Runner Friends... Long Beach ReCap

Turns out it was a great weekend for a run. Definitely not as hot as I expected and thank god the cloud cover stuck around a while.  So let's recap shall we.

There was a butt load of traffic getting into LB (what's new) and parking was a bitch even though we had pre-paid which actually was a bit of a disadvantage since I saw at least 2 other lots that were cheaper and not nearly as much traffic to park at.  Anyway Since Barb was running the half it was getting close to her start time we decided to jump out let Carrie park and I would walk her to the start line and see her off.



After Barb was off and running,  Carrie and I found each other and passed the time by taking pictures of course.  The 5k didn't start until 8:30 so we had about 40 minutes to kill.  I love this race it is so well organized and everything runs right on time.

I matched the sign!

The course was a pretty easy loop around Shoreline Village, but Carrie made the decision for us that since we were only doing the 5k that we had to run the whole thing.  Wait... What??  I don't think I have ever run a whole 5k.  When I run it's more run a mile walk a bit run a mile walk a bit.  Even when I have done my previous Half Mary's I've always done the run/walk combo.  

I was a little nervous.  I had made a new 5k playlist and it was 41 miutes long so that was my goal to finish before the playlist ran that would be a 13:13 minute mile.

  

Yup blew that outta the water!!

I totally crushed my time and have a new PR of 34:21. 

I have to thank Carrie  (and my playlist..there were some freaking good songs on there) I just kept up with her and moved my ass.

When we were done we found a spot to wait for Barb, about 1/2  a mile before the finish.  When we found her she asked us to come run with her and push her through it was getting tough.  So we ran with her until the fencing then veered off and let her take it home.

The running crew. Back where it all started.

When we were done we went to celebrate Rob's (Barbs hubby who also ran the 5k along with some other friends) birthday with some margaritas and Mexican food, 

I am so glad that even though I totally slacked I was still able to run this race with my friends and their friends.  I promise no more slacking, from now on I will sign up and do it cause I would hate to miss this.

and really isn't this medal just gorgeous.  

Linking up with Healthy Diva Eats , and Join The Gossip.

5 on Friday

So glad it's 5 on Friday I don't think my brain could handle any more right now. I  am so ready for this weekend, the only bummer is I'm not feeing 100%.  I think I have  something brewing *figures* but better now than in 3 weeks I will not be sick for vacation so…

{one} 

I am doing everything I can to get this thing knocked out

{two}

I finally picked up some beets at the farmers market last week and tried roasting them.  Gotta say they weren't bad I made a great little goat cheese and salad thing with them.  

{three}

Yup I'm sure your tired of hearing it but it is still hot here.  I shouldn't complain really I mean hitting the pool in (almost) mid October some people would kill for that.

{four}

TaTa and I workin' it old school.  We had a few Just Dance workouts this week.  I forgot how much fun it is :)  We even busted out all four of them.

{five}

This is what breakfast looks like when you forget your lunch at home not for one but two days ugh!!

but on the flip side a PBJ is still pretty damn good.

HAve a great weekend all and I can't wait to recap the LongBeach race this weekend.

Survivor Mud Run Recap

This weekend was the Survivor Mud Run.  Have to admit I was a little nervous leading up to it, I've done a plenty of 5ks, and a handful of halfs, but never a mud run or a run with obstacles.

We all spent the night at Barb's on Friday since the race was only 10 mins from her house.  I was so happy it has finally cooled down a bit since our wave time was at 10:15.  We got there in platy of time to snap a few pictures.

we really didn't  really thinking ahead and we never saw a bag check so I wrapped my car key in a ziplock and then duct tape (cause every problem can be solved with that shiz)

and tucked it in the back of Carrie's pants hoping for the best.

Lucily we found this awesome lady half way through the course that took our picture and then text it to us.  Otherwise we wouldn't have had one.  I actually one saw one photographer the whole race, and our bib number was covered with mud so I don't know how you would even find us lol.

After the run we headed back to the car to clean up and take a few more pictures.

When we got back to Barb's we hosed ourself off in her front yard before moving on to the shower. I had mud in places i didn't know could get mud lol..

Then we watched Blacklist (hello!! love this show) and compared battle wounds.

We had such a great time.  I will totally be doing another mud run even though I swear I'm still picking dirt out of my ears haha (where were you thinking..)

Linking up with Motivational Monday,  Healthy Diva, and Join the Gossip.

