3 Things Thursday - N.Y.E. Edition

I'm currently en route to Chattanooga so I apologize ahead of time for my lack of commenting over the weekend as I will be very busy. ;)

1. You know what's not the smartest thing ever? Running a 14 miler Sunday then working your night job and THEN running hills the next day. Ouch! My legs were ANGRY at me come Tuesday, much to Spike's amusement might I add because he totally called it. (Laugh it up Fatty) Doesn't matter though because I killed 10 repeats equalling 6 miles worth of hills Monday night and at a very decent pace might I add! I'm really getting the hang of these hill workouts! Wa-hoo!!!
   
   To continue on this "not the smartest thing ever" tirade, because of the impending trip I switched my pace workout to yesterday rather than today and let's just say FAIL. My legs were still shot and then to add insult to injury I lost my keys along the way somewhere locking myself not only out of my apartment but also my complex. I had to wait around for someone to come out so I could go in and then I had to bang on my apartment door for like 10 minutes until The Brunette woke up and saved me from the cold. Let's just say I was more than ready to head out to Chattanooga today!!!
   


2. A Request to the Ladies of the Blogosphere: I want to see your cute N.Y.E outfits so take lots o' pics!!! I scored a sweet deal on a super cute dress that I can't wait to post a pic of!!! End Girly-ness.
   


3. Best of luck to all my N.Y.E & New Year's Day racers out there; Laminator, SunRunner, Beyond Defeat, Fair Weather Runner & M2Marathon!!!
   
   

Have an amazing New Year's Eve everyone, have fun but more importantly BE SAFE!

ROCK THOSE RACES AND LONG RUNS! RING IN THE NEW YEAR RIGHT! CHEERS TO 2010!!!

Catch ya'll on the flipside...

When Zombie's Attack or Meet me Halfway

While most of you are finalizing your New Year's Eve plans, picking out the perfect little black dress to wear and searching the city over for some bubbly I am getting an oil change, checking the pressure on my tires and deciding between the audio book's Jamily got me for Christmas in preparation for my impending 9 hour drive on New Year's Eve....

So what does driving 9 hours and zombie's have to do with New Year's Eve you ask? Well see back in October while visiting Spike we went and saw Zombieland. (Arguably the best zombie movie EVER) One evening after my return, for whatever reason, we got into a heavy discussion about what we would do if zombie's attacked. (Lots of couple's discuss zombie survival plans right?!?!) Ever the resourceful Redhead I suggested we meet halfway, you know, since I-75 runs directly between us...

Spike: "So where exactly do you propose halfway is?"

Redhead: "Like Kentucky or Tennessee"

Spike: "Um... those are pretty big states, how would we find each other?"

Redhead: "No they aren't. They're short states. We could just call each other."

Spike: *Crickets*

Now before you go questioning the color of my hair, I never claimed I was the brightest crayon in the box... it seemed logical enough at the time and we both had quite the laugh over it. Afterwards this conversation stuck in my head and it sparked an idea... We should meet halfway for an impromptu weekend!!!

So thus an idea is born and Thursday morning, long before the @ss crack of dawn we both embark on our respective 9-ish hour drives to meet halfway-ish in Chattanooga, TN. Not a single plan has been made further than what hotel we're staying at and the trail to use for our long run. (Priorities! I'm in the midst of marathon training people!) The entire weekend is going to be a total random adventure and who knows what we'll end up doing for N.Y.E. or the rest of the weekend for that matter. If anyone has any suggestions let us know! Otherwise expect quite the recap upon my return... This southern girl is headed up to the hills of Tennessee! Good thing I picked up some running pants recently! Forecast is calling for sunny but 30-40 degrees all weekend! Brr!!!

Listening to: Black Eyed Peas - "Meet me Halfway"

What are ya'll doing for N.Y.E.???

Christmas Weekend Wrap-up

Hallelujah the Christmas season is officially over!!!

Let us all take a moment to congratulate ourselves on making it through! Seriously, I'm convinced; Christmas = Crazy. People are crazy, traffic is crazy, work is crazy, etc... I for one am glad it's over and anxiously await New Years and all the wonderful things 2010 will bring! *Steps down from her soap box*

That being said let's do a little Redhead Christmas Recap shall we?

Christmas Eve

Thursday I had to work a half day at the big girl job and then a shift at the night gig... with a break in between I decided to sleep in that morning and do my pace work out in the afternoon. Attempting to get into the Christmas spirit, I decided to hold my very own Christmas themed pace race of sorts over at the Cady Way. I guess I should also mention that it was about 80 degrees out (not exactly Christmas weather)... which resulted in this outfit;

I call this The Awkward Self-Timer, Show off Ridiculous Outfit, I Promise I'm going Running Pose.

