"You.Cannot.WING.A.Half-Marathon."

College-Age Me

There was a time in my life where I was in Really good shape. I enjoyed volunteering at summer camps and it was easy to stay in shape when you're chasing kids around for weeks at a time!! When I was in college I spent a lot of time walking around the UNI campus with a super heavy backpack. I pledged to take the steps in all the buildings and I remember specifically that during my senior year ALL of my classes were on the 3rd floor of Sabin Hall. I also drank gallons of water a day...by choice!  Strange.

Adventure Racing

After I graduated and moved to Cedar Rapids I was that much more exited about working out because I had a lot of extra time on my hands since I no longer had homework to worry about. One of my friends convinced me to participate in two adventure races one summer. One was four hours and one was eight. So I rowed my own canoe for 4 miles, biked 19 miles and then ran 3.1 miles all in a matter of 4 hours...by choice!

This is one of my very favorite wedding pictures of Matt fluffing my dress! :)

 I used to go to the gym in the morning before work and then again after work. I could run a 5k in under 30 minutes with little to no training.  I truly think I was my fittest on my wedding day-but who doesn't work a little harder to look nice on their big day??

The day before I delievered my baby boy

And then I decided to go to graduate school which was stressful!! I think I'm still stressed from grad school! Oh, and this happened...















But really, who could complain with a baby this adorable?

Team Vic was established in 2011, when my bestie Vicki and I decided to participate in some events together...

April 2011

The summer of 2012 was our biggest year yet with five 5k's completed and a 90 mile bike ride from Marshalltown to Cedar Rapids!! It was a fun summer!

In 2012 running took on a more philanthropic reason specifically last fall when a lot of hard work paid off and Linn County hosted their first season of Girls on the Run in 4 area schools. Watching the girls who participated grow, change, and realize their internal worth changed ME. Here is a post I wrote about Girls on the Run and what it means to me to be a part of it. I'm proud to serve on the Board of Directors for Girls on the Run of Eastern Iowa and will be coaching a team of middle school girls at Tanager Place later this month. I have wanted to participate in Solemates since I've heard about it but wasn't sure if I was ready for the commitment of anything more than a 5k because running is difficult and I am not in as good of shape as I used to be. But after completing a day of Ragbrai without training prior to the event (Huge mistake!) I've decided that I have the mental power to complete at least a half-marathon, I can raise money for a good cause AND cross it off my bucket list!! I'll try and keep up to date with my training on here, if for nothing more than to keep myself accountable BECAUSE I tend to suck at training for these kind of events but I must make my mantra "You.Cannot.WING.A.Half-Marathon."  :) Stay tuned!