The Mojo Is Back!

After my crappy running experience I am happy to report that I have moved on!! I headed out my door Thursday with a smile on my face, a new positive attitude and bells on my shoes! I went and busted out a six miler at a 8:30 minute mile pace!! The mojo is back...thank goodness:) After I got back from my run I did my push-up challenge. I wish that I could say that it is getting easier...it is not:( Friday I took off from running but completed my push-ups for the week!! I am done until Monday:) I drove into St. Cloud this morning to meet the St. Cloud River Runners for my Saturday morning group run. Above is the picture taken this morning...click here for a larger version. The run started off at The Meeting Grounds coffee shop in St. Cloud. I got there at about 6:30 with the help of Nikki. Map quest directions were a little off and I was having a hard time finding this place. I called Nikki and she met me at Perkins. I then followed her just a few blocks to where we needed to be:) I was so close! I wanted to get eleven to fourteen miles in for the day. I ran with Nikki and Heather for the first portion of my morning run:) I just wanted to run an easy pace and Nikki was a great leader. We ran three miles before we stopped at Coborns for a bathroom break:) Okay, it was me not we! I felt so much better after the break and we were off again. We just ran around St. Cloud on the roads and over bridges:) Nikki was a great leader/coach and kept Heather and I on task!! At about mile 8.25 we met Pam and Denny. They were going a little faster than what we were. Denny said, "Come on let's go!" Honestly, I was a little tired but I really attempted to pick up the pace and try to stay with Denny. Nikki and Pam wanted to run a little more and add a bit more to their run. This is where we seperated. Denny and I ran together for the last .75 of our nine mile run. Running with Denny was good for me. He is so much taller and faster but I wanted to keep up with him, darn it!! He challenged me and helped me to finish strong:) Thank you, Denny!

Here is Heather, Nikki and me. This is after we got back from the first part of our run.

This is a picture of Denny and me:)

I took a few random pictures of the group before we went out on our second run.

For the second part of our run there were two choices. Some people did seven miles and another group of us did five miles. Here is a picture of us heading out at 8 AM. For this portion of the run I ran with Cathy, Buddy, John, Paul and Judy. I was a little tired but was fine until about mile four. Mile five was a little tough...John and I ran back together. Thank God he was with me because I had no idea where we were:) After we got back we all had breakfast at The Meeting Grounds. I had a bowl of build your own oatmeal with blueberries and white chocolate:) Mmmm!

Here is another picture of me and Denny! We sat at the same table and were able to chat over breakfast. Denny is the nicest man and he has agreed to be my new running dad!

This is a picture of Wanda and Buddy. They are both pretty darn cool and each of them have run in so many marathons. Wanda's marathon PR is an amazing 3:11!! I love it that they are a married couple who both feel passionate about running:) You can see that Buddy is wearing a Little Falls Flyers sweatshirt...he was giving me crap about graduating from Rocori High School:) The Spartans and the Flyers were pretty big rivals:) Buddy, you can give me a hard time all you want...I have a good sense of humor!

This last pic. is of me and Nikki:) I had a great time this morning and was very happy to get my fourteen miles in! Thank you St. Cloud River Runners...you all rock!! You have already helped me so much! When I got home I took a shower and took a two hour nap:) I did a few things around the house and went shopping. At five o'clock I went out on a easy three miler:) Total miles for the day...seventeen:) I am really proud of myself! Seventeen miles in one day is huge for me. I just need to keep it up and continue to build on the miles! Hopefully if I get my act together I will be ready for a marathon in the fall:)

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and Happy Easter!!

Tara is hosting a Ryder Eyewear giveaway..go check out her blog!!

Marcia is hosting a Chia Seed giveaway!

Misszippi is hosting a Runervals DVD giveaway!

Tricia is hosting a kettleworx giveaway!

Angie is hosting a Nuun giveaway!