See the reindeer bell? (Hint on the left)

That get up lasted all of about a mile before I took off the socks (WAY too HOT!!!) and hid them in a bush and put my hair in a pony tail because the braids were slapping me in the face. Oh and did I mention how absolutely annoying a reindeer bell can be when you are all by yourself... not to mention all the dogs in the immediate area I p*ssed off. Basically it was a big FAIL but the few people who saw me running sure got a kick out of it... or maybe they thought I was a freak. Either way, I crack myself up and that's all that really matters. Christmas spirit... CHECK!

After the night gig I headed over to Beaker Luv's house to check on her obnoxious cats as she was taking RJ on his first visit up North to see her family and snow. (Pictures to follow... right Beaker Luv???) She had mentioned that "Santa" had left me something under the tree so after I checked up on the cats and made sure they were set I look towards the tree to find this; OMG!!!

That my friends is my new, powder blue bike!!! I am so stoked!!!

(A little back story is required here; see back in our college days, our friend Rolly used to live with the Beaker Luv & hubs, and when he moved back to mountain country he left his bike behind. He is 6'3". Last year I decided to commandeer said bike even though I am a midget. Just imagine me having to climb atop the bike each time I wanted to ride it, never being able to touch the ground and having to jump off of it as a result... it was a rather comical sight to see but hey, it was free and beggars can't be choosers. So for over a year now I've been riding around on this giant bike much to the entertainment of others.... until now!)

Thank you so much Beaker Luv!!! I can't wait to ride around on my new bike!!! You are the best!!! (I have since passed over the giant bike to The Brunette because it's actually her size. LOL!)

After I left Beaker Luv's, I headed over to Lake County to spend the evening with my Jamily and her family over at Granny's. We sat around until almost midnight catching up, eating cookies and enjoying each other's company. It was a perfect end to a great day.

Christmas

I woke up bright an early to... rain. Boo!!! So I rolled over and nodded off until I woke up again to find... no rain. Score! Out the door I go for a quick 4 miler. Yup, I totally ran Christmas morning much to the amazement of the entire Jamily Fam. Once I got back and cleaned up we exchanged gifts and then had a super yummy breakfast... MMM!!! Gotta love home cooking!

After breakfast I was off to my beloved Rixy's house over in Bradenton (another Redhead tour of the state... what's new) where we spent the entire day AND night in our PJ's, exhanged silly presents, played with "The Pirate's" toys, played drunken Wii, made Christmas dinner and held an impromptu sprint race where Rixy's boyfriend totally smoked me. (For the record I blame the the brewskies I had consumed and having already run that day for the FAIL that was.) Because I am a light weight and the amazing turkey dinner put me in a food coma I was crashed out cold by 11pm-ish. I'm such an exciting house guest huh?

The following morning Rixy and I decided to snuggle up in bed and proceed to watch movie's the rest of the day. Gotta love a good PJ and movie day! All too soon though I needed to head home and just like that, our day was over and it was back to O-town I go. :( I love you Rixy! Thank you for such a great Christmas!!!

Fa-la-la-la-Fourteen Miler

Sunday morning after a few FAIL'd attempts at it, I finally got out the door for my 14 Miler that I had on deck. (Normally I run on Saturdays but I had switched my run around so I could make the most of my time with Rixy Saturday) Just like last weekend, I decided to just wing it. (I had originally meant to do it over at Cady Way but upon arriving I realized I left my Spibelt at home that had my Gu and there was no way I was running 14 miles without any Gu, so I had to head home) I took off from my house and decided to head over to a new pedestrian bridge I had noticed that went around a lake by my old neighborhood. 5 miles later I get there only to find a big chain link fence blocking the entrance and a sign that says "BRIDGE CLOSED." D@mn it.

So there I am, 5 miles from home with 9 miles left to trek. What to do!? What to do!? Seeing as how I was close to my old neighborhood I decided to run my old stomping grounds and rack up 4 more miles. After that I headed back and got caught up in a little bit of rain towards the end but none the worse for the wear. I gotta be honest though, the entire run was tough for some reason. My legs were tight and I think I was kinda bored all by myself again. Needless to say I am even more excited to run my long run this weekend with Spike; if only to have someone to talk to and help me push through the rough miles! Despite everything I still managed a great pace the entire run so I guess it wasn't all bad, but I'm def ready to be done with this solo running. B.o.B and I actually had a conversation this weekend about switching off weekends from here on out until Gasparilla so neither of us were stuck running alone. Ahhh the joys of Marathon training eh?

Well that's it for me kiddies, it was a fab Christmas thanks to my wonderful friends who filled the void of my not being with my Family. I love them all so much and so thankful to have them in my life! I have been attempting to catch up on my blog reading to see what ya'll had going on this weekend so bare with me as I am STILL down a computer at home. (There's only so much blog reading I can effectively get away with here at work! LOL!) I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend as well!!!

