Gasparilla Marathon Quickie

Marathon #2 is in the books with a 12 minute PR!!!

Official Results: Morgan @ Finish in 03:56:12 (NET). Pace: 9:00

Garmin Results: 26.38 M - 3:56:12 / 8:58 P

Coming into the Finish with a smile on my face...


..and this time I got to have my Shock Top.

Race Recap to come...

GORILLA!!!

Donna Half Marathon Race Recap

... Otherwise known as Tu-tu's for Ta-ta's*

*Disclaimer: I have always wanted to wear a Tu-tu in a race. Back in August when I first announced I would be running the Donna Half in honor of my Aunt Donna I had already decided this would be the perfect opportunity to run in a tu-tu; I mean hello, Breast Cancer Awareness = Pink = Tu-tu. (Or maybe that's just how I think?!?) Anyway, then Chic Runner became the Tu-tu Queen shortly thereafter and I was stuck with a dilemma; How could I run in a Tu-tu and not look like I was jacking her style or stealing her thunder? After debating the issue I finally IM'd her, gave her the low down and she laughed at me for even thinking twice about it. So like a pair of boobies ourselves, thus we became Tu-tu's for Ta-ta's.

First things first, you should know that Jill is a total firecracker and kept me constantly entertained with her Jersey antics. I am also excited to say I am FINALLY taller than someone! Yay! (So yes Jamoosh, it was a short convention) BUT, she totally has me beat in the boobage department. Go figure! She also schooled me in all things Jersey; Do you know what a "jug handle" is? Apparently you can't turn left in Jersey so they have "jug handles" aka exit ramps that are essentially shaped like a jug handle so that you exit right to loop around to get headed left. I also learned that in Jersey you do not pump your own gas and that people wear "floods." Who knew?

Race Weekend Recap - You can check out all the fun we had prior the race on Jill's recap HERE.

Race Eve - After enjoying a bit of fun in the sun on the beach we called it a day, had our pre-made pasta dinner, held a dress rehearsal, put finishing touches on our race duds (or destroyed them depending on which of us you talk to... Sorry about the socks Jill!) and into bed with a book and some trashy TV.

Sock cutting FAIL.

Race Morning/Pre-Race - I got a suprising amount of sleep and woke up ready to run. There is something to be said about racing for fun; there aren't the usual overwhelming race day nerves, you can just relax and enjoy the experience of the day as a whole without the added pressure.

It was a brisk 36* as we headed out to the runner transportation buses near our hotel, we arrived a minute or two before the bus arrived for pick up so there was minimal freezing. Then we arrived at the Runner's Village and man oh man was it COLD! We attempted to stay warm by moving around or huddling around the light generators and of course peeing 5 billion times. It must be noted that while we walked about the village our Tu-tu's were by far the best ones around, if I don't say so myself! Toot, toot! (Thanks again Brandi for hooking me up with how to make them!) As the sun began to rise we headed over to the start corral as quite the tu-tu duo and got lots of appreciative and humored calls of approval and requests for pics.

Start Corral - Corraled at the Start we were a small tu-tu'd pair amid a sea of pink; Breast Cancer Awareness supporters, survivors and patients were all around. Every race shirt had a story to tell; everyone there was running for some whether it was a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, themselves or just to support the cause. It was humbling and inspiring to say the least.


As ya'll know Jill was running in honor of her Mom-Mom (Grandma, Survivor) and I was running in honor of my Aunt Donna (Survivor). My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 1999, my senior year of high school, and bravely fought it until she was announced cured on May 9th, 2004. It was a long struggle, with a lot of ups and downs; she lost her hair, her breasts, at times her spirit but she never gave up and in the end she overcame it. She has been my hero and a constant source of inspiration, just remembering all of this, how she'd wear a bonnet to family functions during chemo, watching her joke about it with tears in her eyes, just makes it all so fresh in my mind...


Start to 5k - After crossing the confetti blasted start line we were quickly taught our first lesson on what happens when you do not read about the race course... we turned the corner and began running up an on-ramp onto the highway and then proceeded down said highway towards a HUGE bridge that went over a large expanse of grassy wetlands. I'm just going to go ahead and say it... FAIL. The incline was tough so I focused on keeping us on pace and taking in the beautiful sunrise and endless sea of runner's before us. I wish my pics of this had turned out because it was truly breathtaking. As we crested the top of the bridge we were greeted by the Bridge Brigade and our official spectator Christy! Yay! As you can see I was beyond ecstatic to see her! LOL!

Seriously what is up with this over the top cheese I'm rocking?!

After snapping a quick pic we jumped back in and headed down the decline and through mile 2. We had discussed our race strategy prior and had decided on attempting to run 5k to 5k before walking if at all possible. Jill was running injured and we didn't want to push it. As we got to Mile 3 there was nary a water stop in sight and we were heading down and around a pitched exit-ramp (Jug Handle!) that was very unforgiving if you have ITB issues. Did I mention we both have these? It was not a fun stretch and we were parched, having passed the previous water stops because they were so back logged with runners. Major FAIL as we did not come up on water until 4.3 M.

