March Recap/Stats

Miles Ran: 50.85 M - Half-way to the hundo club!

Miles Biked: 18 M

Miles Elliptical'd: 9.25 M

Miles Walked: 8.6 M

Flights of Stairs Climbed: 0 - This one might disappear now that the outside beckons.

Rest Days: 11

Races: Corktown 5k - Set my post-injury PR!

Completed Paintings:

Go Tigers!

Nicole's beloved Nala
(Pic on left, painting on right)

Chuggington Train

Spaceman Spiff

Rainbow Brite

Current Reads: (Reading) Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran; I've always been fascinated by Cleopatra and when I saw this book I just had to pick it up. So far I'm really enjoying it.

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(Listening To) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson; If you're even a little interested in computers and technology I highly suggest this one. I'm more than halfway through listening and find his life, his work, and his legendary asshole-ness absolutely fascinating.

(Finished) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs; I usually really enjoy stories like this but there was just something about it that I didn't love. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins; There was just something about HG that intrigued me, so I succumbed to the madness and spent the next week devouring the series. There were times I felt the plot was entirely predictable but it was still compelling enough to make me want to find out how it would all end. I'd also like to say that I was pretty impressed with what they did with the movie, and I'm generally of the opinion that movies ruin the story.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: The inappropriate emails I exchange with my friends.

Current Obsession: Being outside running!

Current Song: Wild Ones by Flo Rida featuring Sia

Current Wish-List: Nothing really, life's pretty awesome right now.

Current Need: For health complications to stop plaguing my loved ones.

Current Triumph: Graduating from my R2R plan!

Current Bane of my Existence: Can't really think of anything.

Current Goal: To pull off another PR performance at the Lansing Marathon 5k.

Current Indulgence: Absolutely nothing! Lent isn't over for another week, but when it is I've already stockpiled a ridiculous amount of sugary goodness to celebrate.

Current Blessings: Every day that I get to enjoy, and everyone in my life that I love.

Current Excitement: The whole month of April! So many things to be excited about; Easter, a work trip to NYC, going to Florida for my friends 30th, racing another 5k while I await Spike to finish his next marathon, friends from out of town visiting, and my brother moving closer!!! It's going to be a very crazy-busy month and I can't wait!!!

How'd your March shape up?!?!

Running is what you make of it, make it an Adventure!™

3 Things Thursday

1. Race Running... A few of you asked which 10k I'm running; I'm officially signed up for the Fifth Third River Bank Run 10k! It's a pretty big deal around these parts, but more so for the 25k (which Spike is running). It's in our beloved home away from home, Grand Rapids, and we'll get to see everyone's favorite Ironman by Thirty and wifey. Is it May 12th yet?!?!?!
   
   
   
2. NYC Planning... My work trip has been finalized and I'm stoked that my hotel is a mere block away from Central Park! I've already set up a run date with Christy and Ally, who randomly happens to be visiting during the same time, and also dinner with Celia. I'm hoping to squeeze in time with Lam too, but we'll have to see what happens.
   
   
3. Spring Cleaning... I recently realized that my reader was severely in need of some spring cleaning. As I went through blog by blog I noticed a hefty portion of the ones I follow were either inactive, no longer exist, or have moved altogether! Out with the old, in with the new, and next up, the closet!
   

Monday Mash

Sorry I kinda fell off the face of the earth, life's been crazy. In an effort to catch up/purge, here's another bullet list edition of the Monday Mash:

• THIS! Made. My. Day. A cape for spectating? TPG totally upped the spectator extraordinaire ante and should get everlasting credit for starting what I'm sure will become, the new spectating craze. Genius!
  
  
• PSA: Do NOT take a 5-hour Energy on an empty stomach. Based on how it's depicted in movies I can only assume this is what doing the hard drugs feels like. LOL!
  
  
• I start my 10k training plan next week and I'm so freaking excited that I just want to start it now! I know I don't really need to "train" for the distance because I could go the extra mile today, but I'm so ready to get back on a spreadsheet and have structured workouts! I'd really like to shoot for a PR and I think based on my Corktown performance that I might have a shot at it. *Fingers crossed*
  


• Spotted this on my drive in to work, how freaking random, yet totally awesome. I love me some Where's Waldo!
  
