If the shoe fits...RUN! Sea Witch

After taking a week off from running due to the holiday and then getting sick, I hopped on the treadmill today for my last run in 2013.
I ran 3 miles making my total miles for 2013 - 471 miles!! That includes 13 races (5ks, 10ks, 8 miler, 5 miler)

I earned the If the shoe fits... RUN! Sea Witch medal for my run today. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be after taking a week off.

Run, Mom, RUN!!! My 2013 in races

Running Au-some

I am sad to say that I haven't run in exactly 1 week. If you know me, you know I'm not one to slack, so let me explain myself.
Normally I run Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday. Last Tuesday was Christmas Eve and I would not have the time to fit a run in, and I haven't missed a run since Tink training began, so I decided to give myself a pass & skip that run 'just this one time'.  But then on Christmas day I came down with an awful cold. And I was unable to get my Thursday run in. This cold has kicked my butt!
But I woke up feeling somewhat better today so I decided to give it a try. I knew it was going to be rough but it was just plain awful. I'm still so stuffed up that I could barely breathe and had to keep stopping to walk. My overall pace was 12:30 a minute. My normal pace is 10:30-11 a minute so that 12:30 pace really hurt! Plus, I gave up after about 2 miles, there was no way I was making it to 4 miles. My body was telling me it just wasn't ready to get back out there yet.
I will try again on Tuesday.

However, I did earn this cute little Running Au-some surfboard medal. I love hibiscus flowers (even have a tattoo of them on my back). So even though it was a rough run, I still earned some cute bling.
And yes... the picture of me is all bundled up in my bathrobe and blanket after my run. that's the best picture I could get right now. lol

As the year comes to a close...

As the year comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on some things this past year & jot down my thoughts. This is a serious post and might get a tad emotional.

I have made it through another year of maintaining my weight & healthy lifestyle.
Last year at this time of year, I was about 150ish and had been maintaining there for most of the year. 150lbs was ok, but I had dreams of 140, which was half of my heaviest weight, being my goal. The last 5-10 pounds are always the hardest to lose & I know now that's not a lie. I never gave up the fight and I finally reached my goal of 140 pounds in July. But since then, the scale has settled  at 143-144ish and seems to be happy there. While the number on the scale doesn't always make me happy, I need to remind myself of a few things.
I have done great things this year. My year started off with excess skin removal surgery - removing excess skin (due to losing almost half my body weight) from my stomach & arms. And then I spent a few months recovering from that. I have worked hard on building & reshaping the muscles in my 'new' arms. And I have taken my running to a whole new level. I ran my first 5k in June and since then, I have run 13 races in 2013. (7) 5ks, (4) 10ks, (1) 1/2 marathon relay - 8.1 miles and (1) 5 miler. And I am now a month away from running my first half marathon!  I am pretty sure that I have more muscle in my legs now - while my legs haven't changed much in size, but they definitely seem more muscular & strong. Therefore, I need to stop being so hard on myself over 3-4 pounds... because that is probably muscle gain.
I'm living a healthy, active lifestyle, eating right and maintaining my current weight. It's not always an easy thing to do, but the more time that goes by, the more I never want to go back to the way I was and will continue to keep this up.
I still don't have the 'perfect' body or even a typical 'runner's body'. but I have MY body. And I need to remember that this is who I am and be proud of it.

Jingle Romp

Today, I ran 12 miles. It was unseasonily warm for Dec 22nd - 60 degrees out but humid as ever!  The humidity pretty much killed my good pace so I ended up finishing 5 minutes slower than what I was hoping for. I guess it was natures way of saying "here's one last humid practice run before Princess."

I am having a lot of mixed emotions right now. 2 weeks ago when I did 11 miles, I felt confident that I was ready. But today, after doing 12, I don't feel confident at all. I don't even feel proud that I ran 12 miles.... I'm just feeling blah and I think I'm starting to get burnt out so I'm going to start tapering. In 2 weeks, I should be doing 14 miles, but I think I'm only going to do 10.

Anyway, I ran this 12 miles in honor of the Jingle Romp - a Christmas Minions run because my kids LOVE the Minions!
And I wasn't really in the mood to take a picture of myself with the medal, so here's what you get..

