So far, so good

OK, so after I got done blogging yesterday, I went for a 3.5 mile run. It felt awesome! I guess I wasn't as out of shape after two or three weeks than I thought. That was a huge relief. The weather was cooler and I felt like I was pretty fast. I don't know my time, because my iPod is broken and I didn't bring my watch with me, but I felt like I was flying!

One strange thing though was when I got home I was so freaking thirsty! I must have drank a gallon of water. I felt like I couldn't quench my thirst at all.

Last night I went to bed early, about 10:00 and fell right asleep. When I woke up this morning, I felt refreshed and ready to face work. Made myself a nice breakfast sandwich with Canadian bacon, an omelet made with one whole egg and one egg white, and a cup of coffee.

Aside from the fact that I didn't eat lunch until almost 2 today (stupid patient transfer) I still felt awesome! In fact, after dinner settled I went out and did some interval training. Pretty much I lapped the station and then walked the block down to the adjacent neighborhood, then sprinted back to the station. I did this 6 times, which took me about half an hour. Then I came in and did 15 minutes of yoga stretching.

I feel great that I was able to fit in a work out at work. Usually, I am too busy (or is it too lazy) to get in a work out on the clock, but as I stated yesterday, I am grounding myself and that means working out at work.

I also, got back in touch with Aaron and Mandi and Gator Crossfit and promised them (and maybe myself) that I would make it in at least once a week. Their workouts are so awesome and I love the way they make me push myself.

Tomorrow's plan is to run in the a.m. before I go to my overtime assignment and then hit the gym for some weights when I get off and before I go home to sleep.

I will keep you posted.

Feeling the burn,
K.

When you find yourself on a downhill slide.....

Make sure you put on the brakes! I have been less than disciplined lately on a personal level. I haven't been running, working out or even eating right. I have somehow managed to completely miss meals and when I do eat, it tends to be on the not so healthy side. Alcohol has also been a major food group for me over the last two or three weeks.

I feel like shit and it sucks.

I have no idea what happened. I am grounding myself for the next month. No alcohol and no fast food. No sodas either. Gym three days a week, running three days a week. Going to give myself one day off a week and no excuses about working out either. So what if I just came off a 24 and have to teach the next day? I have to pass, not one, but two gyms on the way home from work! There is no excuse!

I have a goal - The Women's Marathon in St. Pete Beach is November 22nd. I have already entered and I want to run it in 2 hours. I did the Disney Princess Half in 2:30, I think I can do 2 hours.

I'd like to write more, but I have to go run!

Cheers!
Kristina

Where did all the monkeys go?

A few months ago, I posted a blog about my kayak trip down the Silver River near Ocala. Then I told you about the monkeys and alligators. Well Monday we took another trip up the river, but there wasn't a single monkey to be found. As much as I was scared of them the first time, I was a little disappointed that they weren't there.
As it was, myself, Rudy, John and Ashlee paddled up river again into Silver Springs and floated back down to the boat ramp. The whole trip took us 6 1/2 hours. The paddle up river was kind of tiring because it seemed to me that the current was a little bit swifter than the last time.
The trip back was amazing. We didn't see another soul on the river. At one point it started to rain and we could hear thunder in the near distance. We all started paddling like crazy, not wanting to get stuck in a thunderstorm, but after about 5 minutes the rain passed, we all stopped paddling and just were. It was amazing. The silence was deafening. All you could hear was a gurgle of water and the wild life.
We floated like that for a while and then started paddling again, because it was getting late. There is one point on the river were it is really easy to stop and park your kayak and get out and swim for a bit. After all the crazy paddling we did it was nice to take a dip in the cool water.
The Silver River is crystal clear and very narrow, but there aren't alot of places that you can get out and swim.
The trip starts out in the Silver River State Park and then about 3/4 of the way to Silver Springs attraction you enter the Silver River refuge. They have very strict rules about no swimming or getting out onto the banks or anything. Not even when you get up into the attraction at the main spring. It is pretty cool though because there you are kayaking and he glass bottom boats are floating past you with all these tourists taking your picture and taking videos of you. I waved to one guy who was more interested in us than what his tour guide was saying.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures this time, but Rudy and Ashlee did and as soon as I get them, I will try to post.
Oh yeah, Amy I wanted to ask you something:
We saw this thing that was labeled 'USGS' for United States Geological Survey and I wondered if you knew what it was for. It was just down river from Silver springs attraction, kind of off in the water, but near the bank. I thought I recalled that you worked with them, so I thought you might know what it was.

I got to be a Truckie!

