2 Mile Mornings

Now that The Color Run is behind us we are working towards the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k that will take place in 30 days. I really need to get my butt in gear for this one as this is not just a fun run. This one is an acutal timed race. While I'm not particularly excited about that part, I am excited about the Chocolate Party after. Being that I'm no longer on Facebook my friends do make sure that I'm up to date on everything. I was sent a picture of what will be awaiting the participants at the finish line. This will be my motivation to keep working towards my goal.



Let's discuss my latest, greatest idea. Feeling great about finishing The Color Run I decided that I wanted to work harder. Now we remember that I got myself in this predicament in the first place by getting a sudden motivation and registering for two 5k runs. Again I ask myself "What was I thinking?" and with school back in session I will be busier since I also coach cheer. So back to Monday (today is Thursday). Wait, I stand corrected. It was Tuesday because Monday we had a big company meeting and didn't get to take our morning Wellness Walk. So Tuesday I decided that I wanted to run. You can see where this is going right? My goodest friend held me to it. We dressed out (changed our clothes) and headed outside. The walkers left without us but that is ok. There were 3 of us going (the 4th ran ahead of us because they thought I was kidding). Yes, you read that correctly. My friends know me all too well and didn't take me serious until I crossed the street instead of turning the corner. So off we went for our first 2 mile morning. Mind you our wellness walks are usually 1.5 miles. Little did I know that majority of this route was going to be uphill. So I jog/walk/jog/walk/walk/walk..... I tell my goodest friend to stay in front of me since she knows where to turn. Boy was I in for a big shock when we were like the energizer bunny and kept going and going... Needless to say I hung in there the best I could and we actually caught up to the walkers. I was quite proud of myself. After the first 2 mile morning my goodest friend tweeted me this:



So then the next day, hold on. I may have confused all my days now. Either way, the next day we did another 2 mile morning. This time we took a different route. It literally was 1 mile uphill (on a steady incline) then 1 mile back downhill. Of course this is on a major road so of course you don't want to look like a clown attempting to run. My times were slightly slower but it was definitely interesting to see the difference in each mile (uphill vs downhill). The following day we walked because everyone was just not feeling good. I was ready to go again but we just walked the 1.5 route instead. I figure if I still have the motivation I may as well take advantage.

Then comes today. Oh boy has it been a day from hell! I was Super Oscar the Grouch this morning by the time I got to work. I really felt like I needed to run to get rid of some aggrivation. Noone else was going to run today so I decided I was going to do this on my own. They aren't going to be next to me all the way to the finish line (they will leave me in the dust and I am ok with that) so only I can make myself do this. So I dressed out and off I went. The walkers had left about 4 minutes ahead of me. I decided to take the first route we went on so I could try to catch the walkers on the last half mile. I felt I ran more than the first day when I didn't know the route but my timing said otherwise. It was already getting hot outside also. It really does heat up once 10:30am hits. As I was nearing my mile and a half I still didn't see the walkers. By the time I got back onto the main road they were already turning back into the parking lot. I knew I could never catch them so I continued at my own pace. My time was the same as the other 2 mile mornings and I am ok with that. I am just hoping that I can stay motivated and continue doing this every morning. Oh, and in case you're wondering, my mood did get better for a couple hours after my run/jog/walk.

Color Run...more

So when I originally blogged on The Color Run it was late and forgot a few things. Did I mention how much fun we had that morning? I'm not particularly a fan of waking up early as you all have hopefully read in my previous blog posts, however, that was one of the few things that I will enjoy waking early for. So before I forget or go off on a tangent let me get to what I forgot in my previous post.



1. Even though the color powder is made of dyed corn starch it WILL stain you. Especially the blue and the pink. Now mind you after the color party in the Plaza we went to eat lunch. As you can see above I had more than just a speck of color on my face when we left the Plaza. I tried to wash off the color from my face at the restaurant but it wasn't enough. When I got home I had to wash my hair 3 times and the rest of me the same. It was the longest, craziest shower ever. That was the theme of the day I guess. Anyway, after all that washing and scrubbing I still looked like I had rosacea. My cheek (yes, only one) was dyed pink for 2 days. I ended up washing my face about 5 times throughout that day. Then the next day when I went to take a shower I took my hair down (it was in a pony tail) and noticed a big blue spot on my scalp. I have no idea how I missed it before but thankfully it came off then. Absolutely crazy!

