You ask for it, you got it!

you heard right and no, this isn't an April fools joke....

IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

Okay, enough of me acting like I'm at the circus and working for peanuts. This giveaway is for runners and non-runners alike. The wonderful and very generous Online Shoes contacted me to give away a $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE to their site to one lucky commenter. Wild, I know. Generous, I know. They have super great stuff for all occasions including heels, flip-flops and running shoes. Even better is that they have running clothes as well. The site is easy to navigate and with that much selection a girl can get in trouble!

I personally have shopped on Online Shoes, and they had superb customer service, easy transactions and great prices. With FREE SHIPPING and a 90 day return policy, how can you go wrong? I am a SUCKER for free shipping! All a super bonus to their sweet selection of shoes. They even have a pretty cool new section dedicated to New Balance Shoes, which I know some of you swear by. They have Uggs, Seychelles, Franco Sarto, Adidas... tons of great brands, so first off check them out.

Secondly, to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY.... Leave a comment with what shoes you would get with your gift certificate for $100... I know I'm making you work just a little bit, BUT it's because it's for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

My comment would say, "Chic Runner would get these sweet Clark Wedges in black, because not all my shoes need to be running shoes (and I have a sick obsession with wedges) "

Easy as me getting McDonalds for lunch yesterday, so enter away! Also, playing by the rules of most giveaways there are more ways to get more entries. If you want TWO entries and are not yet a follower, you can become a follower by clicking on the stalk me follow button on the right side (if you already are, or choose to become one, just put that in your comment so I can take note) and for THREE entries, post something about this giveaway on your blog and I'll enter you three times. (leave that in the comment too)

Sadly, this giveaway is only available to US Residents. (next time all you Canadians, eh?) Also, if you are picked by the random number generator that I love, you will have to give me your email address and real first and last name. Don't worry I won't spam you or steal your identity.

Good luck to everyone!

Now onto a completely unrelated giveaway topic of my life, I got the opportunity to go to the House of Blues Anaheim to check out The Lost Trailers and Luke Bryan. I am not a hardcore country follower... but I do like the music and man, both these bands were GREAT. I really like the Lost Trailers new song, How 'bout You Don't. You should check them out, they are really a fun band. I had randomly met a guy from the Lost Trailers and he got Mr. R and I tickets to the show and I am forever thankful to him. It was amazing and so cool to see him live. It's weird to see so many girls screaming for them. Secondly, LUKE BRYAN I have a crush. Holy Moly, I must need to look at guys more often because DANG. Okay, I'm off that topic now. Thanks again Stokes and the Lost Trailers for a great show!

Finally tonight I am going to go for a short little four miler to see how I feel. I hope the cold is behind me and I won't be hacking up a lung out on my run, and I know that easing myself back into running will be the best thing for me. Tomorrow I'll have some sweet deals so keep your eyes peeled for those.... now, comment away!!

xoxo

This run is not challenging enough.. Can I run it backwards?

So here's the race report, pictures and all, including no official finish time, since I didn't get timed. Good to know though, looking back if I would have ran the half I would have won my age group. Wha-Wha... Anyways, oh well, what can you do. I decided race morning to limit myself to the 5k, because I had looked at the course (shocking!) and knew that it was a a giant loop. Once I was seven miles out, I was seven miles out and had to finish to come back to the car. I knew I could probably run a solid seven miles, but a half marathon doesn't end at seven miles and after that who knows what would have happened. Don't get me wrong, I REALLY wanted to run the 1/2, but I knew that I would be dealing with being sick for a lot longer if I did run it, and I was already over the whole being sick thing and wanted to feel better asap.



I also know I am uber competitive. This would have been disastrous and probably would have ended in me pushing myself WAY to hard and getting even more sick, missing more days of work, being sick in Hawaii, the list goes on. So I 5ked it up, and even that was out of control for me. I decided not to bring Claude so I wouldn't be checking my splits and super worried about my time and just have a good solid run. We set off and I was with the back of the pack because started with my cousins and I also like working my way up through the pack. Stupid, but whatever, don't judge me, I was on medication.



We take off and the course for the first mile and a half is on a paved neighborhood like street. I race through the crowds zigging and zagging my way around people. I was the one who held onto the car key because I was going to finish the race first and it was going to be cold so I wanted to wait in the car for a while. I tucked the key in my shorts like so.

I was feeling great and thought to myself, "Well three miles is good for me to do, and it's not too long so I will have to run it fast since usually I wait way to long to pick up my speed because I dilly dally around and then the race is over." I shot out of there like a rocket. Probably about 3/4 of a mile down the paved road I reached down to feel for the key. IT WAS GONE. I literally stopped in my tracks and tried to remember who had the key because before the race we were going back and forth with who was going to hold on it. I PROMISED I wouldn't lose it, but I couldn't remember it I had actually left with it. I turned around and jogged back scanning the crowd for my cousin to ask her if she or her sister had it, or if it, gulp, was me.

I jogged around people dodging them and getting the strangest looks ever. I thought to myself that people could just think that I was out for a run and not expecting the race to be happening but then I realized that I was wearing a bib number to totally give me away. I was scanning the ground walking with my head down against the crowd and looking for my cousin all at the same time. I saw her and started screaming her name, but then alas, her ipod was in so I had to weave through the crowd to get her attention. I caught up to her and asked her about the key. She told me that she thought my other cousin had it and my heart kind of leaped. I didn't lose it! My cousin had it! I then started to go further back to find her and make sure she had the key.

Weaving, still looking for a key, I finally found her at the back of the pack and asked her about the key. Instantly her face said it all. I HAD THE KEY, not her. I lost it. So then I traveled further back to find the key on the road. YUP, I had been passed by ALL the walkers and runners at this point. I was jogging my way back to the starting line, my head down and scanning the street for anything that looked liked a key. This was when all the zigging and zagging was coming back to haunt me, when I noticed something black laying on the pavement up ahead of me. I ran to it and scooped it up off the ground; the key was found! I was in very last place! So many great things happening at once!

I then turned around, key in hand and started running fast again. I quickly caught up to the crowd of walkers and joggers in the back and made my way all the way back through the crowd. I remember when I left the pack, I was behind a guy with a shirt that said SAVE THE DRAGON, in reference to the nearby lake since it looked like a dragon. I wanted to catch up to him. I worked my butt off the remainder of the race to pass people and get back up to where I left off. I passed my first cousin, and showed her the key with a big smile! I then made it my sincere vow to pass my next cousin. I looked and looked for her and then all of a sudden I was right next to her. I passed by her and showed her the key too, she looked relieved.

As I passed the 2nd mile, a dual stroller pushing dad wearing a SuperDad shirt was giving his baby in the stroller a new bottle and making sure the other baby was holding on to his blanket. I thought DANG DAD YOU ARE LEGIT, and I passed him, and smiled. I then realized it was roughly eight more minutes to the finish line for me. So I kicked it into high gear. I had no idea what my time was, I wasn't wearing a watch, I don't know how far I ran. It was then when I truly regretted leaving my poor Claude in the car. The last mile was on some rolling hills and I love me some rolling hills. A lot of the runners I were around were guys and I could tell they were wondering where I came from, and they were sad to get chicked. Then I saw him, SAVE THE DRAGON MAN! I passed him by and before I knew it I saw the Purple and Yellow Start/Finish line. Right when I saw that my ipod got really lose and flapped down by my wrist. So I held onto that with one hand, had my headphone cord flying all over the place and held onto the key tightly in the other hand. I was a mess.