  
  Technically I found him just by spotting this van, right?
  
  
  
• I miss Spike. I've been unexpectedly out of town since last Wednesday, got back today, and he unexpectedly had to leave yesterday to work out of town until Friday. Sad panda. Is it Friday yet?
  
  
• Although, I am kinda not-so-secretly looking forward to having the whole bed to myself tonight! I am desperately in need of a recharge; my last two runs were total slogfests due to lack of sleep as a result of all the hoopla.
  


• Work has been pretty busy lately and I'm loving it. The first quarter is always our busy time and I've even got an out of town trip coming up that has me heading to the big apple! I'm hoping to finally get in those Central Park/High Line Park run(s) that I never got to have last summer thanks to Hurricane Irene.
  


• We've got high's of 50's forecasted for most of this week, which are much more season appropriate, compared to last week's record-breaking high's in the 80's. The former Floridian in me can't stop loving and hoping all this glorious warm weather holds, but the rekindled Michigander in me knows not to hold my breath. Either way, I will greedily enjoy any day that we're not buried in snow and freezing our butts off!
  


• I got all crazy last week and decided to try a temporary wash on my hair that was a total fail. The box clearly showed a bright, fun red, but the result was notsomuch. Apparently red + red does NOT = redder. Thankfully I only had to rock the brunette-ish look for a few days before the color all but faded out with multiple washings. Lesson Learned: Don't mess with perfection!
  
  
  From the left: supposed color results, super dark immediately after, and the next day; thankfully mostly washed out, but still not quite right.
  
  
  
• Sun Runner and I are having a girls night tonight and hitting up the Hunger Games movie! Is it ok to admit I'm totally lusting over movie-Gale? (Ok, ok I made him hot in my head while reading the books too, even before I saw the movie previews!) Does anyone else dream up characters when they read books? If so are you ok with seeing the movies after or are you crazy like Spike and refuse to "have the characters/story ruined forever" by seeing the movies? (Oddly enough, he was perfectly ok with seeing all the Harry Potter movies but not a lot of other books-turned-movies; I find this selective snobbery weird. But then again look who we're talking about...)
  

R2R Graduation!!!

Yesterday was a very big day for me, yesterday I ran five consecutive miles! I promise I won't keep posting about these milestones every time they happen, but five miles means that I have officially graduated from my R2R plan!

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Back in December the doc said that when I hit 5 miles, I was officially left to my own devices. No more having to stick to the strict three day per week, non-consecutive running regimen, with walking required before/after and only half mile increases each week. Nope, from here on out I am allowed pure, unadulterated running to my hearts content! I'm back you guys!!! Ok, so I've been back for awhile, but this graduation makes it truly official.

Yesterday morning I had a knowing smile on my face as I set out to run my old five mile neighborhood loop, one I haven't run in over a year! The best part was that when I finished, I felt like I could've gone further! It was such a wonderful feeling and I'm just so freaking grateful and excited to be at this point in my recovery.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend of running too! If you didn't, please don't forget that even the bad runs are better than none at all!

Run Happy!

First off, thank you all so much for your comments on my Corktown race recap! I am still grinning from ear to ear over here! A lot of you wondered how in the heck I was able to run that fast coming off such an extended injury; and I must admit I had no idea I had that in me!

I can only credit it to all the xtraining I've been doing. The entire time I was down I frequented the gym like it was my job. Not boot, nor crutch, stopped me from getting there as often as I could and doing something, anything, to maintain my fitness. If I wasn't at the gym, I hit the pool, and as my leg healed I happily added new things in to the mix. I still get excited to elliptical for goodness sakes! (Three miles this morning! Woot!)

Since my R2R began, a typical week consists of three non-consecutive running days and at least two (maybe three) xtraining days where I do some form of cardio followed by a Nike Training Club app strength workout. I've only had one run since my R2R began that gave me any kind of indication that I might have preserved my speed which came in the form of one sub-8 minute mile back in January. Otherwise I've ran most of my runs at a pretty conservative, steady pace and followed them up with walking as directed by my doc. Prior to the race I had only ran the mileage five times total, with race day being the sixth.

