Catching up!

It is now the end of May, and so far the New Years Resolution is still on track with one exception. My 5K for May, was a 4 1/2 mile walk for "Carry the Load" which is the only walk/5K/race that did not result in a medal. It did however get me a shirt, so I will proudly display that in December. 5 months down, 9 walks later, here are the current standings:

January - 5K You are stronger than you think

February 6th - 5k Insane Inflatables

February 27th - South Mountain Climb for a cure (5 1/2 miles up and 5 1/2 miles down)

March 19th - 5K The Heart Walk

March 26th - 5K Komen Tri for the Cure

April 9th - 5K JDRF Juvenile Diabetes

April 23 - 4.2 mile Tillman Run

April 30 - 5K Super Hero Run

May 15th - 4.5 Mile Carry the Load Walk

Here are some pictures from the various events

The Heart Walk was in Downtown Phoenix and we took the light rail to get there.

Komen Tri for the Cure, I did on my own.

This was one of the more professional races as far as set up and hard core athletes are concerned, I was a bit intimidated, and one of the few people walking it.

JDRF Juvenile Diabetes 5K

This is the first time we got to show off our Official Team name that we came up with...Walking 2 Fitness, it was really cool that at the end of the race they had all of the teams set up for pictures, but then put our team name up on the Marquee!!!

Next was The Tillman Run, in honor of Pat Tillman...This is a 4.2 mile race to commemorate his Football number 42. Pat Tillman was killed in the line of duty after being drafted into the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals. It was a huge turnout, really well organized and emotionally charged.

I love the message on the shirts - LIVE YOUR DASH...if you have not heard of the POEM the DASH, please look it up, it will change your life, and how you live it.

The Super Hero Run was another 5K I did by myself, lots of fun, definitely need to rock it out with a batman theme tutu and cape next time!

And the last race to get me caught up was "Carry the Load" to commemorate the true meaning of Memorial Day. This was 4.5 miles from Camelback Road in Phoenix to Chase Field. Where we finished at Chase field was where the hand off was for the national relay. The relay had 2 legs, on from Seattle WA to Dallas TX and one from Boston MA to Dallas TX, with walks like the one we participated in at many of the various stops along the way. Each of the legs of the relay is about 5 miles.

That brings you up to date on where I am with my New Years Resolution... I hope that if you made one, you are keeping up with yours too!

I think finding walks/races for the summer in AZ may be a bit challenging, but I will keep you updated, and hopefully not put so much time between posts.

Until next time, happy photography, or whatever else you hold close to your heart!

South Mountain Climb

February is also the time for the South Mountain "Climb for the cure" for cancer. Last year although I had already achieved my weight loss goal and had been working out on the glider daily, it was kind of tough and I ended up with shin splints. It is five and a half miles to the top, with the steepest incline towards the top. This year i spent more time on the stairs in preparation, and did a lot more stretching before we started. It was still a bit of a challenge, but all of us felt that it was much easier this year than last. Once at the top, we walked around a bit, got some water and a banana, took some photos and admired the amazing view of Phoenix. The weather was beautiful, and I found myself saying "I am only going to say this once, I think we should walk back down!" Last year we took the bus down to the start, but this year we walked down the road for about 3 miles and then found a trail and hiked down the rest. It was a great workout and I think I clocked 30 something thousand steps that day and about 17 miles which was a record!! So here are some of the pictures, courtesy of Deneb and Ben.

As you can see, it was dark when we started, I think we finally started climbing about 7:30 AM.

FIrst mile, still kind of dark, but having fun!

Still climbing!

Still climbing!

We made it to the top!! Now the silly stuff :-)

How often does a girl get to wear a tutu!!! Next month (March) The Heart Walk, Stay healthy and Happy photography! :-)

February 2016 5K Insane Inflatables

Happy February,

If I keep up with this, one good thing in addition to the health/fitness piece, is that I will be posting monthly.

This month I got talked into doing an Insane Inflatables 5K!!! It is a course with huge inflatable obstacles that you go through. The back of the Tee Shirt they gave us says

"RUN BOUNCE SLIDE"

which is pretty much what we did! About 3/4 of the way through the race, there was a sign that said something to the effect of

"Imagine how you are going to feel walking tomorrow!"

not something I wanted to think about at the time. I went with friends from work, Deneb (who did the Santa Run with me in December)and her two boys, Tina, and Angela.

We went in Super Hero shirts, but put on the Tee Shirt they gave us at the end of the race, hence the different outfits. Can't wait for some races that we can wear our tutus to!!

We ran in heats every 15 minutes so there was no pile up at any of the obstacles.

Here are some pictures and if you google "Insane Inflatables 5K", it will show you some of the obstacles and pictures from the race.

The mustaches came from a beer company that was at the end of the race, they were giving out samples of their beer, fake mustaches and had the fun mustache teeter-totter. I hadn't been on one of those in a really long time.

All in all, it was really fun, I made it thought all of the obstacles without killing myself, and I am surprisingly not very sore at all today.

Until next time, Happy Photography!

2016 New Year, New Goals

Hi,

Hope 2016 is starting off well for everyone.

How many of you set a New Year's Resolution? Better yet, how many of you set a New Years Resolution and KEEP IT!!?

If you looked at my last post, getting fit and staying healthy are two goals I am going to continue persuing and see where it takes me.

My goal is to try to complete at least 1 5K a month for the year, and display my medals in December.

In January, I did the "You are stronger than you think" 5K at Kiwannis Park in Tempe AZ. It was is a beautiful park and the race took us around the lake and playing fields and back. As I said earlier, my goal is not necessarily to run, but to walk/power walk the races, and obviously complete them. I currently walk about an 11 minute mile. Here are some after pictures with the medal, I will do a better picture of all the medals in December.

Until Next post, Happy Photography

Santa Run 2015

Deneb, a friend of mine from work and I have challenged each other to be more active. I work out on my glider, averaging about 5 miles a night, and she goes to the gym and works out and takes some classes, like Zumba. We are going to try to do at least one 5k or similar activity a month for the next year. So, we kicked off our new challenge by doing the Santa Run 5K in Glendale this weekend. It is a fairly new race, this was only the 3rd year, but it was a lot of fun. We walked it but that is how we plan to do our 5k's to keep the stress off of my knees. Here are some pictures from the day, hope you like them.

Until next time, Happy Photography :-)