#FierceFund Traveling Blue Wig Project

Have you ever felt fierce? Come on, there has to be one time at least, we all have them! When I saw this project, I immediately thought of my 2013 goal to run 13 Half Marathons in one year. There were times I wanted to give up, times I wanted to blow off training runs, and I still can't properly cross train, but every time I show up at a race I know. Run, walk, or crawl, I will finish!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, a quick peek at my first 11 Half Marathons, and a look forward at the two that will complete my journey!

Race #1: Barking Mad Virtual Half. I did this alone. In the snow. February 16, and it was an easy enough run, once you count out the slippery ground. I know, Jersey doesn't get *real* snow, but it does get slippery for a little while before the sun comes back out!

Race #2: Rock n Roll USA. This was held in Washington DC, which is a beautiful place to run, until you start looking at the hills. Jersey is flat, peeps, and DC is not. My time was average for me, and I finished, so woohooo! I looked cute, too!

 Race #3: E Murray Todd. Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. This was #2 and DC was #3. Anyway....It was bitter cold, and super hilly, and it kicked our butts. My friend Eileen ran with me, and we even bumped into my new (at the time) friend Lisa on the course. Great race overall, but no bling! Huh? We did score a jar of the Biscoff spread though. Bonus! It took almost 3 hours to finish though. For real. The hills will killer and in the end we were walking. Oh well. We finished!

Race #4: April Fool's Half. Atlanti City. Girls' weekend. Need I say more? Colleen has just run Princess, so we took it easy. Eileen kicked butt, and I think she even PRd. A beautiful, flat course!

 Race #5: Runapalooza in Asbury Park NJ. I was so excited to run this nice flat course, but I did something to my knee at mile 10 and walked most of the last 3 miles. Epic Fail on time, totally Fierce Finish! Oh, and we had cupcakes afterwards!

Race #6: Long Branch Half, which is part of the New Jersey Marathon! This was my second year running this race. After getting stuck in traffic, and starting alone 16 minutes late (so glad it was chip timed) I managed to PR for that course, but my bum knee from the previous race slowed me down after mile 11. Tearful, Fierce finish! Photo op with Lisa!

Race #7: Super Hero Half. HOLY RAIN BATMAN! It rained for the entire race, in buckets. It was miserable, but my Facebook friend Maryalicia came all the way from Washington state to run with me, and we had a blast! Eileen PRd again, and we got  photo op with some other Fanatics.

Race #8: Biggest Loser. Oh.my.heck. My PR for the season, amazing day all around, getting to meet Dan Evans and have him give me a shout out on stage, kudos for my races thus far, and a beautiful flat course. Erie PA is amazing!

Race #9: Sloppy Cuckoo. This was a trail race. Mud, hills, puddles, tree limbs, insanity. PLUS I injured my knee in a 10K and was all tapes up. It took us close to 4 hours to finish, but finish we did! I cannot wait to try that bad boy again next year! Eileen was awesome, truly motivating! What a great day!

Race #10: Rock n Roll Providence. My knee still hurt and Providence is HILLY. It is also beautiful. On the first hill, I also injured my hip/glute area and gimped for 13.1 miles. It was worth every minute, and it wasn't even my worst time all year, which was a bonus. Plus, I got to meet up with a large group of Fanatics, and Jen, a fellow blogger!

Race #11: Atlantic City Half. I thought this would be flat, like April Fool's. Not so much. 4 hills. 30 mph winds. Slow finish. The knee keeps improving, which is a good sign! Eileen did well, and beat me by 20 minutes!

So, what's in store for #12 and lucky #13?

Hat Trick: a 5K and 10K on Saturday and Half on Sunday!

and

I did the 10K last year and look forward to making the half #13

I must admit, I am feeling pretty Fierce! I gladly donned the Traveling Blue Wig, and my teenie did too. She just ran a 5K and beat her best time by 4 minutes! That's pretty Fierce! 