2. Fanny packs don't necessarily stay on the fanny. Now before you laugh too much or question if we are in fact in the year 2012, hear me out. I have a friend that shall remain nameless that has gone on and on about wanting a fanny pack for the past 62 days. So when I saw them at packet pick up I knew I had to get her one. In the meantime I picked one up for myself because I did need something to carry my keys, phone, etc and I was not wanting to carry a backpack. So since I was already going to get one for my friend, I figure why not pick one up for myself? (you can see me wearing it in my previous post) So I did. It was the perfect size to hold my phone, my camera, my keys, my color packet and a couple other things. Note to my friend: the zipper worked great too! So when the actual run began I decided I will start out by running then walk as necessary since I'm still not able to run as far as I'd like to. And by run, I really mean slow jog. So when we started I decided I would turn the fanny pack around so it was literally on my fanny. This didn't last long. With each step it bounced itself all the way around back to the front. So naturally I would slide it back around to my backside and again with each step it would bounce itself around. Within the first 5 minutes I had moved this fanny pack 3 times to the back and 3 times it bounced itself around to the front. I had to laugh! I eventually gave up because in the end it was more convenient to have it in the front. With as much as I was opening and closing this fanny pack to get my phone or my camera it became a lost cause to continue to fight with it. So with that being said I feel that the name Fanny Pack is not a valid name. I am open to suggestions as I don't have any wit this evening.

Next up is the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k. Remember, I have not lost my mind (or any weight) so I will only be participating in the 5k part of this event. Until then, I will update as usual.

The Color Run!!!!!!!

Beginning my day at 4am is really for the birds. Ok now that I have that out of the way I will tell you about it all. After staying up until around 11pm preparing I was quick to awaken at 4am, then again at 4:30am. Quick shower (yes even though I knew I'd need another one before noon), get the kids up and get us all ready. I wanted to be out of the house no later than 5:45am so I could be downtown (assuming I didn't hit any traffic) by 6am. Naturally, if you know me then you already know this didn't happen. We finally made it downtown around 6:20am and headed to the parking garage to meet up with my "goodest" friend and her family.





After waiting around in the Civic Plaza for about 30 minutes they announced for everyone to start heading to the street to line up for the run to begin. Some of our group was already up there so we made our way towards them. Trying to round up a group of 15 to one place when there are 6,000 people registered is about as easy as winning the Powerball. So eventually we found them and we were only missing 4 people out of the group because they were late arrivals. We were towards the beginning of the hoard of people. Literally the start line was about 20 feet from us.





So after standing around for about 5 minutes I realized that I had to use the restroom. Naturally I'd have expected this out of my children, but not myself. All I could think about was how long this 5k was going to be because I was going to hold it. I didn't want to leave our spot and risk not being let back in since we already had to convince the volunteer girls to let us past the tape (marking the waves) since the rest of our group was up there. Then after texting, I was told that part of our group was stuck in wave 2. So I went to to meet up with her to give her the group socks and cape. Since I was way back there already I decided to go use the restroom. Porta-potty's are the most disgusting things, but I was thankful for them at the moment. In deciding to do that I found the last 2 of our group. Then we all went back and made our way back to the rest of the group.



Then it began. Off we went. I began by jogging with everyone, not thinking about those in our group that needed to walk. How rude of me. It didn't take long at all for our entire group to get split up. Even my son ditched me. My daughter stayed by my side. We jogged for a good few minutes then I decided with this many people and it not being timed, we just needed to have fun with it. No need to over-exert ourselves. So we walked for about a block then jogged again as we came up on our first color station. Wait, let me back up for a minute. I told my daughter that we were going to walk on the right and then go to the left at the color stations. Her response was "why? Because of the trajectory of the winds it goes that way?". I just laughed and told her "No, that is where you are supposed to get more color". That really cracked me up because we don't generally talk like that. So we go through the first color station and found out very quickly that this stuff is no joke. Keep your mouth closed, don't inhale and run through with your arms up. Sure, it is only colored corn starch but it is enough to choke you out. Before we knew it we had gone another kilometer and reached our 2nd color station.



As we kept going I noticed more and more people walking. It seemed that really the only onces trying to seriously run this were those going for their personal best. At one point my daughter and I were walking again and I suddenly hear someone behind us telling me (using my name) to push hard and to get going. I looked to my left and saw my friend and her husband run by us waving. So my daughter and I decided to catch up to them and run with them for about 30 seconds. That was more than enough for me at this point because it was really starting to warm up outside. After my camera battery died I eventually had to stop on the sidewalk to look in my bag for my second battery. By the time I found it and got it put in my camera I realized that I would start seeing some people I knew coming against us. So I figure how fun would it be to get them in action? So between the 2nd and 3rd kilometer that is exactly what I did.







