2022 is going to be a great year

 Happy New Year. 

Today I got an email saying that I am a 2022 Nuun ambassador. I am excited to be back after taking last year off. 

My main goal this year is to build my miles back up and to keep moving even if it ends up being walking out snowshoeing. I am ready to get back at it. Wanted to do the Rundisney expedition Everest 5K but it was full before I could sign up. Hope they open up more spots and I can get in. Still going to Disney World that week for springtime surprise. 

January 10th I’ll be redoing Job1 and throughout the year adding different programs to my routine. I love Job1 because it is just 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. The holidays, stress of the holidays and not motivated stopped me. But round 2 is where I can get back at it. 

I have 2 years to train for The 2024 Dopey challenge. I want to run it. Hopefully I can. 

Enjoy your journey in 2022. Never give up and keep

Going no matter what. 

Never give up

 In October 2020 I moved up to Presque Isle, WI. It’s been a stressful year with adjusting to a new place and new work schedule. Even Adjusting to living with my brother, his wife and their 5 Kids.  It has been super long and hard. I Was not motivated to get up before work and go running or even working out. I only ran, walked, and snow shoed on my days off.

 February 2021 I did all of the Rundisney princess races. The 5K and 10K I snowed shoed them. I Did not feel like running them. I did run the half marathon is outside in the snow. It took just over 4 hours to do. All of the races I did took longer then I expected. I wanted to give up during the 10k and half marathon. 

 This year I ended up running less. Walking, and hiking more. Taking less workout classes and Beachbody programs. May 2021 they postponed the Door County Half Marathon to October 30, 2021. I still went to Door County and explored the area. This spring, summer and fall I have exploded trails and waterfalls in northern WI and Upper Peninsula, MI at least once a month or once every couple of weeks. 

 When it came to training for the Door County Half marathon it did not happen. I did run the rump roast 10k a month before the half marathon. It was a hard race. At the half way point where they split the 5K and 10K routes I thought about giving up and going towards the finish line. I ended up going the way I was supposed to go for the 10k. I kept moving even if I was getting slower and walking more. I was on my running pace for my other 10Ks. So I was happy there. I did end up finishing the race. I was happy with my time and that I finished. I was last but did not let that keep me down. 

 The month of October I was going to run but again could not get myself get out and go. The week came for the half marathon. Got to Door County the Wednesday before. That time I did do a couple of last minute little runs to loosen up. They were fine. Did some exploring the area on Friday. Picked up my race packet, ate pizza at Wild Tomato in Fish Creek, and relaxing the rest of the night. 

 Now it’s the day of the Door County half marathon. I got up, got ready and hopped on the bus to the race. I got there and did everything I needed to until we started. I went down by the water to take pictures, and while I was fixing my hydration pack the stopper fell off. I could not find it. So the rest of the day I had to find ways to keep it where the water would not come out. It was so frustrating to deal with that during the race. Luckily almost every mile or every couple of miles there were water stops which always helps. 

 I’m getting close to mile 5 which has a lot of going up hills and getting into the hard part. At that time I was getting starting to get into my head that I can’t do it. Luckily after that hill was a water stop and they were Cheering me on. I took the water or Gatorade and drank it. Once I was done I started to run again. After the down hill there were people cheering us on. Got me pumped up to keep going. Wish they were still there after I got to the other mile. It was a cheering area for the leaders after mile 8 or so. 

 It’s the 10K mark. A couple people behind me passed me but it’s fine I was getting tired and ready to be done. For a couple of miles I was fine. I had kept an eye on the people in front of me and I had a lady that I passed behind me. After mile 8 and 9 I was starting to feel it. My legs were starting to hurt. By then I was also keeping my eye on the time. They were going to take down everything at 1:15pm and open up the roads at 1:30pm. I thought I was going to do it.

 At Mile 9 the lady was behind me and after the water station she was not behind me and the group in front of me was gone now I’m alone. A little ways the first responders on the golf cart checked up on me asking if I was good. I told them yes. About mile 10 I was getting into my head. I am not going to finish. I have to keep going. 

