Hope Elephants

Last weekend I ran the Summer Stampede 5K at Hope Elephants.  Hope Elephants is a sanctuary for a couple retired circus elephants in Hope Maine. I had been wanting to the take girls to visit Rosie and Opal for the past two years but we never have gotten around to visiting.  When I saw the 5k advertised on facebook I decided this would be the perfect time to go see them. Karen decided to run the race with me :)  The money raised would go to education for first aid care for elephants due to the dropping number of elephants in the wild. The course was advertised as difficult, and that it was. I guess it used to be an old triathlon course years ago.  This was my fourth road race this year and no matter how many I have under my belt they still make me nervous before they start. There were 59 runners, some looked like they belonged in the Boston Marathon, and others looked like I stood a chance of not coming in last. We started on a hill, continued on hills,
and finished with a HUGE hill, then a half mile gradual incline. There were not many people at the finish line when Karen and I got back so I knew that we did OK. I ended up being the 15th person back, finishing the race with a time of 30.07. I was pretty happy with this considering I ran all hills. 

I have been doing really well with my running. I have an obsessive personality which usually makes me put in 150% for a short amount of time before completely falling off the wagon.  I have ran, lossed weight and gained it a few times now, I rarely stop to enjoy the times that I do well because I am so wrapped up in the actual process. I am up to running seven miles on my treadmill and six miles outside. I tackle hills and if given the opportunity to take the long way I always do this time around. I wish I had more time to run outside because I would like to continue to tackle hills and distance. I am not a fast runner by any means but I now can officially say that I love running. I have lost 29 pounds, and for the past month have stuck at my current weight. I think it is time to run for pleasure when I can outside during the week, plus one long run on the treadmill so I don't lose distance there. I need to find some sort of cardio type workout that will
hopefully break this plateau that I am stuck on. I still watch what I eat, I make healthy choices, I eat when I am hungry but I am careful not to splurge on unnecessary junk, I run 3-7 miles 5-6 days a week and I am stuck. Before I start to hate running I need to quickly find a way to burn calories that will actually help me continue to lose the last 10 pounds I need to lose.  So for now I am enjoying be able to run, far, and hard. I love the feeling of running in the morning, it used to freak me out to run half across town when I have to be to work in an hour and a half. I was scared I wouldn't get back in time or I would quit. Now I fuss over not having more time to go farther. Yesterday I got to town at 5:30 am, I ran 6 miles, showered at the gym and went to work. This morning I had to get the kids to daycare so I wasn't able to run outside, we leave the house at 6:30 am so I got up at 4:30and ran at 5:00 for 4.5 miles. My total for the week so far
is 16.5 miles, last week I ran 25 miles total. I would love to keep track, it's crazy to think of how I took advantage of my body for so long by not testing myself.  Here is to many more miles and pounds to go :)