Running, racing, shopping & moving!
Here I am a week post-first official half marathon and I’m feeling mostly great! Not that I didn’t think I would feel decent, but I’m paying such close attention to my body because of what I want am planning to do this spring if it allows me.
Tar Heel 10 Miler April 20, 2013
Nike Women’s Half Marathon April 28, 2013
Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Half Marathon May 5, 2013
Whoa Nellie, that’s a lot of running three weeks in a row. At least for me it is. Hardcore ballers like Ericka and Dorothy would probably think nothing of this. Haa, blow it off like a lil dust on their shoulders. But for me and my less experienced racing legs/feet, this could be a doozie waiting to happen!
Great article here from Running Shoes Guru! I’ve been adhering to these tips all week!
Without proper training that is. The only reason I’m only saying I’m mostly great a week later and not completely 100% back to normal is because I’m STILL having some sort of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. That’s the only bodily woe though. And it’s not from my shoes–those Mizunos treated me right! I do suspect it’s the major lack of miles I ran prior to the race. When you’ve only been running 3 or 4 miles three times a week and then suddenly bust out 13.1 it’s a slight shock to your system!!! Or in this case, a major shock to my feet.
So in the meantime this past week, while resting and tending to the bum foot, I’ve been preparing for dark/chillier weather running {can’t say cold since it’s not just yet!} and the next races.
I checked out and clocked a new route that I can run after work. It’s well lit and is exactly 3.1. miles. I’m going to miss my favorite trail, but it’s much too shaded and will be too dark at that time of the evening. I’m about to get some clip-on blinking lights but haven’t made it to the store yet. I did find this fabulous steal at Marshall’s though:
It’s a Nathan Triangle Hydration Pack and was only $12!! Woo hoo!! It fits great, has a little pocket, a bottle to keep me hands-free, and reflection! I’ve wanted one of these for a while but wasn’t about to shell out the almost $30. Now I don’t have to! While I was there, I got this beauty:
A knitted wrap! My head isn’t usually cold, but my ears are. This way, I can keep the ears covered and look stylish at the same time. 😀
Since I’ve been longing for a long sleeved shirt with thumbholes AND this one had been on my mind since before I ran a half marathon, it became my gift to myself for a job well done! I love Oiselle but had never broken down and ordered anything. Staying warm and celebrating my half mary seemed like good enough reason. 😀
And this shirt has nothing to do with staying warm, but it’s for my Tar Heel 10 Miler in April. Yes, I’m thinking of what I want to wear for an April race already, haa. I wouldn’t normally have been, but hubs and I were driving down Franklin Street {UNC’s Campus} on Friday night and I saw it in a store window. I went back on Saturday afternoon, braving the hordes of students, parents and visitors just getting out of the homecoming game to get it. One medium left and it was destined to be mine! I have a RUN PGH {Pittsburgh} shirt, so now I’m kind of collecting them!
Mugs. I do legitimately collect mugs. Can’t get enough of a good mug. So when I saw this one for $3, I was like, “Oh yes, you shall be mine.” It’s simple, spoke to me, and is very true. I also think it was telling me to do something I’ve been thinking about doing lately. But more on that later…
I’m MOVING!! But only in the form of regular WordPress.com to WordPress.org and being self-hosted. 😀 FINALLY!!! I’ve been wanting needing to make the change for a while and the time is now. It’ll be done by Ryan, who I hear is totally awesome, on Saturday. So if anything wonky is going on next weekend it’s because that’s what’s going down! My blog addy will still be the same he tells me. And yes, I had to ask him because I’m am the least technical, computery, IT-ish person ever and know nothing about self-hosting. Ohhh boy, this oughtta be fun! Haa.
Hope you all had a great weekend and a fabulous Monday! What are you looking forward to this week?
13.1 miles of awesomeness later, I’m an Official Half Marathoner!
Have a Snickers protein bar folks, this post is a long one and it’s gonna be a while…but I’m too excited to not pack it all in here–I’m now an official half marathoner as of yesterday and am too pumped up to leave anything out!
You probably know I was nervous for this past weekend. Injuries kept sneaking up on me, I haven’t been running/training as much as I should have, and the last time I ran 13.1 miles was back in July.
The first time I relaxed enough to crack a smile.
Nonetheless, I packed up my stuff and the hubs and I headed towards the coast 3 hours southeast to Wilmington, NC. This race was going to happen no matter what so I might as well enjoy the ride!
Gorgeous water behind me! And THIS is why I wanted to race my first half in Wilmington. When I was last here 3 years ago, that’s what I looked like. Wanted to race in this city as the healthier, fitter version of myself. NEVER would have imagined that 3 years ago!
We stayed at the Hilton, right along the Cape Fear River and the boardwalk. Gorgeous! The weather was flippin’ fantastic–even better than I’m accustomed to this time of year in NC. But there was no time to get cozy in the hotel…the first order of business was to immediately walk down the street to the convention center to pick up my race packet.
