Thank you!

Thank you!

Recoup, Refocus, Renew

I finally got my finisher medal for the 3 For The Road Series, yeah!! I really enjoyed the 3FTR series; a 5k, 4 miler and 5 miler. I ended up overall in 4th place for my age group!! I was pleased with that, but even more pleased that I was able to run each of the distances at a 9 minute per mile pace.

After the 3FTR Series, I ran the Merrill Lynch Bull Run. This turned out to be a family affair. I ran the 10k, my son ran the 5k, and my daughter volunteered to work the water station. It's amazing how the lure of service hours she needs for school was able to get her out of bed at 5:30am on a Saturday morning!

The Bull Run started out and ended on A1A in front of Spanish River Park in Boca Raton. Lauren was at the water stop just after mile #1. This was the 1st time she has been to one of my races so I was very happy! The middle part of the course went through some really nice residential neighborhoods with lots of beautiful houses.




I finished in 55:50 which is a 8:58 pace! Woo hoo, sub 9 minutes!! I still need to work on keeping my pace more consistent. I start out fast (well, relatively speaking!) and slow down each mile (M1 8:00 M2 8:40 M3 9:02 M4 9:14 M5 9:22 M6 9:39)

After the Bull Run, I decided to take a couple of weeks off from running and karate. Mostly to recoup; to see if some time off would help to heal my heel (it didn't). I've been running with heel pain for over a year. The foot doctor "diagnosed" it as a heel spur and prescribed ibuprofen and heel inserts. The heel inserts didn't help; the IBU did. But as soon as I stopped taking the IBU, the pain returned. I was too busy training for my 2nd degree black belt and for the New York marathon to stop running or to go back to the doctor and I didn't want to have to take IBU chronically (I am a pharmacist so I know the dangers) so I kept on running.

But recently the heel had gotten worse. Waking up in the morning, I couldn't walk and had to tip toe around. I've been talking with so many friends, fellow martial artists, fellow runners and everyone has a different opinion and a different remedy. So, the thought was to take a couple of weeks off to see if that would help. And since it didn't, I think it's time to go back to the doctor. But now the question is, do I go back to the podiatrist or do I go to an orthopaedic doctor?

Meanwhile, with the heel pain and my next marathons more than 1/2 a year away, I was losing focus and not feeling really motivated. But then came April 20th and the Boston Marathon. I was able to watch on-line and that is exactly what I needed to see to get refocused. I was so routing for Kara Goucher and actually had tears when she dropped back to 3rd place in the final miles.

A week after the Boston marathon was the London marathon. I got up at 4am on that Sunday morning to watch the race on-line. It was an awesome and inspiring race. The website said that registration for the 2010 race would open the following day. So, I went on-line on Monday and registered for the lottery. I'll find out in later September/early October whether or not I get selected or not. I'm hoping that I will have the same luck that I had with New York and get picked on my 1st try. But if not, that's ok too.

And now, I am recharged, refocused and renewed.





Run long, run strong

Dani

Spring Time Running

So I haven't had any "races" since the Riverwalk 5 miler. But I've had a lot of good runs since then. Saturday 3/28 I ran 8.42 in 1:27:06. And on Saturday 4/4 I ran 8.47 in 1:26:14. Plus, I had a number of shorter runs in between.



I've been trying to "finalize" my race schedule for the year and I think I have it figured out. My 1st marathon for 2009 was the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon; I didn't do as well as I had hoped for, primarilybecause it was way too hot!!!!

My 2nd marathon of 2009 will be the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25 in Washington DC. I was very fortunate that one of my Twitter buddies reminded me of the registration and I was able to sign up for this race. I 've heard this race fills up very quickly!! I was also fortunate that I was able to get roundtrip airfare from Ft. Lauderdale and 3 nights in a nice hotel for right around $500.


My 3rd marathon for 2009 will be the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It's a flat course and close to home; what else could I ask for!! I have to thank marathonchris from twitter for "twittering" and recommending this marathon.

I was really looking for a marathon between April and September. In South Florida, our marathon season ends very early. I saw the Nashville marathon in April and the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinatti in May. But they are too close in date and my training doesn't have been close enough to marathon level. So, I'll save the $$$$ and stay home.


And the last marathon I have planned for (at least right now!) is the 2010 Disney Marathon. When I went online, I was intending on registering for the Goofy Challenge; which is a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. But, the website said the registration was closed. I was bummed, but I went ahead and registered for the marathon on January 10th 2010!!! Last night I was web surfing and saw that the Goofy Challenge has "reopened". I have emailed the race directors to see if I can "upgrade" to the Goofy Challenge. But, we'll have to wait and see what happens.


