Tuesday, January 29, 2013

six random things...


  • i ran my first 20 miler on saturday [2 mile warm up, hot chocolate 10k, ran back to my car, then did the rest on the treadmill] and it went surprisingly well. i thought for sure i'd hit the wall because i ran the 10k faster than i should have, but i didn't. now i'm wondering if it's because i didn't run it all together? there was about a 30-45 minute break in between me running outside and running inside.
  • today was my first run since saturday and i had no idea how dead my legs were! they aren't sore but they have no energy!
  • since i've run out of netflix episodes of gossip girl i've had to find another form of entertainment for the treadmill... and now i'm addicted to sons of anarchy. with gossip girl at least i just watched while i was on the treadmill, now i'm watching SOA episodes every chance i get. MUST STOP. 
  • brad and i have also started trying to catch up on homeland. so every night we watch one or two episodes before we go to bed. it's an exciting life we lead. 
  • the weather here today is amazing. i actually washed my car and 'cleaned up' after riley just to have something to do outside. 
  • then i did some crafting for february:

do you like to make stuff?

is there a tv show you're addicted to?

Monday, January 28, 2013

hot chocolate 10k:::: asheville, nc



.:race details:.

date: january 26
race day pick up? yes. there were 3 opportunities to pick up your packet, race morning, the night before at the pasta party, or the night before that when they had a chocolate tasting.
start time:  845 am [10k], there was also a kids hill climb and marshmallow dash
did race start on time? yes
adequate restrooms?  yes, there were porto potties outside and the bathrooms inside the school
aid stations:  4 or 5 water stations.
course spectator support: there were groups of people all over the course and the finish line crowd was great.
course terrain:  all paved, starts downhill, then flattens out... until the last half mile. holy hill.
shirts:  long sleeved cotton shirts
medals:  none
would i race again?  absolutely
any complaints? a couple of the water stations weren't really ready for runners, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
what you need to know:  get there early, they encourage you to park in one of the downtown garages and they bus you over [which worked great, we didn't wait long at all, and we were able to stand inside the library where it was warm].

my race:
i ran 2 miles to warm up [i had a little time before the race started and i figured i'd might as well use it to chip away at the 20 miles]. i've never ran like that before a race but apparently i need to. i was using this race to help me out with the 20 miler, not going for any time goals, so i wasn't looking at my watch. my ipod died for a little bit around mile 3 so i heard the split called out as i passed and it was under 30 minutes. whaaaat?

then the internal battle started... do i push it and try to PR [or get my goal of a sub hour?] or do i take it easy and set myself up for a better 20 miler. i decided to keep cruising and see how it went. when i got to mile 5 i started pushing it. i knew i had that sub hour and i wanted it really badly. i felt like i needed it for some reason. stupid? yes. but oh well.

then came the big @ss hill. holy pace killer.

according my garmin i ran 6.27 in 59:58... but gun time was.... 1:00:00.

i cannot believe i ran the whole race in the nines! i know that may seem glacial to some of you, but for me that's great! guess i'll have to break an hour some other time :) but a 6 minute PR? i'll take it all day every day!


Thursday, January 24, 2013

allied medal displays::: review and discount code

brad got me an awesome running gift for Christmas this year, a customized allied medal display:



i have wanted one of these for a really long time, so when Christmas started creeping up on us, i may or may not have left brad some hints :) he immediately regretted the purchase when i made him help me hang in on Christmas morning [in my defense i did make him breakfast first!].

i chose a personalized hanger with two rows of hooks. i almost got three but then my OCD kicked in. i knew it would drive me crazy if i couldn't get them to hang neatly so that i could see every one. i chose to get 'hustle harder' on it [long story].


installation was surprisingly simple and we got it into place in about ten minutes [i subtracted the 30 minutes it took us to find a screwdriver]. mine came with three screws, three anchors, and three spacers. we decided not to use the anchors [i was nervous about not using them but brad convinced me to try it and it hasn't fallen down yet, score one for him] to avoid the larger holes in the wall.


after we got it up i wiped it down with a stainless steel cleaning cloth that i use to clean my refrigerator because it was covered in fingerprints. then i loaded it up with my bling:

i was really happy with how it turned out, i only wish i'd paid attention to the sizing specifications... it turned out way smaller than i thought.

be sure to check out the allied medal website if you're looking for a nice way to display your medals.... they do some really beautiful landscape ones too. i'd love to get one with the Asheville skyline/mountains on it.

joel, at allied medals was kind enough to offer a discount code to you guys, just in case you're eyeing a hanger! this code will get you 10% off a medal hanger of your choice:

3XACHARM10

the code is good through march 31st, so feel free to use it or share it.



