FAVORITE things & Your Accomplishments!!!

My new favorite hat for my 6 mile run with Josse yesterday morning.  Hats/visors are one of those things that SAVE me during summer running.  Some other things that save me during the summer:  Driving to run near water (it always feels so much cooler to me to be by a river or lake), carrying a little water bottle with me and choosing routes according to drinking fountains, lightweight clothing (PS you can find all of my favorite summer running clothes HERE) and getting OUT THERE w/out procrastinating in the mornings to avoid the heat.

Anybody else agree that it is 100 times easier to go out and run when it is light and warm early compared to those dark/snowy/cold winter months?

I wore my Brooks Glycerin 15s for the run and I can’t remember the last time I wore Glycerins… so far I am loving these!

The Run Happy hat accompanied me for most of the day:)  Just the usual lunch over at our house.

Rough morning with these kiddos but after chores, some good talks and earning their pool day… we made it out.

I’m sure glad they did because the pool was a good time.

I came prepared with our current summer favorites… grapes, cherries and peaches.

Looks comfortable Knox…

I had to leave for a bunch of meetings and things but on the way home I decided that Cafe Rio would make a fabulous dinner.  The kids love the horchata and quesadillas as much as I love the salads.  We also had the queso which was an excellent decision.  We did our family night and then they were off to bed.

Time for some Friday Favorites!

**My parents have been wearing their fit bits daily and checking in on their steps so I decided I would find my old Apple watch and see where I’m at…  most of my steps happen during the run but it’s fun to see where I’m at every now and then.

**I learned this from my coaching class and it has really helped my glutes to stop being lazy during the race;)  (I told you this a few months ago but just in case you missed it..) They taught us to pretend like we have a $100 bill held in-between our cheeks (sorry, that sounds weird) and we can’t drop it while we are running… it really helps me to keep my glutes activated during the run and working rather than letting all of the other muscles do the work.

**This is my new favorite picture of these three.  We were all hanging out in the front yard and Beretta did something weird and they were all laughing so hard.

**I’m almost finished with the Husband’s Secret and I really love it… but now I’m looking for my next read!

**Need a fun workout?  I did this one on Wednesday from my old coach because I remember loving it.  I shorted the w/u and c/d a bit but this is a great workout!   Adjust your different speeds by using a pace calculator like in this post!

**Sometimes the simplest foods are the absolute best.  After making a million pb & j sandwiches for the kids I remembered how good the simple stuff is and pb & j toast has been a snack a lot lately.

**I ran out of my favorite hairspray so I’ve been using another old one and realizing how much the Bed Head Hard Head is my favorite hairspray ever.

**I know I am way late to the party on this one but Pirate’s Booty is the best.  I had never tried it until Knox requested some… yeah, this stuff is addicting!

**My three favorite running songs this week—>  To Be Human(from Wonder Woman), PERM by Bruno Mars & Yes Girl by Bea Miller!!

**I wanted a little water bottle that had a strap around the hand and I just ordered this one… I’m super excited to try it!

**We just watched the movie Concussion (with Will Smith and we LOVED it).

——————————————————————————–

You guys are out there rocking your races!  Thank you for sharing with us!  If you want to share your latest running accomplishments please send them to [email protected]

——————————————————————————–

Jenny!!!  “On Saturday, June 3rd, my 3 teammates and I (I’m in the white hat) ran in a 51.4 mile really race from Mount Rainier to the Tacoma waterfront and placed 2nd in the women’s open 4 person team and placed 6th in the women’s OA!  Each of us ran 3 legs total to make up the 12 legs to conquer the 51.4 new downhill race and each of us left everything out there!  My average paces were faster than I expected and each leg was one surprise after another!  During my second leg, I was asked by a male on another team if I could pace him…. Seriously?!  I have never been considered fast by any means and never been called a strong runner but here I was… being asked to pace someone!  If that isn’t an ego boost, I don’t know what is (well… that was before snagging 2nd lol!)”