The dogs? Well, they put up with us hoomans every day, so that alone is pretty Fierce!

SO, the big question is, what can you all do to help? Check out Fierce Fund at Clever Girls Collective, and vote! One lucky winner will receive $20,000 from #FierceFund, to keep them on the road to helping women! Who are the nominees?

Hard to decide, isn't it? Get on over and VOTE!

What have you done lately that made 

you feel Fierce?

#11 out of 13... Atlantic City Half Marathon

runner swag

I entered this weekend a little nervous, I must say! Tropical Storm Karen was not supposed to hit us, but we were due for some backlash, and rain and high winds were predicted for the weekend!
My friend Eileen came over on Saturday morning and we headed into Atlantic City for the expo. I was signed up to work at the booth for the Trenton Half Marathon, and we wanted to get there as soon as possible!
We parked at Revel (we were staying there, the host hotel was Caesars but we prefer Revel!) We walked the 2 miles to the Convention Center before realizing that when they said Convention Hall, they meant Caesar's Hall. Duh! Back a half mile to the proper location, and we finally made it!

We introduced ourselves to Kevin from the Trenton Half, and his girlfriend. She handed us a note left for me by the Nerd Herd. I was so bummed that I had missed them! They did take a pic and post it on Facebook for me to see:

Once Kevin realized I had a friend with me, he and his girlfriend left for lunch. For almost 3 hours. We met a lot of interesting people, handed out a lot of coupon codes for the race, in those hours. We also got very very hungry, since we hadn't had lunch yet! He arrived back at the booth at almost 3:00, and said we could take a lunch. 

working the booth!

Caesars was very smoky and hard to maneuver, so we decided to hit the boardwalk for a light lunch. We decided on hot pretzels to hold us over until it was time for Carmine's for dinner. We walked about a mile, and it started to pour, and the wind started to blow. UGH. Now we are wet, a mile away from the hotel, and need to dry off! We go back to the hotel, check in, and change, and now it almost 5:00. At this point we realize we will not be heading back to the expo, there isn't enough time before it closes, so we head out for our second mission. To secure breakfast cupcakes! We had them in April before the April Fool's half, and wanted to repeat the fun. Our regular bakery wasn't open before we had to leave, so we thought we would find them in AC.
Not so much.
No one had cupcakes. After touring the entire hotel, we decide to head out to Trop for dinner at Carmine's. The wind and rain was out of contra by now, so we had to drive. Bummer! The walk is so much better, you can walk off a little of the dinner and people watch at the same time!
We got there without any huge disasters, other than some crazy Hyundai with tinted windows that seemed to cut us off at every turn in the garage, while we tried to find a space. We survived, though, and left our name at the front desk. I asked them to confirm my last name when they called us. Last time, some one stole our table! When my name was called, they claimed the table and we waited over 40 minutes before finally checking in, and discovering the error.
The hostess sent us to the bar to wait and after about 15 minutes, the bar tender kicked us out! Huh! we were told to sit there! UGH. Just as we made our way to the hostess desk, my name was called. Perfect.
Instead of confirming my last name, though, he showed it to Eileen and asked her how to pronounce it. Ummmm, nice. Anyone could have faked it, and taken our table. Fail!
Our meal was fabulous however, and our waiter was perfection. No long waits, no snafus. Just perfectly delicious food!

 By now, we were tired and we were ready to go chill in our room. We hit the stairs that would take us to the parking garage. Halfway up, this ... woman ... was standing in our way. Just standing. Glaring at us. Refusing to move. She was on our side of the stairs, but we decided to just go around, be the better people. We even said excuse me. Never a word, just a glare. SO RUDE!
We laughed about her behavior all the way to the car, and headed for the booth to pay for parking.  There was a Cadillac ahead of us, and it wasn't moving. After a few minutes, the attendant waved us back. Huh? Was the dude refusing to pay? As soon as we backed up, Caddy man started to cut his wheel to back up and crashed into a yellow post on his right. Yikes. Time to move over to another booth. As we do, he starts to come right towards us. I seriously thought he would hit us. I practically threw money at the new attendant, trying to get out of there! Crazy! The Trop just scares me!
Whew! back at Revel, ready for bed, so we can race in the morning!
We both woke up early, nervous about the crazy wind that was whistling all around the building. It was dry, at least, and we had a fabulous early morning view of the city!

