Just Plodding Along

Horsetoothtacular

2012-03-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

After much thought and deliberation I have registered for the Horsetooth Half Marathon in Ft. Collins CO in April.

Just kidding.

From thought to ticket buying about half a day passed. This morning I thought hey I want to go visit my sister, wonder if there are any halves I could knock out in the process. One in April great. Ring ring, hello this is your sister I am coming to visit. Sister: um okay. Me: Buy ticket. Done & done.

Super excited to see my sister. Less excited to actually run up the hills at high altitude but it will be good prep for Mt. Lemmon the next weekend. That's right the next weekend. And the weekend before this is the Havasu Half with the hubby. Three in a row baby. Maybe I should consider joining the Half Fanatics. Pretty sure I qualify.

And to conclude the week....some random things

2012-03-02T08:54:00.003-08:00

oh bloggy blog world I have missed you this week. So many saved up words to share....

1. I am done with the written component of my PhD exams today. Yipppeeeee. Fingers crossed it is not sucktastic.

2. I am finally getting over my cold. Yep that's right along with being tortured all week with academic ridiculousness my nose has been super special. Like a double kick in the face life. Not cool.

3. This week D has been cooking dinner. And it has been freakin delicious.
It will be so sad when I start doing the version of what I call cooking again. Perhaps we can go halfsies during the week from now on.

Greek Chicken with Asparagus

Carmalized apples

Flank steak with sweet potato fries and chimichurri sauce

Soba noodles with beef

Chicken tacos

4. My friend J dropped off mac and cheese with basil bread crumbs to sustain me this week. I ate it so fast that I didn't even get a picture. If I could marry her mac and cheese I would.

5. To commemorate leap day I registered for this little number.

RnR Denver whoooo

That's right coming to CO to spread my half marathon cheer. I am such a sucker for a leap day coupon code. I felt like I should have registered for San Diego, San Jose and a few others but even with the coupon code these suckers aren't cheap. Plus I have yet to do a giant race yet so this will be the test to see if large races are for me. So if any of the Colorado bloggers I ~~stalk~~ follow want to meet up that would be way awesome. Just staying we should be besties IRL that's all.

6. My friend C also dropped off these pretty little things.

It is almost as if she knew if I didn't read some celebrity gossip this week there was no way I was getting through my exam. And she brought some of her mom's biscotti, that is right homemade biscotti. Awesomeness on the tongue. It lasted about twenty minutes.

8. I have also registered for this little event again. Yeah I don't know, apparently writing about politics and policy for a week made me lose my mind.

The real question is will I train for it this time. You know run some hills or something. Magic 8 ball says Very Doubtful. I will probably die from the altitude and do my run walk shuffle like I did last time. And maybe try to come in under 3 hours. Maybe.

9. While I sat here all week slaving away,

this guy slept here.

Mocking me with his all day napping and snoring.

10. I managed to actually work out this week even with the exam and a cold. I did some biking, running and weight lifting which is good because ......

To sum up......most of what I have done this week is sit in a chair typing, registering for races and stuffing my face. Thank you to everyone who sent me food, encouraging emails, text messages and good vibes. It is very much appreciated. I am one lucky lady!

The time has come....

2012-02-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

for my PhD exams.

So I will be thinking grand thoughts and writing magical answers this week about public policy and international relations (fingers crossed that is what I am doing instead of thinking little thoughts and writing crappy answers). Currently wishing I had one of these...

Game on!

Arizona Half Marathon Race Review

2012-02-25T16:03:00.003-08:00

This morning I woke up at 5:45 to drive over to Goodyear for the inaugural Arizona Half Marathon. Some friends of mine that live in Tempe let me crash in their guestroom. It was fun to be able to hang out with them. The race was located in Estrella. I woke up with a bad attitude and did not want to go run. I briefly thought about just staying in bed, making breakfast for my friends and driving home but I managed to get myself out the door. On the way I dropped by Circle K to get some beverage. I love gas station coffee. So many choices, tons of creamer all for around $1. Can't go wrong.

Since the race was kind of in the middle of nowhere I just picked up my number this morning at the Starpointe Residents Club. The club area was located across the street from a Safeway so there was plenty of parking for everyone. This was also the start and finish area.

Because I had registered way back in October I also got a bag and a hat along with the race t-shirt. Packet pick-up was fast and painless.

Forgot to take a picture of mine. This is from the race's facebook page. The shirt is a really pretty color.

You think all this free stuff in combination with coffee would make my sucky attitude go away but it held on. After I picked up my number I sat in my car for what seemed like forever and ate a cliff bar (choc. mint). The race didn't start until 8:30. I picked up my number around 7a.m. so maybe bad planning on my part. The race started right on time though. They also had a kids mile fun run, and there was a 5k that started at 9a.m.

Race Start

My first mile was way too fast. Note to self: if you are standing next to people who look like the may be or could at one point have been Olympic level athletes you are too far forward. If the man next to you has on tiny, tiny shorts, shorter than your shorts, you are standing too far forward and you need to move it on back down the line. I started too far forward, ran the first mile at top speed and then went into mental temper tantrum mode.

The course was slightly hilly (course was out and back on some main roads. There was plenty of space on the roads and it was clearly marked). There was no shade and it was pretty warm out by 8:30. (Maybe next year start the race at 7:30). And I was not having it. Everything was stupid in my head. Running is stupid. My outfit is stupid and my shirt is chaffing me. I am tired. All the songs on my ipod suck and are stupid. My shoe has a rock in it, stupid shoe. I am hot. I am thirsty. Basically if I had thrown myself on the ground and pounded the pavement and kicked my feet that visual would have coincided with what was going on in my head. Basically a four year old throwing a temper tantrum. Am pretty sure if the course had been lined with puppies, kittens, unicorns and rainbows I would have been annoyed with that and thought it was stupid.

My face is stupid

I don't know what my problem was. But after six miles of being a big baby I had a stern talking to with myself and decided to quit being a butt face. So even though I felt pretty miserable (I think this week was just super busy, I was a little dehydrated and mentally just not there plus I felt weird and water logged, like I was drinking way too much but was still really thirsty.) I decided instead to focus on thanking all of the wonderful volunteers and taking pictures of the pretty course.

Thank you volunteers even though I am hating everything else, I love you all!

Mmmm pretty desert scenery

Getting near the finish

Oh look water, that is pretty, take a picture

And after 2 hours and 14 minutes it was over.

Super happy to be done

Not my best showing, but not my worst. I truly believe most of running is mental and today I was a mental turd so that did not bode well for me in the end. This race felt really tough and I didn't have that great of a time (which is no reflection on the actual race or course, just a reflection on my crappy attitude).

Distance HALF MAR

Clock Time 2:14:46

Chip Time 2:14:34

Overall Place 173 / 162

Gender Place 90 / 162

Division Place 12 / 20

Pace 10:16

5Ktime 28:33 (so that is actually a pretty sweet time for me, if I had just done the 5k= PR)

5Kpace 9:12

10Mtime 1:41:59

10Mpace 10:12

6Pt55Time 1:04:15

6Pt55Pace 9:48

1 8:47.7 (um no I am not ready to run this fast...so that kind of did me in, rookie mistake)

2 9:24.7

3 9:49.6

4 10:01.3

5 10:19.2

6 10:34.0

7 10:28.5 (ate gu)

8 10:23.2

9 10:47.5

10 11:25.9 (ate gu, mile 10 consistently kicks my butt. Always super slow Suggestions for getting over that?)

11 10:39.2

12 10:32.4

13 10:49.9

14 :23.1

Overall I am not disappointed in that time. It was not a super easy course and the finish was uphill. But I know I could have done better. But there is always next time.

I would like to say that I got over myself after I was done running and got to lay in the grass (I miss grass) for awhile but I was still feeling stabby. I decided that a Slushie was what I needed for my 3 hour drive back home. So I stopped by Circle K to grab one. And the machine was broken. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I stood there seething for awhile. Curse you Circle K, CURSE YOU. So instead I got 44oz of diet dr. pepper which was the only size option. Who doesn't want a 44 oz soda. ME. I don't want a cup so big I can't lift it with one hand.

Circle K you and your gigantic cups are stupid. But since you are only 79 cents I will take you.

After driving for an hour I had to stop and eat something before I passed out and killed everyone on the road. I pulled off in Casa Grande and got a Taco Bell chicken fresco burrito.

And then got it all over my shirt. My nice white shirt. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. So that didn't help the mood. So I seethed and drove for awhile but then after listening to my 70's Super Groups CD I felt better. Hard to stay in turd mood when The Guess Who is singing American Women and The Kinks are singing Lola. Plus D lets me spend all our money on running and stays home to take care of the dogs and the house while I am away so I had to be on my game when I got home and need to be more appreciative that I have the opportunity to do races. Plus he just came home with a Slurpee for me....um the level of awesome is indescribable.

Even though I was in a craptastic mood, this race was nice. It was well organized, had great volunteers, aid stations every mile, the shirt and medal are nice and the course was pretty. Registration was only $60 and I got lots of free stuff out of it. Only suggestion would be an earlier start time. They also don't hand out gu on the course so make sure to bring your own. The same company that puts this on, also puts on the Temecula half and the Lake Havasu half and they have consistently done a great job. I would recommend their events to everyone.

Arizona Half Goals

2012-02-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I am running the Arizona Half in Goodyear. (back to back races-I know I am a bad-ass....or crazy).

There have been some difficulties getting this race together. First it was supposed to be in Scottsdale. And then there was no course for awhile. And now it is in Estrella (community, neighborhood, I don't know). But the course is flat and looks pretty on their Facebook page so we shall see how it goes.

I am not sure what goals to set for this race. On one hand it is supposed to be flat and fast which means I could push it again and see if I can finish in 2:07 or 2:06. On the other hand I am tired, my leg is still wonky and sore, this week is stressful and next week I have my PhD exams (ahhhh panic attack). So part of me just wants to run the thing at whatever pace I feel like get my medal, free bagel and take a nap and continue trying to not freak out about my exams. I am also planning to take a week or two off of running to let my leg recover after this race (will continue to cross train if I am not too busy stuffing my face with half off valentine's candy). Which means I could really tear it up since I have some time to recover before the next half ......or I could not.

So I think I will set two sets of goals
Bad-ass Goals for race (if I feel awesome and want to push it and think signing up for a million races before my exams and back to back races was the best idea I have ever had, this rocks)
A: new PR
B: under 2:10
C: under 2:15

I am crazy goals for race (if I feel like I am more of a dumb-ass and signing up for back to back races was a less than brilliant idea)
A: finish and get medal
B: finish and get medal
C: finish and get medal

Well I think that about covers it.

The Lost Dutchman Half Race Review

2012-02-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

This morning the alarm went off at 5:20 a.m.for the Lost Dutchman race. After getting dressed,

Hello running skirt, I love you and your three pockets
Also wore the Aspaeris short underneath- magical

we headed out the door by 5:50 and drove about 30 minutes (while downing a peanut butter cliff bar) to get to the race start at Prospector Park. Parking was already full in the parking lot so we parked on the road. Glad we didn't get there any later or it would have been quite a hike to the start. I left A in the car to stay warm since her 10k started later than my race and after hitting the bathroom headed to the start line. I didn't carry my camera this time since my goal was to push the whole race and when I take pictures I tend to get distracted (ooo look a butterfly). So this is just mostly words. Lots and lots of words.

