Memphis Hungry Turkey 5K Run Walk 2021 recap

Race Recap:

I enjoy exercising when I’m out of town. I looked for a race in north Mississippi and the Memphis Hungry Turkey 5K Run Walk was the nearest. This year, they supported the Mid-South Food Bank. The registration experience online was easy. 

The website gave me all the information I needed. I thought about registering my kids because they offer a kids race option. I ended up only registering myself. I was really interested in the race swag: a grey long sleeve shirt with the race logo. I picked up my packet the day before at Academy. The race organizers sent several emails ahead of time to be sure we were ready for race day. They get an A+ for communication. I picked up my bib and my shirt. I’m looking forward to wearing it for cold runs this winter! 

 The weather on the day of the race called for a 100% chance of rain. Another interesting thing was that I thought the location was around 1-hour drive but it was closer to 1 hour and a half. Still, I was determined to get to this 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I drank a cup of coffee, and off I went. It rained during most of the drive. I occasionally train in the rain. It is not my favorite thing to do but I know I need to know how to run in the rain in case it rains during race day.

The race started and ended at the Memphis Pyramid. There’s a Bass Pro Shop there now. I parked for free on the other side and walked to the start. I used my umbrella and wondered if I needed to park closer. The rain stopped 15 minutes before the race started. I took a photo with Hank the turkey, did my usual stretches and off we went. There was a huge incline at the beginning of the race. I decided to pace myself and run the entire thing. 

I kept telling myself “everything that goes up must go down.” Once we went down, the course was pretty flat. I had never been to Mud Island before and it is lovely. We had a great view of Harbor Town to our right and the Mississippi River to our left. We even saw some pretty big vessels transporting cargo during the race. The course was out and back so before I knew it, I was on my way back to that incline. Again, I thought about how I wanted to pace myself and not stop. I usually run intervals but I decided to run the entire thing for fun. 

My goal was to pace myself and enjoy my first live race experience since before the pandemic (I need to do a better job recapping my races as you can see and I will!). I encouraged the offegating runners around me. A lot were walking up and I don’t blame them. I encouraged them to go on as I was breathing hard and focusing on finishing strong. 

My official time was 32:38. My goal was to run the whole thing and enjoy it, which I did! You can see a video of me finishing here. 

 I went to get my medal, which came in a small cutesy plastic bag. There was a place where you could get your official time but I did it online. They also had donuts for the finishers but donuts are not my things so I passed. I took a few more photos and went on happily on my way. Check out this nice medal! One of the best 5K medals I've ever received.

I really enjoyed my race experience and I wholeheartedly recommend you to sign up if you are in the Memphis area. 

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Como começar a Correr

Eu comecei a correr uns meses antes de ficar grávida pela primeira vez. No dia que descobri que estava grávida, eu corri 5 kilômetros sem parar. Eu estava tão orgulhosa! 

Daí começou aquele ritmo: corre, fica grávida, caminha durante a gravidez, para de fazer exercícios e começa tudo de novo. Eu fiz isso umas três vezes. 

Quando a minha filha mais nova fez uns 8 meses, eu decidi que estava na hora de correr a tão sonhada maratona. Depois que me recuperei da cesária, eu comecei a correr devagarzinho. Depois de um tempo eu me inscrevi pra uma corrida de 10 Kilômetros. Eu gostei demais da experiência porque eu só tinha corrido até 5K. 

Eu entrei num grupo de corrida e treinei bem com eles. Essa é uma foto da minha primeira maratona. 

Valeu apena treinar bem e persistir, apesar dos obstáculos. Hoje eu já completei 6 maratonas e estou treinando pra minha sétima em Dezembro. 

Muita gente quer correr pra emagrecer. O emagrecimento veio mas com muito esforço. Eu escrevia tudo o que comia num caderninho. Eu tinha feito Vigilantes no passado mas naquela época eu não tinha dinheiro então resolvi emagrecer sozinha mesmo.

Do mesmo jeito que se emagrece correndo, você também pode engordar. Gente, eu já engordei treinando pra maratona! O bom foi que aprendi com meus erros. Uma das maiores lições que aprendi foi que eu não preciso comer tanto quanto penso que preciso.

Consulte o seu médico para saber quais são as regras nutricionais que você deve seguir. 