The first time half marathoners got a special green bib and our shirts said “FIRST 13.1” on the sleeve. I love the color kelly green so this was awesome! I looked around the expo, put on by TrySports of Wilmington, but I pretty much had everything I needed. For once I didn’t buy anything!
Once I had the packet in hand, the hubs and I decided to head over to The Cotton Exchange to hang out for a bit. It was too early to have dinner, but not too early for some pre-race carbs in the form of beer!
Before we headed into Paddy’s Hollow, an Irish Pub, I asked hubby to take a picture of me in front of their entrance. I knew I had taken a picture in front of the pub a few years ago and I wanted to compare. These comparison pictures keep me going, y’all. I need to know where I started, see the pics often, and keep them as reminders to stay on task!!! Three years ago, I didn’t think it was possible to lose weight; I would just always look like I looked. If I only knew I’d be back three years later ready to run a half marathon. Haa!
After putzing around some more, and doing a lil shopping in the cutest bookstore ever, Two Sisters Bookery, we headed down the boardwalk. Our destination was The Pilot House. It is amazingly good food!! And the view along the outdoor seating is breathtaking. My picture doesn’t do it justice, but mind you, Wilmington is where they filmed Dawson’s Creek. Picture that!
I ordered shrimp & scallop linguini with olive oil something something {no cream sauce because I can’t stand cream sauces}. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I was happy. Ohhh, so happy!! I rarely order pasta at restaurants so this was a delicious carbtastic treat sprinkled with yummy protein.
After devouring our food and beverages and yes, dessert, which we split, it was time to head back to the hotel. We passed this three-mile marker sign along the way and that’s when the nerves finally came back to me. “Wow,” I said, “When I see this marker tomorrow I will STILL have 10 more miles to go?!!”
Back inside the Hilton, I put on my pjs, got my outfit ready for the morning, and worked in some necessary foam rolling. I wish having the extra hour of Daylight Saving Time would’ve been put to good use, but I swear I didn’t sleep a wink the whole night! I was too excited to sleep!!
At 6am the alarm went off. Again, I was pretty much awake, so “waking up” was just a formality. I went to the bathroom to get ready, gather my race fuel, dress, and scarf down my breakfast of coconut water and two untoasted mini bagels.
I was then ready to go. Feet don’t fail me now!! I took one last before pic in the bathroom mirror {in case anyone needed to know what I looked like before I passed out and fell into Cape Fear}.
I had to catch a water taxi a little before 7am so it could take me across the river to the Battleship NC for the start of the race. That was fun–the breeze coming off the water helped to calm me down. Hubby wasn’t allowed to ride the taxi until 8am with the other spectators, so I just hung out by myself for an hour. I saw many others with the green bibs so I knew it was their first time too, but I didn’t strike up any convos. I was uncharacteristically anti-social and just wanted to be in the zone, alone. I needed this “me” time to just chill out.
They had a table set up with bagels and bananas so I grabbed half a banana with about 10 minutes to go. You know I’m one of those that needs to run on a full stomach and my coconut water and mini bagels weren’t cutting it. I then went to line up and was finally in a chatting mood. The lady next to me told me that the longest run she’d done in weeks was 10 miles. Then a girl diagonal from us turned around to say she’d never run more than eight miles ever. Once I heard all that, I calmed the heck down. Why was I freaking? I had run this distance twice, even though it was months ago. I told myself to just run MY race. I could do it, even if I had to walk a little bit. I had done it before and I could do it again. My goal was to run it in under 3 hours. One, because that was just my goal, and two, because that was the cutoff. Haha, so I had to! And then, while I was lost in a conversation with myself, the announcer counted down. 3…2…1…GO!
I have no pictures of anything during the race. I wanted to take soooooo many pics because there was gorgeousness all around me. But I knew it would only slow me down to fiddle with my phone and I had no time for fiddling–there was a race to be run!!
I thought for sure all of my miles would be in the 11 something range. 12 at the worst. Haa!! I think I could have run faster, but I knew I didn’t want to go on for 13.1 miles on tired legs, so I severely paced myself, turtle-style. Here they go, a play-by-play according to my Nike+ GPS.
Mile 1 11:48 Everything felt okay. I didn’t think I was running fast OR slowly. It turns out this was my 2nd fastest mile. 😦
Mile 2 11:57 All was still so far so good. We were on the highway for a bit and the roads weren’t closed. I made sure to stay inside the orange cone area, try to avoid road kill and not get my feet stuck in the grids as I ran across a bridge.
Mile 3 12:44 This bridge continued and while I was slow, I kept running–there was no need to walk at this point and I actually passed a few people. I smiled to myself. This was also where I passed the sign that I had seen the night before. I felt pretty good and ready for more. It was getting hot outside, so I took off my throw-away long sleeve black shirt and tucked it under the windshield wiper of hubby’s car. It was right along the course outside the hotel so that way I didn’t really have to throw it away. One lady thought I was stopping already when she saw me hop off course and told me not to quit. I was like, REALLY?! Umm, it’s Mile 3. I’m not. Ate a GU. Okay, back to running.
