Fitness Friday: @MyRaceRagz

Good day my fitness loving friends!  On this Fitness Friday, I get to announce my newest 26.2 sponsor: MyRaceRagz!  I'm so excited, because not only are they sponsoring mile 21 (the first mile of uncharted territory) but they are letting me create a cool, custom-designed shirt to wear on race day!!!  (*hint-hint* there may even be a giveaway coming, too, so stay tuned!)  You should really go check out MyRaceRagz here and take a look at the hundreds of designs they already have - way cool.  I can't wait to show you all the shirt that I designed :-)  By the way, they are also on twitter - you really should follow them.  I'm just sayin'.

So that brings me to the question of the day.  What do YOU wear on race day?  Do you have a race "uniform" or do you just wing it?  Clearly, I like a race skirt with capris and a shirt that says something.  And I almost ALWAYS wear a hat.  How about you?

Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, Melissa, Kirsten, Mel, and MyRaceRagz in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon? I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc). You can click HERE, or click on the tab above. I would love and appreciate any support you can give me. Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th. I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year. I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

Thankful Thursday: Friends Who Push

Today I'm thankful for my Grand Rapids Marathon friends.  I was able to run the Grand Rapids Marathon Beer Run Tuesday night and I started the run with my friends Keith and Pete.  They slowed down a bit for me so I could keep up for a mile but still pushed me.  That mile was at a 10 m/m pace, which is a FAST first mile for me. Then, they took off like the speed demons they are, but I maintained and even sped up my pace. A couple other friends were running about the same pace as me, and Julie commented on how much faster I've gotten. I ended our 5 mile run with the fastest pace I've ever maintained for that distance. 

Do you see that????? That's a 9:55 minute/mile pace, people!  I even felt like I could keep going.  I've gotta say, all this marathon training has really helped me speed up my shorter distances.  I'm loving that!

I'm also thankful for my newest 26.2 sponsor!  Mel is running "with" me at mile 12.  She lives near me and I'm so happy we connected and have become IRL friends as well.  Someday, I hope to run with her, too, but so far when we go out it's usually to share yummy food and beer :)  Mel blogs here and you can find her on twitter here.  Thanks Mel!  I love you, girl!

Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, Melissa, Kirsten, and Mel in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon? I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc). You can click HERE, or click on the tab above. I would love and appreciate any support you can give me. Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th. I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year. I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

True Confessions: Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year

Today is the first day of school for students in my district (Michigan starts late, I know many of your kids have been in school for a week or more already).  My own are now officially high school freshman excuse me while I go sob in the corner. I spent the majority of the morning helping out in one of our kindergarten classrooms and I can't believe my own children used to be that small. 

Anyhoo, I really don't have time to blog today, which is unfortunate since I'm sure there is much that I could be confessing um very little water today, lots of diet coke, lots of rum (but not today yet), candy bars, yada yada yada.  Between all that and swearing at my computer for all the tech glitches today (including the district computers thinking I was a student for about an hour and not letting me get to any of my usual sites) it's a wonder it isn't worse.  I have no idea what my plans are for after school today.  I'm either going to a diving meet (if my daughter gets on the roster) or doing a group Grand Rapids Marathon Beer Run.  I'll let you guess which one I'm hoping for :-)

Instead, I leave you with what you may have missed over the holiday weekend:
On Monday, I introduced you to my latest 26.2 sponsor, my dear friend Kirsten (@girlsworld to all of you on twitter). 
Sunday, I reviewed my week in pictures.
And back on Friday I complained about wrote about fitting in all in.

Besides a little writing, I spent Labor Day with the hubby's family and even managed to get to the beach for a few cold, windy minutes.  How was your holiday weekend?

Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, Melissa and now Kirsten in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon? I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc). You can click HERE, or click on the tab above. I would love and appreciate any support you can give me. Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th. I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year. I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

My Newest Sponsor: @girlsworld !

I am so thrilled to highlight my newest 26.2 sponsor.  Running mile 25 with me (because I wouldn't let her have 26.2!) is Kirsten from Living in a Girl's World!  Kirsten is mom to 3 awesome little girls and is one truly bad ass runner.  She blogs about her running over here and you can find her on twitter here!

Kirsten was one of the first girls who really connected with me when I started following Shrinking Jeans and getting into twitter (and now I have over 30,000 tweets and she's up over 40,000 - the chick can TWEET!).  She's also been one of my biggest running supporters since I started running again.  Luckily for me, I've gotten to hang with Kirsten quite a bit in the past year or so (although, if you ask me, we never have enough time together).