Shortly thereafter we hit the 3rd color station. This is what it is like to go through it. (look close and you might actually see me in there)



We hit one more color station before we hit the finish line. My daughter and I decided that we were going to jog the last 2 blocks until we crossed the finish line. It was overall an awesome experience because throughout the 5k you had other runners/walkers cheering each other on, high-fiving you (because some genius measured the route incorrectly so they basically had to double it so we went one day, turned around and went back the way we came). Towards the end there were spectators cheering for you as you were nearing and crossing the finish line. And not that I told them, so hopefully they will read this, but a couple friends were at the finish line smiling while my daughter and I were coming. That made me feel special and you can't tell me they weren't there for us because in my mind they were. So thank you both! After the finish line we waited around for a little bit then decided I better go look for my son before it really became impossible to find him. It didn't take long, thankfully he was smart enough to stay put where he could see me if I walked past.







Now you may be thinking a couple things here. 1) You don't look very "colorful" considering you just finished "happiest 5k on the planet" aka The Color Run. Or 2) I saw you post pictures on Instagram/Twitter that showed you with tons more color than that. Well, let me explain. I was slightly disappointed in that myself. Especially considering we were getting doused in powered at the color stations. It must've been the trajectory of the winds that my daughter mentioned earlier. Oh, for those that care, yes I did use my fancy phone application and we finised in 45 minutes. Not my best but we had fun! Anyway, next comes the "Color Party" in the plaza. This is where they have the "Color Explosions" about every 30 minutes.



This is what it is like to be in a color explosion.

It was so cute, a couple even got engaged! It was all over the news that evening also. She was so shocked. Good job to the soon-to-be-groom in planning that one.





Overall this was such a great experience and I'm glad that I chose this to be the first 5k to participate in. It will definitely be one that we will do again next year. But until then, I need to start training more seriously to get ready for the more competitive, timed Hot Chocolate 15k/5k. And let's not get crazy, I am only doing the 5k and definitely looking foward to the chocolate party that will follow after I cross that finish line.






Now on a side note I will share with you all that my "goodest" friend has lost her everlasting mind! I woke up to the following text message: "Decided that in 2014 I'll do the half in Disney!! It'll keep me training plus it's sold out for 2013 already!! Start training lady!:) lol" Basically I wished her luck and asked if she was going to do the 15k for the Hot Chocolate Run. That was also an effort to distract her from that crazy thinking of hers. She then had the nerve to tell me "You shoudl train with me and we can do it together we have a year and a half!! You can totally do it!!" By the time our conversation ended I told her (twice) to let me get through the chocolate run first then ask me again. I can't even run 1 mile straight without walking and here she is thinking about me attempting to train for 13.1 miles?! We will revisit this at the end of next month I'm sure because I already know she is not going to let me say now.

Now I don't want to hear it from a certain someone *coughmspcough* pointing at me and saying "that's what you get". Just hurry up and pick your 5k so I can use that to prepare for.

I had a dream....

So last night I had a crazy dream. After going to bed completely exhausted last night I fell asleep almost immediately. I don't remember turning the television off, I didn't even plug my phone in to charge overnight. Next thing I knew, I was waking up at 4:30am confused as ever. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Well, that is after I closed the cover on my iPad and pushed it down towards the foot of my bed because I was suddenly concerned that I may roll on top of it and break it. *blank stare*

Again I wake up before I intended to after the exhausting day before. This time it was 7:45am and I had the craziest dream ever! Well, since I quit smoking anyway. I was driving somewhere. Without even thinking about it I reached my hand into my compartment and pulled out a cigarette and lit it. I finished smoking before I got to my destination. I have no idea where I was going or who was there but when I arrived I was talking with people I'm familiar with (friends) but I don't know exactly who it was because I never saw faces. It was as though the faces were blurred out. WEIRD! Anyway, I was telling them that I was almost at 2 months and I just washed that slate clean because I just smoked. I didn't even have any sort of remorse about it. Just like well, there went that.

I was very concerned when I woke up. Rethinking my dream and wondering what on earth I would do should that have ever happened. I'm beginning to think that all this trying to run nonsense is taking a toll on me. HA! Well, anyway I just wanted to share my crazy dream.

Journey to 5k - D-Day!!!!!!

Today I participated in the "happiest 5k on the planet" aka



It is 10pm, I woke up at 4am after going to bed at 11pm (who knows when I finally fell asleep), participated in the 5k, stayed in sun for 2 more hours, ate, post office, home. No nap and I'm so exhausted so I will write all about it hopefully tomorrow but I can't make any promises! However, I DID IT!

I will leave you with this picture because I can't stop laughing at it. Apparently she was in the way of us taking a picture and well.....