Mile 4 12:13 Yay! I got faster for a slight bit. This amazed me because I had to go up some crazy hill at this point. {LOTS of hills on this course. When they said it was a challenging course, they weren’t lying!!!} But I RACED up that hill like there was a zombie behind me. I think I’m starting to like hills. This gave me some oomph and carried me through the rest of the mile.
Mile 5 12:24 The only thing memorable here was that I also ran past the Mile 11 marker and saw a guy running in the opposite direction. I was like, “Awww, *bleep* no! Is he REALLY at Mile 11 al*bleeping*ready and am I really only at Mile 5?!! *BLEEEEEEP*!!! I wasn’t mad at him. I just can’t believe how fast some people are. Blows my mind. I kept running MY race and pressed on.
Mile 6 12:32 This was a halfway point in my mind. I don’t really count the last mile of the half mentally, so yes, mile 6 is halfway there to me. Nothing memorable here, other than a girl trying to run along with me–I’m kind of a solo runner. Okay, not kind of. I am. I’ve said it time and time again, it’s my ME time and I don’t really want to talk. I don’t want a running buddy. I’m rocking out to my music and pretending I’m on Star Search American Idol. And that’s all I want to do. Seriously, if a race won’t let me run with music, I can’t do it. Music is my EVERYTHING on a run. Totally inspires me and keeps me going. I need Prince, Eminem, Jay Z, Whitney, Britney and Christina. Not a buddy. Sorry. 😦 Ate a GU.
Mile 7 12:30
Mile 8 12:26
Mile 9 12:15
I was feeling okay during these miles apparently as I was going a little faster. I think I was just ready to be done, lol. It was hot, I somewhat had to go to the bathroom {didn’t want to stop though}, and I wanted my free beer at the end. I kept trying to get away from another woman who had her music playing out loud. Argghh!! She was messing with my mental concert. Ate a GU. I pressed on.
Mile 10 13:11 I was somewhere around two hours and 5 minutes I believe. I knew if I pushed myself, I could get done way under my goal of three hours and I had pretty much a 5K left to run. But my calves seemed to be having other thoughts. No major problems with them yet, just twinges.
Mile 11 12:59 Okay, yes, yes, I think I could do it. My new goal wasn’t 3 hours, it was 2 hours 45 minutes.
Mile 12 14:45 Holy slow mile Batman! I don’t know where this came from. I hadn’t run a mile taking this long in a while. My left calf was acting NUTS. I tried to slow it down, do some weird stretches as I was going and kept pressing on. Yup, still running this whole time though even though the calf wanted to stop me. But some grids on yet another bridge majorly slowed me down, too. I had to walk across them this time. A lady in front of me almost bit the dust and I didn’t want to be her.
Mile 13 11:47 This was my fastest mile and I think all the energy I had saved suddenly busted out. I ran as fast as I could at this point. I kept looking at my watch and knew I was so close to 2:45. I could SEE the finish line and my left calf struck again. ARGH. I thought I was going to have to walk across the finish. I think that’s when my hubby snapped a few pictures of me.
The cramp went away JUST as I was getting a few steps away from the line and I did manage a half-jog right across. And oooh weee, did the leg cramps take over then. This is one of the reasons I kept running! I knew once I stopped, that feeling would set in. But I didn’t care! I went over to a Marine–they were handing out the medals–got my bling, found hubby and proceeded to hug and snap pictures. I was a half marathoner!!!
My beautiful medal. 😀 It’s heavy!
Those Velcro knee braces are really hot. I know you wish you had ’em haa. Focus on the medal. Or the shirtless guy behind me. Errr, how about focusing on my time then….2:46:39!! Woohoo!! Under 3 hours and I’ll just aim for under 2:45 next time. I’m VERY pleased with that for my first official time. That’s better than the two times I ran it on my own in July. I came in 1051/1201 overall, but what really matters to me is that I finished and did it!!!
And my feet did not fail me–these Mizunos kept me going strong. Definitely a brilliant run, I’d say!
Finally I was able to get my beer! Thank goodness Bud Light was not the only choice {yes, I’m a beer snob}. We got Shotgun Betty and it was the best beer ever. I love what it says to the right of my head. Worth it, indeed!!
Hubby helped me back on the water taxi and back to the hotel we went. It was time to get a quick shower and head home in time to catch my Steelers game. Yes, it was race day, but I still don’t mess around with missing my team!! As you can see, I quickly put my 13.1 oval sticker on my Xterra. I love it!!
I went to bed AND woke up today with some sore legs. Ice has been my BFF. I can’t even think about foam rolling right now, so I’ve been trying to manually massage them. Barring that and the weird & painful burn my Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor left across my chest (I put a little flower over the boob area–was having a wardrobe malfunction) I’m feeling alright!
