Skirt Chaser 2013 Race Recap!!

Everything about this race was really laid back and super fun! I also PR'd which may-or-may-not of made me like it even more! ;)

What is the Skirt Chaser you ask? Females (AKA the 'skirts') all start at the same time and then 3 minutes later all the boys start, 'chasing the skirts'-- get it?

When we registered we had the option to pay $30 buck for just the race- or pay $60 and get a running skirt for the girls/t-shirt for the guys. We chose to go shirt/skirt less and save some money. When I went and picked up our packets at a local running store and everything went really quickly.  I got our bibs and the girl who gave them to me told me to go across the store to get our glasses and "swag". So I went over there and the girl working with the glasses/swag, asked me what size I was. I told her I was only there to get the glasses for 2 registrations  She said she would get the glasses in a minute but needed to know the shirt/skirt size for us. I was so confused, and I think she could tell so she said we get a shirt for the male registration and a skirt for the female registration and asked me again (not as nicely) 'what size?'. I didn't feel like arguing and she seemed to be getting annoyed with me, so I told her medium. She threw a shirt, skirt, and two glasses in my bag and then started helping the next person. I thought you had to pay extra for them, but maybe every registration got one and you could pay the $30 extra for an additional one? I'm still confused by this.)

Anyways, the race didn't start until 2:00 so we slept in and I did my swim workout (2,100 meters). I got home and didn't have enough time to eat, so I figured I would just wait until after the race. I changed into my new running skirt I got a little nervous because I've never run in a skirt before and when I wear shorts my legs tend to chafe. I grabbed a handful of pretzels on the way out the door. We drove down to Temple Town Lake, quickly found parking and hurried to the start line (there was a lot more traffic than we were expecting).

We made it to the start line and for the first (and probably only) time I dropped 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' off in the back and made my way towards the front. The plan was for 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' to catch up to me (since he is super fast) and then us finish together.

They counted us down and off the skirts went. I started out pretty fast and was surprised at how good I felt. It was an out and back course so when I made the turn around I started looked for 'Mr. Sprinkle and Glitter'. I couldn't really see because of all the runners and the blinding sun but I was really searching for him- I was so sure I would see him. I was so busy looking for him that I didn't even notice he was running right beside me! He catch up to me so fast! 

Girls with the head start below, and the guys just starting on the bridge. Can you find me in this picture? I'll give you a hint- I think I'm already waving my hands in the air like I just don't care for some strange reason.... we were less than .5 miles in....  :)

I told him I felt great and if we pushed the pace I could PR. He held a quicker pace and I just tried to keep up. I told him I wanted to sprint when we got close to finish line. Before I could even see the finish line he told me to pick it up. I was a little hesitant since I didn't know how much further we had to go, but I tried to keep up with him. Once I actually saw the finish line I picked it up even more and knew I had PR'd when I finished. My time was 27:13, so almost 2 and a half minute PR. WOOHOO!! 

We found some water, got out picture taken (still can't find them anywhere on their website or their Facebook page:( ), and ran into some friends. It was hot and we were both hungry so we left and went to Cornish Pasty, Co. Absolutely AH-MAZZ-ING! Their homemade lemonade (lemonade mixed with orange juice) is so good and just what I needed.

It was a great day with a great race!



What did you guys do this weekend? Anyone racing?

Keeping with our Valentine's Day tradition... alone!

I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I met when we both worked at a restaurant: Marcello's Pasta Grill. One of the many joys of working at a restaurant is not being able to get certain holidays off- especially busy one like Valentine's Day. And the possibility of us both being able to get a holiday off were impossible since they were such busy nights. So we've both worked Valentine's day for the past 7 years at the restaurant  (Even though neither of us 'work' there anymore, we still go in on Valentine's day to work because it is such a busy night for them and they could use the extra help.)

It was fun working on Valentine's day with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and making some extra $$. Then we would celebrate our Valentine's a week or two later- which was also nice because we didn't have to deal with crowds or anything.

Well, this year was different. When they called to ask if I would work I of course said 'yes'- it's what we've always done, right? What I forgot to realize is that Valentine's day fell during the week this year which meant Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter wouldn't be able to work since he would have his kid. (We have him during the weeks for school and then he goes to his moms on the weekends.)

So what did this mean? Not only were we not spending Valentine's Day together- but now I was stuck working (which I hadn't done it quite some time) with a bunch of new people I didn't know. :/ It's like riding a bike right?!

Still my favorite kitchen staff though! 

Not quite the bike ride I was hoping for. They had completely remodeled the entire resturant and everything was different! Table locations, wine menu's, back stations were moved with different things. It was like I was working in a different restaurant for the first time! Luckily, it wasn't very busy and I got the hang of things pretty quickly.

