Just around the riverbed….

Name that movie? Can you guess? POCAHONTAS! When she’s on her way to see Grandmother Willow, yup, a talking tree represented as her Grandmother. Talk about weird.

Well that is neither here nor there, so just around the riverbed for me is the fact that I’m finally starting to feel better. I don’t sound like a man when I talk and I can almost fully breath through my nose again. This means that if I’m feeling up for it, tomorrow I will begin running once again. Hopefully. You see this is how I work, I start feeling a little sick, then I keep pushing myself and pushing myself, thinking that I will just get better, but my body says, “No Way!” and then I just get sicker and sicker and then finally I have to take off work and sleep for a few days in order to feel better. Annoying right? Every time I get sick that’s what happens. So the break was needed and now I’m feeling much better.

There are more exciting things coming to chicrunner too, that I’m super excited to tell you guys about. First, remember when I did my own site, at chicrunner.com, and then there were MAJOR issues of the site being down, problems with hosting, problems with email, problems with people not knowing that they had to add the blog spot back into the address? Yes, well this Friday, there will be a switch back to chicrunner.com without the blog spot, and it’s going to be a brand new, amazing, exciting site, and I’m kicking off the new site with 2 SWEET giveaways.

Seriously, I’m jealous of the giveaways because I want the prizes for myself. So stay tuned, I will be linking to all sorts of wonderful things and will let you know when the new site is officially up!

To all you Texans, the lovely Mr. R is attending a conference out in San Antonio this week for work. Perhaps stalk if you see him, don’t tell him you’ve seen him online for that would forever freak him out. He is just coming around to understanding this… but I personally would find it incredibly funny if someone did spot him partying on the river walk like he’s 21 conferencing hardcore for work.

On another completely unrelated note, here is a picture that I am in love with today.

I’m catching up on every one’s weekends! Can’t wait to post a sweet review tomorrow!

xoxo

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Welcome to my bano.

Remember the home tour I was taking part in? You know, the one that showed off my kitchen, dining room and living room and the ‘guest’ room aka my roommates room and then I realized I don’t have much of a house left after that? Well they’ve been busy doing offices, baby rooms and rooms that don’t exist in my house, but today I can participate again! Today over at Kelly’s Korner its bathroom day!

This is the entrance to the bathroom. Our bathroom is super tiny but we’ve never actually had any problems with it or getting ready in it. It’s also the only bathroom in our home.

Here’s the shower, I love the archway that is over it, and it’s all tiled. Our shower curtain is black, shocking, I know. We have these cute little crystal shower curtain holders which I really like too.

Here’s the inside of the shower and yes, that is a little rubber ducky. I found him randomly in a drawer and we put him in the shower when we moved in. He’s stayed there! I love the tiling in our bathroom, and it’s a shower tub, but I thought taking excessive pictures of the tub would probably bore you.

Then turn around and you’ll see our sink! It’s a pedestal sink and I really like that as well. We have one medicine cabinet above it, and the towel rack as well. That tealish thing in the mirror is actually a window that pops out.

This is the little hanging sign that is above the hand towel rack in the picture above. This sign cracks me up. It’s funny too because I LOVE making my hair big, especially after a few drinks, it just keeps growing for some reason. I saw this sign and had to get it. Plus it was like 72 cents at Target.

Then you can look directly to the toilet from the sink! Told you our bathroom was small!

This is also where the bathroom gets a little weird. Not surprisingly, our bathmat and toilet mat are black, but if you notice where the toilet paper is, on the other side of the sink? Yup, it’s along reach so we got a toilet paper stand. And yup, there is a heater right next to the toilet as well. Oh well it works out, but I have heard some guys say that it’s a pretty tight fit in there, which makes me laugh.

