Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Dirty Dash 10k Mud Run

aka the FUNNEST race EVER in pictures!

Our team the Dirty Booty Chasers and our pirate mascot Dash

Gene, Linzi, Me, Dash and Elisa


Credit to our awesome photographer, my brother Jojo for waking up early to be around a bunch of crazy people.
My sister Elisa, brother Jojo and Me (Yes I got the short gene in the family)

This race was definitely the funnest I have ever ran. It was nice to not wear a watch and just run for fun and get dirty while doing it. The company was amazing! Check out Linzi's blog for her recap.


The pirate family that runs together stays together





Before our 9:20 wave started we had a great time looking at everyone's creative costumes

 




Having some fun waiting for our wave to start


And finally it’s our turn! Can you see me in the sea of dirty dashers?


I don’t have any photo’s from course itself (waiting for the official photos). It was a little difficult in the beginning. No not the obstacles, the running up the mountain! We were running up the ski hills all while climbing bay hales, jumping through tires, going through mud tunnels, climbing walls with mud pits on each side and at the top of the mountain was a secret obstacle… the beer chug! Did I chug a beer? No. But I did have a few drinks of it which was refreshing after the climb.

Then came the slip and slide!


It washed all the mud off me


And then the funnest obstacle of them all.. THE MUD PIT!! Time go get dirrttyyy!


The mud with rocks in them didn’t feel good when people were throwing them at us though..


It was more like a muddy swimming pool...


And the finished product of the mud pit…





I can’t wait to run this again next year! Who wants to be on my team???

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(I have been trying to post this all day but Live Writer didn't want to upload the blog post :( Sad day I love Live Writer it has never failed me before. I had to resort to posting this thru blogger

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Dirty Booty Chasers

The last few days have been busy so this post will be all over the place….

My son’s first day of 5th grade was on Wed.

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I still get emotional when I drop him off on his first day. No I don’t cry, anymore SmileBut I imagine I’ll get emotional till the day I drop him off at his college dorm.

On the way to school his first day he was talking about the mile test. Last year he was first in his class and a spot to participate in the super mile against other kids in his school. This year he wants to do better so I told him I would help him if he wanted. Today he mention the track team and possibly joining this coming spring. That makes me super happy! But I will let him make his own decisions on what sports or activities he wants to play. The rule in the house is he can choose what sports or activity he wants to participate in, he just needs to do something so he can stay active. When we were in WA last year he chose swimming lessons which he really loved. Since moving to ID we haven’t been able to sign him up for anything but with the new school year we will have more opportunities for him now.

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This week has also been really hot! Not as hot as some of you have to deal with and it isn’t humid thankfully but it’s been at least 100 the last few days and tomorrow 102 is predicted. Normally I wouldn’t mind this cause we have air conditioning so it makes it bearable, but this week the air con broke at work! So it’s been extremely hot! Making me very tired and grumpy by the time I get home. Needless to say I haven’t got in any cross training. I am just way to tired to want to go to the gym after spending my day in a sauna. I have done all my runs this week so far. I run first thing in the morning before work to get them out of the way before it gets too hot. Thankfully I’ve been staying hydrated with some Nuun at work.

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Shout out to the Nuun HTC team this weekend!

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And finally I went to pick up our races packets today for the Boise Dirty Dash 10k on Saturday!

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It’s going to be sooo much fun! Our team name is “Dirty Booty Chasers” It’s a pirate theme Smile

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I really like the shirts too!

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Our team has 4 members including Gene and I. And Linzi from Beyond Destination 26.2 is also on our team! Linzi and I are going shopping for some costumes tomorrow.

I have been looking forward to this race all week!
I ran the Ft. Lewis Mud Run in Washington last year and it was so much fun!

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Be sure to check back this weekend for muddy pirate pictures!

And to end on a random picture. This is me trying to use the foam roller this evening but Dash wanted me to pay attention to him instead.

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Best way to get attention is with kisses right? Smile

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Spider Pig

Today’s track workout and Saturday’s race has me feeling speedy!

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Today’s Run Less Run Faster Key Workout #1 was:

1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down with 200m rest intervals in between the following:

1200m goal 5:27 – actual 5:27

1000m goal 4:30 – actual 4:34

800m goal 3:34 – actual 3:38

600m goal 2:40 – actual 2:40

400m goal 1:45 – actual 1:45

200m no specific goal – ran it in 50 sec

I really loved this workout! Not sure why. Maybe cause I was able to hit the majority of my goal paces. I liked knowing that after each interval I would be running less and less laps so it helped me mentally want to go faster. I focused more on my form and breathing. I find that when I run fast I run out of breath easier which makes me want to slow down. Focusing on my breathing helped me maintain my speed. I started off just under goal pace and would progressively speed up and sprint it in at the end.

