The Gusher Half Marathon Recap

On March 12th I ran The Gusher Half Marathon in SouthEast Texas. It was so so much better than last year. Just to give you a little recap. I ran the Gusher 5k last year with my sister-in-law Karen and it was horrible!

Karen and I before the Gusher 5K. 

Onto the recap. I got up early Sat. morning because last year it was hard to find parking when we got there. I wanted to leave early enough that I could get there and to the race on time. Brian's parents came down to watch me run. I was very grateful to have some family there.
My friend Tammy was meeting me at my house to follow us there. This was her first half marathon and I was going to be pacing her, or at least trying too.
We left for the race and around 45 minutes and a wrong parking place later, we made it to the race start.

Almost ready to run in my new cheetah skirt.

 My outfit all laid out and ready to go for the next day.

 You gotta have the essentials...Gu's, garmin watch, ipod and road id.

The shoes that make it feel like you are running on air. I love these shoes! When you find a shoe that fits, stick with it! It will bring you many places you never thought you could go.










When we finally found a parking spot, it was right by the starting line. I was so happy. We had to go find the shoe tags for our time. That is one thing I did not like. You had to tie them on your shoes and I was so worried the whole time I was running that it would fall off, but it didn't.
I am going to do the rest of the post mainly through pictures. I would rather look at pictures than read, wouldn't you. :0)

 I have been very grateful. Brian has been able to come with me for 2 of my 3 half marathons and I didn't think he would be able to come to any.

 Tammy and I before the race started. She is excited to run and so am I. Although I was nervous about this race. It was beautiful outside and I was hoping they would have enough water for the runners and that it would not be to hot.

37 seconds until the half marathon starts. One thing that they did not do for this race that I was used to, was that they did not have corrals. All the half marathon and marathon people started at the same time. If you were a walker you got at the back and the elite runners got at the front. It was not to bad though.

 Made it to mile 3. We were around 34 minutes on this one, so that is about normal for me.

 Tammy was all smiles at mile 3, which is great, because we had 4 more 5K's to go.

 There was around 4 hills like this one and I was not prepared for this at all. I was a little worried, because I have not trained for hills, but this was preparing me for the Rock N Roll Dallas run.

Mile 6 was around Downtown and there is a street called Crockett Street. It is not my scene of town at all, but many people go there to party it up.

 Also downtown is the worlds largest fire hydrant. There is a Fire museum there and this marks close to where it is at. I was pretty excited about seeing this, because I have never been to that part of town.

 LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!!!! THANK GOODNESS!!!
Like I said, last year, they did not have enough water for the runners and actually had to go behind the runners towards the end to give them water. This year, however, there was tons of water and it was cold everytime I got some. There was also gatorade, gu's, bananas and oranges along the entire route. They also threw out water bottles incase you wanted to carry it with you! Much much better job Gusher workers and volunteers.

 We made it to Mile 12. I am holding up a one because we only have 1.1 more mile to go. We were so close and I was ready to be finished.

WOOOHOOOOO Mile 13. I have never gotten a picture of the 13 because I have ran past it, but I wanted to get it this time. Brian actually saw me stop to get this picture and was laughing at me when I was crossing the finish line because I was so close to finishing!











There we are! Coming in strong!! I love all the people cheering on the side.

 All smiles as we are crossing the finish line!

My time was 2:39. I was one minute faster than last time, but we stopped quite a few times for pictures and what not, so I would have finished faster if we hadn't of stopped.
You can see in the picture I am giving Tammy a high five because she did so AWESOME on this race.

 They had water, fruit, and sandwhiches at the end. The race was great and I had a wonderful time running it. They did so much BETTER than last year!

 Brian and I after I finished! The medal was of the Spindletop Gusher in this area. It is an important part of history of this town and the oil industry!

 Brian's parents and I after the race! We were getting ready to head to Winnie for some Flea Market Shopping!

At Winnie Market, I found MightyMouse. More about that story to come!












Thanks for staying with me during this recap! I would recommend this race to anybody after the changes they have made! It was great! Sweatbands review coming up tomorrow for sure!!!!!!!!

Gusher Half Marathon- DONE!!

Crossing the finishing line strong.

