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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Aren't we the Sunshine State?


So today was supposed to be 9 miles, according to my JG training. However, I'm getting over a cold/flu and didn't know if I would be able to do it all.

I planned to walk 3x around my Westside Park route, but after about a MILE, I realized that a) it was cold as hell outside, b) I did not dress properly for said temperatures and c) I still felt like crap.

I finished the first circle of the route, then decided to just walk where the sun was. From the corner of 8th and 34th, I walked back up to 16th, then back. At that point, I was feeling okay and figured that if I could stay in the sun, I could get at least 5 or 6 miles done. I stood at that intersection and decided that walking towards University Avenue had the most sun. So I walked all the way down to University Avenue and 34th Street - the intersection with a Checkers and a Grandy’s.

All feeling good, so far, I turn around to go back to the park and the WIND CAME UP! That made the temps - that were already only 37* - feel like they were 10* cooler! Walking back to the car (about a mile) was hell!!! I forwent the stretching, like I normally do, and just cranked the heater and drove home. I ended up doing 5.12 miles, in near-freezing temps, with an average pace of 18mm.

I'm sitting here now in fleece jammies, fuzzy socks AND a huge fleece robe with the heater pointed below my desk (to give me a cave of warm) and a cup of hot cocoa (with marshmallows, of course!), trying to warm up. I've been home for 20 minutes and I am not warm. Also, I'm coughing like a little asthmatic bitch, so that's fun.

However, with all the bitching, I am so proud of myself for getting out of bed, for getting dressed, for getting out of the house and into the car, for walking anyway, even though it was cold, and uncomfortable, and freezing!! I've come a long way, but I have so much more to go.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas - Running Santa was good to me!

Yeah, but if Running Santa was me, it kind of takes all the fun out of it, I guess?

Nope!

Check out the swag!!

Two Tech Tees from JCP - Xersion brand - Teal and Black


Nathan Handheld water bottle.  Has a little slide-out ID card, and the pocket is big enough to hold an iPod (and it really does!) but I could also fit in a GuChomps package, lip balm, gum AND my car key fob.

 Okay, so it's not REALLY running gear, but since I got it specifically for the Princess, I'm putting it here. It's a Nikon Coolpix camera. In purple. Of course!


Reward Sparkle Skirt!  Peacock Bordeaux - it has purples, blues, blacks, greys and sparkles! What more could you want?


Well, except a SECOND Sparkle Skirt!  This is the basis for my Ursula costume. It's called Purple Haze and both the skirt and the sparkles are purple!


Tuneband arm band for my iPod. It came with an extender, in case you have huge arms.


Purple Zensah Compression Sleeves. Need I say more?

Black Xersion Running tights from JCP. The ankles have zippers on them so that they can stay tight on your calves/ankles.


Clover is bored of all this running stuff! What else did I get?


Fleece v-neck (bought it on clearance last winter for $2!)


How I Met Your Mother - Season 7


Dean Koontz Books (hopefully not a lot of golden retrievers and Coronas in these two)


Comfy jammies from my mom (every girl needs jammies after running so hard!)


Jeffrey Deaver books

Stephen King Book


 Michael Connelly books (Hello, my name is Amy and I'm a bookworm....)


Neutral Density Filter (for my Nikon D3100) - Use for 'dialing up' or 'dialing down' light


Purple Sweater #1


Purple Sweater #2 (The 90s came back and brought me a sweater!) Yes, boys and girls - it's an open-weave crochet sweater. Wear something under it, please.


Fun nightshirt


Fun socks (the black argyle ones are knee-high socks)


Suede boots that acutally FIT over my huge calves! (That's what the socks are for!)


Big ol' Special Dark candy bar from Mom (to be enjoyed, while wearing jammies, after my run!)


 Our 2012 Annual Disney Vacation Christmas Ornament. Bet ya didn't see this coming, right?


Mickey Snowman says Merry Christmas!

Can you see the other two Mickey ornaments on my tree?





Sunday, November 25, 2012

Homemade Ice Pack

Courtesy of RunJunkies, by way of RunInspired!

How to make your own icepack, great for RICEing:

2 Cups Water
1 Cup Rubbing Alcohol
1 Ziploc Freezer Bag

Mix water and alcohol in bag and toss into the freezer for a few hours.  The alcohol will keep it from completely freezing and you will end up with a slushie or gel-like icepack that is much easier to mold around areas like ankles or knees!

This is a great tip since y'all know that I never keep frozen peas in the house :)

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Three Months to Go!

THREE Months to go!

