Determined!

I just PR'ed on a 5K this past Saturday. A new PR by 19 seconds. My goal is to break 26 minutes at my next 5K on April 6th. Which means I need to cut at least 25 seconds off this new PR. Doable? Surely. I just need to convince myself of that. I just did some speedwork yesterday and plan to do more next week too. I wonder if that will help me get there in 2 weeks?

A race recap will be written for it, but I wanted to brag because I actually WON my age group. Albeit, it was a small race with only 129 participants - it is a great confidence booster for me! I came in 34th, and 7th female to cross the line. Woot! :)

Race Recap: Enmark Savannah River Bridge Run (December 1, 2012)

There was a lot of build-up to this race. First, I was excited to do this, as it is my MOST FAVORITE RACE evar – being the one I have done the most – 2006 (5K), 2007 (5K), 2008 (10K), 2011 (5K); and second – This was my first DOUBLE PUMP 15K!!! Woohoo!!

I remember back when I first started racing and saw the runners with the different color bib starting on the 5K side of the bridge [10Kers start on the opposite side, 45 minutes after the start of the 5K], thinking, "Man, those people are running over the bridge 3 times?! They must be hardcore runners!" And now flash forward to today and I am one of those "Hardcore" runners!! By no means would I consider myself a hardcore runner, but compared to back then my running and fitness has improved by leaps and bounds.

I also got my running group - Moms RUN This Town (MRTT) - involved with a fundraiser that took place in conjunction with the Bridge Run. I formed an MRTT group through crowdrise.com to fundraise for the race charity: The Nancy N. and JC Lewis Cancer Research Center and Pavilion here in Savannah. I set a goal for us to raise $500. Posted it to my FB page and everything, but 3 days before the race we were not even close to making the goal. I decided to do something drastic and crazy and pledged to shave my head if we met our goal of $500 by the day of the race. Once I had posted it and shared on FB, the donations came ROLLING in. We actually met the $500 goal only 3 hours after I had posted this photo!

And the donations KEPT coming in! We made a little under $1000 in just 3 days!! On the day of the race expo, I was asked by the PR manager of the Cancer Center to do an interview with one of the local news stations. We also worked with Fleet Feet and the Bridge Run director to make my head shaving a public event a the race after party!

Well, my nerves were all over the place the morning of the race - first to survive running over the bridge 3 times and then getting my head shaved right after!

The race itself was pretty rough. I think it was the most challenging race I've done so far. I had a personal goal of completing the 5K in under 30 minutes (which I have never done on this course's 5K at that point) and then feeling good enough to do it all over again 2 more times after that!

I had to race conservative, yet fast enough to make it in time, and once I rounded the corner before the finish line, I saw the clock and knew I had to sprint. I think it said 30 minutes, but I knew my chip time would be less than that and once I finally crossed the line, I checked my watch and it said: 29:46!! I did it!!!

Next up was the 10K. I felt my hips already getting sore. Stopping for an extended period of time in between hard runs is not ideal for my hips! I met up with fellow MRTT members Shiloh and Emily and I started off with them for the first part until their first walk break and then I kept going. I tried to take it easy since the first 2 miles were flat. I caught up to a lady who had a St Augustine Half Marathon (a race I did in November) shirt on and chatted with her about the St Augustine Half and Savannah's races, then I went ahead and soon met up with Ginger (another fellow MRTT!) and ran with her a bit until her walk break... and then the TOUGH part came... the incline back up onto the bridge. On this side, it is REALLY steep. I kept running, as much as I wanted to stop and walk... albeit slow at some points, but I kept a steady pace on up until the decline. I was super thirsty because I didn't bring my water bottle. There was a water stop on the loop back around to the other side of the bridge. I took a short walk break and began my ascent up the FINAL round of the bridge! Still rough, but I kept the steady pace and caught up with Katie and Ashton (more MRTT!) and stayed with them for the rest of the bridge. We came to the final water stop and at that point I was so PARCHED (it was really sunny on that bridge)... I called out for a water and they had just given out the LAST cup to the person in front of me!!! ARGH!!! I was so pissed! But I used that as motivation to finish up strong and get this race over with! As I made my way to the final straight away, I saw Joel and his dad on the sidelines which made me smile and happy to be finishing my first DOUBLE PUMP!!!

