Second chances

When I have a bad race experience, I usually don't hurry to sign up the next year.  There are a multitude of races that I can choose from locally and race entries are not cheap. Last year, I ran the Go Girl Half and didn't have much positive to say. I won't list all my grievances here, but I did let other runners know that I wasn't running it again.  

But they kept sending emails. Kept showing the huge medal.  And so many of my running pals were doing it.  So I signed up crossing my fingers that it would be better this time.  

Thank goodness I gave it a second chance!  Course was much improved, support was better, and the post-race food was great!  But, the best part was: a new pr by 8 minutes and 27 seconds!!  Thank you Go Girl Half for a great race!

 

Playing games

As a sweatpink ambassador I got the awesome opportunity to try out a new fitness ap and share it with you guys. The Fitness Games ap is unlike any other ap I have ever used. You not only keep track of your gym activities, you can challenge your friends to beat your time, reps, distance or whatever!  

When you open up TFG, your screen will look like this and you can chose the workout you are doing, build your own and challenge a buddy to take you on.  I especially love that I can challenge other runners and they can run at the same time or take the challenge later!  

I have several running friends spread out across the country and now I feel like we can go for a run and cover the miles together.  

The only downside for me is that it wasn't ideal for tracking the Bar Method and yoga classes I go to. That is strength work, but I wouldn't record it as 2 sets of 20 bicep curls for example.  It is really ideal for athletes that do gym workouts or cardio that are individual and not in a class.  

I am really excited to use it more to work on getting training runs in and challenging my friends. 

Summer recap

I keep thinking that I need to blog about different things lately, but just need got to it.  I get lazy, I feel uninspired, I just don't follow through. So, in order to catch up, here is a top ten list of summer events. 

1. Got some awesome real and virtual bling. Check out virtual nerd runs for their Jedi challenge. 

2. Was hired by Weight Watchers and started my training to be a leader. 

3.  Ran 4 on the 4th. Love this race shirt. 

4. Did not drowned doing my first tri.  It was HARD, but I loved it.  

5.  Married, I mean, saw JT in concert.  

6.  Earned more awesome virtual bling. 

7.  Spent a lot of time discussing, fixing and watching Dragons.  

8. Had time to actually read books!

9. Marathon trained with Team in Training to raise money for LLS. Go Team!!

10. Had fun with kiddos!!  

Back to work teaching now, starting my Weight Watchers job and running for pie!

Wrong Turns Were Alright (in the end)

Sometimes you have a day when nothing goes as planned and you feel like you need a do-over.  Today was one of those days for me.  On the schedule: run a marathon and go to work.  What actually happened: 7 miles and an afternoon of fundraising.  In the end, it was a good day, but it was way off course.  

After 3 weeks of no running I was nervous to test out my knee this morning.  I started slowly and took it easy. I was feeling really good about running again, and then I took a wrong turn. Yes, leave it to me to go the wrong way at the only turn in the whole race.  I would have been ok with adding a mile or 2, but it took me longer than that to realize what I had done.  My detour added 5 miles and over an hour.  I knew I didn't have a 50k in me and I was supposed to work later.  When I got back to the place where I went wrong, I headed to the finish line. I was disappointed and I felt very stupid. But, I took a minute to think and I had to laugh at myself and be happy that I got 7 miles in today after 3 weeks off.  My knee didn't hurt.  That is reason to celebrate. 

(This was on the wrong way, but it was pretty)

So, I drove toward home (was cheered up by Justin Timberlake) and went to brunch with my husband.  Work got canceled for today.   Then, I remembered a fundraising opportunity that I could participate in now that my schedule changed.  I got to spend time with friends and raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society all because I took a wrong turn earlier in the day.  Every mistake is a new opportunity. What follows depends on how you handle the change of plans.  

Product Review: PureLyft CleanCaffeine

As a coffee lover, you know that I am no stranger to caffeine. I love to have a cup of coffee before a run, but I'm not a huge fan of the coffee breath that it gives me pre-race.   So I jumped at the chance to try Pure LYFT.  As a Sweat Pink ambassador I was given the chance to sample 2 stir sticks of this Clean Caffeine and blog about it. I received no compensation beyond the samples and these opinions are my own. 

Each stir stick has the caffeine equivelant of a tall coffee and 0 calories.  It was easy to open up the stick and stir it into my water. I even kept it in my water bottle until I got home and close to a recycle bin.  It has a slight sweet flavor, but not overpowering.  I think you could mix it into just about any juice and not change the flavor.   

I used the second stick to give myself a pre-workout boost before an early Sunday morning Bar Method class.  It was really hard to get up early before heading to Weight Watchers to get to class, but the caffeine helped and I could drink it on the way to class without the worry of having to brush my coffee breath away.  

