You’ve asked for them.  So here they are!  Details for the first annual Run With The Big Girls 5K Run/Walk/Crawl!

When:  July 6-7  I’ve given a two-day window for people to pick which day they want to run.  I’ve got a friend who works only weekends, so running on the weekend is a lot harder for her, so that’s why we decided to go with the two-day window.  Surely within the span of 48  hours we can find some time to do the 5K!

There is no set time.  You run when it’s convenient for you.  You can use whatever apps you have for your smartphone and post a picture on your Facebook and tag me in it when you’re done.  You can take a picture of the treadmill mileage and post it on Facebook and tag me in it.  You can just get on the Run With The Big Girls page and tell me you’re done.  It’s just that simple.

Where: Anywhere you are!  That’s the beauty of a virtual 5K.  You don’t have to come to Fairfield to run.  You don’t have to go to Texas or Kentucky or New Mexico to run.  By the way, those are just a few of the states that will be represented so far with our 5K!

Why: This is to help my friends, Matt & Cathy, raise money for their upcoming adoption expenses!  To read more, you can visit the post I wrote about them here.

What’s in it for me:  I’m glad you asked!  With your $25 entry fee, you will receive a T-shirt to say that you were a participant in the 5K!  I’m hoping to round up a few other surprises, but for now all I’m promising is the T-Shirt with the design above, designed by a good friend and participant, Shauna Lamply, representing Indiana.  And I think she did a marvelous job.

How:  To sign up you need to click on this link here or go to www.runwiththebiggirls.eventbrite.com.  There should be a button to purchase your “ticket” and some information to fill out.  Don’t forget to check the size T-shirt that you want!  Please let me know if the registration site isn’t working.  I’ll get it fixed as soon as possible!

When will I get my stuff:  Due to the fact that this is a virtual 5K I won’t have a table set up to hand out T-shirts.  You will receive your T-shirt in the mail 2-3 weeks after July 7.  I will order the shirts the Monday after the race and then mail them out as soon as they’re available.

How much money will go to Cathy and Matt?  I’m still checking, but I believe we can get the T-shirts for about $8-$10 apiece.  Of course, the more we order, the cheaper they will be (hint, hint).  With the fees for mailing and paying how we have it set up through the Eventbrite program, our goal is to clear about $10 per person to give to Matt and Cathy.  Every single bit of the money over our expenses will be donated for the adoption expenses.

What am I forgetting?  Seriously.  What am I forgetting?  Do you have any questions?  Keep checking back.  There will be updates.  This is the first time we’ve done anything like this, so I’m sure there will be kinks in the plan and changes that will have to be made.  But I think if we’re all patient and just doing this to help some good folks out, then we’ll be just fine!

So what are you waiting for?

Almost three years ago one of my closest friends was declared cancer free.  She’s just over a month older than me and at 29 years old she was told she had breast cancer.

I didn’t really know a lot about cancer before this time.

I mean, I knew there were different types of cancer.  I knew that chemotherapy and radiation were used to treat the disease.  I knew there were different stages in cancer.

But I didn’t really know anything about it.

Like I didn’t know that because of choosing to treat the cancer aggressively that this decision would leave my friend unable to have children.

It’s one thing when you get to make the decision, but it’s entirely another story when the decision is made for you.

Not long before her diagnosis she had met a guy that I thought was a pretty cool guy.

I love it when I’m right.

Cathy and Matt have a beautiful story.  It’s one of those stories you can listen to over and over and over again and it never gets old.  Since she was so young at the time of her diagnosis, the doctors thought it would be best if they treated it aggressively as possible so she could have a long and full life ahead of her.  At this time Cathy and Matt were just dating, but they’d been dating for a while.  I thought he was perfect for her, and so did she.

