Erica Finds...Me Inspiring!

So THIS happened!

And just like that...my day = MADE.  Thank you so very much to the lovely, amazing, wonderful Erica @ Erica Finds...!

The Rules:

• Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
• List the rules and display the award.
• Share seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate 15 other blogs you enjoy, then comment on their posts to let them know that you have nominated them.

So here we go!
Seven Things About Me:

1.  The number seven is my favorite.  It (and the number 17) were my volleyball jersey numbers all through school.  This list rocks already!

2.  I have a very mild, regulated obsession with Chef Gordon Ramsay.  I just found "Kitchen Nightmares" on Netflix.  While it isn't my favorite show of his, it's still fun to watch the guy lose his mind every once in a while.  The way he tastes food is fascinating, and he's a marathon runner and Ironman triathlete!

On top of all of that, his Facebook updates are precious.  Yes...PRECIOUS.

3.  I lived in Germany from 2001-2003.  This is a happy fact about me, but I really wish that I had been an endurance athlete when I lived there!  I worked out in the tiny gym on post; I like to think that that's where my love for fitness really began, where I didn't have a coach or trainer telling me what to do.

Sort of unfortunate:  I was ages 21-23, very naive, not extremely adventurous, and didn't take a ton of pictures.  I did find this one...a picture of my village (Baumholder) from my apartment.

4.  For some reason, I never stick around after races.  I'm dead serious:  I have no idea why.  Yesterday's ZOOMA race sort of made me realize that maybe I should be hanging out for a while!  The other Ambassadors were posting photos, and I got sort of jealy.  Now, the circumstances were rather different yesterday, but I think I will make more of an effort to chill after races in the future.

5.  My original dream job was to be a Physical Therapist for the San Antonio Spurs.  When I started my journey with Kinesiology in college, my professor had our class do observations at elementary and middle school Physical Education classes.  I didn't like this.  I wanted a degree with an emphasis in Exercise Science, not P.E.

My first day observing was a huge eye-opener.  I watched a large 2nd grade class (~90 children) being lead by one P.E. teacher, doing their warm-ups.  They had stretching leaders at the front of the gym.  They did their stretches, ran around the gym a few times, then returned to their dots.  The leaders then said "JUMPING JACKS", and that's when my heart smiled the biggest.  The way these kids jumped in the air, the way their arms and legs flailed with haphazard "star" movements, their smiling faces looking up and they were LAUGHING.  That was when I decided that I wanted to make that happen -- to inspire children to have fun with Physical Education.  The rest is history:)

6.  A short one, since you've been reading a lot about me...

I love Nutella.  A whole lot.

7.  As of yesterday, I am Ordained!  Harry's best friend, Adam, is marrying my beautiful friend Terri this October, and they asked me to be their officiant!  I am so stoked beyond belief that I get to honor their wonderful marriage this way!

Last rites, too.  That just got real.

My Rockin', Inspiring Nominees:
1.  So Cal Runner Gal
2.  Olives 'n' Wine
3.  Busy Bod
4.  Flying Feet in Faith
5.  Chocolate Runner Girl
6.  Grab Your Kicks
7.  My First 5K
8.  Food and Fun on the Run
9.  Fine Fit Day
10.  Shin Splints and Chocolate Chips
11.  Mar on the Run
12.  Al the Gal Runs
13.  Laura Fat2Fit
14.  Bruises in the Frosting
15.  This Hobbit Runs

Thanks for reading about me!  <3  Go check out these simply amazing, inspiring bloggers!

ZOOMA Half Marathon [Race Report]

It was a pretty fair day for a half marathon, especially for the middle of summer.

Photo cred:  Harry.<3

It's a step-back week, and it just-so happened to be the ZOOMA Chicago race weekend!  This has been my very first ambassadorship for a race, and I have absolutely enjoyed every moment.  I have met some really amazing ladies who run like the wind, and was given the opportunity to try out products I wouldn't have tested on my own.

Onto the race:
Harry was sweet enough to accompany me this morning.  This meant leaving the house at 5:30am, which he isn't the biggest fan of.  He promptly hopped into the passenger seat, leaned the seat back, and shut his eyes until we got downtown.  Bless his heart.:)  He was running this morning, as well, and with us starting at 7:00am, I didn't blame him for wanting a few more minutes of shut-eye.