If the shoe fits...RUN! Bad Apple

The weather was beautiful today and I got to run outside for the first time in 2 weeks.
I runner slower on the treadmill than when I do running outside and I thought all the treadmill running would slow down my regular running pace. It did a tad - my pace was about 10:31 per minute and before the cold weather hit I was doing almost a 10 min mile. I guess it is what it is. It's better than where I started earlier in the year around a 12 minute mile.

It felt great to get outside & run!!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Grecian Goddess

And I even channeled my inner Greek Goddess by wearing my Megara costume (which I will be wearing for the enchanted 10k.)

And that also finishes up If the shoe fits...RUN! Princess set 2

If the shoe fits...RUN! Dreaming in Pink

Due to the snow we got yesterday (which then turned to slush because of the rain), I had to do my run inside on the treadmill today.

If the shoe fits...RUN! Fairest of them all

If the shoe fits...RUN! Off to the ball

I did a weekly maintenance run tonight on the treadmill. 3 miles in 33:12 to earn this beautiful medal

If the shoe fits...RUN! Classic Beauty

Today I ran my longest run to date - 11 miles. Say what? You heard me... 11 miles! In the cold, none the less!
I finished the 12th week of my half marathon training and there is only 6 weeks to go before my first half marathon.

I carb loaded for the first time yesterday. I did a lot of research on it & figured "what did I have to lose". Hmmm, apparently all I had to lose was minutes... OFF MY TIME! 2 weeks ago when I ran 9.5 miles, I finished it in 1:47:24. And today, when I hit the 9.5 mark, I checked my time and I was only at 1:44:46 - I had shaved about 3 minutes off my time. YEAH!
I finished the 11 miles strong at 2:01:15 with a pace of 11:00 exactly. Heck yes!  Only 2.1 miles more would put me aprox at 2:23:10 for a half marathon. wow!
I never got tired or sluggish and I didn't hit a wall. I felt great... it felt like I FLEW through those 11 miles. And usually after my long runs, I feel sluggish/tired for the rest of the day, but so far (it's now 4pm and my run was at 8am this morning) I am feeling energetic and great!
I think I like this carb loading idea!

And because today I earned the last medal in the If the shoe fits...RUN! Princess set 1, I got to proudly display all 4 medals!

Running is a Winter Sport!

Remember the pictures of the awesome medals I shared with you a few days ago?!
Well, I earned the 5k/10k one today!

Since my run was 11 miles (which is more than a 5k & 10k combined) I decided that it counted for BOTH distances on the medal! I more than earned this medal!

The weather was a cool 23 degrees. Starting out was a little rough, but by a mile in, I was nice & toasty warm.
I carb loaded for the first time yesterday (testing it out for my first half marathon which is 6 weeks way) and I have to say that it really helped! I soared through those 11 miles, never got tired, sluggish or hit a wall.  I had set a goal for 2 hours & 6 minutes and ended up finishing in 2 hours and 1 minute! I exceeded my own expectations and it felt amazing!!

My 5k time was 33:16 - not a PR, but still a good solid time for me.
And my 10k time was 1:06:53... very close to a PR. I missed it by about 45 seconds, but still one of the best 10k times for me, so I'll take it!

I honestly hate being cold and I hate cold weather. A few months ago, if you had said I would be running ELEVEN miles in the cold, I would have thought you were crazy. But I did it! And I made it look easy!
Running can indeed be a winter sport!  I even had this pretty bib to print & wear for my run!

And of course it helped that I got to earn this amazing medal!

I will be earning the 13.1 medal next! I can't wait to add that beauty to my collection.

As usual these medals from Jost Running are stunningly beautiful. And actually, each new one seems to outdo the one before it, if that is even possible!  I'm sure they put alot of hard work into these designs and it pays off! And the quality of the medals is absolutely top notch!

When I was done with my race, I submitted my results to Jost Running so that they could add my results to their leader board (found on their website) 

Right now I'm standing strong at #7!

Here's my collection of Jost Running medals so far. I have the other September Soaring medal (yellow & green plane, you can see my previous post for pics) that I let my son hang on his medal rack.

Don't forget to use the code "Countdown" to get 10% off the "In with the New Year" race from Jost Running.  I bet it will be a real beauty!