I finished by a guy who was running and then decided that he didn't want to get chicked by me as I started to pass him. His wife yelled for him to sprint at the end! Bummer dude, because he got big time chicked. I think my finishing time was right around 27:05. Who knows what was going on there. I didn't get the official time because I signed up for the half marathon and they didn't time me. I even asked the person handing out the wine glasses for the half marathon after if I could have one since I signed up for it but got sick and limited myself to the 5k. She snapped back at me that no they were only for the FINISHERS OF THE HALF MARATHON. Yea, got that lady, pretty sure you didn't want me to barf on you as I finished my 1/2 so you should be thankful I didn't make an attempt.

The 5k course was overall pretty much the best course for my liking, not too hilly, but still some smaller hills and paved with a little dirt and you can see the finish line from a little bit away, so you know it's coming. If I was in tip top shape I would have loved to run it hard and I would have loved to run the 1/2, but some things are not meant to be. Both my cousins PR'ed and I succeeded in getting the worst 5k time of my entire life. Score one for the Chic Runner.

This is a reenactment of what the key might have done... Slipped out the bottom of my shorts. Fail.

After the race with the key.

As you can see it was a really pretty area, but this is my thumbs down for my race time.

My cousins and I after the race, happy to be done with the 5k for sure.

So yes, the race was completed, I didn't have Claude the one time I really needed him, but I did find the key, so all in all a success. I am going to go for a run tomorrow and get my training plan back on track because I have definitely not been on track because of this sickness. I have to get working on my mileage again so that I can continue to train for my full marathon at the end of May.

Hope you enjoyed the debacle.

xoxo

PS oh by the way (congrats on making it this far down the post...), tomorrow I'm having a GIVEAWAY!!! Be sure to lurk by then! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

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

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

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

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

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

Then we made some delicious s'mores! :)

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

xoxox

Don't get your hopes up

No post today.

I leave you with my favorite poem from elementary school. I don't know why I can still recite this. Perhaps I heard it so many times that I just know it.

I cannot go to school today
said little Peggy Ann McKay
I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash, and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry.
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox.

And there's one more, that's seventeen,
and don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue,
It might be the instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke.
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in.

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time is rains.
My toes are cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There's a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail and my heart is....
What? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is......... Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!

I wish I was feeling good enough to go out and play today but today is not my day! Hoping tomorrow I am feeling well enough to race on Sunday. If not I will just cheer for my cousins who are running the 5k. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Sorry today wasn't the foto Friday you were hoping for!

xoxo

Thursday Deals + T-rex Arms

The sore throat/stuffy nose/head cold has taken full control of my body so this morning I ran a slow three miler to try to clear out my legs from my hardcore quad workout yesterday that I received from the gym. Tonight I'll try to get in another 3-4 miles to see how I'm feeling. Hoping tomorrow to get in some miles before we take off to head up for the Wine Country 1/2 after work. I am super excited because this weekend I also am having lunch with Mr. R's mom after the race since she is going to come down and meet me after the race because she lives somewhat nearby.

For last night's gym sesh, I was lucky enough to tag along with my cousin for her personal training workout and really got my butt kicked. Anything involving 15 pound weights and balancing on one leg is pretty hardcore when you are working with my T-rex like arms and my balance of two year old. My legs feel sore today but it's a really good sore. I know I'll be ready for this weekend.

15 more days until Hawaii with Mr. R. Please come quickly my dear vacation.

So today I was back in luck finding some sweet deals. For Women, these are some cute Adidas shoes, which are not for running but are fun, funky and a good price! Here is a blue long sleeve mock turtleneck by C9, they have pink, ebony, and white too! If you love spandex like myself, then totally try these Nautilus Low Rise Fitted Shorts, I want a pair! Here's a Nike Long Sleeve Fitted Tee and a Reebok Long Sleeve Fitted Tee for those of you who are still stuck in the cold this week.

For those experiencing hints of the summer months, like myself here is some good sunny wear, Nike Sleeveless Dri Fit Top and this Adidas Sleeveless Top along with these Nike Short Sleeve Dri Fit Top in a plethora of colors. Some more warm weather wear was found in this Nike V-Neck Sleeveless Top and these Nike Black Shorts. If you are racing anytime soon, this lightweight Sport Hill Singlet can come in handy too. For all those who have to take gus, and blox, I would recommend this Brooks Short Sleeve Tee in white with pockets. If pockets aren't for you, then try this Brooks Short Sleeve Tee in black with gray

For the Men, it was also quite the successful week in discounts and deals. Stimulate the economy and raise awareness for Cancer and the Livestrong Community in this Long Sleeve LiveStrong Tee. If you are still stuck in the cold, here are some jackets for you unfortunate people, Columbia Fleece Trail Jacket and the Adidas Response Jacket. Here's a long sleeve tee for you too, just for good measure Long Sleeve Craft Run Tee. To all you sunny birds that have found the warm weather, a Sleeveless Reebok Running tee, Nike Men's Short Sleeve Tee and perhaps even a Reebok Singlet to enjoy your runs in! I also found these Nautilus Indoor Cycle Shorts, read: Spandex for men.

Now since I'm a runner with a firm belief in using a hydration belt for a long run, I have been finding deals on these bad boys too. Here's a Hydration Belt with one bottle and a pocket, another Women's Hydration Belt with two small pockets and a bottle, another super simple Hydration Belt with one small zipper pocket and a bottle. Then another two pocket and bottle Hydration Belt. Then we've got tons of Yoga Mat Bags on Sale including this one, this one, and this one. Here's some sweet yoga mats to put in those yoga bags too a lovely green one, and an odd orange one.

Tomorrow will be race goals and foto Friday!!

xoxo

Shiny Wonderful Goodness

I am sick. Boo. Sore throat = no running because sore throat limits breathing. I think this is because of my wonderful run the other night, when I was so cold but felt so good. Yuck. I will be better soon though, especially for this weekend's 1/2! I will be hitting up the gym tonight and maybe coughing on everyone and getting them sick too. I kid. I kid. Onto my new obsession.

So I want shiny hair. I try to take crazy intense care of my hair. I get it trimmed every 7 weeks. I wash it twice and condition it once. I try not to "over wash it". I try not to straighten it too much, which is kind of hard because I do have naturally curly hair. And then there's working out. Working out which kills my hair because I run so much, and I sweat and my hair gets really dirty, gritty and gross. I also have a TON of hair and it grows like crazy, which I'm totally okay with. Washing my hair as much as I do because of working out though has begun to take it's toll on the shiny fluffy full factor that I used to have when I was a little bit rounder from not working out and eating Twinkies all day.