I went into the 13.1 with the mentality of it being a *quick* long run, and had goal marathon pace (~9:09) in mind.  I knew that it would be along the Lakefront Trail, and that it would be (for what it could be) partially closed.  Sophs, Harry and I putting out those signs last Friday was supposed to help with deterring people from meandering onto the trail during the race, and I like to think that we were successful for the most part.

This race was pretty well organized.  It wasn't a huge turnout, but that's okay.  I found Anne, another ambassador, and we buddied up before the race started.  I said my goodbyes and got my RACE-OS (race besos) from Harry and took off.

One thing that Anne and I noticed was the HUGE LINE to the port-a-potties...all ~TEN of them.  *le sigh*  This is a women's race.  WE NEED MORE POTTIES!  Anne and I griped a little while waiting in line.  She had a (goofy) theory that we could skip going to the bathroom and our bodies would just "re-absorb" the fluids while running.  I reckon it doesn't work that way.  I saw Harry starting his run, going down the trail in the opposite direction from the race start.

The National Anthem began playing, so I stood in line, hand over my heart, looking in the general direction of where I figured an American flag was located.  I wondered how disrespectful it was to go relieve myself while it was playing, but it was my turn right in the middle of the song.  I hopped out of there and Anne and I head over to the starting line just in the nick of time.

Anne was telling me her goal pace, and while I would've loved to run with her, she was aiming for a pace that was just a wee bit too quick for me today.  We got to the start line and after weaving around several people, she took off.  I turned on my iPod and just cruised.

Miles 1-3:  Water at mile 1!  I don't take water this early, since I didn't want to be a sloshy mess.  People were still weaving and dodging around each other for a while, but the clumps were thinning out quickly.  I spotted several aggravated cyclists.  As a triathlete and cyclist, I can understand.  On the other hand, it's a public path; we're all here, no matter what.   I saw Anne around 2.8 and hollered at her, "SLOW DOWN!". :P

Miles 3-6:  The turnaround was at 3.1 (hooray!  I'm heading back!).  I did start taking water around mile 4; it was maybe 65-68*F around this time, but I knew there was a ton of space on the trail without shade.  I spotted Harry heading toward me on the other side around mile 5.7 and got a slap-five from him.  That made my heart smile.  We split from the 10K runners at mile 6, and at 6.2 I hit up the last water table for a while.

Miles 6-9.6:  This would be an out-and-back, as well, which I kind of liked.  The sun wasn't bothering me as much as it usually does; in other words, I wasn't overheating.  My pace was still on cruise, but my leggies started to feel it a little bit around mile 8.5, where I finally got more refreshments from a water table.  I told myself to hold it together until the next water table, where I could take a jogging break.  Saw Anne again at mile 9, and was happy to see the turnaround at 9.6.

Miles 9.6-13.1:  My tummy lurched around mile 10.  "Uh oh..."  I haven't had tummy issues out on the run in a long, long time.  I knew one thing:  I hadn't seen any bathrooms on this side of the out-and-back.  Yikes.  I saw the same water table from mile 8.5 (this was something else I didn't care for, lack of fluids) at mile 11, and made myself walk for one minute and enjoy some water and Cytosport.  I started back up, and after a few minutes of running, felt my tummy go again.  I had no earthly idea what to do, other than take it back down to a walk.  "You have less than fifteen minutes left, Tiffany.  Just finish it."  After one more minute of walking, I got the courage to start back up again.  I didn't have anymore tummy problems after that, and finished strong.

Officially, I finished in 2:00:02 (MY FIRST PALINDROME FINISH TIME!), leaving me with roughly a 9:09 pace.  DING!  The pace was comfy, though I did feel slightly taxed from some good speedwork and more cross-training this week.  No matter.  I made a goal, and I clobbered it.

I found Karen and Anne at the finish line and stopped to chat about the run.  They kicked some major ass!

Harry's plan was to have coffee by this point, but that didn't happen.  With all of the drama of Lollapalooza going on, and considering I was driving my standard transmission Jeep, I wanted to get outta there.  I wished that we could've stayed, since it looks like everyone had such a splendid time!  We stopped for some Starbucks near the house, and have just chilled out ever since.

One more photo from Harry:

He's kind of good at taking awesome pictures.

The One Where Sophia Saves the Day

Did/Do you ever watch "Friends"?  All of the titles of the episodes start with "The One...", where, when, with, etc.  Today's episode (in my life) began when I woke up early and took off for a run well before Harry or Sophs woke up.  I got five easy miles done, where the air had that slight bit of crisp smell to it.  Makes my heart smile every time.  :)

I won the "Girlfriend of the Year" award again by picking up some breaky from the Dunkin' Donuts for Harry and Sophs.  Afterward, Soph and I chilled out while Harry ran and went to an appointment.  We were really ready to rock our day, putting up event signs for the ZOOMA Chicago race next weekend.  Sophia was happy to help!

