Feature Friday: Shamrock Spotlight

Yesterday, I was featured over at BeachyRunner as one of the Shamrock Spotlights, a series they are doing highlighting some of the runners participating in the Shamrock Half & Full next weekend.

Click here to read my story!

Throwback Thursday: The Color Run

There's a trend on social media called "Throwback Thursday". I have decided that since this blog wasn't around when I first started running (and through some really fun races) I'm going to do a couple of Throwbacks of my own.

The first one is the Color Run last June.

Runicorn!

This was the biggest race I had done to date, and the only one not organized by local charities. I was so impressed at packet pick up how organized and how smoothly things went!

 We arrived later in the day so there weren't that many people there, but the whole thing is like a party. There's music blasting, and games to play, and you can even meet their mascot, a unicorn.

All the race goodies

They give you a white shirt and encourage you to wear it in the race. You also get to pick out what color packet you want to throw in the end celebration. I chose purple, of course. There are also temporary tattoos to wear to make you look extra fierce as you they pelt you with color. You also get a white headband to wear, but I thought it looked ridiculous on me so I chose not to wear it.

The next morning we started off all nice and clean. We had bought white shirts at Old Navy to wear because they are cheap and we didn't want to mess up the nice ones they gave us. We put on our pink tutus and temporary tattoos and headed to the start.

The race goes in waves, and if you ever have the opportunity to run a Color Run, get towards the beginning wave. When we finished there were still a lot of people waiting to start and it was really hot that day. I can't imagine waiting that long in the heat.

On the course there are a total of 4 color stations if I remember correctly. Pink, blue, orange, and yellow corn starch are squirted at runners through bottles. My favorite station was the blue one because most of the volunteers were younger kids and they were very generous with their color!

At times the course gets really crowded so you can't really run, but since I was doing it with my mom I had planned on walking anyway. I have no clue what our time was because it isn't officially timed, but it was over way too fast due to all the fun we were having. If they made half marathon color runs, I would probably set a PR!

At the end everyone throws their color packets up in one final color explosion. This is done every 15 minutes to accommodate all the finishers. Note to self next time I do this: keep my mouth closed. The dust tastes like chalk and it isn't fun.

The "after" photos were so much fun to take! Both of us were super colorful, and I had it in my mouth and hair and just about every crevice of my body.

It took about 30 minutes to scrub all that off. Mainly the purple that was in my hair:

This was one of the most fun races I did last year and I can't wait to do it again in April with my mom. Color Run Kaleidoscope Tour 2014: here we come!

Shamrock Hype

Shamrock Half weekend is approaching quickly, where I'm taking part in the Dolphin Challenge: 8K on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday.

It may sound a little crazy, but who wouldn't do it for these beauties?

And of course there are shirts...

Shirts for the Half and Full. No word on what the 8K shirts look like.

And where most races give you a hat at the finishing line with your medals, Shamrock gives you A BEACH TOWEL!

I have my green outfit all picked out, and in 2 weeks I'll be at packet pickup! I have one more long run planned for today or tomorrow (depending on how I feel after class. We had a rough trail run yesterday. And the weather, tomorrow is supposed to be much nicer).  Things are getting real!

Why I Run

All through elementary and high school I was that kid who avoided running. I had so many allergies it was unreal, and they gave me asthma so I wasn't allowed outside for gym class. I was okay with that. I was not an athlete, I was the creative type. I spent my gym classes reading books.

Then, in December 2012, something changed. I felt like I had no control over my life. I had a major in school that I hated, none of my friends were going to be at school for Spring semester, and I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. 

So I picked up running.

At first it was a flirtatious relationship. I signed up for a 2 miler and struggled through that. I liked how I felt after and made the resolution to run a race every month in 2013. I trained (not as hard as I should and could have) and I finished my goal and even completed a half marathon.

Then things got a little crazy. I signed up for a running class with David Horton and fell head over heels in love with running. I wish I had started in high school because I feel like I missed out on a few extra years with my best friend. The only thing that I love more than running is my fiance. 

Running has given me a lot of things. All my life I've been the short awkward person, but running makes me feel tall and graceful. I can't dance to save my life, but I can run. It's become my crutch when I'm stressed, and after a good run I usually feel 100% better. I've learned that I can push myself beyond what I ever thought possible. If I see someone running outside while I'm in class I'm jealous that I can't get out there. I'm at the point where I don't even need to be training for a race, just running makes me happy. 

I'm not at the point where I can run every day, due to a hectic life and schedule. On days that I don't get to run, I miss it. I'm so thankful for the class I'm in this semester because it makes me run. 

As I type this, I'm very sore from over exerting myself over the last 2 days. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Soreness means you did something right and worked muscles you don't normally work. 

I like it. 

Review: Food, Inc

This past Friday night I made the impulse decision to watch Food, Inc. If you have never heard of the documentary, it came out in 2008 and IMDB describes it as "An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry." I found the documentary interesting and sometimes disturbing.

