Sunday, September 29, 2013

Weekly Recap- September 23- September 29, 2013

My knee was bugging me so I only ran once during the week to see how my old Sauconys felt.  And my knee still bugged me but my heels didn't feel any worse.  So I decided to go with them for the Half Marathon on Saturday.  The Brooks will be going back to the store. 

And I'm kinda mad about the half marathon.  I get that its inaugural race but it was half a mile short!  I was on track to get a huge PR.  But I'll never know what it was exactly.  I know I still got a PR but I'm not sure what.  Sigh.  I just need to remember that it was for charity.

Tuesday-- 3 miles in 31:27 (Mile 1: 9:59, Mile 2: 11:04, Mile 3: 10:23, average pace: 10:28)

Saturday--chORD Half Marathon--12.52 miles in 2:19:46 (Mile 1: 9:39, Mile 2: 10:19, Mile 3: 10:18, Mile 4: 11:18, Mile 5: 11:50, Mile 6: 11:12, Mile 7: 12:37, Mile 8: 11:02 Mile 9: 11:23, Mile 10: 11:22, Mile 11: 11:36, Mile 12: 11:10, Mile 12-12.52: 11:15)

Total miles this week: 15.52
Total miles in 2013: 434.58
Total miles: 860.07

Friday, September 27, 2013

Five Things Friday- September 27, 2013

1) I ran a virtual 5k for Jost Running last week.  I was supposed to run it the week before, but I was taking some time off for an injury.  I ran the 5k in 29:57


2) I got my Kona Kase last week

It included:
~Crum Creek's Mini-Breadsticks
~Surf Sweets Jelly Beans
~Ojio Sport Electrolyte Mixes in Berry and Citrus
~Skratch Exercise Hydration Mix with Lemons and Liems
~Wai Lana Fruit & Nut Bar in Tropical Macadamia
~Nature's Bakery Fig Bar in Raspberry
~Cliff Crunch Granola Bar in White Chocolate Macadamia Nut
~Balance Bar in Lemon Meringue Crunch

3) Last weekend I went up to Gainesville to watch the Gator football game with Kory, one of my best friends and her boyfriend.  I wasn't feeling too great after my 15k that morning but I still had a blast.  I love going to the Gator games!


4) I'm headed back up to Gainesville bright and early for the chORD Half Marathon.  It's all through the Gainesville campus!  I can't wait to run through the Swamp!!  I'll be all ready for the race, decked out in my orange and blue (it seems weird not to have my bib yet!!  It's a two hour drive so my rock-star hubby is gonna drive me so I can nap a little on the way there & back!


5)  Due to my knee problems, I'm going to try KT tape for the first time tomorrow.  I watched the video on their webpage.  I hope I do it right!  And yes, I had to get orange & blue to match my outfit!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Disneyland Day 1, Part 1--Hotel, Expo and Lunch!

The day started off early.  I had just landed at the airport at midnight after returning home from my grandmother's funeral, and got home at 1am .  And I was back up at 4:15 and at the airport at 5:15am.  But I was super excited so I didn't feel tired.  I had on my Dumbo shirt in honor of the Dumbo Double Dare!
 
 Cori and I were flying out together on Delta.  We had a few minutes so stopped for a oh-so-healthy breakfast at Burger King before heading to our gate.  The flight was quick and uneventful.

We met up with Suluh at the LAX airport after landing.  I had heard that LAX was big and confusing but we got off the plane and walked to the baggage carousel.  I think Orlando is worse, with the trains you have to take between concourses.  Anyways, we jumped on the van to head to the rental car place.  This was a last minute decision. But Suluh got a rental car for $8 TOTAL! and had driven around LA a bunch so we were good to go!

The trip to Disneyland was also quick.  We managed to avoid all of the crazy LA traffic that I had heard about.  Soon we were on Disney property!


We got a little lost (ahem, tourists we were!) and drove around in a circle once before we found the Paradise Pier hotel. But there wasn't a sign at the beginning that said where to go for our hotel so we had originally turned like we were heading to the Disneyland Hotel.  Oops!  We parked in the parking garage and headed in.  There was a greeting for the runners!