Last weekend was the Bachelorette party that I went to in San Luis Obispo and it was incredibly fun. I’m so glad I went, but I was super bummed that I left my license at home. We were going wine tasting. STUPID, but it was TOTALLY something I would do. I told my two best friends and Mr. R and they weren’t surprised at all. Luckily two wineries still let me taste (the shame!) and two didn’t, but according to everyone, I tasted at the two best wineries. It was gorgeous weather and so much fun. We also went out to a bar that night, and they even let me in with my school id (yup, four year old picture!), some credit cards and my insurance card that had my birthday on it. Double Bonus.

The hostess younger brother and his friend drove us around (and enjoyed it! They were the BEST) and at the last winery, where everyone else was drinking, they took me to 7-11 and bought me some Smirnoff ice, I chugged it while in the parking lot sitting in the car. Don’t worry, I wasn’t drinking while the car was in motion! The chugging them was a stupid idea, but it was hilarious sitting with them and waiting for the girls. Then we got out and I jumped over some plants? It was strange but super funny. Then I got heartburn from drinking them too fast. Then we went home and watched Twilight and dang, Robert Pattison, I was never attracted to you and never saw what everyone was hooting and hollering about, but sign me up on the stalker train now!

And here is the lovely bride to be! I will just call her Sunwalk, since that is my nickname for her anyways. She is getting married NEXT WEEKEND! I am so excited for her and I know she will make a beautiful bride and their wedding will be gorgeous. Mr. R is in the wedding for her soon to be husband, so perhaps I’ll post some pictures for you wedding fiends after that wedding. Sorry, I don’t know why the picture is so dark. There are tons of other pictures from the weekend, but I haven’t gotten them yet, so perhaps more might show up at a later date.

This weekend my only goal is to kick this sickness I have into 2010. Oh, and I’m getting a haircut. Well trim. I’m super anal about getting my haircut every 6 weeks and it’s been almost 2 months. I can’t wait. I have some stuff going on on Saturday and Sunday, I think I will go look at some new home options for Mr. R, since he is moving late July. New home in CA means very overpriced apartments. Though Mr. R feels safe in all locations, I don’t! So we’ll see what he has found. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and is able to get your run on. I wish I could be running but breathing through my nose is out of the question. Yea that whole post I did this week about my training schedule… see things like this happen and you can’t stick to the schedule. Meh! I’ll be back on the streets soon, as in running on the streets soon.

xoxo

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Poppin’ with Deliciousness + Pictures + National Running Day!

Today could quite possibly be my favorite day of the year and I’m filled with joy. Well the best besides my birthday in October, it’s

Hooray! Tonight I’m going to put in some recovery miles. Though running Monday was a little rough, I definitely think it has allowed my soreness to go away. Tonight I’ll be running a little bit probably a nice little 2 miles out and back. I’m excited to run tonight and then to start working on my speed for the upcoming San Fransisco Half July 26! Remember, if you want to start running, go slow, and take your time. Running is to be ENJOYED!

I think during training I got a little overwhelmed with the schedule and got really burnt out. I have missed just getting in miles and working on fast miles, and got tired of running for anyone else besides myself. I know that I’ve learned my lesson and I know that getting in more miles will make me much faster as well. I can’t wait to go on a relaxing long run this weekend in San Luis Obispo!

Yesterday I got some sweet ‘official’ race photos from San Diego this past weekend. Normally I thought there would be a lot more pictures taken on the course, but there was one spot at mile 22ish, which this gem was taken:

And then we have the lovely finishing photo. Don’t worry the clock tells lies. My chip time was 4:28, since I crossed the finish line earlier than the clock said. I’m not lying to you people! Yet, I am kind of bummed that the clock reads that in my finishing pictures.

Though I’m not too totally jazzed on these photos, perhaps the woman in the black in front of me ruined them, they aren’t the worst so whatever works I guess. I am still waiting for my medal picture that I must see. At least I look like I’m running in these two pictures. There is one that I look like a crazy race walker. Obviously I didn’t post it.