I think I would love to grab some more PureLYFT especially in the summer when I may not necessarily want a hot drink, like coffee or tea.  If you would like to try some natural caffeine with no chemicals give one a stir!

Fun in Fargo? You Becha!!

Running has giving me so many opportunities over the last 4 years and the latest adventure took me to Fargo, ND this weekend.  I got the chance to work as a race expo rep for Bondibands (awesome sweat-wicking headbands and accessories: www.bondiband.com) at the Fargo Marathon. While I was there, I HAD to get a race in, of course.  I had the best time working at the expo and meeting runners from all over the US and Canada and the race was one of the most fun I have done.  

Last weekend I messed up my knee at the Prairie Fire Half in Wichita, so this race was all about finishing and not making it worse.  The Fargo race was a party from start to finish: music throughout the course, residents tailgating in their driveways, friendly volunteers and a huge post-race party.  My knee started talking to me at mile 5 so I started race walking.  I stopped for several photo ops: 

My new favorite sign!

Hanging with a troll with some fellow Norweigans. Uff Da!

My walking buddy, Thor, from mile 9 on. 

A cute dragon mascot selfie. 

The bling!  

Not my slowest race ever considering I walked so much.  Would I run it again? You Becha!

50k? Certainly that must be a typo.

I've neglected the blog for a bit.  Since I last posted I ran the Hogeye Marathon March 30 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  It was mentally challenging but it was worth it to cross the finish line with my 5 year old son. 

On April 12, I ran Rock the Parkway Half Marathon in Kansas City for the third year.  This time I ran as a Girls on the Run Solemate and fundraised for this wonderful organization. Here is my fundraising link if you would like to so are before May 10 https://www.raceplanner.com/donate/Girls-Rock-the-Parkway TIA!

I had a great race and set a new PR :)

And I got the best finish line photo EVER:

(Time not adjusted for wave start)

April 26 I traveled to Springfield, Missouri to tackle my first 50k.  I have never gone farther than 26.2 and honestly, never really planned to.  How did I get in this mess?  A friend posted on FB that she was going to run the Frisco Railroad 50k, so I commented that I would do it too.  No one even had to ask or persuade me, I just volunteered.  I think I have a problem.  

I didn't follow the training plan I expected to, but I figured that finishing 2 fulls this year would count for something.  My strategy to cover the 50k was to stick with another friend  of mine who had gone past the marathon distance twice before.  I didn't want to start off too fast and hit the wall.  So we planned on doing 30 second intervals of running and walking and I hoped I could stick with her.  

The forecast for race day was supposed to be sunny and in the 80s, but luckily it ended up being overcast at the start and we actually got rained on for most of the first half off and on.  At times it was chilly, but that is always better than too hot. The Frisco race started the marathon, 50k and 50 miler at 7:30 and the half marathon and 8k at 8:00. We knew that the fast halfers would catch up to us and pass us. It got pretty annoying after they turned around and would tell us "almost to the turn around, ladies"!  Our bibs were color coded based on distance, but they must not have known that.  We kept trucking on through the rain and some thunder, dodging horse poop on the trail.

The aid station right before the marathon turn around was stocked with snacks, beer and Jell-O shots. I had some peanut butter and jelly and some salty snacks.  I really love how ultrarunning  includes more food.  At this point my right hip was starting to bug me.  By the time we hit out turn around I was in quite a bit of pain.  I told my friend I was going to have to walk a lot more.  I fell a little behind and it got really hard mentally. The sun came out, too and made the temperature rise.  

 As I hit the food stocked aid a volunteer asked if I was ok and noticed that I was limping. They gave me some prescription strength Advil, a pickle, and more pb and j and I headed back out. My hip started to feel better, but I continued to walk most of the time.  Going beyond 26.2 had me holding back on my pace.  I didn't want to struggle too much those last 5 miles so I kept a brisk walking pace. When I looked at my splits after the race, those last few miles got faster and faster!   There was a photographer around mile 20: 

The last 2.5 miles or so were back on an asphalt trail, a long uphill, full sun, headwind, and the trail labeled every tenth of a mile that we covered.  I felt pretty good physically, but it those (1/10) mile markings really messed with my head.   It felt AMAZING to finish!!  Adding 5 miles was not as hard as I expected, but I had the blisters to prove that I had done over 31 miles. (31.6 according to my phone).  I hobbled over to eat some chips, a slice of pizza and 2 cans of Mountain Dew, which I never drink in real life.  I cannot believe I am an ultra marathoner, I have qualified for Marathon Maniacs, and I am searching for another 50k to run to improve my time.  Is a 50 miler in my future?  Possibly.  I've pretty much given up on saying "never" at this point.