Relay for Life (subtitle: Can you spare $10?)

Every year, there are thousands of Relay for Life events around the world. Teams of people camp out at tracks (at high schools, etc.) and for 12 hours, at least one team member must be on the track at all times. Team members raise funds, which go to the American Cancer Society. There's a LOT of money going toward cancer research thanks to these events!

I'll be participating in a Relay for Life event on May 13-14. I have a $200 fundraising goal. The minimum donation is only $10, and I would be so honored if you could spare that amount (or of course more if you'd like.)

The Engineer's father died of heart disease and cancer. My grandfather died of cancer. I have a friend currently fighting cancer. And another friend is a cancer-free survivor; she's joining the same relay team as I am. So--like many of us--I have plenty of people to walk in honor of and in memory of.

I can't post the link to my fundraising page here, because it has too much personal information on it. But if you'd like to donate, you can email me at cbethblog@gmail.com, and I'll send you the link. Or comment here, making sure to include your email address if it's not linked to your Blogger profile, and I'll email you.

I really hope to meet my fundraising goal, so while I'm short of it, you can expect to hear more about this event. Whether you can donate or just give your encouragement, I appreciate it. Thanks for helping fight cancer!

12 seconds of Zoodle

Zoodle is three years old today! To celebrate the funny, sweet little guy that he is, here's a little 12-second conversation I had with him yesterday:



And yes...it IS hard to be mad at him when he's being such a cutie patootie.

If you're in the mood to be touched in your heart instead of your funny bone, you can check out my post from one year ago today, when I shared a poem I wrote about Zoodle's birth. It's one of my favorite things I've written.

Zoodle, you gave Daddy and me a son; you gave Chickie a brother; and you give the world joy. Happy third birthday!

Race Report: 10K

Today was an exciting day. It was my first time running a race for the second time.

I think I confused myself with that sentence. What I mean is, last year I ran a 10K, and this year, I did the very same race. It's a good way to gauge my improvement as a runner since it was the same route, similar time of year, etc.

Last year it was the first time I'd ever run 6.2 miles. I was so thrilled to get a time of 1:07:45 (10:55/mile.) A brief blog post about that run is here.

In the 11 1/2 months since that race, I've trained a lot. I had this hope that I could do a 10K in under an hour, but I hadn't dared to make it an official goal. I really just didn't know if I was ready to go that fast.

But I pushed myself today, and when the finish line was fairly close, I saw 59 minutes on my watch. So I pushed harder, and my final time was...

59:32!

I am so, so happy that I did it in under an hour!

After my last half marathon, I told myself I needed to stop looking at rankings. I've always been a slow runner. I'd feel great about my time in a race, and then realize I was ranked way below the median in my gender/age group. But today I felt like I might be happy with my rank, so I looked it up.


(Click to enlarge image. Or just read the next paragraph.)

In my age group (women, 30-34) I was 281/867. That's in the top 33%! Woo hoo!!!
I was in the top 30% of all women and the top 46% overall.

I honestly thought that my body was just wired to be slow. Well, there are certainly genetic components to speed, and I have no goal to run a 10K in 30 minutes. It ain't gonna happen. But I've realized that consistent training can take you further than you thought you could go. Being in the top third doesn't change my worth as a person or a runner; but it is a really sweet reward for the early mornings spent running.

The Engineer ran this year too, and he did awesome, because he rocks. He rarely even does 10K distances, but my former-high-school-cross-country-champ of a husband is one of those guys who is genetically wired to go fast. Plus, he's a triathlete, so while he doesn't run as often as I do, he keeps himself very fit. I'm so proud of him. His time was 47:55 (114/637 in his age group)!

Because we were both running, we didn't get pictures of each other. So instead of seeing a photo of me, imagine a 5'9" woman, slender yet voluptuous, with gorgeously-rippling leg muscles, running like a gazelle.

And then look behind her, at the skinny, 5'2" chick, happily doing her thing. That one's me.

Running is really, really fun.

You should try it.