So Many Bubbles So Little Time

Happy Memorial Day peeps!

Hope you are all enjoying the three day weekend if you were lucky enough to have one.
It was pretty quiet around here.  We decided to just stay home and be low key.  But that doesn't mean we didn't have any fun. 

On Saturday we did this

We did the Bubble Run 5k!!!  It was so much fun and so well put together.  We signed up for this about a month ago when I saw it on Living Social (kinda like a knock off Groupon) for $24 then I saw a $5 off any Living Social deal of $15 or more so we scored and did the run for a grand total of $19  see I'm a freaking math wizard.  Talk about a deal! Normally these types of runs are anywhere from $35-$60.  I know right, but they are so much fun and I will pony up the money if it looks really good.   Luckily this time I didn't have too.

Like I said it was so much fun, I would totally do it again and maybe even pay full price.   The race started at 9AM a little late for some races but it was being held on the UCI campus and thee was a no noise rule until 9am so that meant no loud speakers or music until then.  Damn collage kids what, they actually want to sleep in on a Saturday pffftt.  I kid.... anyway once it started the bubbles where in full force.  I was a little worried that it was going to be really slippery, but actually it wasn't at all which was good as this course was REALLY hilly,

 

 and the bubbles where just as BIG.

 Everyone had a great time and we made it a girls day with TaTa, DQ, my mom, and of course CareBear.

But as with all race there is always some EPIC FAIL!!!  

 



PS.  I have no clue who that is if I did, I would not have let her wear white pants and a thong when there is water involved (isn't that like an unwritten rule or something).  

Wake Up Sleeping Beauty

So to keep up with my running cause I've been doing a pretty shitty job as of late and spend time with my family so they actually remember I do live here I decided that I am going to wake my sorry butt up and run in the mornings on Thursdays so I have the evenings to nag spend quality time with them.

This may not seem very daunting to most but for me this means waking up at 3:30AM  to be on the road for work by 5:15AM.  So today was my first Thursday and of course DQ was up all night with a cough.  At 3:30  I called off work and seriously debated going back to bed (I have to stay home all day with a sick kiddo I need my strength...right??)  I even got as far as climbing back into bed...and stayed there for a whole 5 minutes before good choices or guilt but what ev kicked in.  I got dressed  grabbed a banana and off I went.

Yes folks that's AM

That gym was a ghost town, only a few hard core peeps were there (look at me I'm hard core!)  and I totally kicked some treadmill butt HELL YA!  Though it was hard to get up I love morning runs and always do better than in the afternoon or evening.

Look at all that liquid awesome!!
and that weird face, what was I doing?

A little full body shot for ya.

 

I'm so glad I didn't flake this morning I felt great afterwards.  Then I remembered I have a session with my trainer this afternoon at 5PM doh...  Oh well looks like a double hitter today, but at least I will be home sooner that if I stayed a ran afterward.  Also since I was home with DQ I was able to get a crapton of stuff done today (which means I spent the day cleaning the house).

Do you like to workout in the mornings or in the evenings?

Zap!

Well to start off I'm still car-less and it sucks balls...Ugg I hate this!!!  And to top it off it has been a crazy busy week aren't they all but thankfully I have an awesome mom and a pretty good kid that have taken pity on me  are taking turns letting me use their cars. 

But it has been crazy 4 photo shoots this week, a late meeting at work, and of course the Electric Run.
Shoots went well we were able to squeeze it all in between bouts of rain, meeting same ol' same ol'.

Now to the Electric Run, I was very excited about this 5k it looked so awesome. So a few friends and I decided to do it together.  We were a little worried about the rain (ya know rain + electricity = bad combo lol) but as it neared the word was out rain or moon the race was on. 

So we all met at Erin's house to carpool from there, seeing as how they were charging $10 for parking, really the race was already pretty very pricey $50 so ya we were not happy about that.  We actually found parking just across the street at a park for FREE total score!  It was a little chaotic and there were no clear signs to the start line, and it was dark like really dark oh and WET.  Luckily it had stopped raining earlier but it was super, like gigantic puddles everywhere wet. We finally found our way in to the corral and proceeded to wait and wait and wait.... The race was suppose to start at 7pm but things didn't get going until closer to 7:20 finally we were off and to say the least I was underwhelmed yes there were lights and music but it really wasn't as awesome as it looked online, and to top it off it wasn't even a full 5k it was only 2.70 mile!!