I ran the Gusher Half Marathon today and it was a great run! Beautiful weather, pretty nice route and not that many people running it. Last year I ran the 5K for this race, so I decided to bump it up to the half marathon this year. I will give you some background on the race last year later, but for now, I just wanted to say that I finished. There was a lot of hills and I was not prepared for that AT ALL!!! But I still did good. I have way more pictures, but I will leave you with a few pictures that a friend of mine took while I was running...

I have more pictures, that I will post in a couple of days. Don't forget to set your clocks forward if you have not already. Have a great Sunday!

My friend Tammy. This was her first half marathon.  This was around mile 6.

We stopped so Tammy could say hi to her mom and sister. 

RnR Mardi Gras Race Recap 3....Proffessional Pics.

If you missed my first two recaps, here they are...

Check out my first Race Recap here.... Expo Time

My 2nd race recap was of the DetermiNation Pasta Party and the race. Check it out Here. 

Now, onto my third and final Race Recap. I know this has been drawn out, but I had a ton of pictures to sort through. This one is for my professional pictures. I have to say that I was looking for photographers most of this race. Pictures are very important to me, because they capture a memory and since you are running (if you are by yourself), it is hard to capture that memory of you. I ended up getting a lot of great shots from this race. They use ASI photograhy, which is AMAZING!!!!


This will be mostly pictures, so I hope you like seeing that. 

Can you see me? I am the one in the red and white running skirt, with the white shirt on and my hand up! 

These two pictures (above and to the left) were at the 5K mark! I was surprised that I was smiling, but I was feeling great at this point in time.

Still smiling and going strong. This was around the 10K mark or a little farther I believe. I love that neither of my feet are touching the ground! I think whenever I run, I tend to bounce a little bit. I am not sure though. 

I am not a fan of this picture at all, because I never saw this photographer. I look tired and bored at this time. I probably was, but oh well. 

Coming in across the finish line at 2:40 exactly. Can you find me? 

This is probably one of top 5 favorite pictures. I love it. You can see the time (even though it is off) and I am all smiles coming in across that finish line! Woohoooo I finished! 

Thanks for sticking with me through these recaps. 

Coming up next will be a Sweaty Bands Review (for those of you who have not tried them) and then I will start working on my Gusher Half Marathon Recap. Yes, that is right, I am running another Half Marathon this Sat. It is called The Gusher, because it is linking to the Spindletop Gusher in Southeast Texas. 

Stay tuned for that.

Recap 2...Determination Pasta Party and Race Day

Sorry this is so late everybody. Things have been crazy lately, and I have not been able to stop pretty much at all the past couple of weeks. I have been either working out everyday, helping to train some friends or myself or have been busy with school. 

Here goes, this recap will cover the Determination Pasta Party I went to with my sister-in-law Karen and her husband as well as the race day. So be prepared, this will be long, but with lots of pictures. 

If you missed my first Race Recap, check it out Here.

We met up with Karen and Jason at their hotel and then walked to the hotel where the Pasta party was at. 

This is a great cause for the run. The Mardi Gras half supported DetermiNation for those who have cancer or have fought against cancer or for people who are running for people who have passed away with cancer. 

Brian and I at the Determination Pasta party

Yummy Yummy Yummy pasta dinner. The food was so good!

After the Pasta party, we tried to go to Starbucks, but it was closed, which was crazy because it was around 8:30pm whenever we went. Oh well. 

Karen and Jason went back to their hotel and we went back to our car. We had to drive about 20 minutes back to our friends house that we stayed at. Once we got to their house I dug into my swag bag and looked at all my goodies as well as laid out my race day outfit and gear. 

 This was all my goodies that I got from the Expo.

My race day outfit. Things that I can not run without is...running skirt (usually only for races), Running shoes, Race Bib, Garmin Watch, GU's, ipod and so much more. I was also trying the compression socks for the 2nd time. I have ran with them for an 8 mile run, but not for 13.1, so I was a little nervous about that. More about that later though.

*******************THE NEXT MORNING***************

The next morning I woke up at 4a.m. and was ready by.....

Ready to go to the start line. It was freezing outside and my first mistake for this race was not getting a jacket to wear for the beginning of the race and then dumping it once I got hot. Oh well, I figured something out.

It was still dark whenever I got to the race start and I was walking around freezing, whenever I saw this sign. 

I thought it was too funny. However you couldn't use the restroom in these nice bathrooms unless you payed for that. Oh well, nasty port-a-potty it is.