Shit’s getting’ real, yo.

Three months = 90 DAYS.

Sparkle Skirts

So, I finally ran my 10k, which means that I finally get to pick out my Sparkle Skirt!!!

I fell in love with the Purple Haze when I tried it on at the Tower of Terror Expo back in September, but I saw a teal version of the Peacock on a friend of mine in St Augustine, and I was really torn as to which skirt i wanted.  I wanted the Haze because I can use it in my Ursula costume for the Princess, but the Peacock was just so damn pretty!

I emailed links to both skirts to hubby so that he could order my Purple Haze skirt and jokingly said, "if you are feeling generous, I want the peacock one, too."

Peacock Bordeau - it's more blue purple than the picture



He told me to go ahead and order both of them and pay with his credit card! I end up getting both Sparkle Skirts.  He said that Purple Haze is my reward for doing the 10k and the Peacock is motivation to keep training for the Princess. Then he joked that he's not buying any more!  That's okay - I'm happy with two - for now.....


Purple Haze - Purple tech fabric with sequins















 
Now I just have to figure out how to make tentacles and attach them to my Sparkle Skirt....



Thursday, November 22, 2012

I'm Thankful!


Happy Thanksgiving

Growing up, we were never a family to sit at the table for Thanksgiving and to go around and name one thing each of us are thankful for. We only recently started doing that at OUR meals at home. 

I figured I would welcome you to the table and tell you what I’m thankful for this year.

I’m thankful for whoever posted that video on YouTube that made me think that I could do a half-marathon. That person gave me the kick in the butt that I needed to change my physical habits.

I’m thankful for my family for being so supportive of what I’m doing.

I’m thankful to myself that I haven’t talked myself out of this goal.

I’m thankful to you that I have a place to talk without fear.

I’m thankful for everything that I have.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

St Augustine 10k Race Report

(I apologize for the horrid quality of these photos – all I had with me was my iPod for some reason!)

Because the Kiddo had a test today, we didn’t leave as early as I’d hoped we would.  I left work at noon, and headed home to change, pack up the car and eat lunch. We picked up the Kiddo after school and drove towards the coast.

We drove through some small towns on our way there – Interlachen, Palatka, and my personal fave, Spuds!  Somewhere on our trip, we passed a farm stand that was selling produce.  The sign read “Vine Ripe Apples”. Um, what is wrong with this sign? Apples don’t grow on vines.  We had quite a laugh about that one (although not the Kiddo, she had her head buried in her laptop, as usual).

The trip, while filled with laughter, was pretty much uneventful, and soon we were in St. Augustine. I (again) told Garmin to take me to the hotel instead of the “Expo”, but St Augustine is a pretty small town, so we were able to course-correct pretty easily.

I put Expo in quotes because, well, it was pretty sad.  We pulled into the parking garage (which gladly accepted $10 from me) and we walked across to the field.  There were about 5 vendors out (by this time, it was about 6pm or so), as well as the place to pick up packets. They had a really nice assembly-line system going on. First, you picked up your packet, then you moved over and got your cool bag, then at the last stop, you picked up your tech tee.  I stuffed all my goodies into the bag, and we walked back to our car. All in all, I think this took 5 minutes. I saw other cars that had pulled over on to the sidewalk, or next to the parking garage in no-parking zones, and I was pretty pissed that I didn’t think of that!  Oh, well, that’s a $10 lesson I learned for next year.

In my race planning, I knew that I would need to find somewhere for dinner that would have non-greasy, carb-filled food, but ALSO have food that the family would want to eat.  Boom – Cracker Barrel!  It was right down the street from our hotel, too, which was a bonus. It wasn’t too busy on a Friday at 7pm, and I think it’s because most of the marathon crowds weren’t coming in until tomorrow, so we had a nice and peaceful dinner. 

Padded sling pack with a front zipper pocket and headphone hole (can't see in this photo)
 While we waited for our meals, I went through my packet.  The bag is pretty cool – it’s insulated (or at least padded) and has a little hole for earbuds. It would probably make a good race bag for holding stuff before a race.  
 
"Gift Card" (scam, I tossed it) ---  My Bib --- Free Sub at a local Subway
The tech tee was pretty awesome. Light blue crew neck, very soft. There were also advertisements for other races, coupons and various papers that you get at every race.

It's hard to see how pretty the blue is in this photo
 Shockingly, I didn’t take photos of what we got for dinner, but I’m pretty sure that Hubby got chicken fingers and the Kiddo got shrimp. I ended up going with big French Toast meal, which came with eggs and bacon. It was so good! I got carbs, I got protein, all is right with the world.