This is my favorite "Action Shot" I took of Jill

5k to 10k - When we finally reached the water stop we took a walk break and I pulled off to the side to rid myself of the knee highs I was rocking. It was just too hot. Jill went on ahead and after I was free of the socks I grabbed an extra water for her and jetted off to catch up. She was a very naughty girl and picked up the pace in my absence! I quickly slowed us back down to our intended pace and as we ran through a beach neighborhood we were greeted by loads of spectators cheering us on and saying thank you. The Thank You's we received throughout the entire race were overwhelming, I can't even begin to count how many people we passed that thanked us for being out there running. It was an awesome feeling.

As we came up on Mile 5 we took our first Gu and rounded a corner that revealed to us lesson number two about not looking over the race course... the next mile+ would be run on the beach! I have ran a race on a beach once, coincidentally this very same beach for a 10 mile race last January, but Jill has never. It was called the Memorial Mile and the beach was lined with large boards that had inspirational words on them that had been set up for people to sign at the expo. As we ran along I did my best to keep Jill running smoothly on the packed sand and read the words aloud to her (she called me inspector gadget eyes because I could see so far away) to keep her mind off the terrain and focused. The whole scene was so perfect and beautiful, the sun rising, the ocean roaring, the runners all around us, it was by far my favorite stretch of the race.

Frolicking on the beach!

10k to 10 Miles - After the beach we looped on to Beach Boulevard and passed our hotel, tons more spectators, bands rocking out like they were super stars, etc. We chatted away and cheered on other runners around us. We stopped briefly so Jill could get the sand out of her shoe and that was about the time we started leap frogging a young boy who was running in honor of his mother who had lost her battle with breast cancer in 2007. It choked us up to no end to see him struggling along in the heat and it was all I could do not to hug him. I can't put it in to words just how many times we saw shirts/runners like this along the way, each time it broke your heart a little more. Shortly thereafter, around Mile 8ish we passed by a large group of "Wanda's Walkers" and a lady went completely crazy over our Tu-tu's and thanked us to no end for being out on the course. Like I said earlier, the Thank You's were overwhelming and got to you. I get choked up just recalling it.


We wrapped back thru the beach neighborhood and came up on Mile 9 where we began the dreaded "jug handle" back on to the highway. Jill was really struggling with her hip but still running pretty steady despite the pain so I decided to sing silly songs to take her mind off things. The next mile we sang each other as many random 80's television theme songs we could think up and I feel confident saying it really helped make that mile fly by... right up until we were on Mile 10, out of songs and back in no water stop land.

Mile 10 to 13.1 - Mile 10 was tough on both of us, between her hip and my ITB screaming at me we took quite a few walking breaks but kept moving. We got to see the elite marathoners run by which was uber exciting as I've never seen the elite's before and it gave us renewed energy to chug on. Mile 11 was a game of "just make it to *insert object in distance here*." I had my Peppy Pacer Pants on in full effect and did my best to keep our spirits up. With Mile 11 behind us we ran up the Bridge of Death and I reminded Jill that we would see Christy soon and thus Christy became our "prize" or when we could take our next break. Soon enough we saw that bright green wig and it was just what Jill needed to put a pep in her step, she charged the hill and up to Christy. She flipped her poster around to reveal a special message just for us: "Redhead & Jill Saving the Ta-Tas one step at a time!" And she drew us in our Tu-tu's! LMAO! So awesome! Thank you so much Christy for coming out and spectating! You and your sign totally made our day! Make sure you check out her whole spectating recap HERE. She began her day before the race started and cheered on runners until the very end!

Luv Her!!!

After leaving Christy we only had 1.1 miles to go! We've got this! Jill asked me when I thought we'd finish and after checking Hermie (my Garmin) I told her if we could keep the pace we'd finish well under what she had estimated. So we trudged on and down around the exit ramp. We hit the last water stop before turning on to the final stretch and the Finish. As we crept up on Mile 13 Jill told me she was struggling and I told her no more Peppy Pacer Pants for me I was bringing out Drill Sergeant Morgan: "Put a smile on your face, give it all you've got and Finish strong nomatterwhat because we can't cross that Finish line in our Tu-tu's struggling!!! You can't have a bad day wearing a Tu-tu!!!" That was all she needed to hear and she picked up the pace for a strong finish!

13.1 Run & Done!

Finish - Of all the places you'd expect a lackluster crowd it would not be the Finish line right? Well for whatever reason the finish line crowd as we came in were oddly quiet. No cheering or cowbells, nothing really. In fact we had to request some cheers as we ran in. So strange... Any way, after we crossed the Finish line I happily informed Jill we had finished in 2:33, 7 minutes faster than what her worst case scenario forecast had been! SUCCESS!!!