As for a sweet review that I totally must tell you guys about, the wonderful and delicious Pop Chips. They sent me a sweet package to review (and since I work in advertising, I have to give them MAJOR props on their marketing and packaging) and I’m not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical. I love me some “baked” chips and didn’t really know what to expect when eating these “popped” chips.

For me, they felt like they almost have the ‘I want to be a ricecake’ mentality, but were thin little round chips. Excuse the horrible picture, but this is about how thin they are. They are crispy and not greasy at all. I have seen these in the stores and just never bought them because they were a little more expensive than the other chips, nor am I one to try something that I don’t already know. Perhaps I am a creature of habit? Anyways, I took one bite of these and they were delicious! They have much, much more flavor than a regular potato chip and they aren’t weighted down with salt and artificial flavors. I didn’t feel like a greasy little piglet after. Major bonus.

So they look a little different than chips, but they taste different too, much better. I even had my co-worker test all the flavors with me and he really enjoyed them, even enough to buy them as well. Mr. R stole a bag and I told him he could only eat them if he also contributed to my review. His response when I asked them how they were via text? ” BOMMMMMMMBYYYYYYYYYY” Good one. He is now a convert as well, and I saw some bags in his cupboard. I really like the Salt and Pepper ones but all the flavors are really tasty. They are just lighter and better than other chips that I’ve tried, hands down. Their only downfall is that their bag is a little bit smaller at the grocery store and they aren’t the cheapest, but at the same time, sometimes I have seen some deals on them, in which I’ve stocked up.

It takes a lot for me to pay full price for anything, including food at the grocery store, but I would pay full price for these. I know, I know, sounds bad that I won’t pay full price for food, but remember I live in CA. It’s expensive. Their taste and nutritional info is outstanding and I felt like I was actually eating a healthy snack instead of just getting some chips that were loaded down with unhealthy ingredients. Next time you are in the super market, check them out, they are delicious and worth the extra .50 cents.

So get out and run and then eat some Pop Chips, or at least visit their site Pop Chips. You won’t be disappointed if you try them, promise!

Tomorrow will be some sweet running deals! I am already excited planning my next outfit for my next race. Well I’m already excited for my next race. I openly also admit I’m a freak.

xoxo

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Pictures from the Marathon Weekend.

First off, I have to let you all know that my blog is temporarily moved back to http://www.chicrunner.blogspot.com/. Please update your feeds, and reader. I will let you all know when it switches back, but right now I’m having issues with the hosting and will be here for a while. I promise an exeptionally wonderful giveaway though once the issues get fixed, so stay tuned and for now stay at the blogspot.com location! Now onto some sweet pictures.

It started off on Friday night when I got this super cute pillowcase from my Aunt. It has all different type of running things and accessories on it and I LOVE it! It was such a great surprise and I took it with me to San Diego for good luck! She is amazing and made it by hand. I used to always get pillowcases from my mom for every month when I was away at college, so pillowcases are very special to me.

Once I got down to San Diego, Alisa and I were hunnnnngry girls and so we went to the Richard Walker’s pancake house for some grub, it was delicious! I totally recommend it!

There was a huge blogger, tweeter meet up at the expo at 1 pm. Here’s maritza, tara, julianne and aron, some of my favorite girls from Northern CA.

….and here’s all the Bad Girls of Running at the expo! Yea, I guess I didn’t get the memo to wear a white or black shirt

Here’s my running twin, aron and I! She is the absolute best and I loved being able to run a large part of the marathon with her. We look alike in a lot of race pictures and have some of the same clothes to run in, but in person we look nothing alike. Oh well, she will always be my running twin!

This was the huge group at dinner! There’s a ton of people in here and I consider this to be my ‘running club’ that I’m apart of. It’s a forum on the Runner’s World Website that I post in. There’s a ton of super dedicated and hardcore runners in this bunch. We even have a lot of age group placers in this picture, including an Age Group winner! Amazing job.

This was race morning, with Alisa and Kristen. That was my lucky banana. Yup, we were waiting in the portapottie line!

