the third time I ran 13.1 miles

Third time is NOT the charm. For me, at least. I'll blame it on running solo...

Let's back track a bit. About two months. To the beginning of this past May, for the Colorado Marathon Half Marathon. Normally my Dad and I run these races together, but the poor man had shoulder surgery a month before, so I had to go it alone. And it was not pretty. Although my cheering section was bigger by one person, so that was nice :)

I won't tell you my (terrible) time, or my average pace, or all the nuances of the race, but I will say I felt great, until my right knee (an IT band issue) started hurting at mile 3, then was very painful by mile 6 (other than my knee, the rest of me felt great! no blisters! I was fueled and hydrated and rested and raring to go!). Up until then, I was maintaining a pretty good pace (for me). From mile 6 and on, I alternated walking and running. I stopped at every aid station to use the restroom and rehydrate, and take some (more) ibuprofen.

The race starts in the Poudre Canyon and ends in Old Town, Fort Collins, with a beer garden at the end (hallelujah!!!). The course is beautiful, and mostly downhill - it's a race that a lot of people PR (personal record) in. But not I.

It's ok, though - I finished, and had a nice cheering section with posters (that I requested ). One read "Run Annie Run" and the other "Worst Parade Ever."

I added my own little hashtag: #yougoglencoco

So, not my best race, but it's given me motivation to figure out this IT band/knee issue (now my other one is starting to hurt when I run - perhaps I'm overcompensating?) for my next half in September.

And don't you worry, my running buddy is all signed up and has gotten the OK from his PT. Good thing, cause I need his motivation for those thirteen miles. And by motivation, I mean singing, and dancing, and "Anne, how ya doing?" and his grape-vining, and his running circles around me, and his running backwards, and then up and back, and making sure I don't fall over dead.

If I haven't said this before, my Dad is my favorite running buddy.

He's also usually down to buy me breakfast and a Bloody Maria after, too.

#willrunforfood

at the race expo with my Pop

that is me. a (very) slow runner.

and my cute Mama

with my friend, Ryan, at the start.
his first half, and he did it in under 2 hours!

professional race pictures - I try to smile when I see the photographers.
this was mile 4? 5?
and of course I wore my Colorado flag shorts - it was the Colorado Marathon!

almost to the end.
my mantra at this point: "beer, bacon, breakfast. beer, bacon, breakfast."

after I finished, before the beer

at the finish, nice and sweaty

black floral dress: c/o Aéropostale

black cardigan: Ann Taylor

black flats: Target

green shirt: Target

Colorado flag running shorts: SOARK

running shoes: Mizuno

sunglasses: Smith Optics

visor: Margaritaville (it's more of a state of mind)

medal: at the finish line

30 for 30: day 18

Day 18 was a really busy day. First, I ran a 5k with two of my friends, Chelsea, and Amanda.

Mid race potty break & obligatory bathroom selfie.

And then we ran to breakfast. We've started this "thing," where we run together, and then get breakfast afterwards. We're debating making shirts that say something along the lines of:

"Will run for breakfast"

or maybe

"Will run for bacon"

However, we did not run AFTER breakfast...

Then we drove to see my parents and pick up some things.

And then...

We got to see one of my best friends and her little guy. She came over for dinner and we all took turns holding him and bouncing him and swaying him. 

His cheeks are EVERYTHING.

And his thighs.

And his hands.

And his feet.

That's my Mom holding him. He's such a cutie-sweetie-pie who gives the best smiles :)

See my list of 30 items here.

twinsies

 Several weeks ago, my parents came to visit for the weekend. My Dad and I ran a 10k race Saturday morning. We coordinated our outfits (obvi) and ran the race together. Even enjoyed a beer together afterwards. Every time we run a race, my Dad says "Wasn't that fun?"

And I always respond with "Fun isn't the word I would use..." 

I do enjoy running, but during the race, I can only think "Uggh, when are we DONE???"

Afterwards, I'm so glad I did it. But during is a whole different story. 

at the start. matching Margaritaville visors

after the race (from Instagram) - enjoying post-race beers

Here's what I wore to run the 10k. My Dad has the same shorts and we both wore orange tank tops. And he wore his orange shoes, instead of green ones.

#twinsies

We got stopped a few times and asked where we got our shorts - I got mine from Soark. They've got several other flags, and running tights/leggings, in addition to shorts.

