Inspired by GYRO

Hello! My name is Kim and I am honored to be a guest blogger from Delaware tonight! I have had the pleasure to run with Sarah since we were juniors at Newark High School! Since I can remember, Sarah has always been a motivating force when it comes to running! We were both captains on the cross country team our senior year of high school and had so much fun! I was always a slower runner, but over the years I have really developed a love it. My outlook is back of the pack is where it's at and I'm looking for distance not speed!!

I am one of the original members of GYRO - our first summer of being in existence was so much fun. Everyone had a great time running the trails of White Clay Creek State Park and I think at this point I knew I would be a life-long runner. So let's fast forward to October 2009. Sarah and I had always talked about running a marathon - I talked, Sarah did it! I was there for her first marathon and what an inspiration it was! Watching her cross that finish line really inspired me to train. Whenever I thought of marathons these words came to mind - torture, pain, sick... you get the point. But being at an actual race completely changed my mind. There were tons of people participating and even more standing on the streets cheering. I knew I wanted to be a part of something like this.

So here I am today. I am training for a marathon and also keeping a blog of my training experiences. My blog will make me accountable for training. I'm telling the world I'm training for a marathon so I have to do it now. There is no backing out.

Here is my upcoming race schedule:

May 2 - Broad Street Run in Philadelphia, PA (10 miles)
May 16 - Christiana Care Marathon in Wilmington, DE (I'm doing the half - 13.1 miles)
October 16 - Baltimore Marathon

Over the Easter weekend Sarah and Steve were in Delaware visiting Steve's family so Sarah and I were able to run together at our favorite spot, the Nature Center in White Clay Creek State Park. We planned for 8 miles.

We got there around 7:15 a.m. and the parking lot was FREAKING PACKED. Apparently Saturday was the start of trout fishing season and everyone and their dad was there fishing along the creek. After some quick stretching we were on our way.

So we've decided that many fishermen have never seen females before. We ran along the trail and all we heard was "good morning, ladies" blah blah blah. I waved, but, Sarah, on the other hand was not pleased. On our way back she definitely called them out - typical Sarah. haha

At about the three mile mark we headed up two large hills. I felt strong going up and I credit that to all of the cycling and RPM classes I've been doing.

I've decided I really like early-morning runs. It was so peaceful with the birds chirping and the water flowing down the creek. We love White Clay Creek.

So overall we had a really good run. We finished in 1:34 - we stopped a few times to stretch and the two hills did slow us down a bit.

To the right is our mileage and how long it took us. I really want to get Sarah's new Garmin GPS watch!! My birthday is coming up :o)

That's all for tonight! Thanks for letting me blog, Sarah! Get Your Run On!

Peace. Love. Run

- Kim