There was plenty of porto-potties and real bathrooms as well since we were in a park. The race start had pacing areas by mile time. I started in the 10 minute mile area. The race started right on time though there was no real announcement about anything and the race start was just a gun shot, no national anthem or music. This lack of announcement seemed to cause a bit of confusion since there was a half, 10k, 8k and fun run. The race was held on roads the whole way. The roads were completely shut down to traffic so that was nice. There were also aid stations every mile. The either had water or water and GU brew. Near mile six and seven they had gu for everyone. I lost my bic band somewhere on the course. Not sure how that happened but it was not on my head at the finish. Sad day.

The course was out and back. From the website I had created a fantasy course where there were no real hills. From website: "You will notice a gradual incline as you run toward Superstition Mountain and an equivalent decline on the way back. There are no significant hills."

So in my mind the course was supposed to be like this:

The first 6.5 miles

The last half of the race
Yes I am aware that on a loop course this configuration is impossible but I am a dreamer

What it felt like was this:

Overall it would probably be better characterized as rolling hills. There were no monster hills but you felt them. It was definitely more challenging than I had anticipated. But I pushed hard the whole way. In the end I had ridiculous locker room slogans going through my mind.

"Leave it all on the field" (not sure what field)

"Pain is weakness leaving the body"

"Push it"

and my personal favorite "If you don't puke you aren't trying"

Well there were no fields and I didn't puke but it wasn't pleasant.

Bam medal and a cactus

Official Finish Time: 2:08:33 (not a new PR I guess but this is definitely a non-downhill course PR)

Mile

1 9:17.4
2 9:18.9
3 9:31.1
4 9:02.6 (Um that is pretty sweet mile time)
5 9:36.8
6 9:55.6
7 10:21.0
8 9:36.4
9 10:25.2
10 11:13.2 (this is a less sweet mile time)
11 10:13.4
12 9:27.1
13 9:31.0
14 1:02.3

Distance HALF MAR
Clock Time 2:09:27
Chip Time 2:08:33
Overall Place 598 / 1109
Gender Place 266 / 615
Division Place 50 / 76
Pace 9:49
5Ktime 29:17
5Kpace 9:26
Halfway 1:00:03
Halfpace 9:10
10Mtime 1:38:25
10Mpace

Overall even though I didn't hit super close to two hours I still got my A goal and was really happy with how I pushed the pace the whole time. And my pace seemed to be more consistent this race so I am happy about that. 2 hours is still elusive and I think I will have to run consistent 9 minute miles to hit 2 hours (and yes with the math that works out). I think I will need to focus on running tempo or speed work to get closer to that eventually.

A did awesome in the 10k with a new PR. Whoohooo. The great thing about this race is every distance gets a medal at the end. I think that is really nice.

Me and A and our awesome medals.

Another medal in the collection- one of my favorites I think

After crossing the finish line and getting my medal I was handed a bottle of water and we headed to the food area. After waiting in line for awhile there was bagels, bananas and oranges, cookies and breakfast burritos. It was kind of a slow moving line but there seemed to be plenty for everyone. After a quick snack we headed back to our hotel to shower. We were able to get a late check-out so that was helpful. We headed to the Good Egg for Brunch.

Veggie skillet, yummy.

After brunch we drove the 2 1/2 hours home. After the race we also purchased a long sleeve t-shirts. They were only $8 and I had to have one. It matches the tech shirt. Love it.

Overall this race had an okay course, good course support and an awesome medal. It was well organized and easy to find. The race announcements could have been better and it seemed like they needed more parking. I am not sure I would do the half again but if I ever graduate to marathons I think I would like to try this one. That is supposed to have a fun start with campfires and there is aid stations every mile. Overall it was a great time!

Lost Dutchman Eve

2012-02-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

This afternoon my friend A and I headed to Apache Junction (about a 2 and a half hour drive from Tucson) to pick up our race packet for the Lost Dutchman race. A is doing the 10k and I am doing the half. We arrived at packet pick-up around 3p.m. that was held at the Apache Junction multi-generational center- basically a rec center.

The expo was not crowded at all. I walked right up and got my number, long sleeve tech shirt and goodie bag. We wandered around and looked at running stuff but didn't buy anything.

This was the view from the rec center. Really pretty.

Cactus- so rare in AZ

Race bag and a cookie- ready to go

A found a cheap room in Mesa, about thirty minutes away from the race start, at the Homestead Suites Extended Stay motel. It is right next to a Starbucks and a Jamba Juice so works out just fine.

After hanging out at Starbucks for awhile we headed to Sauce to carbo load. There is a Sauce down the street from both A and mine houses and yet we had never been there. Had to go all the way to Mesa to try it. And it was worth it. Mushroom, artichoke and chicken pizza. Delicious.

Essential for the carbo loading

Now it is time for some cable TV and sleepy time. Then an early wake up time for half number 10 (or number 6 since October) whoohooo.

Awesome long sleeve shirt.

Race stuff is ready to go!

Product Review: Aspaeris Pivot Shorts

2012-02-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

I am completely and totally impressed with Aspaeris Pivot Shorts.

I bought a pair when they had that awesome 50% off coupon code. They were shipped out right away and reached me within three days. I was skeptical when I opened the package and had itty, bitty, teeny tiny shorts fall out.

But they went on easily and felt great. I wore them for the Sedona Half

That is two thumbs up for the shorts!

And totally killed some hills and my legs felt fine after- thanks awesome and magical unicorn hairs shorts. I am sticking with that being the only explanation that would allow for these tiny shorts to fit on my bootyliciousness (thank you Beyonce for that Webster's dictionary expansion) and not cut off all circulation. They made my IT band problem go away and my hip feel less sore, two injuries that I have been trying to ~~ignore~~ deal with. I have also recently worn them spinning and they work great for that as well.

But tragedy struck and the string I noticed when I first got them that was dangling turned into a seam that started to unravel, leaving me with a hole after only one wash. I emailed the customer service division on a Saturday night. Sunday morning by 8a.m. Bonnee had emailed me back apologizing and saying they would send me a new pair right away. They arrived in the mail today. I did a happy dance at the mailbox, in broad daylight. Um that kind of customer service never happens. I am impressed.

I know of multiple people who have these shorts and have not had a single problem so I am pretty sure the seam unravel issue was just a freak accident. I now dream of a day when I have a pair of these shorts in every color and for every occasion.

Thank you Aspaeris Pivot Short from Samara Innovations. A great product and great customer service.

Disclaimer: I was not paid, bribed or forced in any way to sing these praises. I feel that awesome customer service can be a rare gem these days and should be given honorable mention and since I have created my own little shout out forum I am mentioning. Now buy some.

Lost Dutchman Goals

2012-02-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

This Saturday I head up towards Apache Junction to participate in the Lost Dutchman Half .

I have wanted to do this race for two years now so I am pretty excited to do this one. Miners and pots of gold what is not to love? It is an out and back. It is slightly uphill overall heading towards the six mile marker and then slightly downhill on the way back. According to the website there are no significant hills (I am not sure what makes a hill significant versus not, they all seem pretty significant to me).

I really want to see how hard I can push it. And even though my left leg is still wonky for some reason (actually I think the reason is my left hip is weak and is out of place, making my left leg short than my right. Only way to fix is strength training and stretching but that takes time and probably won't be fixed before Sunday. How do I know all this, why the internet of course. Am thinking of going to a sports doctor but have to work my way up to it I guess). I think I might see if I can run this in close to two hours. This will mean that I have to hurt (as in super red face, loud awkward breathing and super special looking race photos)...pretty much the whole time and I am kind of a baby so we will see how it goes. And this is all pending how the leg feels. But you never know until you try.

So.....
A Goal- Finish between 2 hours and 2:10 ( PR so far has been around 2:07 on an overall downhill course, would be awesome to get a new PR)

B Goal- Finish between 2:10 and 2:15

C Goal- Finish, obtain medal and try not to throw a temper tantrum about missing goal A or B (repeat mantra 'I am not 5 years old, I am an adult, act like it').

On the up side I have my outfit picked out already. Black running skirt, blue t-shirt, perhaps compression sleeves for lower legs, maybe aspaeris shorts (I don't care if I look like a total nerd compression sleeves and magic unicorn hair shorts feel like magic) and my silver glitter band. So bam.

Love, hearts and other stuff

2012-02-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight D and I went out on a date for Valentine's day. We went on Monday since D has class till late on Tuesdays and we can't go out past 7p.m. because I am really 90 years old and like to be in bed, lights out by 9 p.m. or I might turn into a pumpkin (since I am never awake past 9 I have not tested the pumpkin theory, better safe than sorry).

For our date he took me shopping at the mall, to REI and then to the Cheesecake Factory. And since he is the best husband in the world he let me spend our joint REI xmas gift card on running fuel. Um can you say BEST. HUSBAND. EVER.

minty freshness

Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla, random orange flavor, vanilla, vanilla, vanilla

Look at all that delicious vanilla gu (the best flavor). And chocolate mint cliff bars (the only flavor worth eating). I also obtained this lovely piece of cheesecake to go (peanut butter cup chocolate magic).

Glitter shoes be damned- you are going in my face cheesecake

D gave me the cutest gift. A bean for his bean. So cute I just gagged a little.

Sorry you all have to endure this post.

Okay on to the other stuff:
I ordered some click protein drink and it is delicious. If you like coffee and are looking for a protein drink give it a try. Right now they have a deal and you get the cute pink cup. You know I am sucker for a freebie.

D also bought these awesome shoe laces at the Sedona half for me.

I was skeptical at first. Twenty bucks for shoe laces I think not. But they are great. If you have trouble with heal slippage or your feet swell these may be just what you need. They keep the shoes on snug but are comfortable and let you slip off your shoes without untying or breaking down the back of your shoe. Plus they come in all kinds of color so if you are less boring then I am with the gray you can spice up your shoes with a fun color.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In your honor

2012-02-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

I haven't run since Tuesday's six miler. I have been stressed out and feeling under the weather basically I have been a giant whiny baby the last few days. Which I feel gives me an excuse to ignore working out at all costs. And I didn't really want to go out this morning. I did my normal bumble around the kitchen, sip coffee routine for awhile and then messed around online. Then I pulled up Runners World and was reminded that today is the virtual run in Memory of Sherry. And then I knew I had to run. At least three miles.

I don't personally know Sherry but her story is one I think every runner fears. I run alone. And I like to run alone. It gives me time to listen to the ridiculous pop music I love and my husband can't stand. It gives me time to focus on myself and/or what ever crisis I have conjured in my head for the day. It makes me feel strong and fast. It gives me goals to work towards that are mine and mine alone. I will finish a half marathon in under 2 hours. That will happen. For some people this goal is ridiculous or easy to obtain. For me it is a big deal. It gives me incentive to travel, meet new people and try new things. It gives me an identity. I am a runner.

It makes me sad....no not sad, angry that bad things can happen to good people. That women have to think twice before going running alone. That there is a reason one must look over their shoulder. But I will not be made to think that I do not own the road I plod down. I will not be afraid to do what I love. The bib for Sherry's run says Courage. Strength. Grace. Words to live by. For Sherry, for all of my female friends who are runners, this run is for you.

Race Pictures are Fun

2012-02-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

Tucson 1/2

Temecula 1/2

Sedona 1/2

And yes these are all the ones where I look half way normal. There are many others that one can only hope will never be found.

Sedona Half Marathon

2012-02-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Warning: This post is long and has more pictures than really necessary

Saturday morning the alarm went off at 6a.m. and I had already been awake since 4a.m. Why oh why do I always do that? I was faced with outfit indecision again. I had brought four outfits to choose from. It was cold but once the sun came out would be warm. My leg was wonky and I had happened to order shorts (Aspaeris shorts) that are supposed to help with wonky but the world is not ready for my backside solely clad in a spandex like material sooo....

