Monday, June 28, 2010

Hey 1st timers...

Tell us how your FIRST half marathon was!!!! I have lots of pictures to come, but wanted to hear some stories first!!! or if this was like your 10th half marathon, please share with us too!!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Sturgis 1/2 Marathon

If you haven't registered yet for the Sturgis half marathon you have 3 days to do it and get the cheaper price!! Be sure to label your checks with a $5 discount for being on Iowans for Africa team.  We will be meeting at 6:45am in the Rec Center parking lot, lower corner. Look for the team and come for our first attempt at a team picture! (even if you are not running, come for the picture and to cheer if you can!!!).
This was my first 1/2 marathon ever running last year and I loved it! I was VERY nervous, but was amazed at how ready Coach Don had me. I cried the last 1/2 mile because it felt so awesome to complete it. Doing it with a team made it even better. I really hope you join the team for this experience!

Come early, pray with us, take pictures, and run for fun! Hope to see you there!!!

Last year's team before 1/2 marathon at Sturgis Falls! We are excited to be back with old faces and wonderful new ones too!!!!!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

fund-raising

Fundraising ideas are being put into action! How exciting!! We have a great group of people working to finish the final details of making our team fundraising easy to access on-line and promote to friends & family!  If this is your first year doing this, take a look at last year's firstgiving web pages...  here is a link to mine and from here you can click on the team name in top right corner and browse around some of last year's team members pages.  This will give you a little idea of what we are trying to accomplish...on our own :)  Look for details to come soon!!!

(you will have to copy and paste this link into your browser to bring it up)

http://www.firstgiving.com/jessicahansen

Friday, June 11, 2010

school by a tree

Here is the picture of the children in Mozambique attending school on a nice sunny day. Unfortunately, school is canceled during the rainy season.  This shaded area under the tree is where the students attend school on a day like shown here. Our goal is to raise money to help build them an actual classroom building and by doing that a teacher will be provided too.  How life changing for a community to have a school set up!!  More info will be coming in the next couple weeks about our fund-raising goals and opportunities. If you haven't yet, be praying for this big project to be completed with our efforts! We serve a BIG God and He can do BIG things!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

gu, blocks, and more!

Now that we are entering into running for over an hour I wanted to give you a quick lesson in a few things to try to keep filled with energy!  You maybe have heard the terms "gu", "beans", and "blocks" used for this. Here is a quick description of all of these in case you needed a little help here...
Gu, energy gel. This stuff actually works. I promise! This is my personal favorite that really seemed to make a big difference in my body.  I had to play around with a few flavors though. I could not eat any of the chocolate flavored ones myself.  My fave... vanilla bean and orange. there are tons of flavors to pick from. You can find these at Scheels or on-line. I recommend buying by the box.  You will save yourself a few dollars and you will use them! I liked to use a big safety pin and just pin them along my shorts waist line. Remember to take this 20 minutes before you will actually need it.  I usually used them for anything over 6 miles, just to be safe.

Sports beans, energy supplement. These come in a variety of brands. The ones made by Jelly Belly taste the yummiest :)  I didn't use these often. Usually on super duper long runs (16 and over). I would use them in between my gu's when I got bored or needed a little something.  Some use them as their main energy source. Try it out. Also found at Scheels.

Shot blocks. My second fave, personally. These are like big chewy pieces of candy. However, if you store them in the inside of your shorts they get really warm and sticky and hard to chew. I recommend eating them with water, something to wash it down and out of your teeth.  These store nicely in a skinny running belt. I also would stick these in a snack size ziplock baggie and pin them to your waist line on shorts. My fave flavor: orange :) Also found at Scheels.

With all these energy supplements remember to take them with water, not Gatorade. Too much sugar at once.  I've heard bananas and oranges are good too, but I never tried those options. Was afraid my digestive system would get going...if you know what I mean?!?!

Running belts...  I personally used the skinny one up top.  I liked it because it was very light weight, skinny and laid along my waist, didn't rub, I could fit a lot in it, and could pin my gu's to it. I used this for the marathon and a couple long runs. $19.99 on amazon. I'd be happy to let anyone try it on, use it for a trial run, or just see it.  
I don't know that a belt is necessary for everybody.  I liked feeling like I could take a few essentials with me... wet wipe, ibprofin, gu's, chapstick, woman stuff (sorry guys), my hotel room key, my chat list for my running group (your brain starts to freeze after awhile and some topics are nice to pass the time!), some verses written on a small sheet of paper.  If I had really wanted to I could have taken my cell phone, but opted not to. Hey...I like to be overly prepared :)

So, here are a few running things to think about. Please share if you have other tips or things that work for you!  Please ask if you have questions and good luck choosing your energy treats!!!