10k Completed!

Today my fourteen year old daughter and I completed our first 10k!  We'd done a 5k before, but it was a difficult course and didn't leave us feeling very accomplished.  We're signed up for the RNRLV half in December so I wanted to run something prior to that race just to be sure she'd be able to complete the half.  The Beach Derby 10k seemed like a great idea.  They also had a 10 miler, but I was afraid if it was too hard, she wouldn't want to do the half in December.  So I decided to give this a shot.

We headed out at 6AM, arriving in Huntington Beach at 7AM.  We parked about a half mile from the starting line and walked over.  It was perfect timing.

We took a couple of pictures, then jumped in the starting chutes.  A boy from the local high school sang the National Anthem and off we went.  Unfortunately my Runkeeper didn't start when we did.  It turned out to be a good thing, because I was able to let my daughter pace us without worrying about going faster.  She did great!  She had to "pull over" twice to tie her shoes and needed a walk break twice.  But both were brief and we finished in 56:40.  The experience was positive, despite the weather.  I loved that it was a cool 50 degrees, but I DON'T run in the rain...ever.  Luckily it was just cool but beautiful when we began.  Then about mile 3 the drizzle started.  Ok I'm not that big of a wimp, I can run in drizzle.  But by mile 4, it was RAINING!  Hello, I don't run in rain!  At that point, if I'd been alone I would've sprinted just to get it over with.  But my daughter didn't have any sprint in her at that point and was just wanting to keep it at a slow jog.  So we continued along, trying to joke around as we went.  Finally we were close to the finish and were able to give a push to get there.  We were going to wait at the finish to cheer on a friend, but it was freezing.  We grabbed an apple and water and headed the half mile back to the car.  That half mile seemed like another 3 miles!  It was pouring, we were freezing and just wanted to get warm.  We stopped briefly to take a photo and then got to the car and stripped off our wet clothes! 

All in all it was a fun race and I think my daughter was happy she did it.  Now it's the wait for Vegas!  I hope that turns out to be just as great of an experience for her too.  Let's just hope for good weather!!

What did you do this weekend?  Have you run any longer races with your children or parents?  What was your experience?

Dieting in the Zone

Like most everyone else in the world, I've struggled with my weight over the years.  After having 3 kids, my weight was about 15 pounds more than I'd like.  Then I hit my late 30's and my hormones went a little (ok a lot) wacky and I'd gained another 10 pounds in a year.  That added no energy and cravings for junk to keep me going throughout the day.  I went on natural hormones, thyroid and started to feel like my old self.  That's about the time I was able to start doing Crossfit.  I did that for 10 months and started feeling stronger, but never lost any weight.  I decided to take a month off and focus on my diet.  I did ediets and had them deliver food to me weekly.  It was a great way to control the number of calories I ate, but the diet wasn't very healthy.  They were comfort type foods that I wouldn't normally even eat.  The good news was that after 8 weeks, I lost 15 pounds.

When the weight was under control, I started running.  I was hoping that would help me to lose more weight while eating more normal foods.  After nearly a year of running, I haven't lost any additional weight.  So now I'm on to try something else.  Most all of the crossfit community seems to endorse either paleo or zone diets.  The zone diet seems like a healthy and doable way of eating.  So this week, I've been following the diet pretty well.  We eat out a lot due to crazy kids schedules in the evening, but you can eat out and remain in the zone.  I haven't weighed myself this week, but I do feel good.

I'd love to hear from others that have done the Zone diet.  What are some of your favorite meals and snacks?

My favorite breakfast is: 1 oz of canadian bacon, 1 scrambled egg, 1 oz of shredded cheese inside of half of a whole wheat pita.  Along with half an apple and 3 macadamia nuts.

My favorite snack:  hard boiled egg with hummus

My favorite dinner:  chili- onion, bell pepper, cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, ground turkey (or beef), 1/4 cup kidney beans, 1/4 cup black beans, 1 cup tomato sauce.  Serve with 1 oz cheese and cilantro to taste.  

10k This Weekend

I can't believe how busy my life has been.  I was in a good place and decided I really missed Crossfit.  So I committed to twice a week classes.  It's been great, but it has impacted my running.  I haven't done any long runs since I started back at Crossfit.  My hip had been bothering me, a lot so I've been a little hesitant to do a long run from that as well.  I finally started going to the chiropractor and I think the Crossfit has helped loosen me up too.

My 14 year old daughter and I are going to run a 10k this weekend.  We are running the RNRLV half marathon the first weekend in December and I figured this would be a good test for us.  Now I'm getting concerned about my ability to even run the half since I haven't been training.  I've never run a 10k and have been looking for one.  So when this came up, I jumped at the chance to run it.

This week I'd planned a run for Monday.  A friend asked if she could join me, so of course I took her up on the offer.  Unfortunately she isn't a runner so we only got in 4 miles.  But it was my first run with a friend and it was nice.  Today I got in 6 miles and felt good.  At least I know I can complete the run this weekend.  I think I'm going to tell my daughter that she's welcome to run ahead of me.  I don't want to hold her back and I think she could definitely do the 10k faster than I can.  I think for the half, she'll have to pace herself a bit more and I might be able to catch her, but we'll see.  I really want both of these races to be positive experiences so that she wants to do it again.  I think it'd be so amazing for her to be able to say she's done a half marathon at the age of 14!

How about you?  Have any of you run races with your kids?  What age is a good age for longer races?