Sunday, January 20, 2013

tunes to help you beat the winter workout blues

so many of my runs for this training cycle have been on the treadmill that i've not downloaded any new music in a while [when i run on the treadmill i watch quality television, gossip girl, ahem].

i'm doing two races this month, the frosty foot [recap here] and the hot chocolate 10k so i was very excited to reward myself with some new music. now i should explain now, when i say new music, it just means new to me and my ipod... i'm not saying it just came out, so don't leave me a comment telling me how lame and dated my playlists are.



johnny cash & tom petty - i won't back down
mumford & sons [the whole babel album is great] - i will wait, whispers in the dark, lover of the light
robyn - dancing on my own
chris tomlin - whom shall i fear
florida georgia line - cruise
one republic - feel again
ke$ha [go ahead and download the whole warrior album] - c'mon, die young, warrior, wherever you are
will.i.am - scream and shout
the lumineers - ho hey, stubborn love
calvin harris feat. florence welch - sweet nothing
kelly clarkson - catch my breath
ellie goulding - anything could happen
flo rida - i cry
anna kendrick - cups
darius rucker - wagon wheel
nicki minaj - va va voom



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tsali Frosty Foot 30K in Pictures

I rounded up some pictures today and a couple of them are total comedic gems... These first two aren't bad and I actually really like the second one:


Brad took this next one as I was coming in, the race photographer must have missed me (probably got tired of waiting!):
You can kind of see the mess you had to run through that I was complaining about yesterday.

These last two make me laugh, but there is a story behind them! I was coming up on a guy and he started walking up the hill that the photographer was sitting on top of. So I was acting like a spaz and asked the photographer if you could photoshop us to make it look like we were running. This is what he got:

Too funny! PS the images with PROOF on them are from the race photographer, Christopher Graphics.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Tsali Frosty Foot 30K Recap

disclaimer::: this recap is going to be a change in format from usual... if you're looking for the details of the race without my rambling and personal nonsense, scroll to the bottom and you'll hopefully find exactly what you're looking for. 

on saturday brad, riley, and i loaded up and made the trip out to bryson city for the tsali frosty foot race. i'm so horrible about signing up for these random races that are kind of close to home, but not really close enough to drive the morning of, and i was very grateful that brad came with! i don't like to feel like i take over his whole weekend [pretty much his only time off], but it calmed my nerves to have him there.

we got into bryson city around 7pm and checked into our motel. we stayed at the ridgetop motel at the suggestion of microtel bryson city [the host hotel, but it was booked by the time i called]. they matched the discounted race rate that microtel was offering and it was only 9.99 extra to bring riley. it was an older motel, but it was clean and we appreciated being able to bring riley and also the owner told us not to worry if we needed to stay a little longer than the normal check out because he knew we were racing.

after we checked in we headed out the the nantahala brewing company. we watched the football games on their big screen and brad tried a bunch of their beers. he was really impressed with the flavors and i just loved the whole feel of the place. it was super outdoorsy/natural and you can even bring your dog [always a huge selling point for me if you haven't already noticed!].

i can't wait to come back here in the summertime! it would the perfect hangout after a day on the river!

sunday we got up around 7 and brad drove me out to tsali [about 15 minutes from the hotel]. he dropped me off and i picked up my packet then gave him all the extra stuff i didn't need. he headed back to the hotel to lay around and i got ready to run!

this is a picture of the start line and you can see the race director, aaron up front (in the black facing us) giving directions. aaron owns foot rx in asheville, which is a great local running store. they are the ones that put on the black jack 5K that i did in december [which resulted in me running this race in the first place].