We got dressed and had our breakfast, which was basically granola bars and cereal that we got at the gift shop in the hotel lobby. Epic cupcake fail! Oh, and I forgot my Honey Stingers. For real. No waffles for me. I bought Swedish Fish and packed them into my Running Buddy instead.

We reluctantly left the room, and headed for the elevators, Obviously, there were some parties going in last night, and we had a little giggle over the mess in the elevator lobby area.

someone's pizza mess

this thing changed colors, no idea what it is.

The wind in the lobby was still whistling like a tea kettle, but once we got down to the boardwalk level, it was a little better. It was mostly gusts, at this point, although they were 30 mph gusts! The temp was perfect for a Half Marathon, which made us happy!
We got to the start with about 30 minutes to spare, checked our bags, and waited for the start. There are no corrals, so we lined up with the 10 minute milers, and got ready.
It started right on time, but the course was all wrong! I assumed it would be similar to the April race, but it started in the other direction. Oh no! We ran off the boardwalk right away and into the streets of AC. I lost Eileen right away. She is speedier than I am. I had no tunes, because I knew the wind would blow my earbud cord around and annoy me. After a couple miles I saw it. The first hill. UGH! I was not prepared for hills. This one was a ramp onto the highway. As you reached the top, you could see the next ramp you would be running on. After the first hill, though, was a tunnel. It was wind free, fun to run through, and wrecked my gps for the rest of the race. It was only about 1/10th of a mile, maybe a bit more, just enough to annoy me. I kept up a pretty steady 11:30 pace in the beginning, but the wind really started to get the best of me. Every time it blew, I would end up 3 steps to the side, and I actually kicked myself about 5 times.
The wind could also be your friend at times, like as we turned to go up onto the boardwalk, and it blew at our backs. This did not happen often, however! Once on the boardwalk, the wind was not bad for awhile. I approached the finish at mile 9, and got to see Eileen's friend finish in under 2 hours! WOW!
This is where things got messy. There were runners coming and going, with no defined lanes, for the last 4 miles. Awkward! Around mile 10, the first *marathoner* passed me in the other direction. You read that correctly, the man who won passed me at around the 2 hour mark. Insane! Twice the distance in less time. Crazy!
I saw Eileen at around mile 11 I think, and we cheered for each other. Then the wind started agin, only now it brought sand with it. It was in my ears, eyes, and mouth. Yuck. At about mile 11.5 was the turnaround. SO happy!
The last 2 miles were the happiest, knowing that I was almost done. They were also the slowest. No real pain, finally, but my legs were so *tired* from fighting the wind.
SO many people were cheering for us, it made me fight a little harder. Every time the wind blew, they would cheer louder.
During the last mile, the second marathoner finished, and about 15 minutes after I finished, the first female marathoner came through. Amazing!

the medal has a bottle opener and the lighthouse light blinks red

It was exhausting! I am so glad that it is over! I have Runners World this weekend, and I hope it didn't wear me out too badly! Eileen was amazing, and finished 20 minutes ahead of me! She's a beast!

We went back to our room and changed for the short ride back home. I stopped to get a bottle of chocolate milk. I am lactose intolerant, but I can drink one after a race like this without the pain, so I always try to take advantage!

it's the little things in life, for real!

#11 done, 2 more to go!

What did you do this weekend to keep your body moving?