But she was diagnosed with cancer.  If he were going to do it, this would be the time for him to run.  But he didn’t.  He stayed.  And not only did he stay, he decided to let Cathy know that he was in it for the long-haul.  So on the day she shaved her head so it wouldn’t be so traumatic when it fell out due to chemo treatments, he pulled out a ring and asked her to marry him.

Yes.  It’s okay  if you’re crying now.

So since almost the beginning of their relationship they’ve known that if they wanted to bring children into their marriage, they would have to adopt.  And while they’ve been saving diligently since that time, adoption is way more expensive than I would have ever thought.

So here’s where we come in.

Cathy and Matt have been green-lighted.  They’ve passed all their home studies.  They’ve filed all their paperwork.  They’re now just waiting for the phone call.  Once a birth mom chooses Cathy and Matt, they have to go to wherever the family is and pay the agency a large chunk of money.  This is the money that will pay for the medical and living expenses for the birth mother, legal fees, travel fees, agency fees, et cetera.

Seriously.  These two are awesome.  During the time of the treatments Cathy and Matt planned a wedding, and Cathy finished her Master’s degree.  I’ve never known two more determined and focused people.  I would love to have played a part in helping them raise money for their adoption expenses.  So here’s what I want to share with you.

I’d like for us to help here at Run With The Big Girls. 

So that is why I’m going to be hosting what I hope will be the first of an annual 5K.  But this isn’t going to be just any 5K.  This is going to be a virtual 5K.  That means you can run it from anywhere at any time during a certain time and I don’t care if you run, walk or crawl.  As long as you go 3.1 miles, you’re awesome.  And while I’m ironing out all of the details, we’re looking for some time in the first part of July.

So here’s the deal.  You’ve got almost 9 weeks before this 5K.  That’s long enough to finish or almost finish the Couch to 5K plan.   I believe in this plan.  This is the plan that I started running with, and I believe it’s one of the most-recommended plans for beginning runners.  I’m actually starting it over this summer to work on speeding up my time.  I’d like to be able to finish a 5K in around 30 minutes by the end of summer.

So that’s the deal.  I’ve got a friend designing T-shirts, and I’m hoping to have more details worked out by Thursday’s post, but I wanted to let you know that you should start training now!

If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPod, you should download this app called Ease into 5K.  It’s well worth the $2.99.  You can upload your own music.  It’s got a GPS tracker to map your runs.  It times your walk time and your run time.  It’s just pretty fantastic!

So now I’m going to ask you again.

Are you ready for this?

I was curious the other night looking at my Nike+ landing page just to see how many times I ran between when I did the first half marathon distance in January to this last one I did a couple weeks ago.  Keep in mind I go the the gym religiously three days a week to do my CrossFit workouts.  And while I knew these workouts were helping me all-around, I wasn’t really sure about how much until I looked at that page.

I only ran 11 times from January 15-April 20.

The race was on April 28.  There were two times I ran 7 miles.  The other runs were all between 1 mile and 3.1 miles.  That’s it.  Eleven times.

The rest of the time I was working on getting stronger in every part of my body.  My grip is stronger.  My legs are stronger.  My abs, my back, my arms, my neck.  You name a body part.  It’s stronger.

What I learned is that running is a full-body sport.  It isn’t just my legs that are sore after a good long run.  It’s every part of my body.  My back was a pain during the recovery process.  And while my calves and shins got the brunt of it, my back and shoulders were pretty sore that next day, as well.

The stronger your whole body is, the stronger your run will be.

So my advice when you’re training for a half marathon?  Work your muscles.  Do the runs that will get your stamina up, but work your muscles.  Get stronger.

I never knew how much of running was a full-body sport until this half marathon.

After a good run, what parts of you hurt?

**Don’t forget to come back Tuesday for some big announcements!  I can’t wait to share them with you!!!

I ended up with 55 songs on my running playlist, which was just about perfect.  In fact, I skipped two songs during the run and after I had crossed the finish line the first song of the day started playing for the second time.  I’ll say it was perfect rather than just about perfect.