 Mile 11-13 were the worst miles. Like always starting to get into my head and wanting to give up. My legs were hurting. About mile 11.5 I got to the last water stop and they said that I was at the 1.6 miles left. Then right there the photographer was still there and was guiding me for the best pictures. After him I was walking a lot the last half 1.6 miles. Now I’m getting into my head. I can’t do it. I’m not going to finish. I kept going. 

 The last mile Did walk a lot. My legs got to the point to not be able to run anymore. Now I’m getting slower and slower. I saw people along the route to the finish saying you got this. Your almost there. Finally I saw the finish line. I started jogging to the finish. I got to the finish and crossed the first line. I wanted to walk but the couple guys said keep running not there yet. I jogged and celebrating in between both lines. Finally crossed the last line. I got my medal and Gatorade. 

 I did it. I finished. I was 2nd to last but I did it. I’m so proud of myself. 

In the end this year so far has taught me it’s ok to take a break and rest. Of course always train for half marathons and sometimes 10ks. In 2022 I’ll be back. In the meantime I’ll be taking my time getting back at it. I’ll be starting a few new programs to get me moving again. 

 

 

  

My running come back

In December 2018 my knee was bothering me. I went to the doctor and I started with PT. It helped a little bit. Did an MRI but my knee looked awesome. It ended up to be runners knee. I just need to keep strengthen the muscles in the legs. I did walk, and biked until February when I started running again. I did keep up with Pound fit while I was injured. Pound Fit is for everyone. I modified a lot. Of course I rested when I needed to.

 While I was injured I learned more about my body and listen to it. Take more rest days, Bike and walk if I needed to. 

 February 2019 I started running again. I wanted to run the Wisconsin Half Marathon in 2019 but knew I would not prepare in time. So I ended up running the 5K that day instead. 

In the summer I felt strong enough to run the No frills half Marathon in Minocqua, WI September 2019. It was my come back half marathon. I finished the No Frills Half Marathon September 2019 in 3 hours and 19 Minutes. My worse Half Marathon time ever. I was not mad about it because it was hard to finish. I had many emotions from excitement to nervous and frustration. I wanted to give up so badly but I knew there was only one direction was to the finish line. There was a lady running the Marathon passed me and was cheering me on to keep going. Closer to the end of the race two Guys ran passed me and said keep going. I started running again and them cheering me on helped me to finish the race. The Best part of it was seeing my mom, brother, niece and nephews at the finish line. It was really cute the boys were trying to keep up with me to the finish line. I had tears in my eyes of excitement. Even writing this made me tear up a little bit. It was an amazing feeling finishing. 

 On September 28th or 29th I ran the Great Pumpkin run at Swan's Pumpkin Farm. It rained the night before. The Course was in the hayride course so it was super muddy. Before the race I was super nervous because knowing it was going to be muddy. I was super tired from little sleep that night or should I say morning. I worked a 12 hour shift until 4am. I had second thoughts why I am doing this. Why did I come? It was the toughest race ever. Mid course while picking up my right leg to take another step my toes slipped in the mud. I tried running on and off to get to the finish. It was really hard to keep going. But I kept trying. Finally I got to the finish line with a sore knee and a tired body. That day at work I was struggling to walk the buildings. At 8pm the supervisor was having a hard time to decide to send to a lot and I ask if I could stay until my shifted ended. He was happy to keep me there since I did tell them about my knee. I had to walk the lot every half hour and my 12am or even 12:30am they let me sit there since I could not do much walking. I got off at 2:30am because they needed me until they could get someone to relieve me. I was down talking to my boss since he was still there. He let me come into work at 8pm until 4am the next day to keep me off my knee until my day off. 

I made an appointment with my orthoptic doctor for the next day or the day after. Once I got there they took an x-ray to see if anything was broken. Luckily no bones were broken. Doctor came in to check it out and thought it was bruised bone. Had me on Crutched and off my feet for 2 weeks. Toughest 2 weeks that I ever had to do. Took about a week or so to get use to the crutches. No running for at least 2 weeks. I had my next appointment it was still bothering me badly. Did an MRI, and then a EMG could not find anything wrong. 