Hey my hair was looking pretty good even if my waist wasn't!

Anyways, I have been looking for something to replenish the shine. I have tried jojoba oil and it made my hair a greasy mess, since for some reason my hair likes to keep oil in it. I also tried some stuff from Herbal Essences and Treseme and both helped make my hair softer but nothing was replacing the shine that I was missing. I wish I could buy much more expensive products for my hair, but alas, spending over 10 dollars for hair products that will be washed out the next day is a little ridiculous to me. So then I read about the John Frieda Shine Collection.

I hoped this new find would be what finally would perk up my limp locks. I went and got it at Target where it was around 8 dollars. I read the directions and found out you are suppose to use it after a conditioner and leave it on while showering and then rinse it out. Once a week you can also use it for 20 minutes and get extreme shine. I used it once for three minutes while in the shower and let me tell you, my hair hasn't looked this good in a long time. It's soft, smooth and SUPER shiny. I couldn't believe the results myself.

Random but true. So shine on.

Tomorrow will be full of any deals I can find and maybe I will find some cool people at the gym to discuss. :)

xoxo

5 miles of a good head clearing

So claudeskipoo let me down a little bit and wouldn't find a satellite for a while yesterday. It's okay, I've since forgiven him but it was a while, meaning oh like 2 miles. I knew the route though and got in a really good run and did some hill work to try to strengthen my quads up in hopes that my knee wouldn't be sore for this weekend. I feel well and ran an average pace of 8:15 for 5 miles.

Do you ever have those workouts where you feel like your head is just cleared and you can keep running and it just feels so good. That was the workout last night. It felt freaking good to be out and running. Even though it was cold and I decided to wear shorts (stupid) and it was incredibly windy. I still felt good. I didn't bring my ipod and I still felt really good. It felt good to remember how a run feels. A run that you don't get tired on, that isn't way too far, that you don't have to suck down gus and drink tons of water to finish.

Just a leisurely run. One that gets the heart rate up but doesn't get you overly sweaty to the point where you reek. It was so calming to be able to watch the lights of Long Beach light up against the dark night sky and to hear the ocean lapping at the sand. It was good to hear my feet continue to pound the pavement. The sand on the path squishing under my shoes.

It was nice to hear my consistent breath, the huffing and puffing as I climbed the hills. Invigorating. That's what running can be if you give it the chance. It's always good to be able to come back to something that gives you peace, and allows you to think.

To me, Running is always there. I can always tie up my shoes and take off for three miles, for five mile, for fifteen miles. It's something that no matter the time of day, no matter the day you've had, no matter the people around you, or anything else, you can still do it. You can still get out and run. I love that. I love running.

Though this picture isn't at the beach, it's one of my favorite running pictures.

xoxo

So I have a new lover...

So I completely love Mr. R, even when I ruin pictures with him and he ruins pictures with me. He's always making me laugh and makes me a much better person just being around him. He also likes to point out EVERY SINGLE ONE of my super blond moments and even explains the jokes to me that I don't understand. Now that is love. Don't worry, Mr. R knows about my new lover as well. He thinks he's kind of lame, but he is glad that I am happy and can track my workouts better now.

He even was there when he helped me name little Claude and has seen Claude's intense tracking power. Let me tell you, Claude is amazing. I will post a complete review hopefully by Friday because by then hopefully I will have been able to upload the workouts online.

This weekend was my first long run with Claude and thought I only went 15.5 miles, instead of my full 16, it was great to have him along and I felt like the tracking was much more precise and it was nice to see so much about my workout located on the little screen.

My long run was done on Saturday this week because I knew it was going to rain on Sunday and I don't run in the rain. Everything was going great, I was hydrated well, had some delicious shot blox and did my first 7 miles with an average 8:55 pace. I stopped at mile 8 back at my house for about five minutes, went to the bathroom, got some more shot blox and took off again. About mile 14 I started to sputter around. I continued on the stretch home but I got really weird cramps in my back right by the back of my ribs. It was strange but my last mile I think I averaged about a 10 minute mile and I was hurting. I came home did my sit ups and push ups and then showered up. It was a good run and for not running very long runs consistently, I'm glad I got that one out of the way. I totally forgot I have a 1/2 marathon this weekend in Paso Robles. It should be fun and I feel prepared for it.

Mr. R and I went shopping and then we went to church and watched Man Vs. Food, one of my new favorites shows on the travel channel. Yesterday one of his friends randomly invited us with him to the Ducks Hockey Game and they won 6-2! There were not very many fights , but the seats were about 10 rows back from the ice so that was exciting. We also saw the movie, "I love you, Man" and it was hilarious! I really recommend it. I love Jason Segal. He's so hilarious in all movies he does, I love Forgetting Sarah Marshall too. I am not the biggest Jamie Pressly fan either, but I loved her in the movie as well.

Yesterday was a scheduled rest day for me and tonight I'll be doing an easy 5 miler with my lover Claude. I can't wait to post a full review for you guys. I was very skeptical as to what the Garmin actually did, and now that I have one I completely understand the common, "You'll never run without it," and the, "You'll wonder what you did before it" comments I was getting before.

I am also excited to share about my adoption in the month on April. I'm glad so many of you are interested in it, or at least my side of the story. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

xoxo

Adoption April!

So after so many great comments about learning more about my adoption and my complete willingness to share my story I've decided that I will take one day a week in the month of April to talk about my adoption. I'm going to call it Adoption April, and if you don't care about learning more about adoption or hearing my story and how I was adopted then you can just skip right over these posts! It will take place every Monday in April and I will also be adding in anything else that I wanted to cover in my normal posts as well. This is what I wanted to talk about:

1. Why I was adopted - this is when I will talk about why I was put up for adoption and how the process worked for my parents at the time.

2. Growing up adopted - this is when I will discuss how I felt growing up adopted and how my parents handled me being adopted and any questions I may have had and may still have regarding my adoption

3. My thoughts on adoption - this is where I will talk about how I think adoption shaped me as a person and how I think many people can benefit from adoption. I will also voice what I think about secrecy and how some people have reacted to me being adopted.

4. All about my Birth Parents - this is when I will talk about the few things I know about my birth parents, including if I want to meet them or not, why I do or don't and what I feel about them.

5. Q&A on Adoption - this is where any of you can ask any question you want about adoption. I have always been open to discussing anything that anyone wants to know and I would love to raise adoption awareness by allowing anyone to ask anything! Seriously if you guys have any questions feel free to email (danicakoo@gmail.com) me and I will address them on this day, or if you just want me to write you back personally let me know.

Can't wait to share more of my story with you guys.

xoxo

Do we really look alike?

So many times I get told that I look like my brother. Before my mom died people always were shocked when I told them I was adopted because everyone said we looked alike too. I thought in honor of Nike Mom's foto friday, I would post some pictures to see if y'all still thought me and my little bro still looked alike.

These are mostly older pictures. You can see my old hair too ha ha, and even when I had a bob. Yikes. :) Since Taylor's long hair is now also gone, he wears it how it looks in the pictures I posted yesterday from the wedding. I wish I had more pictures of me and him but they are all stuck on my old computer! I need to get that fixed so I can get onto there and get all the documents and pictures off. Soon enough I will.