Anyway, I thought I’d share my list with you.  Thanks for all your help creating it!

Good Morning – Mandisa & TobyMac
Lose Yourself – Eminem
So What – P!nk
Run The World (Girls) – Beyonce
Blow – Ke$ha
On The Floor – Jennifer Lopez
Woohoo – Christina Aguilera (I skipped this one)
Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne
Till I Collapse – Eminem
No Plan B – Manafest
Invincible – Pat Benatar
Tonight – TobyMac & John Cooper
Tik Tok – Ke$ha
Your Love Is My Drug – Ke$ha
We R Who We R – Ke$ha
The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga
All I Do I Win – DJ Kahled
Drumming Song – Florence + The Machine
Edge of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) – Technotronic
Move This – Technotronic
Gold On The Ceiling – Black Keys
Lonely Boy – Black Keys
All That You Are – Goo Goo Dolls
Waking Up In Vegas – Katy Perry
Sail – AWOLNATION
I’m Shipping Up To Boston – Dropkick Murphys
Hard To Handle – Black Crows
Brighter Than The Sun – Colbie Caillat
Survivor – Destiny’s Child
Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
God Save The Foolish Kings – House of Heroes
Piece of My Heart – Janis Joplin
Remind Me Who I Am – Jason Gray
Furious – Jeremy Riddle
What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – Kelly Clarkson
Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO
Sexy And I Know It – LMFAO
Rise Up – Matt Maher
Roll Away Your Stone – Mumford & Sons
Freedom – Nicole C. Mullen
Everyday People – Sly & The Family Stone
Tom’s Diner – Suzanne Vega
Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
Bright Lights – Matchbox Twenty
Steal My Sunshine – Len
Talk Dirty To Me – Poison
Good Life – OneRepublic
Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men
Manifesto – The City Harmonic
Arms – Christina Perri
How Far We’ve Come – Matchbox Twenty
Kickstart My Heart – Motley Crue (I thought this was appropriate about mile 11)
Working For The Weekend (Loverboy)

Thanks for all your suggestions.  For the life of me I can’t remember what other song I skipped.  Not that it matters, but would like to remember.

Hope you enjoy the list!

In January when I ran a half marathon, I didn’t really pay much attention to how much recovery should go.  I thought I’d be sore for a few days and then go on just like I do after a strenuous workout or whatever.   What I didn’t count on was not really being able to move without excruciating pain tearing through every part of my body every time I moved.  I actually didn’t run for almost a month because of the memory of all that pain.

So this time I paid a little more attention to what I was doing after the race.

I guess the main thing that helped was that I was more in shape.  I had rested up, and I had several more miles under my belt before this race.  I took the whole week before the race off so I wouldn’t feel like my body was worn out heading into it.  I bought some compression socks and had used them a couple times after my long runs, and they seemed to help.  And I had a fresh bottle of Aleve on the trip with me.

Directly after the race I was supposed to meet my friends under the letter J.  I made it to S.  I called them and had them come find me.  They found me laying down in a grassy area stretching out my back and my legs.  I was done.  I’d already finished a fresh bottle of water and was halfway done with a bottle Gatorade by the time they got there.  I was also probably on the phone bawling my eyes out telling my mom I’d finished, but that’s for another blog post.

The week before I’d started taking two Aleve twice a day to kind of get a head start on the inflammation that I was going to incur.  That didn’t stop after the race until about Tuesday.  I had packed a bag with super cushioned shoes and my compression socks.  Once I got my running shoes off, I got the compression socks on.

I don’t know what it is about the compression that helps with the recovery process, but I’m thankful for them.  I may have spent $40 on a pair of socks, but to be able to get up and walk another mile to our car without pain was well worth it.  The shoes I had packed were my old running shoes that were super cushioned, so that was a big help, too.