Post Race - We received our medals and clicked a few photos, HUGE THANK YOU goes out to the woman who offered to do this for us and then we hobbled off into the Finishers area. There were volunteers handing out ice packs and I immediately hit up the medic area to have them tape up my knee with some ice. My ITB was trashed and I wanted to get ice on it STAT. No messing around when you have a marathon to run in a week! (Don't worry, I am 100% A-ok) I was so thankful for the volunteers at the race, they were the best I've ever dealt with and the girl who wrapped me up was my angel. THANK YOU! After we got our official pics taken we headed over to the Runner's Village for some H20 & food! I left Jill so I could go grab our bag out of bag check and just happened to run into Tall Guy Surfing who was there spectating his girlfriend Jenny who had also run the half! She totally killed it out there! (Read his spectating recap HERE) I was majorly excited to run into some familiar faces!


After we had thoroughly stuffed ourselves with fruit, muffins, sugar cookies, etc... we made our way to the transportation area once again and headed back to the hotel. 13.1 Miles Run, Done and SO much fun! Tu-tu's for Ta-ta's was a raving success!!!

Read Jill's Recap HERE.

Post Race Thoughts - Running the Donna Half was by far the most inspirational and emotional races I have ever run. The cause surrounding it was so near and dear to my heart and the whole event from Start to Finish left you humbled. I don't know how anyone could run this race and not be moved. I am so glad I ran it for fun and had the opportunity to truly appreciate the entire effort put into it; from the signage (we're talking flags on light poles, spray painted logos on the highway, etc...) to the volunteers, spectators and the runners themselves. There was a constant reminder of why you were running and there's no way you could've finished not feeling like you helped the cause in some small way by being a part of it. Running this race was by far one of the most memorable things I have ever done in my life. We all have been touched by breast cancer in some way, whether directly or indirectly, so if you've never run a race for the cure or attended as a spectator/supporter I highly advise you do. 100% of race proceeds went towards breast cancer research and looking around at the start corral and out on the course you were constantly reminded that no matter how bad you felt and what you were struggling through it was all for a greater purpose.

The logo's were spray painted everywhere! Even on the highway!

Thank you for being my inspiration, for helping me always find my strength and for fighting breast cancer and being a SURVIVOR! This one is for you Aunt Donna! ♥

3 Things Thursday

1. Recently Stephanie, TMB & Boston Runner awarded me the Sunshine Award and I just wanted to say THANK YOU LADIES! I have not forgotten, life has just been a lil crazy down here in O-town! I know a ton of you have been tagged for this so I will pay it forward to all my northerners in desperate need of some sunshine!
   
   
   


2. Yesterday Jill put up the Vacation Recap from over the weekend, make sure you go check it out!!! I know ya'll are anxiously awaiting the Race Recap and I promise you I haven't been holding out on purpose, I've just wanted to make sure to give Jill an opportunity to get caught up considering all that she has going on up in Jersey. I will post the race recap later today or first thing tomorrow morning so prepare yourselves for the Tu-tu'd frenzy!
   

   
   

3. 3 days til Gasparilla! OMG!!! Remember the 10 tell tale signs you're about to run a Marathon list I wrote up Tuesday? Well lets just say I've finished packing and O.C.D levels have reached new heights.
   
   

   I know that B.o.B, Adam, Carlee, Failed Muffins and The Shabby Princess can relate... they all have marathons coming up this weekend too. Make sure you go give them some positive run vibes and say a little prayer to the run gods for all of us for some excellent race weather! (Jamoosh is running the Half at Gasparilla so I guess you should give him some good luck vibes too since he's running injured... I'lll probably just buy him a beer... but I'm sure it'll be the wrong kind and he'll just mock me for my ignorance.)

   
   

   I'm super stoked for the race weekend as I will FINALLY meet Sam from Operation Jack and will also be working the Ragnar Relay booth at the expo Saturday morning. If you plan on hitting up the expo come by and say HI!!! I'll be the overly exciteable Redhead.

   
   With the Donna Half Race Recap posting shortly and me heading over to B.o.B's tomorrow this will officially be my last live post until after I have run Gasparilla. I want to thank you all for all your encouragement and support over the last 14 weeks of training, as always, ya'll mean the world to me and I will be thinking of you every step of the way... all 26.2 miles worth.
   

   
   Good luck to all my fellow racers this weekend and as always rock those long runs!
   

   
   Catch ya'll on the flipside of another 26.2!!! GORILLA!!!
   
   

10 tell tale signs you're about to run a marathon...

10. You wake up every morning at 4 am without fail and can't fall back asleep. Conveniently this is also your wake up time race morning...

9. You stalk down the pace leader bio pages for you and your friends that are running to assess their running resume and capability to be your pace leader.

8. You start every morning chasing down Zinc, Vitamin's A-Z, a Multi-vitamin, etc.. with a cocktail of Airborne and wash your hands so many times throughout the day that they have official started cracking.

7. You check the weather forecast at breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. *Refresh*

6. You want to eat everything in sight. Feed the Hungry, Hungry Hippo already!

5. Taper twinges are plaguing your every movement... "I just stepped down funny on my foot, OMG I can't run my marathon!"

