Our Story...

Some of you that are participating here know me and Sherry from our personal blogs, but we also have several participants here that don't follow our personal blogs and just heard about the challenge from another participant... so... I wanted to introduce us!

Sherry has a personal blog HERE and Mine (Lesley) is HERE.  This past September, I posted about preparing to run the Heels and Hills Half Marathon (my 5th half).  Sherry commented on my blog asking if I wanted to meet up before.  From there we started e-mails back and forth and realized that our paces were very similar.  We agreed that we'd try to run some of it together.  We met for the first time about 60 seconds before the gun sounded at the starting line.  We look like Mutt and Jeff together.  I'm super tall and an Athena runner, and Sherry is super petite.  But regardless, we pushed almost the exact same pace.  By the way, this was Sherry's first half marathon.  There were parts where I was tired (the hills) and Sherry's motivation pulled me through, and then there was the end when Sherry was losing steam and I helped keep her going.  We crossed that finish line separated only by a couple seconds since I can't help but sprint the finish.

We also both ran the same first full marathon - White Rock Marathon, but we didn't run together since Sherry trained with a running group.  Despite running separately and having completely different days (hers comfortable and easy and mine starting too fast followed by massive pain and suffering), we finished only 2 minutes apart.  Pace twins.

On New Year's Day, we ran another half and agreed to not only stay together, but take it easy.  And we did... and it was an awesome run... again, at times she pulled me, and at times I pulled her. 

When you read this on Saturday, yet again, I will be running a half marathon with Sherry.  Little did she know that while she was writing this post, I was literally already halfway to the running store to register for the race so we could run together.  I texted her a photo of my bib as soon as I got it.  I had no clue she had posted to her blog about not wanting to run it alone!

So this challenge was brought to you by two runners, who met by chance via our blogs, and by some miracle run almost exactly the same pace, and who both LOVE bling.  Seriously?  Who doesn't love bling?

Thank you so much for joining in on the challenge.  We really spent some time going back and forth on ideas, and we wanted to make sure it was a challenge both beginners and advanced runners could participate in... and I love reading on race reports how you picked a race to make sure you got one in for the challenge.  I'm so glad it is encouraging people to set goals!  Happy running!

Week 4 - Challenge Report

Aimee - Ran a 15k and beat her previous PR by 12 minutes!
Ang - Ran a 5k and got 3rd place for her age group!  Awesome job!
Angi - Ran in a cookie race!  That's my kind of race!!!  ;-)
Angie and Randee - Ran a 15k around my favorite lake.
Danielle - Ran a 4 mile race.
Diana - Posted 2 race reports this week... Here and Here and Here
Hannah - Rocked a half marathon with her sister.
Jenn - Finished a half marathon.
Julie - Won her prediction race!!! 
Katie - Got in her first race of the year!
Kerri - Rang in the new year with a race.
Lesley - Set a new 15k PR.
Melissa - Ran a 10k!
Michelle - Ran a 15k (and beat her hubby...)
Pam - Ran a 5-miler.

Stephanie - Started the year with a 5k.

Traci - Ran a 5k, plus added on some miles pre-race for a distance PR!

Wow!  So many fantastic races this week. 

(Please note a few of the races happened earlier in the year, we post them the week we receive the links... so don't forget to e-mail us those links!!!)

Week 3 of the Challenge

Another great week of racing for our participants!!! We had new PR's, virtual races, first time marathoner's and even a Goofy challenge! One of the things I like best about these reports is that you can find different races you want to participant in the following year... so if you really like your race, make sure to tell us why.

About 50 of you have already completed your first race of the year!!! Congrats to those that have and Good Luck to those that are still training!

Abbi ran a 5 miler!
Cara ran a 5 miler!
Christy ran a 5k with her Mom!
Christy Ran a 5k for Children!
Holly ran the Goofy Challenge. Race 1 Race 2
Jane ran a virtual 5k
Jason ran an awesome 15k
Jenn ran her first FULL marathon!
Jill ran a 4 miler this past weekend!!
Jill ran a 5 miler on NYD in the snow!
Kadie Ran a 5k!
Karyn rang in the new year with a run!
Kim Ran a half and earned a new PR!!!
Laurie ran a trail race in the snow... check out the race shirt!
Lisa ran a 1/2 marathon in state 5 out of 50!
Melie ran a half marathon!
Nancy Ran a virtual 5 miler
Sophia PR'd her 10k time!
Victoria ran her very first marathon!!!!

