Day 4 and 5

Friday I went out to the Missouri Beef Research and Teaching Farm to run through the 5k course a couple times so that I would know where to place turn signs. It was a very hot day, especially to run at noon. lol. Part of the course was blocked off by an electric fence so that the cows had a place to stay in the shade till the race. Which Means..... I had fun =) I know you all think I touched it.. but its no fun to touch an electric fence if no one is around. So instead i attempted to roll under it, but the grass was very prickly. SO instead i got to hurdle the 5 foot electric fence. Good fun.

Saturday morning Gregory, Melissa, and I worked the finish line for the Show-Me State Games Fun Run at the Beef Farm. And I had a blast. There were some really interesting characters that came out for the race. One of which was a group of 3 ladies... and boy were they loud and energetic. We gave the 1 milers a tractor hay ride to their start at the Hay Bale Maze. I started the race and then had to run back so that I could be at the finish to coordinate the finish line.

Next was the 5k, didn't have any fast runners, but we had a great bunch of spirited people and I think they all enjoyed the mud pit. The best part of the race would have been the Beef Fajitas that were provided for lunch by the Missouri Beef Council!! mmmmmm!!, Delish!!

Beef is part of a healthy active lifestyle !!

Day 3

Throughout most of the Torah God gives His people many many laws!! Among these laws are the observance of special "holidays". All of which, just like the Sabbath Day, are to be used for a time of Rest and rejuvenation. God knows us, He knows we need rest and time to step outside of the busy world to focus our minds properly on Him.

And so! Just as the nation of Israel observed days of rest, so must I!! Today was a "rest" day. However you don't want to just drop all training for one day and sit around on the couch all day playing video games, you still need to keep those muscles from getting sore. This is why on my rest day I made sure to go out for a short run and stretch stretch stretch those muscles! And as always drink the fluids.

Day 2

This morning was harder than yesterday to wake up. Alarm went off at 5:40, I shut it off and luckily woke up at 6 and got up! I would like to be an optomistic and say that as the training continues it will become more natural to me, making it much easier to wake up at sunrise or earlier everyday. However, I know the truth is as my training progresses it will only get harder. lol. But I will stay as highly optimistic as I can!!

I finished Numbers and something that I loved in my reading this morning is a major theme through out the whole old testament, God says He will do something... He does it! Because Israel could not trust God to deliver them to the promise land.. even after He set them free from pharaoh's grasp in Egypt... He said none of them would be allowed to enter the Promise Land. And sure enough, 40 years later after the last one died, only then could they enter the Promise Land.
So we need to put our Faith in Him! He does not break promises!! We must be patient and do as He says!

SO this morning was a bike and run morning in order to train for my triathlon on June 25th. Which is yet another race people can sponsor me in order to raise mission funds. B/c I am obessesed with sunrises I stopped in front of the church on my way out to capture a little sliver of God's beautiful creation!!
Then I did 6 hill repeats on my bike on the lovely hills of Chapel Hill. You will love this... A cicada came and whacked me right in the face as i was flying down the hill! I may or may not have yelped like a little girl. lol. After my hill repeats I went out for a 3 mile run.

Then as I was stretching my brother and I reminisced about the running we used to do back when we lived in Kimberling city. The running on Hilltop, Golfcrest, and Hillcrest.. if it has "hill" in the name you know its steep!! but, the real beast was Golfcrest... You would be praying for that hill to crest after the first two steps up the hill.
Anyways, this got me to thinking about how I would love to host a triathlon for missions down in Kimberling city someday. Have them swim in Table Rock, bike up a few really steep hills.. AND definetly have them run up Golfcrest and maybe even Hilltop =) This is one race I would have to join in on! Fuuuuuun.

6/7/11 Day 1

I woke up to the sound of my alarm at 5:50 am, which meant it had been going off for 6 minutes before I actually woke up. Probably due to the fact that I didn't go to sleep till around 3 am, which is due to the fact that last night around midnight while talking to an old cross country high school teammate, Nathan Ford, I played with the idea of taking my racing to the next level by running in longer races.
I have been running since high school and after I transferred from SBU my freshman year I began my scene of racing individually. It didn't take long before I decided to run a marathon my Sophomore year of college and then I signed up for the Branson Ironman 70.3 for my Junior year. Thus began my addiction to triathlons! However, there i laid in bed talking on Facebook chat and I decided, I'm gonna do it... a 100 mile race!!
So I dragged myself out of bed at 5:50 am to read a few chapters from my Bible and enjoy the sunrise. Unfortunately I could not see the sunrise from my brother's house and got discouraged and almost went back to bed. But I forced myself to read my chapters from the book of Numbers in my journey to read the whole Bible and then I put on my running shorts and hit the road!

As I took a right out of the neighborhood there was the glorious sunrise!!!! I shouted AMEN!! God You Rock!! I wanted to have a picture of the sunrise and almost turned back to get my phone but decided against it, I'll get it another morning. lol.
Well, the run was a fairly good one. Started out kind of sluggish due to my lack of sleep but it got better as I went. As there are in most runs, I had a few opportunities to cut the run short by taking a side road, and as I approached these spots I was greatly tempted! Especially because of the fact that for some reason 3 miles into the run was when I got my side cramp and felt a little tired. But I resisted and continued on the longer route.
As I reached about 6 miles I passed by an area that smelled strongly of cinnamon and I quiet enjoyed it. This however is also around the time the my Latissimus Dorsi 1 began to give me pain. It is peculiar how my lower extremities that carry my 164 experienced no fatigue during this run, but my non weight bearing muscle of the shoulder/back region hurt. lol.

Anyways! As I ran up the last hill I got home to my sister in-law and brother leaving the house. My shorts were soaked! I sweat so much that it was flinging off of me as a would move my arms. But, it would have been much much worse if I would have ran any later in the day. I came inside and finished with some stretching and drank a glass of milk, and for the second time in my life realized that my sister in-law's, Melissa, pug is kinda cute.


What A great way to kick off my training with an awesome and peaceful 8.5 mile sunrise run with the Lord!!