Then I ran a marathon….. Those pictures aren’t up yet, but I’ll post them when they are released and I steal them…. But here’s the afters!

Mr. R met me at the finish! He thought that after I texted him what had happened at mile 8 that I would quit and he texted me, “Do you need me to come get you” and I just texted him back, “No I am almost to mile 20. I hate this.” Then 20 minutes later I texted him again, “This sucks ass” He was sending me funny supportive texts while I was dying at miles 20-26. I almost didn’t want to check my phone because I was scared I was going to cry. I crossed the finish line and texted him, “Done, Tuck! hahahahaha I want wawa.” (Thanks Iphone predictive texting for changing my bad word! ha ha) He was a great sport and was super helpful, I am so thankful that he was there.

Then to my surprise, My roommate and her mom came down! I totally wasn’t expecting them at all and it was a great surprise. Notice I’m holding my chocolate milk with a death grip.

The Roomie and I. So happy she came…. and she gave me my prize of the day, worth more than any medal… a tampon! ha ha ha.

Then here is Ryan Hall and me. He signed my name Danick. Cool Ryan. Thanks! ha ha. Great meeting him even though I was pretty delusional and talking to him about twitter. Funny thing is I watched him race in High School many times, we were in the same CIF and state sections, he blew my mind then and still does today.

More and more pictures are slowly trickling in, so I’ll post more if I get more. I didn’t take many pictures and I’m pretty sure that my race photos will make resemble a puppy suffering on the verge of death, but hey, I got my medal.

Last night I ran for 1.5 miles, and let me tell you, it was rough. I was shuffling along and almost felt the need to apologize to the people I ran past. I got home in around 17 minutes. I really think that it helped a lot in my recovery today though. I just feel like I ran 20 miles, not like I tortured myself. So today will be my day off instead of yesterday. Last night I watched the Bachelorette, and wow, that was interesting to say the least. I have been stretching a lot though and feeling better than I thought I would. This weekend I’m going out of town for a Bachelorette party and I’m SO excited to get away, do some serious relaxing and run a great first long run after my marathon! I can’t wait.

I already signed up for the San Fransisco Half Marathon (the first half) for July and I realized today that it’s already June and it’s next month! I can’t wait to go up there though and race again, my beloved distance. I will be talking about some training plans and how I hope to get faster for that race in the near future. Tomorrow I will be posting a ton of reviews of cool stuff that I have tried recently. Hope everyone else is recovering nicely as well and you all enjoyed the pictures thus far!

xoxo

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The day after running 26.2 miles.

So today I’m not as sore as I originally thought I would be. I honestly think I was more sore after running The Malibu Creek 25k. I’m back at work and diligently trying to focus on my projects

I really want to run today, but I might, might just go for a slow little jog after work, just to shake some of the kinks out. Obviously, it couldn’t be too long or too slow, the bachelorette is on tonight! It’s sounds weird that I want to run so bad, but I missed just running when I was training a lot. Though I am obsessive about scheduling and planning, I don’t like my running to be scheduled, I like to do it for me.

I can’t wait to post pictures from the weekend. I will be posting tomorrow, but here is a little sneaky peeky.

The medal.

So it’s not the best picture, but you can see the jist of it. Windsurfer? Really? It is kind of cool that it’s a big medal, but seriously, I just want a huge medal that says I ran 26.2 miles, or something along those lines. It would possibly be the best medal ever given out. Sounds like I need to start my own race, whose with me?

Hope everyone else isn’t too sore!

xoxo

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Hawaii pt. 2

So more glorious pictures for you to be jealous of. Grab a coke zero

After Waimea Canyon, we saw the spouting horn. It’s a blowhole that makes a lot of noise and it spouts water. Pretty sick. We watched it for ten minutes and then decided getting sun was more important.