Long sleeve shirt and double shorts plus shin compression sleeves and knee brace for the win plus my awesome glitter bic band. Now I hadn't tried running in the compression shorts before so I was a little nervous about how that would go but I was more worried about my leg/IT band issue so thought I would chance it.

D and I left the hotel at 6:30 since our GPS said it was a thirty minute drive to the race parking and they recommended getting there at least 45 minutes ahead to deal with parking. We hit no traffic on the way there and it seemed like we were some of the first ones there. Parking was a 1/2 mile from the start. I have mixed feeling about this. For one it was freezing so it was a cold walk to the start and D who stayed with me until the start and came back after two hours to see me finish had to walk it twice. Plus after the race it was a long walk to the car which was probably good for me but seemed so annoying at the time. The start area was nothing special. Typical last minute packet pick-up area, aid station, volunteer booth and the wall of porto-potties. One thing they could have had was heat lamps. They had heat lamps at packet pick-up the day before but not at the start. Everyone stood around huddling together for warmth.

Plenty of them, lines were never very long

Start was a little down hill but that meant finish was uphill

Once the sun came up it started to get warm. The marathon started right at 8a.m. and the half started at 8:15 right on time. The marathon, 1/2, 10k and 5k were all on the same course with different turn around points. This seemed to work out fine for the most part. The speedy 10k and 5k people kind of had to run back through the traffic of the 1/2ers which might have been annoying.

Two thumbs up for gettin this party started

The beginning of the race was pretty crowed. You started down a side road and turned onto the busy main road for about four minutes before turning onto a less populated road which you stayed on the entire time. Once on that road it was less crowded. There was minimal traffic and police officers and volunteers throughout keeping runners on one side of the road. The road was nicely paved and easy to run on (no noticeable sloping to the side).

The views were amazing the entire time. Pine trees, beautiful rock formations/mountains, mix of shade and sun. There were aid stations about every two miles. They all had a mix of water and gatorade, orange slices and bananas. I think aid stations around mile 5 and 7 had cliff shots. At least two aid stations had gu of some kind. The volunteers were great! They cheered for everyone, some stations had music. One had a brass band. One station the volunteers were dressed like zombies, I don't know why, but it was pretty funny. There seemed to be plenty of supplies for everyone. The Pink Jeep Tours jeeps were located every few miles with volunteers ready to help anyone who needed it or who couldn't finish. They were also great with cheering everyone. The one negative was the turn around. It was pretty sharp and on a downhill. They recorded your number as you ran by, no cutters on this course. Had to slow a bit and then go back uphill.

This course is hilly. Mostly feels like rolling hills but there was some pretty massive ones. I only stopped twice to walk a little bit on two of the hills. One was on the hill right at the end. Looking back I could have kept going but after an awesome down hill and then saw that hill I was just like no way Jose. I felt pretty good about being able to run almost the whole way on such a hilly course considering I never really run hills during training since the most convenient running location for me is flat. Reminded me that I am stronger than I think I am and a big part of running is mental. If I plan to run this race again, which I really would like to, I am going to train on some hills and plan on running with no stopping.

Uphill finish- oh why do you do this to us?

Happy day in the finishers shoot

Bam medal obtained

Check out that view and those sexy knees

So how did I do:

Finished in 2:19:33, not a new PR but pretty good considering altitude and hills. I felt really good after and realized that I could push a little harder than I do. I went out slowly because I was a little worried about the altitude. I had to stop once to fix my shoe which cost me about two minutes. I also need to learn how to run and drink/ eat gu all at the same time without choking. I had two gus on the course and drank a mix of water and gatorade and walked through every aid station.

Garmin Distance: 13.19 miles

Official time: 2:19:33

Most erratic pacing ever

Mile 1 10:00.9

Mile 2 10:56.6

Mile 3 10:16.2

Mile 4 10:11.7

Mile 5 10:27.9

Mile 6 11:44.3 (holy hill)

Mile 7 11:01.9

Mile 8 11:07.4

Mile 9 9:10.2

Mile 10 11:22.0

Mile 11 11:58.1 (holy hill again)

Mile 12 9:30.6 (um yeah if I can pull this out at mile 12 I should be pushing a little bit harder)

Mile 13 9:45.5 (ditto above)

Mile 14 2:06.7

After swooping up my sweet medal, a banana, coconut water, and a GNC drink (they also had water and bagels) D and I headed back to the hotel to shower/change. We got them to let us stay an extra hour so we only had until noon to pack and get out. We were starving by noon so we headed to

where I ordered this deliciousness. The cafe was cute and the food was delicious.

Yep chicken fried steak. Best meal ever.

There was an awards ceremony at 3p.m. back in the Tlaquepaque village but we headed home after brunch.

Overall I loved this race. Well organized, plenty of supplies, great medal (which is part of a four part series for the next few years so there is an incentive to do it again), great location, beautiful course. One of my favorites so far. I would do it again. Only cons were no heat lamps at the start and parking being kind of far. Definitely on the race calender for 2013!

Sedona Half Eve

2012-02-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

After work today D & I struck out on a road trip to Sedona which is about a 3&1/2 hour drive from Tucson.

On the way there we stopped at the most beautiful rest stop I have ever seen about an hour outside Sedona

and had a photo shoot. When we got into to town we headed straight over to packet pickup.

The pick up area was in the Tlaquepaque shopping village. Really easy to find with big banners leading the way to the pick-up area and plenty of parking.

Tlaquepaque shopping village

Packet pick-up

Number secured- ready to race

After grabbing the race packet we wandered around the shopping area.... and I found my spirit animal

No silly, not this

THIS!

The mighty swine, the original plodder!

His name is "Eat More Beef" and I love him. I tried to convince D that we could fit him in the back of the car but it was a no go. Pesky voice of reason.

We also came across this terrifying clown hat that creeped the bejezus out of me.Why, oh, why would you want this on your head. Bleh

But the dog one is pretty cute

After wandering we headed over to the Oak Creek Brewery for an early dinner.

The brewery was pretty empty and we were seated right away of course it was only 4:30p.m. D ordered the sampler platter of beer. I tried them all and decided that I am still not a fan of beer.

I ordered this delicious ham and pineapple pizza for dinner and D had a burger. Overall pretty good and quick service and the food was delicious. To top off our face stuffing I drug D over to the candy shop located below the brewery and found some cinnamon bears....and a giant chocolate peanut butter thing I wanted and was the size of a small child's head. I stuck to the bears but next time chocolate peanut butter thing...you are mine.

Exhausted from all our exploring and eating we headed to our hotel the Days Inn Kokopelli Suites a $50 find on hotels.com. It was really located in the village of Oak Creek and was about a fifteen minute drive to the heart of Sedona but for $50 worth the drive.

Dumping out the race packet I was attacked by a forest worth of paper which was a bit unnecessary but the race shirt is a fun color.

After a few hours of house hunters it was lights out around 9p.m. in preparation for the 8a.m. start and a million hills.

Sedona Half Marathon Goals

2012-02-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I head down to Sedona for the Half Marathon

so it is time to figure out the A, B & C goals.

That be a lot of hills.......at altitude

Sedona = 4500ft Tucson = 2389ft

so I see a lot of heavy breathing and walking in my future. Plus my left leg has been acting kind of wonky (technical term). Calf and shin pain out of nowhere. And I want to take pictures on the route I mean look at this:

So with those disclaimers/ excuses:

A Goal: finish between 2:15 & 2:30

B Goal: finish between 2:30 & 2:40

C Goal: finish & obtain medal

That'll do.

January In Review

2012-02-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Miles Run: 86.7
(I believe this is also the number of celebrity gossip magazines read and glasses of wine drank but I don't have a sweet log book to keep track of those things).

Half Marathon's Run: 2 Temecula Half & Team Gab Virtual Race

Medals Obtained: 1

Cross training done: lots of lunges, squats, sit-ups, push-ups and biking

Horrific YOGA injuries obtained: 1

Pounds lost: like .025

So I just like can't understand why I am not skinnier.....oh hand me that candy

Pairs of awesome glitter shoes obtained: 0

Pair of awesome Aspaeris shorts obtained: 1

Mornings Nellie woke me up at 5a.m. because she wanted to be fed breakfast NOW: 31

ummm.....so feed me already

Shorts for supermodels and other random things

2012-01-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Workout this morning = 6 miles in 1:03

A magical magazine fairy came to my office yesterday and gave me these:

Thanks C!

A nice break from studying for sure....although in a few weeks when I am taking my PhD exams I will probably be thinking 'I should have spent less time reading People and more time reading political science stuff' but hopefully this will help me get over the Heidi and Seal split. So unexpected.

I haven't mentioned the streak in awhile....it ended when I traveled to Temecula. Whoooo glad that pressure is gone. I am too lazy to workout everyday. Sometimes I just need to lay on the floor/ couch and read People.

I ordered some Aspaeris pivot short on Thursday of last week with their awesome cooleronline coupon code for 50% off and they came in the mail yesterday. When I opened the package I was like oh H...E... double hockey sticks no. There is no way these things are going on my bodacious booty.....they are like shorts for tiny children or supermodels...

Tiny tiny shorts and these are the XL

but they fit. I believe they are made out of fairy dust and unicorn hair and they are super comfortable and fit perfectly.

I have yet to do anything besides prance around my house in them but once I wear them for a run or after a run for recovery purposes I will let you know how it goes. Kind of wish I had one pair in every color.

I am back to calorie counting since I would still like to loose 10 to 15 more lbs and my current plan of just stuffing my face in moderation is only maintaining and not resulting in shedding the lbs (I haven't calorie counted since before Xmas). But I really hate calorie counting because you learn things like how this morning I drank around 150 calories in coffee creamer. Umm not great but I am not sure I am willing to give that up......so dilemma there....

Okay but for real I need to go study.

Team Gab Virtual Race

2012-01-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

This morning D & I headed over to meet our friend Erica to run 7 miles before everyone else showed up to run/ walk the 10k. We ran 7 miles in 1:11. Not bad for this slow poke.

By the time we were done everyone was ready to go.

Ready to 'virtual race'

A few people ran (I ran another three miles with my friend Val) and a few people walked and it was a beautiful day!

Alex and her dog Pavel tearing up a 10k

Erica finishing the half

Christina, Kerri and Jenny enjoying the perfect weather

Kerri, Val and Christina

A view of the beautiful 'river' along the river trial

Roadrunner

D & Nick

Team Cheese (3of them are from Wisconsin) coming in for the big finish!

Perfect weather, good temps and good company plus thoughts of chocolate chip pancakes dancing in our heads (or maybe just mine).

After everyone met back up we headed over to our house to stuff our faces. D made pancakes while I laid on the floor. Perfect hostess behavior.

Pancakes! Yum!

I meant to take pictures of people enjoying their pancakes but off course was too busy stuffing my own face. Overall a great way to start the day! Thanks everyone for coming out and supporting Team Gab!

Team Gab Virtual Race Eve

2012-01-27T17:54:00.000-08:00

Pancake mix: Check

Syrup: Check
Chocolate chips: Check

New Griddle to produce large quantities of pancakes: Check

$215 Donation made to Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation in honor of Gabby: Check

All systems are go!

Hello & Thank you

2012-01-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

Since getting acknowledged on SR's blog I have had way more readers than usual. As in hundreds more than usual (usual being my five closest family members- thanks mom!) So if you were directed here or just stumbled upon thanks for taking a look. It has been really fun to get comments from bloggers I had no idea existed. Jina at Behold the Turtle is now a follower and I gotta say after looking at her blog I think we are running soul sisters. We both have internal discussions of running hate and love, we both appear to love quality reality television programming, and we both appear to be slow and steady!