Funny Tip: If you are freezing cold and you do not have a jacket, find a generator and stand behind it. You will get a little dirty, however you will warm up real quick. And....make friends with a fellow runner who has extra jackets and they will give it to you. haha 

Karen and I in my corral before the race started. She was in corral 10. 

See the pink jacket I have on, that was given to me from a fellow runner from New York. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These guys in the above picture ran the whole race this way. hahaI am not sure how comfortable that was. We waited to start for about 20 minutes, so in all my pictures if you see a time, I am about 20 minutes behind that time. Or it is 20 minutes ahead of me. I was in Corral 16. When I originally registered for this race I didn't have a time, but then I ran the Jazz Half in New Orleans and was able to put down a good time, so I pumped up in my corrals. YAY!!!!

There was thousands of runners running this race. As you can see from the picture, it looked like a bunch of little ants.... In that pile of ants I met a girl name Denise. This was her second half marathon and we both figured out we ran about the same speed. So we decided without talking about it that we were going to run together as long as we could. She was trying to PR for under 2:30. We are both in the education field so it was great to talk to somebody had something in common with.

We got up to the finish line and we were off. Before I knew it, I was at mile....

I didn't have to get any water until mile 6 because I have trained my body to not have any until then. I run where I don't always get water stops and do not like to carry bottled water with me whenever I run. At mile....

Denise and I decided to split. I needed water and she was going to keep going. I told her good luck and to run to get that PR. 

Denise and I at Mile 6. 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't get a good picture, but I thought this was really neat. He was running with his son at this race. His son is in the wheelchair. 

I loved all the signs that everybody held up. One of them said Almost there. I saw it at Mile 6 and then again at Mile 11. That was really good to see. 

At mile 8, I saw the Brooks guitar player. It was pretty cool getting to run under that. 

Almost there. 5 miles left to go. 

Whenever I saw all these cups, I felt pretty bad for the volunteers who had to pick it up. I usually tried to find a trash can close by to throw mine in. That is one cup that they will not have to pick up at least. 

WooooooooHoooooooooo! Mile 12. I am almost there. This is a picture I usually get somebody to take for me at each race. I have a feeling it will start to be a tradition with me. 

.1 miles left to go! I am so close. My time is 20 minutes off of that time. 

I found my husband Brian and he barley found me. I had to yell at him to get him to see me.

All smiles going across this finish line. Much better than last time whenever it was my first half marathon and I was crying going across the finish line. 

I finished. 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was 10 minutes slower than my first half marathon, but that does not matter, I still finished. 

Every half marathon is a challenge for me, through all the training, trials and everything. That bling and the joy you get for completing something you never thought you could in the end is worth it! 

 We found Karen at the DetermiNATION tent. She finished in a great time. I am very proud of her. 

My little support group! Karen's husband Jason, Karen, me, and my husband Brian! Love them all! 

For my next blog  is my professional race pictures.  I had a bunch of great pictures.

If you made it this far, thank you. I know it was very long!

ABCs of ME

ABCs of ME

The ABCs are going around the blogosphere.  I decided I would jump on and do mine while I am working on my second part of my Mardi Gras Half. Be looking for that soon.

A.  Age: 23

B.  Bed size: Queen/Full

C.  Chore you hate: Washing Dishes

D.  Dogs: 2, TJ and Milly. TJ is a Boxer and Milly is a Morkie (Maltese/Yorkie)

This was at Halloween. Neither one of them wanted to take a picture.

E.  Essential start your day item: Toothbrush

F.  Favorite color: This changes here and there for me, but I like turquoise, yellow, blue, pink.

G.  Gold or silver:  white gold

H.  Height: 5 ft 2 1/2 in.

I.  Instruments you play: clarinet for 4 years before I got out of band. 

J.  Job Title: education

K.  Kids: None 

L.  Live:Texas

M.  Mom's Name: Jean

N.  Nickname: I have had a few, but none of them have stuck for a long time....mightymouse, my first and middle name, shorty, TNT, Tiny Tornado

O.  Overnight Hospital Stays: None

P.  Pet Peeve: people who interrupt me whenever I am trying to talk to them about something important, Parents who do not care about their kids and their well being. 