Immediately after getting back to the hotel and after taking some more Aleve, I poured some Espom salt in a bath and soaked for quite a while in HOT water.  After the bath I laid down for about 30 minutes and got dressed and we went and walked around the Opryland Hotel for a couple hours.

I know that that sounds kind of crazy, but I think a big part of my problem last time was that I didn’t keep moving.  The less you move the more time you give your muscles to start cramping and start getting sore.  Honestly my only problems after the race were shin splints and my calves were the tightest I’ve ever felt them.  I’m assuming from all the hills.  I also had a little catch in my back, but got that taken care of at my chiropractic appointment on Monday.  That’s it.

I could walk without a huge amount of pain.

I even went and worked out Monday to see if I could get some of the soreness out of my legs, but it didn’t help much.  I’ll be taking the rest of the week off because I don’t have much leg strength yet.

I’m subscribing to the theory of “Work Hard, Rest Hard.”

Don’t underestimate the value of rest for your body.  We’re made to need sleep and rest for a reason.  Just make sure you get enough of each!

What are some ways that you enjoy your rest days?

So, yeah.  We’re less than 48 hours away from the start of the race.  And hopefully less than 48 hours away from the end of the race.  I pulled up directions to my hotel on Mapquest yesterday.  It’s supposed to take me 3 hours and 33 minutes to drive there this evening.

My goal is to be running a shorter time than I’m driving.

My actual goal to finish in is 3.5 hours.  I really feel like I can do this.  If I calculate all the time I had to spend stretching in the freezing weather and the time I spent at my friends’ house at the halfway point, I think I probably could have made it in that time in January if I hadn’t had to do all that.  So that’s my goal.  May be a little lofty, but that’s what I’m going to shoot for.

I also just found to today that you can sign up to receive text alerts with my progress through the race.  If you are interested, you can click here to sign up.  I think you just need my first and last name, so that’s Julie Shreve, in case you were wondering.

And, yes, I get more and more nervous every day I get closer to it, but the weird thing is is that I’m also getting more and more confident that I can finish under my goal time.  You all are a big part of that.  You’re posting encouraging things on my Facebook wall, sending me encouraging messages and texts and just being awesome.

Thank you. 

I honestly don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay your kindness.

I do want to ask for your thoughts and prayers.

I know they’re going to be what’s going to push me to the finish.

I’ll try to post some pictures up here after the race if I get any.  I think it’s going to be a madhouse.  I’ve heard about 40,000 people run this yearly. I’m not sure what 40,000 people all in one place looks like not taking into account that we’re all going to be running.  I think it will be pretty cool.

So for today, just pray that I get there safe and get some good sleep these next couple nights.  I’m packed and ready to go.  I’ve triple checked to make sure I have my shoes and everything else I need.  I’m kind of neurotic like that, but I like to be prepared.

And just think, in less than 48 hours I’ll be crossing a finish line in a race I never would have thought I’d ever run.

Four more days before the half marathon.  My thoughts really aren’t connecting well, so I’m just going to give you a few of my random thoughts.

• I looked at today’s CrossFit workout and was so thankful that I’m taking the week off.    375 air squats?   I wouldn’t be able to run a mile after that.
• My foot hurts.  Not bad.  Just a little.  It’s been hurting since my last run.  I’m praying it goes away soon.  It usually does.  I’m just paranoid now that I’m this close to the race.
• The last time I ran a half marathon it took me almost four hours.  It only takes 4.5 hours to drive from here to Nashville, Tennessee, where the race is.  I’ll be running almost as long as it takes me to drive.  I find this a little comical.
• I don’t think I’ll ever do this again, but if I do, I found one of these events in St. Petersburg, Florida, in February.  Just about 30 minutes from my brother’s new home.  Plus it’s Florida in February.  Tempting, but not.
• I keep getting calls from my friends wanting to know where I buy the plantains at Wal-Mart.  If you’ve wondered this yourself, they’re on a kiosk by the deli, the one with all the nuts and dried fruit on it.  If you’re standing between the kiosk and the deli, they’re on the bottom shelf on the right-hand side.  Be warned, though, I buy them out every time I go.
• I did buy fresh plantains to try and make my own chips.  I’m going to fry them in olive oil and put salt on them. That seems to be the most popular recipe.  Plus fresh plantains are only $.29.
• I’m nervous.
• People keep asking me if I’m excited.  I tell them no most of the time.  I’ve decided that I’m going to start telling you yes.  Maybe I’ll start getting excited then instead of letting my nerves go crazy.
• Just found out my nephew stayed home from school yesterday with a bit of the flu.  I spent all day Saturday with him.  Praying that I don’t get any of that yuckiness!