Yesterday I met my friend and former boss at the Blue Willow for dinner. She is super fun and it is always fun to get together with her. We exchanged Christmas gifts (I love dragging out holidays so they end up happening for months and months) and I scored big time.

Delicious spices....now I guess I have to cook?

Wine guide- it is like she knows me
I guess I can graduate for everything under $10 in the cart to an informed consumer of wine.

Gifts just kept coming out of the gift bag.

It was so fun to catch up. And I love going out to dinner. Any night I am not cooking is a win in my book.

This morning I headed out to map the 10k route for the Team Gab Virtual Race this weekend at the Rillito River Park. Six miles in an hour. Not bad. The IT band strap I bought makes the knee/IT band pain less stabby but not perfect. I will just continue to ice and stretch. No time to rest, too much fun to have.

I gotta say even though California was really beautiful, Arizona has its own kind of beauty. I think the race is going to be awesome. Three people have signed up to do a half and twelve to walk a 10k pledging over $200. Whoohooo! That is pretty amazing considering most people signed up are graduate students meaning we make like 10 cents an hour. My peeps are awesome! Can't wait for run/walk fun and chocolate chip pancakes this weekend!

OMG Skinny Runner put my name on her blog

2012-01-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

I would like to say that I acted all nice and normal about this but I believe it went something like......
oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, skinny runner mentioned me on her blog. SHE MENTIONED ME ON HER BLOG while bouncing up and down.
Husband's reaction: Whoa calm down, but that is cool (backs away slowly rethinking marital vows and wondering who would gain custody of the dogs).
So go check it out: http://skinnyrunner.com/2012/01/23/my-own-personal-photographer/

And now I think I need to go lie down.

Celebrity Sightings in Carlsbad

2012-01-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

After waking up bright and early A and I grabbed our free breakfast at the hotel, packed the car and were on the road to the Carlsbad Marathon to cheer and check out the expo and see the ocean (which I made annoyingly clear was a priority when I kept clapping my hands and saying "we are gonna see the ocean, we are gonna see the ocean" it would appear that living in Tucson Arizona which is devoid of all water makes me super excited to see any body of water but especially THE OCEAN). After about a 45 minute drive we arrived at..

Westfield Shopping Center in Carlsbad: location of race start/finish and tons'o parking

and found a place to park and headed towards the finish line. We arrived in time to see the top marathon finishers coming in as well as some of the top half marathon finishers. We clapped and cheered them on for awhile.

And then I saw.....SkinnyRunner the author of a blog I follow and kinda freaked out.

Conversation in my head:

Oh my god OH MY GOD. I know her. I KNOW HER. That is skinny runner. Oh my gosh I KNOW HER. Look how fast she is. Wow she is REALLY fast. I should take a picture. TAKE A PICTURE. Wow she is totally kickin butt. She ran an entire marathon in like 3 hours. HOLY CRAP 3 hours! GO SKINNY RUNNER GO WHOOOOOO. I should go meet her. That would be awesome. I wonder how I get over there. I just know we would be besties for life if she met me.

Skinny Runner in pink skirt- my new BFF in my mind

Luckily I came to my senses and realized that after running a marathon at top notch speed being bombarded by fan is probably not what she wanted and besides I couldn't figure out how to get over behind the finish line (truth comes out). And I also realized that if I ever actually saw or met say ...

Pretty Brad Pit- not long hair, facial hair cane Brad Pitt

Emma Stone, who I also feel would like to be best friends with me if she only knew me

that I would probably scream, pee myself and pass out. Soooooo learn something new about yourself everyday. And sometimes it is that you are kind of a sad, weird freak.

After cheering on other runners for awhile and recovering from my mental freak out we headed into the expo to check it out. Same old running gear/ race stuff for sale. I bought a strap for my IT band. I will strap it into submission if it kills me.

After awhile we headed out in search of other sights in Carlsbad and headed towards Carlsbad Village Drive which was along the race route and found my personal Mecca...

This place had wine, chocolate and coffee. If I could live there I would.

After fueling up on caffeine we headed towards the ocean (THE OCEAN).

We looked at it for awhile and felt better about life.

Then it was time to eat again so we wandered around for awhile

and found some Mexcian food for our goodbye California we love you lunch.

Fish tacos- yum

Then it was time to head back to Tucson. Ugh. The scenery was less than stellar after beautiful California.

But it was a great weekend! I can't wait for my next 'race' which will be the Team Gab run with friends this weekend.

Temecula Valley Half Review

2012-01-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early at 6a.m. to get ready for the race start at 7:30a.m. for the Temecula Valley Half Since we were only 15 minutes away we could kind of sleep in. After glancing out the window and seeing it was raining my dream of a cute running skirt outfit was dashed. Long sleeves and capris it was.

The traditional thumbs up pre-race photo (C this visor is for you)

A ready to go in the hot race shirt.

Fun rain perfect weather for a race

After finding parking pretty quick we headed into the winery to get out of the rain.

Monte de Oro Winery was the race start

There were porto potties but also real bathrooms inside the winery open to runners. They opened up their barrel room for runners to stand in to get out of the rain. The race was delayed by 15 minutes due to the weather and the amount of slow pokes still backing up traffic. That kind of annoys me when people don't head out early enough to be there on time. You know the start time- make the magic happen.

I had wanted to carry my camera with me to catch the beautiful scenery but that was a no go. I did wear my garmin and ipod and crossed my fingers nothing would die. The race started around 7:45 in waves of about 100 every two or three minutes. The course was a loop with the beginning and end on the edge of the road. There really wasn't a lot of room to run along the road and the rain made it worse since the side of the road turned to mud. After the first few miles we turned onto less populated roads with no traffic so people were able to spread out.

There was water and some Gatorade along the course. I had thought there would be Gu but there was no Gu or anything else so I had to run the whole way on mostly water because I didn't bring my own. I got pretty tired toward the end as in my legs were not listening to my brain. Me: Legs go faster. Legs: la la la can't hear you.

Yay finish! So happy to be done with rain & mud
Photo from A who met me at the finish line

No new PR but did get a shiny new medal

Time: 2:17:32

Mile 1 9:27.9

Mile 2 9:32.8

Mile 3 9:29.6

Mile 4 11:51.5 (giant hill who the heck put that there)

Mile 5 10:53.9

Mile 6 11:02.8

Mile 7 10:17.5

Mile 8 10:44.2

Mile 9 10:55.1

Mile 10 10:51.6

Mile 11 10:40.9

Mile 12 11:00.6

Mile 13 10:13.9

Mile 14 :30.

Overall not horrible. I think I would have done a bit better with better weather and if I had brought some Gu. This is also a wake up call for what Sedona will be like since it has lots of hills and is at elevation so I see a slower time in my future for that one. A did awesome in the 5k finishing around 32 minutes and placing 10th in her age group! Though the weather was craptastic the course was still really pretty with a mix of paved and dirt roads through wineries and fields. I would do this race again and it was one my favorites.

Monte de Oro- course was really beautiful

Start and Finish Line

After the finish there were bagels, water, and bananas. You could also go into the winery to do a tasting for $8 but it wasn't overly appetizing at that moment. So after getting our medals engraved A & I headed back to the hotel.

For $5 you could get your medal engraved, they also had a wine bottle ($25) with the race logo you could purchase and get engraved with name and time.

Fairfield Inn & Suites

Back at the hotel we changed out of our soaking wet race clothes and got ready for wine adventure.

Secret compression sleeves to keep up the energy during wine tasting, running nerd alert- I go out in public with compression sleeves on now

Had to wear my awesome glitter bic band after the race since I couldn't wear it during

We headed out for brunch at the South Coast Winery. All the wineries were pretty much along the same road so you could wine taste for days out there. They were all massive and most offered wine tastings, maybe a tour and some had restaurants. We chose South Coast because it was on the cheaper end as far a brunch goes around $12 for an entree.

South Coast Winery

The inside of the winery was really beautiful and this place was huge. Besides a tasting room and restaurant there is also a spa and hotel somewhere there.

Race Reward

I tried a glass of their Riesling and had goat cheese pizza with caramelized pears and onions. Delicious. It felt really good to eat after only having a half a cliff bar and banana all morning and I just love to eat.

Goat cheese deliciousness

After stuffing our faces we headed over to the tasting room. A agreed to be the DD so I got to try the wine.

A found a cozy spot for wine tasting

For $15 you got 5 tastings but the bar tenders didn't take the tickets so I guess you could stand there until you passed out if you wanted trying all the wine. Apparently this winery has won tons of awards.

Their wall of awesome giving mine a run for the money

I tried their sweet whites and champagnes. They were all delicious. I bought D a bottle of red since he stayed behind watching the dogs while I was away. He is currently in the running for husband of the year.

Gift for the spousal unit

After all the fun of wine tasting and eating we were pretty tired. We headed back to the hotel room to rest for awhile. And then A says to me hey the Carlsbad half and marathon are tomorrow we should go run that one. Me: yes lets do it, two medals one weekend. Awesome. After realizing it was sold out and going into a slight depression we got online to try to get race numbers on craigslist. Apparently people who can't run due to injury or whatever sell their numbers. (Though I would never bandit a race I feel that buying a number from someone is okay if you are willing to be "Dave" or somebody else for the day especially since there is no way I am going to win. That slot is reserved so you are not taking up space or supplies that wasn't allocated to you. End of disclaimer.) We put up an ad about our availability to take a number off your hands and searched for two female numbers near by that we could pick up race day. After that evil genius we headed to Old Town Temecula for dinner.

Old Town Temecula

Dinner Time in Old Town

We had dinner at The Bank. Mexican food. Fairly decent. The Old Town part was cute and I would go back to explore it sometime during the day. After ~~face stuffing~~ recovery meal two we headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately we couldn't locate numbers that worked for us but we decided that it wouldn't stop us from being cheerleaders. So we hit the sack with the plan to head the the Carlsbad marathon to cheer on our fellow runners. And that is where I spotted a celebrity......

Temecula Valley Half Marathon Eve

2012-01-21T21:10:00.000-08:00

My friend A & I headed out to Temecula, CA on Friday afternoon after work. I tried to capture the magical moment but....

maybe if you put them both together...you get the picture ROAD TRIP!

After hours of driving through this

We stopped in Yuma, AZ to carbo load for the race. I had Subway (for the third time this week but that is a different story and I may have problem.)

chicken breast veggie deliciousness num

You know you are in a legit truck stop when this sign is on the wall

Showerer number 34 grab your shower shoes- you're up

After loading up with essentials

we were on our way into California and then we drove forever but with a purpose because packet pick-up went until 9p.m. and we wanted to avoid race day pick-up. We arrived at Monte de Oro winery at 8:55. Everything was still available to pick-up so that was nice and there were other people picking stuff up so we didn't feel too bad about rolling in at the last minute. Fastest packet pick-up ever, in and out in five minutes. Then we headed to the hotel.

Not bad Fairfield Inn & Suites

Dumping out the race packet I was pleasantly suprised by the tech-shirt. It is really pretty. I love it.

The race packet was super simple. The race number was really nice. And a packet of prunes.....so okay. After preping race day stuff we hit the hay. And then I had a dream it snowed and we got lost and couldn't find the race. And woke up at 3:45a.m. ready to go and then spent the next couple hours trying to go back to sleep until the alarm went off at 6a.m.

