Another new half PR?

Yep, another new half marathon PR at the Seattle Rock N Roll Half this morning!

1:55:59!

Recap to come tomorrow...Im too exhausted to type it all tonight. Hope everyone had a great race, it was my favorite so far!

Seattle RnR Expo & Bloggy Dinner

INSANELY busy last 3 days....I can't even begin! Lets just say that the Seattle Rock N Roll Half is almost here and snuck up on me! The expo was the last 2 days, and I have to say it was amazing! Not only is this the largest race I have run in (about 35,000-40,000 people!) but it is the most well organized event to date:

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Health & Fitness Expo sets the stage for an exciting marathon weekend! For two days, over 100 exhibitors will offer free samples, showcase the latest in running gear, sports apparel, health & nutritional information and much more.

Literally, they were not kidding! There was TONS of freebies, discounts and samples to be had by everyone. I particularly loved the Sports Beans booth (which my other Step-Sis was working) and the GU booths. I also enjoyed the random free samples of fresh kiwi and the Fage yoghurt stand. Yum!

Not only was there plenty of free swag, but there were great discount too. I was able to snag a 24 pack of GU for $20, including tax! There were all flavors and sizes and types (GU, Chomps, Brew...) but this is the best deal I have found anywhere. Also Sports Authority had some awesome deals on discounted new running gear. I should have picked up a few Under Armour shirts....

This event was HUGE and very well organized. Although this race differed from others in that you had to bring a signed waver form AND i.d. **and they will NOT let you take someone else's bib!** the lines were organized by corral number and the lines were short. After you picked up your bib and D-tag, there was another line as an option to upgrade to the full marathon, or change your corral number (which I did, to finish earlier...more details to come on the reason!) It was really simple to do, and there were no questions asked. My kind of packet pickup!

 Bib with D-tag attached

After we received our tech shirts, there was instructions on how to put on the D-tag and plenty of people to answer questions. After this area, we were ushered into a large Brooks RnR memoribilia area. I have never seen so many items to purchase for a race! Plenty of options for men and women's shirts, tanks, shorts, pants, jackets, hats, socks, keychains, etc. I mean, they had everything and more that you could think of. I was impressed, and actually bought another Brooks Seattle RnR tech shirt (pic to come!)

There was even an area to win free Brooks swag too. Unfortunately I was horrible at the ball-toss game, but the rest was fun and free.

All in all, it was a great expo. Just check out all that I went away with:

Yes please!

After the expo I met up with other awesome bloggy ladies at the Spaghetti Factory to carbo-load before the race. I am so happy that I was able to meet up with a few local familiar faces and even a few bloggers from across the US!

Bloggy runners!

Seriously an awesome night! A HUGE thanks to Mel for setting up the evening. I don't know how she does it all! :) I cant wait to run with all of you ladies tomorrow!

Night and good luck ladies! (and thanks to Kerrie for the picture!!)

Wow, 100th post!

Wow, wow, wow.....

Where did the time go? I never would have thought that I would EVER have a blog, let alone post 100 times! So far it has been an interesting journey, and I love all the bloggy friends I have made and even met. Thanks for making the past 6 months so rewarding :)

Lovely view at the park....so what if I was the only one laying out!!

I went for a final long run yesterday before the Rock N Roll Half this weekend. I decided to put in some miles at a slow pace just to get my mileage up. I ended up running 10 miles including hills at a 9:47 pace. It was 78 degrees during the run! As you know, I am not good with heat, so I think that also made me run at a much slower pace.

 Sunny colors for the sunny solstace weather!

Randomly during the run I spotted a 4-leaf clover! I decided to grab it on my second loop, and when I stopped to pick it, I found 2 other 4-leaf clovers right next to it! I really do have a special talent for finding clovers. The last time I found a 4-leaf clover I ran a sub 2 hour half at Kirkland. Here's hoping for good luck again on the race this weekend!

I just got back from the Seattle Rock N Roll expo, and I have a ton of info to post. I'm off for a quick run around the neighborhood, but will post soon. I hope everyone is enjoying the sunny Pacific Northwest weather.....I am loving it! It seems that summer FINALLY decided to show itself here!

Happy running!

Image found here

RIP Bug...

Yuck, it finally happened....

A bug flew into my eye while running! I should also preface this post by saying that I am horribly scared of any creepy, crawly creature, expecially bugs and spiders.

Well, I should say that actually 3 perished while on my run, but the first was definately the worst. I dont know how this hasnt happened to me before, but I sure paid for it on this run!