My 10K time was 1:07:08 - a course 10K PR for me (by about a minute), making my total time for the 15K: 1:36:54... a new Double Pump course standard to beat!!

Now that one thing was completed, I had to do the next thing --- get my head shaved! It was a fun and exciting moment for me, I hope everyone in attendance got a good kick out of it. I love doing things for charity, whether it's helping to raise money for a good cause or public humiliation in order to raise said money... I'm all about it!!! I'm glad MRTT was out there to support me/laugh at me... and I am very happy that we were able to raise the funds!

I don't know how I can top this crazy antic, but I am always up for some crazy stuff -- so long as it's for a good cause! Maybe we can come up with something for next year's bridge run!! Actually, MRTT already has something REALLY fun planned for this year's Bridge Run!!! I can't wait!!!

an article from the Savannah Morning News (savannahnow.com): http://savannahnow.com/sports/2012-12-01/bridge-run-notebook-runner-jacy-vergara-loses-hair-good-cause#.UT-y7xnB1KZ

another article from the local news that interviewed me WTOC.com: http://www.wtoc.com/story/20232586/savannah-woman-shaves-head-to-raise-money-for-cancer-awareness

Just wanted to say...

I have had virtually no time to update with race recaps - yet another race has happened - but I really want to record these moments for posterity, so maybe I'll get one up this week...

But I just wanted to say that my year in running and fitness so far has been amazing. Focusing more on my diet and other forms of fitness than just running alone has helped me SO much in terms of getting faster and smaller!

I have also seemed to find my perfect stride - by using more lower leg power, as opposed to quad power (which is how I normally ran). I tried it out one day when my hips were achy, but I still needed to get a run in - so I had to adapt my form. I went out for an easy 5K training run and that "easy" 5K ended uo to be only a couple seconds off of my 5K PR (at the time)! I was so surprised by my results of just changing up the way I power my legs. Ever since I made this change, I made a sub-27 minute 5K race PR and new half marathon PR yesterday - a 6 minute improvement from from my last half marathon just one month ago! Additionally, my hips are not as sore! I love self-discovery!

I've already hit a new half marathon PR TWICE this year - making my goal of being able to run a sub-2 hour half marathon even closer than I had imagined (I was giving myself 4 more years to do it, but now I'm only minutes away from it!!!) And a couple weeks ago, I've also made a new 5K PR - my first one since 2009 - and it was by 1:11!! Huge!! I just don't think any of this would have happened had I not changed my eating habits and kept up with strength training (specifically CORE) and trying to get at least some form of physical activity done each day.

I've lost nearly 7 pounds since the beginning of the year, putting me SO CLOSE to being in the 120s... something I have not seen since I started college... It's just amazing what these changes can do for you.

Dieting is so hard for me - especially now since I have to make/prepare everything... I hate cooking. But I make it work. I do indulge in crap food every now and then, but nothing too bad. Not like before. I've become a calorie counter - using My Fitness Pal to track everything and I even purchased a Polar heart rate monitor to track my calorie burns (which are much lower than what my Garmin or rowing machine reports). I've gotten used to the tracking, but still need to work on my eating... I'm a work in progress!

More updates coming soon!

Super late updates.... coming soon

So the procrastinator in me has delayed updates of many major races and events. Starting with the Savannah Bridge Run (my first Double Pump and public head shaving!), the Reindeer Run (first race with a stroller), the Tybee Run Fest (not a participant, but cheered for my inspiring friends), the Hilton Head Half Marathon (new 13.1 PR!) and the 26.2 Run with Donna Relay (my first Relay!)

I've also been trying to get stronger and lose weight and overhaul my diet. It's a challenge, but I want to get down to the 120s, dammit! And I want to be able to run faster!

2013 Check In

Happy New Year!

2012 was an awesome year! I met some really awesome new friends and I ran the most miles EVAR in this one year than I have from 2006 through 2011 combined! Here is an overview of my year from Daily Mile:

I think this mileage report includes walking and rowing, though.

As far as 2013 goals, I would love to hit 700 running miles this year. I would also like to slim down to 120 lbs. Or maybe 125 lbs - with lots of muscle. I also want to get faster on my half marathon time, hopefully break 2:10 this year. I don't have many opportunities to do it, so I need to work all year on this one.