Temecula 1/2 Race Goals

2012-01-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I head out to the

Whoohoo it feels like I haven't done a half in forever. Okay it has been about a month but still FOREVER. After seven hours of driving we will arrive at

for our weekend of wine and running. Not excited for driving but excited for hotel stay. I love staying in hotels, no dogs waking me up at 5 a.m., nothing to clean. Pure awesomeness. I of course packed the essentials

This obviously says I am planning on doing some PhD exam studying this weekend.

Since the weather says it could be cool and raining I am suffering from outfit indecision 2012

To wear the skirt or the pants, the long sleeve or the short sleeve, arm sleeves? Ahhhhhh guess I will take it all and make the decision race day. I am known for my light packing skills

Yes I am only leaving for two days, why?

Okay so race goals. Since I have hurt my toe doing yoga (hhhhhhhh) I am not sure how fast I am going to be going this race plus there are some hills so......hmmm

A goal will be to finish around 2:15

B goal between 2:15 and 2:30

C goal just finish and obtain medal

Good enough for me.

And look what came this week!

Yep my hair is sparkly. WHoohoo

Somebody hand me a helmet

2012-01-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure I hyper-extended my toe the other day doing yoga. Really? really....somebody should just hand me a helmet before I get out of bed in the morning.

I don't care what these celebrities say

Yoga is hazardous to your health.

Excuse me while I go ice my toe.

Fun, chocolate chip pancakes and it is for a good cause

2012-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

I sent out this email to my friends to try to get them to suffer with me. We will see if it works.

So as you may or may not know (or care) I started blogging awhile back because I could not get enough of myself (check it out http://bean-justploddingalong.blogspot.com/ mmm shameless self promotion). When I am not too busy talking about myself I read other people's blogs. The blog 365 days of awesome ( http://365awesomedays.blogspot.com/ )has become one of my favorites. It is witty, funny and demonstrates to me that a positive attitude is everything. Heather or Giraffy as she is known on the blog has a 5 year old daughter Gabby with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I don't know the details of this disease but it does not sound like a barrel of laughs for a five year old. What I have learned from Heather's blog is that there is not enough research being done on children's cancers. In an effort to correct that Heather is fundraising through the PRCF Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon. But since they live in sunny southern CA and I am stuck in sunny Tucson (just not the same) I am not able to participate but there is a way I and you can help!

By joining the TEAM GAB VIRTUAL RACE (check out details here http://365awesomedays.blogspot.com/2012/01/team-gab-virtual-race.html).

So here is my proposal:

I am going to sign up for the half marathon (serves as a 1/2 towards my goal of 30 before 30 and is located where I want). I have found a loop on the Rillalto River Trail that is about 3.1 miles. Since I know other people have lives and do more than running and school like I do, my suggestion is to sign up for the distance of your choice and lets run or run/walk together. I will be doing a little over four loops and am hoping I get enough people joining in so that I have a friend or friends to run or run/walk with each loop. I am not doing this for time just the glory of finishing and the satisfaction of doing something good so if in your head you are thinking I don't run or I will slow her down (or maybe I will leave her in the dust, that is fine too) it doesn't matter, that is what walking or run/walking is for.

DETAILS:

Location: Rillalto River Park located on Paradise Falls Road (heading North on Alvernon from Grant it is on the right past Fort Lowell/ heading south on Alvernon it is past the intersection of N. Dodge on the left. There is an elementary school and office buildings at the intersection of Paradise Falls and Alvernon head down Paradise Falls towards the housing development until you see the park on the left).

Date: Saturday January 28th

"Race" Start Time: 8a.m.

Aid stations: bring your own water, energy Gu whatnot, there are water fountains along the path and bathrooms (win!). I will also try to bring some water bottles and Gatorade but I can't promise that I will remember.

Incentive: Chocolate Chip Pancake b-fast at my house afterwards! (You can have plain pancakes if you want but then we need to discuss our friendship not working out)

So now you are thinking pancakes with chocolate I am so in. How do I sign up?

There are two ways-

Option one: head over to http://pcrf-kids.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=492975&lis=1&kntae492975=82016A0F8AAF45F895363696BB96F747&supId=320559568 and donate and then head over to http://365awesomedays.blogspot.com/2012/01/team-gab-virtual-race.html and leave a comment telling her you are racing and want to be part of the raffle for awesome racing gear (see her blog for more details, some seriously sweet running stuff.)

Option two: you don't care about being in the raffle and would like to give me your raffle entry or are just don't feel like going online to donate just let me know how much you would like to donate and I will add it to my contribution and up my odds of winning some of the awesome prizes she is giving away. I will be donating on Friday January 27th so let me know before then. And then bring me your donation to the race or when I see you or whatever (but bring it or I will hunt you down....I kid...or do I.)

Fees: (entries are into the raffle)
$5 donation = 5K = 1 entry
$10 donation = 10K = 2 entries
$25 donation = half marathon (13.1 miles, yo) = 5 entries
$40 donation = FULL marathon (26.2) = 10 entries

oh and if you decide to do the Full marathon I will run the first half or the second half with you depending on how early you start and then I will help carry you to the car and I will think your crazy but will never say it to your face (just behind your back).

So please come join me for some fun, exercise and then totally negating any good we did with exercising by stuffing our faces with chocolate chip pancakes. If you know friends or significant others who are interested sign them up too! Any questions give me a call, shoot me an email, send me a smoke signal.

Hope to see you there!

Fingers crossed I get some out there to participate!

Bonjour Goat Cheese

2012-01-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after my 3 mile run (30 minutes) I headed over to my friend C's house for some french fare. She let a few of us invade her space and then fed us delicious food that involved goat cheese, brie, and a pear tart. Hello you are my favorite person. She also gave us champagne with raspberries. She is a much better hostess than I. I usually make my guests bring a beverage or a present but she let us in without providing anything. She pretty much rocks. Charlie the corgi was also there to entertain us. He is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Try not to love this guy.

J&J loving the champagne beverage

Friends are fun!

Alert: Nicest person ever

A day full of eating delicious french food, drinking champagne and chatting with friends, doesn't get any better than that.

I also came home to my degree in the mail. It is now official. I apparently know something. Not sure what but the paper says it is so. Whoohooo

I also found picnik so there will probably be future gratuitous use of conversation bubble stickers and ridiculous picture frames.

Workout today: 8.5 miles in 1:26.

Seriously people....get it together

2012-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Today was not a great day.
My alarm went off an hour early to get in some yoga time. When it cried out with its annoying little beep I promptly snatched it off the nightstand, reprogrammed it for an hour later and went back to sleep. All without ever really waking up. Pretty magic. But when I woke up the second time I was mad that I had skipped yoga time and would therefore have to fit in a workout later (and to be honest if a workout doesn't happen before 10a.m. there is a 99.9% chance it ain't happenin)

Wait I missed yoga-damn

And then I went to school. And tried to come up with a date where 5 academics can be in the same room for an hour and a half to do the oral comprehensive exam component of my PhD exams which is apparently more elusive than:

and

and my ability to obtain these shoes

Email conversation from earlier today:

Me: Dear Comps Committee I have picked theses dates as the dates for my exam. Please let me know if this works for you. Specifically this will be the date of the oral component. Please let me know if this works for you.

Comp Committee: These dates are fine. No problem.

Therefore I walk my happy butt down to the office, reserve space and call it a day and send out the following email.

Me: I have reserved this room for this date and time for the oral part. Thank you for your quick response in scheduling my exams.

One member of the comp committee: I am out of town that date.

Me: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (head explodes)

SO I get to pick up that issue Monday. Yippee for me.

When I came home from school/work I stuffed my face full of crack aka

Why Stacy's pita chips are you so addicting, stop sabotaging my attempt to get pointless glitter shoes

and did not want to workout and got all cozy with the idea of me, PJs and TV but then I remembered the stupid streak I made up for myself. And I worked out. So 13 days strong of exercise streaking. I felt so good after doing yoga I even went for a 40 minute walk. Apparently the streak is doing some good in the motivation department.

bic bands - Order Some!

2012-01-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

From their website:

These amazing headbands started all as a fundraiser for my run with Team In Training. I was looking for a way to raise the necessary funds to run my first half marathon. I had started to make some handy dandy headband that didn't slip because I was cheap and crafty~ friends said they'd buy them, so I decided to try my hand at making and selling them. My small little venture began and I started sewing. I donated the profits to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Proceeds from the sale of BIC Bands go to support different charities each month.

For January and February, these proceeds will be going to PCRF andTeam Gab!

I am a big fan of the blogger Giraffy and her blog 365 days of awesome and this month proceeds from bic bands sale are going to benefit Pediatric Cancer Research foundation a foundation close to her heart as her daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia this year. So support her and her daughter Gabby by ordering some awesome headbands!

I did my part to make my head more presentable while I am racing. Yes you are welcome.

1 x Minnie Sparkle Silver (Standard 20") ($10.00)
_________________________________________________________
1 x Skinny Sparkle Gunmetal ($10.00)
_________________________________________________________

Total: $22.21

Thanks again for your business! And remember, with each purchase, you're helping those in need!

I'm not ready yet...

2012-01-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

School starts up again tomorrow

So yipee for that

Streak Day 10= going strong

I have worked out or gone walking (sometimes doing both) everyday since the first. Whoop for me. Today was a 5 miler in 48 minutes. Getting a little faster. Not Houston Olympic Marathon trials fast but fast for me. And is anyone else super excited for the marathon trials? Or have I just crossed into the dark side and become a complete running nerd?

Cookies & Wine- Yes Please

2012-01-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

So last night I got to go with my friend A to an adult function. Which meant putting on adult clothes.

Tada (and by the way my dress pants are too big- which is kind of exciting because = skinnier but also annoying because= shopping for new pants which is only fun under certain circumstances like at the outlet mall with your mom & sister whom you can torture with your amazing modeling skills and artful poses.

We got dressed up to head to the Cookies and Cabernet function put on by the girl scouts.

Basically it consisted of walking around looking at art while stuffing your face with desserts made from girl scout cookies and drinking wine (pants may not be too loose for long :)).

Ummm yes please. It was a lot of fun and for a good cause. So win. Unfortunately since I did not have an extra $5000 laying around no art was purchased but it was fun to look at.

Fitness Streak: Day 7- going strong
Wed: lifted weights upper body/ 40 min walk with Max
Thur: 6 mile run in 1:01
Fri: 40 min walk with Max/ sit-ups and push-ups 15x4 sets
Sat: 3 mile run in 29:33
Tomorrow: 9 to 10 mile run whoop

Oww my knee hurts......

2012-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

I did a six mile run in an hour today and my knee was a little sore and I had a blister on my left foot so of course I got all whiny about it and felt sorry for myself and then I read this story....

Challenger of the Week: Kristie Cranford
For Kristie Cranford, running was always just a way to stay in shape for other sports. But after she was diagnosed with melanoma at age 27, it became her lifeline, a way to deal with the anger at the diagnosis—a salve for the sense of aloneness she felt.

Cranford started running faster, eating better—swapping fast food for whole foods—and started losing weight. “Running and eating [right] helped me to feel more in control of something that I had no control over,” she says. “I knew that I was probably going to have cancer again. I needed to have the strong foundation to fight it.”

Indeed, the next year, Cranford was diagnosed with breast cancer, and then cervical cancer the year after that. Since then, she’s had nine more cancerous lesions removed from her skin—including some areas that the sun never saw.

Cranford ran her first half-marathon in 2:43, and she took 35 minutes off her time in her second attempt at the distance. Last year, she joined the Runner’s World Challenge to train for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon—her first, cramming in her 20-milers on the treadmill in the middle of the night.

