Friday Five Link-up: Fitness Goals

Happy Friday all and Happy Holidays to those that are celebrating a holiday!

I participated for the first time last week in the Friday Five Link-up hosted by You Signed Up for What?!, Eat Pray Run, DC and Mar On the Run. Thank you ladies for hosting this link-up and for giving us great ideas each week!

This week is 5 Fitness Goals. This was a great one and really got me to focus on my fitness goals are in general and for the immediate future. So without further adieu, here they are:

1- Complete My First Half-Marathon

I am registered for the Rock n' Roll St. Louis Half-Marathon on October 19th and I'm incredibly excited for it. Last year I went and cheered on some of my friends and sister-in-law who were all running and wondered, "When are you going to get there?" At that point I was just running 3 miles a few times a week and had a few 5ks under my belt with no real specific plans for more. After my first runDisney event a few weeks later, the race bug had taken full hold. So now here I sit with a few more 5ks, a 6k, a 5 miler, a marathon relay and a 10k under my belt and I'm feeling good about this goal!

2- Get My Pacing Correct

I run about 10 minute miles. During my leg of the marathon relay, I ran 9:36 or under for the first 3 miles, but that's the most I've ever done at that pace. The thing is whether I'm tracking myself or not, that seems to be my pace and truth be told, I think I can run faster. I feel like I just have too much left over at the end of some of my runs. I know training runs are not supposed to be difficult, but I feel like I'm just kind of hanging in this space where I could be doing more. Last night I ended a 5-miler with a pretty steep hill. While it was awesome to feel so good finishing 5 miles, I know I should probably have left more out there. I'm not going to do anything about this until I meet with my new running coach (yay!) on May 6th. I do not want to assume anything and would rather go with what he prescribes after talking about goals and watching me run, etc.

3- Hold a Steady Plank for 2 Minutes

I know this seems like a small one, but I'm currently participating in the #plankaday challenge on Instagram and increasing my hold time is not going as fast as I'd like. I'm finding it's taking me a few days to hold 5 more seconds. I'd like to get to the place where I'm holding a plank for at least 2 minutes, steadily and with good form...which will hopefully be helped by my next goal-

4- Backin' it Up!

I, like so many others, do not focus nearly enough on my back strength and conditioning. It's so stupid considering it's the thing holding the rest of me together! When focusing on core strength, I tend to focus too much on ab work and throwing a few Supermans (Superman's...Supermen...who knows) in just for good measure, but I know to really achieve a strong core, it's all in the back!

5- Just Breathe

During my awesome runs I don't even notice my breathing too much because I am just in the zone and doing everything I need to be doing without doing a mental checklist. But I'll admit that as a new-ish runner there are times where I know that my breathing is off and that I should be more focused on getting it in line. I know I'll be a more effective runner with proper breathing so it's something I really want to work on as I move towards my half-marathon. This is also something I plan on addressing with my running coach.

Thanks for reading and have a GREAT weekend...hope Spring has sprung wherever you are...unless I randomly have some Southern Hemisphere readers then I hope that the Fall is treating you well!

Here we go...the year of the race.

Well, I told my husband I was actually going to do this, so here I am! I've done the "About Me" page to give an overview of myself but I realize that as a result of my blog title, people may assume that my name is Jaynie/Janie. It is actually Jayne and the only person that calls me Jaynie is my grandmother. I'll answer to pretty much anything though (within reason).

One of the main reasons I wanted to start this blog was to keep motivated toward my goal of 10 races this year. I've completed two so far and have 4 more that I'm registered for, so I will need to add a few more to get to goal, and I already have some in mind.

The year started off with the Stan Musial Memorial Bridge Run here in St. Louis. It was a run to open a new bridge over the Mississippi River that was awesomely named for Stan "The Man" Musial, a long-time Cardinal great/Hall of Famer and hometown hero. His number was 6, so the race was a 6k in honor of that number. It took place on February 8th, and even though the race time temperature was 14 with crazy wind chills, it was so much fun.

Unlike a lot of annual races, this was a one-time only opportunity. A few hours after the race was over, the bridge was open to traffic and became part of the interstate system...no little feet to ever pound over its lanes again (hopefully...you really shouldn't run on interstate bridges). Plus the race started in Missouri and ran into Illinois...so I basically ran from one state to another (that counts as something, right?).

I am in literally 0 of the pics they have tagged on the race result site (apparently they thought A LOT of different people were me, of varying heights and genders) so I don't have any fun "action shots" to post but Joe (my awesome husband who ran with me) did snap this one on the bridge (oh yeah, it had snowed that morning too!)

I finished the race at 37:37 which is right about a 10 minute mile as a 6k is 3.7. I was pretty happy with that time as I've picked up some speed over the last year or so and being right around 10 feels good for me right now.

Two weeks ago was the St. Patrick's Day Parade Run in downtown St. Louis, which is a 5-mile race that precedes the parade along the route. This one is really awesome as the parade spectators are mostly already out and they are awesome cheerleaders (it might be because of the tendency of the spectators to have an early morning adult beverage or two, but hey...cheering is cheering).

This also randomly happens to be the largest 5-mile race in the country with over 20,000 runners (some of who pull a keg with them). It was a great time and I ran it in 51:13, which is just over 10 minute miles. It was significantly better weather than the February race, but it got pretty warm toward the end, into the 70s by parade time!

Before the start with two of my gal pals, Jessica to the far left (who is running the Boston Marathon in a few weeks) and Shannon

Next up for me will be the Go! St. Louis Marathon weekend on April 6th where I will be participating on a marathon relay team with my friend Courtney and two of her cousins. This will be my first relay and I'm really excited to be part of a team event like this, although I hear logistics getting from one leg to another can be a bit annoying when you want to support your other team members.

Here's a copy of the course Go! sent out to the runners, I can't decide which leg I'd prefer as the shorter legs are the hillier ones...of course.

After that one is the Girls on the Run 5k during which I'll be supporting my niece who is running it for the second time...so proud of her! Here's a pic from last year's race.

Over Memorial Day Weekend Joe and I will be heading to Door County, WI for a long weekend. This is where we were married about 6.5 years ago and we try to get back there for long weekends when possible. Not only do we love it, it's a great place to take the dogs! While there we've decided to run the Jacksonport Maifest 10k, which looks to be a really scenic run in and around Lake Michigan.

The jewel in my race crown this year, however, is the runDisney Tower of Terror 10 Miler on October 4th. This is the race that I knew I wanted to do as soon as the race bug bit me. Joe and I are both signed up and pumped for it. I'm a bit nervous as it's a night race and it will likely be pretty warm (not that STL doesn't get ridiculously hot, just not typically during race seasons) but the excitement far outweighs the nerves. This is NOT a race pic but just to give you a sense of our love for Disney...here's us at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in 2012. We typically make it to Disney twice per year and LOVE it!

In July, I'll be joining a local running store's 1/2 Marathon training program to prepare myself for the 10 miler and hopefully the Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon that will be taking place in St. Louis in late October. I've cheered on friends there before and it seems like a really great first half-marathon.

I'll fill in with some other races, but that's what's on the books for now! Ok, that's a really long first post, hopefully you made it all the way through, I promise to try and be less wordy in the future.

I'd really appreciate comments and feed back! To get the conversation started:
What races are you looking forward to this year?
Have you ever run a Disney race?
Have you ever run a night race and if so, how did you modify your training?