This week I officially hit the halfway mark on training for my first of two St. Jude events this year. Up first is the Nashville Rock N Roll Half Marathon which I am running as a St. Jude Hero for my very first time. What is a St. Jude Hero? St. Jude describes them as “an exclusive group of dedicated athletes committed to raising funds for the lifesaving mission of St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital.” Okay, according to that definition I’m already a “hero” but I just never looked at it that way. Don’t ask me why, I don’t have answers to complicated questions like that 😉 The Chicago To Peoria run is a relay style run, there’s no competition, there’s no dash to the finish line, but Nashville is an actual half marathon (that’s 13.1 miles in case you didn’t know) and a race plus I get this super cool racing shirt that says “St. Jude Hero” on it. In order to run as a “hero” I had to raise $500 which was so very graciously donated by a Jesse Boyd who wanted me to run Nashville in memory of Reagan. (Thanks again Jesse).

I just wanted to take the time to update you where I am at in my training. Although I don’t really have a goal for this race, I really do want to run it hard, fast and at the best of my ability. My best half marathon time was roughly 1:46:00 but after that run I had a big burn out period, took lots of time off and just lost my mojo. But now, I’m ready to rock and see what I can do and sadly training has been hard as hell. I have a super BAD ASS coach who challenges me but also works with my insane work/teaching schedule. When training started seven weeks ago, running sucked. Each run, no matter the distance, the speed or the hills he had me doing were hard. I often told myself that I have surpassed my prime and maybe I’ve already seen my best and now I have to start lowering my “goals” to something that is more attainable.

This past week I had a few challenging runs that hurt my pride so I expected full on failure and disappointment at my 5 mile race last Saturday. Turns out, I surprised myself when I finished in exactly 44 minutes with an 8:48 pace on a hilly course (Nashville is also hilly). I felt good after the race and was even able to finish off my training with another 60 minute run the next day feeling strong. Then, yesterday I kicked off week 7 and today I had a challenging speed workout, 2×2 mile repeats and my coach wanted me to run them at my steamboat pace (7:25 is my goal) I wasn’t able to do that but I did run my splits at an 8:05 and I felt great about it. The challenge was there but I was able to hang on and for the first time I noticed my endurance is getting better, my heart rate isn’t high and my breathing is less challenged. I’m pretty excited that at the halfway point I’m noticing the improvements and I’m now so excited to see what I can accomplish in the next six weeks.

As excited as I am about how I’m progressing, this is more than my improvement. This is so much more than a race. A Time. A Pace. A Goal. This is for St. Jude above all else. I work hard, share my story because I want to make Jessica and Adrianna proud. I do this so that there are no more Reagan’s (read Reagan’s story here please). I do this because I love to run, I can run, because I have the means to reach so many people and I do this for all the kids and the families who are fighting some form of Childhood Cancer. Because through me and the the awareness I bring and funds I raise and the donations YOU GIVE  these families wont ever have to ask “how much is it going to cost to save my child”? Because these families will never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. I’m so honored I get to be a very small part of that, do you want to be apart of it too? I’ll run…YOU donate! Plus, I just posted an ugly, sweaty selfie for the whole world to see…that’s worth a donation too…right?

Bring it Nashville!

Bring your donations too…www.peoriaruns.stjude.org/AnnaRunsForReagan 

~Anna Kinkade