Giveaway Friday

I think Friday calls for a giveaway! :) Weeeeeee!

I want to do a full review on everything on the list, and will do that later....but for now, you can win a grab bag of a few things I think are awesome!

First, my favorite socks, Injinji toe socks. I started wearing Injinji because I was developing blisters in between my toes. Never, ever another blister after switching to Injinji. Yeah, they come in white but you'll win these:Just because they are way more fun!

Second, RockTape. I have lots to say about RockTape, and it truly deserves it's very own review. This stuff is amazing and made it possible for me to run again after knee surgery. Seriously! To this day if I run without the tape it hurts and I'm swollen after. With the tape = ZERO pain during or after and no swelling. Really! I have no idea how it works and I really don't care ;) It just does! You will win a sample of tape cause I'm not giving you my full roll! I love, love, love it. And it comes in pink. BONUS!
Third, a jar of PB2. Yeah, this stuff is good. My friend sent me my first jar and I love it in a smoothie :) 85% less fat calories than regular peanut butter. A little scary at first because it's, well, powdered peanut butter, but trust me, it's good! The website has lots of recipes too.
Fourth, a Somnio Tshirt. It's white and says "I have issues" on the front. Yeah, don't we all!? This shirt is a size L but it's mini size, so unless you're truly a small you may have to give it to your tiny little friend. But it's still cool.

Last but surely not least, I will throw in a "Will Run for Cupcakes" magnet for your fridge from Race Day Memories. These are super cute and I should know cause I make them :)
Ok that's it for today!

Do any/all below, leave a separate comments for each letting me know you did it! Random pick on Friday Nov 5. You'll have at least 7 chances to win!

1. Like Race Day Memories on FB here
2. Follow this blog
3. Shout it out on your blog, FB, etc. Separate comment for each :)
4. Follow Race Day Memories blog here
5. Give me a list of 5 of your very favorite running related things
6. Follow my friend's blog Thunder Road Racing just because they are awesome.
7. Like them on FB too here

Easy peasy right? Happy Friday!

K-State Homecoming 5K

A few weeks ago my friend Jen said she was going to run the K-State Homecoming 5K last Sunday. It was a week after the KC 1/2, so I decided to tag along with her. Any chance to run a race with friends, I'm in!

Jen is just getting into running and has run one 5K about a month ago. I really wanted to try to help get her into the finish with a time she would be super proud of. But ugh, I got sick and was home from work for a few days....so I didn't really know if I'd even be up to it.

I made it on Sunday morning, Penny joined in, Jen had her friend Shannon with us, and our other running friend Kathy joined us as well! Here we are pre-race:We were quite the team!
I still wasn't 100% - had a cough like I smoke 3 packs a day and knew there would be some heinous spitting involved.

Penny was starting to get sick too with some congestion coming on, so she wasn't quite her normal self.

Kathy was having some back issues, so she wasn't feeling her best.

Jen felt as though she could hurl at any second from being nervous.

Shannon's the only one who didn't have anything going on .... or at least she didn't say so. But you know, I just met her so she probably didn't want to come right on out with it (as if she could get a word in between all of us chit,chit, chittering) I'm a talker anyway - but throw in excitement and nerves - good luck shutting me up.

But it turned into a whole group of us excited to run on a beautiful Sunday morning, and none of our 'issues' carried over after the gun went off.

I love race day. I mean really, really alot. All the excitement & nervousness - ahhhhh .... you can just smell it in the air. I was nervous. It's a 5K - done that many of times. But I *kinda* promised we could get Jen into the finish at 35 minutes and I wanted her to do it without walking. At all. I had no doubt that we could do the 35 minutes. But I'm pretty famous for going out way too fast. We were sticking together and I really didn't want to do that the group.

Yeah, I did that to the group. Well not just me, but we all started out a bit too fast. Got to mile 1 and we were at 10 minutes. Ooops. I was suppose to go 11 minute miles. Dang it. Slooooooow down. Geez. Sorry girls!

The upside to that is Jen has never run a 10 minute mile before and I'm not sure she thought she could run that fast. But yep, she did :)

Mile 2 we could take it nice and easy, calm down some since we had some extra time in the bank. After about 2.5 .... gravy. Downhill all the way to the finish, coming into the stadium for the finish chute. Kicked it in at the end and came in at 34:27ish. Coolio.

Here we are bringin' it on homeIn the end it all worked out, Jen did a fantastic job as did the rest of our ladies! Had a great morning with only a small exception - this race didn't have age group placings darn it! It was mostly college students so our group having several of us that are *uh hum* a tiny bit older than that - we thought we might actually take home some age group awards. Eh, oh well. We had a great time and that's what really counts. :)No races for me on the schedule until Gobbler Grind 1/2 in November. Time to kick up the training this week, then taper town again!

My Legs Say GO!

But my cough says NO. Darn it. After a pretty tough race last weekend, I was actually really surprised that by Monday most of the soreness was gone and by Tuesday I felt like I could run again. The only thing that was still sore was my right quad - which is the knee surgery leg - hmmm that's interesting. That quad must just be super weak still, but the knee held up great!

