Hey Nuun, don't make me sad.

So, if you're a Beatles fan you might have just hummed the title of this post to the tune of Hey Jude! ha. That's just me trying to be witty. See when I get nervous and the shy in me comes out I try my best to be funny. Please, oh please, say it worked just this once!?

Ok, onto the real stuff here y'all.
I told ya before that my favorite hydration company Nuun chose me as an ambassador this year and I am THRILLED about that. But I want more than to just share my complete and total Nuun love with the world.
See runners have what they like to call a running bucket list (or at least I do). Different runners have all kinds of races and events on their bucket lists. This can be anything from a PR to something like qualifying for and running Boston Marathon. For me and 2013 it includes running Hood to Coast with the Team Nuun!!

Last year I pondered the idea of submitting my application but I let my  nerves, being shy and lack of confidence take over and didn't do it. I was like, "they won't pick the girl that barely runs a 10:30 mile to run with them," or "why would they pick the girl with the most unknown blog in the blogosphere to run on their team?" So, I didn't finish my application.

Well, I found myself getting over my fears this year (with the help of my biggest fan and supporter, my hubby) and submitted my application. Will they pick me? I don't know. I've gotten much faster thanks to great coaching, my blog has grown but really I don't want those to be the only factors in why they would or would not choose this former fat mother of two for their completely awesome relay team!

I wondered for a while if I had what it takes to even make a video. Am I creative enough? Do I have a story to tell?  What would be the one thing about me that would be compelling enough to be picked? I had no clue (still don't) but I put my fears aside (sort of, I still hate rejection!) and went for it. With the help of my amazing hubby we put together the following video. And now all I can do is sit back, relax and know that even if I am not chosen and can't cross Hood to Coast off my bucket list for 2013 I can cross off "get over the fear," from my list of goals for 2013.

Without further hesitation here goes....

Fingers crossed Nuun picks me to continue my running journey as part of their Nuun Hood to Coast relay team for 2013!

A shirt, a review and a discount for you!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the awesome Jessie at Build A Sign because a couple of years ago I had worked with them to create some amazing signs for my first half marathon (courtesy of them!!). And I was so happy with the outcome of my signs, the ease of working with the company and their offer for my readers that I was thrilled to work with them again. This time it wasn't going to be a sign or bumper stickers! Instead.....

t- shirt!! I love love love clothes. I had played around on other sites "creating" different ideas for tees before but never had much luck. However, it was so super easy with Dress United. They have a lot of different styles of shirts from tees to hoodies and in a wide variety of colors. AND the best part is they didn't just offer unisex sizing! I know for a lot of you ladies this is a nice perk as it was to me. :)  You also have the option to use their images or to upload an image of your own. They also offer a variety of different fonts and colors so the possibilities are really endless, which is why it took me several days to come up with something I liked even as simple as it all was.

I'm a bit of a no frills kind of girl when it comes to shirts, especially one that would represent MY blog so I knew I wanted to keep it simple and clean. I simply chose a shirt and color, uploaded an image and added the wording I wanted. Done. Their site walks you through each step. It was that easy.

The only negative for me was ordering what I thought was the right size. Normally in a women's shirt or even unisex tee I get a medium. That was the case this time. I looked at the sizing in comparison to all my other shirts and went with the medium. Unfortunately it didn't fit. Sadness. I would say it probably is more like your typical adult small if that. So, if you do order be sure to size up 1-2 sizes on the women's American Apparel long sleeve tees!!

Here are a couple of pics I snapped of the logo. Note: The colors I used on a black tee are pink and lime green. They did not photograph well with my iPhone which is not a reflection of Dress United or their product, just the quality of the camera on my phone. The first picture is the back of the tee and the second is the front. The logo on the back is quite large and you have the option to size this any way you wish! The wording on the front is over the left breast/chest area and appears bigger in the pic due to zooming in on it. Again, you can resize it anyway you wish or place it on any area of the front of the shirt. Again, all of this was super easy to do. Despite the poor sizing the quality of the shirt itself is nice.

Now for all of my readers Dress United is offering a 30% off discount with the code BLOG30OFF4U.   So head on over to their site and create something special for your next race or event! 

Thanks again to the fine folks at Dress United for this opportunity!  

What's up Wednesday!?

Since my last post a lot has been going on!
My son recovered pretty well after his surgeries with only one visit back to the hospital for iv fluids and pain meds. My daughter and I both came down with strep throat while on Spring Break. Neither of us was very happy about that....

Annabelle bounced back very quickly but I spent over 36 hours in bed sick as a dog. I think this was the first time I'd ever had strep throat and man it was no joke!! All better now though.