Finally we decided to do PT again. I went to PT 4 weeks. The therapist found out that I was super tight. We strengthen the muscles, stretched and messaging. If it did not get better after PT then it would be back to the MRI machine to see if I had a pinch nerve in my back. It helped out a lot. Knee felt great.

 January 2020 I started running again. I only ran 10 miles in January. I was afraid that I could not get through Run Disney princess weekend. I could not finish my training and get back at it for a month in a half. I signed up for it a year before. Really wanted to run all 3 races the 5K 10K and half Marathon. I was going to go to Disney World no matter What. TO at least walk the 5K with my best Friend. 

 The week of the Run Disney Princess weekend approached. My Best Friend and I spent the week at the parks. Knee was sore but nothing that I could not manage. We ran the 5k my knee felt great. The 10K was fun. The half marathon was tough for being in the parks all week. I was so excited to finish the weekend. Again I cried while crossing the finish line. NO one was there but the emotions were all over the place. I finished another comeback half marathon. OMG I just finished my first Run Disney weekend. 

 Really did not have many local races to run in 2020 because they were all canceled. I did end up running virtual races all year. I did increase my miles by 10% each month until May. The second half of the year the miles did not come as easily.

 November I only had a couple miles. December I ran 0 miles. I can't wait to get back running local races and got back to running. January 2021 I snowshoe 2-3 miles each time. I hope I can Run the Door County Half Marathon locally May 2021. I can't wait to see where my running and fitness journey will bring.

 

Fitness journey to running journey

February 2016 I took the first step of my fitness journey by joining a gym. I signed up for a six week personal training to jump start my fitness journey. I hated it so badly because I hated strength training. I found out that I love taking the group classes a lot better from Zumba to pound. I also did Q at xperience fitness for about 6 months. It was ok.


In March of 2016 I signed up for the Racine WI color run. I wanted to run it so I started training for the color run. My best friend helped me get started. After the color run I fell in love with running and never looked back. I signed up for 3 more color runs and another 5K race.


In 2017 I ran so many 5Ks. I ran at least one 5K a month. Ran so many miles in 2017. My running passion just kept getting bigger. In November I joined Kenosha running club. In December I joined my first run with KRC. I also connected with another member in run like a girl community. November of 2017 I became a pound pro. I found out pound is my other passion through 2017. Wanted to teach it. Even though I have not been teaching classes since then it’s fine. I still take classes with other pros. I will always support other pros.


In 2018 I kept running with Kenosha running club. I even ran many races that year. From tons of 5K to my very Frost half marathon. I signed up for my very first half marathon when the Wisconsin marathon, half marathon and 5K opened up. I even signed up for 6 months of personal training in 2017 until March of 2018 help with training for the half marathon in May. Training did not go as plan. I was stuck at 6 miles in February and March.


March I ran the run from the taxman 10K. It was a trail race. The night before the race it rained and all of the snow was melting. The day of the race it was raining. From the start it was super hard because it was muddy and slippery. I was already exhausted at mile 2 and the second loop was the hardest. The 10K felt like I ran a half marathon.


In April just kept training for the half marathon. 2 weeks before the half I was going to run 7 miles but at mile 6 was running up some steps and hurt my knee some how. Took a couple days off and was fine. Went back to training.


May 5 2018 I ran my very first half marathon. The start of the half was crazy with so many people running the 5K, half marathon and full marathon. I hit the wall at mile 8. One of the Kenosha running club caught up to me and started running with me. She got me through the rest of the race. Once I saw the finish line the emotions started flowing. Omg I’m almost there. At that time I picked up speed just to get to the finish line. Once I crossed it I started to cry. Omg I just finished my first half marathon. While running to the finish line I saw meme era of Kenosha running club cheering me on. After the half met up with KRC members for a celebration.


The rest of the year I took pound classes, ran many 5Ks and 2 more half marathons. I kept improving my time. The no frills half marathon was on a beautiful course and I had my best time. The Spooktacular 5K ended up my best time for the 5Ks. The Lake Mills half marathon was the worst race that I had. The hills was really hard on me. I barley slept the night before. That was my end of the 2018 season. I ended my running season due to a knee injury. I was out from November until March or April 2019