Oh well I just have to look at it as a fun "healthy" thing to do with friends as opposed to just going out drinking and eating (though we did have dinner and one drink after) so I'll take it. But I probably won't be doing that particular run again.

Here is some of the foolishness...God I love these girls!

Barbie, Erin, & Kyss  I love these girls sooo much

At the starting line

My running mentor Erin and I

and we're done... I made matching shirts for everyone
the charity was Movember, hence the mustache :)

Color Run *Long and Full of Pics*

WoW!!!

That was F.U.N.

Last weekend my friends, family and I did the Color Run in San Diego and let me just tell you it was really the Happiest 5k on the Planet. If you've never heard of it check out the link it's a blast.

We started it off by heading down to San Diego after work (it's only about and hour and a half drive from there.  Moms and TaTa came to pick me up then off we went, the others CareBear, Barbie, and my bestie Kyss (along with her sis Babs) met us down there.  We stopped off at Road Runner Sports to pick every one's packet up and it was crazy the line snaked around the building and parking was a bitch, but over all it went smoothly they were very well organized, overall it took about and hour and yes that included some shopping for "race gear" on my part.  I was looking for a hydration belt *check and some Nuun *didn't find any, but found Gu Brew so gonna give that a shot cuz I can not stand Gatorade *gag*. 

Any way we finally made it to the hotel got cleaned up and decided to hit Old Town for a yummy Mexican  Dinner...well had we planned better we would have known it was Dia de Los Muertos, basically a Mexican celebration of the dead, and it was packed like a Justin Bieber concert packed So scratch that instead we hit up a Chipotle... that's Mexican enough lol.



Yumm sorta mexican...

The next morning we were up early and had some breakfast at the hotel then off to catch the trolley to Qualcom Stadium where the race was.  It was crazy busy, but again like packet distribution it was all very well organized and went smoothly.

My mini runner fueling with waffles... and nice photo crash
dude in the back. It's all good I so do it to except
I would have thrown up the peace sign lol.

At the starting line once they had most people corralled and ready they let us go in waves, actually more like large groups and none of it was by time (the Color Run is a fun run not a timed run).  The only rules are.... 1.) Wear White  2.) Be courteous to everyone, runners on the left walkers on the right and 3.) Have Fun...   and it was a great thing letting us go in waves because that led to very little back up at the "color stations".  Now for some fun pics:




At the starting line a Clean Fifty Shades of Color Team
Don't cha love the ties ;)



After the 1st (pink) and 2nd (orange) k's

 

Drama Queen and Moms making a dash for the finish line.

At the Finish line! We are one happy mess.
 

 

Overall it was a great time and I will so do it again.  Some people don't like the "fun runs" like this. They complain because they are not timed or they have to walk a bit because it's crowded with walkers, and yes they can be a bit pricey  and you know what I say to them... a big ole' fat SUCK IT!  

 

I love these things! Running is fucking hard and it's fun things like this that make it worth while. Sometimes you just need to have fun with it or you'll burn out.  And another thing of all the people that went with me and did the run only one of them is a "runner" the rest were just coming to have some fun.  It's awesome that exercises can be a fun weekend and get together and things like this get the other people in your life who wouldn't normally or aren't into "running" to get some exposure and hell even break a sweat.  So yes I will pay a little extra to have fun and share my love for a hard ass sport!

 

getting off my soap box now....

 

 

Weigh-In Wednesday #28

I'm down -1.2 pounds yay!!! That's awesome especially because last weigh-in was on Halloween morning and the festivities begin at night so, I so could have gorged myself on candy rationalizing that I have a whole week to work it off, but I didn't... yes I had a few pieces (maybe five or six) but that's it and didn't have anymore after that because Drama Queen had her stash under lock and key and wouldn't share I have new found willpower.

I also have so much to tell you about the Color Run we did on Saturday, but it's been crazy here and my freaking car is busted again which really sucks when you commute to work everyday so I have been trying to figure that mess out, but I promise a post will be done soon.

A sneak peek at all the awesomness...

October Goals

Yay it's October one of my most favorite months it's the beginning of Fall, which normally means cooler weather except if you live in southern cali where I do and it's 108 degrees today uggg, cozy sweaters, and boots. It's also one of my favorite holidays' Halloween and,  The Hubs and my anniversary.