So, today started out like any other ordinary day at work. We did our station duties, washed and cleaned the trucks, and got some lunch. About 3:00 pm, I was just waking up from a short nap, when the tones go out - 2nd alarm request for commercial building fire in Cumberland Cirlce. Units on scene in offensive mode, smoke and flames showing!!

YEE HAW!! I happened to be on the Quint today (this is a ladder truck) They needed a medic (that's me), so there I was suiting up heading to a fire as an actual truckie! Truckie is a term for a person on a ladder truck. Typically, their primary job is search and rescue or overhaul.

We get on scene and it was a madhouse, there had to be at 10 other engines, rescues, district chiefs and ladder trucks on scene. Since this call was in the city, I think their entire fleet of engines was on scene. We got there and staged, then immediately got called in to assist. I packed out in my full bunker gear with my SCBA bottle, helmet and mask, grabbed a pike pole and followed my lieutenant down to the scene. We reported to command and were given the task of making entry on the AB side of the building to look for fire extension. We saw a few flames, but most of everything was in the attic.

We withdrew from there and I got on the nozzle outside for a defensive attack. Since there had already been a ceiling collapse, they called for evacuation and were turning to defensive mode. My crew got called to go in with E2 and pull the ceiling in the adjoining apartment and to see if the firewall was still intact. We grabbed our pike poles and pulled ceiling down in the kitchen until we saw flames then we directed the hose streams and put out the flames. Next we headed into the garage that was next to the kitchen and made entry into the attic where we found some more flames and knocked those down too!

At this point one of the guys on my crew stated that he was low on air and I could hear his low-air alarm going off, so the three of us exited the building and made our way over to rehab to doff our gear and grab some waters.

There were people everywhere! I guess the residents of this neighborhood don't work, so everyone that was home was out watching us put out this fire. After we left rehab, my crew and I relocated to a short wall across from the fire building to wait for our next assignment. I noticed a gentleman sitting next to me watching everything unfold, so I asked him if that was his apartment. He said yes, and looked down. I didn't know what to say, so I told him at least he was OK. He agreed and said that everything in their could be replaced.

Since the fire was coming under control and their were so many people on scene, we were cut loose and we grabbed our gear and headed back to the station so we could put our truck back into service. We had bottles to refill, gear and tools to clean, and dinner to cook.

Below is a picture of the fire scene that was posted in the Gainesville Sun. The Cooper Mini was in the garage and two of the crews pushed it out so they could fight the fire that was in the attic. Five minutes after they pushed it out, the ceiling collapsed in the garage. Talk about a great save!!

Our fire even made TV20 news at 5:30 and 6:00!!! I would have to say that it was a good day!

General (patten - he he) Update

So, my life doesn't seem to me to be as adventurous as others (Amy ;-), I'm not a newlywed anymore (Leslie) and I don't have a fabulous new business (Jaime) But there are a few things that are coming up that I am a little excited about.

First of all, ever since I started taking classes at the Fire College in Ocala, I have wanted to teach there as well. Once I obtained my Fire Officer 1 state certification, I was able to submit my transcripts as well as a letter from my department stating that I have 6 years in as a firefighter in order to obtain my Instructor 3 status.
What this means is that I am now certified to teach any Fire Classes that I currently hold certification in or any fire classes that I have taken. Sooo, I kept checking in with some of the Captains that I know that teach down there and finally it paid off!! I got a meeting with the chief of the fire college and after waiting for nearly a month, I got a phone call from the EMS director asking me to come down for EMT orientation!!
The Fire College has decided to start offering EMT as part of the FireFighter 1 curriculum (sp?) and I have been offered a position to teach! I also get to take Live Fire Training Instructor and will eventually get to teach on the fire side as well! Very Exciting for me to say the least!

The second thing is I am coordinating a fire fighter calendar for our union. Now ladies, you are going to the some of the first to be offered the official 2010 Fire Rescue Professionals of Alachua County firefighter calendar.
All proceeds are going to the MDA and last Thursday my union voted to front the money for printing! I am super excited about this opportunity to up the totals that we raise for the MDA. It should also be fun to shoot the guys and ladies that I work with. (shoot as in pictures, not with guns ;-) Calendars should be available by late October, so remember to get one for your girl friends for Christmas, they will make great stocking stuffers!

I haven't forgotten my quest to run in a race every month. August's race with be the Run for Daruis at the University of Florida. Check out Darius' website and tell me you wouldn't run 5K for him www.Dariusgoeswest.com What an amazing kid!

So that is the General (Patten - he he) Update. I promise to keep you posted more often.