And they even have gift certificates, so why not give the gift of a race to someone you love... or maybe ask Santa to put one in your stocking ;)

Running is indeed a winter sport!

I haven't earned these medals yet, but they were just too beautiful to keep hidden until I actually do earn them.
I'm not a fan of being cold, but I don't think I will mind running 11 miles in the cold on Sunday to earn one of these beauties!! I will be earning the 5k/10k medal this weekend - hey, I'm running 11 miles, that covers both distances!! LOL

Jost Running (www.jostrunning) does NOT disappoint with their medals. They are big, glittery & just absolutely breathtaking!
I can't wait to see what they have in store for January - I'm sure it will be absolutely worth it! And you can even get 10% off their January race - In with the New Year by using the code "Countdown".
Check back in with me in a few days to hear about my run!
In the mean time, Happy Running!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Arabian Nights

With the time change,  we all know it gets darker earlier. I don't mind running in the cold, but I don't feel safe running outside in the dark alone. So I decided to join a local gym for the next few months. I hate hate hate running on the treadmill (aka DREADmill), but earning some bling helps it be more enjoyable for sure!

Tonight I ran a 3 mile maintenance run on the treadmill. Nothing major to report about a treadmill run. We all know how it goes - you turn the machine on & go... there's no fun new route or pretty scenery to take in. It's dull & boring, but it's safer than the alternative right now, so I do what I have to do.

But at the end of my run, I earned this pretty medal - Arabian Nights, and it made it all worth it! And I even got into the spirit just a little bit by wearing some "jasmine" inspired colored running clothes today - blue & turquoise, it seemed appropriate!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Under the Sea

Today I earned my Under the Sea medal.  The second one from If the shoe fits...RUN series (princess part 1).
I did 4 miles today and it seemed appropriate that I earned this one in the... rain (and cold!).

The run itself was pretty routine. Nothing really major to report about a 4 mile run.

A rite of passage?

So IT finally happened - a black toe nail!
Before you ask, yes I was professionally fitted for my shoes, they are half a size bigger, etc, etc. What I don't understand is that I have been wearing them for 5 months and they have never caused any problems before. So I don't know what caused it, except maybe running 9.5 miles??
But after running 9.5 miles a week ago, I had a pretty purple blister form under my nail... it started off small and got bigger and bigger and turned black. It hurt like heck for the first couple of days.

I read up on it and there's basically nothing I can do at this point. the blister will go away on it's own and the nail may eventually fall off and a new one will grow in. I've never lost a toe nail before, but I have lost a finger nail.
And some even consider it a rite of passage as a long distance runner. So I guess it's proof I worked hard for those 9.5 miles?

I run so I can Gobble without the Wobble!

This morning I got up early, yes, on Thanksgiving!! to run a local 5 mile pie race. Yup, you read that right... a PIE run and yes, everyone got an individual size pineapple pie for running the race. Wait, did I say pineapple pie?!?! I had never heard of it before, but it was yummy! And I'm not really a fan of pie, so that's saying something!

This was the first time I ever ran a race on my own... as in, completely alone! I've run a few races by myself before (which I don't mind at all) but I've always had my  husband or someone there to hang out with me before the race & to watch me. But this time I let the kids &  hubby stay home  and sleep in, while I ventured out to my race.

Despite being in the 30's and windy, I wasn't cold at all.... I was bundled up enough & it felt like a perfect day for a run!  I was still nursing an injured hip from my long run on Sunday so I decided to do 2:1 intervals and take it easy. I also did something I don't normally do.. I left my garmin on the walk/run interval screen and didn't look at my ongoing pace at all. I did not want to start obsessing over the pace & push myself too hard, so I just let myself run at a pace I felt comfortable with, without feeling pain. I finished at 56:02 mins with a pace of just a tad over an 11 minute mile. I was expecting worse since I was taking it 'easy' so I was pleasantly surprised by that. And since my 'normal' pace is between 10 & 11 min mile, it wasn't that far off!!

After the race, I headed inside to grab some water & a bagel and they were raffling off bigger pies. My number got called right after I walked in so I snagged an apple pie and then headed home.