This little guy was chillin’ on the beach! Monk seals are known to go to the shore after a feeding and they rest there. Don’t worry he’s NOT DEAD. They state of Hawaii is very protective of them and have someone guard them and they are also roped off so they will be ‘safe’. They put up signs like this one too.

Don’t worry he’s living the life.

The next day we went to the spa and got a massage. Ahhhhh. Then we decided to walk down to a beach by our hotel. Nothing really where we were staying was ‘close’ to the beach and a lot of beaches take a steep downhill to get there and a steep uphill to get back.

Yikes.

Yea, not so dangerous? It was a nice beach with barely anyone on it.

That night we also went to Postcards Cafe.

It was pretty good, and the hummus was amazing. I have a thing for hummus.

This is hideaways beach, you have to hike down 191 stairs/muddy rocks that are disguised as stairs to get there. Luckily there is a rope like thing to hold on too.

After Hideaways we drove to another beach, that had a little river that you had to cross to get to the beach.

It was kind of cold in the afternoon on this day and I was burning. I was stupid and didn’t put any sunscreen on my legs the day before thinking they already had some color. I forgot I’m not 10 anymore and burned crazy lines on my legs. Giant Fail. Luckily the next day I was fine after slathering aloe on them.

The next day we went to another beach, called Tunnels. It’s known for great snorkeling and Mr. R got some snorkel stuff. I am not one to snorkel. I hate when the fish get close, it freaks me out. He said he saw a turtle.

This was a picture taken on the way to Tunnels. See what I mean about being so green and lush?

Sadly, this was also the day we left to come back home. We checked out and got ready to come back to the ‘mainland’. Before leaving though, we stopped in over by the airport/harbor and got some delicious dinner at Dukes restaurant.

I know. I know. Wearing leggings as legitimate pants, not acceptable, BUT I was trying to be comfy on the plane. Also didn’t want to do the hand on the hip, yet again, so I made an awkward arm thing. Cool. Anyways, Dukes overlooks this bay. This is where Mr. R saw one of his students. CRAZY.

Other than that… The trip was simply amazing. I got some fat cold sores from spending a little too much time with my 2nd lover, the sun, which stinks now, but oh well it was more than worth it. We flew back on a red eye on Friday morning and then Friday night was KAYVMANIA. One of my roommates little brother’s best friends (I know him because we went to Hawaii together and we are kind of close in age) turned 21. He rented out the BigRedBus and we rode around in it and it took us to four different bars. I didn’t drink much but when I did it was keystone because that was free on the bus. So classy.

Me and the best friend, yup, we are wearing matching shirts for the party.

Party till you pass out. What am I? 15? Hilarious none the less and though I was tired it was a great time.

So that sums up my trip and last weekend.

Last night was wonderful. We decided on the counter and it was great food and the Angels finally got out of the losing slump. Mr. R got me the newest coach breast cancer awareness keychain, which is too cute. Tonight I’m going to get in some miles after work and I hope it cools down soon. Right now I’m really craving a cupcake or some Redbull. Perhaps a lot of sugar free Redbull.

Tomorrow = deals coming your way.

xoxo

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ZENSAH REVIEW

So I got some products from Zensah right before I got sick but I was excited to try them out and had to wait an incredibly long time to do so. I got a pink sports bra, some pink arm warmers, a pink running skirt and some compression socks. I decided to run in the sports bra and use the arm warmers this weekend for my extended long run/race.

I am VERY picky about sports bras, so I was skeptical this one would be tight enough, hold everything together and not chafe. I am right inbetween a 34B/C so smalls are WAY too tight and mediums usually fit okay, but sometimes they squeeze the fat on my underarms which doesn’t look very chic. For some reason I also chafe like a snake shedding it’s skin on my long runs.

Then the arm warmers… The first person I ever saw wearing them was LA Runner and I wondered what in the HECK they were used for. After a while it dawned on me but I still didn’t see the need for them at all, or if they would even work, plus I thought I would look like an idiot with them on. I thought the same thing about my hydration belt and now I have one and love it. Little did I know that the arm warmers would be amazing. I even saw a few comments yesterday wondering what I was doing with them. I agree, it’s weird, but wait till you hear about them.