Love to all!
K.

Florida Trek

The Alachua County Board of County Commisioners, in a effort to make sure that they don't have a bunch of fat slobs working for them, has concocted several health and wellness programs over the years. My favorite since I have been here is the Florida Trek.

This is a personal competition where you keep track of the miles that you log each week and our Risk Management co-ordinator keeps track of them for you on a handy dandy spread sheet.
The miles break down pretty easy, if you do something with distance, say running, walking, biking, etc. you just keep track of the miles. But, if you do something active, like softball, tennis, step class or strength training, 15 minutes = 1 mile.

There are several "points" along the trek and with each one you get your name in a drawing for a fabulous bike at the Employee Health Fair in May. The points are as follows: Alligator point -250 miles, Panther point - 500 miles, Flamingo point - 1000 miles, and Manatee point - 2000 miles! Amazingly enough there are people who do reach the Manatee point, so they just start back over again. These people are cyclists and ride like a million miles on Saturdays and Sundays, so I am in awe of them.

The Trek starts on June 1 and lasts all the way until April 30. Last year, I logged an impressive 713 miles! I was truly proud of myself. Most of these miles were logged during my marathon training. I did take two months off after the marathon (I didn't feel like running or even going to they gym after that) so I know that I could have easily done 1000 miles.

That brings me to my goal for this years Trek - 1000 miles. I know I can do it! I've had a few good weeks, and one not so good week - 2 miles :-( The way I figure though, is 2 is better than zero, right? I have other goals also, last year my goal was to have the most miles in Fire Rescue, which I did, so I'd like to repeat that goal again.

My friend Beth, whom I met because of the Florida Trek has been pushing me to ride with her. (She is one of those amazing bike riders I was talking about earlier.) She took me out to the Hawthorne trail and we rode 24 miles. I thought I was going to die, because I was pedaling my butt off to keep up with her "easy ride." It was fun and I think the spin class might help me to hang with her.

This week has been exceptional! Not including yesterday, when I was at work, and it's not easy to get in a good workout on R16, I have worked out every day! I did a spin class on Tuesday with Leslie and we rode 22 miles! Then after that we went downstairs and did a 30 minute abs and glutes class.

Right now I am sitting on 125 miles!! Halfway to Alligator point!

MDA/IAFF Local 3852 yard sale

While most people were sleeping in or enjoying a day off Saturday, I was busy with the MDA yard sale that I organized. 6:00 am rolls around pretty quickly, especially when you spent most of Friday moving all the generous donations from your station to the location of the yard sale. Jonathan and Tara Richardson were awesome to let us use the parking lot of their store, The Babies' Room for our sale. As I arrived at the location, the weather was clear and sunny and perfect for a yard sale.
Ashlee and Jean showed up to help get things set up and we were open for business sooner than you could say, "Squad 16 on scene, investigative mode." Ashlee, our resident artist, was put in charge of making signs to direct the public to our location. I think this sign took her like an hour to make ;-)


Below, is a shot of some shoppers picking up that much needed item at a discount price!

I wish that Mother Nature had been more cooperative, because she let it start raining around 10:30 and the ladies that I was working with less than enthusiastic about being out in the rain. We packed up and called it a day, but not before making $450 for the Muscular Dystropy Association!!

I'm pleased with that amount and more than grateful for all of the donations that my brother and sister firefighters made to help this thing be so successful.

I have the coolest job

Last Monday I arrive at work only to find out that our USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team has rope training at Deerhaven. I am not on the USAR team, but my partner is, so we got to go out to Deerhaven (energy plant that burns coal into electricity, I think.) There were 4 trucks and a District Chief out there, so we had a lot of people.

Rope training is rapelling. We took the elevator up to the 10th floor and set up to rapel down to the 8th floor. We had to rapel down the side of the building through the outside stairwell. It was so awesome! Here is a picture of the view from the 10th floor:After checking out that breathtaking view looking south towards Gainesville down US441, I put on my harness (with some help from the USAR guys, of course!)

The next picture is me getting ready to let go and start lowering myself down. I'm pretty sure at this point I was shaking and my breath was shallow and fast.Upside down! The only way to keep yourself from bouncing when you change levels! By the time I got halfway down, I was having fun!!

I love my job!!