Thoughts: I feel awesome. I think had I not gone rogue and stopped training, I could have even done better. But again, this time is amazeballs to me considering where I started from!!! I ran MY race and this was good for ME. Could I have run another 13.1 after this? Heck no. But I wasn’t training for a full. Could I run a full someday? I think I could!! This race taught me a lot, I cried three times during it {because I miss my Mommy and wanted to call her after the race if only I could have}, but it proved to me that I can do that which I did not think I could. I like surprising myself like that. 😉 Thank you soooooo much to everyone that cheered me on! You rock!!!
Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed that protein bar. Again, I warned you it was long, haha. Hopefully you thought it was worth it!
How was your weekend? Any first time racers out there?
It’s coming…Sunday Runday.
Sunday will come no matter what. {Providing the world doesn’t end beforehand, but I’m not betting on that.} So, seeing as how it’s coming anyway, I just need to suck it up and welcome it with open arms.
But yes, oh yes, I’m scared, freaking out, worried, doubting, second-guessing, and jittery as I’ve ever been. But I’m also excited, eager, self-assured, confident, giddy, and determined as I’ve ever been, too.
Sunday, I will tackle this beast.
My first official half marathon, The Battleship North Carolina!!!
I’m trying to think of it more as just a nice little weekend getaway for the hubby and me, as this is where we normally go for our anniversary trips. We haven’t been there in about three years so I really am looking forward to it! And then, in my mind, it’s like, “Oh yeah, so in the middle of the trip, I need to excuse myself and disappear for about three hours to go run 13.1 miles. No biggie.”
I wouldn’t even have any sort of nervousness except for reading this last night:
I WAS running 20 miles a week. Remember y’all, I did run the 13.1 mile distance twice this July just to see if I could. But again that was in JULY. I haven’t run a distance that long since then, and since starting my new job mid September, I haven’t run longer than 6 miles at a time, I don’t believe.
Still running, after work mostly and on Sundays, but usually not more than 4 miles a pop. Yeah, I know this is no bueno, but I was hoping my body would just get itself in gear and get me through the 13.1 without keeling over.
I was pretty confident I could muddle through until reading that last night. “YOU CAN’T CRAM FOR THIS TEST.” Folks, I think what I’m exactly about to do is cram for this test. Ooops.
Nothing I can do now. I purposely didn’t run this week as I wanted my legs to be well-rested. I’m one of those that cannot run EVERY SINGLE DAY {I’m definitely not the “runstreaker” type}–usually every other day suits my body best. And if I do plan to do a long distance, a good five or six day’s rest does me good. Eh, I’m weird, but again–it works.
I have run races the past two weekends in a row though:
The Color Run in DC, 10/21/12
Pumpkin Run in Carrboro, NC, 10/27/12
Now this half marathon will make a third. Look at me go! I also have a bunch more scheduled. And by the time you read this, in the morning, I will have registered for another…the Tar Heel 10 Miler!
Anyhoooo, I’ll be ready for my half, probably HOPING the world will end by the time I hit mile 7, but nonetheless, I’ll git-r-done. That’s what I’ve done during this entire fitness journey and this race will be no different!! And yes, I have a time goal–if you were paying attention, I said it earlier! But you know what, I think I’ll just be happy to finish!
Oh–and I’ve been sucking down the carbs so I won’t bonk. {Plus, I haven’t had spaghetti in MONTHS and wanted it, doggone it!}
On a side note, my new health insurance did kick in yesterday. So, should I trip, pass out, or fall into Cape Fear, I know I will get some great medical care. 😉 Always looking on the brightside!
I’ll be back in a couple days with a recap and pictures after I’m an official half marathoner!!
Do you remember your first half? Where was it? How’d it go?
Foodie Penpals: October box from Lindsey
It’s time for my favorite last-day-of-the-month post…the Foodie Penpals Reveal Day!
My special delivery this month came from Lindsey of Creatively Classy and she really outdid herself. There were so many goodies packed in there that I didn’t know where to begin!
Inside this delicious box o’ fun were:
- Thai curry cashews
- Kashi bars
- Coconut water
- Grapefruit Izze
- Roasted green salsa
- An Aggie chocolate bar
- Snickers
- Warm Delights
- An über Larabar
I would post more pictures of the goodies, but between me and the hubby we’ve plowed through this box. He ate the Snickers, we were nutty over the nuts, the bars all went with me to the office, the salsa was used for a delicious chicken & shrimp fajita dinner and the drinks have long since sailed away. Only the Warm Delights remain and they’ll be saved for a dessert one evening very soon!
So again, Lindsey, thanks SOOOO much for this; it was all amazingly delish!!
Do you want to get your very own Foodie Penpals box? Participate! Here’s how:
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.
If you’re interested in participating for November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by November 4th as pairings will be emailed on November 5th!
*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!
Race Recap: The Color Run in DC!
:: Before I begin…have you entered my Under Armour running shoe giveaway yet? You still have time! ::
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And with the conclusion of The Color Run yesterday, race #2 is logged and in the books!