Some lunch before taking off:  American cheese with mayonnaise on white bread.  Um.  What a weirdo.  :P

We took off less than a block when Soph calmly asked "So how are we going to put up the signs if they're at home?"

Holy Frick.

Harry and I laughed and praised her for saving the day!  Seriously, what a wreck that would've been!  We don't live far from the Lakefront, where we were placing the signs, but we didn't exactly live close, either.  So seriously.  The day would've sucked had she not gotten all inquisitive on us.

After finally getting to our first spot (Brooke from ZOOMA sent me an e-mail with all of the places where we were dropping signs; we went South to North, since it's wayyyyyyyyyy easier that way), we broke into the package the signs came in.  All they are is an event notice to cyclists and runners, that the race will be held the following weekend (August 2nd), and that the course runs along the Trail.

 

However, I noticed that the signs said "Saturday, August 1st."  I have never been more thankful in my life that I had my brief stint as a Starbucks Barista (MANY YEARS AGO), but still felt the need to hold onto permanent markers.  I had three in my purse (and I've changed purses several times since working for Starbucks; how strange).

We had to go back and change these, and all of the other signs after.  Sophia got to practice turning a '1' into a '2', so it was a good time.  We had to walk for a relatively awesome amount of time at some stops.

I started getting a little worried about how gloomy it was getting outside.  I knew we were expecting thunderstorms (which never came), so we hurried where we could.

One thing's for sure:  Sophia is now a master at throwing signs into the ground.  

We got home just in time for Harry to take Sophia to the train to take her back to her other house.  I couldn't thank her enough for being such an amazing sport throughout the entire day, as well as completely saving our afternoon!

We proceeded to order sushi (which I didn't take a picture of; just imagine a crap-ton amount of sushi covering a coffee table..that's how much we devoured), and celebrated "Christmas in July" with a Great Lakes Brewing Company Christmas Ale and "Bad Santa".
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Favorite race course, hike, or bicycle trail?

Do you like sushi?
-It's practically a necessity in our house.

Last fun thing you did with a kiddo? 

Soggy, Rainy, Frizzy Run

This morning, I joined a small group of ZOOMA ambassadors for a 10-mile training run.  We were slightly worried about the weather, as there was some pretty yucky stuff heading our way.  It turns out that all it did was rain.  But it rained A LOT.  As in BUCKETS.

Universal Sole was happy to have us meet up at their downtown location once again.  There was another (marathon) running group that had taken off about thirty minutes before us that had met up there; there were about 30 backpacks and fitness bags inside the store full of their gear.  This store is very close to an easy access point to the Lakefront Trail, so it's the perfect spot for a meetup, not to mention they're very supportive, leaving Gatorade and water out for everyone.

We head out to the Lakefront Trail (after getting slightly lost), and decided a simple out-and-back would be the best for us.

We really are a wonderful mix of ladies.  All of us at different levels of fitness and life paths.  We found a good pace that fit everyone's needs, especially when it came to running in a monsoon.

Lucky for us, Fleet Feet had set out some aid stations along the lakefront.  Spoiled, again!  We stopped for a refreshment, then head back out.

I sort of felt like doing this at some point...

We turned around well before I took this picture, but I feel bad that I didn't snap a photo of the waves coming from Lake Shore Drive, from people driving through enormous puddles.  Tidal waves would fly up over the barriers between the trail and the road!  I saw only one runner get soaked, but it was entertaining.

Almost there!  The rain was letting up a bit, and there was little wind when that happened.  This made things slightly uncomfortable.  Mmmm...maybe a lot uncomfy.  It felt like I was running in soup.  Then it would start raining again, and it was refreshing as all getout.

We got back to the store and I realized the intensity of my hair.  Was my hair smooth and wet like most of the ladies?  No.  It was frizzed the frick out.  It looked like a bird nest!

And it was not fun to brush out, let me tell you.

I took off shortly after a good stretch.  Turns out, a couple of the girls went out for mimosas.  D'OH!  Perhaps that's something we should do after the ZOOMA Women's race next month.  :)

I saw Harry running around our 'hood as I got close to our house. I waved frantically like an idiot and hollered "HI, HONEY!", as if he could hear me.  Do you ever do this?  o.O  Once Harry got back home and showered up, we had some lunch.  I haven't eaten at Subway in forever.