June/July races

So, this race a month thing is getting sort of like a job. I had a really hard time finding a race for June and July. Two reasons are that I have been super busy and June and July are the hottest months ever and not many races are out there.
June's race was the Dash for Dreams 5K at Westside park. A small race, but pretty good except that the 1st leg of the race was on 8th avenue - up the hill! What a crazy first mile. Also, they only had one water station at the one mile mark and I think that they could have done with a second one. (Things I will note for the 5K that I am planning.) Overall, it was fun. They had an auction for some items and I got $20 gift certificate to Ivey's grill for $15. I guess the highlight of the race was that Shelley Meyer ran in it. I don't remember seeing her, but somebody mentioned it like it made the race more official or something.
July's race, ironically, was the Dream Society's Firecracker 5K in Inverness. I happened to be in Orlando on the 2nd and 3rd, so on the way home I stopped in Inverness for the race that started at 6:30PM. It was actually kind of cool. The race course was an out and back on the Withlacoochie Trail, so it was kind of naturey (I may have just made that word up) It also happened to be the same night as the city of Inverness' fireworks display, so there was a bunch of people and they had a little miss firecracker contest and some churches sang patriotic songs. I would have liked to have stayed for the fireworks, but I was by myself and it was a little depressing to be there alone.
My times for both races were around 35 minutes, which doesn't sound good to me, but I just don't know what to do to make myself faster.
Actually, I feel like I am stuck. I love to run, but I don't want to "just run." I'd like to improve myself at the same time. I thought about hiring a running coach, but that might cost too much. I don't know what to do.

Ramblings

I'm feeling very inclined to write, and this seems like a good enough outlet.



Walking water whispers



As I crouch next to the embankment,
I hear it - walking water whispers.



I look around for the voice,
I am alone.



I hear the rushing sound of the water,
Mother Nature tells me her secrets.



Nowhere to go, I slip off my clothes,
As I slip into the cool water I am energized.


I listen closer and it becomes clearer,
I smile.

Walking water whispers

Tega Cay Military Memorial 5K - Tega Cay, SC

Celebrating my 34th birthday would not be complete without a 5K race. Tega Cay is a fancy shmancy golf course community about 15 minutes south of Charlotte, NC, where we spent the weekend for my birthday. I recall another race on a golf course (see LG 5K) and thought, this should be about the same. What I neglected to recall was that most of South and North Carolina is considered mountainous or, at the very least, foothillsy.

My Aunt Nancy and my fabulous husband, Billy, both agreed to join in this event with me, but they decided to walk in the one mile family walk instead. There were maybe 50 people running and it started out nice. The weather was perfect! Sunny and cool enough that there was little to no humidity.

The organizers of the race, realizing that May 30th is the actual Memorial Day, allowed everyone to come dressed in their most patriotic running attire. I was a little disappointed that my Aunt Nancy and I were the only ones dressed in red, white and blue! Here is the picture of us with our patriotic garb on.

They had a (small) color guard to present the colors during the playing of the National Anthem. I don't care how small or large a group is, this tradition never fails to bring tears and a sense of pride for our great nation.

The start of the race was nice and smooth, but about 500m into the course, we hit a decline that dropped about 25 feet over about 20 yards. Holy crap! It was almost straight up and down. Out loud, to no one in particular, I said, "You have got to be kidding me!" The guy that was running next to me, looked at me and said, "Yeah, and we get to run back up this same hill!" Oh geez! I was thinking that I was pretty glad that I ran stadiums twice last week and my legs aren't totally going to hate me for running these crazy hills one more time!

It was a great course, very quiet and serene with some gorgeous views on the back nine (including all those hills!) As I crossed the finish line at 35:23, I thought that wasn't too bad for such a hilly course.

We hung around for the awards ceremony so Aunt Nancy and Billy could get their medals for finishing the walk, and I found out that I got 3rd place in my age category! Even better, I was the 4th female overall!!! I couldn't believe it!

And to make things even better; Aunt Nancy and I won for the patriotic costume contest. The hats that we were wearing we made. Well, OK, it's just a store bought visor with glittery foam stars on them, but still. It was a great race, a great day, and an awesome weekend!

Miles for Moffitt 5K

May race - Miles for Moffitt is a charity 5K for the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. My cousin, Michelle is the PIO for Moffit and she mentioned this race to me back in February when we came down for Gasparilla. Michelle, her husband Todd and thier friends Patty and Jen were all volunteering at water stations, so I was running solo.
It was super hot this morning and we had to get their early so a) I could pick up my packet and b) they could get to their assigned water stations. This meant I was there about an hour and 15 minutes before my race started and pretty much sat around until then too. By the time I reached the start line I was already dripping sweat, but I was determined to run a good race and my goal was to finish in sub 30 min. Didn't happen. It was too freaking HOT! And they didn't have enough water tables set up. There was also a 5 mile run that started a half hour before the 5K and we caught two of their water tables, but they were both in the first half of the 5K, so pretty much for the last 2.5K there was no water until we got to the finish line.
Unfortunately, I also didn't get any pictures either. Not to fear, I have a 5K in Tega Cay, SC on the 30th (one day before my birthday) and Billy and my Aunt Nancy are both going to be there. It sounds like its going to be fun. The the is America/Red, white and blue, and they are having a costume contest. The best running outfit with an american theme wins a prize. I bought a few things today, but I have another idea for a running outfit. I will definitely get pics from this race though and post them, so keep checking back.

xo,
K.