9 more weeks til Gasparilla!!!

3 Things Thursday

It's Christmas Eve and all I want for Christmas is...

1. To help Operation Jack succeed next year! Wanna help? Just swing on over to my donation page:
   
   http://operationjack.kintera.org/redheadrunning
   
   


2. I also wouldn't mind if I found this guy underneath the mistletoe... but since I know that's not going to happen I can be happy knowing I get to see him this time next week!!!
   
   


3. Ok and maybe, just maybe, I've totally been drooling over these because they match my new Gasparilla Marathon shoes...
   




Merry Christmas ya'll!
Have a wonderful holiday spent with your loved ones!!!
Catch ya'll on the flipside!

Solo 16

Sometimes life throws you a little more than you can handle and the tail end of last week gave me exactly that... but life goes on and you do what you gotta do. Unfortunately this meant that I had to cancel on B.o.B and the B.R.A. for the Saturday long run. *insert extremely disappointed sad face here* Ya'll know how excited we were to meet up, it's been since RAGNAR that I've seen my beloved Boo!!! But this little Redhead was in severe need of some sleep and after the Girl's Annual Christmas Dinner I headed home to the casa and passed out cold! Glorious sleep you are MINE!!!

When I woke up Saturday morning I didn't really have much of a plan for the run; I know I needed to run 16 miles and I figured I would just wing it. (Ironically my first 16 miler was kinda like this... LOL!)

Anyway, so Hades got a bit of a cold front Friday night and when I ventured out my door I promptly turned right back around to slip on a long sleeve tech tee! Seriously, it was a chilly, blustery day! Woo hoo!

So there I am running along, with no agenda at all, just turning here and there, la-dee-da. I realized I was basically headed in the general direction of Cady Way so I cut through the neighborhood I'm in and headed on over. I ditched my water bottle in some bushes since I knew the trail had a few drinking fountains and I was tired of carrying it and jumped on. I was having one of those runs where time was just flying by and I was smiling and waving at everyone I passed. It wasn't Bayshore, and I wasn't with B.o.B. or the B.R.A. but dare I say I was having fun!?

Somewhere around mile 8ish I realized I needed to pee so I cut into Baldwin Park and somehow found myself on a race course! LOL! How on earth do I manage to do this yet again?!?! (Irish Cream and I did this LAST WEEK!) As I head over to Barnie's coffee to utilize the facilities I pass Elf's and other randomly dressed racers along the way, and walk right into a troop of Storm Troopers. You can't make this up people! As proof I snagged this shot with my camera; LMAO! (How on earth did they run in that?!?!?)

About now it was time to head back home as I was well over the halfway mark of my run, so back towards my water bottle I go. The rest of the miles slipped by so quickly that I seriously couldn't believe I had put 16 miles behind me when I finished. That was my longest run since Chicago! Amazing! That's what it was and that's how I felt. I seriously forgot how much I enjoy long runs, especially when it's so nice out! I'm still beaming!

Alright with the run recapped let's recap the Girl's Christmas Dinner shall we? First things first let me just say that my girls rock! They totally brought me right out of my Debbie Downer mood! After catching up and some yummy dinner, we attempted a group picture which somehow led to the Bag O' Fun being busted out! (The Bag O' Fun is a bag of random accessories that has been compiled over the years from Halloween parties, theme parties, etc...) Usually the Bag O' Fun gets doesn't get busted out until around 3 a.m. after a long night of partying but for whatever reason we decide, soberly at 8pm on a Friday night, that this is exactly what we needed...

Pretty Girls

Crazy Girls

Fabulous!
(Maybe I'll cut my hair like this after I donate it... hmmm...)

One last thing; you know how I said I'd try to catch up on my reader?!? Yeah my computer died the other day. When I start it up it goes straight to a black screen asking me to load the original Windows 97 disk. Way to kick a girl while she's down huh? FML. I apologize ahead of time if I totally suck at commenting and posting this week...

3 Things Thursday

1. First off THANK YOU to all the lovely ladies sending Christmas cards my way! I am loving them! Also extra special THANK YOU to Mel over at Mel 2nd Chances; She was my Bloggy Christmas Gift Exchange partner and she sent me this oh so appropriate runner girl necklace; I L-O-V-E it!!!
   
   
   
   (Special shout out to Morning Runner & Tall Mom for setting the gift exchange up!!! You ladies rock and this was so much fun!!! )
   
   
   
2. Next I need to apologize to ya'll for being such a comment slacker!!! FAIL. I've been swamped at work and haven't had any time to catch up on my reader. I promise I will get on the ball and catch up soon!
   
