2016 Reading Challenge: March

3 months into the year already! I enjoyed reading a lot at the beginning of March, since I knew grad school was starting on the 21st (goodbye free time).

For this month I went with "a book you can finish in a day". This one is funny, because I actually finish most books in a day if I have enough time to sit down and read. So I dug into the never ending stack of "to-read" books and dug out one that had been living there for a good 2 or 3 years.

I went in completely blind to what it was about, and I think that was a good choice. I really don't want to ruin anything for anyone who might read it, but I wasn't expecting how dark it was. It's a really great portrayal of mental illness in a family, and how it can affect an entire family.

I will give my thoughts on what it was like to read a musical. Going in, I had only ever heard one song, "I'm Alive". I kept trying to read all the songs to that tune for some reason. Going back, I think I would have preferred finding the soundtrack on Spotify to listen to as I read.

Read the rest of the challenge:

• January: A Book Published This Year
• February: A Book that was Banned at Some Point 

SLS3 Running Belt Review and Giveaway!

It's not very often that I get to write reviews for an item that I didn't pay for, but my dream has finally been achieved! The wonderful people at SLS3 reached out to me and asked for a review of their running belt in exchange for my honest opinion about their product.

I was sent a Dual Pocket Running Belt- Water Resistant in Purple. It looks like this:

I already had a running belt that I was using, so I figured that this would have to be pretty awesome for me to give up the one that I was using. Well, since getting mine, I've taken it on every run I've been on. Here are the pros:

• The pockets are giant. I could easily fit my iPhone 6 in either pocket. 
• Once it is adjusted to fit snugly, it doesn't bounce.
• The pockets keep your phone dry if it's raining (or just if you're super sweaty).
• It comes in 4 cool colors.
• and the best part....

It doesn't make you look lumpy! My old belt always gave me a weird lump around my belly, but this one is totally not noticeable under clothing. If you follow me on social media, then you have seen some of my post-race pictures. Fun fact, I've had this under my shirt/jacket in all my race photos since January!

The best part is that the people at SLS3 have offered to give one of you your very own running belt! See below for entry, contest will end at midnight 3/16. Good luck!

Enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Race 13.1 Wilmington- Mexican, Ice Cream, and Fish Medals

Better late than never right?

On February 21, I ran my first half of 2016 in Wilmington, NC. Here's a recap of all the awesome things that happened over our weekend there.

Saturday

My friend Morgan and I both got Race 13.1 season passes (#leahandmorgans131adventure) and we traveled down together. Road tripping is fun, guys. Especially on the first nice weekend in months to a place that is slightly warmer than your home.

When we pulled into where packet pickup was, we both kind of thought, "This is it?" Pickup was on what I would kindly refer to as the sketchy side of town. It was pretty much just a bunch of strip malls. Minor panic ensued over what the heck we were going to do the rest of the day. It's near the ocean, there should be beachy things, not strip malls!

The panic was put aside as we drove toward our hotel. Things gradually got nicer, and looked a little more like a beach town should. After checking in and putting our stuff in our room, we asked the desk girl how to get to the beach. She gave us some very bad directions, but we eventually found it.

I love this Snapchat geofilter!

Wrightsville Beach

When we got there I was super excited becuase it was just like what a beach area should look like in my mind. There were touristy shops (aka Wings) and lots of places to eat, and a beach access every block. One of the great things about being there in February was that we didn't have to pay to park at any of the accesses, and could just park and walk out there.

I love that our first race of the year was at the beach, because we got to enjoy a walk on the beach in February (and it was around 60 outside), something that we probably wouldn't have done otherwise.

It did eventually get a little cold, so we decided to explore the shops a little. I can't resist a good tourist shop so we went into Wings and each got a t-shirt (2 for $15!) and a sweatshirt (buy one get one free! oh and they also matched).

While on this trip I discovered my superpower is picking random restaurants to eat at. Morgan said I had to pick dinner since she picked lunch. The sign for Tower 7 Baja Mexican Grill looked interesting, and everyone loves Mexican, so that was my pick.

When we went in, I knew that I was going to like it purely from the aesthetic. It's kind of half surf shop, half Mexican restaurant as far as decor goes. I also immediately fell in love with their chips and salsa.

My main course didn't disappoint either. I got pineapple, bacon, and shrimp enchiladas. They were so good that I really wanted to be able to eat both, but they were huge! Consider this a shameless plug to eat there if you ever find yourself in Wrightsville Beach.

The superpower of picking places really showed itself when I decided I wanted ice cream. I found a place online called Boombalati's and figured we should go there for no other reason than that it had a funny name.

I've had a lot of ice cream in my life, and I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the best. It's handmade in the store in small batches and it will blow your mind. They're also geniuses because one of their sizes is a 4 mini scoop sampler so you can try multiple flavors of amazingness.

