Holy crap, I am running RAGNAR.

I had this race on my running bucket list....I figured some day the princesses will be old enough that Big Daddy and I could go out and run this with some friends.  Then I got a message from a friend who had a spot they needed to fill on their team.  After some thought, making sure Big Daddy would be ok with the princesses, and minor debating I agreed to fill in.  Holy crap, I was running RAGNAR.  

Not only am I running RAGNAR, I am running the hardest friggin' leg of the race.  If you don't know what RAGNAR is, it's a 200 mile, 24 hour relay race run with 12 runners in 2 vans.  Yes, I am nuts.  I get a special extra bonus medal for running this crazy leg (with a hill nicknamed You've Got to be Kidding Me) so that's worth it right??  HA!

Not only that but another runner can't make it so we are all splitting her legs and I added an extra 3.5 miles to my total...so we'll be 11 runners running 200 miles.  

I can't wait to get this race recap and pictures posted, should be loads of good tales!!!!  As one of my teammates has stated after all of us stressing about what to pack, kid coverage, etc.....for 36 hours, we are on an adventure.  

Road Shark Virtual 5 Miler

I was feeling some race withdrawal...I got another email (see a theme here?) about a virtual race.  I had never run one so I figured this one had a pretty cool looking medal and a fun theme so I signed us up.  Big Daddy is always up for a race!

Race packets were mailed and arrived with the extra goodies I had ordered....shark socks (hello who doesn't need those?!) and a shark headband thingy (I have no idea what the brand is).

My local MRTT group had gotten in to this run too and we had a group event set up to run it together.  Then my babysitter bailed...I think the 5am arrival time spooked her.  So we ran it alone, on a track, with the three princesses cheering us on.  It was hotter than Hades but we did it.  I felt heavy and slow (it was wicked hot-did I mention that?) and just not right (ack 10:01mm) but we did it!

I see more virtual races in our future and I was a big fan of how Gone For a Run did this one (I will be back for more).

Race Date: August 1, 2015

Runcations Firecracker 5k

We are now those people that look for a race when we go on vacation....well as long as you consider Cousin Eddie style camping in your father-in-law's driveway near the beach a vacation.

I picked out the Firecracker 5k after doing a little searching for Fourth of July races at the Outer Banks in NC.  I hadn't been running too much since we had just moved but this seemed like a pretty easy race...never ever make that assumption....

Since we were on vacation we picked up our race packet (aka tshirt and bib) on the way to do vacation things and the place was hard to find....hate that.  But let me tell you, the way they did their race tshirts was kind of ingenious, instead of a shirt for every race they did one shirt for their whole series.  Made sense to me!

They told us about the sharks at the Outer Banks but the not the T-Rexes!!!!!

So here we go race day...since we were Cousin Eddie-ing in our RV in the driveway the bigger princesses slept in the house with their Auntie and we took the tiny princess with us.  Loaded up and rolled out, it was a bit of a drive to the race (which was right near the Wright Brothers' Memorial).  We got warmed up, found an MRTT (Moms Run This Town - if you haven't heard of it, check it out IMMEDIATELY) friend also running the race, snapped a few pre-race selfies (yes I love selfies, don't judge), and got ready to go.  The tiny princess was still pretty sleepy so she was up for whatever.

Pre-race selfie.

The race started fine, the usual dodging the slow folks who think they need to be at the front (which was made extra fun with the added stroller) until we go out and settled in to a pace.  Then it came.....the unpaved uphill section, joy.  To make it even more awesome, it was an out and back so we got passed by the leaders....and of course the female leader was a skinny hot blonde (I hate you, not really...but kind of).  We made it up and back ok, the stroller did pretty well on the trail section.  Toward the end of the race you start seeing those runners that don't run often, or think they are immortal and have blown through all of their reserves and start doing the walk/run thing.  No judgment, just that they exist.  There was one, probably early 20s, gal that was running and then started walking so we passed her...she was not a fan.  She sprinted up beyond us again but couldn't maintain it so we flew by again, and then she sprinted again and I thought she had it that time...nope.  We flew by and she never passed us again.

We were almost at the end and there is something magical about the end of a race, there are people who don't know you cheering for you as you sprint across the finish with whatever reserve you have left.  Running with the stroller seems to earn me a few extras which I don't mind at all.  We finished and got our medals and went looking for the post-race recovery food....there was none, WTH!  So off to Dunkin Donuts we went!!

Post-race medal selfie!

The tiny princess enjoying her post-race Dunkin Donuts!

I don't remember what my race time was, it wasn't fast I do know that.  We had fun, did a vacation run and that's all that matters!!  After we scarfed our donuts we headed to the beach (where the aunties and big princesses were waiting) and immediately into the shark infested waters....we figured our post-run stank would keep them away (it did).