   
   
3. Tomorrow is the annual "Girls Christmas Dinner" with all my O-town girlies!!! So excited we keep this tradition every year! After that I'm headed over to B.o.B's!!! It's been so long since I've seen my beloved Boo and I can't wait to run with the BRA on Saturday morning. We're doing a new route and I'm stoked! So much estrogen!!! Yay!
   

And with that I'll catch ya'll on the flipside! Rock those long runs and get that holiday shopping done! Christmas is just around the corner!!! And just because it's too cute not to share... I leave you with some Baby RJ from this past weekend... How can you not smile at that?!?!

Tuesday Trial

So it's been awhile since I've done a Tuesday Trial and I've been slack-a-lackin' on a few things I've received that I've been meaning to review so without further ado here goes:

thriv

Just like everyone else in the blogoshpere I got sent one of their super-soft-want-to-pet-myself shirts awhile back; they sent me a black t-shirt and boast:

What makes thriv different?

The power of bamco®

bamco is exclusive to thriv, and combines bamboo, organic cotton, and a small percentage of elastane. Bamboo fiber is naturally:

• breathable, because it is filled with microscopic holes, which promote air flow and thermal regulation.
  
• wicking, as it draws perspiration from skin and accelerates drying time.
  high SPF and odor-resistant.
  
• thriv is uncompromisingly soft, yet ready for your toughest workouts.

Bamboo for performance and luxury. Organic Cotton for additional sustainability. Elastane for stretch and support.

The result is a garment that performs as well or better than synthetic/petroleum based product, is infinitely more comfortable, offers more wearing occasions, and is better for the environment.

I gotta be honest here, a t-shirt doesn't get a lot of use around these parts, not sure if ya'll have seen the weather for Hades recently but it's been an unseasonably warm December. As in we're still hitting 80's. Not exactly t-shirt wearing weather, heck that's barely even tank-top wearing weather. Anyway so the 2 times I was able to battle test it I soaked that puppy through to the core. I'm not sure how to rate the wicking capabilites due to the harsh circumstances it was used under but I'm sure it works great for cooler weather. It def washes well (as in no leftover stank) but mine has faded like a mofo. I've basically been using it as a lounge around the house shirt over a work out shirt; I think I need to hit up one of their tank tops to get a real idea of whether or not I would rock their gear.

Win your own thriv shirt here: http://thrivnp.com/first

If you'd like a far more entertaining review on thriv please click HERE.


POM Wonderful

Awhile back the lovely people at POM wanted to send me some POM Wonderful to try since I live a healthy lifestyle; I'm always up for trying new things since I don't eat nearly as well as I should so I gave it a shot: I drank a couple before handing over to the Brunette because I was just not a fan of the taste. It was very bitter yet had too much sugar and I had a helluva time opening the bottles. Maybe I need to try the sugar free kind or something but I just wasn't a fan. Sorry POM but thanks for letting me test out your product!!!

ASICS GT-2150

As promised, I took out the new kicks for their first test drive last night. I hit the hill for 8 grueling repeats and I'm in L-O-V-E!!! Seriously, it was like running on clouds or something! I was just waiting for the sunshine & rainbows to appear! I think it's safe to say that my old GT-2140s needed to be retired. What a difference! I was a bit worried going into the run that I'd have probs because the toe box is wider than my 2140s but no probs to report and I can't wait to put them thru Gasparilla training! Yay!!!

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Yeah this one is kinda random but I went to see this last night with the gang and seriously...

DIRT TURD. W.T.F.

That is all I have to say about that. Yet another example of when sequels go bad.

At least the Sherlock Holmes preview kicked @ss! Can't wait to go see that with Spike soon!

(P.S. Lindsay - As to who goes and sees movie's on Monday night I say ME! Don't be jealous!)

So what about ya'll? Tried anything new lately?

Catching Up: 12 Miles, New Kicks, New Name, etc...

THANK YOU!!!

First and foremost I want to thank everyone that stopped by Friday's post about Operation Jack and donated to my fundraising page. It means so much to me that ya'll are willing to help me raise awareness for Autism!!! For those wondering, my donation page will be open until I run Gasparilla (Feb. 28th 2010) so you have time to donate if you weren't able to Friday. Thanks again everyone so very much!!!

Fumbling thru 12 Miles with Irish

Picture it; It's 6:30 a.m., I'm driving along not paying any attention and suddenly I see a ninja cop and realize I'm going 66 in a 50 mph zone. *Cue flashing lights* D@mn it.

I text Irish Cream that I'm getting a ticket... In the parking lot... where she's waiting for me. Awesome.

This is how I start my morning Saturday. Thankfully I only got a warning and quickly met up with Irish. Parking was blocked off so we drive around trying to find a spot nearby. That's when we realize that there's a 5k race about to take place. On the trail we're about to do our long run on. Awesome.