I think those are all my thoughts for now.

What’s been going on in your week?

There’s a theme in CrossFit.  There are lots and lots of named workouts.  The majority of them are named after women or heroes.  We do one of these workouts a week.

They’re pretty hard.

Yesterday we did Isabel.  Isabel is 30 snatches for time.  The only good thing about Isabel is that you can get done fairly quickly.  This is Isabel:

I’m not a fan.  

Snatches do something to my shoulders, and they just hurt for a couple days.  I know it’s just sore, but there’s something about that life versus any of the others that I don’t like.

But there’s this girl in my class in the mornings.  She’s started trying to do every WOD with the prescribed weight.  The prescribed weight for Isabel is 85 pounds.  The most she had ever done with a snatch?  80 pounds.  So she decided to try and life 85 pounds, which is 5 pounds over her max weight, over her head in one of the most awkward lifts 30 times.

So she did it.

30 times.

In 11 minutes and 40 seconds.

So if you would have been in class with us yesterday morning, you would have witnessed two of my favorite things about CrossFit.  On the one hand you’ve got an athlete with a drive to do more than she’s ever done before and to do it well.  She could have dropped weight and went an easier route, but she didn’t.  She could have just said that since she’d never done that heavy that she couldn’t do it.  But she didn’t.  She looked at this workout and thought, I can do this.  So she did.  It’s all about the mindset.

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. ~ Henry Ford

Secondly, since she was doing a heavier weight than she’d ever done, it took her longer than the rest of us to finish.  Most of the time when we’re done, we stretch and leave to go home and get ready for work.  Yesterday?  Everyone sat and watched and cheered.  They knew it was a big deal not just for her, but for themselves to see what determination can do for you in a workout.  I was sitting in front of her, so I could see the rest of the class behind her just watching.  You should have seen their faces when she finished the last lift.  It was like they were lifting it with her.  I love this little community!

So congrats to Jill for the awesome performance.  Thank you for letting us cheer you on.  Keep it up.  But just so you know, after my race I’m going to start working on going prescribed.

And then it’s on.

This past Saturday was exactly two weeks from when I’ll be running in the half marathon in Nashville.  Today my body felt like it had been run over by a truck.  And since I don’t remember standing in front any vehicles at any point over the weekend, I’m not really comfortable with this feeling.

I think the truth of it is is that I’m getting a little nervous.  I haven’t done much running lately.  Between doing a workout that put a little too much stress on my lower back muscles and coming down with a head cold and then appointments here and there, I just haven’t had much time or the mentality to head out there and do it.

Come to think of it maybe the head cold is why I felt like I’d been run over by a truck instead of actually being run over by a truck.

Maybe.

Today I’m jumping back in the mindset of a runner.  Or at least the idea of me being a runner, as comical as that is.  I think for me, getting my mind in the game is 90% of the battle.  The other 10% is showing up.  I know I can do this.  I’ve done it once before.  Sure there are a lot of unknowns, but I think it could get pretty boring if I knew everything beforehand.

So tonight I run.  If you don’t see my Nike+ up on Facebook by tomorrow morning, call me out on it.  My goal is a 5k.

Will you hold me accountable?