Race Date: July 3, 2015

Getting closer....Rock N Roll Series Country Music Half Marathon Race Recap

Another trip to Gamma's house!!  We had to be in earlier to pick up our race packets for this one so we got to spend a little more time at the expo.  Seriously, these are the BEST.  It's like a room full of all of your running buddies, massive amount of gear, super fun stuff, free samples, and more.  This one was pumping some great music so I danced through while the three tiny princesses looked at me like I was nuts....Big Daddy already knows I am nuts.  Brooks (PS I love my Brooks Glycerin running shoes....they rock) had a fabulous theme of Run Happy and gear to go with it...I snagged a visor with RUN HAPPY across it.  Big Daddy got a Junk Brand headband to keep his long flowing locks back (just kidding....it was for sweat) while he runs.  The tiny princesses were getting restless so we headed to Gamma's house for dinner and an EBB (early baby bedtime) since we had to be up really early to get down to the race start.

After our traditional pre-race dinner of grilled chicken Caesar salad we got our gear ready, tucked the kids in, and headed to catch some zzzz's.  We fell right asleep, but of course it only felt like 5 minutes of sleep.  Up and at 'em and ready to get moving!  A small simple breakfast, fill up the water bottles (I despise water stations) and we left to go find our way to the Tennessee Titans stadium where the race finish and parking was.  Again, super early arrival and unexpected cold left us sitting in the car staying warm.  Lesson learned again but with a longer race and no one to ditch outer layers with we dug through the car and came up with emergency rain ponchos.  They made for the perfect tossable pre-race keep warm thing (it was spring so the weather was due to warm up as the sun came up).  They kept us nice and toasty on the walk over from the Titan's stadium to downtown where the start was.

Rockin' our pre-race ponchos!

We found some port-a-potties (a race essential!) and made a pit stop before finding our corral.  Again I stupidly put in a slower time and regretted it...we waited for what seemed like forever.  I think we snuck off to the porta-a-potties about 6 times while we were waiting...we found a sneaky out of the way set with pretty much no line....it was amazing (and we directed fellow racers there too).  

Our pre-race pic

Finally up to the start it was like wading through a sea of people....annoying walkers who wouldn't stay to one side, people clearly in a lower number corral when they shouldn't have been, and just general chaos.  We got up to pace and it felt so much better but there were people to dodge EVERYWHERE.  Ok here comes a rant: if you are going to walk, get to ONE SIDE and stay there....preferably the right.  I get it, not everyone can (or wants to) run a half marathon, you are out there, you are doing better than sitting on the couch but get to one side and stay out of the way of those of us that can and want to run.  Alright, rant over (maybe not...there were more walkers later).  

There were some less than memorable "country" music bands and singers along the way, I could have done without them honestly, they kind of sucked.  I wasn't exactly expecting big names but they could have at least played upbeat music instead of love ballads....not motivating at mile 8.7 of 13.1.  

Once we got through the historic neighborhoods of Nashville we were in a little more suburban neighborhood and the street was narrower.  I swear at one point there were 6 people across and they were all walking.  Big Daddy had stopped at a port-a-potty early so I was on my own (knowing he can move a little faster and easily catch up to me) and I had to dodge these morons.  STAY TO ONE SIDE WALKERS....next time I might not be nice and I might go all crazy race lady on you....this time you escaped with just my evil eye roll and passive aggressive huffing as I scooted by you.

Mile after mile after mile and we were finally getting closer to the finish line and damn...this was the part that was going to suck....the Nashville hills.  Damn evil course designers....hills at the finish again.  I had been having some issues with my right hip and I did stop momentarily up one of the hills.  It was probably for about 5 seconds but it felt like a failure, I know it wasn't, but I felt less than awesome about it.  

About two miles from the finish line my phone rang.  I have a rule, I only answer the phone for family when I am running.  It was Gamma's number and she had the tiny princesses so of course I answered it....turns out it was Princess #1 asking if we were done yet....yeah no kiddo, I hung up.

My goal is always to cross the finish line up right, I did it!!  Haha!!!!  I wasn't last either!! YAY!!!  What was kind of rad was as we came toward the finish the whole crowd started cheering, we thought that was pretty awesome and made us feel special....turns out we were finishing our half marathon while the first female full marathon finisher was coming across the finish line...talk about feeling awesome (insert sarcasm here).  Our race time (official) was 2:14:32...but my Garmin showed several extra miles from dodging slow pokes.  Gotta get that under 2 hour half in soon!

After we got our medals we filed through the exit lines and collected what felt like a buffet of snacks and drinks.  Bottles of water, chocolate milk, bananas, cookies, granola bars, protein bars, and more....we really needed a bag to carry all of that mess...but it was delicious.  Best. Chocolate. Milk. Ever.

Country Music Half Marathon Medals!

We had quite a distance to walk to get back to the car and I was SO stiff.  We headed back to Gamma's and warned her that as soon as we got back we were ditching our shoes and diving (clothes and all) in to the hot tub.  I never felt so good after a race....the hot tub post race recovery method was a hit.  After that we hit the showers, got packed up and headed for home.  On the way home we did see a Krispy Kreme and that looked like a pretty damn good post-race recovery food so we stopped and I inhaled 2 original donuts immediately.  Yummmmmmmmmm.