I  wore my New Balance 10 Minimus Trail which I absolutely loved for speed work!

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I have worn them for other runs and for the Foothills XC12k Trail Race but today was the first time I wore them for speed work. They were light weight and I think helped me with my form. I love my Saucony Kinvara’s but the NB Trails definitely will be my go to shoes when I want to run fast! I didn’t have to transition much into them. Probably cause the Saucony Kinvara’s are considered to be a good transition minimalist shoe. I have to agree but I can definitely feel the difference between the Kinvaras and the NB Trails. There is still more cushioning in the Kinvara’s which I prefer for longer runs.

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I wonder if they would have helped any with my 10k race last Saturday?? Not that it matters I was completely happy and surprised that I could run at an 8:04 overall pace for 6.3 miles. Not sure if I could keep that pace for any longer my legs were definitely wanting me to slow down. I do think the Run Less Run Faster has helped me gain speed even only 4 weeks into the plan. I look forward to the speed workouts each week, they are my favorite from all the 3 key workouts.

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Have you watched the Simpsons Movie? Remember the Spider Pig song Homer sings as he holds a pig up to walk on the ceiling? No, well here’s the video

So SPIbelt is having a giveaway contest on Facebook for whoever comes up with the best SPIbelt jingle, chant, song, motto etc. So I told Gene about it and he had the awesome idea of coming up with a jingle to the tune of Spider Pig. This is what we came up with (sing it with the same tune to Spider Pig)

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SPIbelt, SPIbelt,

Holds whatever you want it to hold,

Doesn’t bounce or shift while you run,

The reflective belts keep you safe at night,

The waterproof ones keep your things dry and tight,

Lookout here comes a runner with a SPIbelllllttttt!!!!

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Might not be the best lyrics but we thought it was funny and had fun with it. SmileGene was trying to claim the prize if we win cause he came up with the idea, but I told him I really want the black with pink polka dots and I just have to have it. So he said he would take my current one. Smile And if we don’t win it’s still on my list of stuff I want to get.

Well off to bed I go! Little man’s first day of school is tomorrow!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Project Athena 10k Race and after

