Marine Corps Marathon 10K and Giveaway!

So I ran on Sunday morn. In my mind, I did pretty well. I will go through the list of why I think I did well:

1) I finished

2) I didn’t stab ANYONE

3) I averaged 10:48 a mile, pretty good for me especially with the amount of people crowded in there gettin their run on.

4) finished 6.3 miles in 1 hr and 8 minutes!

Unofficial results, viewed above.

My buddy Adam did pretty well too! He finished a full 1000 people before me with a time of 1:01 and waited for me at the finish to get our medals! The whole experience was pretty awesome!

me, waiting for my husband to wake up before the expo!

It was my first big race expo! I waited until Saturday morning when the husband could go with me to pick up the race packets (mine and my buddy’s, who was running with me) and go to the expo to see all of the neat stuff!
Outside of the expo, my husband and I got on line and began to wait to get in.

When we were almost up to the door, my husband realized he had a pocket knife and was unwilling to part with it (my dad gave it to him), so he went and walked around a little and then hung out near the car while I went into the DC Armory to mill about the expo.

The expo was great! There were so many awesome vendors there.

RunDisney was there and I got information about staying at the resorts and going through the parks at a discounted rate for runners — I am running the Disney Princess Half in February. They had all of the medals there for the upcoming races! It was very exciting and informational and the woman there was excellent with answering questions and very knowledgeable.

Brooks was there with MCM and MCM 10K gear. Pacers made a showing (I got gu and gu blocks). Clif bar was there (not all of their stuff has nuts!!!), there were some safety at night people. I bought a couple of pink running lights since I run so early and got a rolling bar for my dad and me for our knotted muscles. It was a great expo!  After the expo my husband and I saw my folks and did a couple of errands.

A group of my friends had a party the night before and we left early so that we could come home and get enough sleep for the race. We got up bright and early at 5:14am and got prepped and ready for our 7:55am start on the National Mall. They opened the metro up early at 5am for the MCM and there were many a-runner on the train with us. Some, who were running the full marathon, got off at the Pentagon. We were running the 10K and went on to L’Enfant Plza. We had a nice walk from Maryland and 7th to the start line. We arrived a ridiculous amount of time early and so we walked around to stay warm until the start. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE! and no one lined up according to finish time, so I was running past people maintaining slower times for at least 2 miles. It took 5 minutes to get across the start line because there were so many people but we got to listen to gangnam style while we were waiting where I showed the wonderful women behind me how to do part of the dance. Then I tried to Tebow while gangnam stlying (fail). After that, we were off.

Adam started with me but quickly outpaced me! So I was left to my own devices. As I was running, I passed a lot of marines that were on the sidelines helping out. I also passed a lot of participants that had shirts with dedications on the back to lost loved ones — fallen soldiers. It was emotional, to say the least.

Miles 1-3 were relatively easy to get through. 4 and 5 got a little tougher, but 6 was terrible for me! at mile 5.5, I got the worst stitch I have ever gotten in my side. I started running a little hunched over (bad), then my back started aching so it was a constant alternation between standing up straight so my back wouldnt hurt and leaning over so my stitch would stop with the shooting pains. As I approached the finish, spectators picked up and I saw my mother and husband at the bottom of the short steep hill that led to the finish line (YES! a hill right at the finish line!).

And here is Adam, he finished before me.

This is Adam and I at the finish. He waited for me at the very end and we walked to get our medals from marines together.

And here is the view of the marine corps memorial (iwo jima memorial) from the finish

I was really proud to have finished my second post and to have made a new PR AND gotten some bad ass bling!

Hurricane Sandy rolled in that evening and my husband, pug and I snuggled up under blankets on the couch to hang out and catch up on missed tv

Now for the reason you all are really here!

As you all read when I made a Big Announcement a week or two back, I am a blogger repping the Falls Church store of Road Runner Sports! And I have a giveaway going on for a $25 gift card to Road Runner Sports! I am pretty sure, you have a Road Runner Sports near you! They have stores all across the country and a great online ordering system! They have a wide variety of apparel and equipment! So I guess now all that I need to know is who wants a $25 gift card that you can use at any of the stores or online?

HOW TO ENTER: (you can do any or all of these)

Leave me a comment saying what your favorite way to exercise is and some way to contact you.

For Bonus entries:

Follow me on twitter and leave me a comment telling me you did and your twitter handle.

Tweet about this Giveaway and leave me a comment telling me you did, with the link to the tweet!