Like I said in the recap, I figured I'd come in around 25 minutes, if I were lucky. When I forecasted this to Spike he assured me I would be faster, due to getting caught up in the excitement if nothing else, and he was right. When I hit the first mile and looked at Hermes I was in complete shock at the pace but thought, "don't get caught up in the time, enjoy your race!" The pace felt effortless so I just kept at it. In the end, this race was hands down THE best race I have ever ran. Why? Because for once, I didn't question myself. I didn't have any expectations as I hadn't trained specifically, so I just trusted how my body felt and ran happy; happy to be there, happy to be racing again, happy for the beautiful day, HAPPY! Maybe that's the secret?

Ecstatic that the stars aligned
to give me a great comeback race!

While I am obviously overjoyed with this turn of events, it also has me shaking in my boots. By turning what was supposed to have been a fun run into a race, I've now set the bar awfully high for the 5k I intend to race next month! Eek!

Have you ever had a race unexpectedly come together after being injured or had been on a running hiatus?

Corktown 5k Race Recap

30th Annual Corktown 5k

Introducing my new racing kicks, the Grey Silencers

Pre-Race: Spike and I arrived about an hour and a half early to the race and the first thing we thought was, next year we get here sooner! It was fifty something degrees, sunny blue skies, the slightest hint of wind and somehow we found ourselves parked directly in front of the Michigan Central Station. (Side Note: I'm OBSESSED with abandoned buildings and have been dying to get close to this place!) We spent the time before the race hitting the porta-potties and marveling the breathtaking view.

My fav shot from the many I took.
So hauntingly beautiful.

Start Corral: After an easy warm-up run together we headed over to the start corrals about 12 minutes before the start, hopped the fence to get in, and promptly split up after a quick kiss good luck. The race was staggered; green bibbed runners expecting a 30 minutes or less finish were lined up and sent out first, gold bibbed runners/walkers were started a few minutes after to bring up the rear. It was packed and a sea of green; wigs, shirts, socks, you name it! Definitely a festive, St. Patricks Day theme'd race.

The Race: It took a few to shuffle over the start line and then I was running! The course is a flat, fast, straight shot down Michigan Ave and back. After weaving around runners the first half mile I settled in and the miles started ticking by, much faster than I had anticipated, and I just rolled with it because it felt so effortless. I got to see Spike on his way in to the finish a few minutes before the turn around and in a blink of an eye I was kicking it in to the finish myself! I threw up my hands in celebration as I crossed the finish line and may or may not have yelled "F*ck yeah!" Whoopsie. :)

Final Chip Time: 23:34 / 7:36 P - Second fastest 5k I've ever ran and post-injury PR!!!

Suck it injury, Red is back!!!

(Garmin Stats: 7:31, 7:27, 7:41, 6:48 {.1} for 3.14 M)

604 / 7631 Overall
115 / 4259 Women Overall
20 / 835 AG

Post-Race: We had forgotten to make an after race meetup plan so while wandering around trying to find Spike, I spotted Ken and got to snap a quick pic with him! After declining a BEvERage, I headed back over to the finish area and heard them announce Steph's name so I started looking for her but found Spike instead. He had run a great race too, even with having run his first 20 mile training run the day before!

Corktown 5k + Michigan Central Station
+ Spike + Perfect Day = Happy, Happy Redhead

Post Race Thoughts: To say that I was excited for this race would have been putting it mildly, I may or may not have had my race outfit picked out and ready for over a week. My race plan was simply to have an amazing first post-injury race and try to finish around 25 minutes because I thought that was within my range. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised at the finish!

Corktown puts on one helluva a race and I can't wait to run this again next year! Everything about this race is so well organized; they had satellite packet pickup, they sent out a last minute FAQ email that was extremely helpful, the first 7,000 finishers received a commemorative 30th annual medal and tech shirt (Boo unisex! But they are great quality), and their website is seriously awesome. Because the St. Patrick's Day parade is after the race there are a ton of spectators lining the course cheering you on and giving high fives. We didn't get to stick around for the after party because of family obligations but it looked like it was going to be a blast. Def put this one on your radar for next year if you're in the area!