As we let our meal settle, the Kiddo played with the Peg Puzzle and I began reviewing our plan for the morning and I quickly realized that I forgot to pack ANYTHING to eat for race morning! Great…
 
She has yet to master the Peg Puzzle!
We paid our bill and headed over to our hotel – Quality Inn Outlet Mall. It’s on State Road 16, right by, you guessed it, an Outlet Mall. I’d really wanted to stay in the historic part of St Augustine, closer to the race, but budget prohibited that. We got a Double Double room with fridge and microwave for like $65. I figured that the low cost would make up for bad location.

And, it’s not a BAD location, just not walkable to the start line.  On the up-side, it’s close to generic restaurants like Cracker Barrel and gas stations, too.  Which was good, because before we hit the hotel, we needed to stop at a convenience store to pick up supplies for breakfast. 

I generally try not to take my family to a convenience store, because they turn into little kids who want it all!  Here’s what we ended up with (Keep the following issues in mind: #1, I’m a picky-eater and #2, we’re at a gas station)

For race morning, OJ, Twinkies and nuts. The chocolate milk is for after.

Breakfast of champions!
For the family in the morning, chocolate milk and powdered donuts. 


And because, God forbid, we didn’t get “snackage”, they also got Mini Oreos and Skittles (Kiddo), Junior Mints (Hubby). We must have spent $20 on junk. All because I forgot to put this on my list. Another lesson learned for next year.

The prices of junk food at convenience stores makes my frugal heart shrivel and die!
Our room was serviceable, two simple double beds, a TV that was more centered in front of one of the beds, so the second bed had to kind of strain to see it. Mini-Fridge and sad little microwave. Typical bathroom, with an old 4c coffee maker (you know, the kind that people make hot dogs in?). It was actually very spacious, if a little old and used.  If I was on a budget and needed another $65 hotel for the night, I’d stay there again. It’s not at the top of my list, but it’ll do. The beds, of course, were hard as rocks. And a double bed is very hard to sleep in, when both sleepers are more than 200 pounds each. I knew that I wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep that night, but I was hopiong for more than I got.

L to R - Goodie bag, our jackets, Race Bag, Clothes, Team Sparkle Skirt, Shoes (on top)
Hubby and the Kiddo, of course, had no reason to go to bed early, so they stayed up and watched tv. Comedy. “Whose Line is it Anyway?” to be exact. And when my Hubby laughs hard, he flails. So, every time something was funny, the bed would shake and wake me up. Very frustrating!

However, I made it through the night, and the 6am alarm came early.  I started getting dressed while the family was waking up, and soon, we were headed down the road to the St Augustine Visitor’s Center and the field behind it, which is where the finish line was. 

We parked in the garage again, which luckily was FREE (as long as you got in before 7am, which we did) and got an AWESOME parking spot, up against the wall on the first floor, literally inches away from the exit. I didn’t know how busy it was going to be, so I was so happy to have gotten this spot!

We sat in the car while I drank my OJ and ate my pre-race Twinkies, and the family both drank their chocolate milk and ate their donuts. It was cloudy this morning, and chilly. I kept my jacket on for a while to keep me warm. I headed to the potties, as usual.  It began to rain harder at this point, so the Kiddo ran back to the car (glad I got that good spot!) to get the big umbrella while I headed to the start line.  The 10k people would go at 7, and the 5k people would go 15 minutes later (I think that was it). I handed over my jacket to Hubby, who was now warm and dry, thanks to that umbrella!

We were finally off, and I waved as I passed the family, and I started my Garmin.  “Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It!” came on my iPod as I headed toward the Bridge of Lions. It’s still raining, but it’s not as bad at this point, so I can move a little faster with my run intervals (rain + pavement = oil slicks). The bridge isn’t a very steep one, so ascending it wasn’t all that taxing. The view at the top was pretty nice! Boats, and the Castillo, so cool to see!

Descending the bridge, I was still doing my intervals and feeling okay.  By the time I got to the 2nd mile, however, I was blown to the side of the road by all the 5k people plowing through us! 