Anyway, I recovered from the race much better than I expected :) *except* I started to have some nasty congestion on Monday, and by Tuesday it was worse....by Wednesday...full on nastiness. Here it is Friday night and I haven't run since the race, and I'm itchin'!

I have a 5K planned for Sunday, so I'm hoping to run a mile or two tomorrow and get ready to run my friend Jeni G. into the finish of her 2nd 5K. She's shooting for a 35 minute finish time, and we're gonna get her there! :) See you Sunday Jen!

Just a little title...

So I have to say, I'm surprised that a blog title really means much. It's just my little running blog that I started to log my runs back when I couldn't even run a mile....so I could look back and see how I felt, what I did right, what I did wrong, etc.

My blog used to be called Countdown to 13.1, because at the time I started this blog the 1/2 marathon was my ultimate goal. I never in a gazillion years thought I would ever want to go farther than that.

Two 1/2 marathons later, I started wondering .... hmmm .... what now? Do I dare even *think* about a full? It's twice as far. Come on, it's twice as far! Reading the training schedule itself is enough to send me to bed exhausted. In the middle of the KC 1/2 last weekend a full was going through my mind....I believe it was followed with a HELL NO. NEVER.

But a friend and I decided that we would do it together, Chicago 2011. Seemed like a great 'do it before I'm 40' goal. So at that time I changed my blog name to Countdown to 26.2. I saw that as my new ultimate goal - even though I knew it would be a whole year until I reached it. But now Chicago 2011 is no longer in my plans.

I honestly never thought another person would ever even read this blog when I started it. But I have gotten a few comments about the title - because I have never taken on the 26.2. It's not like I was trying to fool anyone by naming my blog Countdown to 26.2. At this point I don't know if I ever will run a full marathon. That doesn't make my 13.1 any less awesome.

So, I decided to change the title, because for now, I'm 'Happy with 13.1'.

Kansas City 1/2 Marathon

Before I go on rambling and forget, this pic is post race with the Thunder Road Racing and Team Cameron crew. Check out both sites, they are awesome.

Let's start with Friday. After a bazillion bathroom stops, I arrived at the hotel, got all checked in and headed to the expo. I wanted to have plenty of time to chill out & shop. The race director was speaking that afternoon and I thought it would be fun to catch that. He took us through each mile, telling us about the hills, etc. He made them sound gradual and somewhat joyous. Later on you will read my true feelings about those joyous, gradual hills.

The expo was a bit disappointing compared to others I've been to. Not a whole lot of shopping opportunities (darn!). Lots of vendors there that I can't imagine why they would be exhibiting at a race, but eh, whatever. Overall disappointment, but no biggie, I'll just save my money.

We went down to the Plaza and ate this
and this!at Buca di Beppo. Yummy.

Back to the hotel to get settled for an early turn in. I got all my stuff ready to go, feeling nervous at this point, but not terribly, just excited.

5:15 am wake up call, sprung right out of bed and got the coffee going. Yeah, getting nervous now. I know you have to eat before a race, but man, I had to choke down that banana. I felt like I could hurl at any second. Why so nervous about a distance I've ran many times? The hills. I was terrified of all the hills. I was thinking if I expected the worst maybe they wouldn't be so bad? I was wrong. Oh lordy.

As we walked to the start the nerves just kept building and building, but seeing all the people, the start line, the loud music....I remembered why we do this. SO fun. Here we are at the start, blurry because I was probably shaking in fear, but it kinda makes the picture even funnier!
and off we go! I had decided I was going to try to run with the 2:20 pacer. I found her before I hit the mile 1 marker and joined in. Such a cute, fun girl, chatty Cathy the whole way. I was thinking 'yeah, I'm gonna like this. If she keeps chatting, we'll be done before I know it!'. I kept with her until mile 8, right on pace.

Then the hill of my death.

I had to walk it. DANG it. Her little sign kept going and I stopped. I thought I could probably still catch her, maybe on the downhill. I sped up and caught her at the next water stop, but then another hill. Lost her again. Gave up trying to catch her and watched my 2:20 goal get farther and farther away. :(

So. I think I kinda lost my way after this. I felt like I couldn't get a rhythm going, tried my music but that didn't really work. Tried no music, but that didn't work either. I tried just staring at the road instead of seeing the pace sign WAY up in front of me - taunting me - but that didn't really work either. I have never run with a pacer before, and even though it was so great for the first 8, not being able to stay with her felt like an overall defeat.

All of a sudden my water belt started pissing me off, the water belt I had worn every single run for the last 4 months and was fine all those times....I just wanted to pull my time chip off and walk. I lost all desire to keep trying. What a bad attitude I had.

Then I looked over....and there is Scott and Russ! Wild. 12,000+ runners and we randomly run into each other. That was totally what I needed right at that point in the race. It's amazing what friends can do to pull you up. Then I started to think of my hubs and kiddo. I started to think about what I would tell my daughter right now if she was running this race. We would be proud of her no matter what, and this is what I needed to give myself.