The sports bra is seriously great. I like my sports bras unusually tight and this one fit nice and snug but wasn’t suffocating. I even noticed it holding everything together at all the right times. That’s right, I checked myself out in the buildings I ran by and saw that I wasn’t all over the place. It wasn’t too tight to wreck with my breathing and I felt very, shall we say, supported, at ALL times, which is nice. Sometimes when it’s too hot my sports bras get damp with sweat and this was not the case at all. It stayed dry and the material was VERY comfortable. I was really surprised with what a difference this sports bra made. I wore it for a very long run too, 16 miles, and it held up great.

Another great thing about the sports bra was that there was absolutely no sign of chafing at all. I usually have some kind of chafing in a ring around chest from the top of the sports bra and also underneath the sports bra. I had absolutely no sign of either spots chafing. I was comfortable, not to warm and I even ran without a shirt for 2 miles and felt great, not like I was giving a free show to those around me. It was a great support sports bra and fit really well. I totally would recommend them, and they have a cool colors on their site.

Secondly the arm warmers. I was very VERY skeptical that these things were worth basically anything. They are fairly expensive and I just couldn’t see myself buying something without getting to try it out first. I didn’t even know the true need for these. I didn’t know what to expect or how warm they would keep me, anything. I slipped them on over my arms before I left and they were at least very comfortable on. I didn’t know what to expect once I went outside. It was pretty cool out, and I did want to wear a long sleeve shirt but I HATE having to tie it around my waist, neck or whatever I can, once I get warm after running for ten minutes. The sleeves are simply AMAZING. I was shocked how great they worked. My arms felt warm the entire time and they are the perfect length so that Claude doesn’t hit my wrist bone either. They are breathable, and felt like nothing was even on my arms but they kept me the perfect temperature.

Even when it got a little warmer, they were so comfy I just left them on. I wore them for all of my 16 mile run and never felt more comfortable in my life. I wasn’t too hot or too cold and they worked out great. I would totally recommend them to anyone who goes out for a run and doesn’t want to get cold. Seriously, I was really skeptical, but now that I’ve tried them I know I’ll be using these instead of long sleeved shirts that just overheat me. Plus, they make you look WAY MORE HARDCORE!

There is a section that got cut off that said that it was really easy to bend and move my arm in because my other arm is bent. And I totally realize that I spelled hight instead of high. FAIL big time, but I am not going back into photoshop (though my skills are obviously amazing) to fix it. You get the point, they go up high.

Though Zensah’s products are a bit more on the pricey side, I totally think they are worth it. Arm warmers are a great way to stay warm and not have to haul a bunch of crap with you on your run. Also you can slip stuff inside them and keep it there, like a key. They never bunched or even moved when I ran, moved or anything. They were not to tight or sufficating either, which was great. When you do get hot, you can just push them down around your wrists and they don’t even bother you. Give them a try! Thanks again to Zensah who allowed me to try out the arm warmers and made me a follower! I can’t wait to wear them in the summer months on longer runs with a tank top!

I am so busy getting ready for Hawaii that my running is suffering. I only went for a little 3 mile jog yesterday and we’ll see what I can fit in tonight inbetween laundry and packing! Get ready for tomorrow, when I announce the winner of the $100 onlineshoes.com giveaway, and have Deal Thursday!

xoxo

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Seal Beach 10k the Green Way

First off, I want everyone to visit Wine and the Finish line, It was because of them that I got to actually be chip timed this weekend at the Seal Beach 10k and I’m so thankful that I didn’t have to run as a bandit! I hope your foot gets better asap Kristen! They are such a cute couple and I love reading about their training and races.

