Tag Archives: Virginia Beach

My goal: 50 miles in April

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We had a lovely weekend. It was warm and breezy, and we spent the majority of it outside! On Friday evening I went running with a friend and almost logged 8 miles! We ran straight to the beach, on the boardwalk, and back in a little over an hour. Talking with a friend while running makes time fly! She told me about getting a bike this weekend, so hopefully we can ride around this summer together.

Since I got a good run in the night before, I was a little sore for my Saturday run that I did with some girls from school in the park. The pollen was out and I could hardly breathe… so I took a few walking breaks I our 5 mile loop… slowing down the pack L so sad! I seriously tried to keep going, and I did my best, which is all I can do!

I’ve been wanting to amp up my mileage, and my goal is to run 50 miles this month! I’ve already run 30 miles, which is 62% of my goal in 14 days.  I’ll be so excited to hit another 50 mile month, which will be my second this year. For all you runners out there who are running with increased heat (or pollen), don’t forget to hydrate! I’ll be running with a water bottle on my long runs where their isn’t fountians… even though I hate running with one.
And another amazing pin I found on pinterest… always running… I’m glad I CHOOSE to run because I love it, not because I’m being chased!

A HUGE shout out to all those Boston Marathoners out there today! Best of luck to all of you :) Drink tons and take it slow in the heat!

SHAMROCK RACE!

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I woke up Sunday morning after about 2.5 hrs of sleep because there were gun shots(yes, gun shots) outside our apartment all night. I almost didn’t run in the race because I woke up feeling miserable, but Tyler was so encoraging and supportive, and helped me decide to run! (thanks hunny!)

My goal was to run the first six miles, and then run/walk the rest of the miles because my training had gone so poorly.

Parking for any Boardwalk race is a mess, and yesterday was no exception. The irony of parking in a bank parking lot in the handicap space while running a half marathon kept me smiling until the start! For the first couple miles, Tyler and I were smiling at each other in sheer happiness of being able to run this race.

Because, exactly one year ago, after the Shamrock race (we were running 8k’s back then) he took me to Fort Story and proposed. It was so precious and one of the happiest days of my life!

Back to the race. It was so glorious to run by Fort Story and remember our proposal exactly one year ago… and we actually ran RIGHT by the Lighthouse (on mile 8) that we visted the day he proposed!  The terrain was wonderful, we consistantly run on the boardwalk, so we were used to the route. While we were on base, running by the lighthouse, there was this mommy with two little kids in her stroller that allowed her kids to get out and RUN along side her! This was the most adorable site ever, and I was laughing for the remainder of the mile :) I was truly inspired to keep running. And I did keep running! At each mile marker, I decided to run that mile, and walk the rest. Until I got to mile 11, and then decided I was going to run the WHOLE thing! I’m so glad I did, and I’m so proud of myself!

I set my all time Personal Record yesterday. Not because I did great time, but because this was the FIRST TIME I’D EVER RUN 13.1 MILES! Setting my next PR is going to be easy since I really took it slow and ran it at 11:21 minute miles (according to my tracker), and 11:49 according to the race timer. They are different because I turned off my tracker during our washroom break… because I wanted to know our exact running time.

Seriously, I’ve never been prouder of myself in my whole life. I never thought I’d be able to run STRAIGHT for 13.1 miles, and I DID! I crossed the finish line, strong and feeling good. I’ve never been happier to stop running!

Christmas Lights

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On Friday night, we all piled up in our car, stopped at Starbucks (and got a lovely grande Christmas blend brewed with two pumps mocha) and… piled back in the car to drive down the boardwalk! The boardwalk is set up with like a biljilion lights and we drove underneath them while listening to Christmas music! It was really cool to see the beach lit up like a Christmas tree and listen to the beautiful Christmas music. It was such a relaxing drive. The most entertaining part about the whole thing was the girl dangling out of the window in the car ahead of us attempting to get a photo of every single light structure. She was standing on her seat shooting over the car and almost fell out several times!

We didn’t spend the whole time laughing at her. Not at all. Right.

THEN- on Saturday (just in case we didn’t have enough Christmas Spirit pumping through our veins) we went to the Christmas tree lighting at Virginia Beach Town Centre! It was a warm and balmy 65F outside, and we merrily found our favorite local coffee shop, Daily Grind, and got our yummy lattes! BONUS: a church was handing out cookies in front of the coffee shop! YES!

We hung out at the 30 foot tree for like an hour and watching the children walk up to Santa’s knee… it made us kinda want to have kids for a couple minutes. Then one started screaming and we changed our mind. We’re allowed to be independent for a couple years, right?

 

 

Tyler’s brother had come along and took in the incredibly flattering photo you see above on his iPhone…
it was such a magical evening, and we had such a great time getting in the Christmas Spirit! I’m so excited to set up our tree on Black Friday between shopping and eating, string pop-corn for the first time, and drink hot tea or chocolate.

I love Thanksgiving and am excited to celebrate my first one with Tyler as my husband! We have so much to give thanks for this year!