Suddenly I don't feel so sorry for myself anymore. Suddenly feeling pretty grateful for my awesome life, sore knee, blister and all. Sometimes we all need to be reminded how great we have it.

Streak Update- Day 3

2012-01-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

Have now worked out three days in a row. Am fitness guru and 25 lbs lighter.

Just kidding.

I haven't lost any weight and I know nothing and

my body hurts so bad I am having a hard time standing and sitting, just moving in general. Working out ~~sucks the big one~~ is super fun.

Who knew a little weight lifting would bring the pain like no other.

The workouts that have me living in a world of pain:

Monday:

plyo jump squats- 8 sets of 15

lunges- 6 sets of 8

one leg squat- 4 sets of 15

dead lifts 3 sets of 6 with 45lbs

calf raises 3 sets of 15

Spinning: 30 min

40 min walk with Max the wonder dog

(later that evening start crying)

Tuesday:

3 mile run in 30:17 with negative splits starting at 10:30 and ending at 9:35 min. mile

sit-ups 4 sets of 15

push-ups 4 sets of 15 (lets be real- they were on my knees)

leg raises- 4 sets of 15

mountain climbers- 5 sets of 15

40 minute walk with Max the wonder dog

(start to avoid moving at all costs)

So tomorrow I am planning on biking and weight lifting for the upper body...... of course this will only be happening if I can get out of bed.

Streaking in the New Year

2012-01-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

We're going streaking...no not that kind of streaking, explanation below

Workout: 10ish miles in 1:45 ish (I forgot to restart the garmin after stopping at a light and then ran a long ways hence the ish)

My long run today was pretty awesome. A new year's miracle. I didn't take one walk break. I didn't even have to refuel at all, or stop to pee, or fall off the sidewalk. Most miles were between a 10:15 and 10:30 pace. And I am not even that sore which is weird cause after three weeks of kinda of running sometimes and no longer than six miles you think that ten would kick me in the butt and require a day of couch laying but no.

But I did ice my knees and feet when I got back so maybe that is why I feel fine
Just a word of advice: beans, peas and corn work great, broccoli & spinach too lumpy for icing
Ta da the more you know

Perhaps it was the champagne carbo loading the night before (practicing for Temecula). Or maybe the sweet new running outfit I wore...

Should have worn the matching shorts considering it is 80 degrees here today- Tucson is silly
And I should probably be a supermodel with talent like that

Whatever it was I liked it. While I was plodding along I had an idea and it may be a good one (this rarely happens so soak it up). A lot of people have been doing the runner's streak of running everyday between Thanksgiving and New Year's to not gain weight/ stay in shape while the rest of us are stuffing our faces with peanut M&M's and Christmas cookies like it is our job.

So I thought what if I had a fitness streak of my own (I can't run everyday without my knee falling off but I can be active everyday). So since it is officially 1/1/2012 and I managed to get my butt out of bed and workout the streak begins. I am aiming to be active everyday in someway. I can lift weights, hiking, doing yoga (eh), swim, bike, walk the dogs (but with a purpose not the distracted by a butterfly shuffle at zero speed crap) run etc. But it needs to be for 30 minutes at least everyday. Seems doable. So the streak begins. Feel free to join me in the best idea ever. You're welcome.

In other news Max misses his best friend River (my sister's dog) and has taken to hoarding his new toys around him. We may need doggy therapy.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2011-12-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

2011: Year in Review

Began running consistently in July (it was a warm beginning)
Miles run since July: 327 miles
Half Marathons completed: 4 (Mt Lemmon, Shun the Sun, Fiesta Bowl, Tucson)
Medals obtained: 4
PR'd at the Tucson Half Marathon with a 2:07:50

Placed in the filly category at the Tucson half with a third place finish

Favorite half marathon this year: Mount Lemmon Half- most scenic so far

Favorite medal: Fiesta bowl half medal (I guess I have a thing for cactus or something)

Ran a sub 9 minute mile in a race

Goals for 2012

Run between 80 and 100 miles a month
Run between 15 and 18 half marathons

Sweet running log Christmas gift to record all my plodding in

Get a sub 2 hour half finish time
More weight lifting and stretching- DO IT
Speedwork- learn to love it

Overall this year has been pretty fantastic. I am happy to have found blogging as a way to entertain myself, stay motivated and hopefully inspire someone else. I know the blogs I follow keep me going when I would prefer to spend my mornings eating chocolate chip pancakes but instead find myself plodding through an eight mile run. I am excited to see what this year brings (hopefully lots of medals and good fun)!

Happy New Year everyone!

Wine is good for hydration right?

2011-12-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

I registered for a January Half:

Registration Confirmation for:

Temecula Valley Half Marathon & 5k 2012

Dear Bean,
Congratulations! You are now registered for Temecula Valley Half Marathon & 5k 2012.

Date & Time:01/21/12
Location:Monte De Oro Winery
Purchased at:12/30/11
Category:Half Marathon

And it involves wine.......
so that is a win!

I imagine after the race I will look like this:

Fill'er up!

So if you are interested in hitting southern CA for a race through wineries
that involves wine tasting let me know! We can learn to love reds together.

Xmas loot & Winning

2011-12-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

Last night we arrived back in Tucson after a fun week in Colorado. I miss Colorado already but it is supposed to be 75 today in Tucson so there is that.

Colorado Snow!

Our Gingerbread village- so fun

Nellie likes presents

Max exhausted from all the Christmas fun

I scored pretty big in the running apparel gift department. Plus using my Mom's JCPenny coupon got to add on some fun running pants and capris.

Present # 1: Awesome Under Armour running outfit- now I can look coordinated !

Coupon find: black capris!

Running tights: take that cold Tucson morning!

What is this?

Present of the year!

That's right it is a running skirt.

WHOOP. So excited to break this baby out at a race.

I also arrived home to an 3rd place finisher art work thing from the Tucson Half Marathon. I was the third place filly. In other words the third place female finisher over 160lbs (To review my former thoughts on Clydesdales).

Navajo Indians of Gallup, New Mexico artwork- sandpainting artwork

And you know what I was freakin excited about it. Who would have thought that I would ever place in a run? Crazy. So now I am thinking if I add some speed work and actually get my butt out the door (I haven't run consistently for three weeks) maybe I can do it again. A second or first place. And maybe not just in the "junk in the trunk" category but the regular sized runner category. Dream big Bean, DREAM BIG!

So now off to run three miles but I leave you with pictures of a Colorado sunset- beautiful

Up tomorrow- the year in review plus goals for 2012!

Wising you a very ......

2011-12-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

and a happy new year!!!

Colorado we are here to grace you with our presence

2011-12-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

After eating our free breakfast at La Quinta Inn (totally a good deal-$67 for the night and pet friendly- no charge so those with dog children keep this in mind) we hit the road to finish our journey to Franktown, Colorado to be with my family for the holidays. But the trip was.....less than perfect.

We hit snow pretty early on

Kringle does not approve of this snow storm

and then our back tire exploded.

What the heck crappy tire don't you know I have Christmas to get too!

So I sat in the car and supervised from inside the warm car while D got all dirty and tired changing out the tire. Someone had to hold the lug nuts. I am probably the best asset in an emergency. Very good at supervision. And then when he was done I made him drive through a blizzard. I am the BEST WIFE EVER.

It was slow going for awhile but after many hours of white knuckling it and eating Wendy's for a nutritious lunch we finally arrived to a winter wonderland!

Whoo snow I like you better when I am inside a warm house

And since D and I are big babies when it comes to cold my family had lots of blankets and a warm fire at the ready for us. I don't see myself running a lot this Christmas holiday unless it is in snow boots. Oh well.... leaves more time for eating!

ROAD TRIP!!!

2011-12-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Travelling to Colorado for Christmas means lots of car time fun!

Our proud road trip mascot Kringle

Dogs stuffed in the back with all our crap plus presents and cookies FUN

Max was less than amused after about twenty minutes

I am less than amused with New Mexico

Nellie gets nervous when Dustin drives... just kidding....

D took over half way to ABQ which meant.....

I could do a photo shoot with our mascot

After stopping for the night in Albuquerque we are on to Colorado tomorrow whooooohoooo!

Every Road Trip Needs a Theme

2011-12-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is Kringle

Yes I am the cutest version of santa you have ever seen

I bought him at Walgreens today with the kettle corn and sunflower seeds needed for holiday travels. Why? Because I am an adult and if I think the car needs a beenie baby Santa that is round and adorable to fill it with holiday cheer, then it must be so (and I apparently have no impulse control). Plus what else am I supposed to stare at as we drive through New Mexico. Seriously there is nothing in that state.

Max & Nellie are also excited for the road trip can't you tell?

They could at least pitch in and pack their dog bowls or something. Jeez

Oh and I am over cross training. Can't wait for my run on Friday.

Workouts:

Saturday: biked 1 hour

Sunday: laid around and ate my weight in poppy-seed bread

Monday: biked 1 hour/ lifted weights- arms and legs

Tuesday: biked 10 mins and wanted to die so switched to plyometrics dvd from p90x (bad idea can no longer move)

Friday Ramblings

2011-12-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

1. I booked a hotel for Sedona. It is a 20 minute drive away from the start which will be super fun in the early a.m. and looks older but has good review and for $55 you can't go wrong. D agreed to go along but I have to treat him to a nice dinner. Gah this man is so needy.

Days Inn Kokopelli

2. I have decided to take a week off to rest my foot so it will hopefully get over itself and heal all the way. So hello cross training schedule. Not the most creative but hopefully it will keep my cardio up and my foot relaxed. I may throw in some strolls with the dogs but I am lazy so I promise nothing.

Fri	12/16/2011	XT: bike	XT
Sat	12/17/2011	XT: bike/ yoga	XT
Sun	12/18/2011	OFF	Off
Mon	12/19/2011	XT: bike/yoga	XT
Tue	12/20/2011	XT: bike	XT
Wed	12/21/2011	XT: bike/yoga	XT
Thu	12/22/2011	XT: Off travel to CO	XT

3. This is what I bike on and man that bike seat is torturing my butt. It is getting better over time but I don't know how real cyclists do it. If I had to do more than pedal, such as pay attention to traffic and what is in the road, etc. I would end up in a ditch. Therefore I must pedal while standing still. It is safer for everyone this way.

4.My bike set up is perfect because I can watch the Today show while riding. I have recently decided that I should be a third co-host with Kathie Lee and Hoda. They talk about nothing and drink wine. Two of my specialties.

I was born to co-host with these two

The only problem with biking and TV is I have to pay attention to what I am doing otherwise I stop pedaling and just sit on the bike and watch tv. If I am going to do that I might as well take it to the couch where my butt can thank me.

5. I only need to add three more halves to the schedule before the end of July to hit 15 to be half way to running 30 by 30 goal. That would give me a fighting chance of fitting in 15 more after I turn 29 and before I turn 30 (I have pretty magical math skills). Hmmm the search is on.

Sup Sedona

2011-12-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

So this is happening........

Some hill up in here

Dear Sabrina,

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the online form for 2012 Sedona Marathon Runs.

This e-mail is to confirm that your submission has been received. Our records indicate
you have selected the Half Marathon - 13.1 miles option.

So now to make sure I don't have to sleep in the car....

.........and that makes 3 half marathons in Feb. The same month I am supposed to take my comprehensive exams for my PhD. I crack myself up.

I blame this guy who suggested I beg, steal or bake cupcakes to get there. I am super excited!

The Sedona Dilemma

2011-12-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

So I want to run the Sedona Half on Feb. 4th.

and I really want to visit this area.