Q.  Quote from a movie: "All your dream can come true, if you just BELIEVE"

R.  Right or Left handed: Right

S.  Siblings: 2 older brothers, and 3 sister-in-laws

T.  Time you wake up: Ususally no later than 8:30 unless I go to work and then it is earlier.

U.  Underwear: Hanes usually

V.  Vegetable you dislike: squash, lima beans (not sure if that is a fruit or not. 

W.  What makes you run late: Leo

X.  X-Rays you've had done: teeth, broke my tooth in half in high school

Y.  Yummy food you make:Homemade Taco soup, spagetti, layer dessert

Z.  Zoo, Favorite animal: Monkey

You know you want to do the ABC's of Me also! Check out my 2nd recap for the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in Feb. 

Stylish Blogger Away...Say What!!!!!

 Woooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!! 

It has been a really long past few weeks of pretty much not getting on the computer at all! I was so excited when I got home one day and saw that I had been nominated for the Stylish Blogger Award by Ros over at Life's a Weeze.

You should check out her blog, because she just finished her first half marathon in DISNEY while running with asthma! A true insperation! 

Okay, now on to the rules......

Here are the Rules for the Stylish Award:
-Make this a post and link back to the person who gave the award to you
 -Share 7 things about yourself
 -Award 5 great bloggers. 
-Contact the bloggers to tell them they've won!

Well let's start with 7 things:

What can I tell you about myself...hmmm....

1.  I love love love to swim! I used to have a pool growing up and I was in it almost every day. Then whenever hurrican Rita hit, it destroyed my pool and my parents had to fill it in. I was so upset about this. Now my brother has a pool but he lives an hour away. My parents used to call me a fish because I was always in the pool and whenever they would tell me to come in I would get so upset because I did not want to!

My brother, sister-in-law and nieces in their pool.

2. I have the best family in the world. My brother's may be annoying every once in a while, but I still love them. My parents have always supported me in everything. It is very hard to get my family together at one time, so whenever we can get together we try to jump on it.

My whole family in one place at one time! This is not easy to do.

3. I have never drank/been drunk. I grew up in a very small town, so I knew a lot about drinking, but I never drank and it was NEVER my scene. I do not like the taste of beer/alcohol and do not like what it does to people. There are other ways to have fun besides doing that.

4. Chocolate is my weakness. I love TURTLES chocolate. Brian knows what to get me for Valentines day, anniversary and any other holiday. The only bad thing is that I will eat them all in one day if he would let me. That is not very good.

This was from our first anniversary. He did very good!

5. I will be running two half marathons in one month this month. They will be two weeks about and I am very nervous about that. Not very many people would try to do that, but I am going to be the weird one and try it. I am going to be running The Gusher Half Marathon and the Rock N Roll Dallas Half Marathon. I am running one of the half marathons by myself for the first time and the Dallas half I am running with my sister-in-law Karen.

Gusher Half Marathon

Rock N Roll Dallas Half Marathon

6. I love to be outside playing sports, running, playing basketball, riding the 4-wheeler. Anything you can think of I could be doing it outside. Whenever I was in high school I would used to go outside and throw my volleyball on my parents roof and then pass/set/serve it back and forth onto the roof. (The lovely times of your brothers being away at college). I have gone outside and graded papers before whenever it is really nice. Especially now whenever it is starting to turn into spring time (slowly, but surely).

7. I have grown up being very active my entire life, but I also had a lot of problems whenever I was little. Check out this blog post to read more about it. Faith and Fighting
I have worked through having slight asthma into running 2 half marathons now and getting ready to run 3 more. It has been hard, but every half is a battle for me to just keep going.


 Enough about me. Now who to choose to get the Stylish Blogger Award. I love all the blogs that I read, but here are the ones that I choose.....

• Alyssa G. over at Against the Tide. She is a very dear friend of mine who is in the Peace Corps right now and will hopefully be coming home soon. I miss her. 
• April S. over at April Shelton. She is newly married and learning how to be married. 
• Morgan at Becoming Rooks. She has amazing recipes that she puts up and I love reading her blog. 
• Sheri at Running through Life. I thought it was neat that we have the same blog name. 
• Casey at Running 2 Disney, because she is training hard for a 10K and she will do it with all of our support!

Good Luck Girls and Congratulations.

Coming up within the next couple of days will be my 2nd recap from the Mardi Gras Half Marathon. I probably should try and finish it before my next half marathon this coming Saturday haha

Check out this cool giveaway that Sheri is doing over at Running through Life.