30k for my 30th birthday!

i have issues. i love to run races.

earlier this week when i realized i technically had saturday morning free [brad's parents were going to be here, but brad was working saturday morning and i figured i'd be done by the time they got up] i immediately started googling for local races.

i found just what i was looking for... one of our local running stores [foot rx] was having a blackjack 5k. have you all ever done one of these? it was my first, but it definitely won't be my last! here's how it worked:::

• race day registration only (yay, since i waited so late to sign up i was really thankful that i didn't get charged an arm and a leg!)
• $10 to sign up (double yay) which goes into a pot
• when you sign up you get to draw your first card
• you get a second card at the halfway point
• when you cross the finish line you can hit and take one more card if you like. 
• the pot is divided between however many people get 21, or if no one gets it whoever has the highest total without going over.

there were 20 of us running and it was a great time. my first card was a 10 so i was hoping for an ace at the halfway point. i drew a king. when i crossed the finish line (30:07) no one had hit 21 so i stayed. one of the last few people hit 21 so i hit and got another face card. oh well. 

it was a great time and a great way to get my total mileage for the day up to 12 miles (i did 7 on the treadmill before the race, then another 2 outside after the race). 

another good thing that came from me doing the race::::

i had been looking for races that line up with my marathon training plan [aka 'if i'm going to do long runs id rather do some of those miles with the encouragement that the racing environment brings'] and i found the Frosty Foot 30k [also put on by Foot Rx]. unfortunately the 30k was already sold out when i found it. but aaron [owner of Foot Rx] mentioned on saturday that if anyone still wanted in to let him know. i spoke to him after the race and i'm in!!! 

i'm supposed to run 16 that day, so a little more than what i'm scheduled to run. that should be okay, right? my larger concern is that it's a trail race and the elevation profile isn't posted... how do i end up in these situations? funny thing is, i couldn't be more excited!

Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon 2012:::: Race Recap & Review

cherokee harvest half marathon & 5k

half mary # 8

race# 7 of 12 in 2012

time:  2:16:21 

overall:  140/185

age group: 9/13

expo:

to my knowledge, there was no expo for this race. race day packet pick up was available (always a plus in my opinion). 

race morning:

i got up early to make the drive to cherokee. this guy was super excited about my race!

more like he was super excited to get fed :)

 cherokee is about an hour outside of asheville and i'd never been there before so i wanted to make sure i'd have plenty of time to get there. i had trouble finding the start line/packet pick up area. i would have definitely appreciated some signs! parking was great, packet pick up took 5 minutes and the volunteers were super friendly and helpful. there weren't a lot of port-o-potties, but the lines weren't long, so i'd say there were plenty. 

personally this race morning was a little different. typically my race morning breakfast is a clif bar and some G2. with my new eating plan i was up in the air as to what to eat. i typically eat egg whites, a slice of ezekiel bread, and a half a banana. for race morning the only thing i changed was that i added about a teaspoon of natural PB on my bread. it seemed to work pretty well for me. i didn't have any stomach upset and i wasn't hungry immediately. 

goals:

my goals for this race were pretty broad. i really wanted to finish in under 2:30. but i wasn't going to be crushed if it didn't happen. i'd shared it with you all... august and september have been VERY LOW mileage months. 

the race:

if i could describe this race in one word... it'd be BEAUTIFUL. talk about beautiful scenery. rivers, streams, leaves, trees... beautiful! the volunteers were amazing. so helpful and friendly! as you can tell from the pictures, it was dreary and rainy during the race. those volunteers were out in the rain with us with smiles on their faces. you've gotta appreciate that! 

there were water stops every 2 miles, they gave out hammer gels around mile 8, they had water and gatorade and pretzels at some stops. great course support!

the race measured a little short on my garmin, coming in around 12.65 miles. the course was mostly flat aside from one BIG hill around mile 6 (i think). and you better believe i walked up that baby!

my race:

this race went amazingly well for me considering my low mileage. apparently all that cross training has been very effective at keeping me in shape! the first five miles went really well, and i was able to follow my usual fuel plan and took 1 shot blok every mile starting at mile 7. i didn't take any gatorade during the race [i usually do after mile 5 or so] and i feel like it affected me. i'm going to experiment with salt tabs because i felt a little crampy after the race. i also got that dehydrated feeling towards the end so i started taking 2 waters at the stops. 

swag:

we received awesome handmade medals at the finish line. 

we also got a long sleeved technical shirt that i'm loving, but it's a little big on me. brad is trying to steal it like none other. i told him absolutely not! because i was in the first 300 racers to register, I also got some extra swag:  a Nike N7 shirt, a drawstring bag, and a fleece toboggan. All extremely nice, especially for such a small race!