Make it a fun weekend with the hubby or something. BUT IT IS SO EXPENSIVE. What the heck Sedona. One night at the Best Western costs $180. THE BEST WESTERN. I can't even bring myself to look at the nicer hotels in the area.

Tricky, very tricky......what to do?

Tucson Half Marathon Race Review

2011-12-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

After a truly blissful slumber..... um no I fought with Nellie half the night for room on the bed. I used to be able to nudge her out of the way and she was fine but now she is dead set on touching me at all times and snoring like she suffers from sleep apnea. So that is fun.

Any whoo the alarm went of at 4a.m. and I promptly flung it off the night stand. 4a.m. is not my best hour. After standing in the kitchen drinking iced coffee for awhile. I finally got ready and forced D to get out of bed to drive me (he actually volunteered to go even though I gave him several outs because standing around for four hours is fun for no one. He is in the running for husband of the year).

Check out the arm sleeves of awesome.

We drove for about 30 minutes to get to the shuttle buses in OroValley that took me to the start. This race was a point to point. The whole naming the Tucson marathon the Tucson marathon is kind of funny because you never actually are in Tucson when you are running this thing. There seemed to be plenty of buses and parking for everyone. After a 20 minute bus ride we were kicked out at the start and into the cold. Luckily they had heat lamps. Whoohooo. They even had them in the porto potty lines. WIN! I hit the porto potty and then stood around trying to bond with my fellow man and get closer to the heat lamp. D went out to breakfast. Why do I do this again? Oh right I like medals and more recently I like trying to get faster.

Medal obtained woot

After standing around shivering for awhile the race started right on time at 7a.m. And man was I just ready to get going already. I was so cold that I took off at record speed for me. All I could think about was warming up and man I did. The arm warmers were off within ten minutes of running. Gloves tossed within five miles. Once the sun came out it was a beautiful day. The course was mostly downhill though there were a few hills that were not insignificant along the course. But they were welcome to kind of break up the pounding on the legs. Aid stations were frequent and the volunteers were great! You got love people who volunteer to stand around for five hours getting covered in water and Poweraid while runners trample past spitting and snotting everywhere. And for that I thank you volunteers cause we could not do the race without you. Gu was available from about mile 6 on. This is the first time I didn't carry my own water or own Gu and it worked out fine. Better than fine actually.

I was able to hold off the break down point until about mile 10 this time. That is when I had to have the inner pep talk to keep it going. I stopped and walked a bit at every aid station. Mostly so I could drink. I tried to pretend that I was a professional and run through and drink at the first aid station and almost died due to drowning so I accepted that I lack a certain coordination and just walked through the rest so I could drink. I alternated between water and poweraid and tried to eat 2 Gus but only got one down. I tried to eat a chocolate flavored one I grabbed at an aid station and just couldn't do that flavor. Something about tasting chocolate while trying to run just wasn't working for me. I grabbed vanilla flavor around mile 9 and that went down fine. Who knew, I thought chocolate was appropriate at all times. Learn something new everyday.

So the mile break down
Mile Time

1 9:04.3
2 8:55.7 (whoa first time in the 8s- that is exciting)
3 9:03.3
4 9:10.8
5 9:12.8
6 9:16.1
7 10:03.5
8 9:49.8
9 10:30.2 (gu eating)
10 10:13.7 (start whiny breakdown about this being hard in head)
11 10:34.8
12 10:27.3 (yeah almost done!)
13 10:22.9

and a NEW PR woot 2:07:50 official finish time.

Overall this race was pretty awesome. A good one to run if you are looking to PR because it is downhill. There was plenty of supplies at the aid stations and everything ran pretty smoothly. They did lose my registration but it was painless to get a number so no big deal.

Medal is awesome and the finish line had lots of volunteers handing out bottled water and a food tent with bananas, pb&j tortillas, powerbars, goldfish, popcorn and soda.

plenty of stuff at the finish

There was also a massage tent and plenty of parking at the finish for spectators or husbands who endure their wives crazy hobby and come to cheer them on at the finish. I would do this one again I think. The course was pretty, the last few miles were a little tough as you ran through a neighborhood and it seemed uphill for most of mile 11 and 12 but overall nice.

Awesome ribbon on this medal

The downside, so sore today. Downhill can induce you to push it and the pounding downhill may leave you more sore then usual if you are kinda dumb like me and didn't train running downhill. But if you eat a piece of pumpkin bar the size of your head it will make you feel better.

Mmmm pumpkin bars, twice as good because it has Christmas sprinkles and is on a holiday plate.

Tucson Half Marathon Eve

2011-12-10T11:24:00.001-08:00

Met up with my friend Erica to head to the Tucson marathon expo at 9a.m. She is doing the full marathon. So awesome. I am sticking to the halves for now.

Tucson Marathon Expo

We arrived at the El Conquistador Hotel in Oro Valley a little after 9:30. Was a little ticked when they did not have me as registered. After I explained that I had mailed in my registration the lady at the info desk said someone probably just forgot to add me to the list and told me to fill out another registration form and handed me a number. So that was easy.

After collecting my race packet, free socks and tech shirt we wondered around the expo. I found a pair of $12 arm warmers I had to try. As D put it "now you are one of those people"- not sure what that means but I think it means I am now awesome.

Flowers are fun

Going to try them tomorrow because everyone knows the best day to try something new is race day. I figure the arm warmers won't kill me. Fingers crossed.

Arm warmers & race shirt displayed in the classic hoedown pose

Race bag goodies

The race packet was pretty sweet with four free energy bars. The usual amount of paper and small packets of joint pain lotion. The tech shirt is nice and running socks are always welcome at this house.

The expo was a decent size and they actually had booths of fun running gear. If I was loaded I would have bought a long sleeve black shirt with a turtle on it that said "I AM running". SO perfect for me. They also had sweet glitter hair bands, running skirts and hats. But since I am a poor grad student I stuck to the arm warmers.

This afternoon we headed to Erica and Jake's for carbo loading. Carbo loading is more fun in a group setting.

Pumpkin Bars: More fun with sprinkles

Afters stuffing my face with pasta and pumpkin bars I think I am fully fueled and ready to go tomorrow!

Goals for the Tucson Half Marathon

2011-12-07T10:53:00.001-08:00

For your viewing pleasure,
race photo from Fiesta Bowl 1/2

And bam time for another half marathon again.
It seemed like a good idea a few months ago when I signed up for back to back weekends of half marathons, now maybe not so much. I am still a little sore from the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 and have not run since. Just biked and done stretching. The real reason for not running is that it is cold and I am a big baby, plus the end of the semester makes me feel like I want to stab someone. No one in particular, just a general feeling of stabbyness. So that is fun for everyone else.

But this is my redemption half marathon I guess since I was training for this marathon last year when I hurt myself and had to hobble around on crutches in a cast for awhile (that also made me feel like I wanted to stab someone). And I got a sweet deal with half off the race after emailing the race director about my sad, sad plight last year.

Goals (again I feel the layer method takes some pressure off):
Look at me go goal, I should probably get a Nike contract: anything under 2:17
Keeping it consistently good: Between 2:17 and 2:25
This down hill half is killing me but I still get a medal at the end, winning: anything above 2:25.

And with that I am off to write a statistics paper. Ugh stab, stab, stab

Stats is way more fun with Ryan Gosling

Workout Wed.: 45 min spin, Jillian's yoga house of pain

Workout Thurs: 30 min spin, stretching

Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon Race Review

2011-12-05T07:14:00.001-08:00

I got up at 5:30 am for the Fiesta Bowl 1/2. Start time was at 7:30a.m. But I need time to stand around sipping coffee and staring into space before I can be expected to get dressed and head out the door. After coffee I got dressed in running capris, t-shirt, and gloves. Had my ipod and garmin. Downed half a chocolate mint cliff bar and C & J drove me to the start. I must say I am now a fan of curb side service. Next time I have to drive myself to a race, park and walk to the start I am going to be so sad.

2 thumbs up for 5:30 am and shiny faces, thumbs down on that camera angle and my new double chin

Once I arrived at the start I headed for the bathroom line, but came across heat lamps. Since it was only in the upper 30s/low 40s that morning (in AZ weather that means everyone is freezing and think they are in danger of getting frost bite and dying of exposure including myself) I decided standing under the heat lamp was a better idea than peeing (what? too much information...). I stood there baking until about ten minutes till the start. Then I wondered about a block down the road to reach the half marathon start (there was a 5k start as well), the race started on time and I was off. Unfortunately my garmin was not, it couldn't get synced up until about a mile in. Hate it when that happens. I also couldn't feel my body for the first few miles since I was so cold.

Mile Times

1 9:39.1
2 9:47.6
3 10:04.9
4 9:57.4
5 9:54.4
6 10:37.9 (ate gu)
7 9:54.9
8 10:39.1
9 10:48.4
10 10:29.2
11 12:01.7 (ate gu)
12 11:04.6
13 10:17.4

I didn't take my camera because I am lazy and didn't want to carry it. We ran through Scottsdale on the side of the road. They only shut a lane of traffic down so cars were flying by at some points. That was a little unsettling mostly because I am clumsy and could see myself tripping and flying into traffic. Luckily I kept it together and there were no accidents. The course was kind of boring just down main roads, not very scenic (loop course). The last few miles were on a cement bike path covered in goose poop, a little extra challenge for us. I felt tired sooner during this one so I ate two Gus, one at mile 6 and one at mile 11. My hip got pretty tight around mile 11. I stopped and stretched twice in mile 12 to avoid walking to the finish. I think it might have been from running on the sloping side of the road or maybe just form pushing it a little harder this time. Overall I was not a fan of the route but it was not horrible. I finished in 2:17:39 a 10:30 mile pace. A NEW PR. WHOOP.

Medal obtained!

I tried to lie to J and say I won that is why I got a medal- she didn't believe me

C agrees to play along and poses with the "winner"

After gathering a banana and my medal I wondered away from the race to find my entourage. We headed to Starbucks to get coffee and breakfast. C bought me a peppermint mocha and eggs sandwich. Now I am her slave for life. Seemed like a decent trade at the time.

Favorite medal thus far

Awesome tech shirt from race bag- love the dark color

Overall this half had a great medal, great shirt, mediocre course, nice race finish with expo booths, good start with the heat lamps, decent amount of porto potties and seemed well organized. They also had aid stations almost every two to three miles and had gels starting about mile 6 on.

After showering and packing up we headed back to Tucson. Super fun weekend. When I got home I was all tired and whiny and didn't want to make dinner but wanted a salad with eggs in it (otherwise known as a delivery system for ranch dressing) so D went to the store and bought me one. Plus 5 points for him.

In other news: winter weather has arrived in Tucson and Max does not approve.

Using laundry that he formed into a pile to warm up

Monday morning workout: sleeping in!

Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon Eve

2011-12-02T18:05:00.001-08:00

Old Town Scottsdale

So I kidnapped two of my friends and made them escort me down to Scottsdale for the Fiesta Bowl Half. I felt like it was time I had an entourage and J and C gladly agreed to accept the job of shleping me and my stuff around all weekend. We departed from Tucson around 10a.m. excited for a girls weekend. After the two hour ride filled with some laughs, rainy weather, and chocolate cover pretzel snacks of awesome (you know carbo loading) we went to the Runner's Den (an awesome running store in Phoenix) to pick up my race packet and then headed over to Old Town Scottsdale.

My size cowboy boot

After wondering around looking in a few shops, taking pictures of ourselves (super model documentary hour), we decided it was time to obtain food.

