge connecting the mainland of Florida to
 Marco Island

Standing in the driveway of Kevin's mom's house on
 Marco Island looking down the beautiful street lined with palm trees and lush tropical foliage. 

Beautiful homes and yachts on our boat ride out to the Gulf

Look closely at the lion on the right. He's wearing sunglasses! 

Made friends with the owner of this mansion. He asked us to come back and visit him when we return in March.

And yet another stately mansion

Sunset as we left Florida, heading toward stormy Indiana

This is what greeted us when we landed in Indiana. Over 6" of fresh snow on top of icy roads.

As they say, if you don't like the weather in Indiana, just wait a day because it will change.  Just two days after this snow storm we had 50 degree weather and severe thunderstorms.