Leadership Gainesville 34 5K

I know I already ran a race for April, but I couldn't pass this one up. Each year, Leadership Gainesville holds a 5K race at Ironwood. This is pretty cool, because I live at Ironwood, so to show up for this race, I simply had to walk out my front door and across the parking lot to the club house. Pretty neat, huh?

I've run at the golf course before, when they were closed for Thanksgiving, or some rainy day, but it did not prepare me or give me an advantage for this race at all. The race course started in the middle of the 1st fairway and over the 9th fairway to pick up with the cart path. Then we followed the cart path to the 8th hole and went off the golf course into the woods! Yes we ran through the woods past the dumpster and back to the 9th hole, did a loop and finished on the cart path near where we started the race. It was kind of weird, but hey a 5K is a 5K and I love to run!

My friend Liz and her daughter Kayla came to see me run and take some photos for my scrapbook. That is them below.

Here's one she got of me at about mile 2, after my trek through the woods. My calves were killing me and I had to stop to stretch them out, so I probably would have had a better time than I did.I pushed myself for the last mile, I wanted to post a better time than my 5 points of life 5K and here's me crossing the finish line. My official time: 31:20. It's nice to shave almost a minute of your time.I also ran into my friend Wade at the race. Wade has been out of athletics due to a torn ACL and corrective surgery. This was his first race back and he did amazing! I think his time was 32:45 and he pushed me to run faster. (I couldn't let him and his gimp leg beat me! :-)

I'm not sure where my May race is going to be. It seems that the races that I am interested in doing all fall the day after I am on shift and they are all out of town. And with no vacation spots available, I have to find one that fits in with my schedule. There is a posibility that I will be going to North Carolina to visit my Aunt Nancy. If I go, then there is a 5K at Tega Cay, so I will do that. If I don't go, then it looks like the SunState/Great Gainesville Road race 5K on the 30th of May is going to be my May race.

Stay tuned to find out!

April Race - Iron Girl 10K (Clearwater)

April shower's bring May flowers, but there was hardly a drop of rain in sight as 1500 runners lined up for the Iron Girl 10K in Clearwater. I love this race because this was the first ever organized race that I ran last year.

The race starts at Coachman Park right on the water and we run over the Memorial Causeway bridge into Clearwater Beach, turn around and come back for a second go at the bridge. Below is a picture of the bridge:

It's huge! The first mile of the race is all uphill. It makes you consider your strategy. I don't train hills, because there aren't any in Gainesville, so once I made it to the top I was spent. And I still had 5 miles to go. My goal for this race was to beat last year's time which was 1:09:00.

I'm the blur of pink crossing the finish line. My time was 1:07:57, which beat last year's time! Yay! Below is a shot of me with the bridge after I conquered it - twice!Billy is such a trooper. Both years he has gone to this race with me and both years men are outnumbered. The Iron Girl race series is for all women. It's very empowering and they are all about celebrating women. When you approach the end they somehow know your name and the emcee yells out as you cross the finish line, "Iron Girl, Kristina Patten from Gainesville, finishing. Let's hear it! Those cheers are for you, Kristina!" It's really cool.

The swag you get is pretty neat too. This year we got a re-usable bag, a cute little AFLAC duck that talks and an awesome dri-fit running singlet. I'm wearing mine in the pictures.

It was a good race, a good day to race and a good trip overall.

Next race is at Ironwood (which is where I live) on the 15th. It's a 5K and my goal for this one is to finish in under 30 minutes.

Late entry about Sarah's birthday trip to the Keys

My baby sister turned 30 on March 22nd. Her birthday wish was to go to Key West for her 30th birthday. So, Sarah, Mandy (Sarah's BFF) and I packed up and headed to the islands to party like a rock star.

Sarah (on the left) and Mandy and Louie's BBQ. Which wasn't really what we were expecting. This place was super fancy and the dinners were pretty expensive, so we had a drink at the bar and headed to Duval Street.