So as I mentioned last week, I ran to the starting line and back home after the Seal Beach 10k this weekend. It seems lately that I don’t just want to race but I want to take it to the next level and do some extreme racing. I thought that running to and from the race would also be ‘green’. It actually worked out pretty well. I woke up and put on my new Zensah arm warmers, my running skirt and my favorite racing tee, my Nike Women’s Virtual Half Marathon shirt. I got maybe the worst bar ever, a Roman Meal bar. Don’t even try it, it’s DISGUSTING. I could only eat half of it and then I threw it away. I had my hydration belt and two gus ready to go when I felt the urge. I had to go number dos.

I ran my last 10k and thought I was going to poop my shorts the ENTIRE time, so I knew I better take care of it when I was still in the comfort of my own home. I always get nervous before a race and I have to go. So I did that and then forgot to check my watch before I left to know how much time I had to run there. I had allotted myself a solid 45 minutes but then with the bathroom issue I forgot to check when I actually left. I had about two miles to go and I started to freak out that I wasn’t going to make it there in time. So I ran faster, and got some strange looks while running to the race by the people walking there from the surrounding parking lots. I got there with eight minutes to spare. Perfect. I had half a gu, drank some of my water, said hello to a few random people I saw. I took off my hydration belt and left it under a tree by the starting line and then tried to figure out where I needed to be in the pack of people surrounding me.

Now, I totally understand some people were walking the 10k, running the 5k, had strollers, had dogs, had small children. I’m not exceptionally fast and I reminded myself numerous times that this was just a part of my longer run. I had ALREADY run three miles to the starting line anyways. But this starting line was a MESS. I was dodging kids, dogs, strollers, faster people were trying to get by me, it was just a jumbled up chaotic hullabaloo. I don’t want to sound mean but if you are going to walk a 5k, do not be in the front of the starting line. I wasn’t even that close to the front of the starting line, but the zigging and zagging was a little bit to much for me, and I always feel bad when I have to almost cut someone off to get through, but sorry I don’t want an elbow in my boob. I was trying to make my way to some open space when someone tapped my arm, it was the speedy LA Runner. He was zooming by but we exchanged some quick words and then he powered ahead.

So after the 5k-10k split things started to get much better, it was much more open and I had to tell myself constantly, “Self, DON’T RACE TOO HARD”. When the 90 year old grandma passed me I let her go, when the 5 year old kid ran past me I let him go. I was a-okay with letting people pass me and just chugged along reminding myself I had to go home later. I worked really hard at getting my splits even, which Claude was saying I was right at a 8:15 pace. I tried to keep that pace even throughout the race without burning out or going fast and then slowing down and going fast again. Call me Miss. Consistent, because I got all my splits to be within 10 seconds of 8:15. When I rounded to the finish line I saw all these people eating Popsicles and thought that they would be at the finish. They weren’t and I never even found them. LAME.

The course was long and boring, 10ks are not my thing but for being a free race, ‘inside’ my long run, it worked out perfectly. My final time was 50:34 with an average pace of 8:09. I came in 357th overall out of 1576. I was 9th in my age group and the 76th girl overall.

I traveled with LA Runner to his car after so we could of course take pictures, we slow jogged and got some cool pictures and then I headed back to my hydration belt under the tree. It was still there so I took the remained of my gu and headed back home. Once I got home I had two more miles to run according to Claude for my long run. It was getting hot so I ran in my sports bra. I haven’t done that in forever, nor should I do it ever, but it was fun and it felt good to finish my run and feel so free. That was a really lame line. So I finished with 16 miles, including my 10k race.

LA Runner and I… I don’t know what in the world I’m doing. I look like I was giving a thumbs up, or running, it’s just a strange picture. Yet I am glad Billy wasn’t without his camera or I would have NO pictures. Thumbs down.

Another great photo of yours truly. I was very skeptical about the armwarmers, but I’m going to post about those tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will write a review of the Zensah Sports bra and arm warmers. Also, tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the $100 Giveaway to OnlineShoes.com! I will be announcing the winner on Thursday morning with my deals post!