I finished up therapy on my back/SI/hip or whatever. But I fell during my long run on Saturday. Between mile 6-7 I caught the lip of the sidewalk and down I went HARD on the injured side! Oops. However, as odd is it may be I have had NO issues with that hip/SI joint since and I was in a lot of pain on Friday. Maybe this is a good thing!? Or maybe part of the reason I am having no issues is because of this....

*image from KT tape website.
KT TAPE may have helped my IT band/bursitis and SI joint for my run too. I had my hubby tape me up before my long run just to see if it would help. This is the first time I ever used it and I am a fan already! I'll be taping up again in 11 days for the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon where I will be joining a friend for the 2 person marathon relay! Hopefully the KT tape helps aide me in a great race.

I also got some exciting news within the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I even mentioned it here since it's been so long since I blogged BUT even if I did I'm sure you won't mind me sharing the excitement again. I was selected as an Ambassador for Nuun hydration this year! I'm really excited to be able to share the Nuun love here on the blog, Twitter and Facebook book as well as the races I will be running the rest of this year. I love love love Nuun for hydration during my runs and after. They just released their new flavors. Watermelon may be my newest favorite! I just got my order yesterday and have gone through half a tube. Addict!!!

I think that's about it for news with me and what's been going on. I will say that I am ready for spring to really happen around these parts. We haven't had much snow (accumulation) but I am as ready as the rest of my running buddies to not be dealing with snow flying through the air, wind blowing my face and to not be wearing my winter running gear for a while! Bring on the warmth.

Also, stay tuned for my recaps of Run with Jess' JellyBean classic virtual race! I ran a 13.1 and a 3.1 but still need to get all the details down!

I hope you're having a great week!

Greenways 5k race recap

A few weeks ago I signed up to run a local 5k. It's not a race I have ran here before but was ran on a portion of greenway that I have ran plenty of times so I kind of knew the course. I've been doing more training for long distance but also doing my speed work. The last 5k race I ran was almost a year ago. So, that being said I wasn't sure what my goal would be. As far as running this year I have a couple of major goals with one of those being the sub 2 half marathon so that has been my focus. As far as training I leave the details up to my coach and try to hit my pace and miles based on what my schedule says.

This week was a crazy week for us. My son had surgery Wednesday (tonsils, adenoids, tubes for the 2nd time and sinus surgery) and that kind of threw my week into a whirlwind. I had issues Weds as he was helping (at 7 yrs old) the nurse take out his IV and I passed out becoming a patient myself. I managed to only run 2 of my miles for the day at our running group's social run for the week. They were slow and stop/go but they were miles logged. Thursday should have been my day for "plenty of rest and proper fuel" for race day but it was a horrible day for my boy and around 11pm we ended up having to make a trip to the ER where we would spend the next several hours.

Needless to say there was no sleep on Thursday/Friday until almost 6am and I was up again in just 4 and 1/2 short hours with only an hour nap throughout the day. I did manage to get out for a 4 miler with a friend that afternoon which helped restore my energy a little. I still was unsure what race day would hold for me but I was willing to try to get in bed early and try my best on race day. I got my race plan Thursday night and was studying it a bit knowing that I had it in me to hit the paces given to me by my coach but also took note in the line where he said, "This is not a fast course and you will be flittering with your PR." I knew I had trained well and could have hit my paces. What I also knew is that lack of rest was going to be a factor.

Race morning I met my friend at the location and we got our bibs then did our 2 mile warmup. We got tickled at the different types of folks there for this race, specifically those that said things like, "Look at all those people running already. I need to save my energy for the race." Ha! There was a time when I was that runner who didn't quite get the idea of a warm up before a race especially a 5k. Well, now I know the importance of them!

When the gun went off instead of being anxious or nervous I was ready to go. We lined up towards the very front since we knew the course would be crowded and didn't want to waste time trying to dodge folks. This worked out well except that I went out a bit fast. It wasn't really an issue with breathing or my legs but mentally since I tried to scale back and lost my pace by 2 seconds but managed to gain back on a downhill.

The goal was to hit 8:30, 8:20 and then all out. I hit the first mile at 8:30 which was on pace. I'm not sure where I lost steam the last 2 miles but I was a bit slower. It could've been the hills or it could've been the spineless man that was weaving back and forth in front of me as I was trying to pass him, rude! I finally told him to, "Pick a side!," and I whizzed by him. From that point in the race (mile 1.2) on my only goal was to stay ahead of him and start picking off other runners. This seemed to work for the most part. But like I said I didn't exactly hit my goal.