I don't recall the name of this bar, but there were hundreds of dollar bills plastered to the walls, pillars, and bar. People sign them and staple them all over. It was pretty cool, so we had to make our mark as well.

Here is where the night started to get really fun. After hitting a couple of bars and restaurants and pretty much drinking our way down Duval Street we ended up at Cowboy Bills. It was only about midnight at this point, but look at our rock star now! She was passed out at the bar and we got kicked out because apparently bars don't like this practice. Mandy and I walked back to the hotel with her, tucked her old ass in bed and hit the town for some more drinking and fun.The famous Key West sunset celebration. It was overcast and cool, but they view was still amazing.

Our last night in the Keys, which was Sarah's actual birthday, we drove to Islamorada. We started out the evening at Lazy Days for dinner. Sarah wanted to try lobster and I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face when she took her first bite! She hated it!! But no fear, Mandy and I finished her dinner for her. The waiter brought her a piece of key lime pie with a candle and we sang 'Happy Birthday.' The next stop was the Lore Lei for some more drinks. Here we got hit on by some old guys who wanted us to come back to their condo. Not so much! In an effort to get away from them, we headed to the next bar - The Safari Lounge. What a dump! It was dark and smoky and the clientele was quite suspiscious looking. We had one drink and headed out of there and back to the Lore Lei. After there we headed to the Whistle Stop and shot some pool and had a great time. We were obviously not locals, so we got our fair share of looks, but who gives a shit!? We were having such a great time! The picture below is our re-incarnation of all the pics that we took this weekend. It seems that in every picture, someone had a strange look on their face.

I think she had a good time. Maybe 40 will be in Vegas. ;-)

Silver River Kayak Trip

Tuesday morning Rudy, Joe, John and I took our kayaks down to Ocala to the Silver River for a day on the river. The weather was perfect! We put in near the Oklawaha River and headed upstream to Silver Springs. About 20 minutes into our trip we passed a family of monkeys. These things are wild and crazy! I was terrified that they were going to try to jump right into my kayak. Everyone feeds them, so when they see people they expect that they are going to get food.

We also saw alot of alligators. I've never seen alligators this big in the wild. After I saw this gator, I went around the corner and took the second picture, but when I turned around, that big gator was right behind me! I screamed and started paddling like crazy to catch up with the guys.

When we got to Silver Springs we were paddling around the main spring right next to the Glass Bottom boats! There were a few tourists milling around and it was funny that we could just paddle right up in there. Of course, we weren't allowed to dock or get into the water, but it was still pretty cool.
Perfect weather and perfect company made this the perfect trip.

March Race - Disney Princess Half Marathon

I am a bad-ass, fleet-footed, kick butt Princess. Sunday was the inaugural Disney Princess Half Marathon. This was my effort to redeem my less than stellar showing in DC at the MCM, so I was training for a time of 3:00. My marathon time was 6:13, so I figured, unless I wake up in the same state I did for the marathon, I was definitely going to make 3 hours. I would like to preclude that my last race, the 5 points of life 5K was my fastest pace ever! I flew by with a 10:25 pace, that shocked the pants off of me. (Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. Maybe next race ;-)

Saturday night/Sunday morning was daylight savings time, so we had to move the clocks forward an hour (you know - spring ahead, fall behind) What this meant was that I had to hit the sack about 8:30 to get enough sleep to not be dragging ass the next morning. I was staying with my cousin Michelle at a house my other cousin, Phaedra and her husband and two daughters were renting for their vacation. I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep with a very rambunctious 6 and 3 year old in the house, but I was so exhausted I passed out at 8:30 anyway.

I made sure I set 3 alarms on my cell phone and my cousin set her alarm too. However, at 4:30 a.m. (new time) my cousin comes into my room and says, "Kristina, it's 5:30." I FREAKED! Holy shit! How did I sleep through 3 alarms? The race starts at 7:00 am and we have to get dressed and get to Disney (about 15 minute drive), park and get to the start line!? I look at my watch, which I conveniently did NOT adjust, so I would be sure not to get confused in case my cell phone didn't automatically adjust for the time change and it read - 3:30. Which means that it is really only 4:30 and that is precisely what time I had my alarm set for. WHEW!! Tragedy averted.