Sunday

Despite all the food we were eating fun we were having, it was time to do what we came to do, run a race.

I'm not going to sit here and give you a blow by blow of all 13 miles. I will tell you that this course was a fast, flat course that helped me get a 1 minute PR. Had I been training a little harder in the month or so leading up to the race, I would have probably beat my time more. But it's been cold and I've been strength training.

The course was had some really boring parts (on what I think was a Greenway/bike path thing) but we ran on the campus of UNC Wilmington and that was really interesting. Since I work on a college campus, I enjoy seeing what others have to offer ;)

The weather was way warmer than I imagined when I signed up for a February race! Considering the weekend before I was running the Wine Lovers 5K in dangerously cold temperatures, I found it very amusing to be running in shorts and a tshirt for this race. The only downfall to that is that I'm not used to running in warmer temperatures right now, and I think I let myself get a little dehydrated.

During the race I felt absolutely fine until mile 10. I was running faster than normal but keeping a good pace, I wasn't very tired (I owe that one to the complete lack of hills), and I felt great about my food and water intake (there was a small incident where I almost choked to death on a Sport Bean, but I survived). Then something happened between 10 and 11. It felt like the longest mile I had ever run. I kept thinking I had missed the marker and would eventually come up on 12. Nope. After that I kind of fell apart, but luckily I only had to make it through 2(.1) more miles.

It hurt, and it sucked, and I walked for the only time of the whole race during the last mile, but I still managed that 1 minute PR (2:12:35)!

Note to self, make sure photo background is not facing the sun next time.

Race 13.1 has some great finisher medals this year, and I had been dying to get this one. I'm not really sure why exactly, but it has a fish on it and I just thought it was really fun. We named her Wilma and she's glittery.

I love Race 13.1 events, and I can't wait to hopefully earn my 13x jacket with them this year!

Tentative Calendar:
05/01- Knoxville, TN
05/15- Greensboro, NC
05/21- Richmond, VA
06/18- Roanoke, VA
9/25- Charlotte, NC
10/8- Raleigh, NC
10/22- Fayetteville, NC
10/29- Charleston, SC
11/12- Asheville, NC
12/3- Baltimore, MD
12/10- Durham, NC

2016 Reading Challenge: February

This month's pick is a book that was banned at some point.

About 4 years ago, I bought Slaughterhouse-Five on impulse at Target (I promise I don't buy all my books at Target. Note to self, don't read something from Target next month.) Ever since then it has been living in my "to-read" pile. It has moved with me when I got married, been at the top and bottom of the stack, almost donated, and finally this month I picked it up to read.

After double checking to make sure it was banned, I cracked it open and plowed through the tiny Vonnegut book. After two sessions I was done.

And I was... underwhelmed.

After all the things I read about why this book was banned I was expecting this gruesome, action packed, violent, inappropriate war novel. Instead I got aliens. Totally not what I expected.

Maybe it's because I live in 2016 and not in the sheltered 1969 world that the book was written in (although people are obviously still trying to ban it), but it definitely wasn't the most disturbing thing I've ever read.

Yes, it is a good (and probably one of the first) depiction of PTSD and how it affects those who are in combat.

I think I just had too many preconcieved notions about what to expect (especially since I read that Atlantic article first), but I wasn't blown away by any aspect of Slaugherhouse-Five. I do feel accomplished in the fact that the book is no longer living in my "to-read" stack anymore, though.

Better luck in book choice next month, I guess.

 

 Read the rest of the challenge:

• January: A Book Published This Year

#RunnersLoveYogaCORE

I have 3 big fitness loves.

The first, obviously, is running.

The second, is TRX (which is the most killer workout I've ever experienced)

The third, and newest, is yoga.

My gym offers lunch time yoga classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I've been going with some coworkers. I event went to an arm balance workshop a few weekends ago (it was 2 hours of nonstop awesomeness). I think it's safe to say I'm obsessed.

I've been following Runners Love Yoga for a while now, and after seeing her post monthly challenges for a while, I decided to give February's challenge a go. The theme was core, and I love the poses and flows we did!

Here are all my daily pics in one place, I'm so looking forward to the March challenge!

Day 1: Boat pose

Day 2: Down Dog Winsdshield Wipers

Day 3: Side plank

Day 4: Locust Pose

Day 5: Core Down Dog

Day 6: Dolphin Pose

Day 7: Down Dog Sequence

Day 8: Wrist Toe Taps

Day 9: Windshield Wipers

Day 10: Eagle Pose

Wine Lovers 5K- The Time I Almost Got Frostbite (Not Really)

I have run cold races before. If you tuned in last week, you'll remember that every Arctic 5K I've done so far has been below freezing. The discomfort of those 4 races combined had nothing on this weekend.