4. You've already printed down every possible route to the expo and race. From every possible direction. Just in case.

3. You can quote every page of the race website by heart, including but not limited to; general information, race info, expo hours, goodie bag items, spectator information, etc...

2. You've already packed all your race day gear... and after race bag... and just about done packing the race weekend bag as well... AND it's only Tuesday.

1. You start to question your goal time and start freaking out over whether or not it's realistic. "Maybe I should just run for fun?" "I have a better chance at a PR, maybe I should just settle for a PR?" "What if my timing chip explodes if I don't cross the finish line at 4 hours because I made a time goal?!?!?"

Looks like Taper Madness has officially begun... FML.

5 Days til Gasparilla!

Monday Mash

Welcome to another edition of the Monday Mash, where I have entirely way too much going on in my head/life so I attempt some purging here in list format... Enjoy!

• Birthdays - Today is my beloved Boo aka B.o.B's birthday! <- I have conveniently linked that to her birthday post; Go give her some love!!! See you FRIDAY Boo!!!

  
  Another Birthday, another Beth, it is also Shut up & Run's birthday... see above and repeat! Happy Birthday girl!



• Weekend Recap - I've decided that rather than have dual posts regarding the weekend I am going to let Jill handle the details since she was the one visiting. Look out for that sometime today or tomorrow. I will say that we got to do everything we planned and then some and had a blast!
  


• Donna Half Race Recap - Will post on Wednesday. Sorry for the delay but I've got a lot going on this week at work after having Friday off and gearing up for my Michigan trip next week, a lot of background info to put together and need to give Jill time to get caught up too. It'll be worth the wait I assure you!
  


• Google Reader - Is outta control. Ya'll were busy over the weekend and there's just no way I could ever get through them all so I am just going to skim thru and start from scratch today.
  


• Taper - Is in full swing. Begin paranoia of getting sick, checking the weekend weather forecast, praying to the running gods, questioning my goal time, prematurely packing, etc...
  
  
• Countdown to Race Day - 6 DAYS!!! OMG!!!
  
  
• Countdown til I see Spike again - 9 DAYS!
  


• Yesterday Beaker-Luv and the hubs took RJ on his first zoo excursion and they donated in my name towards cancer research in honor of my running the Donna Half. Best part: They put your name on yard flamingo's!!! Ya'll know I LOVE flamingo's!!! Especially Yard Flamingo's!!! This put such a smile on my face! Thanks Beaker Luv!!!
  
  Disclaimer: Beaker Luv and hubs are one of very few people I still let get away with calling me "Jenny" - Be warned I will not tolerate use of said name from any of you. Don't make me defriend/defollow/cut a b*tch. Just saying. :) J/K... or am I?!?!?
  

  
  

Sneak Peek..

I give you "Tu-tu's for Ta-ta's"

And the inspiration...

13.1 Donna Half Run, Done & So Much FUN!!!

Full Recap to come...

ONE WEEK TIL GASPARILLA!!!

3 Things Thursday

1. Jill arrives today and so begins the Donna Half weekend o' festivities!!! I can not believe this day has finally came around! We planned this ages ago! We have so many things planned out for the next few days; line dancing, outlet shopping, mystery dinner theatre, expo, lunch dates with bloggy friends, the beach, Half marathon... SO EXCITED!!!
   
   
2. This morning was the last of my pace workouts, 13 thursdays worth of pace workouts and I am finally done. Good riddance! I keep telling everyone how much I'm enjoying this Taper but ask me again this time next week and see what I'm saying...
   
   
3. Speaking of Taper... I'm tired, exhausted and HUNGRY. Please feed me and put my @ss to bed. I can't get over how tired I am this week! I've ran half the mileage of last week and for reals I am all but falling asleep on the phone with Spike every night after work and I swear its not for lack of interesting conversation either. 9 more days!
   
   
   Not sure when/if I'll post again until after the Donna, as you can see above Jill and I have a pretty jam packed schedule, if I don't, rock those races & long runs everyone! To those on Taper like myself, B.o.B & Adam, try not to obsess too much or eat everything in sight! Catch ya'll on the flipside!!!

P.S. Run, Black Girl, Run is hosting a Giveaway for $20 to iTunes and totally deserves some Bloggy Love because she cracks me up on the regular!

The Final Hill Workout... with Amanda from Run to the Finish!

This Gasparilla cycle marked a first for me for a lot of things, Hills being one of them. I had done a hill or two during Chicago training but not regularly and not a specific weekly workout of them. This go around I staked the city and found not one but two "hills" to try my luck on. They aren't the most intimidating hills and merit no real respect against ya'll's hills but they are all I have to work with so I have set up my own little hill workout and have dedicated the last 13 Monday nights to them. I started out running them on the Cady Way bridge but after that first go round I realized that it's not a safe place for me to be running repeats alone at night. Since I do them after work I got stuck out there in the dark and had to run the secluded path back to my car all by my scaredy cat lonesome. No bueno. Ixnay on the Cady Way.

