The Weekend So Far

The weekend isn’t over yet and it’s already a busy one and it’s only getting busier from here. It started last night with a little girl time with my friend K. Girl time involved a few of these. Ok, a lot of these.

I know I have a race this weekend and I shouldn’t be drinking, but if I’ve learned anything from prior races – it doesn’t matter what the hell I do. A good race is in the hands of the race gods. So let there be drink!

After I got home from girl time, I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t be able to see Dark Skies till next week since we have so many plans. So hubs suggested we go to a late show. Like, really late.

Have you ever found an old movie stub in your jean’s pocket and realized how long it’s been since you washed them? Anyone? Just me?

Ok, moving on.

Today, I drove to Tampa.

Holy hell, it’s humid here. Tampa is almost making me appreciate Orlando. Almost.

Once I checked into the hotel, I walked over to the Tampa Bay Convention Center to pick up my race packet. Then I walked over to the grocery store to get a salad for dinner, some bread and jelly for my race food, and a gallon of water. Tampa is on a boil water alert and the hotel staff told us not to drink the tap water or use it to brush our teeth. As we know, I’m already really good at pooping during races, so I don’t need any extra help from nasty water.

By the way, it’s not only humid today, it’s also super windy. How windy, you ask?

Hair bear status = achieved

I’m pretty sure I walked at least two miles trying to get all the stuff I need for tomorrow morning so I’ll call that my workout for the day.

On the way back to the hotel, I saw this quote in the sidewalk.

I feel like that quote was really speaking to me, particularly because I had just given my Greek Yogurt Pancake recipe to a lady behind me at the grocery store who was buying a ton of Chobani. She seemed really excited about it too because she asked me to repeat it. That’s right. I’m full of good deeds.

Oh, check out the race shirt.

LOVE it.

It’s hot as balls for this race every year, but I still appreciate the long sleeves tech shirt and that they change the color every year. Other races need to take note.

It’s time to get all my gear ready for the morning. I left my running iPod at home (yes, I have one I use only for races) so now I need to put together another playlist on my car iPod (don’t judge me) so I have some tunes queued up for tomorrow.

Hope you’re all having a good weekend!

Five for Friday

First of all, thank you all so much for your comments on yesterday’s post. I mean, seriously. They were all so helpful to me and you are all amazing. ❤ I will be sure to keep you all updated once I decide on the future of my boobs.

Ok, now let’s get to some random stuff.

1. Michelle posted a link to a Greek Yogurt Pancake recipe last week. I noticed they had three ingredients (my main qualification for a recipe – it’s gotta be dumb enough for me) so I decided I had to try them.

Michelle says she’s addicted to them, but it’s all lies! I am the one with the problem. I have eaten them for breakfast EIGHT days in a row. She’s only eaten them twice. Who’s addicted now, Michelle? Hmm?

• 6oz cup of Plain Chobani
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of flour  (you could use 1/2 cup for a less yogurt taste if you’re into that)

I add a little water because the batter is so thick. I also add cinnamon, vanilla liquid Stevia, and blueberries because I like ’em sweet. It makes 3 big pancakes or 6 smaller ones that keep me full all morning. The whole thing is 270 calories and 27 g of protein. Yes, please.

Updated to add: Use a little baking soda if you don’t use self-rising flour. Sorry, forgot to mention that.

2.  I’m four days into my week and a half of rest from working out and good lord, I cannot figure out what to do with myself. That’s how much time working out takes from my life. I’m now bored.

3. I saw Warm Bodies last night.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. So dumb. It was cute but just…so dumb. The main girl, Teresa Palmer, reminded me so much of Kristen Stewart – facial expressions and all – that I thought they could be sisters. Then I was looking online and found I’m not the only one. The girls have comparison photos all over the interwebz.

Which reminds me, I also saw Side Effects a couple weeks ago. Hubs hated it and thought it was “contrived and boring.” I thought it was decent, but definitely a renter. I guess it was supposed to be full of twists that you didn’t see coming, but I didn’t find any of the twists all that surprising.

Has anyone seen Beautiful Creatures yet? The effects in the trailer look so cheesy that I can’t decide if I should see it.

4. I was looking at some old pictures of Pants. I think she liked her first chin so much that she got another one.

5. I’m heading to Tampa tomorrow for the Gasparilla Half Marathon. The race is on Sunday and it’s gonna be a hot one. Not amused, Florida. Not amused.

The race won’t be so bad if it actually rains. Plus, it’s supposed to be mid-80’s in Orlando so at least Tampa is a few degrees cooler. But not cool enough that I won’t still bitch about it.

Five for Friday

It’s time for another Five for Friday. It’s a random one, but then again, when am I not?