Since this race did not give a finisher's medal, I piggybacked it with a virtual race I had signed up for and earned my "I run so I can gobble without the wobble" turkey medal!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Wishing for Sun

There is a 3 part series called "If the shoe fits...RUN" and there is the Princess set 1, Princess set 2 and the Villains Edition. Each set consists of 4 shoes representing a character and each has a cute, catchy little name.

Today I earned the first medal in the Princess set 1 by running 9.5 miles! My longest run to date! It was a cold day (20 degrees) and extremely windy so I thought it was appropriate to earn the "Wishing for Sun" medal because I was definitely wishing for warmer weather.

Normally, I like to run alone, but my friend joined me on this run.  It took us 1 hour & 47 minutes so I was glad to have his company. The first mile was pretty brutal in the cold & wind, but once we warmed up a little, it wasn't that bad. It seemed like we made it to the halfway point pretty quickly, but after we turned around, my hip/side started to hurt. I tried to push through the pain and go as long as I could. We made it to about 8.5 miles and that's about where I wanted to stop. The pain was excrutiating and I just wanted to give up. My friend pushed me to keep going, even if we had to run 2 mins, walk 2 mins, etc... we were going to finish. And we did!
He kept me going at a good pace - normally I slow up a lot in the last few miles, but even with us walking a little more in the last mile, we still finished with a great overall pace of an 11:18 minute mile. That's a pretty good pace for me for a long run, so I was pleased with that time.

I told you I was a Princess!!

Over the last few weeks, I earned some pretty Princess bling from the Princess  Challenge series. Pocahontas, Ariel & the crown/castle bonus medal.

I ran 3 miles for Pocahontas, 8 miles for Ariel & 4 miles for the bonus medal

Will run for... beer!

On Oct 20th,  I ran the Oktoberfest  10k from Jost Running. (sorry, I'm a tad bit behind posting this). It's Oktoberfest, so of course, who wouldn't want to run for beer... even if it is of the blingy medal variety =)


Of course, I had my super cool bib to proudly wear during my run.

The course I chose was mostly flat, just one small hill just before the turn around point. The weather was perfect & cool. I got a personal best of 1:06:08 - landing me in 15th place (just about the middle of the pack) on the jost running leaderboard!!
What a great accomplishment and to be able to celebrate my personal best with a great medal.

The medal arrived today and WOW! I was blown away! Not only by the medal itself but because once again, Jost Running sent me both medals!
The 10k medal I earned is AMAZING! It's so sparkly & glittery and heavy too! LOVE the printed ribbon - that is such a nice touch. And it even has a bottle opener at the bottom - what a great touch! This medal is huge - it's 4.5 inches long!

And then here is both of the medals. The half marathon medal is a whopping 5 inches long! talk about some big bling!! I will be earning that one in a few weeks!

And here I am showing off my amazing bling &  my awesome finish time

I can't say enough about Jost Running's events. The medals are fabulous quality - they definitely do not disappoint! I can't wait to do more races with them!

Be sure to check them out & see what they have planned next!

http://jostrunning.com/

Beware - ZOMBIES!!

Today I ran the Spooner 10k. It was a Halloween themed race & they also had a Spooky 5k. We were encouraged to dress up, which I gladly did. It was another opportunity for me to try out a costume for the upcoming Disney races. I had already ran in a sparkle skirt, so this time I decided to try out my Megara costume. It was in the 40's at the start of the race, and I had bundled up in what I thought was appropriate. However, I soon found out that 2 layers of shirts and my costume would still be a bit too much. After about the first mile, I stopped to take off one of the shirts I had underneath my costume. that was a task and took me about 5 minutes of wriggling around to get it off. Needless to say, this would NOT be a PR race. Add that to the massive hill during the entire mile 3-4... yup, I was not getting a PR.

So instead, I decided to just slow down, take it easy & finish the race.
I finished the race in my worst 10k time to date, but it was still a good experience... one step closer to those Disney races!
It was a fun race, and I got a super cool shirt, but one that I probably won't do again. I tend to avoid hills like the plague.. once is enough for me!

Now, this Megara costume used to be huge on me. it was like an XL and I wore it when I was a size 20-22ish and it was long (to my feet). I took it in by like 6 inches on each side, cut it short and voila, a super cute running costume for the Enchanted 10k (and Spooner 10k!)