 We checked in.  I asked if there were any park view rooms available, but there weren't.  He handed me our keys and said they would text me when the room was ready.  I also asked for a birthday button.  (My birthday was Sunday but I wanted to wear it all weekend.)

We headed over to the expo.  We were bringing some shirts over for Raw Threads so we met up with them.  I had read on Twitter that the Expo was a disaster, but after dealing with the disaster of the Princess Half Expo, I figured it couldn't be THAT bad.  Oh man was I wrong!  This was way worse!  The runDisney merchandise shop was chaos.  There was hardly anything on the racks and the poor cast members were bringing more items out by the handfuls.  People were grabbing multiple things from them, then just leaving the extras wherever they wanted.  It was insane.  We then got in line for the LOOOONG wait.  We took turns waiting while the other two people wandered around the expo.  It took us two hours in line to buy our merchandise!!!  That is absolutely ridiculous.  They were not prepared for this.  And a lot of people that came later didn't get Dumbo items.  I'm sure hoping they fix that for the Glass Slipper Challenge!

When it was my turn to walk around the Expo, I had to get a picture with Cinderella's Carriage from Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings at Disneyland.  I had the Carriage at my Walt Disney World Wedding and this one was a little bit different.

I bought a cute new Sweatyband (to match a Lululemon skirt I recently bought).  I also picked up some samples of Sports Beans

We were gifted a Dumbo pin and a Disneyland Half for our runDisney Mickey Vinylmation (thanks Jen and Terry!)
 At the expo, we bought a tech tee I Did It Shirt (the other I Did It shirts I have from the other races aren't tech tees.  I wish this one wasn't either.).  We were completing the Coast to Coast Challenge so we had to get a shirt to show that!  We liked the guys shirt better because it shows all the races on the back.  And we had to get the Dumbo tank because it says "Will Run For Peanuts" on the back.  So cute!


 
We also bought the necklace and a Dumbo Sweatyband.  There was a Disneyland Half Marathon Sweatyband too but I wasn't able to get it.  I really wish I had been able to!


We then went to get our packets.  We were told the secret to skipping the line--go down, into the girl's bathroom, then there's a back door out into the packet pickup area.  And I'm not sure why there was a line.  The pickup area was pretty empty when we were in there.  Then you had to get your bags with the shirts in it in a different line.  I think the shirts are soo cute!  I just wish they weren't so boxy and that the xsmalls aren't still so big.  I can't wait til Marathon weekend when they start having gender specific shirts!

At Raw Threads, we got the Fly pullover and the Dee (Cori got the Dum) shirt. (Don't mind the wrinkles from being crammed in my luggage).



We also picked up our Lasting Commemoratives free art card.

AAAANNNDD  I finally got the New Balance runDisney shoes!!! I was sooo excited to get them! (Thanks Terry!)
 

At the Expo, I got a phone call saying that I needed to stop by the front desk to switch out keys because the room we were supposed to get still wasn't clean.  So we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, switched out keys and headed to our room.

And SURPRISE!  It was upgraded to a park view room!!  I was so excited!  The room was really cute!  I was expecting it to be what is a value room at WDW since it was the cheapest of hotels at Disneyland, but it definitely wasn't!  I'd say it's more comparable to the moderate resorts.




We were starving.  We hadn't eaten since 5:30 am and it was now 2pm California time, 5pm our time!  So since we had a car, we headed to check something off our list--In-N-Out Burger!!


Yum!  I wasn't sure what to order and the super nice guy taking orders was eager to give suggestions.  I got a single burger, animal style, French fries "well-done, animal style" and a Neapolitan shake. 

The burger and shake was delicious! Even though I love the crispy fries, the "well-done" was a little too crispy.  And I wasn't a big fan of the animal style on the fries. 

The girls enjoyed their meals too!