I can’t believe it took me from May until now to have had a second race. Or that I’ll have another one this coming weekend, the Pumpkin Run, and then my first official half marathon, the Battleship North Carolina, in 13 days!
Now, I certainly don’t need to race every weekend. {Those of you out there that do it, more power to you AND your wallet. Seriously, how y’all afford races weekend after weekend, I just don’t know, but that’s another subject. Feel free to share your race-fund-saving-tips!} But somehow these three weekends in a row I will have ended up doing just that and it’s pretty awesome! {Again–I cannot stress how thankful I am to be working Monday through Friday now, regular business hours finally. I can do races on the weekend and not have to request time off work!! Holla!!}
Well, it’s awesome once I’ve traveled to the starting line, I’m all set to run, I’m in the process of running, sure that I’ll finish the race, and once I have finished and have my swag on. 😀 I won’t lie–the morning of, twice now, I’ve woken up thinking, “Man, I just want to keep sleeping. Can’t this race start at like, say, 11am instead?” You KNOW how I am about morning running. I kind of detest it. {Thank goodness my Pumpkin Run doesn’t start until 5pm this Saturday. Now THAT’S a time that is more Cherie-like!!!}
My sis picked up my race packet for me the day before. So happily, that was already done and taken care of and we didn’t have to wake up even earlier to go get it. GREAT SWAG!!
As much as I don’t like getting up early to run, it was crazy beautiful on the National Harbor, where the race was held. {Technically just outside of DC, but close enough to generalize it and call it DC like the organizers did. So go along with me here.} The sun was just rising and glistening on the water. GORGEOUS! My sister drove us {it was only about 20 minutes from her house so I made a quick weekend road trip up to DC to stay with her} so I was able to look around and take in all the beauty while she was navigating.
I was excited to run with her as this was her first 5K! Originally I was going to plan on running a 5K PR to better my time from the first one in May. But once I realized I was going to want to stop and take pictures of all that was going on around me, and I wanted to slow it down to her speed to stay with her, any sort of time records went out the window! That was kind of nice actually because it took all types of “racing” pressure off me and I was just enjoying the run and the experience!
The race began at 9am, but we lined up early so we could be in the first wave of people to go through. I LOVED seeing everyone’s creative white outfits! My note to self: I need to jazz it up for the rest of my races!
Once we were off it was pretty tight. A little hard to move around everyone, but then it spaced out. It was super cool to be running on the highway! Once we passed this portion of the race is when I really couldn’t contain myself and just wanted to take pictures of everything!
My sister was doing the same, so she was able to get some “action” shots of me. I realized long ago that I didn’t have any pictures of me running and this blog is called Cherie Runs This. Haa! And I say “action” in quotes because again, we were going too slowly at times to call these “running” pictures! But you get the gist.
The yellow was one of my favorite colors to run through! {Steelers fanatic, DUH!}
This view near the end of the race was beautiful to me! Though I don’t swim, or really even like to get IN the water, I love to look at it!
And here’s the finish! My Nike+ GPS clocked it at 2.8 miles…I swear I started my timekeeping as soon as I crossed the start. Hmm…odd! Don’t know if the organizers noticed that or not, but whatevs. So it was almost a 5K! Oh, and the time: 41:31. Again, we strolled along a lot, haha!! But since I know I can do it faster, I don’t even care. AND–while I was running I felt fantastic! Like I could run and run for miles without stopping. This DEFINITELY gave me the confidence I need to do my half mary on the 4th of November!!
After the race, I did what I do best:
Shop. Haha, my sis caught me all digging into my SpiBelt for my dough. The whole time I was running all I kept talking about was NEEDING to pick up a pair of yellow The Color Run knee-highs that I saw somebody wearing.
So I got the knee-highs AND an awesome hoodie and cute key chain. Couldn’t resist!
My sis also sprung for me to get my nails done on this visit–since I have an officey job now, she thought I should have pretty nails. 😉 I never get my nails done, but I wasn’t going to argue!
It was a great weekend and a great race! Two showers later I’m still finding bits of color in places I didn’t even know the color could go, but it creates lasting memories, haha. {Sunglasses and a bandana and clothes you don’t mind ruining are highly recommended!} I’m SO glad I ran it and very proud of my sister for finishing her first 5K! On to the next one!
Did you run The Color Run before? How’d it go?
Sub 10 Club & an Under Armour Giveaway!
If you’ve ever read my blog before, you know that I’m not a fast runner. Well, I guess it’s all relative though…If you run a mile in 18 minutes, you may think I’m fast. If you run a mile in 7 minutes, you may think I’m not.
But I AM still a runner nonetheless and a determined one at that.
I remember starting out being one of those runners that took about 18 minutes to run a mile–that was back in early 2011. I tried and tried, progressed, regressed, got injured, healed, and tried some more. It’d been a looooong time coming and I wasn’t sure when I’d ever gain admittance into the Sub 10 Minute Mile Club.