Since then I've been running my other "hill" with thunderous success and nary a scaredy cat in sight but have been pining to go to Cady Way again. Last week Amanda from Run to the Finish mentioned she would be in town this week and would love to meet up for a run Monday night. So I told her it was my final hill workout and she agreed to tag along. What better day to tackle Cady Way again! So she met me at my digs after work last night and we headed over.

Pre-Run; She's so cute and tiny but tall!

Once at the Cady Way park, we trotted over to the hill, I gave her a quick run down of how I do my hill repeats (up, over and back = 1 repeat = .6 miles) and we split up to do our own thing for the remainder of the 30 min. It was fun having someone out there with me, even if we weren't doing them together. I felt like they were over in minutes... oh glorious Taper!

Yes I know, your Hill is bigger than my "Hill"

All sweaty after a great final hill workout

Afterwards we headed over to Jason's Deli for some yummy eats and more running/life convo. It was so fun to have met/ran with her and we both were like, blogging/running is so much fun! By the end of the night I seriously felt like we were old friends, conversation just flowed and we were cracking up about being a runner/blogger and all that it entails. I really hope I can make it down her way soon to run along the beach and maybe hit up her "hill" too. I will tell you this, she's going to rock Seattle Marathon this summer!

Of Birthday Sushi, Naked People and Recovery Runs

After the 22 miler I headed back to O-town, ran a few errands and then got ready for The Brunette's birthday dinner. After we got all gussied up we headed over to Amura's for Sushi dinner and girly time.

Love her! <3

Happiest birthday girl ever; fab new dress & Volcano Roll!

After dinner we headed over to Nude Nite and got to see lots of naked people and artwork. I've never been to anything like this before. I mean sure I've been to Fantasy Fest once upon a time but this was a dedication to all things naked and artistic, set up in an empty warehouse in the antique district. I felt all posh spice or something. LOL!

Below is a collage of my fav pieces

After Nude Nite I opted to head home, my legs were shaking and it wasn't from being cold. Whoever thought it was a good idea to rock some killer heels after running a 22 miler wasn't a very smart girl. So I headed home, left the girls to rock downtown and hit the hay for some much needed R&R.

Waking up yesterday it was still pretty cold, I was still pretty beat and the idea of meeting up with the runner's group didn't sound appealing so I went back to bed, meandered around, posted my long run recap and basically did everything possible to delay my recovery run. I eventually got around to it, having run out of things to distract myself with and The Brunette joined me on the bike. We ran a well trotted route, it was absolutely gorgeous out, The Brunette even hopped off the bike to run a lap around the lake with me, and before we knew it we were done. Wasn't so bad at all and we both were suddenly motivated to get our ish done for the rest of the day. Reminds me of one of my fav quotes:

You rarely regret the runs you do; you almost always regret the runs you skip.

A few things worth mentioning today:

• Finally got my Gasparilla confirmation email this morning with my Bib number! Woo hoo!
  

• Tonight is my final Hill workout and Amanda from Run to the Finish happens to be in town for the week and is going to run it with me! Yay! So excited to meet her!


• Race Week #1 is in full effect; 3 days til Jill gets here and the Donna Half is on Sunday!




• Speaking of the Donna Half, today is my Aunt Donna's birthday. I am running the Donna Half in her honor, she is a breast cancer survivor. (I will have a whole write up on the back story post race, prepare yourselves for some tears.) She has no idea I am doing this. I can't decide whether to tell her today when I call her or just wait until I see her when I go visit in 2 weeks. What do you think? I am going to present her with my medal and race bib and I have made a shirt that says "For Aunt Donna" that I am wearing in the race.

Happy Birthday Aunt Donna, you are MY hero!

22 Miles on Bayshore... the final long run.

It was a restless night dress rehearsal eve, for whatever reason sleep eluded me and I tossed and turned, constantly checking the clock... At 3:45am B.o.B's alarm goes off and so begins our morning routine. We're out the door within the hour to pick up P-Funk & Hollster before trekking over to Bayshore for our Gasparilla Dress Rehearsal. I don't know about everyone else, but I was nervous. Running 22 miles is intimidating enough, especially after a tough final week of training, but running 22 miles on absolutely no sleep... to say there was a bit of doubt creeping in at the seams would be putting it mildly.

B.o.B may or may not have still been asleep (you know how she is) and P-Funk was missing her "magic pants" (that apparently make her feel like the "Bee-onic Woman") and I had to pee again (go figure) but otherwise we were good to go. After a quick tour of Davis Island we parked and got ready to begin the run; a little after 5:30 a.m. and it was a brisk 38 degrees with 12-18 mph wind gusts forecasted. BRRR!!! (Yes I know that is a heat wave to all you snowmaggedon victims but to us that's damn near artic!)