1. Three years ago today, this old thing happened.

Our anniversary just happens to fall on our every other Friday off work schedule, so we’ve celebrated so far by doing the dishes and cleaning the pool. Tonight, we might even even enjoy a carb with dinner. We get pretty crazy after three years. Or 10. Nothing like a wedding to reset that dating anniversary and wipe out 7 years of hard labor.

2.  Right now, hubs is off getting his hair done. Presumably to look pretty for me for our anniversary and keep up with my lifetime of hair color changes.

Incidentally, that last picture is the look he gets on his face when I talk about running.

3. Race weekend month is here! Tomorrow, Michelle and I leave for Tampa to run the Gasparilla Half Marathon on Sunday. It’s my favorite half marathon of the 11 I’ve done and the first one I deemed worthy of repeating, even with the guy slapping people’s asses at the turn around last year (<—-race review link). I haven’t used my Camelback in a long time but I think it’s time to bust it out again. I’m not sure how I’ll do, so right now I’m just hoping to beat last years time (2:16:55) which I really hope is possible since that time included 2 “special deliveries.”  Then again, I haven’t run a half faster than 2:18 in a year, so who knows what will happen out there.

4. I ran a few times this week in my new Mizuno Wave Riders. Once with the Superfeet inserts and once without. I don’t think those inserts work for me because everything felt much more normal without them. Now the shoes seem a little narrow and rub my feet the wrong way. So these aren’t the right shoes for me either. EFF.

What should I do? Pad up my feetsies with double socks and band-aids and run in my new shoes this weekend, or run in my old shoes that possibly have too many miles (350) on them already and could be the cause of calf pain?

5.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you already know that little ole me was featured in Fitness Magazine’s “Fit Bloggers We Love.” Go check out the article. It totally makes me feel like a celebrity.

I’ve already informed Michelle that I will need her to turn down my bed and put a mint on my pillow this weekend. I think I also want her to announce my name Price-is-Right style as I walk into any new room. I don’t think I’m asking too much.

The Playlist Post

I really want to run tonight. But I’m not going to since I know I’m on the verge of burn out and I have a million races next month. It’s really hard for me to take rest days. I can work out 6 days a week and still manage to feel lazy if I take the 7th day as a rest day. So instead, I decided to create my playlist for the Gasparilla Half Marathon (in advance and not 5 minutes before Michelle picks me up.)

If I’ve learned anything from my previous races, it’s that I hate my playlists 80% of the time. The songs I choose seem like a good idea but then once I’m out there running, I want to punch “Moves Like Jagger” in the face. So of course, I did the only thing a slightly OCD person would do. I made three of them.

Plan A: The “pop” playlist

This is the one I’ll most likely use, so it has the most songs.

Not so fun fact:  I love Kelly Clarkson. A lot.

Plan B: The “rock” playlist

This is my backup in case the pop playlist annoys me. And yes, I realize 1995 called and wants my taste in rock music back.

Plan C: The “mellow” playlist

Just in case my mind and soul become one with the Earth and my body becomes a jet-fueled rocket of speed, I have the “mellow” playlist.

Chances of Plan C happening is slim. But it’s happened once (during my second marathon), and it can happen again. Then I always have plan D – the full iPod shuffle (that should be a song title) and plan E – no music at all. And now I think I’ve put way too much thought into this.

What do you listen to when you run or work out?

Race Bling

Last week, Michelle and I registered for the Gasparilla Half Marathon in Tampa on March 4th. We did this race last year, so it will be the first race we’ve ever repeated. It’s also my favorite half marathon of the ten I’ve done, which is saying a lot since I basically pooped my way through the whole thing. The course is beautiful, it’s well-managed, and this year they are even starting us off in waves (no corrals was my only complaint last year).

Anyway, it wasn’t really worth mentioning that I signed up until I got an email today with a picture of this year’s medal.

Holy crap.

I love that medal, like, so much. I can’t wait to have that thing in my hot little hands. I’m not sure why I love medals so much, but I do. And that one might get worn anytime I dress like a pirate. So, everyday at work and alternating Sundays.

What does your favorite medal look like?

Race Review: Gasparilla Half Marathon

Chip Time: 2:16:55 (Boo)

Before heading to Tampa to meet up with Michelle and Dan on Saturday, I went to Best Buy to get this cheapy $30 camera to take pictures during the race.

I just bought a new camera about a month ago that I used during the Melbourne Half Marathon, but I was constantly worried about dropping it, or scratching it, or…breathing on it wrong.

Dropping a $30 camera is ok, dropping a $300 camera…not ok.

We woke up at 4am the morning of the race, got ready, and I had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. I was still full from the night before, so eating the sandwich sucked. I hate when eating sucks. It’s my favorite thing to do.