_____________________________________________

And that’s it. The giveaway will close on Monday November 5th at 10am and I will pick a winner randomly through random.org!

Any entries AFTER the cutoff time will be ignored (this is assuming that I fail to cut off comments)

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd GO! (lord I hope this works — it’s my first giveaway!)

About 6 days behind!

I am probably about 6 days behind in everything.
6 days ago, I was featured on a Daily Dose of fit —  another summary about my 8k race (the first one in 13 years!) –Thanks to a daily dose of fit for featuring me!

5 days ago, I was supposed to move forward on a couple of side projects. I made some progress and three days ago got stopped again because one plugin is interfering with another, but I am unsure as to which plugin is stopping progress since I didnt originally create the site! frustration sets in.
4 days ago, I drove to balitmore. It was not awesome, but I love my husband and so therefore it wasnt bad.

4 days ago, I was supposed to work on my side projects, instead I delivered some chairs and learned how to play apples to apples.

3 days ago, I was going to do my make up long run but couldnt cause I was goin to get my hair colored and cut and didnt want to wash it beforehand (you arent supposed to) nor did I want to show up with sweaty ass hair — nasty

3 days ago, I was supposed to go to a bday party after the dc united game. I did not. Instead  I went home and watched 5 hours of crap on my laptop until 330…. because im awesome!

2 days ago, I drove to baltimore to pick up my husband

2 days ago, I had every intention to go finish up shopping for costa rica and to go get some yoga in. — FAIL

1 day ago, I got my tempo run in during my soccer game! AH mazing!

0 days ago (aka today) I woke up and got to work at 615am for a Soyuz launch!

I have had some life fails. My code for one of my projects at work isnt working quite the way I want, but I am all over it! The code for one of my projects at home isnt working the way I want it to at all, being blocked by one of the other plugins — very frustrating! I WILL figure it out! I have to since it is for some very nice people!

I have been failing at my training. I have been running Wednesday and Thursday. Shorter runs — 4 miles. happy to be averaging 4 miles in about 44 minutes. but would like to get a couple of longer runs in… I need to get back on schedule so maybe this week and by maybe I mean DEFINITELY.  Also, game plan — rei will be hit some time this weekend to pick up rear bike rack and some kind of pannier so I can start biking to work after running. SWEEEEEEEEET! I will also need to pick up hiking boots for the costa rica trip and my husby still needs a few pairs of pants.

I have just ordered Cards Against Humanity and am stoked! It is a variation of the Apples to Apples Party Box – The Game of Hilarious Comparisons (Family Edition) — Pretty stoked! Super nerd awesome style! Lemme know if any of you wanna play the game with me! OK, back to work.

Pretty Awesome News Announcement

WOOOO WOOOOOOOO!!!!! Pretty awesome news announcement for me and this blog!!! I am now repping Road Runner Sports as a blogger for their Falls Church, VA store!

STOKED!!! I will be at the events at the Falls Church store and then coming back here and telling y’all all about it! I think my day could not get any better than it is right now and I have fun engineering class tonight, so that is saying something! This is very big news and more things to come!!! Stay tuned!

True Confessions, part 1

I call this Part 1, in case I feel the need to do more parts. I never know how my brain works now or in the future… so damn unpredictable yet it is MY BRAIN! So here goes nothing….

I have been running but when my running buddy moved out at the beginning of September, I found it easier to skip runs. It was staying darker longer and more pitch dark then just kinda dark like it was at 5am over the summer and I am terrified of the outside dark. I am not afraid of when it is dark in the bedroom. I need pitch dark to sleep at night. But when I am running, I would prefer the semi-lit sky that was existent at 5:30am over the summer. Without the semi-light, I am more and more hesitant about running on the trail (even with my light), mostly cause I don’t want to get raped… not that that is common or that I have heard about recent cases of that, but the first mile and a half is pitch dark hell, and when I run through Old town, where I reside, I find that I run slower (a lot slower) then when I am on the trail. This is a hindrance on my training. I can’t seem to break the mental barrier that comes with running in old town at faster paces and I can’t seem to stop jumping at the idiots who run in all black and the jerk bikers who never say on your left. Also, did you know it gets COLD in the fall/winter early mornings?! HOLY HELL!!!!

So anyway, I know, you are hearing a lot of excuses. I should get the running mace. I should just man up and deal with it. It doesn’t help that I have my mother and my husband telling me how worried they are about me…I get it. They are worried about the same things I am worried about.

