I am now a Marathon runner

I ran my first marathon Saturday! It was called the Dances with Dirt Green Swamp in Witlacoochee River Park, Dade City, FL.  The whole trail was beautiful and went through many different habitats.  The race started in the dark, then everything was foggy/misty for a couple hours, then nie and sunny.  I loved the whole thing and can't wait for another one.  My dad came down with my sister, which was a surprise, to drive me and cheer me on...so sweet.  We had the best weekend together!  I can't wait to go home Easter weekend to see them again.

18 miler this weekend

I had the best 3 days this weekend (fri-sun).  Had the best weather, exercised a lot, enjoyed the sun, got a lot accomplished!  Friday I went to swim practice with the TriGators for the first time all semester and swam 2700 meters, which felt so good.  Saturday I woke up at 6:30 and ran 10 miles to the Trail of Payne 10K in Payne's Prarie State Park, then ran the 10K, then ran 2 miles to Lake Wauberg (18 in total).  I tried out gu (energy packs) for the first time and really like them and ate a bagel and banana after the race, felt really good afterwards!  I'm ready for my marathon next weekend!  Lake Wauberg was awesome and there were people playing steel drums and irish music for St. Patrick's Day.  Sunday I made it to church which had great music then went to the Festival of Colors, which is an Indian Festival, where you throw colored powder on everyone.

Barefoot Running Study

This is me all sciencified.  The little markers stuck all over me were reflective and read by a laser that made a 3-D skeleton of me on the computer to really see what the angles of my joints and things were while running.  The face mask measured oxygen use and the box on my chest measured heart rate and many other things.  I was given pages of numbers that I don't really understand, but she told me that they are find that barefoot running burns more fat while shod running burns more carbs, which is more efficient because carbs are easier for the body to turn into energy.

The Today Show Said It

Just saw on the Today show that exercising 30 minutes a day 5 days a week reduces the risk of depression by 47% (Journal of Preventative Medicine).  Yep, I buy it!