Foto Friday: Unisex Race Shirts Suck

On Tuesday I wrote about how annoying it is that even though women are quickly making up for half the foot race population, race directors are still giving us unisex sized race shirts. While I recognize this is totally a #firstworldproblem, it's still a problem all the same, and it's time we make a stand! I asked you to send me or post about your best and worst shirts from races and here's what y'all came up with:

Christy over at It Just Looks Like Slow Motion sent over this size "small" gem from the Mayor's Half Marathon in Anchorage. (As in Alaska. Brrr!)

Maybe they thought the extra material would keep her warm?

Next up we have my beloved Boo who was excited for this awesomely pink Cleveland Half Marathon shirt right up until she got her size "medium" and realized they must have meant medium in giant sizing.

Maybe she could use it for wind resistance training?

Missy over at Sugar Coated Athlete sent over a couple of examples of how "small" is relative. To the left we have what she referred to as "stuffed sausage" tight and follows it up on the right with what I would call "drowning in tech gear" loose.

Thankfully at least one race got it right and she scored this great fitting top that fits perfect:

Poor Allison over at Runner In Progress, her marathon PR race shirt from the Philly Marathon last year is so big on her that it's only taking up space in her drawer instead of being sported proudly on the regular. She had further thoughts on the matter so make sure you check out her post HERE.

It literally WAS the best "time" (PR!) of her life!

My girl Christy over at 25 before 25 also got stuck with the oversized Philly shirt shown above and she PR'd that race too. Rude indeed Christy! Remember when I talked about my sadness over the BAA 5k shirt not fitting? Well Christy has 2011's shirt and it was just as oversized! Evidence below:

No joke, this is size "small"
See the rest of her shirts HERE
(Including some awesome ones I'm totally green eyeing!)

Kathrin over at Bark Less, Tri More posted quite a few of her best and worst of both cotton and tech shirts she's received, but these two get my vote overall in their respective divisions:

Fits like a glove on the left! Notsomuch on the right.

My fellow Michigander Bari, over at Live, Laugh, Run, Breath, had a plethora of shirts to show off but my favorite was this "upgraded" tech shirt she got at a local race that only had men's sizing. How is that an upgrade?

At least it's... um... I got nothing.

Finally, although "That Pink Girl" didn't blog specifically about this, she did post Monday about her oversized Cowtown Marathon shirt which actually triggered this whole shirt tangent I'm on to begin with.

If I didn't know it ahead of time I would swear she's wearing a red sweatshirt!

So there you have it folks, a collection of ladies of all different shapes and sizes that have one thing in common: They all want to see more women's cut race shirts!

The demand is there so why aren't race organizers picking up what we're putting down? I'd love to hear from some race directors/organizers about how they decide what kind of shirts to order and why. Anyone out there know someone I could talk to? Anyone have any other ideas on how we can make this bigger and get the word out? Come one ladies, help me make a stand for all of us!

#onesizedoesnotfitall #sizematters #unisexraceshirtssuck

3 Things Thursday

1. Let me see yer shirts, yer shirts, yer-yer yer shirts: I got a ton of great feedback on Tuesday's post about ill-fitting race shirts but haven't seen many posting their own yet. If you plan to jump on board please let me know! (You do not need to be a blogger to join in on this, simply email me your pics and I'll post tomorrow!)
   
   
2. Bridesmaids are Dressed! I am oh so happy to report that the bridesmaid dresses have finally been decided upon. Two of my lovely ladies will be adorned in a dress of "Daisy" (yellow) and the other two in "Quarry" (gray). I love checking another thing off the list of "To Do's!"
   
   
   Ooo bright AND shiney!
   
   
   
3. Corktown on Sunday: I'm so excited for Corktown on Sunday!!! Have I mentioned yet that I'm running my first full 5k race this weekend? I have? Oh. Well guess what?!?!
   
   I'M RUNNING MY FIRST FULL 5K RACE SINCE BEING INJURED THIS SUNDAY! Tee hee.
   

Can I Please Get a Shirt That Fits?!?!

Today I want to talk about race shirts, specifically women's race shirts, or the lack thereof.

This weekend I went to pick up my race packet for Corktown and the shirt, as usual, was too big. It's worth noting that Spike, knowing my shirt issues, ordered me a youth size large in hopes that the shirt would fit a little better since they didn't have women's cut shirts. The result:

Not terrible, but def not very flattering either.