Then she trips on the sidewalk. On absolutely nothing. Awesome.

We synchronize Garmins, begin our run and laugh at how much we are sucking this morning.

Then there's a detour. Awesome.

We haven't even gone a mile and a half and we're already laughing ourselves silly at all the random things that are happening on this run. As we continue running along we realize neither of us have our phones or any idea where we are. We begin to wonder if we'll ever find our way back to the trail and start joking about how the cop that pulled me over will be interviewed all upset because we came up missing. I know that probably doesn't sound very funny but if you were there for the running commentary you'd have been entertained. Or maybe not... maybe we were both just run-tarded.

We eventually got back on the trail and at the 5ish mark we Gu'd and I make the brilliant decision to attempt math regarding mileage and how "if we just add this turn here and loop around there" that should put us at about 12 miles when we near the car again. Yeahnotsomuch. After a few more close calls of Irish tripping on absolutely nothing, getting sprayed right in the face by a sprinkler and going back through that whole detour area again we near the race course that is on the trail where we started and realize we still have well over a mile to go. (Math on run = FAIL.) Irish breaks off to head to school and I wrap up the last of it myself. We FAILED to take a pic yet again but otherwise it was a great run filled with lots of randomness that kept us laughing pretty much the entire run.

NEW KICKS

So I FINALLY got around to getting a new pair of kicks for Gasparilla. With almost 450 miles on the Chicago Marathon pair it was high time... especially with how much my ITB has been screaming at me lately!!! I headed over to my beloved Track Shack and Betsy already had a sleek pair of Asics GT-2150's picked out for me! (The woman has excellent taste! Look at the sparkly red & silver!) I can't wait to break them in tonight on my hill repeats! Thank you Betsy!!!

HERMES

That is what I have decided to rename Captain Bluebear.

Hermes is the great Messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. He is athletic and is always looking out for runners, or any athletes with injuries who need his help. Hermes delivered messages from Olympus to the mortal world. He wears shoes with wings on them and uses them to fly freely between the mortal and immortal world.


I think it's pretty fitting name since Hermes, aka Hermi for short, will be delivering me all my running info and hopefully helping me become a better runner. Paired up with the new kicks and Coach EK's training plan; I'm hoping for quite the PR come Gasparilla in 11 weeks!!!

Why Gasparilla Marathon? Operation Jack!

Way back in August I posted a 3 Things Thursday: The Announcement Edition; (For those that are too lazy to click the link) here is #3:

3. ...I will be running in my second marathon, the Gasparilla 2010 Marathon! As I said above, I had planned on doing the Breast Cancer marathon as my second marathon but when I found out this would be the final year Gasparilla would host a full marathon I absolutely HAD to run the Full. An added bonus is that the race is in B.o.B's back yard and we'll get to run it together!!! I had made a pact with myself that next year I would only run races that supported causes that were important to me and imagine my surprise and excitement when Danica over at ChicRunner posted about Operation Jack. After reading Sam & Jack's story I was stoked when I saw that one of the races Sam will be running will be the Gasparilla Marathon! Autism is another subject that is near and dear to my heart as I have not one, but two cousins affected by this. I left a comment to Danica thanking her for the info and moments later I had an email waiting in my inbox from Sam about Operation Jack and becoming a team member for Train 4 Autism. A few exchanges later and I was on board. I am so excited that I am able to make Gasparilla a run for a cause that is important to me and to meet Sam in person. I encourage you to take a moment and read his story and mission and then check out the schedule to see if he is running a marathon near you and JOIN A TEAM!

Now I'd like you to meet my Birthday-Baby cousin, Ashley. At my request Ashley decided to make her entrance into the world on my 18th birthday waaaaay back in 1999. She was diagnosed with Autism shortly after she was a year old and with early intervention she has actually come a long way. She has almost caught up to her peers in school and there are hopes that she may be able to lead a fairly normal adult life with minimal assistance.

Next I'd like you to meet my beloved Rixy's little sister Dani. Dani was diagnosed at the age of 2 ½ with autism and as a result, her mom received “early start services”. Early start services due to budget cuts in California have recently been revoked for future families with special needs. Many children like Dani have benefited due to this program. Today she has verbal communication and social interaction. As of now she has graduated from a special ed setting to a main stream setting and is now in a “typical” kindergarten class.

**Per Rixy; "If you will please note, it wasn’t a very easy thing to do. It has taken my Mom a huge struggle (court cases, mis-diagnoses, the State appointing inexperienced care takers/shadows) but she was fortunate enough to have resources (moo-la) to fight on! for this to happen. Many families do not have this resource and rely on the state for help.**


Dani still has occupational therapy, speech and DIR/Floor time. (Which Rixy's Mom pays out of pocket for due to budget cuts.) Dani is a fighter and she has relationships with other children and has a sense of humor, which is a big deal for an autistic child.