I started a diet mid December (during my break from running) called the 17 Day Diet and successfully lost 7 lbs in the first 17 days. But then I fell off the wagon and deviated from the diet a bit and now I'm back up 2 lbs. I think if I just continue to use the diet plan as a guide and not eat like a ravneous college kid, I will be fine. I have already cut out one of my favorite foods (pasta) and do not crave it. I'm eating more veggies and drinking more water and green tea. I don't think I'm quite at "clean eating" status, nor will I ever be, but I can live with that. I have to take this one step at a time. I really never have tried a diet plan until this one and I've gotten great results, so I might have to stick with it!

I really want to do a write up on the Bridge Run from December 1, as well as the Pooler Jingle Jog from December 22 (my first 5K pushing a stroller), but it will have to wait. December was such a hectic month with the holidays and my son's birthday (and mine too) and various fundraisers, plus traveling everywhere... ugh. I am glad it is over!

Hope everyone has an AWESOME 2013!!!

WINNER of the Blue Ridge Marathon Entry Giveaway

And the winner of the FREE Blue Ridge Marathon entry is:

Commenter #27: Morgan R!!

Whose family made a generous donation to the extra credit Fundraiser I spoke of (and earned 10 extra entries)!

Thanks also to Kelli C. for donating to the fundraiser!

What is this fundraiser? I will explain in my next post.

Have a great new week everyone! I am still recovering from my birthday weekend!

Alexandria Turkey Trot 2012 - Thanksgiving Day Fun Run!

We went up to MD to visit my family again (2nd time in two months! woohoo!) for Thanksgiving, which happens to be my most favorite holiday ever: good food, family and friends, and TURKEY TROTS!

This is actually my very first Turkey Trot! The Alexandria Turkey Trot 5-Miler. Thanks to Shonna (my BF since F), she forced encouraged me to sign up! And since I was persuaded to sign up, I of course had to force Joel to run it too. LOL

The whole week before was pretty hectic. Shoot, the Sunday before Thanksgiving we had just done the St. Augustine half marathon – our second half in 16 days... not to mention those were our first two halfs EVAR. So there was the recovery, plus the impending sickness (crud) that was looming over me. No amount of apple cider vinegar could push it away, it was bound to happen. I put my body through hell and now it was time to pay.

So I got sick before we left to drive to MD. I was a worthless second driver because I just couldn't stay focused or awake. And my voice was pretty much toast. Throat scratchy and coughing. Blah.

 

The morning of the run was cold! My dad dropped us off in Alexandria - the cute Dey Ray area. It started at a school. Then we met up with Shonna and Paul and made our way to the start - among the other 5,000 people! Tons of racers!

The gun went off and the mass of people didn't really budge. It was super crowded. It was probably a good minute before we even made it to the official start line. Joel took off and I stuck with Shonna in the beginning. With the super huge crowd, comes the weaving in and out. Sucked. It was funny though because as I was doing my weaving, someone came up next to me and said, "... ... so you're ignoring me?" And I looked over and it was Joel! LOL I didn't acknowledge him at first because I figured he was way ahead of me. I guess he did more weaving than we were doing.

Around the 2nd mile, I noticed the distance between Shonna and I kept growing larger! She looked back at me and I waved for her to go ahead. There was no way I was keeping up with her – the one in the beginning who said she was lucky to do 10 minute miles!! Haha! Her easy pace is my fast pace. :) So once I stopped trying to push myself, I eased down to probably a 10 minute pace myself and just kept at it. The crowd never really thinned out. In fact it was a romper room most of the time. Especially since they allowed dogs and strollers in this race. We saw some kids almost get clotheslined by dog leashes. :\

There were a few hills, which were hard but welcomed since we have virtually no hills in Savannah. Gotta get them when ever I can! I was pretty beat by the end of the race. The last straightway was long... I didn't know when to pick it up for my strong finish, so I don't even think I ever did. I felt my hips ache and I wasn't in the greatest condition to even try to PR for this 5-miler. I think my time was 47 and a half minutes. Not bad. My first 2 miles were sub 9s, thanks to speedy Shonna! haha I had a great time and it was a ton more fun doing it with friends!

Hopefully this will be the first of many Turkey Trots to come!