26.2

Today I ran the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon; my first marathon ever!!! Since June 1st, I have run a little over 400 miles (405. 76 miles, to be exact) to train for this race. Initially my goal was just to finish all 26.2 miles in the allotted time. As I got further into training and analyzed my pace, my stretch goal was to finish in 5 hours or less.

Here are the pictures -

{me in the morning = nervous; affixing the time chip to my shoe}

{official time chip}

{the leaders, mile 6} {me, mile 6. So excited because it's the first time I saw my personal photographer, Rich!!} {Steve Kalina running with a 55 lb backpack and both an American and POW flag. He was promoting Toys for Tots. I graduated high school with him, and watched him pass me by.}

{me, mile 17? This time my mom, brother and his fiancee are there with Rich cheering too!} {me, mile 21.5!! Prior to today, I had never run this far before in my LIFE!!}{huge American flag visible as runners approach the state capitol and mile 26) {me, running by my cheerleaders one last time! Approaching mile 26.} {me, crossing the finish line. The race clock read 4:59:58, however my race time on the website is 4:59:23!

*my official chip time was 4:53:18!!!} {me and my finisher's medal!} {me & my photographer. Love him!} {me and my other cheerleaders: my mom, brother and Dominika (his fiancee)} {me and my brother. He ran the 10 mile race!!} {post run treat: chocolate hazelnut cupcake from Cupcake}

I had such amazing cheerleaders on the course!!! Rich was the first person I saw at mile 6. Shortly after him were three of my friends from college; they had made an ENORMOUS banner! Half a mile later my friend Janelle was out cheering me on!! Rich hit up mile 8.5, but we missed each other at that one; I guess my mom, Eric and Dominika were around mile 11, but I missed them too. My Uncle Russ and Aunt Sue were right after the halfway point, which was a fun surprise! My friends Alicia and Beth were shortly after that. I get fuzzy with the exact mile markers for these next ones, our neighbors were around mile 14, followed by my friends Krystle and Pierce (you may remember Krystle's wedding) close to mile 15, I think. Mile 17 my neighbors were back -- cheering me on through a water station. Rich, my Mom, Eric and Dominika (R,M,E,D) were a little bit after that, still within mile 17. Our fabulous neighbors were back again at mile 21. R,M,E,D weren't long after at mile 21.5. My friend Mary was at mile 22; she even hopped on the course for a bit and ran with me. My Aunt Colleen was cheering at mile 25. And R,M,E,D were there waiting at the finish line!!

I seriously had such a wonderful cheer team!! It was so cool to see everyone along the course and really made the miles fly by!! I know Rich worked really hard to try to tell people where I was and I really appreciate it!! Thanks cheer team!!!

Kettlebell Class V

Our fourth class was a lot of circuit work, so I didn't write it down. I did, however, jot down what we did today. It's a little hard to believe this took a full hour, it doesn't seem like there's much there... but it did!!

- Around the body
- Figure 8
- Slow Arm Curls; 1 minute
- Arm Curls (gradually increase speed); 1 minute
- Darcy (switch hands mid-swing); 1 minute [repeat x1]
- Snatch (R); 10 reps
- Snatch (L); 10 reps
- Snatch (R); 15 reps
- Snatch (L); 15 reps
- Turkish Get up (2 sets) [This is a pretty complex sequence of moves and took quite a while to teach]
Circuit Work:
- Squats: 7 [Repeat x2]
- Squats: 6 [Repeat x2]
- Squats: 5 [Repeat x2]
- Kettlebell Pommel Horse (not the official name): w/ two bells on floor, get in plank position, swing legs through bells, lift each leg individually and then lift both legs simultaneously (similar to pommel horse)

Kettlebell Class III

I really wanted to create a post about my third Kettlebell class, but didn't write it right away and now I'm forgetting things. So I'm only going to post about part of our class, the warm-up. Next week I will document the class in a more timely fashion; I want to recall the order of our moves so hopefully I can repeat it later.

Warm-up:
Around the Body: while standing, we swung a kettlebell around our body, trying to remain standing straight up and down. [change directions] (This uses your core among other areas, I'm sure)
Figure 8: Squat position, create a figure 8 between your legs (kind of like a Globetrotter, but w/o dribbling) [change directions]
Halo (okay this is not the correct name, but I thought halo was appropriate): Lift Kettlebell above the head and move in a circle above your head, like a halo [change directions]
Two-handed Swing: Complete 25 two-handed swings. Take break, repeat.*
*I realize this doesn't sound like a lot of work, but it definitely gets the heart pumping!!

Outside of the warm-up moves mentioned above, we've learned a number of additional techniques. (I tried to find some action shots to demonstrate the motions; if I couldn't find what I wanted, I settled with links to written descriptions):
Swing: We have learned both the two and one-handed swing. We also have worked on switching arms while swinging.


Clean: Part of the instructions state, "Doing the form incorrectly will leave you with a nice bruise on the arm the next day." Uh... I have bruises.

I was doing it wrong; most everyone in my class was as well. We were swinging the bell up to clean position using an arc, when in actuality we should have been starting in swing position and pulling the bell up our torso to clean position. The action of pulling the bell vertically really reduces the momentum of the bell and thus reduces the impact on the forearm.

Snatch: Basically you start in swing position, follow with the curl path (where you pull the bell vertically up your torso), but this time swing your elbow out, straighten your arm and hold the bell above your head. [I have not, in the least, mastered this move]
High Pull: This one reminds me of starting a lawnmower. You start with the bell between your legs, then jerk your arm back bringing your elbow up to shoulder level (along with the bell). Then punch the bell back down to the starting position.

We've also done a bunch of plank formations.
Standard Plank: (starting push-up position) on either the floor or using the kettlebells.
Plank and Row: Get into plank formation using two kettlebells, lift one kettlebell to row position and set down. Repeat with the other hand.
Plank, Row, Walk: We did the same movements as the plank and row, except when we set the bell down, we set it out further out so we had to pull our body to that position. (Imagine a military forearm crawl, but with bells not your forearm.)
Side Plank (w/ leg lift): Here we got into standard side plank position and were asked to lift one arm into the air along with one leg

Our second to last routine was 10 repetitions of a swing followed by a high-pull and then a snatch (each trio counted as 1 rep). The trifecta was then repeated for the other arm. This was probably my favorite, but intense!! Our cool-down was the plank, row, walk.

All photos and instructions are borrowed from other websites. I assume they have the copyright for these, I do not claim ownership of any of their information or images. (Except for the bruises; those are all mine.)

Kettlebell Class I

Three years ago a work friend told me about kettlebells as an exercise routine. Her cousin was an instructor and my friend was starting to get into it. She certainly peaked my curiosity and ever since I have wanted to try it. Well, that opportunity just presented itself. My work sent an email a few weeks ago about offering kettlebell classes as part of their fitness center. I signed up and today was my first day of class.

Here's some background: Kettlebells looks like a cannon ball with a handle. From what I understand they were developed in Russia as part of militia training. The workouts involve swinging the bell and are intended to increase strength, endurance, agility and balance. All in all it ends up to be a simultaneous cardio and strength-training workout.

An instructor from Southside Kettlebells comes to lead our class. Our instructor, Joe, is second from the right in the photo on their website. At the close of class 1 of 8, he seems super nice and helpful. My form is far from correct and he walked me through how to improve. The class was fun, even though half-way through I wanted to know how much longer we had left. Right now I'm just a little sore, but I'm excited for next week.

Update 3/20/09: I am a LOT sore!! I feel like I have to swing my body to get my legs to move. I'm still looking forward to the next class, but really hope my muscles heal first.