Então, como começar a correr? Aqui vão as minhas dicas:

• Compre um bom tênis de corrida. Aqui nos EUA tênis de corrida é caro mas na internet você acha modelos antigos por um bom desconto. A minha dica é de ir na loja e provar várias marcas. Quando você achar uma marca que te dá bastante apoio, procure ela por um preço bom. O tênis é importante porque o seu corpo todo precisa de apoio durante a corrida. Eu não gosto de indicar marcas porque todo mundo corre de forma diferente e cada marca é diferente. Quando você achar uma marca boa, lembre-se que tênis é igual a pneu de carro: você tem que trocá-lo de 500-800 Km. 

• Siga uma planilha de treinamento. Eu recomendo o plano do "Sofá para o 5K". Vários aplicativos tem esse plano (couch to 5k no Inglês) e ele também já foi traduzido pro Português. Essa planilha vai te ajudar a criar o hábito de correr com o objetivo de correr 5 kilômetros no final. Muita gente começa a seguir o plano e para. Meu conselho é pra você não desistir. Tente encontrar uma pessoa pra te animar. Eu sei que com o COVID, se encontrar em grupos é difícil. Você pode mandar uma foto sua pra uma amiga como prova de que completou o treinamento do dia. O importante é não desistir. 

• Inscreva-se em um grupo de corrida. Quando as coisas melhorarem, encontre um grupo de corrida. Você vai aprender muito com as pessoas do grupo. Você vai ficar bem mais animada, vai fazer amizades e você vai ter sempre alguém esperando por você na hora de correr. Grupos de corrida são ótimos pra quem desiste fácil de correr sozinha.

• Inscreva-se em uma corrida de rua. As competições de rua são muito animadas. Se inscrever também é um incentivo pra ser fiel ao treino. Quando as coisas voltarem ao normal, inscreva-se em uma corrida de rua. 

• Fortaleça os seus músculos. Não sei se você reparou que o treino de corrida são só 3 dias. É muito importante fortalecer os músculos pelo menos duas vezes por semana. Esses exercícios vão te ajudar a evitar lesões e fortificar os seus músculos para que a corrida seja bem eficaz.

• Descanse bem. Muito corredor corre demais e não descansa. É muito importante descansar para evitar lesões e para que o seu corpo possa se fortalecer para a próxima série de exercícios. Eu descanso duas vezes por semana.

• Beba bastante água. Estar bem hidratado por dentro é importante. Beba o suficiente todos os dias e não esqueça de beber durante a corrida quando você estiver correndo por mais de 1 hora ou se o dia estiver muito quente. 

• Divirta-se! Se não for divertido, não conte comigo. Eu gosto de correr porque é um tempo de diversão e de alegria. A vida é muito séria mas a corrida não precisa ser. Sorria por dentro e por fora quando você correr. 

Tem muito mais sobre esse assunto mas essas são as minhas dicas principais. 

Um bom dia pra você e vamos correr?

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Freedom 5K Recap

Our before the race photo

I'm so excited to tell you about our first race as a family! The Freedom 5K is part of our marathon training with our running group. The kids had been excited about having the t-shirt they got during our group's kick-off party. They told me as they held their t-shirts "now our whole family can run." We woke up early, put on our Fort Bend Fit shirts and off we went. If you follow me on Periscope you can saw our running group pre-race ritual, which is a prayer, our "hooyah," then we walk to the start line. I decided to hang in the back because I was going to be pushing a stroller. After we ran half a mile my husband asked me if I wanted to give him the stroller and run with my son. I said yes. My son runs very well. He asked to walk a bit and was excited about reaching the water stop till we saw this:

guess who? my beautiful people!

My husband Zeke told me that our middle daughter was tired and had enough of the race. As a runner I was thinking: "are you serious?!?" but as a mother, I told him to go ahead with our son and I'd hang back with the girls. After a quick assessment I agreed that the girl was done. Much like my own personality, she went into her bad mood. Thank God one of our sweet running club buddies hung with us and sweetly talked to my daughter for close to a mile. I thanked her for her help and told her she could go on and finish. I proceeded to walk back to our car and get the double stroller out of it. When I reached the start line (again) the Family 1.5 Walk/Run was starting. To make matters more interesting, the girls kept asking me to run faster. Mind you: I was pushing a good 70 lbs of beauty on a double stroller!!! I think that my confession for this race was "we finish what we start." I kept saying that to myself because I also got some "I want to go home" from my youngest. I thought that it was important to physically teach my kids that no matter how difficult, we finish what we start. When we passed the second water stop they were out of water but they did have ice and super mom here had enough water in the stroller to hydrate half dozen runners. Ha! By the time i saw that we were on mile 2, I thought the last mile was going to be my longest one yet.