Every Valentine's Day I've worked for the past 7 years, there has ALWAYS been a proposal. I was getting worried towards the end of the night that there wasn't going to be one this year. But it finally happened! It's always so cute to watch and then to watch everyone's reaction. The woman was so excited and immediately began texting pictures of the ring on one phone and calling people on another. They were so happy!

Once I finally got off, I headed home and went to bed.

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! <3

My other FAVORITE day of the year!

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL day celebrating National Frozen Yogart Day!

I tried to celebrate this holiday to the fullest- but when I tried to go get some fro-yo on my way to work, they were closed? I guess it's not normal to get fro-yo at 8:00 in the morning- even on a holiday like today? Weird.

So I went to work and did nothing but think about fro-yo. Then after work I ran a quick 2.5 miles and met my mom for some Bikram yoga. (90 minutes of yoga in 110 degrees with humity- nothing but a good time! I highly recommend it!!)

One I got home for yoga I quickly changed out of my wet clothes (there was no time for a shower) and headed out the door to make it to the fro-yo place before they closed. When I got there, I was once again expecting something magic- but was disappointed that NONE of the employees knew it was National Frozen Yogart Day! (I seriously had flash backs to National Cupcake Day! Shouldn't this stuff be in the employee manual or something?!) I told them I would be expecting something great next year!

I hurried home and ate the delicious dinner 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' made, and then finally enjoyed the fro-yo!

It was a great day- a little stressful (thinking I wasn't going to make it there before they closed) but it all worked out. ;)

THIS is my goal for next years celebration! I'm going to start practicing now!! ;)

Do you guys celebrate National Fro-yo day?

Double Down Recap and a Superbowl

A couple weeks ago I signed up for point series through Arizona Road Racers. It's a series of races and for each race you do you get points. Then at the end of the series, there are awards for people with the most points in each age group. I really like the Arizona Road Racers and have done several of their events before because their races are usually pretty cheap and are smaller in size- but still really well organized.

When I went to sign up for today's race (Runner's Den 10K) I noticed that they also had a 5K (before the 10K) but you didn't get points for it. But it was only $5 dollars more- so I figured why not? I've never run back-to-back races and I figured it would be my long run for the weekend and it would be nice to push myself for both the 5K and then the 10K. (Plus it's always nice to get a good sweat in before things like the Superbowl where you know you're not going to be eating super healthy! ;) )

It sounded great in therory, it really did. but then the Saturday before the race I ran 5 hard miles at South Mountain (stopping every mile to do 15 pushups- that about killed me!!) with the 'Mudder Militia'- I'll explain more about this later. ;) And after that my legs were dead. I don't do hills very often ever so running up a mountain was a challenge for me.

I was really hoping to PR in both of these races but I figured my legs would be tired from the trail running the day before so I was still 'hoping' for the PR- but didn't count on it. Add in the fact that when I woke up the day of the race, it was raining pretty hard- my main goal shifted to just finishing both races without falling.

My mom came with me and when we got there I got my bib number and shirt then headed back to the car to try to stay as warm/dry as possible. The 5K was first and the rain backed off to just a light sprinkle. I kept my jacket on till the very last second then tossed it over to my mom (with my ipod still in my jacket pocket- runner fail!) I took off and tried to push my pace out of my confort zone. I tend to find a pace that I feel comfortable at (usually 10 minute/mile) and just stay there. So today I wanted to push myself. I stayed around 9:15/9:30 the entire time and was shocked at how good I felt. The course was really nice and once I got warmed up the light sprinkling was nice. It was a loop course and they had a water station at the halfway point.

After the halfway point I tried to push the pace more but was still staying around a 9:30 pace. I sprinted towards the finish when I could see the finish line and thought I had PR'd. I didn't- was almost a minute off. Oh well. 

We had about 45 minutes until the 10K started so I waited in the longest line for the port-a-potties, we watched the diaper derby- with the cutest kids, a tricycle pace bike, and TON of paparazzi! Then headed back to the car to stay warm/dry. 

Is that not the cutest pacer you've ever seen?! 

They take those diaper derby's VERY seriously around here! 

When the 10K started, I tried to get as close to the front as possible. (The point series is based off of the clock time- not the chip time. So even if you have the fastest time- you could lose because someone beat you according to the clock time. Weird, I know.) But I was able to get to the very front and found one of 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' super-fast friends, Brady. We chatted a bit before the start. When the race did start I took off. I'm not sure if I was trying to kill myself or just keep up with all the super-mega fast runners that I started with- but I was flying! I got to the first mile marker that had a clock and it read 6:58. I decided to back off and could bearly catch my breath. (I now understand why people always say 'Don't start out too fast'. Lesson learned!)