I tried running at work last week and I didn’t get my whole workout in because I feared being short on time and there were a couple of dudes I wanted to deck for cat calling me. I am sweaty. I am working out. I am doing me. So go do you in a corner and dont yell or whistle at me. I am not afraid to get in your face and tell you how to treat a woman damnit! I tried working out after work and it doesnt really work out. I feel guilty leaving Aldy alone as he has been alone all day while I am at work. And when I get home from work, I just wanna sit on my bum and chillax. So anyway, with all of that being said, I am still eating the way I want to and was when I was running 3-4 days a week with playing soccer… point being I am playing soccer and running 2-3 times a week and before I wasn’t really losing any weight, but wasn’t gaining either… now I am just kinda gaining. UGH! anyway, gotta step it up. Either conquer my fear of the pitch freaking dark rapists out there in the first 1.65 miles of the mt vernon trail OR I need to find some kind of other solution.

GOTTA CHANGE SOMETHING whether is be mental or otherwise! Suggestions?

I jump at my own shadow as cars go by on GW, do you do things like that or are you afraid of something else while running?

Things I love about Running

The sound of my feet on the ground.

The way you forget everything but the run.

The sound of my breathing.

The beep of my watch as I hit a mile.

The look of the road after a rain storm.

The smell of the outdoors, summer… winter… it doesn’t matter.

The sweat that accompanies the run.

The way my dog looks at me when I get home from my run in the morning.

The silence.

I love how my mother and husband ask how my run went that morning.

I love everything about my runs. Peaceful, serene AND they give me time to think. Side note: Go check out sneakers and finger paints — I was featured over there on Monday!

Thanks for listenin. Have a good one!

Race of Awesomeness Recap

So race recap time. I was pretty nervous the night before and the morning of, but butterflies aside, I think everything went really well. I averaged less than 11 minutes a mile, which for my training times is a significant improvement as I was averaging about 12-12.30 a mile… First pic taken morning of… there were lots of thoughts going through my head… mostly the thoughts of dont make a fool of yourself, dont trip, dont bust your ass, dont make a fool of yourself. after I got that outta my system, it switched over to thoughts of run your race, run your race, run your race. Then on to thoughts of what is your race? AHHHHHHHHHH and freak out moments occurred.

Pre race photo. Nervy but excited!

Because this was a Geek Run, I was excited to see some compatriots from NASA Goddard and HQ there. They were moving toward mile 4 as I was moving toward mile 3, but as we passed, we rose fists in the air and cheered for each other.

Geek trophies!

Everyone gettin ready for the race

the start and finish line.

This is where we started and finished. I was pretty jazzed when I saw the finish line. My friend that was running with me was a few feet in front of me and we just both busted ass over the line! it was an awe-inspiring moment for me.

post race, no sunglasses! sweaty styley

This is me all squinty after the race. I was going to wear a hat but nothing new on race day and the fact that I have only worn it once and didnt like it then made me opt not to and I dont have running glasses. But I am all sweaty and ready to get a bagel here (above).

me and Sheena, my buddy who ran the race with me.

So this (above) picture is prolly one of my favorites (aside from the action shots my husband got which I will post in the next week or so) because my friends Sheena and Aaron ( husband and wife) came out and ran the 5 miler with me. While Aaron took off and managed an 8 min a mile pace on average, Sheena ran the 5 miles with me. I know she prolly coulda picked it up and done it about 10-30 seconds faster a mile (or more), but she stayed with me and pushed me on my pace. And I forced her to maintain a pace. Once you set one for me, I can generally maintain it. I dragged a couple of steps behind her occasionally but was able to keep up fairly well. I normally run at about 12-13 minutes a mile in easy long runs and only completed one 5 mile run under an hour in all training… normally all runs of that length were about an hour. I set my goal conservatively and made it. My goal was a time under 55 minutes. We talked for the majority of the run down Ohio dr but when we hit mile 4 I could tell Sheena wanted to push harder and if I was going to pick it up for the last 0.2-0.4 miles, I couldnt move faster before then or I would run out of steam. I told her to go ahead and do what she needed to do and silently told myself I would not let her get more than ten steps in front of me. And I stuck to that! I maintained about 5-7 strides behind her. Her foot had been rubbing so when I was starting to speed up for strong finish, she was starting to slow a little and I wasn’t letting her go out like that. She didn’t leave me behind for a solid 4.5 miles, I was not going to leave her behind for the end. So I yelled at her. Told her ten seconds and to pick it up as I was sprinting to the finish. She did as well and I think we finished at the same time or within one second of each other. Either way, I am SO grateful for her companionship and encouragement on this race. Wouldn’t have made my goal without her!