I also considered running in Michelle’s new boots to start a new running fashion statement that would sweep the world.

Michelle and Dan assured me this was the lamest idea ever and told me to refrain from talking when possible.  

Dan dropped Michelle and I off near the race start (thanks, Dan!) and we had a short walk to the starting line.

We came across this sign.

I don’t think I’ve ever seem them called Porta Johns before. So of course I took a picture. I’m wondering if this picture was a premonition for the race. The sign is saying, “you will spend much time with me today, Paula.”

Michelle pointed at the sign, but I suck at taking pictures and didn’t get the sign in it. So now she just looks like she’s doing our signature pointing picture.

We got to the starting line and it was insanely crowded (and too dark to get a picture). So crowded we couldn’t even walk up to the 2 hour pacer. We were stuck somewhere behind the 2:40.

The race started and instantly had a bottleneck over a bridge that had me running at a 14:00 minute mile pace. This race desperately needs corrals.

The first 40 minutes of the race was pitch black with minimal street lights (the race started at 6am) so I was worried about tripping since I couldn’t really see the ground well.

Once the sun started rising, I started taking pictures. All of my pictures were blurry. Anti-shake my ass. I guess you get what you pay for.

This was the most scenic, beautiful race of all the races I’ve run. I mean, 10 miles of the course was along Tampa Bay. Part of the course was out and back which normally sucks, but it didn’t matter to me this time because it was so pretty.

All the people on our side of the course were going crazy cheering for the other side of the course when the first finishers started running by. That was pretty awesome. And I wonder if they even noticed. They seem so focused and make it look so easy!

Even the breeze was perfect once we got to the Bay, making for perfect weather. Everything was perfect…except for me of course.

I was feeling pretty good for the first 4 miles, but around mile 5 my stomach started to bother me.

During mile 5, I made a dash for the porta john and had my way with it.

I did multi-task during the stop and took a Thermotab and a Buddy Fruit. Here I go again, experimenting with different foods while running. What I learned about Buddy Fruits is they all taste like apple sauce no matter what flavor you get, and I do not like apple sauce.

Only took 34 years to figure that out. I’m special.

After that stop, my stomach was never the same. I made another stop around Mile 10, and considered stopping again around Mile 11.

Every time I got to my goal pace (9:00 – 9:15) my stomach would feel worse. So, I hung back at a 10:30 pace which made me feel slightly less like pooping my pants than the faster pace.

Stopping at a porta john was a first for me during a race. But oh…there were so many other firsts during this race that should be mentioned:

• I left my iPod in the car when Dan dropped us off. First half with no music. (It wasn’t too bad.)
• A random guy started a conversation with me. (I’ve only read about this on other blogs!)
• There was a spectator with his shirt off, twisting it up and snapping women on the butt with it as they ran by.
• TEN different people called my name and cheered me on during the race. (Our names were on our bibs.)  AWEsome.
• Toward the end, there was a mime. Just one.
• There were 2 girls that just dropped during the race, one at Mile 7 and one at Mile 12 that were being helped by medical personnel.
• There was a dog with a race bib on – although, I saw him before the race, not during.
• I got goosebumps at Mile 10 (dehydration…not good. I made sure to stop at the water stops as well as use my CamelBak after that.)
• A woman chanting behind me over and over (at Mile 12), “I’m already home. I’m already home. I’m already home.”  Whatever gets you through it, Creepster.

After the race, Michelle and Dan found me pretty easily considering the place was jam packed with people. We walked over to get some post-race eats and saw more pretty scenery.

Our gracious chauffer

Holy people. There were a LOT of freebies after the race – bananas, bagels, food from The Colombia restaurant, Coke, Dole dried fruit packages, powdered drink packets, fruit cups, 5-hour energy bottles, beer, and bottled fruit drinks.

We grabbed our stuff and were outta there pretty fast. It’s hard for me to hang around after a race when all I want to do is shower, sit down, and eat. And I’m glad Michelle feels the same way!

We got back to hotel and took our showers.

I spotted this on the sheets.

A little something special from the hotel.

Overall, this was a great race. Scenic, well run, lots of goodies, and cheap ($65). Probably my favorite so far, so this is one I could see doing again.

With that said, I am SUPER bummed about my time. Except for my first half marathon, this was my worst time. I’ve really been wanting a sub-2-hour half and I didn’t get it…again. Around mile 4, I thought I was on track when I caught up to the 2:05 pacer from the 2:40 but everything was downhill from there.

I’m feeling better now mentally, but during the race I just wanted to give up races altogether. There is always something that stops me from my goal. My stomach, my energy level, my mentality, the course, whatever.

My next race is on March 13 in Sarasota. I’m not feeling that race right now. I hope I get my mojo back.