——————————————————————————–

Michelle!!!  “I ran the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon on Sunday 6/4/17.  I was really hoping for a shiny new PR, sub 4 marathon and the icing on the cake would be a BQ.  This was my 4th marathon.  Well the course was pretty hilly especially mile 22-24 which was all uphill, that was brutal.  Well I ended up doing well despite having to walk a bit on the hill, I PR’ed by 7 minutes, went sub 4, 3:59!  I missed qualifying for Boston by 4 minutes but I am super happy about my result!  I definitely have boosted my confidence that I can achieve that BQ next time!”

——————————————————————————–

Sarah!!!  “May 28th I ran my first marathon in Edinburgh, Scotland.  I moved to England last year to finally, after 4 years long distance, be with my fiancé, now husband.  This was the first race my husband was able to be there to support me; all other races were in the US.  We had a plan to meet up around mile 10.  I had started off way too fast, I know you are not supposed to do that and so I was upset with myself knowing I couldn’t keep the pace up the whole race but told myself just get to mile 10 to see Adam, the husband.  When mile 10 came around Adam had just gotten off the spectator bus, they had hit traffic, and we messaged trying to find each other but sadly by the time he got to the 10 mile marker, I was long gone.  Once I knew we missed each other, I tried not to cry but that meant I couldn’t breath properly.  I am pretty sure that was when I hit the wall but I forced myself to get it together.  The rest of the race was a massive struggle.  People told me everything would hurt, but everything hurt way more than I thought humanly possible.  I told myself when mile 20 came around, I was going to run the rest of the way no matter how painful it was and I did, for the most part.  I did stop and walk at the aid stations and made sure I had enough water.  Mile 25 came around and I was beyond ready for the race to be done and I knew exactly where Adam was near the end so I went as fast as my legs would carry me, which wasn’t that fast.  I finally saw Adam cheering me on along the last stretch.  Seeing him there cheering me on made me finish with a smile on my face when I was sure I would be crying.  When we met up after I got out of the runners area I balled my eyes out and told him am never doing that again… two days later I told him I wouldn’t mind running another marathon because I know I can do better and have more fun.  I have been looking for my next half and full marathons and hope to sign up for them in the next couple weeks!”

——————————————————————————–

Katie!!!  “I ran my best half marathon last weekend!!  I hit my PR time at 1:47!! I was so nervous because my knee had given me problems while training and I figured I wouldn’t push myself and would just enjoy the 13 mile run with my sister.  I rested my knee all week prior to the race and did lots of stretching and come race day it felt great.  We hit mile 12 and my sister said if we picked it up we could get in before 1:50.  I still can’t get over the excitement of rounding the bend at the finish line and seeing the 1:47 on the clock.  Yes, that’s me crying crossing the finish line.  I’m so lucky to have a great sister who ran with me and cheered me on and paced/pushed me.”

——————————————————————————–

Loribeth!!!  “I just ran my 9th half marathon last Saturday and LOVED it.  I have run this race every year since its inaugural year (2013) and this year they took a ‘streaker’ photo before the race.  There are less than 50 people who have run it each year….. for good reason…. this half marathon in June, in Tennessee, where the majority of the race is uphill.  Serious hills, heat and humidity.  But I love it!  It is my favorite race!  I hit 2:04 this year, which is pretty average for me on this course (2:03, 1:59, 2:04, 2:08 and 2:04 have been my times in order) so I was thrilled!  And I couldn’t wait for the fresh peaches at the finish line!”

——————————————————————————–

You have one last day to enter the RUNNING SHOE GIVEAWAY (and become an endorsed athlete… Brooks is going to pay you $1 too:)

——————————————————————————–

What are your Friday night plans?

What time of year/season are usually most motivated to run or workout?

Do you ever wear an activity tracker throughout the day?  Which one do you use?  Anyone love Apple watches?

Have a simple/classic food or meal that you can’t get enough of?  What about a favorite comfort food?