As we headed down Bayshore it was just us and a few other brave souls; let the hilarity begin. I had forgotten underwear so was stuck wearing my boyshorts from the day before and informed the girls they'd have to deal with me picking my wedgie the entire run. (And I did. FAIL.) Than P-Funk & B.o.B start singing show tunes. (Now Hollster & I finally knew what's going on back there... Show tunes? Really?) Hollster and I pulled away and into the darkness as we headed into the unknown... bushes, trees and sidewalk attacked. Puddle jumping was a must. Oh and right about Mile 4 we realized B.o.B had made a minor major fub when mapping out the run because we ended up right outside the Air Force base! The "welcome" sign was pretty specific about needing ID's to enter the base so we turned around and modified the run to add in some extra mileage.

Daybreak came and with it gloomy, overcast skies. It was quite reminiscent of last years Gasparilla race, I just hoped the rain didn't come with it. The miles continued to tick off as Hollster and I chatted away; catching up, swapping stories and chiming "Good Morning" to every runner we passed. I don't know if it was the weather or what but Bayshore has some cranky looking runners! I got to see the Tampa Moutains aka huge landfills and was continually confused at the disappearing act the city itself played as we wound our way down Bayshore and over to Davis Island. Once there we Gu stopped at B.o.B's sisters and got some more quality P-Funk & B.o.B entertainment. Then we were back off to add some extra mileage in around the convention center before wrapping it up. All the garmin's freaked out under the bridge so heading back in the direction of the car it seems we all had a helluva time figuring out mileage... why we continue to think it's a good idea to do math while running is beyond me. It took Hollster and I a good five minutes to figure out that to round out the 22 miles as we passed the car at 20.6 that we would need to go to 21.3. Five minutes! LOL!

We wrapped up the 22 feeling good, I wasn't as rip, roaring, excited as I was our last 22+ miler, but I could have easily continued on and ran a marathon today... and that is a beautiful thing. Gasparilla here we come! But more importantly, COMMENCE TAPER and get our hungry @sses to BRUNCH!!!

A little runtarded after 22 miles

At the car we all got to changing into our dry, clean clothes and right in the midst of being all but naked B.o.B starts chatting away with some other runner dude two cars over... P-Funk starts a running commentary of what their convo must be:

Guy: "What's going on over there?"

B.o.B: "Oh my friends are getting naked, wanna meet them? One's a redhead?"

Guy: "Oh really? Is she a natural redhead?"

The three of us were laughing our butts off when B.o.B finally returned to the car to see what all the commotion was about. Apparently they were just discussing running Gasparilla but our version was much more entertaining. Once everyone was properly clothed and settled we headed over to the Brunchery. We collectively proceeded to order the left side of the menu and I held my very own karaoke session to some rocking tunes... Conversation was beyond hilarious and the hot cocoa wasn't half bad either. It was a great morning, with great friends and I think it's safe to assume we all couldn't be happier with how the run had turned out.

So there you have it, last long run of the Gasparilla (or Gorilla) training cycle. I officially met my goal; I never walked during a single long run and I finished every single one STRONG. I am BEYOND excited for Taper, ready for some relaxed mileage because I've totally earned it. The next two weeks I just need to keep my eating in check and mentally gear up for race day. We've made plans to hold our own little foursome pasta dinner prior to the marathon and a ton of my O-town friends are making plans to head over and watch me finish. Between exceeding my goal for Operation Jack, running with my amazing BRA friends, having my O-town family there to see me finish and having your guys' unanimous support almost moves me to tears. This marathon has become so special to me for so many reasons... I have never worked so hard on so many levels and I can't wait to run my heart out in 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS!

Elle-Ooo-Vee-Eee

Happy Valentines Weekend!!!

I hope ya'll have an excellent weekend spent with the ones you love whether it be your husband/wife, girlfriend/boyfriend or friends/family. I'll be spending my weekend running my last long run, 22 Miles, with B.o.B, P-Funk & Hollster tomorrow morning on the Gasparilla race route! So excited!!! Then I'm heading back to O-town to celebrate The Brunette's birthday with Sushi, Nude Nite and possibly catching Valentines Day with Ebs and a few other friends. Sunday Therese and I will be knocking out a recovery run with the Orlando Runners Group and then it's off to the night gig to watch couples schmooze over romantic dinners while I day dream about doing the very same thing with Spike in 2 1/2 weeks... *le sigh*

Speaking of... have I mentioned how ridiculously in L-O-V-E I am with my boyfriend lately?!?!? Cuz I am. Thank you for the beautiful flowers this morning My Love! I miss you SOOO much and can't wait to see you soon!

End Schmoopy.

Rock those races and long runs everyone, catch ya'll on the flipside!!!

Nooner

3 M Dreadmill this a.m. + 4 M (4 laps around Lake Eola) @ lunch = 7 M

Training plan called for 9 but I'll take it! Now off to eat everything in sight...

3 Things Thursday

1. First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BRUNETTE!!!
   Can't wait to live it up with you this weekend! Have a wonderful day girl! Love you!!!
   