By this time I was thinking: forget my time!

This 5k started and ended at a local park so as soon as I re-entered the park I saw my friend Mary Bell running. I haven't seen her in a while so I started asking about her training. This friend of mine is a Boston runner and she's training for Chicago so she was asking all kinds of questions about my experience last year. Talking to her made that last bit of the race seem quicker. When I was really close to the finish line, my husband and some came back to meet us. My son had a bunch of goodies in hand and he screamed "Dada and I won the race!" That was the sweetest thing ever to hear. My husband took on the stroller duty and I ran solo to the finish line. Our head coach was there cheering me on. I finished in 48:07.6, which I believe it's my slowest time ever. I've ran a 5K when I was 10 weeks pregnant and I've finished faster than that. All things considered, I reached my goal: I finished what I started. My husband made sure we got this photo for our records.

We did it Listenbees!

No matter how long it took and how difficult it was, everyone had a great time. I felt that this race taught me what Luke 22:27 really means. Jesus was explaining that He came not to be served but to serve. I will forever remember this race as my "serving" race. I got to do whatever it took to be sure that my family had a great time and finished the race well. It is more blessed to give than to receive. I have ran many races by myself but I am overjoyed to  have experienced this incredible race with my entire family.

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Reassessing my Goals

I gave a lot of thought on how this year would be different than the last. There are things I can't predict or control. As a matter of fact, if you follow me on Twitter you read me tweet that 'Control is an illusion.' So, what are the things I can count on? Hopes, dreams and more concrete things such as goals. You've heard me talk about my goal of running 3 5Ks. This is where that goal materialized for the first time.

I wrote this on the last week of December of 2010 in Mississippi

I jot down 4 goals for 2011 in a piece of paper and took them pretty seriously. It dawned on me today that they are all related to what I call my minimum.
Exercising 4 times a week has really worked for me. I have worked out 6 times a week but most weeks I exercise around 5. Even in busy weeks I plan to get out there. One trick I have is to tell people I'm gonna do it then I tell them what I did. I feel like it helps me a bit with accountability.
I ran my three 5Ks. I gave myself the July deadline, which helped a lot with this goal. I am currently looking for another fitness challenge.
I have not arrived at my goal weight. As a matter of fact, I haven't given you an update since I wrote this post. I have been calling them Life After Baby: Weight Loss Update but I'm gonna wrap this up soon cause the baby is now a toddler who's been walking since she turned 9 months. What I learned along the way was surprisingly refreshing:
1. Tackling extra weight as soon as the fog lifted and I was able to manage my life easily is a great idea. Notice I didn't call it baby weight cause there's no scientific term for this or is there?
2. Renewing my mind constantly is a must if I want to be successful.
3. Enjoy the process. I have been enjoying this journey since day one. I couldn't wait to enjoy life when I arrived at a certain place. Those around me highly benefit from my attitude towards life and I am aware.
I am not known for my amazing skills in the kitchen but I am the main cook around here. My last goal was not to get bored with food and I constantly work on trying to improve that. Planning meals and executing what I planned helps everyone to eat healthy and balanced meals. I happy to say that this summer the kids have been getting fruits they never tasted and loving it. They're more conservative with their main meals (they really love oatmeal, rice, beans..) but little by little I'm adding variety to it.

I hope you're not discouraged. Don't look at your goals as a sign of condemnation but as a beacon of hope. You can achieve your goals. It's time to reassess, add more fun to it and make your goals achievable.
I believe today can be the day you give the first step towards your finish line. I believe I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I believe I can count on goals to guide me encourage me along the day. Have you thought about your goals lately?

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Three 5Ks by July: Check!