after a short run up that paved street you can see in the pic, we hit the trails. words can not even do justice to describing how wonderful these trails were! they were a little muddy from all the rain we've had, but they were totally manageable. and the views!! i only stopped to take one picture, but i thought it was a pretty good one, just to give you an idea.
we ran all around fontana lake, it was hard to keep my eyes on the trail instead of all the beautiful scenery. as far as the trail went, it was mostly technical, single track... but it was very runner friendly for  the most part. some climbs, and some rutted out biking grooves, but very rolling for the most part.

here's the elevation chart [which can i just mention how PROUD i am that after having my garmin for almost 2 years i figured out how to upload my data]:
there were 3 aid stations along the course [i think] and the volunteers were amazing. they refilled our handhelds and offered to help in any way they could. i chose to use the nathan quickdraw handheld and it worked really well. i filled it with water and refilled it at every aid station. i also drank 2 cups of whatever sport drink was available at each station.

in addition, i had 3 gu's along the course, at miles 6, 11, and 15. that seemed to work pretty well for me, although i noticed a couple of times that i felt 'empty hungry' like i needed some solid food.

this race was a mental one for me, but any time i started to feel down or think negatively i just reminded myself that i GET to do this. God ALLOWS me to do this. and it was just what i needed. in the past month 2 past classmates of mine have passed away in car accidents. such terrible tragedies that are hard to wrap your head around. it's a somber reminder that nothing is promised to us in this life and we need to soak up every minute, so i tried to do that.

i mostly ran alone during this race, however i followed a group of 4 women for much of the middle. we ended up talking at one of the aid stations and two of them were actually in the pace group i ran with for my first half! such a small world! one of them is trying to get accepted to pace the biltmore marathon in march, how great would that be!?

it was a long race and it hurt. i had to stop several times to attempt to stretch out my hips, they were what gave me the most trouble. as with any new race distance, my goal is just to finish with a smile on my face. so when i rolled in and saw my boys there waiting on me, i did just that. one of the volunteers even made a comment to me when she was giving me a water about still smiling and that's one of the best compliments she could have given me!

there was a lot of great food after the race, a local cafe, The Green Sage, even had chili for all the runners. i was really excited about that because i love their food, but after the race i just couldn't stomach the thought of eating it. do you ever get like that post race? i've been doing it more and more lately. nothing sounds good and sometimes just the thought of eating upsets my stomach. it usually goes away after about an hour or two, but it's weird.


this was right before we loaded up the car to head back to asheville. i'm pretty dang proud of myself for running this race and really like that i can always look back on my 30th birthday and know that i accomplished something to remember!

when we got home i MADE myself take an ice bath. i didn't even wash the mud off before getting in.

then i showered and got ready so we could go eat and see zero dark thirty [it was great, and jessica chastain was wonderful]. check out our sweet shirts from the race:

.:race details:.

date: january 12th and 13th (50K on saturday, 30K and 8K on sunday)
race organizer:  foot rx asheville
race day pick up? yes or you could pick up the night before at the host hotel
start time:  8:30 (30K)
did race start on time? yes
adequate restrooms?  yes, i think there were 3-4 port-o-potties
aid stations:  3, stocked with water, sports drink, GU chomps and roctane, bonk breaker bars
course spectator support: i actually saw more people than i thought i would considering it was a trail race
course terrain:  technical, single track. several tough inclines but mostly rolling
shirts:  30K runners received Mountain Hard Wear half zip technical shirts (each distance got something different)
medals:  none
would i race again?  absolutely
any complaints?  my only complaint is that the finish line is right in the middle of the post race area. i literally was dodging children and adults to finish. it would have helped to have it roped off. i know that most everyone was finished already, but it sucked a little.
what you need to know:  you'll definitely need a hydration plan for this race, most runners carried their own (handhelds, belts or backpacks), parking is a little difficult so get there in time to park and take care of whatever you need). sign up early!!! the 8K and 30K sell out, i was only allowed to sign up because someone else dropped out!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday Fun

Today was a catch up day! I had planned to get up early to go to yoga but I hit my snooze button about 14 too many times for that to happen. Which stinks because my body needed it. But I guess it needed sleep too.

I did make it to my hair appointment though, want to see a pretty picture?
Me in my no makeup, foil mohawk glory. You're welcome for that!