This weekend turned out a lot different than expected. This was supposed to be the weekend that I ran Holiday Lake 50K. I made the decision about 2 weeks ago to drop out. The decision was personal, and I actually don't regret it at all. After all, I only wound up freezing this weekend for 3.2 miles instead of 32 ;)

So with my weekend having been freed up, I found myself wondering, "What shall I do now?" Then a friend mentioned this race and I thought, "Why not?" and signed up last weekend.

Fast forward to around Thursday when we had a pretty accurate forecast and I began pre-complaining about how cold it was going to be. (I'm sorry to any of my coworkers who may be reading this.) I decided to just go buy some Hot Hands at Walgreens on Friday night and suck it up.

Saturday morning my friend Susan, who was running it with me, picked me up and we rode the hour to Cardinal Point Vineyard. When we got there, I checked my weather app, which informed me that it was 18°, but the windchill had it feeling like 5°. It was safe to say that it was the coldest I had ever raced in.

Us before the race, wearing tons of layers (I have on 3 tops)

I'll skip over the boring pre-race stuff and skip to lining up at the start. One thing I thought was a little weird about the whole event was the lack of timing chip. I can't even think of the last race I ran that was timed but didn't have chip timing. There also wasn't a formal start line when we were asked to line up, just a cone on either side of the road. It felt a little sketchy to me, but I tried not to let it bother me too much.

The race official had us get out of the cold and line up about 8 minutes before the start and I was convinced that I was going to freeze to death. The wind was tearing through my 3 layers, I couldn't feel my toes, and I'm pretty sure that was the coldest I had ever been in my life. When we were finally able to go, I couldn't feel my feet at all. It was really weird, but I figured the faster I ran the faster my blood would start pumping and the faster I could feel my toes again. So I did.

The course was boring and I liked it that way. It was a pretty straight shot, out 1.6 miles and then back the same route. There were "hills" but they were nothing like anything in Lynchburg and none of them bothered me until the biggest right before the turnaround. At that point we were running into the wind which was cutting through all my layers (even my windbreaker) and I felt like I was going nowhere. Once I turned around, it was smooth sailing to the finish.

I clocked in at 26:15, which gave me a new PR! However, I think the best part of finishing was actually being warm for the first time all morning. And I could feel my toes again!

The finisher award for this race was a custom wine glass, which I couldn't wait to snag to add to my shelf of memorabilia:

The back says "Running never tasted so good"

Overall, it was a nice race. Not something I'm dying to do again, but definitely one I would do again if given the opportunity.If nothing else, the freezing start was totally worth the new PR. Corkscrew Racing did have good organization, even if I found their timing system a little outdated. 

I would definitely give their other events a shot, though! 

Arctic 5K Recap (Ice, Sweat, and a Course PR!)

The Arctic 5K is a race I love to hate. Back in 2013, it was my first ever 5K. To be honest, I'm not sure why I ever ran a second one after that, because the elevation gain was crazy, it was freezing cold, I averaged a 15 minute mile the whole time, and I kind of wanted to die.

Fast forward to finishing my 4th Arctic in a row yesterday.

I love this year's race logo! Source

Pretty much all you need to know about this race is that it's hosted by Liberty University Student Activities, it's always below freezing at the start (even though this week was nice and warm, the temperature plummeted Friday night) and the elevation profile looks like this:

Source

So there I was at 8am, standing in the nice warm Student Center building with my friends wonder why exactly I signed up for this race for the 4th time.

I was still wondering as we lined up to start (for the record it was 30 degrees). Then we started and for the first half mile I found myself thinking, "Huh. This isn't nearly as bad as I remember, maybe I made it out worse in my head. Maybe I'm just a lot stronger than I have been the last few times."

Around the half mile mark is where you start to go up a mountain. And then you keep going up. I think we went up until almost the 2 mile mark. My thoughts were a lot different around then. "Okay, I lied this is hard. I'm not doing this next year, I don't care if it's my anniversary race. Nope. Nope. Ow."

However, after the giant peak in the middle of the map there, it actually becomes enjoyable. Around this time I ran into my friend Susan and the last mile flew by as we chatted. I almost wiped out one time on a root, but I caught myself at the last second.

Susan and I crossed the line together (holding hands) at the exact same time! We clocked in at 36:54, a trail 5K time that I'm super proud of!

I thought I had come in close to that last year, but after searching for my results, I actually came in at 45:37, so I'll take a 9 minute course PR.

I love Student Activities races for several reasons:

• They're pretty cheap. I don't think I've ever paid more than $20 for one
• They have great shirts! Everything is moisture wicking and super cute! (see below)
• Domino's Pizza is served at the finish.
• The organization gets an A+.

The only thing I don't like is the 10 year age groups. I'm not going to be able to place until I'm 30, since about 90% of the participants are college students. At least it's something to look forward to in 7 years ;)

Races are more fun with friends!

Shirts from all 4 that I've done. Last year (the blue one) is still my favorite.