This is kind of a random post, but enjoy!



This was one of the pictures we took for one of our family Christmas Cards back in '05



Easter, right after my mom died. Right before I randomly cut off 11 inches of my hair and Taylor still had super long hair!



A pre-dance picture after I chopped my hair off



This was another pre-dance picture, my hair was slowly growing back!



Then I cut my hair short again and this was the first year he was a lifeguard and Huntington State Beach. This year will be his fourth year already!



At his high school graduation party.. My hair was blondish and long again?



At his high school graduation party



This is a picture of me and my mom too. This is the last picture I took with her, and I like to think that it's a great picture!

Crazy how I still look so much like my brother and I looked like my mom huh! People always ask me about adoption and how I feel about it etc. and if any of you have any questions feel free to ask me. I like to talk about it and am not offended at all! Maybe I will post more about my adoption soon if you guys would like to know more. I hope everyone has a great weekend! I have a wonderful 16 miler planner tomorrow and I am going to work on re-painting my dresser and getting some shelves up in my room. I also hope to see the movie, "I Love you, Man". It looks hilarious!

xoxox

Come out, Come out wherever you are!

So I usually can find some cool deals. Usually it takes me about 20 minutes to scrounge around and dig up some stuff and post it, but lately, the deals have not been popping up like they used to.

Like today, I could find this Le Tigre Puffy Jacket that was normally $128 and is now only $39, and though not realated to running at all it's rather cute. This was about all I could find. There was a cute Women's Nike Tank, this Asics Long Sleeve Tee, a cute and pink Nike Tank, another pink Asics Tank, a cool teal Razorback Tank by Zoot, another blue and white Razorback Tank, another short sleeve Reebok Tee, this super cute Nike Tank, another Nike Tank, a nice Nike Long Reflective Tank, and this cute Nike Sports Vneck Tee but like I said, I couldn't find anything.


Then I found this Men's Brooks Long Sleeve Tee, some Brook's Men's Shorts, a black Reebok Performance Tee, a lightweight Columbia Men's Long Sleeve, these nice black Brooks Shorts, this crazy deal on a North Face Fleece, a sharp Asics Long Sleeve 1/3 Zip, this Short Sleeve Nike Tee, and then finally Nike's Short Sleeve "Distance" Tee, but who said there are any deals out there?

I mean, this shirt (NikePink CheetahTee) isn't on sale but how badly do I want it? So badly.

Then, since I'm a new hydration belt lover, I did find look for some deals on these because I know how important they are. I did find the Nathan Ipod Carrier Water bottle holder and this really cute New Balance Lace up for the Cure Hydration Belt but there wasn't too much to be had. Maybe there will be some more deals next week? I can only hope.

So last night Mr. R wanted to hang out so I couldn't say no and he promised me a trip to one of my most favorite restaurants for dinner, The Lazy Dog! How could I resist?! The inside out chicken quesadilla didn't disappoint either. I did my 200 sit ups and 50 push ups but that was all I thought about working out! I decided instead of taking tonight off that I would switch it around and took last night off. Don't worry you exercise fiends, I will be getting in my eight miles today after work. As I predicted, I was glued to my sheets this morning so I didn't get them done right away. It's nice to have Daylight Savings time once again so I will be safe and alert out on my run tonight, especially since Claude will be with me! Maybe I will take my camera.

I wanted to share some pictures from the wedding I was in this weekend. I know some of you are wedding blogging fanatics so I thought you might want to take a peek. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures but I will maybe post some more pictures from the photographer. We'll see. It was my dad's second wedding. Thank you again for your prayers and good thoughts sent my way that day. It was a struggle but I am glad it's over.

The little bro and I

I thought this picture was cute, because I'm smiling at Mr. R!

Getting introduced, that's my brother and his girlfriend.

The Brother's GF who I love and this is gorgeous!!!!

Weird, how did he get this when he's not 21? :)

xoxo

And the Winner is!

Well according to the actual poll, Marvin won, except that is the name that I liked the least. Hermes came in second and then Thor and then Claude. So to decide the name yesterday while running I decided to call it all of the names and see which one it would 'locate the satellite on'. Well for some reason the little guy was having difficulties locating the satellites yesterday but finally landed on then when I was calling out Claude. By the way this whole shenanigan was Mr. R's idea. He said you need to call it so that it will know and come to it's master. Yup, we took it way too far. So now he is named Claude, since that is what the satellites responded too.

We ran four miles together and then I did my sit ups and push ups and we watched Biggest Loser. I didn't know I was running all these 'halfamarathons' as they were called on the show, I thought they were 'half marathons'. What do you guys think? I am glad the alliance is finally broken up. Watched my dose of American Idol too, I know, I stayed up super late! :) Does the show really have to continue on when Danny Gokey is on there? I mean, I'm not totally personally sold on him but why does there need to be a show when no one else compares to him?

I also don't think I explained myself well enough when I talked about how the Garmin hits on my wrist bone. It really has nothing to do with the strap and it doesn't need to be tighter, but I guess the shape of my wrist is too flat for Claude and it hits when running because it doesn't wrap around my wrist as it should. I did read that some of you wear it upside down and I tried this yesterday and it seemed to work well and didn't look like I had some huge watch on my wrist either, double bonus. I am going to try the sweatband out as well just to see if that works any better.

As for green beer?

This was my first official green beer. Yea doesn't look so green does it... Looks more like just a dirty gross beer, but don't worry it was the nectar of Coors Light.

Then during lunch we saw some other people getting SUPER green beers so we had to give it another try!

Now that is some green beer! Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Saint Patrick's Day. Tonight I'm going to the gym and going to do some core work, cross-training, and maybe jog for 2 miles on the treadmill. Hopefully tomorrow morning I can get out of my warm, comfortable bed at 5:30 am and get in eight miles before work. We'll see in tomorrow morning's post, maybe I will find a gym freak of the week to share....

Some of you asked questions and complemented my nails in my post yesterday. Well they are fake, just without the white tip, and just the OPI black nailpolish, Black Onyx. Thanks for thinking they looked so great though. I have the awful habit of biting my nails so I got 'overlays' put on to try to help them not look so gnarly.

Also today I'm going to be filling out my March Madness Bracket! Any hints on that one? I know you all have your opinions! :)

xoxo

What do you name a new baby?

So obviously I've never had the opportunity to name a new child, since I've never had a child. I named my cat when I was 5. I named her Whisker Silly. Imagine going to the vet and having to go in the room after 'Whisker Silly' was called. Sadly, Whisker died my senior year. Rip Whisks. Then we move onto my dog. I have named a dog before, my dog Cassie, which I named after my favorite food, casseroles. Sadly, I named her my junior year of high school, so I can't blame her name on any lapse of knowledge, but her name fits her well. Unfortunately she can't live with me at our house, so she lives with my dad and our other dog named Cody, which I SWEAR I named but my brother claims that he named. Lies I tell you.