I am also so glad many of you enjoyed the beginning of Adoption April. I can’t wait to share more with you all.

xoxo

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Take me out to the ball game…

It’s my favorite time of year, it’s time…… FOR BASEBALL!!!!

So I’m a huge Anaheim Angel’s Fan, forget the Anaheim Angels of Los Angles per Orange County or whatever stupid title they officially are, and yes I loathe the Dodgers. Mr. R loves the Giants, booooo!!! but will go with me to games because what else is he going to do, deny free baseball game tickets?? He’s becoming an Angel lover, slowly… we are working on it Anyways, games are starting this weekend. I am so excited. For today’s photo Friday (per the wonderful nike mom!!) I wanted to post some pictures at the games that I went to last year. I love going to the games, they are spectacular and always super fun.

Free Fleece Night!

This is my best friend Lobster. She is in Europe playing professional volleyball right now, but she is coming home soon!

Dyed my hair black… interesting.

Bunch of my friends from college. Gosh that makes me sound super old. They are all volleyball players. I’m not short, I’m 5’7″, they are just super tall!

A crazy fight broke out last year, it was exciting!

Fourth of July they had an amazing flag that spread almost the entire field!

That’s right, my shirt says I only date republicans. Mr. R and I at the 4th of July game.

Then I cut bangs in October. STUPID.

We even got to go to a playoffs game. When they lost after coming back. Bad Angeles!

Go Angels! I love the Angels even if they stink, they are still, and always will be, my ‘home team’.

If you haven’t already, remember to enter my giveaway for $100 to onlineshoes.com! You don’t want to miss out on that one. You have until Wednesday at midnight PST.

Also, ADOPTION APRIL STARTS ON MONDAY!!! Here’s the post that explains what each Monday will entail and look for the post on Monday to talk about why I was adopted in the first place.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I’m looking forward to running to my 10k, running the 10k, and then running back home for my long run this weekend. I’m not giving myself any goals because I don’t want to get upset with myself. (me, uber competitive? noooo!) Plus it’s for a long run, not a time goal! I’ll still write a race report/long run recap on Tuesday of next week. In one week I’ll be flying to Hawaii! Relaxation, here I come.

xoxo

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Weekend Wrap-Up

So this weekend my cousins, the Olies traveled up to Paso Robles where they have a lake house. We had a very fun filled weekend and prepared ourselves for the 5k and half marathon. I decided not to run the half marathon race morning because it was very cold and was going to be warmer when I finished. Sweating, coughing, sniffling and running didn’t seem like they would help the fast track to recovery so I ended up running the 5k. That was interesting, you’ll all get a good laugh tomorrow in the race report.

I am feeling a little bit better, slowly but surely with tons of Vitamin C, Emergen-C and sleep. We had a very relaxing time and I just wanted to post some pictures of our trip.

This was at race packet pick up. The course was out on a winery in town and it was very serene and gorgeous! Quite different than my normal running routes. Here we are gathered by a nice little lake right by the day spa where the race started.

We went to Chili’s for lunch after packet pick up and then went to Target. We were pretty crazy this weekend. While we were eating lunch some guy was doing some tricep dips right outside where we were sitting. I decided to follow his lead after lunch and I called it extreme working out. Dang, my t-rex arms failed on those.

When we got back to the house, my uncle wanted us to ‘split logs’ because we were going to try out their new fire pit and make s’mores after dinner. He had this crazy machine to split logs.

Then we made some delicious s’mores!

It was a great weekend full of many laughs and some good and much needed relaxing. I can’t wait to share the race report tomorrow. Turning around and running back to the start is an amazing way to start a race, it’s like a salmon swimming upstream. I am taking at least one more day off from running because my throat burns like I just poured salt on an open wound when I breathe, so I think heavy breathing while running wouldn’t be the best idea. Just working on getting better is enough to deal with. More to come on the race in the race report tomorrow!

xoxox

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