Rixy's Mom & Dani were recently interviewed regarding the budget cuts, you can read the article HERE.

So now you know two very special reasons why I am running Gasparilla for Operation Jack / Train 4 Autism. It is an honor and a privilege to be apart of this cause and run alongside Sam in Tampa on Feb. 28th for Marathon #2 (Less than 12 weeks away!!!) I am in absolute awe of Sam and his passion and dedication to the cause, he's running 60 marathons next year people! Sixty Marathons! In one year!

Listen peeps, I know that things are tight right now, especially with Christmas right around the corner, but please consider making a donation to the cause. Forgo that Starbucks Mocha-latte-cappuccino-non-fat-whip-cream-lite-Frappucino-crack-in-a-cup and throw that $5 this way. I'll do anything... run in a rainstorm and not b*tch once from beginning to end, I'll run speedwork til my knee blows out if that's what it takes! What else do you want from me? Within reason I'll do it! Come on guys, it's for a great cause and it totally counts as my Christmas present!!! (Cuz I know ya'll have been searching endlessly trying to find me the perfect gift!)

Donate Here:

http://operationjack.kintera.org/redheadrunning

Together we can make this happen and together we can help raise awareness about Autism! Thanks ahead of time for any and all donations ya'll, it seriously means the world to me!

Have a fab-tastic weekend, rock those races and long runs and I'll catch ya'll on the flipside...

3 Things Thursday

1. Enough of this schmoopy crap, this is a RUNNING blog! (Sorry for that ridiculous display of moo-shay... sometimes I can be SUCH a girl. I promise to stick to the script from here on out.) With that being said, let me tell you how I cranked out 6 hill repeats on Monday night IN THE RAIN! (I didn't even wear a visor or poncho or carry an umbrella either!) Ya'll know how I feel about the rain; I.HATE.the.rain. I think this qualifies me for the hardcore stamp or at the very least a gold star.
   
   
2. In the spirit of the season, and all this new found schmoopiness, rather than destroy my old Nike+ I have passed it off to a fellow Floridian & runner/blogger Christy over at It Just Looks Like Slow Motion. (Who just so happens to be hosting her first giveaway!) May it serve you better than it did me, which it will out of spite I'm sure... well that and you'll probably be better about calibrating it after races & long runs...
   
   
3. 12 Miler on Saturday and I was able to recruit Irish Cream to join me! Last time we met up I was her bike pacer to save my legs for the Founder's Day 10k race the following day so I am so excited to be able to actually get to run with her this time. Yay! (We gotta remember to take a pic!!!)
   
   What do ya'll got on deck for the long run this weekend?
   

The Schmoopy Post aka Mystery Man Revealed

WARNING: This is mostly a non-running related post. Furthermore it's about as schmoopy as schmoopy can be. With that being said, here goes the unveiling of my mystery man! I know how much ya'll love a good scandal/love affair, so hopefully this doesn't disappoint. I think it's pretty frigging spectacular, but then again I am biased. (Gentlemen feel free to promptly click the red "x" in the top right corner if schmoopy's not your thing or proceed directly to the comment section to leave your smart @ss comment)

Begin Schmoopy.

After my rather cryptic OUC 5k Race Recap on Sunday it seems I have some 'splaining to do. Actually a few of you picked up on past cryptic posts and have been asking questions for awhile but I've been purposely putting it off. Why you ask? Because I do what I want! HA!

But seriously, a few of you have known about this for awhile (and I thank you for keeping my secret) and maybe a few of you had even figured it out or suspected (thank you for not stealing my thunder) but for those of you have haven't figured it out (which seriously, I don't know how you haven't... just saying...) here goes:

Way back in July a gentleman blogger stumbled over here and left me a comment. Being my gracious self I in turn visited his blog and found that he too was training for Chicago and was from my homeland! *Cue inevitable excitement* Over the next few months we kept in touch, hashed out about our respective training and eagerly counted down the weeks til the big day together... except as the days dwindled closer to Chicago I think we anticipated meeting almost as much as running the marathon. You know where this is going right? Have you figured it out yet?? No?!?!? Well let me direct you to a few posts here, here, and here (the vaca recap at the end...).

So yeah, that blogger meet-up at the Chicago Expo was a wee bit loaded with more than just a casual meeting of great running/blogging minds. Now let me just be clear here, the last thing I wanted or needed was to meet some stupid boy from Michigan. In fact I hoped I wouldn't find him attractive at all so we could meet up, have fun at the expo, race and drive up to Michigan and that would be IT! But sometimes that's just not how things work out...