Butteifulgirls Headband Giveaway

****I received 2 headbands from Jessica at Butteiful Girls for the purposes of this review. As always, all opinions are my own!****

Last month, I was the lucky winner of a Gift Certificate at Butteiful Girls' Facebook page. I was so excited, because the teenie was having a hard time at school, and I knew that the leg warmers that Jessica makes would really cheer her up! I ordered her these in brown:

When Jessica and I were emailing back and forth, she saw that I had a running blog (my link is in my signature), and she asked if I would like to try out some of her headbands. Ummmmm, yeah! She sent me two headbands, a pretty patterned one that makes me think of Fall, and a black one. I wore the patterned headband on a run yesterday, and I loved it! It is so soft, and so comfy, and it never moved during my entire run. WIN!
I always wear headbands when I run, and it is hard to find ones that stay on my oddly shaped head, so this was a great bonus! I have thin hair, and there are always wisps around my forehead, getting in my way, so headbands are an absolute must!
I wore it again today to do some yoga, and was so thrilled with it again! It really is comfy, you forget it is even there, and it never moved, not even during repeated downward dogs! Woot! I tried taking some selfies, but I always feel like I look 100 years old, or like someone you would see when you look through a peephole.

source

Seriously. So, I went to Butteiful Girls' Etsy Shop and I borrowed one of theirs.

Much better! What a great headband! Because Jessica sent me two, and because I like to share, I am giving away the black one! But first, let me share some information taken from the Etsy store:

Made with a jersey that is so soft and will go with almost anything in your closet. Bad hair days, be gone. Looks gorgeous with long , straight, curly or short hair. You can wear it thin or wide, the knot in front or twisted to the side.

Measures 20 inches around, will stretch to fit a variety of heads comfortably, maintains shape after wear. The edges are professionally finished for maximum comfort and stretch.

Item Details
♥ Extra wide head wrap
♥ Made with premium quality super soft jersey, stretchy knit & comfortable
♥ With this stretchy design, one size fits most adult women/teens head sizes
♥ Comfortable yet chic, it’s a win-win
♥ Turban style headband 

♥ Hand wash cold or gentle cycle cold and line dry.


I know you want one! SO, to win yourself a black headband, check out the rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pretty simple, right? I will choose the winner next Thursday, and notify them by email. Good luck!

Do you wear a headband when you run?

Susan G Komen Race for the Cure

Saturday night, after a crazy day at the Color Run, the teenie and I got ready for the Race for the Cure. I was running the 5k and she was walking the 4k with her school. She painted her jeans for the occasion and we laid out our outfits.

Sunday morning came all too fast, and we got up early again to go to the race. This race was only a 35 minute ride away at Six Flags. We arrived and parked with no problems, you gotta love that!

We picked up my bib and tee, and visited  the swag tables. We also punched out Cancer, where the company donated $1 for every punch!

It was time for me to ditch my stuff, so we went to the Team Tent, where the teenie's school earned a table. They always have a huge group, which earns them a table in the tent.

Time to race! I did some aerobics led by a Survivor, and then it was time to line up.

I wasn't expecting much in the way of finishing time, since the Color Run was so hilly and I still had a little knee ache. Switching back to my old Brooks is helping a lot, though, so I am expecting to be back to 100% soon!

The first mile went fast, and I hit it at around 10:00. So far so good. Of course, the hills get worse after the first mile! 

I only had a little pain, mostly it was my poor tired legs that slowed me down. It is fun to run through Hurricane Harbor, though, so I enjoyed the view and stopped worrying about time.

I finished just under 35 minutes, my slowest time for this race, but I didn't care. It was a great race, for a great cause, and I look forward to next year, which will be my fifth year!

Did you race this past weekend?

The Color Run, Lehigh Valley PA ... and a Giveaway Winner!

****I received two free registrations in exchange for this review. As always, all opinions are my own***

Saturday morning, my teenie and I got up super early, an headed to PA for the Color Run. We did one together last year in Brooklyn, and were looking forward to a more scenic event! The closer we got, the more Fall-like the trees became! About halfway there, this happened:

Ugh! This happened last week as well, I am not sure what the problem is, but it isn't the tire! I stopped to check it, just to be sure, and we continued on. Eventually,  the light went off on its own. Weird.