i am really looking forward to doing this race again next year. it was a great time, a beautiful course, and it was very well supplied. 

rear view mirror:::: august 2012

running:::: 
16 miles.... oh yeah, it was that bad! but honestly, running has not been my priority the past couple of months. my priority has been in the gym and i didn't have any races coming up, so i'm okay with that. september is the month that it changes though, i'm running a half on the 29th [it'll be #7 of 12 in 2012] so it's time to get the running bug again!

i also met another amazing person at lululemon last week, mara. i'm excited to meet up with her [not only because she's so awesome] but because she has a lot of great ideas about the asheville run community. her vision for the local run community is so in line with mine and hopefully we can get something together!

weight training::::
i just finished week 8 of my training plan! it's crazy, but i actually really enjoy it [well except for ab work.. some things never change!]. i like the way clean eating makes me feel, and the workouts make me feel really powerful! who knows, maybe i'll even be able to keep up with matthew at the spartan sprint next year [yeah right!].

reading::::

the virgin suicides - on my long list of older books that i wanted to read. glad i read it but it was just okay. a little weird but i mean, what did i expect?
the beach house - pretty typical jane green, everything ties up with a neat bow at the end.
cold mountain - really good and also very cool how a lot of the book takes place near where i live.
where we belong - i was really excited for this book, but it was just okay. i really felt like she ended the story just when it got really good. maybe she'll continue it later?
matched - young adult trilogy but i kept seeing it everywhere so when i saw it at the library i scooped it up. very easy to read but it's actually an interesting story. i'm reading book 2 now.

life::::
gearing up for my favorite time of year!! love the cooler weather, the football, the pumpkin patch and apple orchard! fall is really beautiful in the mountains, if you're thinking about visiting asheville, now's the best time in my opinion!

I've Done It Again...

I started my little piece of blog awesomeness almost a year ago with this post which I titled "oh crap." It was basically one sentence where I stated that I'd bitten the bullet and signed up for my first half marathon. Well, I'm at it again... 

On June 15 registration opened up for the inaugural Asheville Marathon and you'd better believe I signed up within the first 15 minutes!

  

So it's officially on! I've gone back and forth between being pumped and scared to death, but I'll get there!

I came thisclose to registering for the WDW full in January 2013 (celebrate the big 3-0 by running my first full) but logistically this just worked better for me. I want to be able to concentrate on enjoying my first full rather than all the goings on at Disney (not that I wouldn't love to do a Disney race at some point!). I also didn't want the added pressure of a whole trip planned around me racing. Heaven forbid I get hurt and we waste all that money. 

So that's that, I've made the first step. Contrary to my pitiful last month of mileage my plan right now is to start building a good base. Most of the plans I've looked at are 16 weeks, so I've got a month or so before I'll start an official plan. 

ANY TIPS?

FAVORITE TRAINING PLANS?

Downhill at Dawn Half Marathon Recap::: Ridgecrest, North Carolina::: #5 of 12 in 2012

downhill at dawn half marathon::: ridgecrest, north carolina

half mary # 6

race# 5of 12 in 2012

time:  2:06:10 (PR)

division:  20/31

overall: 207/361

packet pick up:

You could pick up your packet either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning before the race. I had never been to Ridgecrest and didn't know what to expect, so I drove over on Friday afternoon to pick up my packet. It was not crowded at all and it was very easy to find thanks to all the wonderful signs and volunteers. I was greeted at the pick up and got right in and out. Everyone was super friendly! The race shirts are very nice long sleeve tech shirts:

I thought it was really odd to get  a long sleeve shirt for a June race in the South, but it ended up being CHILLY and I got to wear my shirt all day Saturday after the race!

race morning:

My 4am wake up call came way too early! I did not want to get out of my warm bed! I got dressed and had my usual Clif bar with G2. I took care of Riley and headed out. Brad was off this weekend but I get the best wife of the year award for insisting that he stay in bed. It was so early and I wasn't sure how many opportunities he'd have to see me on the course. I was finished and back to the house before he was out of bed!

Ridgecrest is about 30 minutes away so I left the house around 445am. I got to Ridgecrest and parked without trouble. It was really cold outside and I felt like a dummy for not bringing my arm sleeves. Didn't even cross my mind (HELLOOOOO it's June), must check weather in the future! 

One odd thing about the race was that there wasn't a real start line. Not even spray painted onto the road. They showed us where to line up and then told us to go! 

