I'm off to NYC for the Queens Half Marathon on Saturday!

Ok, so I've never run a half marathon before...

...but come Saturday that will change!

The last race I ran was in Santa Fe...got to hang with Caroline Rotich!

Friday morning I'm heading up to see one of my girlfriends in NYC and while I'm up there I'm going to run the Queens Half Marathon.

And I do mean run, NOT race.

It's going to be HOT and I technically have not been training for a half marathon.  I haven't run 13 miles since coming back from 5 months off running after my pelvic stress fracture last year.

So this will be a fun, supported long run.  I want practice with more longer races, since the farthest that I've ever raced is a 10K.

Can't wait for a weekend in NYC!

And I hope to get to see Susan from Nurse on the Run, she's running the Queens Half Marathon too :)

So excited about this trip, I could eat some giant white grapes!

Marathon Training Week #8

Week #8 of marathon training is now complete.

STATS for the week:
-Ran 31.1 miles
-Saturday group "long run"= 8.14 miles (in 85 degree heat), average pace of 8:10
-1 abs/core class
-3 days off from running
-One little "speed work" episode of three 7 minute miles on treadmill

I was sad that this week's long run was only 8 miles...but when I woke up at 6am and saw the 90% humidity and 85 degree temp, I really was OK with it.

Here I am in my post-run glory.  Don't worry, the photo was not taken while driving, as evidenced by the open car door.  Just posing on the steering wheel, playing "let's pretend."

Saturday group "long run" stats.  I picked it up a little for the last mile or so, but the rest was a very conversational pace.

Felt pretty decent the whole run.  I didn't love it though, don't like how the heat slows me down.

And golly, I couldn't forget to include this PRE-run photo of myself as an 80 year old woman with squinty eyes and a look of lifelessness...let me remind you this was at 6:05am, after just waking up 10 minutes previously.

LASTLY, how could I have forgotten to post my vain running photos from last week's 11 miler at an 8:03 pace?
Don't worry, they're making an appearance in this post:

I'm in the far back, in black...and look who's in front of me!

Swaying a little, too many bloody mary's before the run.

Thumbs up, of course

Looks like I have on a romper in this photo?

Do confess, is there even ONE person out there who is loving this heat wave?
Nope, it's not me!

Conch Republic Richmond VA

Lunch on the water, YES please!

I am a sucker for a deck with a great view.

After long run, basking on porch.

The new Conch Republic in downtown Richmond does not fail to amaze me.  I last talked about it during this post.

I've always been happy with the food, and you can NOT go wrong with the beautiful view of the James River.

I got a spinach salad with added grilled shrimp, delicious.  T got a club sandwich, which was huge.  Fried Plantain on the side!

Huge club sandwich with fried plantains.

Last visit to the Conch was when Sissy came to town last weekend:

Sissy love, I'm on the left.

And that SAME weekend, I did a Friday afternoon happy hour with my girlfriends at the Conch Republic:

My loves, I'm on the left.

 Drinks on the porch around sunset...can't beat it!

T and me at sunset.

Their happy hour specials are unbeatable...$3 well drinks, many $2 beers, etc.  And the HH hours are pretty generous, goes until 7pm.

Do you have a good waterfront restaurant in your neck of the woods?
The Conch Republic is one of the first waterfront restaurants in Richmond, LONG overdue...considering that most of downtown is next to the river, but just hasn't been developed for waterfront dining.

HELP: Queens Half Marathon Bib Plea!

Does anyone have an extra bib for the Queens Half Marathon for July 30th in NYC?

I think I'm going to run it because it fits perfectly with a trip to NYC that I'm planning next weekend.

BUT...it's sold out.

NO, I haven't been training for a half marathon, but I plan on keeping it as a practice race.  I'd like to see what it's like to do a half marathon, since the longest I've ever race I've ever done is a 10K.

Yes, I know this is last minute, but if you know anyone who has been injured at the last minute and has an extra bib, please let me know :)

How can you say NO to this excited 6am nerd face?

Yes, Yes, bad repeat photo, I know!

Maymont and Sissy Comes to Town

Recently my sister came to town to visit me and we had a blast.

She's 1.5 years older than I am and she's super adventurous-- loves to travel, was a Fulbright Scholar, has lived in tons of different countries (Austria, Germany, Russia, etc.) and speaks a ton of languages.

Firstly, we explored Maymont Park.

Ok, so I suppose I'm larger than a vulture, but smaller than a bald eagle!

OK I actually don't know what birds those are.

Black Bears, which were straight up fightin' with each other for the whole time that we were checking them out.

A new vulture friend:

The Japanese Gardens:

Artsy Fartsy

The Italian garden, gorgeous overview over the hill:

A fancy schmacy looking fountain:

OK HERE'S MY FAV:

Aahahaha.  Too much fun!

Are you close with your sibling(s)?
My sister and I are super close in age and we were NOT friends growing up, but we've really grown to love each other over the years :)

Court Date and Wednesday Wave

UPDATE:  I won!  (The police officer had in fact misread the sign.)

I have a court date today.  Nothing exciting though, just a parking ticket that I wasn't supposed to get, I believe the police officer read the sign incorrectly.

