Racing Heart

I have another for everyone! So yesterday was my last doctors appointment! (Well at least for my legs). If I haven't said it before, my doctor is someone who makes his appointments short, sweet, and to the point. Sometimes that is not a bad thing, but sometimes it sucks to drive a little over an hour to have a short, less than 5 minute meeting with him to discuss things. Well anyway, I get there and he takes a look at my scars, (which are a tad red from a sunburn), says they are healing well, checks my strength in my feet and ankles, says that the strength is good, then asks what I have been doing as far as activities. (Just to catch you up on things, I wasnt really supposed to do much until I went to this appointment...oops.) I was honest with him. I told him that I have been trying to walk a lot, taking it easy on days that I am more sore than others, and jogging a little, increasing the distance as things feel good. He told me that what I am doing is good, however I dont wan...

So I told you all that I would share a list of the races that I hope to do someday. I call it my race bucket list. I have a goal of running a half marathon in every state, however I do not know of all halves in every state, so I need some help. If you know of an awesome half that has a fun or interesting course, wonderful bling, or that you just really enjoyed, please let me know! I am going to keep updating this list as I find or hear about new races that I want to do in the future. January: The Big Beach Marathon - Gulf Shores, AL Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend (Dopey Challenge) - Orlando,FL February: Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend - Orlando, FL March: N/A April: Lincoln Presidential Half - Springfield, IL The Boston Marathon - Boston, MA Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon - Louisville, KY Garmin Marathon - Olathe, KY  May: 500 Festival Mini Marathon - Indianapolis, IN Valleyfair Half Marathon - Shakopee, MN Bay to Breakers - S...

%=1 Mile/#=5K/ *=10K/+=Half/~=Marathon/$=Other Saturday July 2nd Armstrong Pump-N-Run; Armstrong;  register  # Freedom 5k; Buffalo;  register  # Carlisle 4th of July Fun Run and Walk; Carlisle;  register  #,$ Rip Roar Kids Triathalon; Cedar Rapids;  Register  $ Coralville 4th FEST 5k; Coralville;  Register  # FAJ Squad 5k Run/Walk; Dubuque;  register  # Earlham Firecracker 5k; Earlham;  register  # Exira Fun Run/5k/10k; Exira;  register  #,*,$ Clayton Ridge Interact 5k; Guttenberg;  register  # Iowa Valley Fine Arts 5k; Marengo;  register  # Pleasantville Firecracker 5k; Pleasantville;  Register  # Running Makes Cent$; Reinbeck;  Register  #,$ Royal Rec 5k; Royal;  Register  # Sunday July 3rd Creston Half Marathon; Creston;  Register  #,+ Tri in July Super Sprint Triathlon; Sigourney;  register  $ 3 on the 3rd; Y...

Hello everyone! This is my 100th post! Woohoo! I have been working on this blog for a little over a year and a half now, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you to those who read these stories or calendars that I share with you. Thank you to those who keep up with the updates and share their feedback. Thank you to you all. This blog falls right in line with the passion that I have for running and I love to share all that I can with as many people as I can. So an update to go along with everything. It has been a little over a month since I had my surgery on my legs. Things are progressing well and I have started to run (at an 8:30 pace too, keep in mind!!) about 100-300m every few walks. I try to get out every day and walk about 1.5 to 3 miles and am hoping to walk/run a 5k in July or August, (I have yet to pick a specific one yet). I recently set a goal to train and run (possibly walk some) the Rails to Trails half marathon in Norwalk, WI in November. I think that gives me plen...

By guest writer, Brittini. This watch is excellent for running. I've had it for about 2 weeks and have been using it to track my half marathon training. It has two different types of GPS, just a normal GPS and GPS+GLONASS. The GLONASS is just a GPS using a special type of satellite. I haven't used it yet because it takes more battery but it is supposed to be more accurate. The GPS works excellent. I run with my brother who tracks via the Nike Running App. The distances are usually only about 0.05 miles different. That being said, I've mostly run on bike trails in my subdivision with no tree cover or anything. I ran once in a forest preserve on a rainy day and the normal GPS was not working accurately at all, at some points saying that I was running at a 17min/mile pace. It also said I only ran 3 miles when I know I ran at least 4. I plan on trying again using the GPS+GLONASS feature. It is fairly easy to begin your run. You press the run button and press it again to start...

My Garmin Forerunner 235 Hey everyone. I want to share with you some information about a new watch I bought about a month ago (since my old one was stolen). Now, as I cannot run with it, I will more than likely do another update as soon as I start running again, but let me share some facts. I bought the Garmin Forerunner 235, which retails for $330 on Garmin.com. I wanted a watch that would track my steps, gps my runs, and possibly do biking as well. Since I knew that I would be having surgery soon, I figured that the steps could help me push myself and make me have to get off the couch to meet my goals, which it has. This watch does gps for running and biking, can do indoor treadmill running, and supposedly indoor biking (I haven't used a stationary bike yet to try this out, so that will be on the next update), counts steps, tracks sleep and heart rate, and is a smart watch. This watch has all the bells and whistles, and let me be honest. I love it. One of the nice feature...

The progression of my legs. There is an order to this from 1, meaning most recent to 5 meaning oldest, (top right 1, bottom right 2, bottom left (3 images) 3, right center 4, and top left (2 images) 5) Hey everyone! Back for another update! So my wounds are healing up very nicely. They itch like none other though. There are some mornings that I wake up and it feels like I have a giant bug bite (or two) on each leg. They sting every so often as well, but that is manageable. My day now looks along the lines of this: Wake up, put neosporin (or the generic crap) on my incisions, elevate and ice, take ice packs off and walk a little, elevate, walk around some more, ice and elevation again, reapply neosporin, go for a mile long walk, ice and elevate, more elevating, pain pills, bed and elevation. June 3rd mile walk/run I have started to walk more and more. I mean, I am now hitting my garmin goals for the day, which makes me feel pretty good (I still haven't turned the lazi...