A few things I learned from watching it:

• Most of our food is grown in "factory farms" meaning that factories control what can and can't be done during the growth phase. In other words, the farmers are pretty much powerless when it comes to raising their crops.
• Where there were once thousands of slaughterhouses in America, today there are only 13. All of the meat they produce is concerned with quantity rather than quality.
• A company called Monsanto has a patent on the soybean, preventing farmers who didn't use their seeds right away from ever being able to use it.
• The USDA has very little power when it comes to food testing, as they lost a court case to the meat and poultry associations.
• Food inspection rates have dropped. In 1972 the FDA conducted 50,000 food inspections. In 2006, they conducted a little over 9,000.
• The government doesn't want to label our food. Representatives fought for years before GMOs were recognized on food labels, and the source of meat was printed on the package.
• Pretty much everything we eat is corn based. Or was fed corn. Some of these animals, such as cows, are not deigned to eat corn, but it is the cheapest food.

Food, Inc made me think more about what I put in my mouth. While I have always eaten moderately healthy, I never really thought about where my food came from, or the farmers that help grow it. There really is an advantage to not only your body but the economy when you buy local or organic. 

The farmers are told to grow what the consumers want, and with companies such as Walmart starting to carry organic products, there may be hope for America's food system in the end.

My New Garmin... Kinda

Disclaimer: Garmin did not in any way endorse this blog post. My mom bought the Garmin for me for Christmas. These are my own thoughts on my own Garmin.

For Christmas, I got a Garmin watch. That was was literally the only thing I really wanted for Christmas. I was tired of using the Nike+ app on my phone and having it drain the battery. When I finished my half marathon in November, I started with 99% battery and finished with 15%. I just couldn't take it any more.

So Mom bought me a Garmin for Christmas. It was purple (my favorite) and I really wanted to go for a run right then and there to test it. But I had to pull a 9 hour shift at work instead (I chose to do that for some stupid reason). So a few days later, I finally got to test out my new toy.

I loved it, and it worked perfectly. For that one run. After that day, it never worked right again. I fought with it turning off in the middle of runs, not turning on when it had a full charge, and doing all kinds of weird things it wasn't supposed to do. I was done. I didn't know why people even liked these watches if they had so many problems.

After a month of hating my watch, I emailed Garmin asking them how to fix it. They troubleshot it, but to no avail. Then I got the best email they could have sent. They told me that none of those things were supposed to happen with my watch, especially since it was brandy new (well, duh). But, they were going to do something they don't normally do: replace the watch for free.

Well, yesterday, I got my new Garmin. And immediately I noticed a difference. This one doesn't take 15 minutes to find the GPS simply to get the time. It turns on when it's charged. It didn't act up.
So I took it on a run with me in running class today. It worked beautifully.

Some of the great features of the watch (that I've discovered so far):

• It's lightweight. I don't even notice that I have it on.
• You can customize the screens. When I'm running I like to see time/distance. There are also options for time/calories, pace/distance, pace/calories, etc.
• It comes in tons of fun colors.
• Garmin's customer service is great

The only thing that I don't like is that you can't see what time it is while you're running. You can only see the time that has elapsed.

I am so impressed with Garmin and their willingness to replace my faulty product. Matt from Customer Service, I doubt that you will ever read this, but if you do, thank you for all of your help getting my watch replaced. Next time I ever need a GPS product, Garmin will be my go-to.

Race Recap: Arctic 5K

Yesterday I ran the Arctic 5K presented by Liberty University Student Activities. I did this race last year as my first 5K as a runner, but I wouldn't recommend any of Liberty's Spring races as a first. You go straight up a mountain for almost a mile, and it's slightly miserable.

On Friday, the day before the race, I got an email that said this:  In case nobody warned you, let me be the first to say that this may be the TOUGHEST 5k you will ever do. This is not for the faint of heart, so put your game face on and get ready to finish a race you’re sure to be proud of.

This is what I tell people when they ask about the race. I always tell them DO NOT do it as your first trail race. I did and I almost wanted to give up running after my first race.

So yesterday I woke up, bundled up, and was determined to beat my time from last year of 48 minutes. The course started out all nice and easy and then there was hill one. I walked. I didn't' want to walk but I did. Last year I was so tired after the uphill parts that I had to walk down hill. This year I made it my goal to run all the downhill parts, and run them I did.

Elevation Profile for the Course

However, the hills were just too long and too many and when it came time to finish, I was one minute slower than last year. But, I was okay with that. I had met my goal of running all the down hills and flat parts, and didn't feel like I was going to die at the end. I also wasn't almost last like last year, and finished before 50 other people. I felt so proud of myself, that I didn't even care about my extra minute. This year was for a change in mentality. There's always next year for a change in speed.

Finisher's photo, temperature, and participant shirt