I just ordered new running shoes and they're white, so, bye bright orange Mizunos

*sniff sniff*

(I just got the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10s. The orange ones above are the Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s. I have yet to break in the new ones - stay tuned...)

this is me telling my Dad to stop trying to get fancy with the picture taking...

tank: WalMart

shorts: Soark

shoes: Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s (from a local running store)

visor: Margaritaville

Neon = Fast

I got some new stuff from Aéropostale. Not just regular clothes (I did get some of those, too), but more running stuff! Which is perfect, because my Dad and I are doing a 10k early this Saturday morning...

Oh, and I've actually been training for my half this time around!

All of this new activewear is from the Live Love Dream collection at Aéropostale (previously here). I'm a big fan of this stuff - fun prints and colors, quality sportswear (nothing worse than a bad sports bra, amiright?), all for very reasonable prices, just like everything else at Aéropostale.

I have a theory that neon makes me run faster. So I opt for bright and loud neon when I run. Bright shirt. Bright shoes (you can see me coming from a long ways off). Bright sports bras. Bright e'er'thang. It's tough to find neon running shorts, but don't worry - I'll keep looking.

 neon tank: LLD Mesh Back Performance Tank

sports bra: LLD Seamless Sports Bra

shorts: LLD #BESTBOOTYEVER Volleyball Shorts <-- the name of these cracks me up.

They say volleyball shorts, but I've worn them running a few times. While there is less coverage, I've added them to my running bottoms rotation. Sometimes it's nice to switch things up, y'know?

I really like these shorts - the paint splatter print is so fun, and a fun change from my stash of black and navy shorts. They're a bit shorter inseam than I'm used to, but that's not a big deal - I have shorts in all different sizes, fits, and inseam lengths. However, I do think I'm between sizes - the tush and legs of the shorts fit great, but the waistband is a wee bit big. Story of my life lately - clothes fitting in one area, and not another!

shorts: LLD Spray Paint Running Shorts

shoes: Mizuno

Painting Pups

If you've ever wanted to know what my dogs would look like as a painting, here they are:

We went to a local painting place, Pinot's Palette, and painted pictures of our sweetymcsweeties. We sent in pictures of the pups beforehand, and the studio converted them to a black & white gradient, then glued them to the canvas. With some beer and wine and lots of instruction, we slowly but surely painted our pets. I really enjoy doing this type of thing, but lack any artistic skill, so about twenty minutes in, when I've botched up my painting more than a few times, and lost all patience, I'm donnnnnne. And start creeping on everyone else's projects. And drinking more wine. 

And questioning my purpose on this earth if I can't paint a decent picture of my really sweet and handsome Turbo...

But anyways, here are our finished projects. We hung them up in our living room. While they DO resemble our sweeties, I prefer the real live ones to love on :)

Oh, and here's what I wore to paint. Of course I wore an apron over this ensemble. I also wore this to have breakfast with a friend that morning, which was splendid.

And then I ran a 10k that evening

and

LIVED TO TELL THE TALE!!!

We'll call that a success. Who cares about time or pace? I didn't stop and I didn't die, and I didn't feel like dying right after, or the day after. #winning

chambray: Kohl's

shorts: Old Navy

sandals: Target

Stripes, Plaid & Running for ME

digging this zipper detail on this shirt

showing off my purple mani, with a pink "party nail"

I wore the above to drive an hour to stay the night with my bestie before our race the next morning. I wore my ankle booties under my jeans, and deliberately mixed the stripes on my shirt with the plaid on my scarf. You like? I sure did. I'm debating wear this whole thing together again, but maybe this time to work, so that more people besides my husband and my best friend see it, and can appreciate my print-mixing & fall tones ;)

before the race, from my Instagram 

hot chocolate (hence the name) & treats after the race. marshmallows & pretzels never tasted so. good.

My best friend and I did the Hot Chocolate 15k several weeks ago (15k = 9.3 miles). She is currently training for a marathon (!!!), which is 26.2 miles, and although the race was more mileage than she was up to on her long run that week, she really blew the race out of the water! For the first 4 or 5 miles, we stayed together and consistently jogged for 3 minutes, then power walked for 2 minutes. Eventually, I was dyin'. I couldn't catch my breath, my feet were hurting & starting to develop blisters, and my legs. My legs got so tight & sore, even though we had stretched out before the race (it's awesome when your bestie is taking classes to become a certified yoga instructor - she tells you HOW to stretch, how to increase the stretch, and tells you what you SHOULD be feeling). So, I sent her on ahead - she was doing so great, and I could tell she was loving this run (the HUGE smile on her face was a giveaway). She really was doing so great, and I was holding her back. So, she finished significantly before me, since I walked (almost) the rest of the race and listened to my booktape :) The pain & frustration I felt with this race are due to my lack of training - it's no one's fault but my own. 