We got there with 45 minutes to spare, hit a little traffic, but parked on a back road fairly easily. We posed for some "before" pics....

The view of the area was amazing! I love Pennsylvania!

We made our way to the Check In tent, and were greeted with a very very long line. Our start time was 9:00, and it was 8:30 when we got on line.

Not good! By the time we got our bibs and tees it was almost 9:15. By the time we got to start the race it was 9:30. It was total chaos, way too many people leaving all at once. They do tell you to come early, and we had planned on being an hour early, but the car trouble and traffic when we arrived through us off a bit!

We finally got to start, but running was not really an option. Everyone was walking, sometimes in groups 6 across, and you couldn't get through easily at first. We ran when we could, walked when we couldn't, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

The color stations were also insane. There were so many people that you couldn't get to the volunteers with the color. A lot of people, including us, were just picking it up off the ground and throwing it at each other, kids made color angels, which was cute but dangerous, given the number of people coming through!

We ran through part of Muhlenburg University, which was a very scenic campus! There were brick sections of the road, which we walked over, and some breathtaking buildings.

We decided to run the last kilometer and the teenie took off ahead of me. I lost her for a bit at the finish, there were just so many people in large clumps everywhere! I caught the end of the after party, and then we found each other.

We took out our color packets, which we got to choose (so cool) and attacked each other with them. Time for our after pics! The teenie grabbed some color at the red station and used it was war paint! Look at that face!

She was so proud, she beat her best 5k time by 4-5 minutes!

Overall, we had an amazing time. There were far too many people, and not enough staff on hand to keep things moving in a timely manner, but he color station volunteers were all amazing, I have to say! Very high energy!
Also, there was very little police presence, and only one cop directing traffic.

It is definitely a fun family event, and a great way to get people moving! If the Color Run comes through your area, I highly suggest grabbing a group of friends and going. For all of the little glitches that races are bound to have, it really is an amazing time. Everyone is having fun out on that course, and it is a great way to get your family moving! Even babies in strollers are welcome to come have a great time.

You can find the Color Run

at their website

on Twitter

on Instagram

on Pinterest

on Facebook

and youtube

Congratulations to Lisa Tran for winning the MRTT Prize Pack! Lisa already gave me her info and her prize will be in the mail in the next day or so!

Be on the lookout for the next giveaway.....

Have you ever done a Color Run?

Rock n Roll Providence Half Marathon

Sunday the hubs and I got up bright and early, to head over to the Capitol Building. The Half Fanatics were meeting there for a photo op. I got dressed, taped my knee, and we headed out.
The Hilton had a great spread for the runners: Greek yogurt, apples and bananas, granola bars, water bottles. LOVE it. I grabbed an apple and a water bottle, since I am not a great eater before a race.
The walk to the Capitol Building was quick, and  we were there before long. It was still a little dark out, so the pics aren't as bright as I would have liked!

see me alllll the way to the left?

view from the Capitol

I met some Jersey Girls in the corral!

I finally met Jen from Final Forty

SOOOO, they were delayed a bit because the lines at the potties were so long, which gave me time to meet those Jersey girls above. I fangirled over their LuLuLemon skirts and they noticed my shirt as I walked away. TOO funny.
Then, as i waited, I saw Jen from the Final Forty and was so glad to finally meet her! We have been at a lot of the same races, and just never connected. Funny, because she is a Jersey Girl too, and we met in Providence! LOVE it!
Finally, the race started. I knew that it would be hilly, but it started on a hill. By the time I got to the top, I knew I was in trouble. My knee was not so bad, but my hip and glute ached on the right side. OMG epic Half Marathon fail. I wasn't worried about time, I just wanted to finish, so I tried not to panic and gimped along.
We ran past the park where The American Indians were dancing just the day before, and past so many beautiful buildings and parks. Providence is just amazing, I want to live there!
The hubs was waiting at mile 2.5 which was very useful, as my arm sleeves were making me a sweaty mess. I posed for a pic and continued on. By now I had figured out that as long as I kept moving, the pain was more discomfort. It was when I stopped that it actually became pain. SO, I just kept moving!