This past Tuesday, I set out to go running after work. The clock stuck 5pm and I gathered a tank, capris, a compression sleeve, and my shoes.
OHHHH, now those are new shoes aren’t they? {My loyal readers, I love you so, can probably tell!}
Let me interject my touching little story for just a moment.
A fantastic woman from Under Armour found my blog, told me congrats on my weight loss, said she liked Cherie Runs This, wanted to send me something from UA to review on my blog and give something to my readers. Oh, and had I ever heard of UA?
I was like, “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!! Hahaha, ummm, yeah, I’ve heard of Under Armour!! Holla!!” Okay, I didn’t say, “Holla,” but told her yes I had heard of UA, would love to review a product and thanks thanks thanks so much!
Of course I picked running shoes to review! The Under Armour Spine RPM shoes to be exact. Which, YES, MEANS ONE OF YOU GET A PAIR OF SHOES, TOO. But I’ll get to that part momentarily.
So I donned the Spine RPMs and headed to my favorite running spot–the Bolin Creek Trail.
You know my protective leg brace is hot. Don’t hate.
I wasn’t sure what was my exact running plan as I was heading toward the trail, but once I got there and saw all the other runners zooming about, I knew I was in the mood to once again knock at the door of the Sub 10 Club.
I set my GPS watch and heart rate monitor and took off. I’m going to sound like Forrest Gump, but I was a-ruhhnnnnin!! I saw the .8 mile marker, knew I only had .2 miles to go but for a split second a few split seconds, I actually thought I would call it a day and just walk the .2. I was tuckered out, y’all. But I couldn’t stop there. I was way too close. I hadn’t looked down at my watch, so I honestly had no idea if I was close to 10 minutes, if I had already hit 10 minutes or was way past 10 minutes. I just kept running.
They say your head will give out before your legs do. It’s true. It was all mental. It’s the same as when I tried and failed miserably to lose weight so many times before. My head was convincing me that it was too hard, I couldn’t do it, it’d be too much work, it was impossible. Your body can do amazing things; don’t let your head get in the way.
I passed the one mile marker and just as I did, my watch signaled the same alert. I looked down, almost afraid, but smiled and started babbling to myself. “Aaack!! What?!! Nine. Forty. Five. Ninefortyfive!!! Seriously?! That’s definitely under 10!!!! I’m in the club. I’m in the club!!!!” I looked crazy. I didn’t care. I was breathing hard, panting, gasping and talking to myself, without a care in the world. It took over a year, but it was worth it. That’s all I could think about.
But then I thought about the shoes! I couldn’t forget to thank the shoes that I was wearing when this fabulous moment finally happened. Thank you Under Armour RPMs! 😀 They felt great during the entire run {I ended up doing a 5K all together} and I didn’t feel like I had to “break them in” first. I simply put them on and was off and running.
I normally wear a 9.5 and that’s the size I got. Sometimes I will go up a half size, as some brands will recommend, but with these I felt like they were true to size. I had toe room, but not too much and not too little. They were very lightweight but still gave me enough support. I was comfortable in them for the duration of the run and could’ve logged more miles but it was getting dark and I had to go home and make dinner. I had never tried Under Armour shoes but can definitely say I was thoroughly impressed!
And of course I shall always remember them as the shoes I was wearing when I reached my goal! 😉
But now…let me guess…you want to know how you can get your hands on a pair right? Well, you can buy them here, or check out other Under Armour shoes here or you can enter my giveaway to WIN a pair!
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HERE’S HOW TO ENTER…
You will receive one entry for every one of these items–the more you do, the more entries for you. The FIRST ONE is mandatory all others are extra entries for you! {You may only enter the giveaway once. Duplicate entries will be deleted.}:
–Leave me a comment below telling me why you want these shoes! {again, this one is required}
–Follow me on Twitter @cherielianne and comment below telling me you did so.
–Tweet about the giveaway using the following sentence {copy and paste it}: “I entered to win a pair of @UnderArmour running shoes from @cherielianne. You can too! http://wp.me/pyMgz-19A “ Comment below telling me you did so.
–Follow me on Instagram @CherieRunsThis and comment below telling me you did so.
-You can also like my Facebook page if you want. It’s not required and is not an entry. You can just like it to like it!
This giveaway is open to everyone {no US only restrictions!} and will end on Wednesday, October 24th at 11:59 PM ET!!! The winner will be announced Thursday, October 25th. I will use random.org to select a winner and will contact him/her. The winner’s information will be forwarded to Under Armour and they will ship him/her the pair of shoes in one of the four available colors!
Good Luck! 😀
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FIRST, Thank you to everyone who had a sweet comment about me reaching the Sub 10 Club. Y’all rock!!! 😀
And the winner is….
Congrats Erin!! Please forward me your full name, telephone number, shipping address, email address and choice of shoe color. I will pass it along to Under Armour and they’ll ship you your new running shoes! 