 
We saw a group of teens all dressed up.  They were completely decked out. Beautiful dress, but still.  At a fast food restaurant.  We asked what she was dressed up for and she said her Quinceanera.  (We also saw a similar group walking around Disneyland later that weekend).
 
We stopped by the grocery store next door to stock up on Gatorade and water.  Then we headed to the Endurance Sports Connection Three Little Pigs Challenge Meet up.

We got a fabulous swag bag.  It was ADORABLE! 
And there was lots of goodies.  Normally, they hand out bacon (or bacon gummies for those who don't eat bacon) on the race course but they couldn't here so we got it beforehand.  I had to take a picture of Cori's cute gummies. (Somehow the picture of all the goodies is black!)



On the way home, we saw the starting line!

 




We got home and were relaxing some when there was a knock at the door.  There was a special birthday delivery from me from my hubby.  He knows me so well!  I was so excited to get it! 

Then we got our race outfits ready for the 10k the next morning!  They were so cute!  The tops were from an Etsy shop, Chic by Amber, the headband was from Sweet Sweat Bands, and the skirt was from Rock City Skirts.
 
 
Coming up next...evening fun!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Race #34- Gridiron 5k

I was excited to run the Gridiron 5k on Saturday, August 24 (I realize I haven't been putting dates on races, I don't think.  Oops). 
 
 
 
Any time I can show my Gator spirit, I'm all about it.  I saw this amazing skirt from Rock City Skirts and had her make me one too.  And then my friends and I ordered cute shirts from Etsy.
 


We got to the race early since we needed to pick up our race packets but the lines weren't long at all and we were quickly ready for the race to start.
 

Cori and Heather were going to run together so I was going off on my own since I was going to run the whole thing with no walking breaks.  It was nice to run through the UCF campus.  I felt really good the whole race and for some reason, I thought my timing was better than it was.  I thought I was on course to be well under 30 minutes, but I came in at 30:01.  Boo!  I grabbed a Gator towel and waited for Heather and Cori. 

Then we headed into the Champion shop where you were fitted for a sports bra.  And you got one free.  (We later learned that my friend Heather was supposed to get the same size I did but got a Small.  I gave her mine and I'll be giving away the small with some other goodies later on).

Then we had to take a picture with our school posters!  Poor Cori--no Muhlenberg College poster for her!


We walked around and checked out the goodies--several free samples of food and contests to enter.  I had to stop by the Gator tent and Heather stopped by the UCF tent.

In the race packet bags were two cups, a coozie, 2 tickets to a UCF football game, a Kind bar, and a tshirt.  I was excited that you could put your favorite school and if it was a certain one, you got a shirt in that color.


I couldn't find any pictures of me running on the facebook page.  Oh well! 

I usually post my Runkeeper stats since that's what I've used since the beginning, but I forgot to stop the app for a while. So I'll post my Garmin stats instead.

It was a fun race.  I'd do it again!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Weekly Recap- September 16-22, 2013

I haven't posted one of these in a while but that's because I was taking a break because I hurt my foot at the Disneyland Half Marathon.  I decided to run on Wednesday since I had races coming up.  I put on my old Saucony shoes and it hurt just to wear them! So I bought new Brooks.  And then ran the 15k in them and my good knee is now killing me!  The Sauconys got rid of the knee pain.  So I'm not sure what to do.  I'm gonna rest until Wednesday and then MAYBE try the Sauconys again.

Wednesday-- 3 miles in 29:56 (Mile 1: 9:50, Mile 2: 9:45, Mile 3: 10:24, average pace: 10:00)

Saturday--Miracle Miles 15k--9.54 miles in 1:42:53 (Mile 1: 9:56, Mile 2: 10:04, Mile 3: 10:06, Mile 4: 11:21, Mile 5: 11:35, Mile 6: 10:53, Mile 7: 11:20, Mile 8: 11:04, Mile 9: 10:50, Mile 9-9.54: 10:41, average pace: 10:47)

Total miles this week: 12.54
Total miles in 2013: 419.06
Total miles: 847.55

Friday, September 20, 2013

Five Things Friday- September 20, 2013

1) I had a group of friends in town last week and weekend and we did some over-the-top fun stuff at Disney!  So I didn't get much posting done.  And I guess it's a good thing I was resting my foot because I wouldn't have time to run! 