Victoria and her bling from her first marathon!

Closing to New Participants on the 31st!

Let's start with the good news... we have over 100 participants already in the challenge! That's going to be a lot of race reports to motivate all of us to complete our challenge. The not so great news is that we are going to close the challenge to new participants on the 31st. So, go ahead and tell everyone you know to join in before they miss out on the fun!

Now, lets get to the reason that we all joined... more race reports!!!

Kim ran an awesome 5k
Allison ran a 15k
Angie and Randee ran a 5k in tutu's
Brooke Ran a hard 10k on a beautiful day!
Christina Ran a $2 10 mile run as part of her 17.5 run that day and then she ran a virtual race
Corina part 1 part 2 ran an ultra so far that it required a two part race report!
Elizabeth Ran her 7th half marathon
Jan Set a new PR on a 5k
Jessica Virtual 5k
Jill Ran a virtual 5k in the chilly weather!
Johann Ran an Ultra with lots of sand, seawater, rock hopping, river crossings and a merciless sun.
Julie Ran a virtual 5k on a very dusty treadmill ;)
Kayla Ran a virtual 5k "
Lesley Placed for the 2nd time this year!!!
Lucy New PR on 5k
Michelle Ran a very chilly 10k and met Lesley at the run!"
Pam Virtual 5k for her birthday!!!"
Terri Ran the Disney Marathon! Wahoo!!!

Congrats again to everyone who has completed a Race 1 of the challenge!!! And to a couple that have completed race 2!!!

First Races of 2011!

Wow, I can't believe how many people have already done a race this year!!! It hasn't even been a week! It has been so much fun to read these reports and I am looking forward to seeing how everyone does throughout this challenge! Enjoy the race reports below!!!

Kim Completed a 4 mile race in the snow
Rene ran a 10k on the beach in parts
Elizabeth ran 10k in the rain - at least she was still smiling at the end!
Carly ran a hilly race with an awesome bling at the end
Aimee ran her FIRST half marathon
Tara ran a 5k - first in her age group
Tanya ran her FIRST half marathon
Ronda ran a 5k at midnight - she was definitely the first to start the challenge!
Michelle ran the half marathon with her hubby
Angelia and Julian both set a new PR on their 5k
Erin ran a 5k with wonderful weather
Corina ran a half marathon
Liz ran a 5k
Lesley ran a half marathon
Sherry ran a half marathon
Jenn ran a half marathon and got a HUGE Texas Bling!!!
Wifey ran a 5k in torrential downpours
Sheri ran a 10k

Congratulations to those that have completed race #1, and good luck to the rest of you who are waiting for your races to get here!!!

If we missed you, please forgive us. While it's a bonus for there to be two of us running this (timewise), it also means that on occassion things can get lost in the mix. Just leave us a comment if we missed you or send us an E-mail and we will get you into next week's post.

CONGRATS Everyone!

-Sherry and Lesley

Race Reports

WOW - It's only the 3rd and there are already SO many race reports! The weekly blog report will go up on Thursday's so make sure you check back then for all of the awesome reports! We wanted to give everyone an opportunity to write the report before the Wednesday night cut-off. If you ever miss a cut-off no worries, we will catch you up on the next week!

Lesley and I are so excited about this challenge and especially over the awesome turnout! Make sure to check out the tab with everyone that is participating and follow your fellow running buddies!

If you have a report to send, please email us at runfortheblingofit@gmail.com - as of this moment, all emails have been responded to!

Ready, Set GO!!!!!!

Hey everyone! 2011 has arrived and the challenge is on!

With the amount of response that we have had, I think I am going to have to ask you to email runfortheblingofit@gmail.com when you have completed a race report for the challenge. I would love to say that I can be on top of it and read everyone’s blogs each day, but realistically I know that I can’t and I don’t want to leave anyone out! A weekly blog update will start next week to link the race reports!

Best of luck to everyone involved!!!

Run for the BLING of it!!!! Ready, Set GO!!!!!!