Racing Heart

If you follow my facebook page for my blog, you would have seen the wonderful image of the giant wrap I had on my toe after I had the doctors remove most of my toenail. Well, if you haven’t seen the picture yet, here it is. Now you might be wondering, howd it go? Was it painful? How was recovery? Anything you can say for those who are about to go through the same procedure? Give me just a minute and I will explain everything. So let me share some back story for those who don’t know me well enough to know everything about my toes. I have thumb-like big toes. They are pudgy and round, and most the time, red and swollen. I used to think that the red and swollen aspect was a normal thing for feet, as that was how things have always been with my toes since I can remember (its not). So anyway, I get ingrown toenails frequently. Im talking like one every couple months or so, at least 3-4 times a year. Usually, when I get them, I soak the toe, use some hydrogen peroxide, and smother...

Feb 3rd B-rrry Scurry 4 mile; Clinton; register Rosy Cheeks 5k; Story City, IA; register Feb 10th Red Flannel Run 3/5 mile; Des Moines; register Feb 17th Freezefest 5k; Cedar Rapids; register Red Dress Hash Run; Davenport; register Feb 18th CRBC Chili Chase 4 mile; Davenport; register Tropical Indoor Triathlon; Iowa City; register

January 1st Commitment Day 5k; Urbandale, IA; register January 13th Frostbite Foot Race 5k; Eldridge, IA; register January 14th  Triple D Winter Race (Bike 100k; Run 5k, 13.1, 26.2, Ultra; Ski 5k, 13.1, 26.2, Ultra); Dubuque, IA; register January 21st Lifetime Indoor Triathlon; Des Moines, IA; register January 27th Amana Colonies Freezer 5k; Amana, IA; register January 28th Iowa Games Road Race 5k; Dubuque, IA; register Ice Breaker Triathlon; Walnut Creek, IA;  register

Im sure you've heard the story before. Either you have tried it yourself, you know someone who has been going for a while, or you've heard of the people who have gone for years. Im talking about run streaking, which is when you run at least a mile every single day. Now, its not for everyone and can be very taxing on the body to repeatedly put everything through that much stress if you arent in the best shape. Trust me, I learned this first hand, but I will get to that shortly. But for those who can streak and have been streaking, I commend you. For those who are interested, I would say give it a try. Listen to your body though, it will tell you when you can continue and when you should stop.  For me, I started off wonderfully on November 20th. I had been going to the gym with my mom every morning and started off by warming up on the treadmill, which I could hit at least a mile before finishing my workout. Other days, (mainly if I didnt want to wake up or move at 5 am), ...

December 2nd Jolly Folly Twilight Fun Run; Denver; register Jingle Bell Run; Des Moines;  register Sycamore 8 Trail Run; Des Moines;  register Ugly Sweater 5k; Dubuque;  register Christmas in LeClaire Ugly Sweater 5k; LeClaire;  register December 3rd Tour de Lights; Vinton;  register December 9th Santa's Snow Shuffle; Cedar Falls;  register Jingle Bell Run; Davenport;  register The Hitchcock Experience; Honey Creek; register Jingle for a Cure; Newton;  register December 16th Ely Winterfest Fun Run; Ely;  register

Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon October 15th, 2017 Detroit, MI 13.1 This year was the 40th running of the Detroit Free Press Chemical Bank Series, and my first time running the race. I found out about the run back when I worked at the running store and had seen a flyer about it. Of course, I was curious, and had to look it up. When I found out that it crossed international borders, I had to run it. So, last year, when I was visiting my friend in Ann Arbor, I drunkenly made the agreement to run this with her the following year. Fast forward to 2017, I signed up with my sister and my friend, and we got to running it. Here are my thoughts and experiences. Me and the Sister pre-race. Overall, this was a great race. Just going to start there. When you begin, you start early, so when we began, it was dark out. It was also windier than ever, but that was not something that was under our control. To be honest, we were nervous as they were saying there w...

Hey everyone! So I know I fell off the grid for a while, but I am trying my best to be back in the swing of things. My life has been busier than ever but things are finally slowing down and, hopefully, I will get back to where I was with updating everyone with races and the monthly calendars. Again, I apologize for stopping everything and losing touch, it was tough coming back after the second leg surgery, and after healing up from that, I had a wedding to finish up with, (yep, I got married), then work got a little hectic. But, like I said, things have calmed down enough to where I can get back to writing a monthly calendar and my legs are back to normal (I can feel my toes/feet/legs when I run!), so I will be running more races! After my wedding, I did run another half, crossing another state off my list, so you guys can expect a review of that soon. I do need some help, however; I am looking for at least 2 more halves to do next year, and I want to cross off a couple new state...