And because this race did not give a medal, I decided to earn my Zombieweek virtual race medal. It was a 5k distance, but it's a big medal (3 inches) and glows int he dark - I figured it was worthy of 6.2 miles.
NO, my skin isn't really green, I used a photo editor to make it green, but decided it was appropriate for that medal 

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's....

SUPERMOM & SUPERSON, flying through the freaky 5k!!

Another great 5k with my oldest son is in the books.

I'm doing a costume 10k race next week to practice running in a costume and my son heard about it said he wanted to do one, but he's never run that far, so being the good mom that I am, I had to find a costume 5k for us.
The East Providence Fire Fighters Freaky 5k was awesome! The long sleeve (cotton) shirts rocked (see the picture of it below) and we got a cool, reuseable, hard plastic cup filled with candy. All that and the entry fee was only $20!
Then they had a huge spread of real bakery donuts... can we say YUM! They tasted amazing. Along with coffee, fruit (oranges, bananas, apples), etc.

The course had a few hills... you know how much I hate hills. lol. And the steepest one was at the end... don't you hate that?  But otherwise the entire course was marked with cones so we had a little lane to run in, there were police & fire fighters all over the course. They even had someone at each mile telling us the time.
The weather was beautiful - a tad chilly, but for late Oct, it was nice. I had no trouble running in my costume and found it to be good practice for the Disney races, but my son, who was wearing a costume with pants & long sleeves got a little hot during the last mile.

After we finished, they treated us to pulled pork sandwiches, chili and pizza. There was even a DJ playing songs.

I thought we were being somewhat original with our costumes. My son wanted to reuse his Superman costume from a few years ago and I got a matching superman shirt to wear with a team athletic sparkle skirt. But there were about 5 other superman, supergirl, superwoman, etc. Oh well!! Our favorite costumes that we saw others wearing were Mr. & Mrs. Pacman along with about 10 colored ghosts.

Overall, it was a wicked fun time and we will definitely be back for next year!

Tufts 10k for women

I already had a pretty good proof time for Disney (has to be a 10k or longer). But the key word was "pretty good". I wanted better... I had to try for 'just one more'.
I signed up for the Tufts 10k for Women because 1. it was one of the only 10ks between now & the cut off date of Nov 1st. and 2. because there would be over 7,000 participants and I figured it would be a great practice run for the crowded Disney races.

The day was beautiful, about 63 degrees - just perfect for a race! We had to see ourselves at the start line. I joined the 10 min mile pace because I was hoping to finish as close to the 10 min mile mark as possible. It didn't really seem that crowded at that point, but once we got started, it was definitely crowded! They didn't stagger the corrals which would have probably helped with the crowding, so once the gun went off, everyone just kept moving towards the start line until, you got there and started off. I was probably about 4 'corrals' back from the start line and it took me about a minute to move up to the start and get going The first mile I was weaving in & out of people and I didn't end up stopping for a walking break because it was just too crowded.

The course was really nice & scenic. We started at the Boston common, went across the charles river on the Mass Ave bridge, then down & back on Memorial drive which was right along the river, then back over the bridge, through a historic distric and to the finish. There were water stops ever mile. Mostly flat - just one small hill around mile 3. Even though it was crowded, most of miles were around the 10:30 mark. At the halfway point - the 3.1 mile mark, I was expected to finish in about 1:02-1:03. But at mile 5 I hit a little bit of a wall and that mile was 11:00...ouch! I had to pull it together for the last mile... I wanted a PR and better proof time so badly. I pushed as hard as I could for that last 1.2 miles and finished in 1:06:08. However, my GPS tracked that it was actually 6.3 (not 6.2) so my 10k time was probably 1:05ish. My overall pace was 10:30 accourding to my GPS. But because the 'official' time tracked me at 1:06:04, they divided that by 6.2, which gave me a pace of 10:38. Still, that was 3 mins faster than my last 10k, which should give me a good enough time for good corral for Disney. At this point, I honestly don't know if I could have done any faster than that (maybe just 1-2 mins faster), so I am happy with that!! I do hope to keep improving and hopefully reach the 10 min mark for my 10k as well.

The thing I disliked the most was the start time. It didn't start until noon, but we had to leave our house at 8 am because they were closing off streets at like 9am and we wanted to make sure we got a parking spot in time. We didn't get home until after 3 pm so it made for a very long day! Because the race did not give finisher medals to everyone, I earned my Red Queen 10k medal. Huge bling for a PR!!