We make it to the race and park the car and still have time to pee, which is good, because the 50 port-o-lets that they had were hardly enough for the 6200 women that were running. I leave my cousin and head to the start line. It was awesome! 6000 women and most of them are dressed as their favorite Disney princess. I saw Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Tinkerbell. The few guys that ran were even into the spirit - I saw a guy dressed as a frog prince. And, sorry fellas, it is not cool to run wearing a tutu, but I give you a thumbs up for channelling your inner princess ;-)

Well, I am standing at the start line and my stomach starts growling and I realize that I forgot to eat breakfast. OOPS! Oh, well, no turning back, and I did have a big dinner, so I sucked it up and the start gun goes off.

I feel strong and my legs are working well in the cold 45 degree temperature. I was fortunate enough to qualify for the first corral of runners, so I think that gave me a bit of a mental advantage. I reached the first place where my cousin could watch for me, about mile 4 and I am flying! I grabbed a protein bar from her and choke it down so I can have some fuel for the next 9 miles. About halfway through we got to run through the Magic Kingdom and straight through Cinderella's castle! (I'll have pictures of that soon) People were cheering us all the way, it was so cool. After leaving the Magic Kingdom we headed past a golf course and through some service roads that most people don't get to see at Disney, then it was off to Epcot, which was our final destination. We ran around Spaceship Earth (the big golf ball thing that is associated with Epcot) and then the mad dash for the finish line.

As I crossed the finish, and looked at my stop watch, I couldn't believe the time - 2:30. I was way below my anticipated time of 3 hours. My fairy godmother gave me my medal and another sprinkled me with fairy dust. My cousin was there cheering for me, it was truly a great moment. All doubts I had about being a race competitor vanished.

I always set such high standards for myself and then get discouraged when I don't achieve them. As was the case with the marathon. I was really hoping to finish 26 miles in 5:30 and I didn't, so I was really hard on myself and couldn't be happy for the huge thing that I had done which was finishing a marathon.

Needless to say, I am pleased with my time - officially: 2:30:37, which equates to a pace of about 11:30/mile. It makes me feel good.

Here is a shot of the feet that carried me through 13.1 miles, I don't know if you can see it, but I wrote on the insides of both my lower legs "FAST FEET" I think it worked.

The next race coming up for me is the AFLAC Iron Girl 10K in Clearwater on the 11th of April. Last year's time was 1:09, so I am shooting for :59.

Here are the rules:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.~No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

So, the 4th item in the fourth folder isn't exactly a photo, but a video.

This was taken at my house on my 32nd birthday. I originally posted it in a blog on Myspace titled, "Why you shouldn't put candles on your birthday cake after age 30." My husband, thought it would be funny to put 32 candles on my little birthday cake. These were not regular candles, but the kind that relight after you blow them out. Sounds funny, huh?

Well it would have been except that he didn't account for how he was going to get the candles off the cake to put them out. They all kept relighting and he couldn't get them off the cake. Then to really add to the hilarity of the situation, the smoke detectors went off and scared the bejesus out of the cats and my niece and nephew. We were all laughing so hard! Billy eventually took the cake over to the sink and I thought he was going to turn the water on and put the cake under the stream. We ended up wetting a paper towel and grabbing the candles with that. By the time we were done, my cake had a think layer of wax on the top of it, but it still tasted yummy and we all had a really good laugh.

The next year, no candles on the cake.

5 points of life 5K

In my quest to run in a race every month this year, February's race was the 5 Points of Life 5K. This race was special for me, because my sister was running also. I met up with her and Billy at the start line (I was coming off shift, and about 4 hours of sleep) Sarah and I spent the hour until the start gun, walking and warming up and then it was time to head to the start line. She was so nervous! We were standing at the start line listening to her MP3 player and dancing and jumping around, which I think got her mind off the fact that she was getting set to run in her first race. I remember just how nervous I was!
The siren sounded for the start of the race and we were off! I hung with her for about the first 1/4 mile and then I told her to run her own pace and not worry about the people around her, then I took off. I felt so good! The course was through the UF campus. We started in front of the SW rec center and ran around the complex to Museum road, past Lake Alice to Gale Lemerand Drive and down past the big commuter lot then back around past the entomology buildings and the citrus growing fields back to Hull road and finished in the parking lot of the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. I was pretty amazed that for the most part I passed alot of people and was running really strong.
Fortunately, they were using chips to time us and we were able to get our official race times right there. My time was 32:17! This is my fastest 5K and my pace was 10:24/mile! I was pumped.
After I crossed the finish line and turned in my chip, I ran back to meet up with Sarah and help her finish. She wasn't that far behind and I pushed her to cross the finish line strong. Her time was 45:47! I am so proud of her!
After the race Billy and I took her out for breakfast to celebrate her first race! I think this will calm her down a bit more for the Princess half, which is only two weeks away!
I can't wait, it will be fun to spend the weekend with my sister and my cousin, running and hanging out.