The expo meeting was brief, I spent the entire time avoiding him like the plague and making him talk to B.o.B & my cousin because I have the dating tactics of a 5 year old; When I like a boy I act like I don't, but I already couldn't wait for our impending drive up to Michigan together. We spent the weekend texting and had a few late night convo's with encouraging words for the race but that's about it. Cue Race morning... When B.o.B jumped in with me at 22 miles the first thing I asked her was whether or not he had BQ'd, and he had! I was so happy for him and hoped that maybe I might get to hug him at the finish line. (Little did I know he was already there, waiting for me...) I finished, called the fam and then called him. He found me outside the finishers area and picked me up and twirled me around... there was a moment, caught up in the excitement, where I almost... ALMOST kissed him. I'm such a hussy. The moment passed... (hello my DAD was RIGHT THERE!!!) ...and instead we ate girl scout cookies and regaled in the excitement.

Tuesday after the race we had planned to meet up in the city, hit the aquarium and then road trip back to Michigan. We had a blast at Shedd's, but it was one of those scenario's where both of us where unaware what the other was thinking so there was a lot of charged looks and casual brushes of arms... When it was time to go we hit the viewing area for one last glimpse of the city... it was d@mn near magical. I had him jump up on a pillar with me to snap a pic and so came another moment... that again, passed unfulfilled. (For the record I constantly give him ish for not kissing me then!!! You should too just for good measure!)

We headed to the car and began our journey North. Ate far too much candy and genuinely enjoyed each others company. Before splitting ways in Jackson we arranged to hang out again that Friday; He wanted to take me out to dinner, a date if you will. Each time we talked after that, the date would entail more activities... First dinner, then add a movie, "What about we do our long run together? You have a long run Saturday right?" I was starting to think that maybe he kinda liked me?!?

Thursday, my birthday, ended up being a crap day/night. We were texting and before I knew it I receive a text; "I'm on my way." Like a knight in his trusty Earth destroying SUV steed he drove down to Jackson and "rescued" me. As we headed back to Spikeville, Bambi's mom made the mistake of jumping in front of said SUV and cue evisceration of deer/front end. Not exactly the best way to start out a romantic weekend but whateve's... we were fine and a good humored friend picked us up and deposited us at our intended destination.

Now I had intended on catching an early flight home Saturday morning but instead, held captive in Spikeville, I was forced to have the most amazing couple of days ever. Poor me huh? Flowers, a super fancy dinner where I so class-lessly flung shrimp across the restaurant (Can't take me anywhere), catching "Zombieland" at the movies and thereby starting an ongoing joke between us, tailgating at MSU, an autumn stroll around his stopping grounds, crappy bowling and finally cuddling on the couch, watching a NOVA special on Marathon training. (How romantic huh? Only runners...) The whole weekend was nothing short of amazing, where hours slipped by unnoticed and filled with many a schmoopy look... and just for the record, yes we finally kissed. Total. hussy.

After I left he spent countless man hours trying to convince me to date him, those d@mn lawyers wear you down every time, eventually I caved and relunctantly became one half of a L.D.R. Endless hours spent on the phone, un-godly amounts of texts/emails, more than a few posts filled with hidden messages to one another and last Thursday couldn't get here fast enough... I will now sum up the weekend in list format with pics! Yay!

• Thursday: The most gorgeous flowers EVER arrive at my work just before the end of the day (In keeping with his surprise tradition... first the box of leaves and then the cookies)
  
  
  
  
  His arrival @ MCO followed by a schmoopy look filled dinner at HUE in Thornton Park
  
  

• Friday: Thanks to the crap weather I had to cancel plans for the beach and instead dragged him around to run errands with me. 2 1/2 hours in the courthouse waiting to pay an expired tag ticket sure was romantic! LOL!
  
  Lunch w/ Beaker Luv & Fam which means he got to meet the always adorable Baby RJ! (I received the thumbs up text from Beaker Luv shortly after leaving lunch)
  
  Then it was off to see Ninja Assasin. Worst.movie.ever. Seriously.
  
  After a quick stop at Taco Bell (because it was Taco Bell Friday - What can I say he's a freak of nature that eats TB every Friday without fail) we met up with my whole crew of peeps for a meet & greet / dinner & drinks session.
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Saturday: OUC 5k - Read his recap HERE. We both took our age groups. Random huh?
  
  
  

  
  Rocking our Recovery Socks we headed over to the Orlando History Museum followed by a stroll around Downtown Orlando and Lake Eola.
  
  

  
  Then we had a fancy schmancy date night at Citrus! Mmmm!!! (Yes I know we look like we're going to Prom. Shut it!)
  

