Mitchell Invitational

We'll be getting up at 5:00am in the morning tomorrow for Daniel's first BIG meet in New Port Richey(Over an hour away...ugh) There will be 30 schools there and this is where Regionals is going to be when it's all said and done. The guys are going all out tomorrow to see what they're made of.

You can see Daniel's stats here

Cross Country-Regionals

Another Cross Country season coming to an end. Today we went south to Dade City for the Regionals meet. Tim Wenger will go to State but the team as a whole didn't quite make the cut. They came in 12th overall as a team and gave their all. I'm so proud of all the guys.

Tim Wenger is in the middle. He's Citrus High's top runner and he qualified for state. Congrats!

Praying always gets 'em fired up.

Getting into the zone...wishing mom wasn't in his face with the camera.

Can't find Daniel in this shot, but I tried.

Mid-race

Hey Jacqueline! You know where these kids get their speed!! Congratulations to Chloe who was 3rd at Regionals and goes to State!

Can't live without the necklace.

Red Mule Labor Day 5k

Was that Daniel??? He's a blurr in blue shorts! 1st mile down.

Coming in around the 2nd mile...got him this time.
Finally...through the shoot at 20:20. Didn't beat his best time of 19:29 but he's going to be working hard at it now that Cross Counrty has begun!
This is Jaret, Daniel and Ben, a friend on the team.

Great job, Ben for his sub 19:00! (Ben's a senior!)

Just a note...the first overall male--an insane 15:33!!

Still putting one foot in front of the other...

Well, I guess I'm just too busy running to blog about running...
I've been running about 20 miles a week lately. I've been trying to us a Spring Training Schedule by Hal Higdon which would have me running up to 30 miles per week with an 8 mile long run on the weekend. I can't seem to get beyond the 20!! Something always gets in the way! Life, kids, school...oh well. What can ya do? This is why there's a bunch of 60 year olds out there running marathons! Their kids are all grown and gone and they have the time!
So, I'll be running a 5k next Saturday in Lecanto. That's the plan. Trying to beat 22:23!

Shamrock-Tough Run-22:21

I can't believe the number of people that came out for the race today. Even a three-legged dog joined the 318 runners. And what a wide range of folks aged from 8 to 80. It's so fun to see the familiar faces out for the runs in this small town and to cheer each other on.

We're so proud to report that Daniel set a goal and surpassed it. He was shooting for 20 minutes but instead ran it in 19:30 and he won first in his age group. He was the 11th runner to cross the finish line out of 318 people!

Here he is with Dad and a friend from his track team who won third in the same age group. Dan beat his time by 2 minutes and set a new personal record and was very pleased. He's looking to up his weekly miles soon...maybe a marathon in the future!

Jenny's one our faithful Sunday morning running buddies. She was there when I started this whole running thing. I've learned so much from her and she has been an awesome motivator! She just had a baby 4 months ago and still kicks butt. Awesome race, Jen.Jenny and her little guy.

Here's the clan. But check out Suzie on the left! She's over 80 and still going strong and she always has the most festive outfits! Here's the gold! Daniel and I placed first in our age groups. My time was 22:21-a personal best! It was a great course. Some slight hills that felt like mountains because of the pace I was moving. I hit the first mile at 7 minutes. I thought, "Oh no, I went out way too fast." But my goal was to get this done in 22:30 so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. The rest of the day I was a worthless bag of rags. I slept, slept and slept some more. Totally spent...good stuff.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

The Shamrock 5k is Saturday, March 15th! I love the countdown to a good race. Kate,watcha doin'?! Are ya coming? Dan and I are hoping to break some personal records on this one. Daniel will be out there, too. Tomorrow he has his first real track meet and he's been running most days for a while now so he should do great. I hear the schools are sending out alot of younger kids, too. It should be a great crowd. The energy is really great when there's lots of folks out. Hope it's not COLD!!

Jingle Bell 5k

Well...not my best time, but 23:21 is about all I could handle last Saturday at the Jingle Bell 5k. Last year there was a bit of a chill in the air and long sleeves were the fashion, but this year it must have been 85. The sun was in full force and it made for a very tough run. The slight hills grew to Everest proportions and it was such sweet relief to cross the line and just plop. I wasn't thrilled with my time but it was good enough to take 1st in my age group. I was more pleased with my place overall: 5th female to come in. Two of the gals in front of me are moving targets that I fear I may never catch.
Dan and I ran this year while the boys enjoyed the parade afterward with some friends. We caught up with them during the parade and enjoyed the same ol' show that we've had since I've been here(16 years now)
This Saturday I plan to run my first 10k in Leesburg. Not too sure what's going to happen there!