Nike Women’s Half Marathon in DC

May 3, 2013 By 1 Comment

TGIF! This time last week, I was excited and nervous to head to DC for the inaugural Nike Women’s Half in DC. I don’t think the excitement really hit me until last Friday. Training for this one was tough because of my allergies. Sure enough, my allergies unexpectedly got worse in DC. I guess it was the Cherry Blossom trees? I was stuffy, sleepless and had nose bleeds while there. I guess despite the homeopathic allergy medicine that I took with me, my body just couldn’t get used to the atmosphere quickly :(

Regardless, I had a wonderful time. Running with Team In Training made the race even more special for me. Seeing coaches on the sidelines cheering us on. Children with Leukemia or Lyphoma screaming, “You’re running for me, don’t quit keep going.” I literally teared up at that last 3 miles when my body was saying “hell no”. My mind refused to quit.

At the starting line! Notice my puffy eyes :( . Thankfully, when I started running everything felt great. I only felt my allergies before/after the race.

I found my name on the runners wall outside of Nike Georgetown!

The Team In Training inspiration wall with photos of people with Leukemia and Lymphoma

My Favorite things about running the Nike Women’s DC half

  • DC is wonderful. The weather was not too hot and not too cold.
  • I loved not driving. We took the metro or walked wherever we needed to go. I never took a taxi or got behind the wheel and I’m so grateful after dealing with Atlanta traffic on a week day basis ;)
  • The Nike race apparel – this was my first time buying race apparel and I’m glad I did. The outfits were cute and Nike had lots of options in different colors and styles. I bought my outfit at one of the race day partners, Macys on G Street. Coincidentally  they had Friends and Family 25% off that weekend and a special event in store to celebrate the race with smoothies and a gift with purchase.
  • The race route was scenic and peaceful
  • Running with Team in Training and going to the Inspiration Dinner
  • Team in Training coaches cheering us on
  • The one cheerleader on the side who handed out gummy worms (thank you kind stranger, I needed those!)
  • Nice, well informed volunteers
  • And of course, the Tiffany finisher medal. How could I forget that?!
{from Instagram}
Tiffany finisher necklace

Other side of the Tiffany finisher necklace

My least favorite things about the race

  • Lack of port-a-potties along the race route
  • Water stations being unprepared and not having water to give out. This really slowed things down
  • Lack of availability of the commemorative race shoes. I was really disappointed when I couldn’t find 1 pair of the Nike Frees in my size :( I wanted the shoes more than any race souvenir. I wish the shoe sale opened just to finishers first then elsewhere after. Wishful thinking I guess…
  • Not starting the race with corral wave times. I felt like we were all running into each other while racing. It wasn’t pleasant at all.
  • My allergies! Next time I run a race in the spring I should try to keep this under control so that I can actually sleep the few nights prior to the race. Not sure how to do that with races out of state though, but maybe it’s possible.
  • The expo – The expo focused only on Nike merchandise and some of their employees weren’t too nice in that tent. Compared to other expos, it was kind of boring.
  • The expotique post race – the line was way too long. Over an hour wait just to look at finisher merchandise
  • Nike Georgetown – the store was way too crowded for a pleasurable experience. I wish they had better crowd control in there.

So, since the race on Sunday..I’ve been thinking about my fitness and running goals. I have more races coming up and a few fitness goals that I would like to document better here! I know I haven’t done the best job of that in the past. But I’m going to work on it. Sharing will keep me motivated and pushing for greatness.

I will share more soon! In the meantime, Happy Friday.

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2013 Disney Princess Half Marathon

February 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment

This past weekend, I ran my 3rd half marathon at the happiest place on earth: Walt Disney World!

Just before mile 2!

I went with two of my cousins and we stayed at the Pop Century Resort. Inspired by so many wonderful tweets and blog posts from years past, I decided months ago that I would run my first Disney Princess Half-Marathon. The race was so more fun than I could have imagined. This is one of those races that you run for the experience, not for a personal record or to be competitive. There were over 25,000 runners total out there. Some had elaborate princess and villain costumes. I even spotted a dalmatian (from 101 Dalmations) and R2-D2. I didn’t get too dressed up this year, but, I did put on a Tiana crown. I am glad it stayed on for the entire race and I didn’t have a headache from the bobby pins.

