Pages

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Happy Golden Birthday to ME and 1,000 mile milestone.

Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday dearest Jerbear, Happy birthday to me!  

You will probably never meet another adult that loves birthdays as much as I do.  And I'm proud of that fact.  I countdown from my birthday starting on December 27th each year.  I also make a big deal out of all my close friends' birthdays as well, so I'm not completely selfish when it comes to birthday cheer.  I could literally tell you all of my high school classmates birthdays, as well as 90% of my college friends'.  At one point, roughly around age 20-21, my brain must've filled up, because I have a couple of close friends that I cannot remember for the life of me!  Sigh.  ANYWHO.....

This year marks the birthday I've been looking most forward to, the big 2-6, aka my golden birthday!  I always thought I'd do something big and extravagent for my golden birthday, but then again, back in the day 26 seemed sooooo oooooooold, and for some reason when I was soooo ooooold I thought I would have bookoo bucks to go on a sweet trip.  HA! Jokes on me.  26 is NOT old, and I do not have $$$$.

My birthday gift to myself:  Cellcomm Green Bay Marathon REGISTRATION!  That's it.  I'm really doing it.  Marathon #1. :D  If any of you are still struggling with birthday gift ideas, you can revert back to my Christmas list post, as they can lend themselves quite nicely to birthday gifts as well.




On my last run as a 25 year old, I set out to do something I have never done before.  I had originally planned to do my last 4.5 miles to 1,000 on my birthday, but because of the snow storm, I was left bored and by myself for Christmas Eve, and decided to head to the gym to make my day better.  I decided to do a tempo run, with a 1 mile warm up, 3 miles at 8:19 pace, and a half mile cool down.

My legs were stinkin' SORE for the warm up mile, and most of the first tempo mile.  I need to be more diligent about using my rolling pin on my IT Band, especially after speed workouts.  After that my legs loosened up, and I had fun.  I swear I had an ear to ear grin going the entire run.

I did the 4.5 miles in 39:18 for a pace of 8:44.
1. 9:39 warm up
2. 8:14
3. 8:19
4. 8:14
.5 4:49 (9:38 pace cool down) 


During the last mile, I started reflecting back on all the miles and races that my legs had gotten me through during 2009.
We've come a long way this year.  One of my primary goals for 2009 was to fall back in love with running, and I think it's safe to say that has happened.  Not only is running a huge part of my life again, but I was lucky enough to PR in every race I ran this year, except for one 5k in the freezing cold. :p  That is a huge accomplishment and one that I have to thank my legs for immensely.



Here's to an even better running year as a 26 year old.  I have a feeling it'll be golden.  ;)

12 comments:

  1. Whooop, I'm first!!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

    Um, I think registering for a marathon counts as spending *bookoo bucks* haha, no? Eff, they're expensive! This blog definitely proves to say you've fallen "back in love" with running....a PR in every race? That's Huge!! Go go go, girl...this is gonna be a big year for you :)

    both of us doing marathon numero uno! Love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Go Girl,Happy B-day to you! Congrats on the 1000 miles...your an awesome runner. You always motivate me too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HAPPY BDAY!!! And woohoo marathon training!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Have a great 26.2 in your 26th year! Happy Birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday! I am sure 2010 will be a great year!

    ReplyDelete
  6. HAPPPPPPY BIRTTTTTHHHHDAYYYYYY BEAUTIFULLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy belated!! I love your excitement for birthdays...so fun!

    That's crazy that you ran EXACTLY 1000 miles...gotta love it. :) I'm sure you'll have many more in training for marathon #1...wooohooooooo!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy (belated) Birthday, Jeri!

    Hope you're rolling around on the floor right now with all your Christmas/Birthday loot!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is a fabulous b-day present to yourself girl! Yay! Happy belated!!!!

    I can't wait to follow you on your journey to the full! So exciting!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Birthday and congrats on all of your running accomplishments this year! So exciting to register for Green Bay- you are going to have an awesome time.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy birthday, and best wishes for your golden year! You have accomplished so much in your 25th, I can't wait to see what kind of awesome PRs (speed and distance) you whip out this year!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are now officially half my age.

    Happy bithday!

    ReplyDelete