Project Athena is a non profit organization that was founded in 2007 by “two‐time adventure race world champion, 10‐time Ironman finisher and professional firefighter” Robyn Benincasa.
“Robyn was diagnosed with stage 4 Osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease, in 2007, and completed a marathon 20 weeks after hip resurfacing surgery as a proud owner of two metal‐on‐metal bionic hips. Inspired by a support group of girlfriends who were also survivors, Benincasa started the Foundation to create a “god and goddess” network, to help other women who face medical setbacks embrace recovery and conquer physical fitness and adventure goals.”
100% of the registration went directly to the foundation to help local and national survivors. This was the first year they held the race in Boise so it was actually very small. I’m not sure on exact numbers because they haven’t posted results online.
Gene and I picked up our goodie bag and race bib the night before.
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The tech t’s were really cute and they had men and women's fit which was actually really nice. I don’t really like unisex shirts, they never fit me right. They ran out of smalls though but they said I could exchange it the next day at the race. I just ended up keeping the medium.
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We didn’t get our timing chips till race day. I actually had never seen this type of timing chip. It’s one that you wear on your wrist. I thought it was weird and worried that it would bother me during the race but I actually didn’t feel it and would prefer that kind over the type you have to wear around your ankle.
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We got to the race about 30 min before the start and their was hardly anyone there. There were more volunteers than runners at that point. But they slowly started trickling in.
We decided to take some pictures before the race to keep us entertained.
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Purple sparkle skirt making it’s first race appearance :) which I absolutely love and got some compliments on.
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Gene has actually been sick the last few days so I wasn’t really sure if he was going to run it. Race morning he said he was feeling good enough to run. But wasn’t going to be able to run fast. Our plan was to run together for the race but once there we saw how small the race was Gene told me he knew I could run run fast and beat a lot of the people there so I should go for it. It actually made me feel really proud to  hear him say that. Feels good to be told that you run fast SmileSo I gave him a kiss and said ok!
I wasn’t really sure what pace I should run at. I haven’t ran a 10k since last year, the Aflac Iron Girl Seattle 10k with a time of 57:37, I knew I could run faster than that. I initially thought I should run around an 8:30 pace.
Once we took off the course was a little confusing and the lead runners turned the wrong way and were being yelled at to turn around. We had to make a sharp left turn which was a tight fit and felt like everyone was bottle necked. The mile markers were off from my Garmin even though I started it right as we crossed the mat. I don’t remember exactly how much off the first few miles were but I knew they were short.
I looked down when my watch beeped and it said mile 1 in 8:03. I wondered if this was too fast and was debating on slowing down. Then miles 2 and 3 came in both in 8:01. Well guess I decided not to slow down. Mile 4 I could feel the fatigue in my legs and I was extremely thirsty! They had a water stop back at mile 2 and I had some water then but I was really wanting some water now. Mile 4 split was 8:06. At mile 5 they finally had a water stop so I tried to walk quickly to drink as much as I could, I was feeling the hot sun! The greenbelt is a section I run a lot so when we turned the opposite way from the direction where the finish was I thought it was weird and probably how we would make up distance since the mile markers were short. This actually was a little mentally hard on me and I could feel my legs slowing down. Mile 5 split was 8:17. When I saw that I knew I had to pick up the speed only 1.2 miles to go.
The last mile my goal was to pass 2 women that had passed me around mile 4, I had kept them in sight the entire race. As we came around the bend I passed one of them and sped up to catch the other one. I was running right next to her and finally saw the finish so decided to I needed to sprint it in and passed her as I did. Right as I was nearing the mats the girl I had just passed all of a sudden came up next to me and pretty much ran into me. I seriously felt her nudge my shoulder. I don’t know if this was on purpose or accident but I gave her the WTF look as she crossed before me. Not quite sure what was up with that. If you want to pass then just pass me, more power to you for running faster, but no need to run someone over while doing it.
Mile 6 was in 8:08 and the last .38 was in 7:40. Finishing in 51:33 (Garmin time, no official results yet). An overall pace of 8:04. Definitely a lot faster than I thought I could run it in! I ended up placing 4th in my age group. The other 3 girls ahead of me ran it in 42 and 43 minutes so there was no way I would have caught up to them they were speedy!
My neighbor Bob aka “Pop” came out to support us and took this photo as I crossed the finish line.
He said he saw me almost get ran over by the other girl.IMG_1101
After I crossed and got my medal I went back to find Gene. He was less than half a mile from the finish line so I ran with him and then told him to go for it and let him cross the finish line. He freaking rocked it coming in in 58 min. Pretty awesome after having a chest cold for the last few days.
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We met up with Bob and had some pictures taken.
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My friend Tim that I met at another race earlier this year ran the 10k as well. He is fast and has placed in a lot of the local 5k’s. He placed first in his age group winning a necklace and a $110 gift card for a pair of Merrell shoes!
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The tiniest little girl also ran the 10k. She was only 5 years old! She finished in 1:10. She ran the race with her dad and apparently has ran multiple local races and has been running since she was 3! She was the cutest little girl and placed in the 18 and under age group :)
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I did win a $25 gift card to Tree City Juice and Smoothie Café in a raffle which was really awesome! They gave away some great raffle prizes and Gene was hopping to win the Idaho Steelheads hockey tickets but no luck. We did get some other goodies from Bodybuilding.com
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And the medal is really nice and now has it’s new home next to my other medals Smile
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Overall this was a great race! I definitely recommend it if it’s coming to your town (Seattle friends!)
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I still needed to get in 4 more miles to get to my total of 10 for the day but didn’t want to make Gene wait for me so I decided to run them on the treadmill at home. It wasn’t as fun as running outside but I got them done!
After 10 miles I decided it was time for some well earned drinks and food! Since little man was at a birthday sleepover it was some nice alone time for Gene and I.
We decided to go to a restaurant called Bonefish Grill in downtown Boise. Their food was absolutely amazing!
I decided to have a glass of Sparkling White Mango Sangria…one word…yummy!!!
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It was only in the 80’s (which is cool considering its usually in the high 90’s) so we decided to have our lunch on the patio. It was fun to talk and people watch.
We decided to share the ceviche to start out with which was delicious!
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I had the fish tacos with fresh mango salsa and a spring salad which were soooo good and Gene had the chicken marsala which he said was amazing.
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Just looking at the picture makes me want to go eat there again.
Overall it was a great evening. We had a few more drinks at another place but this post is long enough so I’ll leave you with the pics Gene took there.
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