2. And the winner, winner chicken dinner for the Anniversary Giveaway is...
   
   Actually first I would like to mention that hardly any of ya'll entered properly (as Lindsay pointed out in the comment section) so the list of bonafide entries were small and was held using names on slips of paper but because I love ya'll anyway I did a second drawing for a slightly smaller scaled gift for everyone else who at least left a comment minus a question:
   
   Grand Prize Winner (aka followed directions): Tammy - I will have Ebs put me together a list of the products she uses to answer your question about her great hair when I send your gift! :)
   
   Runner-up Winner (aka didn't follow directions but I still love ya anyway): Carlee
   
   Ladies please send me your mailing addresses to redheadrunning(@)gmail
   
   Thanks again everyone for reading and I'm glad ya'll got a good laugh out of the post and my exceptional crew of friends. There was an overwhelming request for explanations on the raver girl hair situation and the falling out of the window incident so be on the look out for a future post on those... *hangs head in shame* I just need to throw aside my dignity and dig up some old pics first... D@mn you Rixy!!! Have I ever mentioned I used to be a colorfully dressed drunk girl in college?


3. It was crazy cold this morning in O-town and rather than put The Brunette aka my trusty bike pacer through that kind of torture, on her birthday no less, or run a 9 mile pace workout at 5am all by myself, I opted to attempt a Dreadmill run... I lasted 3 miles. This is only my 3rd attempt at the Dreadmill ever. I still HATE it, want to stab my eye out with a pen and don't understand the appeal of running in place for any length of time. How on earth do ya'll manage this day after day, hour after hour? I would loose my ever living mind!!! Sooo... that being said I packed a running bag and will try to crank out as many miles as I can on my lunch break today. I've never done that before but then again it's always too hot and humid to run on my lunch break. Not today folks! Wish me luck on my Nooner... tee hee... ;)
   
   EDIT: Jamoosh all but called me a pansy for the weather... well for the record it was 32 degrees this morning with 15-20mph winds! That is much colder than 50 degrees thankyouverymuch! I have braved far lower temps but not alone for 9 miles @ 5 a.m. and not with head winds!!! >:P

KALYX Sports Bra Review - I.B.T.C. Approved!

As ya'll know, I like to talk about boobs, or rather my lack of them. Remember when I posted about my boob loss situation the other day? Well ya'll were more than kind with your words of encouragement and support. (Support for what? There's nothing there!!!) But hiding amongst all the comments SJS El Capitan (whose Blogger Profile link doesn't work but THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) recommended I try KALYX sports bra's. Ever the seeker of boobage support, I headed over to their website and fell instantly in love with their product! If you haven't already clicked their website link you should, they have sports bra's for all types of athlete's and sports. I perused the site and then clicked the little contact box... Why? Because I wanted to know if they ran true to size of course! I have tried numerous sports bra's and sometimes "Small" or "XS" really aren't so small after all. So I pleaded my case in the most humorous fashion possible and hit send...

Not even a few minutes later I received a reply from their customer care department and so began my education on sports bras and women athlete's boobs. Did you know that most women athlete's are a size 33B? Me either! According to Ashley, the KALYX rep I worked with, "Lots of athletes seem to fall into the 33 B size, their back muscles tend to be more developed and it makes them slightly broader across the rib cage, and, their low body fat makes them a bit flatter than they would be if they weren't in such killer shape. It makes it a bit of a challenge to find a great fitting bra because they are right between sizes."

That kinda sounds like me, I'm in between Flat-Chestville and a training bra. She continues, "It's a very common size among the trainers and athletes who have participated in our beta testing. It's a bummer for most girls, because so few manufacturers offer bras in the 32B, C, D category. Most company's think the "average" woman in America wears a 34B, but, it's not really true...that's the size women have to buy because that's what people make. We do have some XS and some of our S sizes run small....we fit down to a 30A/B." I'm bound to fit somewhere amidst these sizes... can someone say SOLD!!!

At her recommendation I would try the Uplift MAX & Kickstart bras for battle testing. As we continued to talk at length about the products, she introduced me to the bio of the company's founder, Kimberly Cayce;

"A former NCAA-ALL American and All-ACC Team Member at Duke University, KALYX founder Kimberly Cayce competed on tours around the world as a professional golfer for 5 years. Throughout her athletic career, Cayce became increasingly frustrated by the lack of attractive, comfortable and supportive sports bras in the marketplace.

...Cayce spent 3+ years researching breast bio-mechanics, studying the latest innovations in intimate apparel manufacturing, and, working closely with a team of textile developers in order to better understand emerging trends in nanotechnology and environmentally-friendly fabrics."

So not only is the founder a former athlete herself but she totally gets it! When I received the bra's I was so excited to test them out, the fabric is sooo soft and really lightweight. We're talking as soft as my Zensah sleeves. The Uplift MAX was a no go as the small was not quite small enough but the Kickstart was perfect! I tested it out the following morning on my 9 mile pace workout and L-O-V-E'd it! I def got sweaty but it had wicked away the sweat effortlessly and the fit was perfect and didn't leave me chaffed at all. I tested it out again over the weekend and again had no complaints. I've washed it a few times with absolutely no bleeding of the material or shrinking. My one and only wish is that the straps were adjustable so I could make them just a wee bit shorter but over all I'm absolutely in love with this bra!