3 just seemed like a good number, so I went for it. My goal was to run 3 5K races by the end of July. I figured that one race per month would be doable and affordable. I also realized it would be challenging enough for someone who was known to run one per year. As I come closer to reaching this goal, I am so thankful to God for the ability to simply put one foot in front of the other and running.

I was never known as the best athlete. I was not the fastest or fittest but an adverse situation taught me that I could run if I really wanted to. A desire was planted in my heart and persistence got me there.

I don’t think I am better than anyone else, as a matter of fact, I bet I have more excuses than the regular person. I have learned the value of knowing my minimum and knowing what I will not tolerate:

I won’t tolerate excuses;

I won’t tolerate self-pity;

I won’t tolerate self-defeat.

I will entertain positive and Godly thoughts such as ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ and ‘I will reap a harvest of blessings if I faint not.’ Meditation leads me to action which pushed me to three finish lines.

Barney Butter Giveaway Winner: Congratulations Rachel of Twin Tough! You must respond within 3 days of this notification or forfeit the prize, in which case an alternate 
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Related Videos: • Journey to the Finish Line (first 5K) series • The Human Race (second 5K)

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The Human Race 2011

This weekend I had the joy of finishing "The Human Race," a local event hosted by the Haywood/Jackson Volunteer Center. My goal for 2011 is to finish three 5K races by July, so this was the second one.  

My family was there to support me which made a whole world of difference. The more I participate in races, the more fun I have. I am also learning that although the mileage is the same, every course is different. That feeling I get when I cross the finish line never changes tough. Today I am thankful to God for allowing me to train and finish my second 5K of 2011. When I thought about where I came from, how I never saw myself as a runner, I was overjoyed. Running had three different phases in my life:

1. Impossible 

2. Dream

3. Reality 

This is what Phase 3 looks like:

This is my favorite photo of the day. Being healthy for my Family is the reason why I keep pressing on:

The sun was bothering someone :)

Beat my previous record by 1 minute!

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Desafio: Minha Corrida

Sábado passado eu realizei o meu objetivo de participar da minha terceira corrida de 5Km. Aqui vai um vídeo com os acontecimentos daquele dia maravilhoso e uma pergunta pra você.

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Journey to the Finish Line

Official Finish time:

I'm very thankful!

Here's my previous Finish time, which means I shoved 9:32 from my second 5K and here's the Finish Time for my first 5K, I shoved 4:12 from my first 5K.

Watch my entire Journey to the Finish Line series:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

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Worth it all!

I kept waking up the night before the 5K but once we woke up and got the baby ready we left. We arrived early enough to get a parking spot close to the action and we did. I registered, got the chip for my tennis shoes (a first for me) and waited for my friend Tina to arrive. I was more nervous the night before than when the race started. As usual I never even saw what the route looked like til we got there. Compared to my first 5K, everything happened inside of the park. The race was called WNC Run/Walk for Autism. It felt good to help such a great cause on top of completing my second 5K. I started towards the end of the competitive runners which worked for me. I ran most of the race (a good 2 miles or so) took a few walking breaks and finished strong. I was only 6 minutes slower than my first 5K. I just gave birth 5 months ago (by c-section, remember?) so being 6 minutes slower wasn’t that bad. My friend Tina did awesome! I congratulated her for finishing the first of many 5Ks to come. I have no plans for another one so far, I’m reassessing my training and looking seriously at my eating plan. Last weekend and this week have been really busy, which means I have lots of things to blog about so, keep reading Simply Cintia and add me on Twitter! Have an awesome day!

Acordei toda hora na noite anterior a minha corrida de 5K. Quando deu a hora mesmo de sair arrumamos o bebê e fomos pro parque. Chegamos cedo pra encontrar estacionamento perto do evento, o que foi bom. Fiz a minha inscrição, peguei o chip pro meu tênis (pela primeira vez) e esperei pela minha amiga Tina chegar. Eu estava mais nervosa na noite anterior do que no momento que a corrida começou. Eu nem vi a rota da corrida até a hora que chegamos lá. Comparado com a minha primeira corrida essa foi tudo dentro do parque, não tivemos que sair do parque, tudo foi ali dentro mesmo. A corrida se chamava WNC Run/Walk for Autism. Foi ótimo ajudar essa causa e completar a minha segunda corrida. Eu comecei atrás do pessoal, o que funcionou pra mim. Eu corri a maioria da corrida (uns 3 km), caminhei um pouco e terminei correndo bem. Fiquei surpresa que a diferença te tempo entre essa corrida e a outra foram de + 6 minutos. Nada mal pra quem teve uma cesária há quase 5 meses atrás ne? Minha amiga Tina correu muito bem. Eu a parabenizei por completar a primeira corrida de muitas que virão no futuro. Não tenho planos pra correr outra, estou me concentrando em outros projetos como reeducação alimentar e treinamento físico. Semana passada fizemos muita coisa legal e tenho novidades, então continue lendo o blog, e me adicione no Twitter! Um bom dia/noite a todos/as!