Or so I hope!

I took photos and have the citation which clearly says something different from the sign, so we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I wanted to include this photo of a giant neon pink hand, waving hello.  I am too tired after nightshift right now to write about anything good, even though there's lots to catch up on...

...so this is it for now!

Some roomie love!!  I'm in the middle.

Marathon Training Week #7

Despite working four nights in a row, I had a pretty great week.

Here are the stats:
Run 31.6 miles
Long run 11 miles at an 8:03 pace
Biked 66.5 miles
10 laps swimming (which probably sounds like noooothing to you guys, but for me it was an accomplishment :)
1 abs/core class
3 days off from running

I was happy on the exercise front, I love getting in some decent running plus some quality cross training.

Saturday's long run of 11 miles at an 8:03 pace was surprisingly fun.  The route was actually quite hilly (the Riverside drive route) so I thought I would have slowed down a lot, but I didn't feel bad at all and was able to keep a steady pace.

Here I am, dancing in the car before running on Saturday morning.

Yes, that is my half-dead 6am face!
Look at those tired eyes, but you can tell I'm excited for a good long run, as evidenced by my dorky pose.
I always get all giddy before the Saturday morning runs, I'm such a nerd.

Rest of the weekend was great, including a visit from my sister, trip to Maymont, trip to the pool, BBQ, patio happy hour, etc.  More fun posts to come!

What is your favorite time of the week?
I LOVE Saturday mornings after long runs.  Best time of the week, hands down.  I can do anything under the sky and it will be super fun because of the extended endorphin high.  I always drink my 2-3 glasses of milk and then T and I usually walk over to Starbucks to get breakfast.

8 miles Running, 22 miles Spinning, and ABS class!

I was off of work today and was OBVIOUSLY bored, as evidenced by the following list of exercise that I used to pass the time:

-8 mile run at 1pm
-22 miles on the bike at spin class
-one hour ABS class (this is a core/abs class)

And then I cleaned up and showered!

For those of you who may know me, the shower and clean-up part may be the big surprise of the day!

I usually like to sit around with unwashed hair as long as I can possibly get away with it.

I (almost) always wash my hair before work.  But if I don't have to go out in public, and I'm about to exercise again within less than a day, I'll shower, but just not wash my hair.

Does anyone else do this?
Or do you have to wash your hair as soon as you're done exercising?
I like to think I'm being healthy by letting my hair bask in it's natural glory!

Peanut Butter & Co

White chocolate + peanut butter?

Honey + peanut butter?

SIGN ME UP!

This week I tried Peanut Butter & Co.'s delicious line of All Natural gourmet peanut butters.  HEAVEN.

Some sort of genius came up with this idea:  mixing flavors with peanut butter to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Peanut Butter & Co is all natural, and the ingredients are VERY simple.  No corn syrup.  No crap.

I love to eat it by the spoonful!!

 

I tried three different flavors.  Our local grocery store had them on sale for $3.75 each, couldn't resist the temptation.

White Chocolate Wonderful has a great sweet and sharp, but light taste.  My fav.

The Bee's Knees was my 2nd favorite.  It has little honey/sugar textured specks in it, which I really like because I like some texture.

Dark Chocolate Dreams was great too.  But it didn't taste as good as I'd anticipated, I was hoping that it was going to be as delicious as Nutella, but it wasn't quite.

So of course I had to go to the company's website (click here) to check out this place to see if it's legit.

And it was.  They pass the test.  Endless selection.

Check out their different PBs here:

Which of the 10 flavors would you get?

What's your favorite brand of Peanut Butter?

Tried Peanut Butter & Co?

Loved or hated it?

I am a convert.

Marathon Training Week #6

I am in the cloud of a number of nightshifts in a row, so no humor for me this morning, since I've been up since yesterday afternoon.

I'll hit the wall in probably 10 minutes here and that'll be the end of me until I wake up this afternoon for a 'lil jog!  ...and then back to work at 7pm until 7am.

So...here's just a 'lil summary of this week's training for the Richmond Marathon.

Week#6:

Miles run:  36.2

"Long run":  10 miles

Days of resting from running:  2

The "long run" on Saturday was 10.00 miles at an 8:03 pace.  It was conversational.

Usually at the end, I have energy to push it, but I didn't have the kicking drive this week because I have a little upper respiratory infection thing going on and my body just didn't have it in me.

After the run, I drank a few glasses of milk, showered and then headed over to Starbucks with T to get some breakfast.

In this photo, you can see my popsicle and ice water, my two favorite treats on a deathly hot day!

On a side note, one of my friends at work went skydiving on Saturday and now I REALLY want to go.

Anyone been skydiving before?  Thoughts?

Three Sheets to the Wind: America's #1 Tribute to Yacht Rock

Saturday was the "Rock the Boat" party at The Tobacco Company Restaurant in Richmond, VA.

Don't be fooled by all the blonde, I'm in the middle.

It was from 3pm-8pm and featured the band Three Sheets to the Wind:  America's #1 Tribute to Yacht Rock.  I went with two of my dear girlfriends plus T.

I had heard of this group before in passing, but I remained with questions...