My husband came out for my race (as did my mommy and my aunt who happened to be in town visiting). The three of them provided comic relief and helped me relax a little before the start. My husband took pictures of Aaron, Sheena and I running (I will post within the week). Action shots if you will. We looked at em Saturday afternoon, they looked good! I was so happy that he made the effort to get up and trek over there with me to support me. I think it might have inspired him to start exercising more. He was talking about getting more into cycling or running and I have been encouraging him to do it. My thoughts are that I may be slow, but I still finish and exercise makes me happier than any of the other activities I have the option to do. I want him to feel that happy with me so we decided that this coming weekend we are going to be taking a ride to Mt Vernon this weekend (either saturday or sunday morn). Side note: I also have my first swim lesson for my tri this weekend with my friend Cass. Considering I haven’t swam since I was 13 and I never swam competitively, my friends are all gearing up to help me move my ass in water!

Anywho, my husband saw how passionate I was about running on Saturday morn (I mean he knew I was but SAW it Saturday morn) and wanted to do something really nice for me and had been planning to surprise me with new running shoes, but instead took me and we went looking together after the race :-)!!!! He got me the best birthday gift ever of Mizuno Nirvanas! I am stoked to get out there and run in them! (I have soccer mondays, so I don’t run in the am)

<PLUG FOR PACERS RUNNING STORE IN ALEXANDRIA> No lie, the girl who helped me find shoes here was amazing! She took the time to make sure I had a shoe I wanted that would work for me! If you are in the DC metro area and need new running shoes, go to pacers! AH-MAZING! Super friendly, really knowledgeable and not going to brush you off. She musta pulled every stability shoe they had! (i have bad arches)</END PLUG>

My birthday shoes! My husband got me new running shoes for my bday!

My Aunt MaryAnne and Uncle Pat after dinner

My uncle, aunt, brother and brother’s gf (whom I adore) were at Sunday night dinner with my parents this week! We don’t always get together for dinner on sunday nights, but when we can, we do. This Sunday night was great! I laughed my ass off to the point of tears!

My brother and his girlfriend after dinner

Anyway, family is important. Friends are important. And both my family and friends are top notch, can’t be beat awesome people! Even if they do rag on me occasionally… it is out of love!

Next race up is the MCM 10k! I am stoked! A little inspiration on my way out:

Pre race jitters, questions about food choices and general tips on how to be awesome

tips to being awesome:

1) Admit to yourself and even to others that occasionally you fall in love with bad songs that happen to be ear worms and make your head bounce and bob… for example, for me recently, songs like Call me Maybe and I want U Back are songs that I freakin love and I am NOT ashamed (ok, trying not to be ashamed)

2) When on the bike trail running, don’t be shy. If a biker forget to say on your left as they pass you (as they so often do on the Mt Vernon Trail), it is ok to shout after them saying LEFT loudly and throwing hand into the air. It helps to relieve the anger (and terror) you get as someone whips by you with no forewarning and very little noise. I threw my hands in the air and shouted left once and almost hit another biker because HE failed to say on your left and he shouted for me to be careful, I shouted back ON MY LEFT DUDE! YOU BE CAREFUL! — As a cyclist on this trail also, I make it a point to tell runners and bikers alike, on your left. Don’t be a jerk if you don’t have to be.

3) Spread the love. Let people know you want them to do well. Shout them some encouragement, cheer them on through social media, emails, blog comments, or honking your horn while rolling down gw pkwy knowing that your friend running 15 miles prolly wont know its you or see or hear you… 🙂

4) If you have an idea, form it and do it. Don’t wait too long or you will start to talk yourself out of it. AKA: Big things are on the horizon, y’all! Stay tuned!

On to other things… (more tips later)…
Aldy went with me to packet pickup yesterday! He wants to race too!!! I am def having pre race jitters. I haven’t run a race since I was a sophomore in high school and believe me when I tell ya, I totally sucked. I did. True story. I sucked in high school at running. I would make up excuses to not run the races because I was embarrassed at how bad I used to be (no lie). Side note: I started getting those thoughts this morning and my heel started hurting and I verbally said out loud at 530am to myself, NO NO YOU WILL NOT DO THIS AGAIN! You are GOING to man up damnit!

It was weird cause my foot stopped hurting after that.

Aldy with his race packet after pickup. He was starting to look away and this is the best pic i got!