Journey to 5k - 2 sleeps and a wake up

Boy has time flown by! I can't believe that in 2 more sleeps and a wake up I will be participating in my first 5k. So the Color Run is more of a "fun run" and will consist of lots of walking but I'm still planning on trying to run just so I can. Then after Saturday I really need to get my crap together and seriously train so I can not be last for the Chocolate Run since that one is a timed run.

I was going to post a picture of my "bib" but I'm being lazy and I don't feel like taking it out of the bag again, taking a picture, emailing it, posting it. Yes, that is a lot of work right now. Shoot...I'm having a hard enough time staying focused enough to write this at the moment. Now where was I? Yes, I already got distracted again and lost my train of though. CRAP!

So let's just get down to business. I've still been going on the "Wellness Walks" at work daily even though I don't write about it. I figure it's the same 1.5 miles I go every day with the same route and well, in my opinion, that is not worth writing home about. However, on days like yesterday and today it is a different story. Let me tell you how I changed it up.

It began yesterday when I decided I wanted to try to run for some of the "wellness walk". So I changed out and only ran for a few small parts of it until the end. While I'm still working at walking my consistent 15 minute mile I'm not achieving it very regular, I decided to try to run. I was very proud of the last part I ran. Ok not the homestretch in the parking lot but down the main road. I actually was able to run a good stretch. No, it's not that far but for me it is. Then there was today. Today I actually took my "running shoes" instead of my "walking shoes" and my clothes to change out again. I told my goodest friend that I wanted to run again. She didn't want to change (only she would run in jeans). Then as we were beginning our initial walk out of the parking lot her running partner walked out. Guess what...yes, then she had the look on her face like she wanted to go back inside and change so she could run. Now mind you when I saw her I asked her if she was going to change and she said no. Imagine how that made me feel. And we all remember how my moodswings are. I was fine though, but don't think I didn't let her off the hook that easy. Anyway, I was ready to go running. As we were exiting the parking lot we saw her "running buddy" go for the 2 mile route. Can you see where this is going? Yes, you guessed it (and if you didn't then that sucks to be you), I decided I wanted to go the 2 mile route as well. So off we went. I guess they thought I was kidding because the other 2 tried to turn down the street for the 1 mile/1.5 mile route and I was just crossing the street. So they continued with me, thank goodness because without them I would've gotten myself lost I'm sure. Anyway, jogging...walking...jogging...walking. I wanted my goodest friend to lead because I wasn't sure which street to turn down. Little did I know we weren't turning down a street for over a mile. Did I happen to mention that this was a continuous incline? Yes, right before we hit a mile I questioned out loud what I was thinking. Boy was I ready to stick both feet in my mouth for that one. So I got to a point where I was just trying to speed walk because that incline was brutal for me. Now mind you it was already hot, I was sweating like a pig at a luau, and I still had over a mile to go. When the other 2 jogged past me I joined them for as far as I could. I eventually caught up when we finally turn down the street. It was pretty much downhill from there. At this point my goodest friend couldn't stand it anymore and kept running ahead of us. I'm cool with that since I knew my way from there. I did jog for several more stretches for the 2nd mile. I did a lot better than I thought I would even though I was slightly disappointed. Yes that was a serious contratiction but it's true. Anyway, in the end I went 2.02 miles in 27.13 minutes.

Now after that, we went at lunch to pick up our packets (I was picking up 13 out of 15 packets) for The Color Run. I'm so freaking excited for it even if I have to get up before the Roosters to be downtown with my children at 6am. Wish me luck.

And in case your wondering, yes I do plan on taking that 2 mile route again tomorrow morning. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Journey to 5k - T minus 7 days

So 1 week from now I will have participated in The Color Run. I have already had a crazy dream about it, dreaded it and now I'm looking foward to it. So today I woke up, got dressed, pulled my hair back and went to go for a walk/jog.

I debated being adventurous and going for a jog/walk around the neighborhoods but I decided that I would stick around the park until after the color run. I was going good for the first couple laps then on that 3rd lap I could definitely feel an increase in temperature. After all it was around 10:15am at this point. Have I mentioned how much I dislike sweating? Not to mention there were several other joggers and 1 other walker at the park. Why do people insist on going against normal traffic? And don't even suggest that I'm the one going the wrong way. I definitely go the correct way and this is not up for debate. Anyway, I went for a few more laps and then called it quits. It really was quite warm outside and I was sweating like crazy. And let's not discuss the massive wedgie I had. I really do need to find a fix for that. Perhaps I should just start trying to run commando. Why do running shorts come with built in underwear? Those give the worst wedgies EVER!

Anyway, I have a full day ahead of me so this is a short entry. I ended up doing just slightly over 2 miles today and I was ok with that. My calves were already starting to tighten up and I'm not trying to get injured with less than a week to go.

Until next time...