You've Been Chicked

Last weekend by bestest buddy competed in the Arizona Ironman.  While she was out swimming, biking and running for 12.5 hours, I needed something to keep myself entertained.  When I wasn't cheering on the athletes, I was taking pictures.

You've heard the saying, a picture is worth 1000 words.  In this case, four pictures tell the story of girl chicks boy.

Boy running along, minding his own business

Boy wonders if Girl can keep up

 Girl passes boy

Boy checks pace. Yup, Been Chicked

Happy Running!

Onward and Upward

Coach Dean with Arizona Running Club (formally RxRunning) always signs off his emails

Onward and Upward

I've known Dean for nine years and the Onward and Upward sign off is always uplifting.  If I'm running great I'm on the Upward.  If I'm injured (which occurs more frequently than I wish), the Onward is hopeful.

For the past six months I've had a tough time with running.  Lacking speed, motivation and endurance running wasn't fun and I compared myself to the prior me.  Comparing myself to the prior me lead to nothing but a depressive pity party.  I wanted dearly to be back to the prior me...even the nine years ago prior me when I first started running.  Knowing the only way to get there was to get out there and not worry about speed, just start running.

I finally feel like I have my mojo back. I've went out to Dean's track practice twice,  I'm up to a 10 miles long run and have been out to 5K's and 10K's. It's been great being at the races and seeing all the runners. I even ran into my good bead-nose friend Jeff from Running Thru Phoenix at the Moon Valley 5k and I'm looking forward to the Fiesta Bowl half in December and Ragnar in February.  

It's so wonderful having the Onward and Upward motivation back.

Happy Running!

4th of July 4 Miler

Today's 4th of July 4 miler was great. While it was quite slow compared to my runs over the years, I ran the whole thing and came in under 10 min/mile at 39:16.  This is great considering I figured I would walk part of it. Maybe, just maybe, I am on my way back?

Racing to Find Mojo

The lack of running motivation continues to plague me.  Running 3 miles without stopping is so hard for me to actually accomplish and once I start walking, there's not much at that point to keep me running.  With hopes to find my running mojo again, I signed up for the Arizona Road Racers summer series.  There are 5 races spread throughout the summer that are 5K's, except the 4th of July is a 4 miler.

I missed the first race since I was out of town.  Today was the 2nd race and the convenient location was only 4 miles away at Rose Moffet Park, Phoenix.

My goal was to run 9:15's and be sub-30min overall.  The first mile took forever and yes, I felt like stopping.  I knew the 1.5 mile mark would be tough because usually that's when I start walking on my runs at home.  I told myself walking wasn't an option but 10 minute miles or even 11's were an option. I really wanted to finish the race without stopping.

I finished in a personal worst time of 29:15 but overall I'm happy because I did run the whole thing.  I don't have my running mojo back but figure I have to keep getting myself out there. Next race is in 3 weeks on the 4th of July.

Happy Running!

Artist in Residence - Hubbell Trading Post

I believe when I got my DSLR 3 years ago I posted about it but otherwise I've been pretty quiet about my photography. 

Back in November I applied to be an Arist in Residence (AiR) at Hubbell Trading Post. I thought out of all of the National Parks and National Park Historic sites that had AiR programs, this would be the most likely. It's not a huge site and a pretty remote location. My gamble paid off and I received an email letting me know that I was accepted.

May 16th to May 23rd, I'll be living onsite Hubbell Trading Post in a small stone hogan. For a full week I can focus on photography! There are so many places to see around there. Canyon de Chelly being the most popular and closest. I've never been to the area before and am looking forward to exploring.

Today Robert, an AiR last April, emailed me and was gracious enough to give me his number so we could talk about what to expect. He also emailed me pictures of the inside. I'm so thankful we talked because I now know to look for brown recluse spiders (he found 2 inside) and I can eat fresh eggs everyday.  The pics below are from Robert during his stay. What a cute place!

If you're interested in seeing pictures you can check out my site www.christinaheinlephotography.com.