The course started out the same as the 5K but was a bigger loop and then finished the same as the 5K. It had 2 water stations and I was lucky enough to get the same little girl in footie pajamas as I did at the 5K! She was adorable and was cheering on all the runners saying "Don't quit! You can do it! Keep going everyone!" She definitely made me smile.

I kept checking my pace and I was still right around a 9:30 pace and once again sprinted towards the finish. I was hoping to come in under 1 hour- but finished 1:00:21. It was still almost a 12 minute PR- so I was definitely happy with that!

Once I finished and found my mom, I got 2 chocolate Muscle Milks (those things are seriously delicious) and a pancake. Then we headed home to finish cooking the food we were bringing to a Superbowl party and get ready.

I made mini graham cracker crust, topped with homemade carmel, banana slices, and then homemade whipped cream cupcakes. They were so cute and SO good. I was debating not bringing them to the party and eating all 34 myself. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' made seafood stuffed mushrooms and wings- that apparently were the hit of the party by everyone! I still can't believe the power outtage during the game! Crazy!

Hope everyone enjoyed game and had a great weekend!

Rock n' Roll Marthon Race Recap

Today was absolutely awesome! I don't think it could have gone any better. 

We woke up, ate, and headed down to start line. We were able to get down there and park (in our $15 dollar parking spot) without any problems. (I don't think that's ever happened for us- we usually run into road closures or a ton of traffic.)

We walked around and found the start line and immediately got in the ridiculously long lines for the porta-potties. After that, we shared a banana and made our way to our corrals. I dropped 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' off in one of the first corrals and made my way towards the back to the slower cooler corrals. ;) Once I got in my corral I was surrounded by SO many nice people and a lot of first time marathoners. It was great to chat with them and definitely helped pass the time and ease some pre-race nerves.

1 national anthem and a few corral countdowns later- we were off! I was so excited and felt like I was really ready for this race. I brought my ipod but figured I would listen to the first few bands (They have bands about every mile) and then listen to it once I got bored.

I stopped at every aid station for water (and Gatorade if they had it) and when I I left the aid station around mile 5 I heard a crowd of people behind me shout "5 HOURS ROCKS!!". I turned and the 5 hour pace team was right behind me. There was no way I was going to let them pass me. (Last year, I finished my first marathon in 5:30 minutes and really wanted to be under 5 hours this time.) So I picked up the pace a little and remained in front of them. I kept hearing a TON of laughing and once we passed every mile marker I would hear "5 HOURS ROCKS!!". I decided to slow down a bit and let them catch up. The pacer lady (I never got her name) was a nut!! She was an older woman who has run 100's of marathons and just kept talking and telling stories. She talked about how she got hit by a car and then left the hospital against doctors orders to run a marathon, how she ran a marathon with her son (his 1st) when he hadn't done any training for it. Listening to her stories made the time (and miles) FLY by and it took my mind off of running completely.

As we approached every mile marker she would sing out "Do you see what I see? It mile marker #". Then she would say "3...2...1..." And that's when we would shout "5 HOURS ROCKS!" Then she would dedicate that mile to someone. Someone in our group dedicated it to their mom who was battling cancer, another was for police officers, firefighters, victims of bullies, etc. I thought it was really nice, and gave us all something else to think about during that 1 mile as we listened to her stories- which often corresponded with whoever we dedicated that mile to.

As the miles went by, our group was getting smaller and smaller but I still felt great. My plan at that point was to stay with them until the last few miles and then take off, so I would hopefully finished under 5 hours. Everything was going great and towards mile 23, there were only 3 people left in our group. Since we had some 'extra time' the group had been walking through the aid stations. I would usually jog through, grab some water and then slowly jog and wait for them to catch up. We went through the aid station and I turned to look for them and couldn't find them anywhere? I had kept jogging and eventually spotted them about 100 yards ahead of me? I still do not know how this happened. I figured I wasn't going to be able to catch up to them and then got extremely sad because I figured me being this far behind them, I wasn't going to finish under 5 hours. I then remembered I had my GPS watch on and looked down and to my surprise I was at 23.5 and still had 40 minutes to get under 5 hours! (They must have started before me and then I passed them since our times were so different?)