While running 6.2 around a local park, I was cruising along at a good sub-9/mile pace when something hit my eye. I quickly stopped and started blinking, but I could see it was HUGE. Since I hate bugs and are terrified of them, I frantically started clawing at my eye to get the thing out. Literally about 3 minutes later I felt it and tried to get it out with my finger (so gross!) but only a small portion of the bug came out! Without getting too graphic and grossing myself out more, pieces of the bug kept coming out of my eye during the rest of my run.

If you cannot tell already, sadly, the bug did not make it.

I guess there are just not too many bugs to fly in my face in the city. And that I am extremely thankful for!

Sorry for the gross post. Happy (bug free) running!

Thank You :)

After having an exceptionally crappy day, I found this waiting for me in my mailbox:

An AWESOME gift pack from Julie over at Minnesota Mileage!

The goodie pack included:

• A lovely note :)
• 2 Powerbar Energy Gels in Strawberry Banana
• Pack of Jelly Belly Sports Beans in Fruit Punch
• A Starbucks gift card

So amazing! I am new to the bloggy world, and this is the first thing that was sent to me. If you all are not familiar with Julie, she is a super-speedy bloggy runner who has completed many 5k, 10k and half marathons, but she is now training for her first full marathon! She not only sent this awesome gift pack, but has supported me since the beginning of my blog. Thanks Julie :) 

Not only are the gifts amazing, but the Powerbar Gel is a flavor that I have not tried yet, and I have never had Sports Beans (which I found out my other Step-Sis is working the Sports Beans booth at one of my upcoming races!) Product reviews to come!

Perfect for my 10 miler this week and a new product review!

This is my excited face, haha. I'm a huge dork....

On a running side note, I went for a quick 4 miler and realized that I didnt start my Garmin! Boo! I run with my iPhone and took a call a few minutes into the run.....but I never stopped running. I ended up running my 4 mile loop (with hills) at a 10:00 pace and without stopping and talking the entire time! I might have sounded funny on the phone, but she knew I was running, so I think it was fine. I could have gone faster, but I probably would have run into something or someone while talking and with my headphones in. I also probably had quite a few funny looks in my direction (I probably looked like I was chatting with myself, haha). Oh well, I got the run and the call in!

Happy running and thanks again Julie! :)

Back Blogging

Yet again, I was a bad blogger yesterday :( Yet, thanks to the wonders of Blogger, I can post this yet put a different time and date on it (sneaky, sneaky!)

 

Anyways, I went for a lovely 8 miler today (well, yesterday, but you get the hint!) I did a 4 mile loop twice that included several hills. It has been my regular loop now for the past 2 weeks, and it can be pretty challenging to get a sub-9 mile pace for the entirety of the run. I realized that the Seattle Rock N Roll Half is coming up in a few weeks, and I need to start running my longer training runs!

I ended up running an additional hill, but finishing 8 miles at a 9:15 pace. Not bad, and definitely an improvement over the last few longer runs, but not at my goal yet!! grr.....

It was also an extremely dark and stromy day again in Seattle, with periods of sunshine. My kind of run (but not tanning/summer weather!)

This picture doesnt do it justice!!

Why cant it just be sunny like this all the time??

B-E-A-utiful!

Alright, well I am a cheese-ball. Hope you all are enjoying summer weather somewhere and getting your longer runs in :) and not back-blogging like me!

Running on Builders Bars!

After reading the article I posted yesterday about the guy who runs on bananas, I keep thinking about the runs I have accomplished lately and trying to figure out which runs were more successful than others and why. I have come to the conclusion that he might be able to run only on bananas, but I could probably run only on Builders Bars!

On all of the runs that I have done lately (hill runs or just regular runs around the neighborhood) my speed and energy level seems to go with how much protein I have had that day. Usually this means if I had a Builder's Bar earlier that day or not. Even just yesterday I ran 6 miles and was completely dragging. I not only ran one of my slowest paces in months (9:45/mile) but I had no protein in my system. Today I had a Builders Bar and ran 5 miles at a 8:55/pace including hills. That is a huge difference!!

I don't think I would go as far as eating ONLY Builders Bars (I would need coffee, GU and Hefeweizen in the mix too!), but one a few hours before a long run seems to give me better results. More on my review of Builder's Bars here.

Is there anything that you HAVE to eat before a long run or race?

Happy running :)

Running on bananas?