Thank you so much to everyone who entered!!
**Entries were accepted until 11:59 pm since that was the stated end of the contest! Any received after that were not counted.
*Other than receipt of the running shoes, I was not compensated in any way for my review. All opinions, comments, positive and/or negative, are my own.
Runner Gone Rogue.
It feels so good to be back.
I laced up my shoes yesterday for the first time since that pesky cold took me out of commission for almost two weeks. I only ran five miles, but felt like I could’ve run for days.
I wasn’t watching the clock.
I wasn’t praying for the run to be over.
I wasn’t rolling my eyes at myself in the mirror over my pace.
I wasn’t breathing heavy or gasping.
I wasn’t in pain.
I was just running. Having a brilliant run, at peace and proud of what my body was able to let me do.
It was Mezamashii defined…in every way, absolutely eye-opening.
Somehow during this first run in my Wave Riders, I ran away from a place where nothing is I’m never ever good enough to the corner of Confidence & Believe-In-Yourself Avenue. I even started to feel a calm coming over me about this upcoming half marathon in…gulp…three weeks. I CAN do it!!
I started off the run P.O.’ed because I wasn’t testing the new shoes in the park like I wanted to. Sticking to a gas budget wasn’t going to allow me to drive to my favorite outdoor running spot yesterday, so I had to run on my treadmill. Y’all know I’m a big fan of my tready, but I really was itching to get outside. I sucked it up, stayed home, popped in a crime show DVD, and got on the treadmill.
My goal was to run three miles straight. Super easy outside, but on my treadmill, I’ll find every reason in the world to take a break after each mile–bathroom, water, blow my nose, bathroom, stretch, change the DVD, bathroom, etc. This time I made myself stay on it and keep running no matter how bad I thought I had to go.
Then I upped the goal to five miles in under an hour. I’ve done that before, but not right after coming off a bad cold.
BOOM! I did it!!
The shoes felt amazing the WHOLE time. My calves, knee, hip, ankles, shins, and feet all felt good. No pain. I couldn’t believe it! And for y’all that are really paying attention, nope, I still haven’t gotten my stability/motion control shoes yet, nor have I been able to get reassessed at Fleet Feet yet. It’s still on my sooner-than-later to do list, but I’m thinking these non-stability shoes are working for me. There’s something to be said for being able to move a little better, have lighter shoes on and not being so bogged down by the crazy-supportive shoes I’ve worn in the past. These made my feet feel great, so I’m going with it for now. Go Mizuno, go!
Like I said earlier, my half mary is in 3 weeks. There’s really no time now to be upping my mileage to what it should be so that the run will be no sweat to me. Between the stupid cold, getting acclimated to the new job and just running however long and whenever I felt like it falling off the set training plan, I pretty much feel like a runner gone rogue. I think I’m okay with it, though. There is no way I should just “wing” my first official half marathon, but um, well, now I’m in quite a pickle. I wanted to taper a wee bit and now that seems like not a feasible option. Thank goodness I ran the 13.1 distance twice this past July so I KNOW I can do it. So yeah, to all of you who were telling me, “I think you shouldn’t run that distance until you actually run it for the first time in the race,” uhh, I’m really glad I didn’t listen to you!! I know how I am and do what I do for a reason. 😀 I’m glad I went with my gut in July.
Anyhooooo…I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled running in progress this week, Lord willing–Tuesdays/Thursdays after work–doing what I do. Wave Riders in tow, feeling good, feeling brilliant, with that Mezamashii spirit.
Do you follow a set training plan or are you sometimes a rogue runner?
**As a FitFluential Ambassador, I was selected to participate in the Mizuno Running Mezamashii Run Project. Other than receipt of the running shoes, I was not compensated in any way for my review. All opinions, comments, positive and/or negative, are my own.
Running interrupted. Again.
This was me for the past week and a half:
If you follow me on my Facebook page, then you’ve already seen this picture and you already know of the cold that wiped me out. I guess it was a cold. It wasn’t the flu…I never had a fever and wasn’t achy. But I’m no doctor. I’m just a chick without medical insurance until November 1, so I had to do my best with generic brand Alka-Seltzer Cold & generic brand DayQuil/NightQuil to get me through. So about 10 days later, I’m about 98% back to the old me again.
For the past week, this is what I saw most of the time. {My desk!! Which is lovely by the way…Been at the new job for a month now and I love it!!} I went to work, came home, slept. Repeat. EVERY DAY. That’s IT. Even on the weekend, I slept the entire day away. Haha, and don’t shake your finger at me–I don’t normally go to work when I’m sick, but again, no insurance ’til 11/1, I’ve only accrued about an hour and a half of personal time so far, and I need the money. Not to mention, my boss is the one who passed the cold germs along to me. So haa!
Alrighty–hope that explains where I was! People were asking me, “Have you stopped writing? Where are you? Why don’t you write more often?” Sooooo…whereas I normally have a hard time finding time to write now whilst doing the whole work/life balance {I sure took for granted those days of not working and having all dang day to exercise and write whenever I felt like it!}, the cold thingie totally WIPED ME OUT.