So I have been told that you must name your Garmin. I feel that I definitely agree. I have decided in between a few names and wanted to have you guys help me to decide!

When the little child came to mama yesterday!



I think the name Claude reminds me of a little crab that would run fast. The name Marvin just kind of makes me laugh. I like the name Thor because it sounds powerful and I also like the name Hermes because it sounds so classy, and he was the Greek god of Travel. So many options! Here are some other pictures of the child if you would like to take a good look before picking a name

This morning I ran 4 miles with the Garmin and it really is amazing. Though I never found an in depth review out there, I always had heard only great things about Garmins and I am too now a follower. I will post a much more in depth review next week with pictures and in detailed explanations because I would love to share that with you guys like I did for the hatphones.

There is one small problem that I have encountered with the Garmin thus far though. I have very small wrists and they are very bony. Weird, but true and this means that I have to pull the Garmin almost to the last notch. If I had regular sized wrists I feel that it would sit in the right place on my wrist and be able to stay there. Since my wrists are so small it rubs against the bone that I have there. The only idea I've had thus far is too wear a sweatband type wristband underneath because after only four miles the little bone was a little bruised and almost rubbed raw. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem.

I hope to run another 4 miles with Mr. R tonight to show him how amazing it is, and then maybe he'll realize that it's worth the $$$ and won't be so mad. :) I did 150 sit ups this morning and will the remaining tonight along with my push-ups. I hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day! Some co-workers and I are going to go to lunch and drink some green beer, which I've never had. Perhaps I'll share some pictures tomorrow.

Remember to vote!!

xoxo

The Thin Beast?

I just wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone who wished me well and was praying for me this past weekend. It was hard but getting your comments and knowing that so many people out there cared for me made it a lot easier. Yesterday I was able to get in a 9 mile run, which wasn't what I had planned but my ankle is still healing from last weekend so I was happy with that. I am hoping to make this week my longest mileage week yet, coming in right around 50. Of course I am continuing my daily sit ups and push ups. My arms are so weak still, but I can tell that the push ups are making a difference. I am hoping for the best but we shall see how the ankle holds up.

I just tracked my Garmin package, I have a serious problem tracking packages, and I think it might even arrive later today! I am so excited to jump on the Garmin train and I will definitely be posting a review after I figure it out. I am sad to say that over 7-9 miles the Nike plus just doesn't hack it anymore.

Yesterday while out on my run on the beach path of Long Beach I noticed something different about my path. Ahead of me were a bunch of volleyball nets and a whole bunch of beach volley teams playing. A little back story here is that my college roommate and best friend is a volleyball player as well. In college for my 'work study' I was the volleyball team scorekeeper. We would always watch beach and sometimes, on occasion, she would let me play with her. She is really good at volleyball and though I miss her a lot, right now she is in Europe living out her dream playing for a team in Innsbruck, Austria. We still skype and chat online a lot and we try to send really random pictures to each other when we think the other is least expecting.

So anyways we've watched a lot of beach volleyball (AVP) together and both have come to love the THIN BEAST and his partner, The Professor. During the Olympics the Thin Beast was renamed the Beijing Beast, but I prefer the Thin Beast. My friend has even gone to the AVP and seen them play and she said yes, in real life, he's a thin beast. As I'm running I start to see that these players are legitimate and there are a few signs that say USA Volleyball. I didn't connect the two together until I saw him. I saw the Thin Beast. Obviously he was incredibly recognizable, a towering 6'9 is something you don't miss. I ran by and just watched everyone and then ran my loop and when I was passing again there was a stray ball coming towards the path I was running on. There was an older woman in front of me walking a small yorkie and I thought for sure she was going to give it back to the players but she kept on walking. Then I was the next closest person. I picked up the ball and thought about kicking it, but I was running in my running skirts, so I ruled that one out. I was a little cautious to hit the ball back to them but I threw it up in the air and luckily served it perfectly back to him and he said thank you. It was by far the highlight of my run.

It was crazy seeing them all out there though, but exciting for me at least. Today is a rest day for me and tomorrow I'm going to run 8 in the morning before work. Hopefully I can get out of bed. :)

xoxo

One Saturday Morning

I remember when I would watch that in the mornings on Saturdays on ABC. It was great to wake up and not have to worry about cleaning the house, paying the bills, doing laundry and taking care of countless errands, wasn't it? When the most important thing in life was the cartoons and your morning cereal. Man, I still love Kix. 

Sometimes I'm so happy that I'm so busy with my life and don't get me wrong, I do love my life and the place I am at right now as a person. I am usually a very positive, happy person as well but sometimes there are some things in life that disappoint you. I don't want my blog to be all about airing my dirty laundry but today I have a lot of family things going on that won't be easy for me to deal with. If you could send good thoughts + prayers my way that would be much appreciated. I don't think you all realize how much a comment brightens my day. 

I can't wait to run tomorrow and be able to put this behind me. 

Thank you all,

xoxo

The Ebay Experience

I have been looking for a Garmin per every one's recommendation that I get one. After last weekend when my Nike + told me I ran 17.5 miles and I only had run 15 I was sad. I knew that I was reaching beyond the Nike + with my mileage. I also found some good deals on craigslist and was in the process of emailing people about them, and thought I had found one and was going to get it shipped to me. I had emailed back and forth with the guy for a while and he kept telling me he was going to ship it and then got to busy. Well you see, I am a little impatient. I do understand that work does get in the way, and life can be busy, but if I was trying to sell something and had a buyer I would have taken care of it right away. Yesterday I did a little searching around and found some Garmin 305s on eBay. So I have never bought anything off eBay, nor did I really understand how it worked.

I 'watched' the Garmin I wanted yesterday by checking in on it every hour. Then it became down to the minutes. I let it go down to 5 minutes and then I didn't really know what to do. I wanted to be the highest bidder but I didn't want to unnecessarily up the price and let the other buyer that someone else was interested. Sneaky I know.

Then it came down to a minute. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I was so worried that I wouldn't get my bid in or I would be outbid. I placed my first bid with 48 seconds left. Then it immediately said I was outbid. I quickly typed in $135.00, then it said Auction ended. It also said that I had won the item! My heart seriously felt like it was having an attack. It was racing, but I had won and I was going to be a proud owner of a Garmin. Finally. Now I must think of a name for my new child. (and if my creative director from work sees this picture he's going to KILL himself... he always makes fun of my not really there photoshop skills. I am waiting for him to laugh at his desk)

Overall now that I've used eBay I think it's pretty cool, I got a way better deal and free shipping. It wasn't hard to figure out and I had to wait till the auction ended but I still won so that was exciting. I will have to find out more about using eBay.

On another note, last night I ran a whopping 2 miles at 8:30 pace and right before I got home I stepped in a huge pile of dog poop. I was trying to get home quick before it was dark and SPLAT poop all over. After cleaning my shoe, I then did some cross training, including my 300 sit ups and my 50 push ups. I really am starting to feel my arms get stronger. I usually do push ups up against the couch because I feel like I tighten my abs more while I'm doing it.