We met IRL for the first time in Chicago in June 2010 and we were able to run together along Lake Michigan.  At the time, I would "only" run 3 miles with her.  Now, with Kirsten's encouragement I'm training for my first Marathon!

We were also able to run together in Baltimore at Fitbloggin 11...

We ran at my house this summer (and got inked!) when she made a stop on her insaneroadtrip....

And ran again at her house when I visited her a few weeks ago (my first run at elevation!).

I think it's pretty obvious Kirsten absolutely ROCKS.  Kirsten trains like there's no tomorrow and she's going all out and running Tough Mudder Northern California in something like 12 days!  Way more bad ass than I'll ever be!  (Hello?!? Obstacles, mud, electric shock? NO THANKS!) So, go give Kirsten a shout out and let her know how awesome she is.  Thank you so much Kirsten, for believing in me, encouraging me, and talking me off my ledge when I think I've gone completely nuts.  I love you, girl!

Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, Melissa and now Kirsten in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon?  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc).  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

LLRB 365: 2011 Week 35

How is it possible we are in week 35 of 2011 already!  School started for me this week (the kids go back Tuesday) so I was stressed and tired.  I also made a big decision to alter my marathon training schedule so my long runs will fall on Sunday from now on.  It made me all out of sorts on Saturday as I was reading about everyone's long runs!  I'll hopefully get used to it though.

Monday

8-29-11

I love this poster at my chiropractor's office. (He's the doctor for the US Men's Bobsled Team.)

Tuesday

8-30-11

My first day back at work included our school open house. This is how I prepared.

Wednesday

8-31-11

These feet were super antsy to move after sitting in trainings for 2 days.

Thursday

9-1-11

I got up and ran before dawn.  This was AM on the clock.

Friday

9-2-11

Went to a party to mourn celebrate the end of summer.  I puffy heart LOVE the mini-kegs from Bell's.

Saturday

9-3-11

College football!!! (Is it just me, or is the new head coach for OSU a cutie?)

Sunday

9-4-11

My first Sunday long run - 15 miles.

Me and my shadow - she biked the 2nd half while I ran.

This past week I introduced you to my newest 26.2 sponsor, Melissa.  Stay tuned, I have a new sponsor to thank this week! Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and now Melissa in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon?  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc).  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.

Fitness Friday: Fitting It All In

Since early June (probably even longer), I have devoted every Saturday to getting in my long training run for the week.

Now that school has started, we are already double-booked btwn marching band competitions & diving meets. This is before I even attempt to factor in a long run.

Changes and concessions need to be made. So, from now until the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 16th, my long runs will move to Sunday mornings.

Sunday had always been reserved for family time & church. The family is used to not seeing me for several hours on Saturday mornings. I hope God doesn't mind.

How do you juggle family & training commitments?

Also, do you have any favorite praise music I could throw on the iPod?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankful Thursday: Motivation in a Jar

A few weeks ago, my dear friend ChristieO from Average Moms Wear Capes sent a shout-out on twitter & her blog asking folks to send her pictures from races, training, whatever.  Her plan was to "bottle motivation" for whenever any of us needed to borrow some.

I was blessed to become a part of what Christie named The Motivation in a Jar Project (along with a whole bunch of other amazing folks just like you and me).  As Christie said, "Creating a place where you can see how far you’ve come, a place where other people can see how far you’ve come, but most of all, a place where other people can see how far they too can go."


I think Christie did a fabulous job and I'm thankful to have been included.  (I recommend watching the video in full screen mode so you can read the captions.)


Enjoy...





This week I introduced you to my newest 26.2 sponsor, Melissa.  Would you like to join my sponsors Ben, Erin, Andrea, Lisa, Ann, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and now Melissa in supporting me as I train to finish my first full marathon, the Grand Rapids Marathon?  I have set up a sponsorship page in which you can help me reach my goal of crossing the finish line (sponsorship will help pay for race fees, nutrition/hydration, shoes, etc).  You can click HERE, or click on the tab above.  I would love and appreciate any support you can give me.  Bloggy and linky love will follow, as well as the ability to sponsor individual miles and run "with" me on October 16th.  I cherish all the love and support my readers have given me this year.  I wouldn't be attempting this race without you.