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5k

144 27/27 76/80 Cintia 29 F 125 NC 41:39 13:25

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Congratulations for Finishing

I was leaving the gym two days ago and one of the trainers said 'did I see your name on the paper about the 5K?' I didn't know my name was on the paper, but I told him I run the race. He said 'Congratulations on finishing it.' That was a HUGE boost of encouragement for me. The older trainers at the gym are really encouraging. I thank God for the encouragement I've gotten along the way. It makes me want to go on and keep working out. Yesterday I was pretty tired in the afternoon. Honestly, I might have had too many bites on my sandwich LOL. Anyway, I went on to the gym in the afternoon and worked out for 40 minutes. I'm just now starting to feel the difference in my body cause I added the weight lifting again. I've felt really good about that and it will make me a stronger Mama.

I was debating in going to the gym early this a.m. but I decided to swing by the grocery store and get a decent breakfast and eat it at my desk before work. I'm gonna stick with going to the gym after work, it's just working for me this week. There's something about working out with other people present. As far as I noticed, there's not that many people just going to the gym to look at what others are doing (except for the trainers, who work out before or after work). If you are there, it's because you are going to do something, even if it's a light walk. I was training so much by myself and right now I just need a whole bunch of other people training around me. It pushes me to work on myself. I keep thinking that my stomach will continue to grow and I will probably attract some attention just like every pregnant woman does but it's alright. I know that when I saw pregnant ladies working out I was full of awe and admiration. These days, when I feel like giving up, I tell myself 'you've done things for everyone else today, this is the 1 hour you get to do something for yourself.' That usually does the trick, especially cause there's a baby who benefits from it all.

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So, What's Next?

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Cor. 4:7

I give all glory to God for helping me to train and finish my first 5K. God was my greatest source, I could not have completed the race without him.

Zeke and I woke up early to go to the race. I ate breakfast and have a little devotional. The Lord led me to 2 Cor. 4:7, which was an awesome verse to meditate on. It brought me so many memories of the faithfulness of God to me.

Arriving at the race was interesting. We never event attended one just to watch it, so it was a whole new world. There were some familiar faces, a lot of people that go to the same gym as I do. People were very encouraging, that was pretty cool. I was the only Black woman running :) there were a few Native Americans and Hispanics there too.

Zeke was a great supporter throughout the race. What a great husband and friend he is!

I started the race on my own pace, I started kind of in the back so people wouldn't have to pass me all the time. When I started to get discouraged, one of the ladies running the 10K said 'you are doing so good.' I thought that was so great. Other friends running the 10K were a great source of encouragement too. One special friend was Marsha. Marsha led a workshop I hosted about women and health. She asked us to write down 5 things we wanted to accomplish. I wrote down 'run a 5K' and when I saw her at the race, I told her this was a dream come true. When she passed me, she said 'Let's go Cintia! I'm proud of you!' I thank God for Marsha. When I wrote down that goal I had no clue I'd really pursue it. God bless you my friend.

I was a little emotional at the start of the race but soon I had to focus on what I was doing. I kept thinking about Isaiah and saying 'I shall run and not be weary, I shall walk and not faint.'

As I finished the race, I lifted up my hands and I thanked God for giving me that opportunity.

As a child I never saw myself running, as an adult I never saw myself running while 10 weeks pregnant BUT God.

So what's next? I definately want to run another 5K, I just don't know when. I want to work on weight lifting at the gym, swimming and I might go back to the elliptical. I do love running, I'll work on that til I feel it's time to step back to walking.

Why did I want to run? It was a dream, it was a learning experience and I believe this will influence the life of my children.

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