2) I got my Stride Box!


It contained:
~PROBAR Bolt Energy Chews in Strawberry
~2 Happy Family Happy Squeezes in COCO Orange Mango
~AeroLife AeroShot Energy in Green Apple
~StrideBox Runners' Training Log
~Fuel 100 Electro-Bites in Simply Salty
~Eboost Natural Energy Booster in Acai Pomegranate
~NOW A3 Bar in Honey Graham Smores

3) I won a contest from A Fit Fashionista and it came in the mail yesterday.  I'm excited to try the Ripped Cream!

4) I've been having heel issues since the Disneyland Half Marathon and I decided that I think the cause is the shoes.  I headed over to Fleet Feet to try new shoes.  I'm not that thrilled that my old shoes only have 130 miles on them and I'm buying new ones, but hopefully my feet will be happier.  I'm back in Brooks--the Defyance
 
Oh, and the "nothing new on race day" rule? I never listen when it comes to outfits because I have to wear a new outfit for every race.  But tomorrow I'm breaking the rule big time by wearing brand new tennis shoes!  I figure my other options are old shoes (no good for knees), the current ones (which hurt my feet) or try these and hope for the best!
 
5)  I'm ready for tomorrow's 15k!  It's the Miracle Miles 15k in Orlando. Here's hoping my feet do ok!


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Advice Needed--Foot Pain

So I injured myself during the DL Half.  Boo!  At about the 10 mile marker, my Achilles area started hurting.  It got to the point where I was limping while running, but didn't let it slow me down.  The side of my heel starting hurting too and became numb.  I was concerned about my Achilles.  I worried that I had torn something but I still limped around the parks all day.  2 days later, it was a little tender but much better.  However a new pain popped up and stuck around.

The bottom, back part of my heel feels bruised, along with the side of the back of the heel.  But I can't pinpoint a location.  Meaning, I can't press somewhere and find pain.  It's only when I'm standing/walking. 

It kinda hurts here, and along the side a little more.


It also hurts on the bottom part of heel, slightly back from where this site is shown below

Is it Plantar Fasciitis?  Everything I've read says its excruciating pain and often worse in the morning.  My pain isn't excruciating.  It isn't sharp--more like standing on a bruise.  And it hurts randomly throughout the day.  Not any worse in the morning.  Also that it's painful to walk up stairs, but its not for me.

So then I thought maybe it was a heel spur, but once again I read that its a sharp pain and worse in the morning, which isn't true for me.  So I just can't figure it out.  I've been icing and stretching/rolling every day.

After 2 1/2 weeks, I decided to try running again.  My feet weren't hurting any worse, but not feeling any better either.  I put on my Saucony Guide 6s for the first time since the half.  OUCH!!!  It hurt just to put them on.  I had worn my runDisney shoes to work with no problem but these hurt.  It felt like the shoe was pressing up on the inside part of my foot where the arch meets the heel.  Then that was making all my weight go on the outside back part of my heel right where it hurts.  So I'm thinking that's the cause of the pain in the first place?  I wore these shoes all summer.  They have 150 miles on them and I've worn them through 14 milers with absolutely no pain, and it even got rid of my achy knees that I previously had.  Now they suddenly hurt?

I tried on my old Ravennas.  They didn't hurt my feet.  So I decided to run in them.  My feet didn't hurt at all during the run.  They're a little achy now, a couple of hours later, but not too much worse than before.  However, my knees are achy again!

Gah!  I don't know what to do!  I can't figure out what's wrong with to fix it and then I'm not sure what to do about the running shoes.

And I have a half marathon the weekend after next, then the Tower of Terror 10 miler the following weekend, another 10 miler 3 weeks after that and the Wine & Dine 2 weeks after that!

Any advice??

( I should add that the pain is on both feet but much worse on the right)