C, Bean & J

Whoohoo I found a cowboy

C, she makes new friends everywhere

We found a BBQ place that lured us in with a delicious smell.

Big Earl's BBQ

Warning gratuitous food porn ahead. Big Earl's smelled even better on the inside. They had their own smoker and made their own sauce. Delicious. I wrangled the best chicken salad I have ever had. C got yummy pork tacos and J got ribs that came with delicious jalapeno corn bread that I wanted to steal but J is so nice she shared with me.

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to drive two hours back to Scottsdale to eat that meal again. After stuffing our faces we decided it was in our best interest to continue wandering. So we waddled back out to look through the cute stores and continue documenting our every move.

J & I and our new western look.

We stumbled upon some mini horses dressed up as reindeer. So cute. Of course I assaulted them and Mrs. Claus with my camera. I asked C if we could take one home with us but she pointed out that there was not enough trunk room with all my crap plus a mini horse. So rational that one.

When done shopping we decided to head over to the Holiday Inn Express to check in. We were pretty impressed with the room. $84 for a room with two queen beds that had a living room attached, microwave, fridge and there was a happy hour with complimentary wine & beer, cookies and milk in the evening and coffee and tea at all times in the lobby. Holiday Inn had me at free cookies. A pretty sweet deal. I would stay here again.

After chatting it up for awhile we decided to carbo load by ordering pizza. Mostly because I was too lazy to leave the hotel again. I am such an exciting travel partner. To finish the evening off we discussed how to diffuse tension in the middle east, create world peace, and solve the budget crisis worldwide.....nah just kidding we drank $4 wine out of plastic cups and watched HGTV in our PJs. Perfect evening!

I made us go to bed early because I am a dictator. Plus I am about as quiet as a bull in a china cabinet in the morning so it was pretty much guaranteed that C and J were getting woken up when I woke up to get ready for the race....

Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon Goals

2011-12-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well it is that time again.
So goals......hmmmm
Well I sort of kicked butt on the last half (not to toot my own horn but.... toot toot baby) but I don't want to get crazy and set a goal I can't meet and then get all sad and whiny about it so I think I will set layers of goals (the word layer makes me think of 7 layer dip mmmmmm delicious..... FOCUS)

Goals:
Best day ever I am an Olympic champion in the making goal: Finish 2:20 or less
Okay day but feeling more ploddy than speedy: Finish between 2:21 to 2:35
Craptastic day/want to die/ I fell in a hole or some other tragedy: Anything over 2:35

The Fiesta Bowl half should be flat and is a big loop basically so I have no excuse unless I am just not feeling it.
Fingers crossed I feel it.

Month in Review: November

2011-11-30T08:17:00.001-08:00

Miles run: 92 (goal set: 80)

Cross training: Weight lifting, Yoga, spinning & elliptical

Half Marathons Completed: 1 in 2:20: 02
Medals obtained: 1!

Feel pretty good about November. Ran more than I thought I would and am getting faster. I still don't have those freakin Tom's glitter shoes and have stalled on the weight loss but I expected that to happen with the holidays. My response is to get better at calorie counting again and I have thrown in a walk with Max the wonder dog a few times a week to burn a few more.

I have done more cross training than usual (No more pool since it is freezing in the morning). My right foot has been sore still and am not sure why. The plan is to cut down on the running and do more cross training for a week or two until it is feeling better. I have two halves coming up this week and next (Fiesta Bowl and Tucson 1/2s). When those are done I think I will take a full week off of running and spin/yoga and walk and go from there.

Goals for December:

Weight: Maintain or lose- either way thumbs up with the lure of holiday food

Running: rest foot and gradually get back at it/ continue to build speed (probably less mileage- 50 miles?)

Cross training: Keep at it. I feel stronger overall with lifting and yoga (yes I still don't like it but this:

is like aerobic yoga and is more tolerable to me.) Plus I think the underarm chicken wings are shrinking= success!

Tuesday workout: elliptical 1 hour

Wednesday workout: spin bike 30 minutes/ Jillian's yoga house of pain: 30 min.

Shout Out to the Hubby

2011-11-28T19:04:00.001-08:00

When we had Thanksxmas the other day the hubby and I exchanged gifts and he got me:
Nike tempo shorts
New running sunglasses: Maxx brand in an awesome royal blue color
Book: Going Long full of fun running stories

Not only does he endure me buying running shoes like it is my job, signing up for every race in a 500 mile radius, get up early to cheer me on at races, listen (or at least nod and smile) when I come home from a run and want to rehash every step but he also gets my fun running gifts. You are the best D!

Workout Sunday: 45 min spin, Yoga by Jillian (she really is evil)
Workout Monday: 6 mile run in an hour

Give Thanks for the 10lbs I just gained

2011-11-26T12:50:00.001-08:00

So this week has been awesome. The parents-in-law arrived Tuesday evening and it was non-stop fun and eating until they left this morning. And then we just kept eating to honor their departure.

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one day. Thanksxmas. Best day ever, tons of food and presents. I scored these sweet things along with a sweater and a robe. It has been a non-stop reading fest for me. Love it.

After cooking and stuffing our faces all day Thursday, Friday the MIL and I got pedicures. My feet almost look normal.

Pretty toes make me happy

After toes we met the men folk at the bar where they waited for us and headed out for some Mexican nourishment because sitting in a massage chair having someone else paint your toes really works up an appetite.

Yes this is the size of my head and delicious

We also put up the Christmas decorations. Nellie was disappointed to find out the tree skirt was not for her.

I am thankful that the parents-in-law were able to come spend the holidays with us and for my home and family. All in all, a great couple of days. I did manage to get a six mile run in on Wednesday and a three mile walk in today. But I decided to take a few days off to give my ankle a rest so this is perfect timing except for the large amount of calories I am not burning off. Oh well back on track with exercise and normal eating tomorrow. I think I hear a piece of pie calling my name.

Xmas came early

2011-11-20T17:20:00.001-08:00

My right foot has been hurting for awhile so yesterday I decided to do something about it before I ended up with a serious injury and this blog turned into the sad place where I complain about not running. I got different shoes (Fleet Feet shout out) (empty wallet shout out). Even though I have been wearing Saucony shoes forever now, when they switched from Pro Guide 3 to Pro Guide 4 something happened. My foot changed or the shoe changed but my right foot and shoe just kept fighting so they decided to split up and only see each other on four mile or under runs. For long runs my feet are now dating......

Look at those sexy ankles whooo

And this relationship is looking pretty good. I haven't been running yet, decided to bike this morning and let my right foot/ankle recover a little but Wednesday is the first date so we will see how it goes. Fingers crossed it is magical. Plus these Nike shoes are super hot. I mean just look at the flashy blue color. Plus they make my feet look a little smaller than normal, like normal size instead of clown. Where have you been all my life Nike.

In other exciting news we finally have local channels on TV in our house. We did just watch shows online since paying for cable makes me angry but I decided that if I don't see the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade I will never be the same so D got me an antenna and set it up so now we can watch the parade....and news and other stuff. Yayyyyyy another way to ignore school work and waste time. LOVE IT. I am watching the Today show right now. How did I ever live without you Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and the rest of the crew.

Plus commercials whoohooo

And D's parents come tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I see delicious food in my future. Plus we are going to celebrate Christmas with them when they are here. Yay. Presents. This week is looking AWESOME!

Xmas!

9...9...9

2011-11-18T06:06:00.001-08:00

Six mile run this morning. Threw back some coffee (oh coffee how I love you) and some cliff bar chewy things (official name there) and headed out. And then I ran. Surprisingly fast.

Mile 1 9:58.0
Mile 2 9:45.1
Mile 3 10:01.7
Mile 4 9:47.0
Mile 5 9:57.1
Mile 6 9:42.6
6 miles in 59:15 woot
ALMOST ALL IN THE 9s. FREAKIN AWESOME.

For someone who is used to seeing mile times starting with 10:XX, 11:XX and 12:XX to see a nine repeatedly is just weird. In a good way.

Happy Dance

Now I must confess. I ran three miles. Took a quick walk/ water break and then ran the last three miles (truth comes out). But considering the last two miles were uphill some of the way that is still pretty good.
Since running fairly well at the last half my new goal is to step up my game. It is a three part plan

run faster more consistently
Try to keep my form and pace when I get tired
Run my long runs with the second half faster than the first since I tend to die around mile 8

And hopefully pushing myself to run faster will help kick start some more weight loss. I am sure soon I will look like this

Which one: oh pick one

or at the very least finally have these

Lesson Learned

2011-11-16T17:00:00.001-08:00

DO NOT DO

squats

lunges

The day before running unless you are a fan of shuffling with a pained/constipated look on your face.
Duly noted.
(and yes you are welcome for the bare chestedness if that is your style, otherwise I apologize.)

Shun the Sun 1/2 Race Review

2011-11-14T06:44:00.001-08:00

So after dreaming that I kept missing the race and waking up in a panic my alarm finally went off at 5:30a.m. After drinking some coffee and eating a peppermint stick cliff bar (yum on that one) D and I headed to the start at 6:20.

Two thumbs up for early mornings and shiny sunscreen faces

Everything was very organized and easy to get to. We got to park right next to the start and there were indoor bathrooms since the start was at Hohokam Stadium. Score.

Start line

We started in a parking lot and ran out into the road and then onto a path by a canal for the rest of the way. The course was out and back. We started right on time at 7a.m. It was a little chilly and overcast- perfect running weather.

Waiting to start- stand up straight me, geez

Half of the course was on a paved path. Half of it was on gravel. There were aid stations about every three miles the first half and then about every two miles the second half. Gu was offered at the turn around point and they started offering gatorade with water at the turn around point as well.

My only real complaint about the course is that the part on gravel incorporated some bigger rocks that I kept rolling my ankle on. Probably because I am not very graceful and as I got more tired I got more clumsy. It got really frustrating towards the end though and pavement would have been better. Considering last years course was two loops I will take an out and back with gravel any day to having to do the same thing twice. Plus the canal was pretty, peaceful, had ducks and water and no cars. We crossed numerous streets but police officers were there to stop traffic. Volunteers at the aid stations were great and cheered us on. Otherwise there really were no spectators.

Sprint to the finish.

The finish was in the Stadium which was cool. And it was slightly down hill so you could have a moment of glory at top speed towards the end..

Medal obtained

This year they had medals for everyone. So of course I was super pleased with that (Becka mentioned last year they handed out dog tags-cool but I want a medal). They had water and bananas, rolls, oranges, fruit snacks granola bars etc at the end.

Grass- Gloriousness

The best part of finishing in the stadium is that it had grass. Something we Tucsonians do not see very often. Great for kicking back after running hard. Overall this race was well organized and fun.

So how did I do......

pretty dang awesome. Official finish time 2:20:02.

My face after realizing I would finish under 2:30

Mile 1 10:11.8

Mile 2 10:10.5

Mile 3 10:17.8

Mile 4 10:09.6

Mile 5 10:23.9

Mile 6 10:40.4 (ate gu)

Mile 7 10:31.0

Mile 8 10:17.1

Mile 9 11:12.2

Mile 10 11:33.7

Mile 11 11:04.3

Mile 12 12:20.4 (rolled ankle, threw mental fit-apparently eats into your time)

Mile 13 10:23.6

Mile 14 :45.4

I don't know what happened but I like it. I PR'd. Fastest I have ever run a half. Hot dang. I just need to learn to keep it together at the end (see miles 9 through 12, or perhaps ignore mile 12 ugh). I can definitely run faster than I think I can so I think I need to step up my game. Now excuse me while I go do the happy dance.