Co-Blogger Ange is Going to Kill Me

I know, I know I've been MIA for weeks.  But it's time to let you guys know.  I'm in a relationship.  With the Sun.

At first it was just a fling.  He would come hang out for a few hours, I would soak it up for a bit, start to get comfortable, maybe take my coat off and then he would disappear for days.  No calls, no texts, nothing.  I knew I shouldn't get my hopes up.  I'd been burned all winter long.  But the past two weeks - they've been different.  He's sticking around this time.  And I have seriously never been more content with such an excess of Vitamin D.

In all seriousness, I literally have done nothing but spend as much time outside as possible.  Whereas a few weeks ago I was patting myself on the back if I could make it outside for 2 runs a week, now I'm devastated if I can't squeeze in a 2 mile jog at least every other day.  Walk every day at lunch?  Of course!  Walk home from work? Don't mind if I do!  Create excuses to walk around the neighborhood after work?  And how!

I'm still training for the Pittsburgh half (May 2nd eek) and the official goal is 2:00 or under.  I can hit the necessary pace (9:10) for 4-5 miles, so I'm hoping as I up my mileage I can maintain this and keep building.  

Ok now the reason for the title of this post.  Yesterday I went on my longest weekday run in months - 6.5 miles.  Thanks to daylight saving's time (which is kicking my ass, but that's another post for another time), I decided it was more than safe to add my additional loop around the stadiums...which I had avoided for months since it's not as heavily populated as other areas, and add in nightfall, and you've got a recipe for RFYL.  

Necessary background information: since I had put my left contact lens in that morning, it had felt a little funny, but not worth messing with.  Once I started running, it started to acquire dust and felt downright miserable.  Oh and co-blogger Ange hates eyes.  Everything about them, everything related to them - Ange: scroll to the bottom.

So I start to make my loop around the stadiums, and my left eye is tearing up so badly I'm forced to stop at a crosswalk and try to rub it out in an effort to fix it (TWSS).  No luck.  Whatever, the light changes, I figure it will be fine if I leave it alone.  No such luck.  By the time I make it to the home plate entrance of PNC Park I'm ready to rip it out and discard it on a commerative brick.  So I did what any sensible person would do and took it out, which is when I realized it had been in my eye inside out all day.  No wonder I was practically crying for the first half of my run.  Once that problem was fixed, the rest of the run was much smoother.

Ange - it's safe to read.

So that's my life.  Running, celebrating my newfound love with Mr. Sun and preparing to journey to Syracuse next week for the East regionals of the NCAA tournament.  Ange and I will be reunited, and there mayyyyy be a running photoshoot in the works.  It depends on a number of factors, particularly our level of intoxication/hungoverness the whole weekend.  Which might make for a far more entertaining series of photographs.  

My Fun Fact

Now you may not know this, but Sarah and I are both in the same sorority, that's how we met. The bonds of sisterhood brought us together (awww). But when we first started pledging Sarah thought I was a little weird, 1. because I rocked an English Braid (which is now uber cool -- in ya face, Sarsh)2. because my "fun fact" was that I love free t-shirts. Seriously, freshman year of college I lived my life based on t-shirts.

The funny part is, I think that my life based on t-shirts was actually the best idea I ever had, because that is why I rushed - free tshirts. Everyone was like "so tell me why are you rushing" expecting to hear "networking, friends, sisterhood, blah blah blah"I looked them square in the eye and said, "well, I hear that sorority girls get free tshirts and beer." Seriously, I did it.

So it totally rocked my world when my friend Katie gchatted me yesterday and was like umm there are Gamma Phi Running T-Shirts. OM-MF-G. Not free, but totally worth it. Check it:


Two amazing Gamma Phis decided to run a half marathon together and made this shirt. And let me be the first to say, Thank you! I was so excited that I gchatted Sarsh and told her we were getting this shirt and messaged the girl about it right away. So just in time for our spring debut Sarsh and I will be rocking this amazing T-shirt. I guess this is what they mean when they say you are "life long members" haha.

Ok sorry about the Legally Blondeness of this post, I haven't ran all week in recovery from my half marathon/ because I need new running shoes and haven't got any. But hey, since we are all cracked out here on a Friday, leave us a comment and let us know about your favorite t-shirt!

So yeah, the 1/2 Marathon

So as promised here is my complete recap of the Hyannis Half Marathon I ran on Sunday.

The half was my third real race as a "runner." Sure I ran some track in high school and played "chase" in 3rd grade, but I've really only had three real big girl races and I'm starting to figure out the good, the bad and the ugly about racing.

One thing I really noticed is that no matter what you are always going to be nervous. Whether you're prepared, unprepared, going for a PR, focusing on just finishing, running alone or running with a friend, pre-race jitters just cannot be avoided. So as you can imagine Sunday morning started just like my other two races, I woke up early on a weekend and started begging the photog to let me skip the race. I "wasn't ready," "didn't train enough," "felt like I was gonna vom," but in the end he and I both knew that this had to be done.