• So what is Yacht Rock?
• To quote wikipedia:  "Yacht rock refers to the highly polished brand of soft rock that emanated from Southern California during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In part, the term relates to the stereotype of the yuppie yacht owner, enjoying smooth music while out for a sail."

• OK sounds strange, am I going to like this?
• It turns out YES!

I pretty much loved every song that they played...
Picture:
-Escape (pina colada song)
-Rich Girl, Private Eye, Maneater (Hill and Oates)
-Africa, Rosanna (Toto)
-All Night Long (Riche)
-Brandy
-Power of Love

And they're hilarious.

Just check out their YouTube intro video:

Here's their website.

Check out their facebook page, it lists their interests as:
Boat shoes, Sea legs, Jack & Tab, Kirschwasser from a shell, the Cuervo Gold, the fine Colombian, Farrah Fawcett, Magnum PI, Bartender Isaac Washington, Riptide, Low riding bathing suits, Coppertone, Pina Coladas, Making love at midnight, midnight cruises, The rains down in africa.


Definitely going to go check them out next time they're in town.


After the concert, we went to my girlfriend's loft.  It's so gorgeous, I felt like we were on a showroom floor.


Favorite feature of the loft were the SUPER HIGH ceilings.  Love me some tall windows and high ceilings.

Hello Neon-Devil-Eyes

But it gets even better.


Couch sitting and hanging out was followed by some fireworks on the rooftop deck.

I'm 2nd from left.  Brit (with brown hair) is on my running team.

Big shout out to Once Upon a Lime who inspired my Target dress!

Anyone watch the fireworks from a fun location this weekend?  Anyone heard of this crazy thing called Yacht Rock?

Marathon Training Week #5

Happy long weekend!

This SIX day weekend has been action packed.  Future post will be created for a little photo montage of fun.

But for now, a brief update on Marathon Training Week #5 of 23.

This week was a "drop back" week with the marathon training team, so our "long run" was only 7 miles. 

And at that, the course was short!  Being the neurotic person that I am, I really was tempted to run juuust a little bit longer to make it an even 7 miles, but I chose to exercise some very serious self control!!

So anyway, we ran 6.79 miles, average pace of 7:41.

I just listened to my legs and ran at whatever pace felt comfortable.  The folks around me and I picked up the pace a little during the last few miles and it felt really good.

The photo guy wasn't out on Saturday, so here's an old throwback of a running photo from a couple weeks ago in Duck, NC.

The week in numbers:
Miles run:  28.7 miles
Long run:  6.79 miles
Days off from running:  2
Miles biked:  27

Does anyone like "drop back" weeks?  I don't love them, because I like making progress and increasing numbers...but I KNOW it is good for your body, so I have NO problem going along with it.

Hoarding Nalgenes

I have a confession to make.  Over the years, I may have accumulated too many Nalgene bottles.

It started with one little yellow guy back in high school...

And then I needed one for my car...

And then another for my backpack...

And then another for when I'm at my parent's house...

And then people started giving them to me...

And I'd get one as a souvenir on trips, like the Aspen one.

And before I knew it, I had a collection:

And then yesterday...

I donated each and every one of them, 

(well, except for the two neon green ones in the photo above.)

I realized that I didn't need 15 Nalgenes!

Yes, I drink a ton of water, but NOT that much.

I probably drink an average of 2 liters of water per day, but certainly not 15 in one day.

If you know me well, it would come to a huge surprise that I had so many water bottles because I am usually a such a minimalist and have ZERO clutter in my house.  They did a good job hiding themselves in the kitchen cabinet.

I also cleaned out my basement and donated a bunch of bags of clothing.  Felt good!

Here's the back of my 4Runner, all packed up:

Does anyone else have a brand that they really love for water bottles, or is everyone else a Nalgene fan like I am?

I haven't really branched out, once I find something I like, I stick to it.

Various Shades of Neon (plus spinning)

Happy Long Weekend to all!

I am enjoying day 2 of a 5 day weekend.  Yes, mine is extra long, but we must not forget that before this stretch off, I worked 6 of 7 days.

Yesterday I did 27 miles on the bike.  20 miles were from a spin class and 7 were from a casual cruise around the neighborhood.

This is my trusty old Georgina that I used to cycle across Spain, back in the day.  I'm going to pick out a new road bike this summer, I'm excited.

Today I ran 6.2 miles around the neighborhood, I explored a new route.  The sun was out in full force by the time I rambled out of the house around 12 noon, so this was a slow, relaxing run.

Now it's time for some quality porch time :)

As you can see, the Neon has been in full effect these last couple days.  I need to balance it out somehow, but I just can't help myself.

At the risk of sounding like an addict...I think I may also be addicted to neon.  But I think you all were very aware of that at this point.

Being visible while exercising is SO important to me because I go out on heavily trafficked roads.  I don't want to end up as a patient in my trauma ICU because a car didn't see me.  I always run very defensively, but there's only so much you can do when there are careless fools all over the place.

Oh and Dear OUAL: I found your dress at Target the other day.  Can't wait to get some action shots in it.  But I won't be half as cute as you are in it :)