Recovery Week

Hi! 

I had every intention of running this morning, just a short distance, maybe 3 miles.  My alarm went off at 6 (which is sleeping in) and I just couldn't get my brain to follow.  Mentally I need a run, I know physically its all about recovery, stretching and letting my body rest.  Sigh.  I think I will try for a dreadmill run later this evening just to work on shaking out my legs and the cobwebs from my mind.  I've been walking plenty, I mean c'mon, when do I sit down besides right now?!  

I figure since I have no fun running story to share with you today I would share my Marathon Expo experience!   I was late picking up Katie because traffic was purely against me.  It does not matter what time I leave my house, traffic going to my Jesse's office is a nightmare.  It took me an hour and a half to get there and I gave myself an hour...bummer.  I have been working very hard on my punctuality because I know its rude to be late when someone is waiting on you.  But man sometimes it really isn't my fault!    

After I left the girls with Jess I got Katie around 5:30 and we got to the Expo at the Downtown Portland Hilton around 6:45, we might have made a couple pit stops.  Once we got there we were so excited to pick up our bibs and see the shirts!

We didn't have to wait in any lines to pick up our bibs, our goody bags or to buy anything so that was a nice treat! 

There were a lot of great booths to check out, lots of samples and coupons.  I really liked seeing all of the race reps from other marathons from around the country.  My favorite was the Missoula Montana Marathon, they had a sample of their finisher medal and it was a horse shoe.  Might get my MIL to run a marathon if she knew she got that at the finish!  

Then I let Katie have my camera so she could take a picture of me...and well, I guess...ya.  She is pretty isn't she?!  The Expo was mellow, Katie bought a cute pink Portland Marathon T-Shirt and I bought a coffee mug.  I brought my Workout Tips from my Workout Tip Jar to use to buy anything that caught my eye, so that was a worthwhile reward!  I could see spending more time at the Expo if you were in the market for some cool running gear at a good price.  I know the Portland Running Company was having some great deals for the Expo participants and lots of the other vendors were also.  

Have you ever been to a really large race expo? 

- Portland's seemed small, but for a first timer like me it was perfect 

Share some recovery tips with me, this is all new to me!

The Color Run!

Good morning!  Happy Monday and 1st of October!  The 1st of October means I can legally bust out my Halloween decorations today, woop!  It is going to be a pretty big day around here.  In other big news Katie and I finally got a chance to do the Color Run this past weekend.  

They say that 15,000 people were registered for it but it never felt like that many people to me.  It probably helped that it took place at Portland International Raceway so there was lots of room for people to move.  We got there nice and early so we didn't really have a lot of lines to wait in and we were able to be in the 2nd wave of runners.  Well let me correct that, we were able to dodge lots of walkers, lol.  I am not saying there is anything wrong with walkers but I think it would be better to split us up.  Runners get started first and then the walkers, I think everyone would have enjoyed the course a little more.  Lots of dodging and swerving, I am sure the walkers loved being sideswiped the whole 5k.  

The swag bag wasn't to exciting, a cotton t-shirt, a Color Runner sweat headband, temp tattoo and bag of color for the end.  Plus there wasn't anything at the finish like snacks or samples really.  I saw a line for some drink, similar to a sports drink, but the line was LONG.  Probably because that was the only thing they were offering.  There was lots of food you could buy but I doubt to many people had a lot of money on them,  most knew anything they brought would be covered in color by the end.  We did have a good time on the course and got very colored by the end of it!  

Before: 

After: 

So far today seems quiet, besides the garbage man outside my window delivering some gigantic dumpster to the neighbors at 7 AM, that's fun.  It is still taper week around here and apparently I am suppose to eat pasta at every meal to build up my carbs.  Fine!  If I must!  I am kidding, please don't send me "You are an idiot" emails, I know I am suppose to up my carbs a little bit and I promise only 1 pasta dish per day ;)  

Have you ever done the Color Run?  

Were you there this weekend?! 

Tell me about your tips for taper week!   

Swagger Baby!

Good afternoon!  2 days till the Helvetia Half and today was packet pick up at Portland Running Company in Beaverton.  I cannot tell a lie, I love swag bags almost as much as I love running, I would say going through the swag bag is just as exciting as getting to the start of the race.

Our shirt is Nike Dry Fit and is really light weight, almost see through if you hold it up to the light...going to try it on with my white sports bra and make sure I am not flashing anyone at Helvetia.  We got some pretty fun stuff in our bag like a free Jamba Juice, a free medium drink from Peet's Coffee & Tea, a packet of Cliff Energy shot and a sample of some athletic tape, which is a pretty nice item to have around!  While I was there I also bought a tube of Nuun, I've been wanting to give it a try so after the half this Saturday I am going to try it on my next long run.  

Now I am going to work on my playlist for Saturday, the songs I've been training with since February are starting to get a little tired.  Any must have's for my iPod this Saturday?!

OK OK I Surrender!

So apparently I am just way to hard on myself, says the one with the size 2 shorts and can't seem to eat enough to keep the weight ON...won't name any names, she knows who she is.  Its a hard thing for a lot of girls I believe, we all struggle with our body image and never feel quite right with it, but enough of that, like I said, I've surrendered!

On a fun note!  Yesterday we picked up our bib and shirt for the Doggie Dash this Saturday on the Portland Waterfront.

I am really looking forward to this event mainly because of all of the four legged friends that will be joining us!  Sadly Lucy will be staying home for this particular event, she is just really small and not ready to dash for the 2.5 miles.  Sorry sweetie!

She appears very disturbed by this news

We'll start training on Sunday for next year! 

I don't think she believes me...crazy eyes!

This last Sunday Katie had me and her family over for a birthday dinner to celebrate her MIL's and my birthdays.  Her sweet sister in law Shannon gave me $20 bucks to buy something running related in her words, so I followed her directions yesterday and bought a pair of Nike running shorts from the Rack.  Do I love running in shorts...I dunno, we'll see I guess!  I see a lot of front wedgies in my future and lots of awkward trying to pull them out while I think no one is looking...someone is always looking.

And I also picked up this number...questioning myself as to what I was thinking, was it the sugar?  We'll see if this sticks around or goes to Katie.  She's small enough to pull it off and won't look weird, sorry if that is self deprecating but c'mon!

Any who...tomorrow might be the day they release Jenny from their grips at the hospital so fingers crossed I'll be driving her home tomorrow! 

Now that summer is coming up, YAHOO, what are you favorite running pieces when it starts to get hot?