I ditched the water belt, got over myself about the time goal and ran in the last 3 with my friends. Russ was singing & Scott was encouraging us (because I did still whine a *little* about wanting to walk). That last mile was pretty hard, but it was really just a blur. We turned the corner to the finish line and WHAT?! Uphill?!?! Whoever decided to play the cruel joke of making the finish line uphill, well, I'd like to meet you in a dark alley sometime after a few shots of tequilla. It was rough.

Russ broke ahead and kicked ass on that last stretch. The three of us finished arms up in the air at the finish line a tad before 2:30. I was so proud of these guys. Their first 1/2 was the hardest one I've ever ran and they did AWESOME. Whew. That was freaking hard. But hey, if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth a sweet medal. I spent a little time with the guys for post race pics then headed out to find my girlies. Penny and Gina did AWESOME with 2:15, 2:13. I'm so proud of both of them! We went up to get beer and wait for the awards. Penny is so badass that she won an age group trophy. Check that motha out.

The Taper Be Damned!

Any runner/racer knows just what I mean. The taper. Ugh.

So many things running through my head this week.
1) Why do I do this to myself? This is a choice, and I've chosen this?!
2) I'm not ready. I should have run more. I should have run more hills. I should have done more speedwork.
3) I think I'm getting a cold. I have a horrible headache.

And then there is the pace group question....

Which pace group should I run with? My 1/2 pr is 2:14. I'm not there right now. I don't think. But maybe I could? Should I run with a 2:15 pacer but risk not being able, then become road kill at mile 8?

Should I go 2:20? I think that pace would push me but not too much. But isn't raceday about pushing yourself as far as you can go?

Should I go 2:25? This race is hilly. If I go 2:25 I'll enjoy myself MUCH more. But then stew about it after because at 2:25 I'll feel like I didn't try my hardest.

But....this is a comeback race after an injury & surgery. So maybe it *should* be about having fun and not worry so much about pace?

Ugh. I'm crazy.

A new racer in the house?

Last weekend, J ran in her first race :) I worked the finish line and hubs coached the kids at the start. 890 kids showed up to race! WoW!
Here's J coming into the finish! I think those long legs are made for running! *fingers crossed* Maybe a new racer is in the house? I hope so :)When I asked her how it was right at the finish, she said AWFUL! This smile afterward with her medal says something totally different :)

A super nasty run, a comeback and a taper

Sorry no pics on this one, just a long rambling mess!

What a crazy few weeks I've had! I think I've had just about every emotion possible when it comes to training. I had a super awful 12 mile run a few weeks back. I mean, wow man, it was horrible.

If it wasn't for my girlies pushing me along and the fact that we were way out of town....I would have packed it in at mile 6. I honestly don't remember ever having a run that bad. It was 97% humidity - which probably had something to do with it - but it was mostly awful because I had a bad work week, was super stressed, ate horribly and had an overall bad attitude. So bad in fact that even a run couldn't cure that one! WoW. Now that's bad!

After that horrific run, I took a week off. Yep. A whole 7 days without running. 4 weeks out from 1/2 marathon and just like that - I took a whole week off.

I was questioning my endurance, questioning why I wanted to do this in the first place, sick of spending so much time running, sick of getting up at 4:15 am in order to fit my run into my day, sick of spending every Saturday limping down the stairs, sick of using the whole day Sunday to recoop.....yep, overall sick of everything!

As the days ticked by, I kept getting more and more worried about the miles I was missing by completely skipping week 8 of training. But not worried enough to make myself run. It was weird - I've never, ever had such a bad attitude about running. I mean, I voluntarily went through knee surgery & 12 weeks of rehab just so I could do this!

So. It was approaching the weekend and I knew what I had to do. It was my last chance to run long before it was time to taper. I don't know a ton about training, but I do know that trying to make up miles when you're in your tapering weeks is a big NO NO.

My hubs took me out for pasta Thursday night, and I took Friday morning off from work to fit my last long run in. Oh did I mention it would be my longest run ever? And I was goin' it alone. It was time to suck it up, get my head on straight and figure out once and for all if I was going to finish out this training or quit.

After no running for a week, I planned a 14 miler - by myself. I just couldn't let that awful 12 miler be my final long run before the race. It was in my head - BAD - and I knew I had to give it one more shot or it would mess with my race day.

Well, my body must have been telling me it needed rest. My longest run ever was probably my very best training run this whole season!

I set out on a beautiful fall morning, stashed water at the 7 mile mark, and off I went. Friends are awesome to run with and a great distraction, but it's amazing how in tune I was to how I was feeling when I wasn't chattin' it up the whole run! I remembered to eat shots before I needed to & I remembered to stretch my knee out....things I usually don't remember to do.

I felt awesome all the way until about mile 13. I was ready to be done....my quads were talking (loudly!) and I was still a mile from home. I wanted to walk it. But who walks the LAST mile?! Couldn't do that. Thank goodness for Bon Jovi singing me home.

15 minute ice bath and off to work for the rest of the day. I was tired....very tired that afternoon, but somehow I made it without falling asleep at my desk!

And now....it's a one way ticket on the taper train. Oh yeah! Kansas City here I come! I'm ready :) You'll have to wait for my next post to hear me obsess about what pace group I should run with. Oh brother, that's a whole 'nother story.