5k PR!!

I has been a long, HOT summer. My previous PR for a 5k (3.1 miles) was achieved on June 20th and my time was 32:08. That's a pace of 10:22 minutes per mile.
Since that day, I have been trying super hard to break that record, but with the heat during the summer months, it just wasn't happening. For months, I couldn't even break the 11:00 min mile mark. Then towards the end of September, the cooler weather set in and slowly, my pace started to get better.
Until, FINALLY, I beat my 5k PR tonight! My first mile was 10:18.... second mile (which didn't feel any faster) was 10:03. And then... my last mile was 9:58. I couldn't believe it! I finished in 31:12, at a pace of 10:04 per mile. With negative splits!!! normally my first mile starts off fast and I get slower, this time it was the other way around until victory was achieved!!

Finally, all the sweat (literally) from the hot summer months... all those runs I had classified as "bad", had paid off!

I normally keep my virtual race medals for long runs, but I decided a long awaited PR deserved something special

Be Our Guest Virtual Race

I participated in the "Be Our Guest" Beastly challenge. Which was a 5k for a Belle medal and then 13.1 miles for the Beast medal and then you would get an additional rose medal for completing the challenge. Well, since I don't run half marathons yet, I combined my miles from a few runs to earn all 3 medals! 

It's a bird, No, it's a plane!! Soaring 10k!

On Sept 22nd, during a training run I ran my Jost Running "September Soaring 10k".
Now, I actually had to run more than 6.2 miles. An 8 mile run was on my training schedule for that day.  So the first 6.2 miles went towards my Soaring 10k and then rest was just icing on the cake! I was running a tad slower than I normally do, but I soared through the first 6.2 miles in 1:10:01... pretty cool time, right?

I had a cool personalized bib to wear.

When I got home, I submitted my results to Jost Running so that my name could be placed on their website. Remember from last month - this is probably my favorite part since I'm competitive and like to see where I finish.
Right now I'm representing the middle of the pack at #8.

Today, my medal arrived. I tore open the package like a little kid on Christmas and out slid not one, but 2 pretty airplane medals.
The team at Jost Running, once again, sent me both the medals for the 5k/10 which is the blue & white plane and the 1/2 & full marathon which is the yellow & green plane. And a sweet note too!
Check out these beauties!

The 5k/10k medal, which is the one I earned, is white with pretty blue & red glitter.
The 1/2 & full marathon medal is all glitter - yellow, green & red.
They are both very well made, just like the medals in the previous month. And I love the added touch this time around of the customized ribbons - they both say "Jost Running Soaring 2013"
These medals definitely do not disappoint!

My son saw the medals and was eyeing the yellow/green one (green is his favorite color)  so I let him try it on.  

He likes to run with me so he has a few medals of his own. He thought this one was very cool and guess where the green one ended up? You guessed it - his medal rack. He won't be running a half marathon any time soon, but I'm definitely going to make him go for a run with me sometime soon to earn it! =)


Want a sneak peek of Jost Running's October medal? These look AMAZING and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Ever need a bottle opener but can't find one... that won't be a problem anymore =)

So what are you waiting for? Head over to www.Jostrunning.com to sign up for your Oktoberfest medal. And use the code Carbload to get 15% off! ENJOY =)

Rockin 'n Rollin in Providence!

I really wanted to do my local Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon, but I wouldn't be quite up to that distance in my training schedule yet, so my friend (who is running the Tinker Bell 1/2 with me) and I decided to sign up for the half marathon relay. It wasn't split evenly down the middle, so I volunteered for the 8 mile portion... I was feeling a little crazy, but up for the challenge.

We picked up our bibs the day before and checked out the expo. And because we were doing the relay, we also got drum stick "batons" to pass off to each other during the race (which we decided not to use)

I went to bed early the night before, because my "nice" alarm was set to go off at 4:55am, followed by a "mean", louder alarm at 5am. Luckily, I was able to drag myself out of bed at the 4:55 alarm and did not need the mean one to yell at me.
I got ready quickly and then stepped outside.... BRRRRR, it was freezing! Ran back inside to get a long sleeve shirt and then I was ready! Went & picked up my friend and then drove to Providence.