I mentioned that my Dad and I were planning to do another half-marathon together, but that race was postponed due to the major flooding we experienced in Colorado in September. Once it was postponed, I completely stopped training and thinking about training (I assumed the race would be postponed until the spring, due to the major destruction of the course). Imagine my surprise when the race was rescheduled for a weekend that my Dad & I already had plans, and I had stopped training. I sold my entry for a fraction of what I paid for it, which was a bummer. 

But, after the Hot Chocolate race, and after talking with another friend, I had this "epiphany" about running: I like LOVE it when I'm not training for anything, when I'm doing it just for me, when I'm not trying to get in mileage, when there's no pressure, when I run to clear my head, and get a quick (and cheap!) shot of endorphins. 

Maybe signing up for a race causes me to put undue pressure on myself, and coincidentally tear up my feet with bad blisters. Maybe I should just keep running for fun, for me, for whenever I WANT to do it. Because, if I do go run, and I don't want to, it's hard to snap out of that funk - I spend the entire run wishing it were done already, or that I hadn't even started. So, I'm going to run for me, and for me only. It's not worth it to pay for a race, stress out about it, and not enjoy training for it - it's so much more enjoyable (for me), to run WHEN and IF I want to,  and not because I should.

That being said, I am so proud of one of my oldest friends for doing so well in this race (kicking my butt, really!) and training for a marathon - you are going to be SO great! So proud of you, sweets! Namaste ;)

striped shirt: Ann Taylor LOFT via Clothes Mentor

tank: Abercrombie & Fitch

scarf: thrifted (Target)

jeans: thrifted (True Religion)

booties: Old Navy

running gear: a combination of my stuff, hand-me-downs from my mom, 

and layers borrowed from my friend

Polka Dot Overload

dots on dots

I feel obligated to tell you that this was not the outfit I wore when I wore this outfit originally. 

Make sense? (I feel a bit like a Dr. Seuss book...)

I wore this to work on a Friday. Fridays are "spirit days," so I actually wore a work t-shirt, instead of this polka dot chambray. I know, it's like I'm lying to you, but hear me out! I didn't think you would be too impressed with a boring work t-shirt, so I swapped out the shirts for this visually interesting combination. However, the sweater, pants & shoes are true to what I actually wore. So, really only a quarter fib. Can we still be friends?

While we're on the subject of substitutes, I'm running the Hot Chocolate 15K tomorrow morning! I was supposed to run it with one friend, but unfortunately she hurt her foot/ankle/leg, and is in a boot while she heals. However, she was kind & gracious enough to allow me to ask another friend (this friend) to do the race with me in her place. So, we'll be running & consuming hot chocolate tomorrow morning. Wish me us luck! ;)

shirt: thrifted

sweater: thrifted

pants: Old Navy via Plato's Closet

shoes: Target

linking up this over here, and this over here, cause I'm fab and I love it :)

Mr. Picks Mondays: Pink & Navy

pockets, my friends, pockets

I'm working on my posing #help

I'm really obsessed with these two - they're just so lovable & squeezable!

 My Mr. picked out this navy dress for me to wear today. It's a little funny - I have FOUR (count: 1, 2, 3, 4) navy dresses in my closet, but they're all VERY different! Trust me! 

Anyway, this is my first time wearing this cute printed number. I picked it up at ARC back in January or February with the plan to wear it when the temperature heats up. And today, it did just that! Still had to wear a sweater in my office, but overall, a dress keeps me so much cooler than pants. And if I get really hot, I can just flap my dress a bit to get a breeze ;)

I went on my first run since my half marathon today on my lunch break. The sun was out, there was a bit of a breeze, or I just run SO fast there's always a breeze...bahaha, I kid! I was really glad to be running again, but then my right knee started hurting. It hurt during my race, and a few days after, so I iced it and took plenty of ibuprofen. I thought I was good to go, but it hurt a bit today. Not unbearably so, but I definitely don't want to injure myself. So, I'll be taking it nice and slow for the next few days - run when I can, and walk when it hurts. With some ice and ice cream thrown in, too :) It's not surprising that my knee hurts - I didn't really train for my half, so, that was dumb on my part. Never again will I do something like that without preparing - I'm so lucky I didn't get seriously hurt. #thatwasdumb

Dress: Old Navy

Sweater: Old Navy

Sandals: Born

Earrings & matching bracelets: Claire's

All other jewelry: gifts from my Godmother