The first 1.5 miles was downhill and then 1.5-3 was back uphill. I was FLYING at the beginning and having a lot of trouble finding a good pace. I didn't really settle until after the first water station (Mile 2). Running downhill sounded like a great idea (and it was really fun!!) but it does jar you and jam your joints. Everything also bounces... think bladder and boobs (Under Armour your bra did NOT cut it today!!). I've never had digestive issues during a race until today and that was NOT a good time. Even after the race I was struggling. Haven't quite figured out what I did wrong there. I almost stopped at the porta potties two separate times. I told myself if they were empty I'd stop. Once it was occupado and another by the time I got to it I didn't feel so bad so I kept going. 

From mile 3 on, the course was mostly downhill. Beautiful views of the sunrise, mountains, creeks and streams. I was in heaven minus my stomach issues. The course was well supported with water stops every 2 miles and GU gels and chomps at Mile 8. 

The course measured a little short on my Garmin (a welcome change after the Flying Pig) coming in at 12.86 miles. Between that and all the downhill, I think this PR is going to be tough to beat!! But I do love a challenge!

Here are a couple pics from the course:

And here's my playlist:

Why I moved to Asheville

A question that I get constantly is, "Why did you move to Asheville?"

It makes sense. I was born (well not really, my parents lived in KY but my momma actually worked at a hospital in VA so that's where I was born) and raised in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. Very, very close to the Cumberland Gap area, where Daniel Boone explored the Wilderness Trail. If you know me in real life, I talk about my love for KY constantly (it's pretty annoying, I'm sure). When it came time for me to go to college, I chose the University of Kentucky in Lexington (well that and they gave me a free ride).

North Carolina was always this place of intrigue for me. To be honest (revealing my complete ridiculousness), I had this fairy tale idea of life in a small NC beach town thanks to Nicholas Sparks. (You know, because if it's in a fiction book it's true...) I expected to move and have this guy knocking on my door asking if I needed help remodeling my dilapidated house that I bought for next to nothing.

What, don't tell me you never thought that. Damn you Nicholas Sparks and your books that are kind of all the same but I can't not read (and cry) every time. I digress. 

I met my Noah Calhoun during my second year of pharmacy school and as we started to get more serious we began talking about where we'd like to live eventually. I shared my dream of living in NC, and amazingly enough, B-rad had always been interested in it as well! As we began researching, I realized that the costal area of NC is 8-9+ hours from my parents home in KY. That just wasn't going to cut it.

So we started looking at other areas and Asheville just kept coming up. We visited the area in December 2008 and LOVED it. We made plans to move right after graduation. We visited one more time (another long weekend) to find a place to live, then we moved down in June 2009. We lived in an apartment for a while, then bought our first home in October 2009.

My family and friends are what I miss most about KY. If they were here I'd never consider leaving. My family is about 2 hours away and Brad's is about 6-7.

Where do you live?

Do you miss where you grew up/family?

Lt. Colonel Oliver North at Biltmore Baptist

Brad and I attend a very large church here in Asheville, Biltmore Baptist. It was the first church we tried when we moved, and we were captivated from the start. A large church always has its pros and cons but for us the good far outweighs.

Today Brad was really excited because Oliver North was speaking at our morning services. Apparently all of Asheville was excited too, because it was packed. I'll be honest, I had no idea who he was. If you're in my boat, here's the short version:  He's a retired Marine, best-selling author, Fox News host, and Christian.

He shared with us the story of how he became a Christian and it was very moving. He was very entertaining and fun to listen to. It was a great message and very timely with the 4th coming up.

Something I learned that I thought was pretty awesome...

Isaiah 33:22 says "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, and the Lord is our king; it is He who will save us."

Many say this is where James Madison came up with the idea for the three branches of goverment. Very interesting.

Awesome Saturday

Yesterday was one of those great days. My boys and I slept in and while they hung out I headed out to get my 4 miler in. I knew that if I slept in I'd have to run in the heat, but it was worth it and I needed the rest. I got to the trailhead around 1030am and it was BUSY.

I love this trail, it's super flat and fast. It's also fairly shaded, which helped me not die with the heat. I did four miles at a 11:34 pace. Don't be jealous of my lightening fast speeds, I know, I'm awesome. And my post run red face perfectly accentuates my Cullen-like paleness. Yuck.

I came home to pick up the hubs so we could go run around. After waiting on him for 45 minutes I went and hollered at him politely asked what was taking so long. He replied... wait for it... "I was waiting on you to shower." Ouch. Well I had news for him, it was H-O-T oustide and I didn't want to have to shower again after we went running around (I prefer to minimize the number of showers and I have to take in a day. Honestly it's more the hairdrying that I don't enjoy, but anyways). So I talked him into hanging out with the stinky but just as cute version of myself. Lucky guy.