Miles 2 and 3 were 8:42 and 8:48

I could hear voices as I neared the finish line and saw my coach standing on the sidelines telling me to keep pushing and that I was coming in under 27 mins. My Garmin showed 26:45 and I think they clocked me at 26:47. So, only 14 seconds slower than a PR. I am reminding myself that this is pretty amazing given not only the circumstances of the week BUT the fact that I have spent the last 3 weeks back in physical therapy due to a slight issue with my hip injury. Well rested and uninjured I am sure I could have done so much better but the fact of the day is that I was out there and gave it all I had for that day.

Wanna know what that got me??

First place Athena and a lovely Shamrock plant!  Who can be disappointed in that?!

Did you race this weekend? How'd ya do?

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

My 7 year old son survived his surgery (tonsils, adenoids, turbinate and 2nd set of tubes ..oh and a 5th procedure that I have no idea what to call) today. And I almost made it out of there on my own two feet. Thankfully my awesome hubby was there to capture the most exciting part of the day. We are ALL doing fine now.

Motivational Monday

Just a couple of reminders to begin the week... for myself and you should you need them! Make this week a great one!!

Food as fuel

There are days when I hit spot on the "use food as fuel" rule and then there are days when I struggle so hard with making the right food choices. I mentioned a couple of times a week or so ago that I was doing an AdvoCare 10 day cleanse. This was what I considered to be an opportunity for me to get back to the "food is fuel" mentality. I needed to refocus on that concept and hoped to get back into losing mode with weight loss.

I will say that initially I felt like 10 days was a long time but honestly it wasn't. I survived 10 days without coffee, without cupcakes or other sweets and without fast food. I ate clean, wholesome foods that I made at home and enjoyed them. I was fearful that I would "crap out" by the end of the day or struggle with my runs, but imagine my surprise when that was not the case. I didn't have to rely on my 3 cups of coffee a day to make it through the day. And as much as I hate admitting it, I managed to not even crave a cupcake which is a huge feat considering I follow every local cupcake shop in my area on Facebook. If you don't know, those places post their daily menu (of nothing but cupcakes, people!!) and pictures of said cupcakes. Did you know I LOVE cupcakes? Sigh.

I still managed 10 days without one. And let me tell you HOW I feel I was able to do so.
Sure, the AdvoCare products helped BUT a lot of the success I had those 10 days was on ME. I told myself the Saturday before I started that I would make a menu for each day, log it in MFP and prep my food for the next day nightly before bed. I stuck with that all 10 days, even on the weekend! Weekends are usually the toughest for me and I spend all week working off the damage I do on the weekend. That was NOT the case with the cleanse period. I did not have to work off the damage from my weekend and I survived my long run without a crash.

I started the plan by making a list of suggested foods and some meal ideas. I stuck with it but allowed myself a great deal of variety. I often get stuck in a food rut and eat the same things for days or weeks. I  added a good variety of fruits and veggies and even found myself buying things I had never tried before. I found out during the cleanse that I love mangoes!

Every night I prepped all my meals and packed them for the next work day. A friend asked me a while back if I could take some pictures of my food so I decided the cleanse was a great time to really share what I was eating.

Egg scramble - one whole egg, 2 egg whites w/spinach and onion and a few strawberries.
Filet w/steamed broccoli and baby carrots.
Cucumber, tomato and onion salad, grilled chicken and baked sweet potato.
Cashews and a nectarine.
Salad w/grilled chicken and black beans and a drizzle of hot sauce.

I felt full and completely satisfied each day. This is just a small sampling of how I was eating during the cleanse.
I started the cleanse weighing 168 and ended 10 lbs LESS weighing 158 on the morning after the last day. I was happy with the results and how awesome I felt getting back to using food as fuel. My ultimate goal is to stick to this mindset  to reach my goal weight. However, if I am being completely honest with you I have found it to be VERY hard some days. I'm not perfect and I do realize that not every day can be picture perfect. Life happens, events come up (hello, birthdays!) and sometimes those cravings just cannot be controlled no matter how strong a person is.

I am that person. I am the one that even though I have successfully lost 90 lbs still has a tough day when all I want to do is eat a cupcake or two. I am the person who isn't going to choose the salad on her birthday and orders a burger instead. I am not ashamed of those choices but like I said, I'm being honest. The cleanse is over. My birthday (and my son's) is over. Both the cleanse and the post cleanse birthday celebration made me realize how good eating food for fuel makes the body feel and also reminded me of how indulging in those little treats makes the body feel.

I'm choosing not to dwell on the treats and the down feeling the bring but rather clean choices and the amazing things they do for my body.