Sunday - Wednesday Miles

On Sunday it was great to be back with the tech girls we did a nine mile run at the Suncoast Trail, not our usual spot due to boar hunting. It was a very hard run for me that day I could not figure out why, I thought I was tired but I think I may have some chest infection going on as I can't catch my breath and I feel some wheezing going on (who knows). I ran an easy 3 on Monday and Tuesday and today I tried to run 6 miles and it felt hard, way to hard. I am supposed to run speed work with Jenny tomorrow I hope I can hang!!
I signed up for the Gasparilla 1/2 marathon along with Jenny, Catherine and Angela in February so it should be fun to be running with the group again.

SPEED WORK:(

Taking it easy this week for 2 reasons, mostly b/c the boys have been sick and second b/c my legs were tired from Sundays race those bridges were killers. Even if I did enjoy them in a crazy sort of way.
I met up with Jenny on Thursday for the 1st run of the week and we did a speedy 6.5 miles at a 9 min mile pace. It felt really good to have a running partner for an outside run during the week and we had much to talk about not having run together in a few weeks. Thanks Jenny I really enjoy running with you. As we finished our run and we were inside the Y stretching someone made a comment about speed work and me not keeping up, that comment kind of ate at me for the rest of the day, a bit so much that today was speed work day!!! I did a warm up of 1 mile and 3 miles in 23:56 mins. and a 1/2 mile warm down! Take that!! I am not competitive against anyone but myself but don't tell me I cant Keep up. With that said I will be doing speed work more often and I will signing up for a 5k soon.

Clearwater 1/2 Marathon

Wow, I actually felt amazing this race despite all the cocktails and the restless sleep prior to the race, the weather was perfect and my husband came to watch which was so nice, thank you. For this race I decided to GU and stop at all the water stops and it amazingly worked out in my benefit, I am so stubborn I should have listen to all of you much sooner. Even with the Bridges it felt good, I felt strong, I could have gone a little faster but was holding out for the bridges making sure I had enough energy to run them strong. I loved having the Garmin being able to see my splits helped out and gave me a bit of encouragement along the way. My final time was 1:53:57 which is great but of course now I want under 1:50:xx!!! Does it ever really stop:)
Mark did an incredible job with making a PR of some crazy time, he is so fast.
Jenny did super getting a PR on the 5 miler, and she just finished a marathon the week before!
I saw a lot of friends everyone did amazing and of course I had lots of fun even with the Bridges.

A Great 10 Miler - January 11

I have been a terrible blogger, but of course I have still been running I finished a little over 32 miles this last week. Today most of my running girls ran the Disney Marathon and did an amazing job, as I must brag, great job girls I am so proud of you and all your hard work!!! That left Carin and Jodi for me to do my Sunday run with, but neither one were able to make it, that left me all by myself with a choice of a day off or out running by myself (10 miles:( )? So I decided to go for it and run by myself and stay in the hood , I finished 10 in a pace much faster than I would have run my last 2 half marathons in. I felt amazing, I think what made the difference was the GU I took at mile 4, I felt so charged up after the GU kicked in, wow, what was I missing all this time. I did all 10 miles with the average pace of low 9s some even 8s! hey that is great for me especially with being in neighbours hoods with all the turns and traffic to deal with. I cant wait to run the Clearwater 1/2 next Sunday, despite the hills I will have to endure during the race!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

We have been so busy with the holidays and work that I have not had time to email, blog, face book, or even relax.... but of course I have made time to run, (this is Cherise we are talking about). For Christmas my husband did get the Garmin for me, and I am having so much fun with it, probably a little to much so.
My old running partner Linda is in town for the week so we meet up for a long run on Sunday, a little over 10 miles. It was so very nice to get a chance to catch up with her and a good challenge as well, as she is a fairly fast runner.
Over the holidays my husband, Mike also decided he was going to start running!:) This is an exciting day in the Dumas household as Mike never has liked to run but knows 40 is just looming around the corner and he needs to get healthy and in shape. His goal is going to be to finish a 1/2 marathon in the next year, with this in mind to encourage him I told him he could get a flat screen t.v on the way home from finishing his 1/2 marathon, I thought it was a pretty good encouragement gift! We will start training in the evenings on the nights I am off of work.
It has been truly a great holiday season, my brother came from Australia, my in-laws from Texas and the kids have been so much fun and such a blessing.
To start the New Year off right I did run today I did a little over 7 miles and it felt great!!! nothing to report about this run just 7.