I used Urban Decay lip stain under my lip gloss for photos. I think it helped make the photos look more fab (in the beginning of the race at least).

Most of the lines to take photos were really long. So before the race I promised myself that I would stop for a photo with Tiana, but beyond that I didn’t have my heart set on any other princess photos. In fact, some of the photo lines were so long it was ridiculous! I ended up getting photos with Tiana, Mulan and Princess Atta from A Bug’s Life. (I definitely had to look up Princess Atta, I don’t really remember all the details about A Bug’s Life by any means..) I was disappointed that there wasn’t a Pocahontas on the route :( however, there were so many princesses, villains, princes and other supporting characters it was cool.

Prince Naveen, Louis, and I with Princess Tiana

 

with Mushu and Mulan

I love how they played Girl on Fire at the halfway mark. The words to that song really kept me moving!

Just a thought: How do some people end races looking so cool, calm and collected? Obviously, that’s not my mission in life. After dinner, my cousin and I went over to Disney’s Polynesian Resort for dinner. It was well worth the trip! I enjoyed salmon with black rice and Swiss chard. It was beyond good.

 

Definitely one of the best meals that I had during the visit. I was not a fan of the food at Pop Century Resort or the food that we had at Magic Kingdom. We did have a wonderful pre-race meal at House of Blues in Downtown Disney.

I hope that I get to do the Disney Princess again next year. I thought the race was well organized and fun. Yes, it was very crowded but I felt like the employees and volunteers worked hard to keep things running smoothly. We had lots of great cheerleaders along the race route. My favorite was the gospel choir right at the end of the race to help motivate us around the last corner. I want to make it a larger trip for family/friends if I go in the future! I also want to try a different resort and get really dressed up like a princess. I have been wearing my FitBit that Verizon Wireless sent to me for an entire week and I plan to review it soon:

Have you heard anything about the FitBit yet? I have lots of big things to share! Stay tuned :)

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I is for Intervals

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Earlier this year I ran the ING Miami Marathon. Well, to be honest…since then I haven’t kept up my running. Which sucks now that I have several races coming up and have set a goal to run my next half in under 2 hours. Now, I have to start from scratch and get my mojo back. Last Thursday during my trip to Grandma’s house I spent the morning reading magazines. One of which was Competitor.

I don’t remember where I got this issue. Or if I picked it up from my Dad. Looking at where you can grab copies of the Competitor (which is free in print edition, digital editions have a subscription cost) I think my brother picked it up and left it lying around since they have copies of it at his gym. Well, the magazine was meant to find me because inside, there’s a 12 week half marathon training schedule. I am not doing a half in 12 weeks. But I have the Peacthree in July, a 5k next week and the dirty girl at the end of the month and after (all of) that I will be picking a half in the fall to do. So, I need to get back into running shape. The schedule is a great way to do that. I function better when there’s a plan already in place. That forces me to follow through. I couldn’t find the schedule online, but I will create a calendar so that I can stay on track!

I plan to start Monday! The program includes cross training and intervals. Have you started a new workout program for summer?

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Recap: ING Miami Half Marathon

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This Sunday I completed my second half marathon, ING Miami! I had a great time in Miami and the race was well organized. This was my very first trip to Miami and I already want to go back. I’m thinking about signing up for the half again in 2013. Or maybe I’ll get ambitious and go for the full. Who knows :) The course was almost entirely flat. Kind of like running on a treadmill for 13.1 miles for anyone who has ever done that. I haven’t. But someone may have out there…That’s what it felt like at some points.

Anyway, Sunday was race day and it seemed like everything that could go wrong actually did. First things first, I woke up and started getting ready and my hair clip that I love and always wear to run in just happened to break.

Next, while on the train ride to the starting line my headphones decided to break.

I needed new headphones anyway…

This just sucked. To top it off, the weather was humid and somewhere in the mid 70s upper 80s. So I was slightly over dressed and I got super hot after mile 3. I normally don’t get hot and sweaty until 5 miles in and I had to stop to go to the bathroom because I drank too much water before the race. All of this sucked. But you know what? I STILL ran the entire 13.1 miles (it was 13.2 according to my Garmin, odd but true). So I’m proud of myself and I learned a few things in the process.