These were taken on my run. Yup, again confirmed that I love where I live. The picture with the water is the little harbor right off the ocean by my house. Hope everyone has a great weekend and I can't wait for my Garmin to arrive so I can try it out and realize how slow I was running this entire time while my Nike+ was lying to me.

xoxo

Thursday Deals and spreading the love.

I found this via my twitter this morning and had to post about it. I have come to realize that the blogging community is very tight knit, along with the running community, that's why I wanted to share this link with you guys. Athletes for a Cure . Michael's 10 year old daughter, Winter is a triathlete who competed in her father's honor when he was diagnosed with rare and aggressive form of prostate cancer. It was on their site this morning that it was stated, "It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Michael Vinecki this morning at 8:55am. He leaves behind wife Dawn and his four children Yukon (12), Winter (10), Magnum (8) and Ruger (6). " You can leave a note of encouragement and love On their guestbook.

On another note, here's some Thursday running deals.

Women
Nike+ 3.5 Shorts -Normally $41.99, Now $19.99
Asics Run Core Women's Top - Normally $24.99, Now $17.99
Nike Strong And Strappy Dri Fit Tank - Normally $40, Now $23
Nautilus Low-Rise Shorts - Normally $30, Now $12.93

Men
Nike Dri-Fit Short Sleeve Top - Normally $35, Now $14 (only xl)
Nike Tank - Normally $25, Now $15
Nike Short Sleeve Training Top - Normally $30, Now $17
Nike Dri Fit Race Day Shorts - Normally $40, Now $19
Brooks Element Running Shorts - Normally $35, Now $21

Misc.
North Face Hydration Belt - Normally $29, Now $12

Last night my cousin couldn't take her personal training session so I shared it when her sister. We worked a few things, mostly focusing on some new exercises I hadn't done before which was fun. She also showed us how to use a few machines which was good for me. Usually I stay away from the machines besides the row and lat pull and stick with free weights. It was a fun and different experience. I ran two miles, and was still incredibly sore so I started out really slow on the treadmill and built up my speed slowly so my quads wouldn't burn. It was a good work out. I topped it off with not 200 sit ups, but 300. I wanted to feel more burn and I got just what I asked for. I have continued to implement 20 push ups daily but I also think that I am going to up that to 50. I can definitely tell those are making a difference in my arms and back.

Tonight I am hoping to hit up the gym again and get some different muscles worked. Along with my sit ups and push ups. Hopefully I'll be able to be on the treadmill for more than 20 minutes too!

xoxo

25 things list

Because I am not particularly fond of people creeping on my facebook and I have a few 'friends' on there that I'd rather not let into every aspect of my life, I thought it would be interesting to do my "25 Random Things" about me list obviously on my blog so the WORLD can see.

Sometimes I don't even make sense to myself.

1. I collect quarters like it's my job. I even save up my non-quarter change to exchange it for quarters in order to get more quarters. I love quarters so much because they help me do my laundry and it is expensive. So if you find any quarters... I have a special jar for them in my closet. I get so excited when I find one. It's literally like finding twenty dollars for me.

2. I don't eat lettuce. At all. This seems to blow every one's mind. No salad, no lettuce on my burger. None of it. My dad continues to say that I won't be a true lady until I eat lettuce. Well dad, I'm never going to be a lady then.

3. I love watching sports except for basketball, and I'm a Laker Hater. I hate all the followers, the ones who watch the game and then put it all over their facebook and I hate the jerseys. I also hate the colors purple and yellow, it reminds me of butterflies! But I love me some Anaheim Angels.

4. I could never give up meat. EVER. I love meat and especially chicken. Sometimes I think it would be fun to try but then I get a burger for lunch.

5. I have the worst memory ever. I can't remember much of elementary, middle, or high school, and I remember only some prominent parts of college, which it wasn't even a year ago that I graduated.

6. I used to think I wanted to be married at 21. I'm so glad that I've learned so much and now I laugh about the idea of getting married anytime soon. A huge majority of people my age that I know are married, and they got married a year or two ago. I think that's what happens when you go to a super small high school and college.

7. I absolutely love taking pictures. I love the memories and moments that each picture captures. It also helps me remember what I've done in my life when my memory fails me.

8. I got hit by a drunk driver my junior year of college in my cousins car. Jorge Avalos had a beer in his cup holder and blew a point .18 (legal limit in CA is .08) and denied being drunk. Right buddy. I thankfully only hurt my neck really bad but had to throw up all the time because my equilibrium was off so much, and I had seat belt burns and had to wear leggings as pants! Embarrassing. I only got a thousand dollars out of the deal. Shady!

9. I have a phobia of birds, especially crows. I hate them and I am deathly afraid of getting pecked to death. I get scared when I have to run by the huge pack of seagulls at the beach.

10. I have donated 23 inches of my hair to Locks of Love. Twelve inches one time and eleven the other time. I want to do it again, and again, and again. It's such a great cause, and it's nerve racking and scary but exhilarating to cut off that much hair at a time.

11. I google everything. People. Places. Things to do. Running Routes. Everything. I can't stop myself.

12. I get incredibly extreme anxiety when I watch anything scary. I literally freak out and cannot watch anymore of the movie. My heart beats super fast and I cannot breathe.

13. I played soccer for four years and I loved it. I was incredibly horrible but I loved it.

14. I love my brothers girlfriend. She is hilarious and brings out the best in him, even though he calls me by her name, and gets us confused, and cannot tell us apart from the back. Just last night I saw her facebook status, " I got street cred baby," - The infamous Taylor. I can't believe that she can deal with him! She is amazing!

15. I think about teaching English in high school. It's a thought, but I love my advertising position so much!

16. I am the biggest sap ever to walk the face of the earth. I cry over everything. Commercials, books, movies, songs, anything. Sadly, I used to never cry and then college came and I became a freak crier.

17. My iPhone is an extended version of my hand. I thought my iPhone was going to die the other day and I almost started crying and immediately looked up all the nearest Apple Stores. Alas, I googled the issue and then found a way to fix it myself.

18. I find myself constantly seeking for ways to make an impact on others with my life.

19. I find that if I don't do my devotions regularly, I get very pessimistic and obnoxious. Thanks God for reminding me that I do need you!

20. At least twice a week at work while I'm drinking water from my nalogen bottle, I spill a whole bunch of water down the front of my shirt. I guess I can't look at my computer screen and drink water at the same time.

21. I love receiving mail and packages more than anything in the world. I just realized I can send myself my packages of things I buy online to myself at work, so then I get the joy of actually getting the package, instead of it being left on my doorstep at home. I love it when the delivery man comes!

22. Happy Meals from Mc Donalds are the perfect size of everything. Perfect amount of burger or chicken nuggets. Perfect amount of fries. Perfect drink size. And who doesn't love a cool toy. It even works for breakfast with the Egg Mc Muffin Happy Meal!

23. My favorite verse in the bible is Acts 20:24. It's pretty amazing and it's even about completing our life like a race. I love it.

24. Up until October I have always slept in a twin bed then I got a queen bed for my birthday. I am working on (I would even call it training) myself to sleep in the middle of the bed. When I wake up in my queen I would find myself waking up on one side and the other side of my bed totally not even being used. FAIL.