This Saturday I have a 10K race; the Merrily Lynch Bull Run. My son will be running the 5k and most surprisingly, my daughter will be volunteering for service hours (and that's the only way I'll get her up that early in the morning!!!


I have several more 5ks and 10ks to run this year; and I'm psyched about them because they are forcing me to work on my speed; versus my endurance.


And that's all for this week!
Dani

Saturday was the Riverwalk Run. The final race in the 3 For the Road Series. I ran the 5 miler and Ryan ran the 5k. About 15 minutes before the start of the 5-mile race, it started raining. Not too heavy, but just enough to make it cold. Luckily, as quickly as it started, it quickly ended.


The 5-miler started at 7am; the 5k started 15 minutes later. The race started at Huizinga Park at the corner of Las Olas Blvd and Andrews. We ran over the SE 3rd Street bridge, over the tunnel and into the Rio Vista neighborhoods. It was a beautiful run, past lots of gorgeous homes.


Ryan finished his 5k in 25:07 (8:05 pace). Several other St. Jerome students, and fellow SJS track team members, also ran the 5k. For their age groups, Jake came in 5th, Ryan and Sean came in 4th, Juliana came in 3rd, Isabella came in 2nd (25:06), and both Christina (22:16) and York (23:04) came in 1st place! And of course, their Coach Burke came in 1st place overall for the Grand Masters. It was another great running day for St. Jerome!


As for me, going into the race, I new I was just over 1 minute behind 3rd place for my age group for the 3 For the Road Series. To get to 3rd place would mean I would have to run a 8:30 pace for the entire 5 miles; that would be a bit of a stretch for me. But, I still was going to try to do it! It was a good run/race. I felt good; I was able to keep a steady pace and the 5 miles went by relatively quickly! I finished in 45:04, right around a 9:01 pace. Not the 8:30 I needed, but a pace that I was very happy with. For the race, I finished in 16th place out of 50 women for the 40-44 year age group.

And in the 3 For the Road Series, I ended up in 4th place. But, I definitely made up some time and only missed 3rd place by 28 seconds.

1 Lori Battaglia 44 F 26:09 35:29 42:57 1:44:35
2 Debby Rivera 44 F 25:38 34:40 44:17 1:44:35
3 Jen Sundook 40 F 26:55 35:11 45:43 1:47:49
4 Danielle Dorsett 42 F 27:11 36:02 45:04 1:48:17

that's all for now!

dani

Just a quick mid-week post!!!!
On the left, is the medal that Ryan won for placing 2nd in his age group at the St. Paddy's 4-miler race last weekend.

Below is Ryan at his karate exam. He was testing for his yellow belt.

And here's a vido of Ryan and Nakita performing their white belt "Appreciation Form".

St. Paddy 4-Miler

This past Saturday was the 2nd race in the "Three For the Road" series of races; it was the St. Paddy's 4-miler. The race was held at Tradewinds Park and it was an out and back route taking us past the (smelly) horse stables.

Ryan had decided to run the race with me. And, 4 other students from St. Jerome ran the race, as well as their track coach. Coach Burke started out at the front of the crowd; me and the kids hung out towards the back. When the race started, we all spent some time weaving through the walkers and the slower runners. Then all 5 kids took off. The 2 fastest quickly ran out of my line of sight; but I was able to keep an eye on the other 3.

The kids did great! All 5 were in different age/sex groups. The 3 boys (including Ryan!) all placed 2nd in their respective age group. The 2 girls came in 1st for their age groups. And their coach finished 1st overall for the Grand Master age group. I was the only one to not medal in my age group. But I'm okay with that. I finished with a time of 35:45, coming in 16th out of 34 women in the 40-44 age group; which is the largest age group. I was in the top 50%; that's good enough for me!!!

But the best "news" for me was my standings in the "Three for the Road Series". After the 1st race, I was in 7th place for my age group. Now after 2 races of the series, I'm in 4th place for my age group. The final race is this Saturday and it's a 5 mile race so I should do well. I'm less than 1 minute out of 3rd place. So, my goal for Saturday's race is to finish in 43:30 which is a pace just under 8:45 minutes per mile.

Till next week, run long!

Dani

"blonderx"

Saturday was a great running day! It started with the "5K for a Better Day" race. This is the 1st in a series of 3 races known as "3 For the Road". The race started at Broward General Hospital, went north to the New River and then east along the river for about 1/2 a mile. Then we headed back south to the hospital for the finish line.

The temperature very comfortable (low 70's) with little, if any breeze. I hadn't run at all since the marathon the prior Sunday so I was ready to put in some effort, but I haven't really done any kind of speed work so I wasn't too sure how the race would go. Anyways, I set a quasi-goal of 27:45; right around a 9:15 per mile pace.

I did very well in keeping a relatively steady pace, and tried to not keep looking at my watch. I was able to finish with a nice sprint at the end and finished in 27: 11. I finished 138th out of 393 overall and 7th out of 30 for my age group. Pretty cool!!!


This is a picture of the "medals" they gave away for the race. Very tropical!

There are 2 more races in the "3 For the Road" series. The 2nd race is the St. Paddy 4 miler and it's on March 14th. The final event is the Riverwalk 5 miler. The series combines the times for all 3 races and everyone who completes all 3 events gets a medal and some really cool stuff.

As quickly as I crossed the finish line for my 5k, I had to hurry up and get to St. Thomas Aquinas High School for the ABCC Track Meet. Ryan is on the St. Jerome track team this year and was competing in the mile event. Last year, Lauren participated and it was a long, hot day. This year was much better. First of all, one of the parents brought a tent/canopy thing. Plus everyone brought drinks and food. So between the events we were comfortable and it was a nice day hanging out with the kids and other parents.

But, the best part of the day was seeing how well all the kids at St. Jerome did. Ryan came in 11th out of 23 for the mile, finishing with a time of 6:58!!! I was so proud of him!!!

The school as a whole did awesome! They took won 1st place for the girl's mile, 800m, 100m, and 200m. The relay teams did very well. The school placed in many events, both in track and field. The girls came in 2nd place overall and the boys took 6th place. It was a fantastic event!! I can't wait for next year!!!

They sent out the pics from the A1A marathon. Because there were so few marathoners, they took lots of pictures of me towards the end of the race. Unfortunately, I was only somewhat smiling in 1 of them!

That's all for now folks!!

Dani :)

I took a brief hiatus from blogging, but it's good to be back......

Today, I ran the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon; finishing in 5:02:08. I ran 18 miles with the 4:45 pace group, but the heat really slowed me down the last 8 miles. The race started in the mid-60’s, but towards the end, it was in the upper 70’s/low 80’s. UGH!!! And, I did a major no-no; I wore a new shirt. It chafed so bad, I have 2 big red, very painful circles under my arms. The medal is really cool; the front looks like a sea shell. The back has a street sign saying A1A and Las Olas, but it didn’t photograph well.

Here is where I hang my medals. On the very left is the medal for the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon. To the right is the A1A marathon medal. The 2 medals on the right are the Miami ING 1/2 marathon medals for 2007 and 2008.

My New York Medal is in it's own shadow box. The background "Dedication" is cut out from the thermal blanket they gave us as we crossed he finish line.

08 Victory List and 09 Goals

Happy New Year!!!! Ah, the traditions of New Years Day. The pork roast and College Football bowl games. And now I am sitting down to reflect on my victories of 2008 and set my goals for 2009.

As we say in karate, "Goals we set are goals we get". Well, for 2008, I set some very lofty goals. And, I achieved all that I set out to, and then some!

(1) Half-marathon: I finished my half-marathon 15 minutes faster than my goal time.

(2) Career: I made the move to another company; the people and position are great!!!

(3) Full marathon: I ran the San Diego Rock & Roll marathon with my sister

(4) Another full marathon: I was lucky enough to win the "lottery" and got into the New York City marathon, setting a 44 minute PR

(5) Karate: I'm now a 2nd degree black belt.

(6) Quit Smoking: The goal that I am most proud of accomplishing is quitting smoking. I was able to end a 25 year relationship with the Marlboro man.

So what's next? How do I top all that?

Running:

I think I'll try to do 1-2 marathons a year; but my quest will be for quality, not quantity. I'll definitely going to try to get into New York again. And again, and again, and again! But other than New York, I'm going to pick marathons that help to justify travel to a new place; such as Dublin, Maui, Marine Corps, London , Disney and Antartica (my son wants to join me for that trip!). My time goal is to run under 4:30; that's a 27 minute improvement or 1 minute per mile, which is very attainable.

So far I've already signed up again for the Miami ING half-marathon. My time goal will be 2:05. Last year, 4 of us from karate ran it. This year, I think there's about 12 of us running. It should be fun!. And in February, I'm going to run the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon. This is a nice flat marathon so I'm going to set a goal of 4:37, which would be a 20 minute PR over New York.

Karate:

I have to wait 3 years before I will be eligible to test for my 3rd degree. So I have some time to just enjoy class and hone my skills. The dojo focused on MMA in '08 (Mixed Martial Arts). I'm not a big MMA fan; I enjoy watching the fights on TV, but I'm not a big jiu jitsu fan. I'm not sure what the dojo is going to focus on this year, but I'm going to work on my weapons skills, chucks and kamas.

Personal: Since I'm not in training for karate, I should have some "extra" time. I'm hoping to use that to develop my web site and put my business plan into action. But more on that to come in future blogs!

Good night!

Dani