Then Rileybear and I had to go to the vet for his annual appointment. He was such a sweet boy, got 3 injections like a champ and another vaccination in his nose. Poor guy. Thankfully two of the vaccinations will cover him for three years.

I had to run a few more errands and pay some bills, then I got some organizing done around the house. When I'm stressed it helps to me to organize or clean [makes me feel like I have some control]. I'm not stressed in a bad way if that even makes sense, just have some stuff going on.

One of the things I'm stressed about is my 30k on Sunday. Thankfully the weather is supposed to be really nice. This will be the furthest I've ever ran, plus it's a trail race so that'll be another challenge. I'm trying to decide what to do as far as hydration is concerned. I could use a handheld or my Camelbak. Who knows, but I'm pretty sure it'll turn out okay either way.

If you all don't here from me on Monday or Tuesday I'm probably laying out on the trails somewhere! Hope you all have an amazing weekend!


Sunday, January 6, 2013

the dirty thirty

today i'm celebrating my thirtieth birthday...  yikes. i could probably write some big thing about how i feel about this milestone birthday, but that would require me to actually know how i feel about it. i'm running a 30k next weekend to celebrate and i'm sure i'll have plenty of time to figure that out then.

so until then, i'm soaking up the day and slathering on my anti-wrinkle cream.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Second Annual Sock Swap Round Up

Thank you to everyone who participated in this years sock swap! In this post I've tried to link to everyone who posted their gifts. If you post later or if I've missed you, please let me know in the comments and I'll add you!

Breaking My Runners In
Crazy Running Girl
MSP Run
Running With Whit
My Dirt Road Anthem (i shipped to her!)
Shelley
Just Jen
Livin A Little Life
Joyful Shimmy
Mel Runs The World
My First 5K
She Runs Everywhere

And here's what I got from Christa:
Those bottles are maple syrup! I thought that was so cute since Christa's from Vermont! Thank you Christa, I love my goodies, and can't wait to wear the adorable socks for a Christmas race!

I hope you all enjoyed the sock swap, thanks for participating!! If you have any comments/complaints/suggestions please send them my way. I don't get offended easily and am certainly open to suggestions on how to make this swap better! Are you all interested in having another one for another holiday? Maybe St. Patricks or Valentines? Let me know!




Wednesday, January 2, 2013

.: 2013 goals :.

.: running :.
  • finish a 30k to celebrate turning the dirty thirty
  • run a sub 2 hour half marathon
  • run a sub hour 10k
  • finish a full marathon
  • maintain my mileage around 15-20 miles per week after the full. 
.: weight training :.
  • after the marathon, get back to a full out finess poynters plan [i've been doing a modified plan while my mileage has been increasing].
  • i don't really care about lifting PRs, i mostly want to get back to the consistent schedule that i was in before i started bumping up my mileage. 
.: reading :.
.: spiritual :.
  • join a connect group at chuch [sunday school class]
  • finish beth moore's 'john:  90 days with the beloved disciple' 
  • pay more attention to where God's leading me. 

.: everything else :.
  • limit computer time to 30 minutes a day on work days, an hour on any other days.
  • lose the last 5 pounds... then MAINTAIN. 

that's a LOT of goals! but you know what?


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012... The Year In Numbers



  • i logged 615 miles on daily mile.
  • i participated in twenty races this year
    • fourteen in real life, six virtual
    • lots of different distances:::
      • seven 5Ks
      • one 10K
      • 12 half marathons
      • one spartan sprint
    • one trail run, one obstacle run
    • seven states
      • seven in north carolina
      • two in tennesseee
      • one in georgia
      • one in nevada
      • one in south carolina
      • one in kentucky
      • one in ohio
My goals for 2012 were::::
  • Run 12 half marathons in 2012.  check.  
  • Run a sub 30 minute 5K. check.
  • Run a sub 2 hour half. not so much, but so close!

Here's to an even better 2013! I'm spending today setting my goals for the year,  putting up all the Christmas decorations, and running Kiley's New Years 5K virtual race. 

I have really enjoyed reading your all's year in review posts, you all inspire me so much!

Edited to add::::
Finish line for Kiley's Race!