What Runner’s High?

This might be the truest statement ever tweeted.

Illustrated Tweet Of The Day courtesy of Hello Giggles

Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby Countown

I am less than a fortnight away from my second — yes, SECOND — 5K. Me, the person who swore she would never run unless it meant escaping from certain death or achieving face-to-face interaction with Ryan Gosling.

Team “I Run For Dessert” is hitting up Music City for the greatest Cinco de Mayo 5K run EVER. I am so stoked.

“Why are you so excited today, Emily, when you have barely mentioned this race over the last several weeks?”, you might ask.

Well, this renewed vigor stems from the fact that Julie and I completed a full three-mile run this morning at the gym. And we only walked ONE LAP. This is earth shattering. Since completing the initial 5K on March 17, we have not neared the three-mile mark.

Today was a bit different because my iPod’s battery died so we didn’t use the GPS/MPH tracker at all; instead, we tracked our progress the old-fashioned way — counting laps around the 1/8-mile track. We didn’t even watch the clock. It wasn’t our fastest run, by any means, but we finished, which means so much more!

Staying Alive: Learning from the Bee Gees

I just heard the extremely sad news of Robin Gibb’s advanced colorectal cancer. I know this blog is usually pretty light-hearted and flippant, but this topic is one that I can get behind — especially as my two topics (food and exercise) can have positive or negative indicators for most types of cancer.

In my day job as a PR coordinator at a hospital, I frequently promote health screenings and health education. Just last week, a local oncologist talked about the importance of screenings in preventing cancer deaths. In case you didn’t know, colon, rectal and colorectal cancer are some of the most preventable cancers. Because of the length of time it takes to develop these cancers, 10-15 years in most cases, regular screenings can mean the difference between life and death in many people. According to the American Cancer Society, people at average risk for colon, rectal or colorectal cancer should begin screenings at age 50.

Gaining Speed At What Cost?

Following our first 5K on March 17, Julie and I took a few days off from running. When we began again, we decided to concentrate on improving our speed prior to the Cinco de Mayo 5K we are running in Nashville.

That has been the focus in the weeks since then, and since I haven’t updated my loyal followers in a while, I thought today would be a great day for it.

I’m proud to say we have shaved nearly two minutes off our time for the mile, going from over 11 minutes per mile, to around 9.5 minutes per mile, fairly consistently. In talking to other runners who are of similar build to us (short), we are feeling pretty good about that speed.

Q&A: Episode One

A week or so ago I asked for questions from my readers (all four of you) and promised answers from the experts. For this first episode of I Run for Dessert Q&A, I spoke with a personal trainer at Fitness Plus in Cape Girardeau. He answered a great question submitted by Michael.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. I hope to feature more answers from the experts soon.