25. I am amazing at parallel parking when I have to back up on my right side. This is perfect because I live in a place where parallel parking is super key to finding a parking spot. The left side though, I can barely do it, and it takes me many more tries than the right side.


Tonight I'm going to the gym. I finally am regaining movement in my legs from the trail run of death so I can walk up and down stairs and not have to perform some super death grip on the stairwell. Good progress. Glad you all enjoyed the Yolanda story. I was blown away, believe me. This weekend I am hoping to get in as many miles as I can, but it will be busy! I am still doing my 200 sit ups and I have added 20 push ups to my routine. Not fun but worth it!

Hopefully tomorrow I can share part of my exciting news and then sometime next week I can share the rest of it. Just praying about the decisions I'm making. :)

Also I totally forgot to mention what I thought of last nights Biggest Loser. Seriously, Ron it's YOUR TIME TO GO HOME. I can't believe they sent the strongest member of the team home. So stupid. Ron is a schemer and I don't like him. I also don't like how the Blue team went crazy on Jillian and then ran to Bob and LIED to him. Sorry you didn't get a workout Filipe, but guess what, not everyone has personal trainers like that. I was sad that the black team won the weigh in even after the many stunts they pulled. Smoking? Drinking? GET REAL. This is what got you where you are today. I was ashamed to watch that, and to watch Bob open arms the blue team and never even see him and Jillian talk about what happened. Okay, rant over.

xoxo

The Walking Diva

I love meeting people and I consider myself to be a friendly and outgoing person. I especially love meeting new runners and hearing about races and past experiences. It's always fun when someone surprises you with a great time, or some crazy distance run. So I mentioned yesterday that on my walk/run/jog/death march I met a woman named Yolanda.



This was when I was initially starting to feel my knee hurting not even two miles into the race yet. Well Yolanda was power walking by me and asked me how I was feeling and if I was okay. She was a very pretty black woman who was super fit and was hitting her stride power walking the trails. I thought to myself that I could probably walk with her so I walked along for a while hoping my knee would feel better. It didn't and then the hills began. We walked along and we started talking. I am a big talking while running or walking in this case and I really enjoyed her company.



She told me about how she was a walker and I'm sure I muttered something about me becoming one after this race. She kept up a great pace though and really powered me up those hills. Our conversation came really easily and I had fun laughing with her and tackling the hills together.



She asked me about what races I've done and what I had coming up and I told her about taking the full marathon plunge in San Diego. She was very encouraging and then I asked her if she had ever walked a full marathon. She kind of laughed and she said yes. I asked her how many she had done. Then the craziest thing came out of her mouth. Last year I wanted to do 50 marathons for my 50th birthday. Honestly she looked like she was barely entering her 30s. So last year I did 50, plus I decided to tack on 15 more. So I finished last year with 65.



WHAT IN THE WORLD. Now many of you may not find this interesting at all but immediately this woman became my hero. She had walked 65 marathons in one year and was awarded the Prestigious Marathon Maniacs Maniac Female of the Year Award.



We continued to walk and talked about her races. Oh, the fact she had walked the Red Rock Marathon in Vegas on Saturday and drove back to LA and then was doing this 50k (30 miles) on Sunday. AMAZING. Hands down the most inspiring person that I could have possibly met in my life thus far.

She gave me an little bit of insight to her training and diet, her family life and injuries that she has over come, and allowed me to pester her with questions throughout the entire route. She was super encouraging to me as well, and told me about some of her races that she had done over the past year. Her perseverance and dedication to the sport of marathoning was amazing and to hear her share her stories was also very inspirational. I was happy that even though my knee didn't hold up during the race as I had hoped, I was more than honored to even be able to walk with Yolanda.

She finished the year with 1,783.48 miles walked.

HOLY COW.

Proud to have met you Walking Diva!

Here's a link to a story highlighting her achievements from her local city newspaper.

xoxo

PS Yolanda if you are reading this.. Good luck on Thursday! :)

PPS I have tons of great and exciting news coming your way. Get ready!

Malibu Creek 25k Race Report

So I preface this report with the fact that I've run trails once before. I really enjoyed that trail run and felt really good after it. That was a 10 mile out and back. The Malibu Creek Trail run was one giant loop. I don't really do to well on looped runs but I figured what the heck, and I got conned into the race by Billy. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with Sara, and we went out dinner with some friends before the race at C & O Cocina, and they had amazing food!

At dinner, remind me never to wear that vest again. Thanks.

Here's the elevation chart. Yea, possibly should have looked at this before the race.

Onto the race. Sara and I woke up early and ready to go. I just didn't have the worlds best feeling about my knee but I knew I would hopefully be able to tough it out. I liked the last trail run. I was excited to run 15 miles, a new race distance pr for me. We drove to Malibu Creek and it was freezing. We had checked the weather beforehand and it said it would be 45 degrees. When we got there it was 33. That's a pretty big difference! I actually walked over to the race check in wearing my blanket that I slept with the night before wrapped around me. I got a few funny looks but I'm not a cold weather lover unless I'm prepared for it.

Hi, I'd like to check in to get annihilated now. Thanks.

Then I went back to the car to put down my blanket and get my bottle and everything, and yup, as I'm walking back I totally missed the start. Cool. I would have normally FLIPPED out, but I was like whatever, I'm going to take my time and make sure I'm prepared and then take off. I finally left the starting area around 5 minutes later. I quickly caught up to the last of the packs and I was SUPER annoyed. There were random people yehawing? I was already dead at mile 3 and I had 12 more to go. My love for trail running was slowly dying. I climbed a few hills and on the first downhills my knee immediately was killing me. I knew it wasn't smart to push myself and just figured I would run when I could and walk/jog when I couldn't.

This was the start. I missed it. See that mountain in the background? Pretty sure we climbed it.

It was then when I met up with Yolanda, which I will go into more tomorrow, she was so inspiring and I can't wait to tell you all about her!!

It was pretty, but I don't know about worth it.

Another totally funny part of the race. We were running along and some guy told us to follow up to the road. Now this was a busy road and we had to hike up a little mini hill to get to the top and travel down the road, I felt like the race directors wouldn't have us run down this road, but I followed him because he seemed to know what he was doing and I didn't know the route. WELL I MISSED THIS RIVER because of him! How funny and GREAT... I would have flipped. So yup, this race I technically cheated as well. Well again I was told that this was the path but seriously, how funny.

The hills, yup, no joke here. This one wasn't even that bad at all.

So I slugged along, the hills were BRUTAL. I have NEVER experienced something like this before. They kept coming and coming and coming I would think that the next one would be the last, but no it wasn't. It was like you got to the top and then you could see the next path you were about to travel. Hard-freaking-core. Then as it always happens, what goes up must come down. Yikes. So the downhills were pretty hard for the knee but it held up, but the toes are a little hurt from being squashed into the front of my shoes, especially with two already beat up toenails. I hopefully salvaged them last night and this morning and they are looking okay. I'm in a wedding this weekend and my feet look like those of an ogre. Cool fashion statement.