Last month to get myself motivated to run again I posted that my goal was to run 25 miles by the end of the month and I totally did it (though squeaking out those last few miles was a challenge) mainly due to the fact that I didn't want to be a total loser and not do it after I said I was going to I put it out there into the universe so I had to make sure the goal was met :)

So for that reason I am gonna tell y'all my goal for October so they get done cause I'm so not into public humiliation ok maybe only that one time.

So here they are

• Drink all my water 90oz. a day
• Log my food in to myfitnesspal , every bite, everyday especially on the weekends I either get to busy or lazy.
• Log in a total of 30 miles this month.  I would have put "run" but since I took that impromptu break in August I can't seem to run more than a mile straight, so I  have to take walk breaks in between, and some times I'll give it all I've got then have to walk the last mile back home. So I figure as long as I'm trying my best and putting in the miles I'll get back there.  Which leads me to my next goal...
• Run a 5k again with out stopping even if it's slow as shit.
• And last but not least lose 7 pounds (that's just under 1.5lbs a week) totally doable.

So there ya have it folks....Here's to a great October.

What are some of your goals this month?

Weigh-In Wednesday #22

Wellp I stayed the same 196.0 no loss, but no gain either.  I'll take it seeing as how I only got in one run (and a short one at that) and being sick, so like I predicted it all evened out in the end.

I'm glad to say I think we are finally finding our groove on the home front, between school, working out, and now starting this week dun..dun..dun... HOMEWORK!  Drama Queen is so different than her big sis TaTa. It's like pulling teeth to get her to sit down for 5 min and do some homework, not like  TaTa as she was a little sponge and loved doing any kind of school work and for the most part still does .  So now this is the new challenge at home, if any one has any suggestions I'd love to hear them :)

Also I'm starting to get excited the Color Run is coming up pretty quick (Nov. 2nd) in San Diego and we are hoping to make a weekend of it. So I'm looking into hotels and stuff and trying to coordinate who wants to stay, one or two nights and all that jazz it's kinda a pain in the ass but I'm hoping totally worth it.

Cupcakes & Running... What????

OMG! I think I'm dreaming I was catch up on all most of my blog reading (this has been sorely neglected due to the massive screaming I have been enduring during the day which in turn causes me to find a dark quiet closet somewhere and rock back and forth until bed time)...I kid you not.

Any who I was catching up and ran across the most awesome thing I've seen a Cupcake Run.... Yes you heard that right Jess over at Run with Jess is hosting a Virtual 5k Run called the Cupcake Classic during the week of Oct 14th-21st.  Basically a virtual run is a race running/jogging/walking a specified distance, timing yourself, without actually being present in a race location.  Then the best part of this race is after your "race" you go treat yourself to a cupcake! Now that is a race I can so get into!   It's totally free to do just sign up, but she does have these very cute medals and even cuter shirts for purchase if you want them and of course I want so I ordered one of each :)

 If you'd like more info on Jess's Cupcake Classic click here.  I am so looking forward to it and it will give me a goal to work towards seeing as how I won't be able to run the race I was planning for Sept. for no other reason than I totally lagged and didn't sign up and I really don't feel it seeing as how I have also been totally lagging in the running department.  Though I am coming back strong!



 

and seriously how cute is her button...

Sunday Runday

Here are the results for my "long" run, since following Hal Higdon's 10k training plan Sunday is the day for my long runs and I'm really liking the early morning runs. Though this morning was a little rough, I had a Sweet 16 photo shoot last night that ran til 11:30 (I do photography on the side). So I wasn't up at 5:30 as planned but was up by 7:00 instead probably would have slept longer but the hubby is not quiet and out the door.  I was still pretty tired and that first mile was a bitch, but seeing as I have my 4th of July 5k in like 3 days I just kept going and the 2nd & 3rd were way better.

I did notice I have been  keeping a much faster pace then anticipated which is good fantastic.  I'm hoping to complete the 5k in under 38 min, since I will walk to warm-up before the race and will only time my "running" I'm eager to see what it will be.  The first and last 5k I did was in Dec. of 2010 with some friends and it was my "first attempt at becoming a runner" I was in week 3 of C25k and only sort-of,  kind-of doing it and boy was that crap was hard. I think I finished in like 50 min. and thought I was gonna have a heart attack, then totally defeated gave the running up until now.

So I am really excited about this one, I'm so gonna kill it! 

My one and only 5k which was craptastic,
this santa was not a jolly old elf.