Then we set off to pick up the Sophs.  We use a sticker (points, if you will) system here at the casa, so she can earn things she wants with good behavior (she can thank my experience in special education for this).  She desperately wanted a Stretchkins, so we had to make that happen.  I'm pretty sure she fell asleep with it.

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Do you like training in the rain?

How is your training going?  Whether it's running, Yoga, hiking, or rollerblading!  Details!

Parents/Friends-who-hang-out-with-kids:  Do you use any kind of reward/reinforcement system?-I learned over the years to keep things as positive as can be, never taking away, and not phrasing goals as "If you don't do this, then...".

Marathon Training: Week IV

So it's been a much more restful week than previous ones.  No visitors, no Sophia, but lots of social engagements.  We ate out four or five times this week.  Good grief!  I still got the majority of my training done, without swimming or cycling.  Our Fourth of July was VERY low key, thank goodness.  Turns out, Navy Pier and downtown were way worse in terms of violence and danger as they were last year.  I'm happy that we chose to stay in and watch fireworks from our back deck.  People were letting them off from everywhere!

 Saturday, we met up with some of Harry's family for a family outing.  Softball, BBQ, grilled burgers and hot dogs, delicious potato salad and taco dip were had by all.  Harry and I brought dessert, cookies and apple pie, in which we decided to throw on the grill, as well.

I broke in some brand new ZOOT Ultra TTs this morning.  This is my other rotation shoe, paired with my Mizuno Wave Riders.  These pairs alone probably won't get me to the finish line of the Chicago Marathon, but they will be there throughout nearly the entirety of the training cycle.

Harry ran a few miles later int he morning.  We hit up our favorite yogurt shop around the corner directly afterward.  I was in a fruity mood today, rather than craving chocolate.  I treated myself to some mango froyo with fruit and some of those squirty beads.  Mmmmmmm!  Harry shamelessly got a LARGE sized cup, and filled up that bad boy with what his tummy desired.  It just so happens that Harry's tummy wanted Rice Krispie Treat froyo with cheesecake and cookie dough bites.  o.O

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Week Four Wrap-Up (STEP BACK WEEK):
Monday - 30 minutes of Yoga
Tuesday - 4.1 easy miles
Wednesday - 30 minutes of Yoga, 6.04 speedwork miles
Thursday - REST
Friday - 4.03 easy miles
Saturday - 10.1 long run miles 
Sunday - 5.1 easy miles

29.37 miles for the week, and as a step back week, that's fine by me.  

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Y'all don't forget that ZOOMA Chicago 10K and Half Marathon is coming up in about four weeks!  Use my discount code CAMB14 for 20% off either distance if you want to run with me!  :)

Seven Things That Made Me Smile Today

Don't you love it when you rock out a Monday?  I feel like I beat the odds when I don't get wrapped up in a moody or manic Monday --

-- when I can walk out the door of my school and know that I had a fantastic day, and can pinpoint exactly what made the day awesomeness.

Seven (because it's a fanciful number) things that made my face light up with a beautiful smile today:

1.)  Germany dominating in World Cup action!

2.)  This video of Sophs playing the Vuvuzela.  This fury of air and the swarm of bees-like sounds went on for about an hour.  Good grief.

3.) Reminiscing about the deep-fried Oreos Harry, Sophs and I shared at the 6 Corners BBQ Fest this past weekend.

4.)  After which I enjoyed a treat that a co-worker gave me.  :)

5.)  I got some ZOOMA sponsor love in the mail!  I sure lucked out, in that my favorite socks on the planet are also sponsors of the ZOOMA race series!  Thanks, Feetures!

 6.)  This showed up in my newsfeed on Facebook.  Bless!

7.)  There's such a juxtaposition of a couple of emotions within this song, and those emotions depend on how you feel at the moment when you're listening to it.  For me, that's the beauty of it; you can feel fear and relief, bitterness and hope, sadness and happiness, or a myriad of other mixtures of emos.  One thing is for certain, it will make you feel better about a bad thought or a rotten day, and makes you realize just how blessed you are to be in this world.  It also makes you feel like you have to be a big kid about things, and the right thing to do is keep on keepin' on.

Harry and I are watching USA vs. Ghana this evening.  Y'all enjoy the rest of this incredible Monday!
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Did something make you smile today?  Tell me about it!

Random:  What's your favorite dessert?

What was your workout like today?