First stop was the new Neo Burrito that just opened at Biltmore Park. 

I have had Neo at their other Asheville location, and B-rad hadn't tried them before. They're very green and their food is great. We walked in to check out the menu and were UNpleasantly surprised.

 The menu's were on these three TV's... That changed CONSTANTLY... and weren't on any sort of repetitive cycle. We both picked out salads, but Brad wanted to add a fish taco. Too bad the taco menu wouldn't pop back up, So he skipped it.

We both ordered BBQ chicken salads (I got mine with tempah). The employees were very friendly, but you could tell everyone was still learning. We ordered the same salad but ended up with different stuff. We got seated and I poured my ranch all over my salad. I took my first bite and knew something was way wrong. Apparently the guy making my salad grabbed the wasabi ranch instead of regular (the salad comes with regular ranch, I get it everytime I go to the other Neo). And here's a fun fact about me... I do NOT like wasabi (or pickles, or olives, or mustard). Another fun fact, I don't like to send food back or complain (usually). So I tried to stomach thru it by masking it with queso (the chips and queso were awesome!). Then my stomach started turning and I was done. B-rad loved his salad (just like I usually do). And he ate a lot of mine too (he loves spicy stuff).

I loved how green the restaurant was (the other Neo is also). It was very 'Asheville'. They had plants hanging all over the place.

They also had this crazy contraption that I'm not 100% sure exactly what it was.

It rotated every so often, and you can tell they're growing herbs in there. Very cool. They were also growing herbs on their patio area. So simple and unique, a great idea.
I'm sure we'll eat here pretty often. I'll just be sure about the dressing before I dump it all over my whole salad. And I really hope they fix the menu situation. We weren't the only ones confused by it, so I'd say it'll get fixed eventually.

Next we went to REI because Brad wanted some hiking shoes. He tried some on but they didn't have his size. (We found them later at Diamond Brand in Kentucky Blue!)

The only thing I really, really wanted to do yesterday was go to Ya Ya's frozen yogurt that also just opened. B-rad likes to act like he has no interest in such trivial, dessert related places, but I made him go he humored me because he likes me a little bit. They had a seasonal strawberry lemonade sorbet that I sampled and decided to get (so not typical for me). I added fresh strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels and my hubs (who acts like he has no interest) requests sour worms. He proceeded to eat half of my froyo. It's a good thing I like him sometimes too.

I'm still way new to blogging and blanked on taking pics of the place and my yogurt. But it was delish and I loved every bite (except for all the ones Brad ate). Yogurt stealer.

Run On The Wildside 9K Trail Run

I was up bright and early this morning to take on the Run on the Wildside 9K Trail Run. I was super nervous about this run because it was my first race >5K. I didn't know how 'serious' it would be. I was kind of afraid they'd be like, "oh we went ahead and took down the finish line because you were so slow." Yep, I was scared.

On Thursday I thought I had convinced my running buddy to join me, but she changed her mind (for good reason, she's coming back from an injury and would have just been doing it to support me). Then I thought B-rad and the brown dog were gonna come cheer me on. But they slept in. So I did it by my big bad self.

I also had trouble choosing an outfit (noticing a trend are we?). This is what I laid out last night:

Overkill much? What's funny is that I cut out the three pairs of socks that I couldn't decide between either. I have issues. So I chose the blue shirt on the far right if you're wondering. I wore my new hat that I picked up last week at FootRx. Here's a pic of it on before I went running on Thursday:

I pretty much love it (more than I love my scraggly pony and awkward self portrait). I was very skeptical of the white because I sweat like a fat kid a lot. I'll keep you updated on that front. But otherwise it's a great hat. It's light and soaks up all my sweat. I also really like the fit. Thanks Mizuno.

So anyways, let's get down to the race. The race was at the NC Arboretum, like the Biltmore Classic. However, for this race we had to park at our church, Biltmore Baptist and ride a shuttle over to the arboretum. Made sense in theory I guess.

I arrived at Biltmore around 7am and went to the registration desk. Keep in mind that I pre-registered for this race. Two ladies in front of me were filling out their registration forms, then the guy asked what size shirts they wanted. They said medium and he said congrats you got the last ones. I wasn't thinking much of it because I pre-registered and I could see packets already made. I stepped up, gave him my name and he asked me what size t-shirt I wanted. It took everything in me not to say, well see here on my bib where I selected a size when I registered... MEDIUM. Oh well. I smiled and asked for a large. I'm not passive aggressive at all.