• Sunday: Time to say goodbye until next time... :(
  
  

So there ya have it... this little Redhead really did have a whirlwind love affair the likes of which romantic comedies are derived from back in October. He is the absolute most thoughtful, amazing boyfriend I have ever had and the whole scenario is the craziest thing that's ever happened to me but I wouldn't change a thing... except maybe the whole 1,200 miles that lay between us... details, details...

We found this post card @ the History Museum - How appropriate right?

This Redhead is totally smitten by a Spike. *le sigh*

End Schmoopy.

OUC 5k Race Recap

First things First - Since I know all ya'll cared about from my last post was the Garmin situation; I'd like you to meet "Captain Bluebear" my "new" Garmin Forerunner 205. He is sleek grey, silver & blue and had his maiden voyage upon my wrist as MY Garmin for the race on Saturday. I think he's pretty damn sexy if not a little heavy, we're still getting used to each other, but I have high hopes. He got on my case when I tried to locate satellites; he asked me if he had traveled hundred's of miles since his last use.... Why yes he had... smart little thing this guy is, I might have to keep my eye on his attitude though.

Question: If you are given a previously owned Garmin are you allowed to rename it or must you keep it's original name?

"Captain Bluebear"

Anyway...

Pre-Race - Orlando had a particularly craptastic weather forecast for this past weekend: Rain, Rain & more Rain. Ya'll know I just luv me some Rain. NOT! (Oh yes I just said NOT!) So on Friday night rather than stick to my strict O.C.D. guidelines of pre-race rituals I said to h*ll with it and did what I want! I ate cheese fries, steak teriyaki sticks & candy. I also stayed up way too late. I figured why not? I was going to suck in the rain anyway...

Up bright & early Saturday morning I looked outside to find an overcast & chilly morning - 48 degrees!!! (Chilly for Florida, don't forget we're sissies down here!) We geared up and headed over to Lake Eola to the start where I was forced to warm-up. Yeah that's right I usually don't warm up before a race. I stretch out of course and maybe I do some jumping up and down but warming-up? Notsomuch. But my pacer wanted to warm-up so I proceeded to emulate a bit of Pheobe running. Oh yes, it was that bad. LOL!

Just before we lined up to start we ran into Robin who had braved the conditions to come out and cheer us on! Thank you so much girl! Gotta love the never ending support the running/blogging community provides! After a bit of chit-chat & a few pre-race pics it was game on...


The Race - Can I just say I forgot how fast a 5k is? Seriously... The horn blew and I felt like I was done in a matter of minutes. My only goal was to out run the rain that threatened to unleash upon us at any minute and I successfully completed that task without a moment to spare. But back to the race...

Moments after the horn blew I realized I had forgotten to start Captain Bluebear so I quickly hit "start." (What is with me and forgetting to hit start lately?!) Any way, so there I am running along feeling S-L-O-W as can be but not a soul is passing me and ahead of me I can still see the speedies... Hmmm I think... I wonder how fast I'm going anyway? So the thought occurs to me that I can check... So I glance down at Captain Bluebear and see a 7:05! Holy Sh*t! No way?!?!? Seriously!?!?! Ya'll don't understand, I was exhausted and my legs were shot from hills & pace work earlier in the week! So I just keep running along stunned in disbelief. As I continued only about 2 guys passed me and one girl that I had been running neck and neck with but other than that, nada. I looked down a few times, always to the amazement of a maintained 7:xx pace and once I even saw a 6:37!!! Where the eff did that come from?!?!? As I rounded out that final mile I looked one last time and saw I had slowed to 8:05 so I picked it up and brought it in the final stretch as hard as I could muster. My pacer jumped in with me right before the 3 mile mark after having already finished and cheered me on as I sped towards the finish line. (Which made me realize why Robin had wanted me to shut up at the Celebration Founders Day 10k when I had jumped in with her! LOL!)

Course Record (2008): 26:32 / 8:32 Pace
2nd in Age Division / 37th Female Overall

Final Chip Time (2009): 23:37 / 7:36 Pace
1st in Age Division / 6th Female Overall
COURSE PR!!! Hello Speedy Legs!

Post Race - Promptly after finishing it started to rain. Robin took a few pics for us before heading back in to dry land, we ran into a few friends as we grabbed some refreshments and I received my first ever post race kiss...

*le sigh*

Post Race Thoughts - This is my second time running the OUC 5k; it's a flat & fast course that starts and ends at Lake Eola and runs through the surrounding Thorton Park area. Besides the start/finish downtown, the course is mostly residential. (I for one could live without the brick paver portions. OUCH!) The 5k starts about 15 minutes after the Half Marathon so there's no confusion, which I really like, and it's very well organized just like all Track Shack events.

That's it for now, weekend recap to come and I've got a LOT of blog reading to catch up on... I hope ya'll had as fantabulous of a weekend as I did and I hope all my CIM'ers ran excellent races!