I don't mean to rag on Corktown specifically, this is an issue that I have found across the board. The shirts hardly ever fit, usually due to being boxy unisex shirts. Even when sized small or extra small they still don't fit me or any of the many other smaller framed women athletes I see at races. How many of you have a drawer full of race shirts that don't fit you properly because they are too big? I'd dare say most of you are nodding your head in agreement while easily conjuring up images of your many ill-fitting shirts. Here's just a small sampling of what I have in my drawer:

2010 Gasparilla Marathon & 2010 Grand Rapids Half Marathon
These were spared the donation pile only because I had so few long sleeved shirts when I first moved to Michigan.

Personally I love a good tech tee and when I'm given one in my race swag, especially for the longer races like half's and marathon's, you'd assume they'd at least somewhat fit. But no, we plop down our money to run the race, train our @sses off for months, and then get a shirt we can't wear. What gives?!? To date only two tech shirts I've ever received for a race have fit me well, my 2009 Chicago Marathon shirt and my 2010 Ragnar shirt:

I can’t tell you how many shirts that have gone straight to the donation pile because they were too large to even train in. One in particular that I was especially sad about was my BAA 5k shirt from 2010. They only had unisex shirts with a minimal amount of smaller sizes and most people had swapped down to the next size leaving almost everyone I know that ran the race with a shirt that was way too big for them because they had run out of the smaller shirts by the time we made it to packet pickup.

So bright and unicorny, alas it's destiny was the donation pile cuz of how comically large it fit.
Sad Panda.

Now I know that the gentlemen runners out there still make up more than half of the foot race population but isn't anyone noticing that women are creeping up behind them in the ranks?!?! Not only that but don't race directors want their race promoted on the fronts of all runners; big, small, men and women alike? How often do you wear your race shirts that fit compared to those that don't? I think it's safe to assume that most of your fitted shirts see more daylight hours then those larger, ill-fitting ones that don't, so why are race directors passing up the opportunity for this free advertising by insisting on giving us ill-fitting shirts we won't/can't wear?

Actually, this gives me an idea!!!

I want to see YOUR best fitting and worst fitting tech race shirts.

You can either send them to me via email (for those of you that don't blog) or post them on your own blog. If you post on your blog please let me know and also link back to this post. I'll compile a list of everyone that participated as well as compile all of those that sent via email and post again about this on Friday. Let's put the deadline for participation as end of day Thursday, March 8th. My email is: redheadrunning (@) gmail.com and I am armed with Photoshop for those of you who wish to participate but would like to remain anonymous. Also, use #onesizedoesnotfitall or #sizematters when tweeting!

Together we can make a difference! Just think, we women running bloggers out-blog male running bloggers easily so if everyone posts just once about this maybe, just maybe, we can catch a headline on Runner's World or over on Active.com and race directors will take note. It can't hurt to try and if nothing else, we'll at least know which races DO have women's fitted race shirts!

Can I please get a shirt that fits?!?!

3 Things Thursday

1. "Time" For an Upgrade: I've been rocking Spike's old Forerunner 205 since he gifted it to me back in 2009. Hermes has been a good little Garmy but sometime last year the "beep" died. I contacted Garmin about it and they said I could send it in, along with $60, and they'd send me a newly refurbished 205 but I'm cheap and decided it wasn't that big of a deal. I've contemplated upgrading to a newer model but the they are just as big and bulky as good ol' Hermes so the drive hasn't been there... until now. Today Mike posted about Asics' new sports watch line rolling out in the Spring and I may have a crush:
   
   

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   Yes, the girl who won't wear flashy shoes wants this watch.
   

   
   
2. Corktown Bling: I received an email from Corktown yesterday with all the usual pre-race info and something I hadn't expected; finishers receive a medal! Normally I'd think getting a medal for a 5k without placing a little silly but considering this will be my first official 5k race since my R2R I am stoked for the memento. Can't wait for next weekend!
   
   
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3. Spreadsheet Love: Yesterday I finalized my 10k training plan, it's been a long time since I've had a spreadsheet and I am so excited to start filling in all those colorful boxes!!! Any other spreadsheet addicts out there whose training isn't complete without those boxes telling them what to do?