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And hey, Cherie Runs This…How have your runs been going? You do know you have The Color Run in 7 DAYS and your first official half marathon in 28 DAYS, right?! Ughhhh. No bueno. After starting the new job, it took me a week to get back on track with my running. Ok, so I did that. Everything was coming up roses for two weeks and then enter the cold thingie. 😦 I know I’ve discussed before whether or not to work out when you’re sick, but guys, I COULD NOT BREATHE while sitting still, much less trying to breathe while running. So no running happened. No cross-training happening. No preparing happened.
I haven’t gotten to run in these:
Or these:
But I guess that’s a good problem to have–two great pairs of kicks waiting for me to break ’em in!!
Speaking of shoes…and just to give you a head’s up, Under Armour contacted me because they found my blog and liked it. {I almost passed out over that email.} Anyhooooo, they’ll be sending me a pair of UA Spine RPMs–I picked these:
AND they’re going to let me do a giveaway for a pair for one of my readers. Wooo hoooo!! So as soon as I get them, run to test ’em out, I’ll post the giveaway. Stay tuned!
That catches you up and catches me up! Now, I must catch up on sleep or running. Depending on what time you read this, I should {Lord willing} be doing one or the other! 😉
Quick: what’s your go-to cure all when you’re sick? Rest, meds, natural remedies??
Not all protein powders are created equally delicious.
Just by taking a good ‘ol looksee through my blog {or doing a search in the search area} you’ll know which nutritional supplement company holds my heart. I make no apologies for shouting it from the rooftops all over social media which protein powder is my favorite. Hey, when I like something, I like something and I give it major props!
But through my wonderful Ambassadorship with FitFluential, I was given the opportunity test out another protein powder and do a review. While I have a favorite, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to try something new. I figured, if I really liked it, I could at least have a second go-to one.
Okay, well, I always said I’d be 100% honest on this blog ‘o mine….soooooo, here it goes.
I chose to review the Chocolate Frosting flavored Muscle Gauge Nutrition Micellar Casein. I happened to be out of my favorite casein at the time so I was stoked when this arrived! Casein is one of my favorite types of protein because sometimes I like to have it during the day as a holdover snack in between meals AND before bed to keep my metabolism going through the night. Casein is a slowly digestible protein by the way, so it’s great before you go to sleep for that exact reason!
I will start by saying that I did like that 1 scoop was only 110 calories, had 2g of carbs and 24g of protein. Those are the numbers I like to see!
I used water to mix with this powder. {Generally I use water to mix with my protein powders. It saves on calories and if the powder tastes good enough, there is no need for me to use any type of almond or coconut milk as a base.} Upon first sip, the “FROSTING” part of its name totally lived up to it. It was CRAZY SWEET. Sadly, not good sweet. Not good at all. I tried a second sip and it only got worse. Like, unpalatable worse. I poured the rest of the shake out and decided I’d give it another try in a few days. Maybe my taste was off?
A few nights later, before bedtime, I decided to give the Muscle Gauge Nutrition another shot. I had been developing a cold, so I figured that yes indeed, the previous taste test was a fluke. I’d never been so adverse to a chocolate protein powder before so it must’ve been my taste buds.
It wasn’t my taste buds.
I couldn’t even take a second sip this time. I tried to pass it along to my husband–if I think something is nasty and won’t eat it, he’ll think it tastes just fine and gobble it down like ‘nuthin. NOPE. Not this time time–hubby even said it was bad. His main problem with it, as well as mine, was that it was just way too sweet. I think he even asked something like, “Did anyone at the company taste this before they decided that this should be the final formula to sell?” I had to agree with him.
Normally, y’all know that I am quite peppy and excited about what I’ve just reviewed. There’s a first for everything because this time, I have to give it two thumbs down. I will say that if you like your powders to be extra, extra, extra, artificially-tasting-sweet, then yes, you will probably like it!
Let’s scratch that part I said earlier about having a second go-to powder! 😦 This will not be it.
**As a FitFluential Ambassador, the product was supplied to me for review purposes only. Other than receipt of the product, I was not compensated in any way for my review. All opinions, comments, positive and/or negative, are my own.
Here, but not here…Guest Post!
Hey all! Just a super quick post to let you know that I did write today, but it was over on my friend Holly’s page, Pink Runner Blog!
{logo stolen from Holly’s page!}
So, I’m sort of here, but not here. Hence the title! Hop on over there to see what I’ve babbled about this time and then stay to check out her blog. She’s good people. 😀
Hello! Welcome to Cherie Runs This! I'm a NASM Certified Personal Trainer who writes about running, lifting, fitness, food, health, wellness, and then sometimes none of the above. I'm random like that. Haa.
Follow me on this entertaining, inspiring and always zany journey o'mine from fat to fit. 85 pounds down and counting!
Cherie Runs This 