Back to the race. I continued to slug along. I asked someone how much farther and they said about 3.5 more miles according to their garmin. I realized that my nike plus just stinks it's pretty much worthless. After I found out how much farther I thought okay, YOU CAN DO THIS. My whole body was aching. My quads were killing me from so much hill work, my toes and feet hurt and I was positive that I was getting a huge blister on my heel, but I thought it's only a 5k more. We were running on a pretty flat surface and I was fighting to finish the race, when I fell. I just twisted my ankle and went down. It was a straight down awkward slow motion fall. I think a weird incomprehensible sound flew out of my mouth and I oddly heard the thud as I fell. I just was like wow, this was just the icing on the cake. The women in front of me and the guy behind me were immediately asking if I was okay and I totally was, I walked off my ankle and almost started laugh crying. It was a weird, weird feeling. I tried my hardest to slow jog the remaining 3 miles and re-met up with Sara and she encouraged me, it was nice to see a friendly face. Then FINALLY after three hours and forty minutes of running, hiking, jogging and PURE TORTURE I finished.

Things I learned from this race:
1. I need to stop listening to Billy and allowing him to con me into races
2. I NEED hill work
3. It's okay to be slow. It's more than okay to walk.
4. Clip your toenails SUPER short before any type of running activity
5. An elevation change of almost 3,000 feet may not be the best idea to climb
6. It's okay to get your BUTT KICKED every now and then
7. Sometimes, it's okay to be happy with just finishing the race

I did enjoy the race, I learned a lot about a totally different type of running and I have SO much respect for trail runners now. It was a trying experience to say the least. Today my butt is KILLING ME, and so is my lower back. Tonight I'll be doing some hardcore stretching while relaxing since it's thankfully a rest day for me.

I think that this post goes to show that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Thank you Malibu Creek 25k for bringing me out of my comfort zone and just kicking me when I'm down.

xoxo

PS: Thanks to Billy who ran with a camera and stole all his pictures from his site. :)

Power Playlists

So when I run I usually listen to music. Lately I've had some requests for some playlits. I don't know why I got so many comments that I would love 80's so much because I was born halfway through the 80s! I get crap at work when 80s music comes on that I wasn't even alive yet to listen to certain songs. I do love the 80s though, but I am a gangster/r&bish lover as well. I don't endorse anything Even when at the gym I usually am jamming away and have been caught mouthing the words to songs before. Awkward. Anyways, here's a gathering of the songs that I listen to during workouts. I have divided them up into what I feel fit my workouts. There are 'descriptions' of the workouts next to the title of the 'play list'. If there is any funny story related to the song as well I put it in () on the side. Enjoy!

Slog running songs and Gym Songs - Doesn't really matter on these runs what comes on, as long as something is playing that doesn't make me want to stop. They can be much slower than normal. Usually anything above 7-8 miles. These are also the songs that come on when I am doing weighs or sit ups. Don't need to be SUPER upbeat but I like them to keep the workout going.


I'm in Miami B!tch by LMFAO
Crack a Bottle by Eminem
More than a Feeling by Boston
Turning Me On by Keri Hilson
Dead and Gone by Justin Timberlake
Suspicious Character by The Blood Arm
In this City by Iglu and Hartly
Single Ladies by Beyonce (whenever this song comes on I always want to bounce around)
Green Light by John Legend
Separate Ways (World's Apart) by Journey
I wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston
Love Story by Taylor Swift (I almost cry during this song. Very wierd)
Love Lockdown by Kayne West
So What by Pink
Rock Lobster by B-52s
Right Now by Akon
Don't Stop Believing by Journey
Anyway You Want It by Journey
Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups
Body On Me by Ashanti
Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park
Closer by Ne-Yo
Beat It by Michael Jackson
Lights by Journey (I am obsessed with this song)
Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft (This is my JAM! I literally have a shirt that says summer breeze across it because I love this song so much, they always play it at the most random places and I'm like, "My JAM!" ha ha)
You Got Me by One Block Radius
Wake It Up by E-40
Just Dance by Lady Gaga
Shut up and Let me Go by the Ting Tings
Ridin and Rollin by Snoop Dogg
This is How We Do by Biggie Smalls
What's your Fantasy by Ludacris ( I feel so bad listening to this song. It's so dirty. ha ha)
Beautiful by Snoop Dogg
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Southern Hospitality by Ludacris (Another straight gangster jam)
Girls kiss Girls by Pittsburgh Slim (This song is so wierd but it keeps me going)
Get Buck in Here by DJ Felli Fel
California Love by 2Pac
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Forget about Dre by Dr. Dre (Straight old school)
Could you Be Loved Remix by Biggie Smalls
In Da Club by 50 Cent
Please Don't Leave Me by Pink
Potential Break Up Song by AJ and Ali
Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake
Day and Night By Kid Cudi


Fast Running songs -These need to be pretty upbeat or they aren't doing their job. I also like to use these for tempo runs. Usually anything below 7 miles.

Phonography by Britney Spears
Shattered Glass by Britney Spears
My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
Radar by Britney Spears
Heartless by Kayne West
Gimme More by Britney Spears
I Hate This Part by the Pussycat Dolls ( I love this song!)
I Don't Care by Fallout Boy
Take on Me (Extended Version) by A-ha
Whatever You Like by T.I
Womanizer by Britney Spears
Keeps Getting Better by Christina Aguilara
Don't Trust Me by 3oh!3
Krazy by Pitbull
Your Love by the Outfield ( I seriously want to dance around like a freak when this plays)
Disturbia by Rhianna
When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls
Ayo Technology by 50 Cent
Black Mercedes by DJ Quik (This makes me want to have a black Mercedes so bad)
The Way You Are by Timberland (This is my all time going out song)
A-Punk by Vampire Weekend
Whine Up by Kat Deluna


POWER PLAY LIST - These runs are my fastest runs or the runs when I'm trying to hit specific times. These are also used for 5-10ks and when I run mile intervals. These songs are quick and upbeat and I love listening to them and they give me the kick that I need.


Poker Face by Lady Gaga (though new, this song has a great beat and keeps things moving)
If You Seek Amy by Britney Spears (dirty, but the beat is amazing
Higher by The Game
Right Round by Flo-Rida
Right Here by Brandy
Let it Rock by Lil' Wayne
World Hold On Remix

*If you have limewire or itunes, search for Victoria Secret Fashion Show remix. They are the BEST upbeat songs. There is one by The Killers that I absolutely love. They have like 5-6 songs and they are really good remixes.


I realize, there is a lot of Britney on there! Weird. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. With such a strong response about the gym people I've seen, I will be starting the Fitness Freak of the Week, hopefully next week. Last night I did another 200 sit ups and 20 push ups. The 200 are getting easier and easier I think maybe I'll soon bump up the number slowly. Tomorrow I'm going to get in a nice little 5-6 miler before my race this weekend. This weekend I have the 25k (15 mile) trail run up in Malibu so look for a race report on Monday! I am excited for this race and all the people that will be there. Have a wonderful, running filled weekend!

xoxo