About this time, as I was in a run interval, something in my groin area (envision a Y – it was in the right arm of the Y) just started to HURT!  Every time I landed on my right leg, it felt like shards of glass were pushing into my groin! I had to slow down to a walk.  People began passing me, but every time I tried another run interval, it would begin to hurt again within seconds. I tried ‘pushing past the pain’ but it was just a really weird pain, and after the fourth or fifth try, I began to wonder if I was causing more injury by running with this pain. I finally gave up my intervals, and I realized that I was pretty much the last person on the road at this point. Even the guy who stopped at the Quik-e-Mart (why? Did he need a bathroom or a Snickers?) was way ahead of me at this point. Somewhere between 2.5 and 3, I resigned myself to the fact that I was last. Why bother busting my ass?

I rode this wave of self-loathing until  I got to Mile 3 at the Anastasia State Park entrance. The volunteers manning the water table were all very supportive and nice to me. I told them that I’d much rather just pack it in and get a beer at the finish line (even though I don’t drink).  

Mile 3 - There is a water table behind the little building and we turn by the cones
They encouraged me to finish strong, and it reminded me of my favorite race saying ever:


I rounded the building which served as the turn-around and started back towards the finish line. I had a renewed sense of purpose (you know, the little thing that lights a fire under your ass?) and I was bound and determined to cross that finish line with a smile on my face. I …

Oh my GOD!!!

I’m not last!!!

Coming up to the turn-around and Mile 3 is a couple of walkers!  I was so happy to see them that I almost screamed out loud “I’M NOT LAST!!” but I didn’t want to hurt their feelings, (because I thought they were last) so I kept it to myself, but it gave me a burst of energy and I started walking at 4mph or so, really busting my ass and pumping my arms. And then… the most wonderful sight…

TWO more walkers!  Not only am I not last, I’m in front of enough people that I could probably stay ahead of at least ONE of them, so I was guaranteed to not be last!!
 
St Augustine Old City sign - I love these signs!
Miles 4 and 5 were uneventful. I’d gained some ground, so I began to see other stragglers in front of me, including one solo walker who looked like she was nursing a leg cramp.  This sounds so horrible of me, but I wanted to use that limp to my advantage and I tentatively started my intervals again. Not a lot of pain in the groin now, but I was tired, so the intervals were hard!  As I got closer to her near mile 5, she must have heard me (I’m a heavy breather), and she began intervals too!

Might as well enjoy the scenery while I'm out here! I love lighthouses.
She and I kept interval-ing back and forth, over the bridge and onto to Avenida Menendez. The roads were still wet, but both of us were determined to finish strong. 

You can't see here, but she's up there by the car
 She pulled ahead of me at the finish, and I finished the last .2 miles alone, coming up behind the parking garage by the playground, and there at the corner – my family! They picked out such a good spot to spectate, and I was so happy to see them there.
They cheered me in, then headed towards the finish line. I came in as strong as I could and finished my first 10k in 1:35:12!  Not what I wanted (I wanted under 1:30), but I fought pain and self-defeat and finished my first 10k!

I got my medal and exited the chute to find my family, then got my Finisher Photo. 

My VERY FIRST medal!
I stuck around to cheer in those few behind me, of which there were only 4. So, yay! I officially beat 4 other people. 

After the race, I grabbed my chocolate milk and chugged it down, as well as a bottle of water. We started heading out, but came back in to watch the Kid’s run, cheering them on, but finally after an hour or so, I was ready to get changed and head to lunch! 

I did a quick stretch at the benches by the play ground, then we headed back to the hotel.  Check-out time was 11, and it was only 10 by the time we got back, so I got changed and plopped onto the bed for a while before packing up the car and checking out.

When we came to St Augustine back in 2006 (or whenever that was) for our anniversary, we found a little mom and pop place called “Schooner’s” that served super-fresh seafood, for great prices.We came back a few years later, with the Kiddo, but they were closed for renovations (we ended up at IHoP of all places!), so I was excited to be able to go back for some shrimps!

This time, it was much less busy than it was last time, and we were able to get a seat with no waiting.  As we were seated, it looked like there were at most, 2 other occupied tables. (Later it began to fill up with old people - the best indicator of good, affordable food - and a whole ROOM of Red Hat Ladies!)

Hubby got chicken fingers.
Chicken Fingers, Fries, Texas Toast and a Dill sauce that is fabulous!

Me and the Kiddo both got a dozen butterfly shrimp.
Butterfly (split) shrimp, fries, hush puppies
It was just as yummy as it was last time! Big shrimp, crispy fries. Lovely!  Can’t wait to come back next year.

We debated whether or not we wanted to walk around St Augustine (race planning had me down for some fudge), but I was still in a bit of pain from that groin thing, that we decided to head on home instead.  I guess I’ll get some maple fudge next year. It will be my reward for PR’ing this race!

Close-up of my VERY FIRST medal