First stop was to collect my number and check out the race expo - which was amazing FYI. It was INSIDE (SOOO GREAT) at a huge convention center and they had a ton of vendors, running clubs etc. I check out some shoes and running clothes and the photog grabbed some free donuts and cheese (he later got an O-water at the finish, so I think he would give the Hyannis 1/2 good marks as well).

Then I did the ritual "ok now I gotta pee" right after we got there. Being a female, peeing of course became a social event so I started chatting with two other girls in line. One had run this half marathon 3 years in a row, another had run a half before, and I was the weirdo who ran a full, but never a half. We gabbed, talked about being nervous, not wanting to be cold and started checking out the hat of another girl in line "I run so I can drink" seriously so amazing. If I wasn't so nervous I totally would have asked her where I could get one, but alas my jitters kept me admiring from afar.

Before I knew it, it was time to line up. This is when the freak out started. I to distract started playing with my ipod and made the photog take pictures for the blog. (I put some of my faves at the end of this post). This is also when I started my favorite pre-race ritual, eaves dropping. Seriously so amazing, lined up right by me was a group of friends 3 girls and their guy friend who were running their first race together, 3 high school kids, a really cute couple and various others. All very fun to stalk.

When the race started, I did my best to keep my own pace and focus on me. On my first race I really tried to run to fast and got really sick (probably not from the fast running, but I'm not ready to test that). Anyway, I started as slow as possible and tried to let go of the "omg that guy is passing me thoughts" I tend to have when running around others. Before I knew it I eased into a pace and took off.

I don't remember much about the course, it was pretty, kinda uneventful, and I spent most of my time looking at other runners or people cheering, but I definitely had a nice run. By mile 8 I started to get a little tired and by mile 10 my feet started to seriously blister. Luckily I pushed through and even sprinted the last .1 miles to the finish line which was pretty awesome.

There was a full marathon as well as a 10k at the race, and surprisingly I didn't get runners envy too badly when I saw the marathoners go on their second loop of the course. In fact, it was so inspirational to see them all, and I realized one of my favorite things about runners in general is the support they give to one another - no matter how tired we are we always cheer on those around us.

Ok it's getting late so I might as well wrap this up with some photos. I'm taking some time off for a few days to heal my feet and maybe buy some new shoes, but I'll be back in action soon!

Pictures!!
Crossing the finish


Post Race


Pre Race -- clearly I was ignoring the photog

Confessions of an overpacker

Sunday I ran my first solo race – the Hyannis Half Marathon. 13.1 miles all to myself. And the race was actually fantastic.

The photog and I went up to the cape Saturday night to stay at his parent’s beach house. It was perfect, just 30 min away from the starting line, but of course I had to “crazy” up the whole situation with my obsessive packing. Now I left out this fun fact when recapping the Newport Marathon, but my nerves tend to manifest themselves as over packing and over preparing. On our trip to Newport I not only packed extra clothes an towels for me, Sarsh and the photog, but I packed bagels, bread, water, G2 and a Toaster. Yup, I threw my toaster in a bag and took it to the Travelodge.

Anyway, when preparing for our trip to Eastham I packed every single ingredient for dinner and breakfast including gluten free bread, butter, apples, g2, broccoli, asparagus, green peppers, pasta sauce, gluten free pasta, regular pasta, garlic, spices, chicken, and olive oil. When we started loading up the car I actually thought the photog was gonna dump me, because as I soon learned the house was completely stocked with all of the essentials (although I don’t think they had the gluten free carbs and fresh veggies). And that doesnt even touch upon the many an option for race day apparel and my snuggie, of which I have detailed in photos.

Mom don’t kill me but here are my “you are a goddess” undies, they are special dry fit undies that I wear on every long run, plus they come with a fun little ego boost every time you put them on.









Two other undie/sports bra options:


Running tights – cold and heat gear


My second layer pants – hardtails and yoga/dryfit pants


Multiple dryfit shirt options


Windbreaker, gloves, earmuffs hat


Anyway that’s just a little taste of all the crap I brought with me, yup one day, one run and way too many options. But it all worked out great, I ended up wearing my cold gear tights, dry-fit yoga pants, my nike short sleeve dry-fit, my Pittsburgh half marathon dry-fit long sleeve that sarah gave me as a gift (in the words of the photog this was the perfect option because it was like I was brining Sarsh with me every step of the way), and then all of my outerwear gloves, hat ear muffs ect. I may have been the only person out of the close to 6,000 there that was wearing 2 pairs of pants, but I’m totally ok with that.

Anyway the day was great, not a drop of rain (despite the scary forecast) and I finished in 2:22:31 not horrible considering I didn’t train much and usually avoid cold like the plague. Plus, the photog was there right at the finish to see me cross, hand me one of the many g2s I brought and the extra towel I packed.

The race itself was also amazingly well done, but I’ll do a “real” recap tomorrow. For now bedtime!

Here’s one last photo of me in all my layers plus the photog’s sweatshirt (now mine) before the race.