When Aldy and I got home from the Fairfax Pacers and the packet pickup, we started to go through the packet and see what all was there. Aldy realized quickly that there were no dog bones in the bag and changed his mind about racing; told me I could have his bib.

Me in my Run! Geek! RUN! glasses (yay, packet pickup!)

Well in my last post I stated that I am now officially a sweat pink ambassador! This is awesome! The ladies over there are so supportive! Actually, when I was unlacing my shoes after my run this morning, I realized I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t be eating as far as race food. Do y’all have any thoughts?

my shoesies with #SweatPink laces

This pic of me all sweaty after my run is an important one. I dunno why it’s important but my gut says it is, so here it is 🙂

sweaty after my short easy run this morning, in my Oiselle shirt.

Well, getting fired up for tomorrow. Definitely nervous even though I have run 5 miles several times before, it isn’t a question of if I am physically capable of finishing it… it is a question of if I can defeat this mental thing goin on. (I know I can, but yknow fear… it can get the better of us if we let it… I won’t let it)

Also, PS: I am totally afraid of my shadow! LIKE TOTALLY AFRAID OF IT! Especially at 5am in the absolute darkness of the Mt Vernon Trail.

PPS: I am putting together a team for the ragnar relay in the DC area for NEXT year (ragnarrelay.com) — so far, I have my brother, me and two of our friends.

Happy Friday y’all!

Thoughtful Thursday, Running Update and No News being Good News

You ever get that feeling where you have a lot you want to say and then you sit down to write it all out and all of your thoughts disappear and you forgot completely what you were going to say? I seem to be having that right now…. so I present you with this until I remember:

“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy

but here’s my number, so call me maybe…”

hahahahaha ok, so that song might be my current guilty/dirty pleasure. Today, while on facebook, I saw a post by my awesome coworker AND outside of work buddy, Lauren. She had made a post about what she has done in the past year and how amazing it is. I saw that and thought to myself something very similar. A year ago, I didn’t know I would be living again in DC, working at NASA, married, owning a condo and semi-training for a half marathon. My life is ridiculously different from where it was in August of 2011.

On updated things, my friend Michelle arrived on Tuesday night and she is training for the NYC marathon in November. She is in week 3 of her training program and the past two days she has gotten up at 5am to run with me. She has pushed me to run almost a mile longer than I was in close to the same amount of time. My high school cross country coach would be proud… it only took me a decade and a half to get motivated to run and attempt some sort of success/pride with it. Anyway, this morning on our run, Michelle and I got to talking about the Disney Princess Half Marathon. She said she would do it with me…. shortly after that, on gchat, I was talking to my good friend Leah (she has truly made my return to DC from Oklahoma much easier than if she hadnt been around–while she wasn’t the only one, she was one of the primaries 🙂  ), who is a runner also and who put the Disney Princess half marathon idea in my head. I told her Michelle had agreed to go with me in Feb and that I was terrified. I told Leah she should come, and she said “I’m in.”  — This literally made my day. Two of my close friends, both experienced runners, were going to embark on a journey with me to race the Disney Princess half marathon. Stunned, all I could type was you just made my day.

For inspiration, read this: http://marathontrainingacademy.com/runners-you-should-know

Following this up, I will say, I feel truly blessed. I have a lot of unique and amazing friends who support me and care about me, who get me through good and bad times… not just at home, but at the office as well. I am truly blessed.

not even gonna lie to you, it was freakin GOOD. And just remember. whatever you do, no news is good news.

half way through the week and already a full week’s worth of thoughts

So here we are…. wednesday…. again. Half way through the week and I already have a full week’s worth of thinking happening in my tiny little egg shaped brain. I have thought a lot about what I want and about gut feelings. And I have thought back to how many times I have done something when my gut hasnt supported it or wasnt totally sold. Often times, I end up regretting those decisions and I know why my gut isn’t sold or isn’t into it… and after so many recent mistakes of NOT following my gut and listening to my gut, and im talking about BIG mistakes, I have decided to listen to my gut. This time around, I have no idea what my gut is doing, but I have opted to listen. For some reason, my gut knows more than I do. I just hope I don’t regret my decision and DAMN, I sound wishy washy.

Anyway, just had to get that offa my chest.

Happy Wednesday. Nothing for hump day today.

Wednesday Workup/Hump day

Here is some pump up music for you to get your ego boosted and get you prepped for the day:

 

Funny clips compiled: The Best of Failblog:

 

Clips compiled, top 25 best of Failblog, Countdown: