Running Advent- The Decent

I will start by saying that the second half was tougher than the first half!  My runs were much slower than in the beginning and my legs were tired but I survived enough to blog about it and had a great time along the way.  I am thankful to all my wonderful running buddies that joined me for various days of running advent- the company was very much appreciated.  All the encouragement was fantastic as well- it kept me going through all 144 miles!  Here is the photo recap of days 13-23!

Day 13- Holiday Lights run through downtown, Mt. Adams and Eden Park! Thanks to Tisha for adding on to make it my full 11 miles

                              

Day 14- 10 miles through Hyde Park & Mt. Lookout.  This house was decked out, complete with 4 motorcycle Santas.  My first question, "How much is their electric bill?" and my second, "What do their neighbors think?"

             

Day 15- How cool would it be to have a flying pig in your yard?
9 miles through Hyde Park and found this guy!

Day 16- Sadie napping for the evening after she ran the first 4 of my 8 mile run!

Day 17- Sister run after our sleepover! Nickie in all her coordinated gear made for a fun 7 miles!

                                             

Day 18- Sunday evening run with a beautiful sunset at the end of 6 miles.

Day 19- Ran 5 miles at 5 am so I could enjoy "Awaited" at Crossroads with a fun crew!

Day 20- My feet and legs were very happy to only have to run 4 miles today!

Day 21- Pub Run from Newport up to Mt. Adams- I joined in late for my 3 miles but got the beautiful view from Mt. Adams and fun times with the ladies!

                

Day 22- 2 miles in the rain but these happy kids and smile made for a perfect ending to the day.  Enjoying time with Bella and Milosh!

                   

               

Day 23- Final 1 mile run.....or 6.2 but who is counting?!?!  We did celebrate at mile one though!  I completed a virtual 10k today with Tracey Outlaw.  Check out the Virtual 10k here.  My final run for running advent also had a theme of "Finish Strong" for Parker.  Parker is Tracey's cousin's son who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia.  Tracey completed 52.4 miles in 48 hours for Parker and inspired me to finish strong for Parker today.  Read about Parker and Tracey here.  We even finished the run off with a photo shoot with Santa! Here are a preview of the pics.  I will do another blog post with more pics from the final run and celebration to follow this evening!

                                    

Woohoo 144 miles+ in 23 days- thanks for all the cheers, companionship and support on the journey!

Running Advent- The Climb

So your first question may be...."What exactly is Running Advent?"  Well it is a fun challenge created by Erin and Carter Hamilton.  You start on December 1st and run every day until December 23rd.  You add 1 mile each day until you reach 12 miles on December 12th then work your way back down to 1 mile!  Successful completion of all 23 days and distances earns you a shirt and entry into the Hamilton Pub Crawl.  Now what about that doesn't sound fun?  One mistake I did make was not adding the mileage up until I started....or maybe that was a good thing.  When all is said and done, it works out to 144 miles in 23 days.

Days 1-12 are complete and it has definitely been a challenge.  Now it is time to work back down to 1 mile and I am ready for that!  Here is a picture recap of the first 12 days.

Day 1- A mile with Sadie!

Day 2- Beautiful Friday afternoon for 2 miles.

                                    

 

Day 3- Another fun 3 mile run with Sadie with a couple mud puddles mixed in!

Day 4- 4 miles before the rain blew in!

Day 5- A very very rainy 5 miles looping through the apartment complex over and over and over.

Day 6- 6 miles with the running group through Hyde Park.

Day 7- 7 miles with Paul from work but this little guy was on the porch in the AM before work and I couldn't resist!

Day 8- 2nd annual Norwood Pub Run with add on miles before with Chelsea and Liz!

Day 9- 9 miles from the GOTR office to Mariemont and back.

Day 10- Happy B-day Brad!  10 miles in birthday hats!

Day 11- Sunday afternoon/evening through the neighborhood- 11 miles with some furry friends and beautiful sunset!

         

Day 12- Halfway point- 12 miles done!  The temperature fiinally warmed up a bit and Sadie joined for the first 4 miles!

Let the decent and next 11 days begin!  78 miles down and 66 to go!