I picked up the pace and for the last 2 miles I turned on my ipod and hauled butt towards the finish line. I was practically sprinting when I looked down and saw my watch reading 26.18 miles with 5 minutes to spare.... but.... the finish line was seriously no where in sight. I was so confused and getting tired but kept going- knowing I HAD to be getting really close. I did see Skinny Runner's friend Monica on the side and screamed out to her 'I read her blog!' (Not creepy at all right?!)- she smiled and waved. (She ended up joining in with one of her friends and we actually ran by each other for the last bit of the race. Blog highlight for sure! :))

Me with a side of Monica

I finally saw the finish line and literally flew towards it- I looked at my watch and I had 5 seconds to get there. I finished and immediately looked at my watch which read 26.48 miles in 5:00:12, I just knew my official time HAD to be under 5 hours- I practically ran an additional half mile! I left the finisher area and headed off to find 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' in our designated meet-up area. I found him and said I beat 5 hours- that was a 30 minute PR for me! (Unfortunately, when we looked up my official time it says 5:01:12. :( Depressing, I know.) However, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' is a total beast and finished 3:54-- PR'ing by an hour and a half!! Seriously-- who does that?! AND in brand new, never-worn-before, shoes that he bought at the expo! Amazing!

I sat down for a couple minutes and we talked about the race,bands, etc. and then found the booth where we were able to pick up our 'Double Down' medals- for running both Las Vegas and Arizona. Super cool, super heavy medal.

Who knew you could get sunburned in January?! ;)

We then had to walk what felt like another marathon to our friends car, and then met more friends at a restaurant for lunch and to watch the football games going on. After that, we got our car and kept with tradition and got massive amounts of fro-yo! It was a great race and an amazing day!!

Too much fun at the Expo

Today Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter and I went out to lunch and then headed to the expo to pick up our race packets. It was so much fun! 

It's always crazy- busy with people (since about 30,000 people participate in either the mini-marathon, half, or the full) but everything is so well organized there isn't a whole lot of waiting. 

We got our numbers, t-shirts, and bags and headed into the expo. 

We saw the same crazy Brooks bus that we saw in Las Vegas, but no cool sun glasses or Skinny Runner. :(

I bought a shirt and he bought a new pair of shoes (that he is planning on wearing for the first time tomorrow! Crazy!) We also bought a parking pass to park right by the start line for a ridiculous amount of money. 

Then, we had WAY too much fun with some props and a backdrop. (There was a picture of 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' with a plastic Elvis wig on and a blow up guitar.... but sadly, it got deleted when he got a new phone. We only have this one because he so politely posted it on Facebook so everyone could get a laugh. :( Just know- it was absolutely hilarious! It was even super blurry because I was laughing so hard!)

Once we left the expo, we headed home and had had our usual pre-race meals. (Steak and sweet potato for him, pasta with broccoli and chicken for me) Then I painted my nails while Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter soaked his feet and foam rolled. Priorities people, priorities... ;)

Good luck to anyone running tomorrow! 

Do you have any pre-race rituals you do before a race? Like painting your nails? ;)

20 miles to kick in the New Year!

Happy New Years everyone! 2012 was an AMAZING year and I know that 2013 is going to be even better!

Since I had today off, I decided I would kick off the New Year with another long run before the P.F. Chang's Marathon, in 20 days. I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to do my long run at Tempe Town Lake and she said she would come along if she could ride my beach cruiser. I told to her that it was going to take me a few hours and it would be really, really boring for her- but she insisted on coming.

Funny thing neither of us thought of, we both have cars and we some how needed to get the beach cruiser down to Tempe Town Lake... My Mom came up with the bright idea to put the top down of her convertible and just shove it in the back. I was dying laughing skeptical as I watched my mom try and try again to get the large bike into the tiny backseat of the car.

Once we finally got it seatbelted in, we were on our way! It was definitely nice to have my mom come along on a bike, and I am considering getting an assistant to tag along on future long runs. ;) I didn't have to hold anything and kept everything in a bag on the bike. Anytime I would need water I would just tell her and she would hand it over to me. I was also able to take of some of my layers and just hand them over and have her put them in the bag. 

The goal was to run at least 20 miles. A few miles into the run she asked how long this was going to take, I told her about 4 hours. She then said she thought I would be done running in 2 hours. (I really, really considered titling this post "Apparently my mom thinks I can run 10 miles per hour...")

Since Tempe Town Lake is just one big 5 mile loop, my mom decided to take a break after mile 14 and I did 1 loop by myself. When I came back around my mom was waiting with water and a handful of M&M's. Not my first choice in fuel but it worked. ;)

I did another smaller loop and when I came back around to my mom, she had the bike loaded up and was ready to go but I was at 19.85 miles so I had to run back and forth a few times in the parking lot. Which definitely added to the stares we were already getting for the bike hanging out of the car. But I did it! 20 miles exactly! I felt great and am now even more excited for the marathon! 

Happy New Years everyone! It's going to be a GREAT year!

Do any of you have an resolutions?