I was cold out, ok, freezing!... about 48 degrees, while I walked with my friend to the start line to make sure she was settled & ready.  And then I headed off to the bus stop. See, they don't provide us transportation to & from the relay transition point so it was up to us to provide our own. I opted to take the city bus (as advised by the RnR official people), which turned out to be an extremely hectic experience. I got to the bus station with plenty of time & started chatting with some other fellow 2nd leg relay racers.
As we stood around waiting for our bus, 5 mins, 10 mins, 15 mins went by... it was late! And we started to panic. What if we didn't make it to the transition point in time for our partners? Just as we were trying to decide if we should get a cab & split the cost, the bus showed up. And he was unaware that he had to take 10 (yes, only 10 out of 150... apparently everyone else decided to park near the transition point) people to a race and that streets were closed. Luckily we had an angel among us. She wasn't running the race, but she jumped on the bus with us & was able to navigate the bus onto the high way and around the city to the transition point.
And just in the nick of time too! As soon as I got there, I got a text from my friend that she was at mile 4 - only 1 mile to 'relax' from my hectic bus experience before it was my turn to run.

I had a blast cheering the 1/2 marathoners running by and listening to the band playing.
"Elvis" was at the relay transition point handing out medals to the relay participants as they finished their leg

A few minute later, I saw my friend running towards me. I said bye & good luck to my 2nd leg new 'bus riding' friends and took off! At first it felt a little odd to be joining the rest of the 1/2 marathoners so late in the race, but after a few minutes, I fit right in and the first mile passed in no time!  There was a band at every mile marker to keep us entertained.
I was also entertained by the signs I saw from spectators watching. Some memorable ones I saw were "Why do all the cute ones run away.", "Don't poop", "Nice legs", "Smile if you're not wearing any underwear" (ok, YOU try not to smile after reading that one)

The first 4 miles of my leg were pretty hilly. My leg was advertised as "relatively flat" LIES!!!!! ALL LIES! Around the 8.5 mile mark (my 3.5 mile mark), I approached what was told was the last hill and as I walked up the hill, I ditched my long sleeve shirt because I was nice & toasty, finally! But I knew that wasn't really the last hill - there was a small incline at the 13 mile mark - yup, they make us run uphill for the last tenth of a mile! But I would let it slide.... for now!

At the mile 9 mark, I realized my leg was half over already! It sure did pass by fast. And I knew i had to be on the look out for the 3 Little Pigs Challenge tent at the 9.8 mile mark to get my piggy medal. I definitely didn't have to look too hard - as the tent was easy visable with it's piggy balloons and pig mascot hanging out in the road. but boy was I surprised when the lady handed me a HUGE medal... well, 2 of them actually, because my friend did the challenge too & I was picking up for her as well. I stuffed one into my ifitness belt, which almost didn't fit, and then hung mine around my neck. Let me tell you, that medal was big, HEAVY (I had to run 3 miles with it!) and sparkly. I LOVE IT!

The last 3 miles mostly consisted of a big loop - which I wasn't too thrilled about, but it turned out to be no big deal at all. I normally don't like to run loops because it makes me want to cheat & cut across to the other runners coming at me. lol. But I didn't cheat, I promise - you can even check my Garmin!

The last 3 miles were filled with photographers snapping pics every where i looked. I felt like I was being chased by the paparazzi!
As I was closing in on the 13 mile mark, I ran by the bus station and laughed... how ironic that I had come full circle! A few young kids, about the same age as my kids, were on the sidewalk waiting anxiously to see their parents go by. They gave me a high five as I ran by and it almost felt as if my kids were there cheering me onto the finish.
Up the small incline and then there was the finish! and I saw my friend off to the side cheering me on as I passed by her to the finish where I thrust my hands up in the air in victory - something I've felt cheesy doing at the finish line in past races, but not this time!

I got my medal and then had water, chocolate milk, bananas, protein bars, etc shoved at me from every side. I grabbed what I could, posed for a picture and then headed off to find my friend & relax for a minute. 

Overall, apart from the almost sticky bus situation, it was a great race... hills & all. I want to do it again next year & i plan on doing the entire half myself!


My hard earned bling