300 Miles! And a 5k in my future…

Posted in Challenges, Race Recaps by Annie T

This afternoon I hit the 300 mile mark in my 100 mile iPad mini challenge! Over the last 100 miles I’ve run a lot on my treadmill and I’ve also had fun hiking in Ridley Creek State Park, Valley Forge National Park, and at a rural central PA destination we fondly call “the Hunting Camp” (more on that in my next post). Here’s the official tally:

Miles since last post: 86.3
Days since last post: 14
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 5.57
TOTAL MILES: 301.0

I am now running with an official purpose… in less than 2 weeks I am going to run a 5K! I haven’t run a distance race since my ill-fated attempt at Cross Country my freshman year of high school so I’m a little nervous (OK, actually a LOT nervous!). Still, I’ve been working hard and last week I actually beat my best high school 5K time by about 30 seconds! (I was running on the flat, even treadmill, mind you, but it was a victory nonetheless!)

The 5K that I’ll be running on September 21st is a true off-road cross country trek, complete with rolling (BIG) hills and a possible stream crossing. We’ll see how it goes! 🙂

The 5K will take place across these beautiful rolling farmlands in Willistown Township, PA. [cell phone pic]

Related Posts:
• 200 miles! (8/26/13)
• 100 Miles in 21 Days! (8/7/13)
• 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go! (7/29/13)
• The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge (7/23/13)

26Aug2013

200 Miles in 37 Days!

Posted in Challenges, Race Recaps by Annie T

Guess what? I completed 200 Miles in 37 Days!!! Back on July 18th I challenged myself to run and walk 100 miles by August 28th. I reached my 100 mile goal on August 7th, hit 150 on August 15th, and ran through my 200th mile on August 23rd. After today’s 5.6 mile run I’m at 214 miles total with 2 days still left to go in my original challenge!

Miles since last post: 113.6
Days since last post: 19
Days until Deadline: 2
TOTAL MILES: 214.7

If you had told me in mid-July when we got our treadmill that I would soon be averaging over 5 miles a day I would have laughed (or actually cried) at the thought of it. I started out slow with some 2-3 mile days in the beginning and a lot more walking than running but as the weeks have gone by running has gotten easier and I have even had a few 7+ mile days! I’ve continued to track my progress on my Excel graph and I’ve also started to track my best treadmill times for 1, 2, 3, and 4 miles. I’m not ready to go out and run a race or anything, but I’m still pretty proud of how my times have fallen during the past month.

So where do I go from here? Forward! I’m going to keep tracking my miles and I will continue to set mini mileage goals for myself since that has worked thus far to keep me motivated. I’ve now decided that when I hit 250 miles I get to buy these Athleta running tights for myself. They will be just in time for the Fall weather that I hope September brings next week!

Related Posts:
• 100 Miles in 21 Days! (8/7/13)
• 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go! (7/29/13)
• The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge (7/23/13)

7Aug2013

100 Miles in 21 Days!

Posted in Challenges, Race Recaps by Annie T

I did it!!! I completed my goal of 100 miles in just HALF the time I originally planned! My 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge officially began on July 18th and this afternoon at 4:45PM after just 21 days I breezed by the 100 mile mark on my treadmill. Woohoo!

Miles since last post: 50.4
Days since last post: 9
Days until Deadline: 20
TOTAL MILES: 101.1 !!!

Matt helped me make a cool Excel graph that charts my daily miles, shows my total miles completed so far, and (my favorite part) predicts out my future miles based on my current pace. I love graphs and charts and it’s been very rewarding to enter in my miles each day to see my progress. Here’s the graph as of today:

So… this means that I can get an iPad Mini now! Of course now that I’ve ‘earned’ it I’m a little worried that Apple is going to announce the release of an iPad Mini 2 right after I invest in the old model. I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about this (I’ve had a lot of time to think on the treadmill!) and I have decided that I’m going to wait and purchase a new iPad Mini 2 when it comes out. The release date has not been revealed yet so I will spend a little more time reading ‘real’ books until then! 🙂

So where do I go from here? I am going to increase my original challenge since apparently 100 miles was too easy. My new goal is to complete 150 miles by my original deadline of August 28th. Full speed ahead!

Related Posts:
• 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go!
• The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge

29Jul2013

100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go!

Posted in Challenges, Race Recaps by Annie T

Last Tuesday I challenged myself to run 100 miles in 42 days and I’ve been running like crazy ever since! Wednesday will mark the end of week two of my challenge and I’m currently on pace to complete 100 miles in just 24 days!

Miles since last post: 31.3
Days since last post: 6
Miles until iPad Mini: 49.3
Days until Deadline: 29

I realize that my timing is sort of backwards with the whole fitness thing… most people would have started working out before getting married to get ready for the big day but I, on the other hand, waited until after our wedding to get back into a serious exercise routine. In my mind the reasoning is very simple — there’s no way that I had time to run/walk 5 miles a day in addition to all of the DIY wedding projects, vendor coordination and planning that I needed to get done before the wedding. Now that our wedding is over and life is returning to normal I feel like I have oodles of free time and I’m happy to spend some of it working out! 🙂

Oh yeah… I got new purple running shoes on Saturday because my old sneakers were woefully worn out. Like ’em?