1. Never do anything new on race day – I told myself I wouldn’t do this, but then I did. I wore a new shirt and sports bra that I didn’t train in, plus a new headband and I had a new arm band. Well, I chaffed terribly due to the sports bra and the new arm band. The headband worked out alright and kept sweat out of my face. No more new stuff the day of for me…

2. Fly in 2 days before the race – I flew in 1 day prior to the race. That wasn’t the best idea at all. Next time I’ll try to at least fly in on Friday night so that Saturday can be a rest day.

3. I CAN run an entire half with NO music – I did several practice runs without my iPod but not more than 10 miles. To get through the race I prayed, meditated and took in the sites. We ran past the Miami port, American Airlines Arena where the Miami Heat play, over several bridges and past the Miami Herald so there were lots of things to look at. Plus along the way bands, drumlines and dance teams lined the streets. I also made up motivational quotes along the way. My favorite: Spread your legs and RUN! Now I want a t-shirt with the saying. lol

4. Hydrate! – I do a terrible job at drinking enough water before races. I should have had more water the day before not an hour before the race.

5. Be careful not to overdress – I was over dressed for this race. I wish I had just worn a sports bra. Would have been MUCH cooler. The sun wasn’t even out but that heat was killer!

Me post race with my metal

Me with my running roommates

I’m looking at doing another half marathon or two this year. On my goals list (which I promise to share soon) I wrote down that I want to run 300 miles this year. So, I have to make that happen!

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My First Race of 2012: ING Miami

January 27, 2012 By 3 Comments

This weekend I am doing my first race of 2012! It’s the ING Miami Half.

(via)

I have 3 races lined up for this year already! Amazingly, I’m doing one race per month so far from January-March. This one is the only half marathon. The other two are fun 5ks with friends. Maybe I should add “do one race per month” to my smart goal list? I’m still working on that and I promise to share when I’m done. :) The ING Miami is my second half marathon. I did the ING in Georgia in 2010. Since I’m working on setting goals more with everything I do, I have to put out there what I would like to accomplish on Sunday during the race. No, I’m not trying to PR. At all. I believe I finished around 2:23 for my first half. I walked a little (about .5 of a mile around #8) too because there was a hill and I stretched. So my goal for this weekend is simply to run the entire time. Hopefully, I won’t get all competitive and push myself to run extra fast. I’ve been training and the course is pretty flat!

For my race training I used products from  Vega Sport. I sampled them one day at Whole Foods in Sandy Springs. I swear the samples always do me in at Whole Foods. That’s how I get into new products. I’ve tried Vega products before but what I really liked about the Vega Sport is the taste! Pretty good. I tweeted about the products and they reached out to me about training with them. I’ll do a full review of my favorites on Monday.

Products from the Vega team

Well, I have a busy day today! Packing, working, writing, errands and a quick run. Do you have any big plans for the weekend?

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My New Half Marathon Goal

January 18, 2011 By 2 Comments

I am training for my second half marathon. I am doing the Publix Half Marathon. My goal for last year was just to finish! I completed that goal with a time of 2:19. My goal for this year is to finish under 2 hours. If I finish right at 1:58:59 I will be overjoyed! Having a time goal definitely means that I will have to train more effectively.

Running gear:

Brooks Defyance Running shoes

Garmin Forerunner 205

This will be my first time training using a Garmin or anything to monitor mileage. It has been very helpful so far helping me keep track of distance and speed.

iPod nano and wrist band

I don’t always take my iPod, and during the half marathon I turned it off after mile 6. I’m debating on if I should use or take it at all this year.

I’ve been searching for more information on how to finish with a faster time. One of the best sources is Runner’s World. And I also found some great speed workouts from Health.com. Over the rest of the week I will try to narrow down a plan and map out all of my runs. For now, I am committed to 1 hour dance classes for 2 days each week, and at least one social media related or networking event. Those commitments in addition to work and life. That means that I will have to schedule in my runs around those, but I know I can do that! I did it once already.

With my training so far, I am up to 7 miles. However, I have not started speed or interval work which are both necessary.

Have you ever run a half marathon? What advice do you have for running faster?

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