K.

Newnan's Lake 15K

This morning was really cold. Ice on the grass cold as Kim and I made our way to Powers Park and the start line for the Newnan's Lake 15K. I guess there was probably about 100 other crazy people out there, braving the freezing temps. I'm sure most of these people are training for their own personal goals and I was no different. Today was my last chance this month to complete a race and move towards my goal of at least one race each month this entire year.
Kim and I started pretty strong, but then realized that 15K is pretty far. We were towards the end of the pack for most all of the race, but we kept our pace and both of us finished in under 2 hours. My time was 1:50:50, and if my calculations are accurate, I think that I might be able to do the Princess Half in about 2:45!
The route took us from Powers Park on Hawthorne Road, down to Lakeshore Drive, where we ran along Newnan's lake then out to University Ave and turn around and head back the way we came. Other than the sub-arctic temps, the weather was amazing. Watching the morning sun as it reflected off of the water, was amazing. I felt like we all were part of a priviledged group that was lucky enough to experience Mother Nature's gifts. While the rest of the city was sleeping in their warm beds, they were missing out on true beauty. There was even a crew team on the water for their morning practice.
The last 3 miles or so, I picked up a second wind and pushed my self to the finish. I left Kim behind me, but not by much. She is a machine! This was only her second organized race and her first was the 5K last weekend. Her goal was to finish in under 2 hours and she accomplished it by finishing in 1:56 (I think it was her time)
What a great start to a chilly Saturday!

A Personal Goal for 2009

My personal goal for this year is to run in a race every month in 2009. My January race was going to be the NuNu 5K on January 24th, but I didn't get relieved at work until 0830, which is when the race started. My friend Kim was running in it with me, so I had to call her and tell her I wasn't going to make the start. She was disappointed, but I showed up anyway and ran the race from the finish line backwards to the start until I caught up with her and I finished the run with her.
To make up for not actually competing in this race, I signed up for a 15K this Saturday and since I don't work Friday, I will be able to make the start. I am excited about this race, and feel that I have been running strong lately.
My February race is probably going to be the 5 points of life 5K, but I haven't signed up for it yet. For March, I am running in the Disney Princess's Half Marathon with my sister and cousin. April is the Iron Girl 10K, which happens to be the first organized race I ever did. I'm still looking around for May, but hopefully, I'll be able to coincide that race with my 34th birthday.
I will definitely keep updating about my races.
Wish me luck!

Firetrucks are not 4x4s

Last night, well actually this morning, at 4:30 am, we get paged out to a medical call. After leaving the patient's house, our driver was attempting to turn around in the front yard when he got into some sugar sand. Being from Florida, this is a regular occurence, especially if you spend any time at the beach. And you know how much it sucks when you get your own car stuck in the sand. Now imagine that you are driving a fire truck.
Fire trucks are large in nature, but now pack a couple hundred pounds of equipment, another couple hundred pounds of hose, and 4 people and their gear. Sounds like it could be pretty heavy, right? There's more.
One gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds, we have 1000 gallons on our truck. That is 8300 pounds! All of this weight and it's no wonder we got stuck. No, not stuck, we had the back end buried all the way to the axles! Not much you can do at this point except wait. Wait for someone to come pull you out. Easier said than done. It's easy to pull a car or truck out, but an over 12,000 pound fire engine, this requires heavy machinery. And that is exactly what came to our rescue - A grater tractor. It took him all of 15 seconds to pull us out and we were back in service.
We had to call this poor guy from the city and wake him up early, so he could come rescue us. When he saw us buried in these people's front yard, he laughed. I have to admit I was laughing too. So, needless to say, I have been up since 4:30 this a.m., and it is 12:45pm currently.

Happy New Year's and the Resolutions

First of all, Happy New Year's to all of my friends.
2009 is upon us and naturally we are somewhat obligated to make the ever popular new year's resolutions......
Resolution #1 - Stop letting every little thing bother me. This is a major priority for me, because I think that my constant stressing will ultimately be my demise.
Resolution #2 - I need to be more disciplined when it comes to working out. That means if I have a run or workout scheduled for the day, get off my ass and do it!! No excuses.
Resolution #3 - Learn to say no. I've been trying to practice this, but I really need to start utilizing this very important step to my sanity.
Resolution #4 - Love my husband more and more each day. This should be an easy one.
Resolution #5 - Get rid of excess baggage. This means emotional and physical.
So, there we go, resolutions for 2009.
Now go out there and BE HAPPY!!!
xoxo,
K.