After sulking back to my car with my new redneck lingerie sleep shirt I joined the line for the shuttle. It was about 715am at this point. And we waited... And waited. Finally a bus shows up around 730am (the first time I've seen it since being on the property for 30 minutes). It couldn't hold us all. So we waited some more. I was on the next group that boarded the bus at 755am. The race was scheduled to start at 8am. I hadn't stretched or warmed up. And you know I needed to pee. Lucky for me, there were still about 30 people who couldn't fit. So I knew I'd have time to get it all done. As I get off the bus a man makes an announcement that there was one more load of runners and that the race should start around 830am (yeah right). He also said something to the effect of, "thank you all for being on time, those others should know better." That kinda irritated me. It kinda irritated a lot of people from what I gathered. Anyways.

I felt bad for the last group, they literally got off the bus and five minutes later the race was starting. Not ideal for them I'm sure. The race itself was great. Beautiful course. Good mix of uphill/downhill. Almost all trails inside the forest. Three water stations. The miles were marked with these:

I want one so bad. But here's the weird thing, when I saw the first one, my Nike+ said 0.80 miles. Then from that point on the jeep were consistently 1 mile apart according to Nike+. (And yes, Nike+ is known to give me mixed data sometimes alot.). So I'm questioning the length of the course now.

There was a lot of good post race food:  water, bananas, Roly Poly wraps and fro-yo, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches (reason number 23947802 that B-rad should have gotten outta bed), and juices. After the race I started walking. I was ready to get home, bus or no bus. Luckily I timed it well and I got to ride the bus back to the church and get home in a reasonable amount of time.

We got a lot of great stuff for running:

I really like the shirts. We got these right after crossing the finish line: 

So even though I didn't like the whole shirt/shuttle situation, I still really enjoyed the race itself. All the proceeds went to MADD.

Goal number one was to not finish last. I wasn't.
Goal number two was to finish in under an hour. And I did! Barely, but I did. I'll post times and stuff whenever it goes up.

I walked a lot, but tried to limit it to the hills. I made up a lot of ground during the downhills and held steady during the flats. I definitely need to work on my endurance and continue to add mileage. I've been so obsessed with trails the last two weeks that all my workouts have been about them (gaining the ability to run hills, not adding mileage). I've not run in my street shoes in two weeks.

My plan is yoga in the AM then hopefully a flat two or three miler after work.

Did you race this weekend?
How did it go? What do you need to improve on?

US Airways is Not My Fav

So what am I up to this morning? Oh you know, just getting up at 5am, busting my tail to get the AVL Airport only to find out that our flight has been cancelled. Fan-freaking-tastic! We got pushed to a later flight, so we've got about 4 hours to kill. I'm blogging and B-rad is doing what he does best when we fly... Teasing me for buying US Weekly then shamelessly reading it cover to cover. Love him.

I'm aggravated that I'm awake, and that we're missing about 4 hours in our destination... but I'm sure God has a reason for it. Also, AVL doesn't have a Starbucks. That kinda stinks. So I got a generic cinnamon latte (that cost just as much as Starbucks btw) and some reading material.

I found this package of awesomeness in the shop and it reminded me of one of my favorite movies:

Anyone? I guess someone would actually have to be reading this blog to guess. Technically.  Well, we're off to kill more time until the bar opens before our flight.

Surely it's socially acceptable to have some margaritas  one mimosa or something?

Biltmore Classic 5K/15K

Tomorrow I'm running the 14th annual Biltmore Classic that is put on by the Kiwanis Club. I'm doing the 5K... If it actually goes down. I'm feeling a little skeptical and a lot confused. When I signed up for the race the website was mostly under construction. I figured I was just early (which should have been the first clue, because I am rarely that) and they were slow.

I signed up and based on the fact that they did not ask for my shirt size, I'm assuming no shirt for me (my deduction skills are amazing, no?). After a little googling, I found out that for the last 13 years, this race has been run on the Biltmore Estate.

Awesome. I have amazing timing. Yes I have been to the Biltmore more times that I care to count, but it would be really cool to run a race there. But for whatever reason, the race is no longer happening there. It's supposedly happening at the NC Arboretum, which is about a half a mile from our house but we've never been (mostly because they charge like 10 bucks a car to park there). I found out that they offer a pass that is reasonable if you go a lot and I have been looking for a place closer to home to run. I've been putting it off until tomorrow to see what it's like.

Anyways, the website is still crap. No new info. All I know is that there had better be a race tomorrow. Because if I get up at 6am for nothing, I'm gonna be MAD!