Sunday, August 22, 2010

An active summer!

This summer has flown by! I can hardly believe it's almost September.

Lots of fun events this summer, but I have to say, I'm pretty proud of all the fitness goals I've achieved! My goal originally was to run another 10K this year and compete in another triathlon over the summer.

After all was said and done, so far this year I've done 2 10k's, a HALF MARATHON!, a sprint triathlon, and today a 5K as part of a 10 mile relay. Woohoo!

Lots of fun, and lots of early mornings, but I made it. I'm hoping to still squeeze in another race or two before the weather turns to snow.

As I never actually blogged about the half, I figured I'd share some photos as well.

Before I started training for the half marathon, I was determinedly NOT a distance runner. I dabbled in 5K's and once a 10K, but was fairly convinced I was just too slow. However, once convinced that doing a half marathon was a good idea, I realized that mostly, I just needed a mental change of heart. Once I quit telling myself that running anything over 3 or 4 miles was really scary, I figured out I could actually do it! I'm still not the fastest girl on the road by any means, but I'm no longer scared of longer distances and can officially tell myself, I am a distance runner!

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About a month after coming back to NY after the half, I was up for a sprint triathlon in Harriman State Park, about 30 miles north of the city. It's amazing how much beautiful green wooded scenery can be found so close to the intense urban lifestyle that is Manhattan.

This race involved a 1/2 mile lake swim, a 16 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. The course was beautiful! Although, the bike was the absolute HILLIEST I have ever seen. It was up and down, and up and up. Downhill was clocking well over 30 mph! But then most of it was right back up!

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Coming out of the water.

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Finishing the run.

We saw at least 10 deer while driving in, an eagle, and apparently one of the swimmers even saw a black bear on the shore of the lake while we were in the water!

I was pleased with my time and am excited to attempt my goal next year of a full Olympic course.

Today was the last race of the summer, the Battle of Brooklyn 10 mile! Since I wasn't quite up for a 10 mile race, and Jackrabbit Sports decided they were going to offer a relay option, I decided that would be much more fun!

Alex, Andrea and I headed out this morning and had a great race! Yay Team Awesome!

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