front runners, the hubs took their pic as they blew by

this dude bounced by as well. For real. He is my hero. Look at that smile!

hamming for the camera, see my balled up arm sleeves? lol

On we went, past some amazing scenery. At mile 5, the Relayers switched, and there were some fasties blowing by me, all fresh and new to the race. I tried not to get discouraged, lol. Funny story, the song that came on my iPhone at that time was Sweet Home Alabama, and the band playing there was also playing that song. True Story. I had a giggle about that.
We passed Lippitt Memorial Park right there as well. It was surrounded by this wall of stones, and the out building was also all large stones. It was very grand and beautiful. We came to a river at around mile 7.5 but it was so foggy you couldn't see much. I did make out some rowers, which was cool, but not much else. I was running along, feeling sorry for myself, when I passed a man with no legs. He had those prosthetics made for running, and he was chugging along. I realized what a whiner I was being, and from that point on, I enjoyed the fact that I could run, both of my own feet on the ground. If he could do it with a smile, then so could I.
Most of the next few miles were along the river, so the scenery was fabulous. I kept seeing things I remembered from the show Providence. Remember that show? It was so Fall-like, we don't have Fall yet at the shore, so I was enjoying the colors, and the sights. We turned away from the river at mile 10, and I started looking for the hubs. He said he would be somewhere between 10 and 12. I finally found him at mile 11.5 and told him how sore I was. He told me not to slow down, keep going. Gotta love that guy. He hiked all over Providence to support me!

blowing him a kiss

The last two miles were pretty easy, for the most part. There were lots of spectators, and they were cheering and telling us we were awesome. That always helps. I totally forgot about the finish line hill, until we got there. Oh.My.Heck. So cruel, but I ran that hill to the finish.

the hubs took this with his phone, so it's a little blurry. Ten fingers for Ten Halfs this year.

I am buying these, but payday is Friday lol

The finish line was very organized. The dud with the hot accent even announced my name and where I was from. There was some guy ahead of me with no bib, and the dude totally called him out about it. I hope he didn't get swag, if he had no bib!
I got my medal right away, and the you got to go through the food line. Chocolate milk (two kinds), water, protein bars, (fruit? I think?) pretzels and mini bagels were all made available. I chugged the milk as I went to find the hubs and stretch my achey legs. I am lactose intolerant, but did you know that after a race like that, you can still drink milk? A rep told me that at RnR USA and she is so right! No stomach ache or gas. For real. I enjoyed every last drop, you can believe that!
We walked back to the hotel, so I could shower and use the Stick, and then unfortunately we had to leave. The garage we parked our car in was blocked off, and the RnR Volunteers told us 1-1.5 hours before we could leave. We were about to go hunt up some food, when the hubs asked a cop for help, and he pulled the blockades away himself and we left immediately!  Thanks, Providence PD! You rock!

I am sure I left stuff out, and I apologize! While I was writing this up, an armed man robbed a bank in our sister town, and I was getting frantic texts from my son, whose school was locked down, and talking with friends in Facebook. Luckily, he was apprehended (and shot, although not sure if he shot himself, or if a cop shot him). This is all so crazy, we live in a very small town, and things like this don't happen here!

I did want to mention that there was some talk about this race on Facebook afterwards. Rumors of people cutting the course for the 5K, and that RnR busses people to the finish and then lets them cross the line ahead of runners. I am all for bussing people who cannot finish, I was bussed during the 3 Day due to an injury. However, I don't think they should receive a finisher time, and be included in the stats.  If they did not complete all 13.1 miles, they should not have a finisher time.
Thoughts?

Do you think people who get bussed from mile 10 should receive a finisher time, and be included in the stats?