I ran 13.1 miles...I earned this donut.

It was a good race and I would certainly do a Rock N Roll series race again!!  Nashville is crazy hilly and the biggest hills are at the end, you have been warned.

Race Date: April 25, 2015

Still in the past...aCross Town 5k race recap

Guess what??? Another email!!!  Yep, local 5K sucked me in this time!!!  This was a smaller race and held by the church Princess #2's preschool was attached to so we signed up.  It was the day before Easter so we knew we had kiddo coverage (Gamma was in town).

It had been nice and warm so when we woke up that morning it was cold again and damn...we had to get out the cold weather gear and layer up again.

We got there pretty early so we hung out in the parking lot hoping to stay warm as long as possible.  Finally we emerged after the lot filled up a bit and warmed up as best we could after picking up our bibs and swag tshirts.

Start line was a mass of people and we wiggled our way up to the front....we had decided to try and PR (for me) this one.

Now let me tell you about Big Daddy, he loves Google Earth and had checked out this course telling me it was pretty flat....he lied.  First 1/4 mile was straight up a hill...dammit.  Of course I took off like a shot (as so many do at the beginning of a race) and he didn't remind me to stay on pace since he thought I was just going to run 7:30mm (HELL no crazy man).  So I kind of burned out too early...oh well, live and learn and get a dang Garmin to watch your own pace!

He does a pretty good job of staying with me but this race he was determined to make me run faster.  He kept running a few feet ahead of me (which stresses me out and makes me feel like I have to sprint to catch up but then he keeps going faster) and he desperately wanted me to pass these two younger girls...wasn't gonna happen buddy, they were like 17 (I am a LOT older and have had 3 kids, I'm lucky I don't pee my pants every run).

We rolled though the neighborhood surrounding the church and headed for the finish line....which was UP a hill.  Seriously??  Why, course designer, would you put a finish UP a hill????  Cruel and unusual.

As soon as we crossed the finish line (which BTW was a PR for me) Big Daddy looked dissapointedly (is that a word?) at me and said we could have done that faster....seriously dude, I hate you.  We got our free banana and sweet tea (we were in the south!) and checked our official times.  I finished second in my age group and Big Daddy finished third (remember- he stays with me).  We got some pretty sweet handmade crosses as our prizes!

**After note: Big Daddy did realize the whole disappointed thing after we crossed the finish line was pretty crappy and apologized profusely for the next 3 days.  And even more so when his buddies said they were surprised I didn't slap him.

Race Date: April 4, 2015

Let's go back a bit. Hot Chocolate 15K Race Re-Cap

So I got this email, here's some great race swag!!  Run this super easy 15K race and get this super cool medal and everyone gets this rad sweatshirt....sure why not?  It's only 9ish miles, I drank the kool aid and signed up me and Big Daddy for the Hot Chocolate 15K.  We had never run a 15K, sounded like a great way to ditch the kiddos and have a date day.  There was a chocolate involved, how could it be bad?  Well let me tell you, it's damn cold in February in Tennessee.  And while we were training it was all kinds of brutal, windy, cold, and there were some runs we had to skip because it was just too cold or icy.

Race day finally arrived, we had packed about every piece of cold weather gear we could think of and headed to Nashville for the race.  We headed downtown for packet pickup and the expo.  If you have never been to a race expo it is the best....random race gear and products from all over and things you never thought you needed are there.  Wonder Woman compression running socks complete with cape, don't mind if I do!  We looked around and then we snagged our packets (aka bib and super rad sweatshirt swag) and headed to Big Daddy's mom's house (aka Gamma) where we were staying for the night and ditching the kids to run.  It was Valentine's Day, we treated ourselves to a date!

We layered, and layered, and layered that morning....we were still cold.  I think I could finally feel my feet after about 3 miles.  I put a WAY slower time than I should have for our pace and our corral was farther back than it needed to be, we stood around for quite awhile.

Big Daddy stays at my pace, even though he is cRaZy faster than me, and we finished with just over 9:30mm for our pace....not too shabby!

We kissed coming across the finish line, there is a pic somewhere to prove it!  Collected our medals and headed for the CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!  Not sure if I was in desperate need of fuel or that truly was the BEST chocolate fondue I have EVER eaten.  I licked it out of the bowl, don't judge.

So that was it, I was hooked again....and I did what every runner that had a good race does and signed up for the next race....the RnR Country Music Half Marathon.

Me and Big Daddy post race!

Race Date: February 14, 2015

Why not?

Well, I've been running for some time now and I figured it might be time I start blogging about it.  I'm by no means and expert but I run, usually moderately paced, and almost always (at least training) with a jogging stroller containing a toddler screaming "FASTER MOMMY! RUN FASTER!"