I bet you want to see it don't you? Well mark this day down in history as the one and only time I will ever ask you to please look at my boobs...
(Warning: Do not look directly at the radioactive glow in the dark paleness)

Why yes I am left handed how did you guess?

Puberty, you've FAIL'd me.

I wanted to get more info on the product itself, how it came about and what prompted Kimberly to get so involved with coming up with a better sports bra so I asked and her response did not disappoint;

THE MOMENT OF INSPIRATION FOR KALYX:

I've spent my entire life as an athlete. I grew up playing golf, tennis, soccer, and basketball. I played golf professionally for 5 years, trained as a yoga instructor under master teacher Baron Baptiste, was a proud member of the Equestrian Club in college, summitted Kilimanjaro a few years back, dived the Great Barrier Reef, rafted the Klinaklini in northern Bristish Columbia, and, have hiked, biked, boxed, lifted weights, and, even have run the occasional 10K.

When I moved to California in 2006 and enrolled in the UCLA Anderson's MBA program, I knew that I wanted to start a woman's athletic apparel company. I had just been awarded a fellowship to continue my research on advances in athletic and intimate apparel manufacturing, including new trends in textile development. I had been tinkering around with nano-fabrics, green fabrics, kevlar, technical outerwear, power meshes, and also, just for fun, recent advances in both bra design and swimwear manufacturing.

I was spending a lot of time studying, and, to my dismay, gained a couple of pounds. I decided the best way to get back in shape was to start training for a marathon. On my first day of training, I made it exactly 200 yards down Venice Beach before I had to stop - admittedly, I was wearing a crappy old sports bra and my boobs, thanks to the weight gain, had gotten a little bit bigger. Needless to say, I was in excruciating pain.

So...off to my neighborhood sporting goods store I went. In the dressing room, I promptly proceeded to dislocate my shoulder while trying to get into the athletic apparel industry's equivalent of a straight jacket: the high impact sports bra. As I was sitting there on the dressing room floor, surrounded by a pile of the most unattractive, uncomfortable sports bras imaginable, in tears of both frustration and pain, I asked myself "Why can't someone make a better sports bra?"

It turns out, that someone was me.

In addition to my other research, I started to focus on breast biomechanics. I also started deconstructing things like body armor, tool belts, shoulder holsters, and baby carriers. I started working with some architects to understand cantilevers and structural engineering. I engaged a "dream team" of experts, including not just architects, but also designers, engineers, reconstructive surgeons, seamstresses and textile developers to figure out new and innovative ways to develop a better sports bras.

In the middle of my research, I really started thinking about all the different sports that I play, and, started looking more closely at the way a woman's body moves while engaged in a variety of activities. Most sports bra companies just stick a woman on a treadmill and say "see, see how she bounces." Not every woman is a runner, and, for different sports - like yoga, golf, cheerleading and horseback riding - a woman's breasts and body are subjected to different kinds of motion stress than they are when she is running over a period of time. That's the genesis behind our decision to make KALYX sports bras activity-specific.

DESIGN NOTES FOR KICKSTART:

I'm a California girl at heart. I love hiking in the mountains, walking on the beach, riding my cruiser along the boardwalk, rollerblading through Venice, and, trying my best to learn how to ski on the slopes during winters spent at Lake Tahoe.

One thing I noticed during my regular hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains is that many younger women wear bikini tops while hiking in order to minimize their tan lines. It hurts my heart to see bouncing breasts because I know the long term damage being inflicted on their delicate breast tissue.

We designed this bra to appeal to all the "California Girls" out there - it's ultra lightweight, with flirty, feminine straps and a fresh design. The center mesh panel allows for ventilation and the shirring makes this bra super sexy - you can totally go topless in this one, if you dare to bare - even when hitting the slopes for spring skiing!

Do you see now why I fell in love with the product even more so after learning about Kimberly and the company's roots? Did you notice that part I bolded about having run a marathon?! Amazing and inspirational is what she is, what Cosmo would undoubtedly dub a Fun, Fearless, Female!

Now I know what you're thinking, the bra's are a bit on the pricey side, especially if you're used to buying the $16 C9 bra's at Target like I am, but I assure you these bra's are worth every penny. In fact I intend to pick up the other colors of the Kickstart ASAP and because the awesome people at KALYX totally rock they gave me a discount code for ya'll to use!

It's good for 20% off through March 31, 2010. Just type it in at checkout: RedHead20

I'm Redhead Running, card carrying member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee, and I wholly endorse this product. :)

*KALYX sent me both bras to test free of charge to review on my blog and are offering the 20% discount to promote their product. Go forth and support your "girls"!