Running on bananas, not literally running bananas :) My friend sent me an awesome link to Dean Karnazes blog on Runner's World. (If you are wondering who Dean is, he is the guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 days in all 50 states. You can read more about Dean on his website. He is the topic of another blog post in itself!) Anyways, Dean was talking about his friend, Mike Arnstein, who recently won the Napa Valley International Marathon. While Dean was talking to him, he found out that he was a “Fruitarian.” The article states:

he sometimes eats 40-50 bananas a day (no, that’s not a typo). In fact, other than oranges and the periodic tomato and stalk of celery, that’s pretty much all he eats.

Mike Arnstein is a “Fruitarian.”  That is to say, he only eats fruit and the occasional raw vegetable. He doesn’t even eat nuts. Okay, that’s because, you’re thinking, he is one.

Wait, don’t be so quick to write the man off. Listen to these stats. Mike’s been a fruitarian for the past two and a half years. In that time: he’s watched his percent body fat naturally fall to around 3%, he’s bumped up his training mileage to 20-30 miles a day (often logging 160-mile training weeks), he’s watched his half-marathon PR drop from 1:17 to 1:10, and he runs a successful software company with 20 employees. All on bananas.

Crazy! It really makes you think about your pre-race or long run routine. I swear that I need a LOT of protein and little to no carbs. Can you imagine only running on bananas? I dont know how you could do it!

What are your thoughts? Is this possible? Do you think you would become deficient on other nutrients or would it be unsustainable for the planet? I would love to hear your thoughts (and the comments on the article were interesting as well!)

Happy running! I'm off to go run 8 (but on protein, not bananas!)

Banana image found here.
Mike image found here.

Stairs, stairs, stairs

Im tired just thinking about it...

While running (almost everyday this week !!) I have been noticing a lot of stairs on my running route through the new neighborhood. Being the avid internet searcher that I am, I decided to Google it. Luckily, I found out information on the subject from the Seattle Times:

Resident TH has counted 120 public stairways on MY NEW NEIGHBORHOOD. TH wisely describes it as a "fairly objective estimate." His objectivity comes from exploring on foot every corner and cul-de-sac of his neighborhood.

At last count — in 2005 — Seattle had 482 public stairways. TH points out that while MY NEW NEIGHBORHOOD is not the highest hill in Seattle... it does have both the most and highest steps of any hill in the city.

 Literally, this guy wasn't kidding. There are a TON of hills and stairways to run on. I have noticed my time only slightly improve while running 4 miles around the neighborhood. I decided to do 2 loops today and had to run up the set of stairs twice! My time was decent (9:31/pace) but it wasn't pretty. Im hoping to get this to around 9 minutes per mile (which I have done once on only 4 miles) for all 8 miles.

Here's hoping! I really do hate stairs/large steep hills!! Do you try to run on stairs, or just incorporate hills into your runs?


Photo found here from this awesome Seattle Daily Picture Blog!

Month Review: May 2010

May 2010:

       Total Miles: 105.1       
       Average Pace: 9:19/mile               
       Running Time: 16:19:48 
       Yearly Total:  514.9 miles

       Yearly Time Total: 83:11:11
       Blog Posts in May: 11

Well, not the best blogging month, but a decent running month! This month included my first SUB 2-HOUR HALF in Kirkland (recap STILL to come, but short recap here), increased mileage, went 21.7 miles over my monthly goal (83.4 miles/month), increased my yearly mileage by 97.9 of where I should be for my Tall Mom 1,000 + goal, went on 2 vacations to Alaska and Vegas, and moved into my new cute apartment. Phew, Im tired just thinking about it :)

I promise to be a better blogger next month and post more regularly. Hopefully I will have a less hectic schedule. As always, a few extra pictures from the month:

 Kicking up my feet after a run and looking at the glaciers

Running by the Seattle "Fraiser" viewpoint

Sounders game at sunset after a run (Sounders won too!)

Chloe wanting me to play and not go for a run

Hope everyone had a great May! Happy running!

Moving, moving, moving

Well, I meant the title in two ways: moving while running, and moving as in moving to a new apartment. Whew! Through the chaos of moving into a new apartment, I was still able to manage 24 miles so far this week, but they were neither fast or impressive. I was able to find a new route around my new neighborhood, which has plenty of hills and stairs that I can incorporate into my runs. Here are a few pics from the run this week:

Excited about running stairs....

New Running Route

I'll write more later....off to a Sounders Game! Monthly recap to come as well.

Happy Running!