I never used to think too much about what I would wear on race day, but after going to a bunch of races and seeing all of the fun sayings, mantras and all over creative things that people wear for races, I decided that I wanted to come up with my own versions.

First up is one that I actually had to go searching for after I saw a similar one during the Tuna Run 200. The one I saw was a Carolina Hurricane’s shirt, so I had to try to find a Pittsburgh Penguins one. Amazon to the rescue! It’s actually a bike jersey, so there are extra pockets on the back, but I really like that because I was able to use it to hold my key (secured by a safety pin) while I ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon last year. 

Next up is one I made specifically so that I could wear it during the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon last October. I always listen to music while I run so I decided to pull a few of those lyrics onto a shirt and included all of the race distances I’ve done (3.1, 6.2, 13.1 and 200 relay). I used a tech shirt, iron-on letters and numbers to make my design. Because it’s a tech shirt, it wasn’t easy to iron the items on because polyester + heat don’t mix well – the key was to only keep the heat on for very short amount of times (otherwise you end up with iron marks on the shirt – ask me how I know!). Since I was making the shirt specifically so that I could wear it during a race, I made sure that the design I created didn’t extend down to where my water belt would hit. Here are the lyrics that are on the shirt:

• it seemed like a good idea at the time
• runnin’ down a dram
• I won’t give up if you don’t give up
• running down the street yelling “kiss my ass!”
• be strong * don’t give up hope * it will get hard * cause life’s like a jump rope

The final shirt is one I made specifically for the overnight relays. It’s another iron-on design, but this one I combined an iron-on monster with glow in the dark paint. I haven’t been able to test this out to see whether anyone will actually be able to read it in the dark, but I plan to wear it for the upcoming relay, so I’ll let you know what kind of feedback I get! In case you can’t read it, the back of the shirt says “I run in the dark”

Do you have any favorite shirts? 

I’ve seen a lot of different ways that people display their race bibs and medal. As I was furnishing my house, I knew I wanted to do something more than just keep them on magnetic boards in my office. I really liked the idea of having something that would take up a large portion of one of my walls so that I could show off all that I’ve accomplished. I originally started looking for a large wooden or metal sign that would fit into my decor. I ended up with a large letter “A” that even came with a few of the original lightbulbs from when it was part of a lit sign (maybe from a gas station or diner?). With all the races I did in 2013, I doubled the amount of medals and probably came close to tripling the number of bibs hanging on my wall so I may have to rethink if / how I show off everything that I’ve accumulated, but I really like how it’s turning out.

How do you display your medals and bibs? 

I’ve been trying to round up a few discounts and coupon codes to share with everyone. Not nearly as many as right around Christmas, but here’s a couple good ones: 

• March 8-9, NC Half Marathon & Twilight 5k, Charlotte, NC – $10 off the half marathon with code NCACTIVE14 or $5 off the twilight 5k with code NC5KACTIVE14 (both codes expire 1/31)
• December 7, Run Like a Diva Half Marathon / 5k, St. Augustine Beach, FL – $10 off the half marathon with code STADIVAHALF or $5 on the 5k with code STADIVA5k (both codes expire 2/3)
• Road ID – $1 off purchase of $10 or more. There is no expiration date on these and I’ve got 4 to offer, so if you’re interested, leave a comment and I’ll send you the code via email. 

My group run was cancelled again this morning due to the cold weather. On the plus side, I was able to sleep in some, but on the other hand, that meant doing my 12 mile run by myself. The temperature wasn’t necessarily the problem this morning, but the wind chill definitely was. Luckily by this afternoon it got up to almost 40, so I headed out for my run around 3:00. It was still chilly out, so I had lots of layers, including my fleece-lined pants, hat and gloves, but it was comfortable once I got started. I had a little bit of a challenge when I ran into a section of trail that was closed due to road construction overhead. There was a big detour sign that took me out into a neighborhood and it looked pretty straightforward – go out of one neighborhood, cross the street through the adjoining neighborhood and get back onto the trail on the other side of the construction… unfortunately, once I crossed the road into the second neighborhood, the detour signs disappeared! I wandered around the neighborhood for a bit and even went back to the entrance to the neighborhood where there was a map that showed the detour, but the map didn’t actually have street names on it, just the main road was listed. So, after just meandering through the neighborhood for awhile, I went back the way I came and just ended up doing an odd out-and-back loop.

The parts of the trail I was on was nice though there were a few sections with a bunch of gum tree balls – definitely don’t want to step on those!! I ended up doing 12.7 miles and went straight into an ice bath. If you’ve never done an ice bath before, it’s definitely interesting. I’ve found that it seems to help me and there’s some easy logic behind it – cold constricts your blood vessels which reduces swelling and can lead to faster recovery. Of course, there’s always more than one side to a story so, if you feel they help you, awesome, if not, you can always leave them out of your recovery plans. I’ve found that if I can get past the initial shock of the cold water, then I can handle it. You can always start with just cold tap water to get the idea of what it’s like if the idea of ice is a bit too much – most of the time I put in a couple trays of ice and they melt within 5 minutes or so.

Have you ever tried an ice bath? 

In keeping with yesterday’s theme of highlighting some new blogs, I wanted to share one that I follow that is completely different from anything else I’ve seen: Hyperbole and a Half. Allie creates stories based on real-life events and adds hand-drawn pictures (made in Paint) to enhance all the details. She covers topics ranging from annoying spelling errors, what the pain scale at the doctor’s office should really look like, and my personal favorite, testing the intelligence of her dog. Anytime I need a pick-me-up, I can always wander over to her blog and find a story that makes me laugh, so I hope you enjoy it as well! 

Since signing up for the 14 in 14 challenge, I’ve been able to see all the awesome races that everyone has been doing this month and I’m absolutely jealous! I know I made the right decision not to do any races before the Ragnar Relay at the beginning of February, but all of the runner’s posts have definitely made me wish I could be out there already. 

The good news is that in addition to all of the pictures from the races that people are doing, everyone is also sharing their blogs. Here’s a couple that I’ve been able to check out so far:

• The Tiny Terror – Amy Lauren shares her experience as the 2:30 pace leader for the Charleston Half Marathon
• Happy Fit Mama – Angela educates everyone on what a reverse bucket list is – what’s on yours?
• Two Moms on the Run – Michelle (1/2 of the two moms duo) goes back to her “hater” days to try to understand some negative comments made on a blog she follows
• Living the Dream – Fancy Nancy shares Monday motivation about staying consistent
• Divas Run for Bling – Heather shares a weekly recap of last week’s goals and sets some new ones for this week

I have a love / hate relationship with running. I’m finally starting to consider myself a “runner” but only after several years of vehemently denying it by saying instead that I’m just a soccer player who runs. Before all of this could happen, I had to get past a few things I thought were facts about runners:

• You have to run continuously. This was a big hurdle for me. In fact, in my first 10k, my only goal was to run the whole thing. There weren’t many people near me after about the 4 mile mark, but there was one guy who was always right there. He would run and get slightly ahead of me, then start walking, where I would pass him. We kept leapfrogging like this until the very end and honestly, I was MAD! I was putting in everything I had in order to be able to run the entire race (I did), and this dude kept passing me after his walk breaks. I did eventually pass him for good once I could see the finish line – I’m a pretty good sprinter and in every race so far, I’ve been able to do some type of “kick” to finish strong. Slowly I got over my annoyance at walk breaks during a run, but it was only once I started training for a half marathon and ended up needing to walk to catch my breath that I realized that I was ok with taking a short walk break during a run. But, even then, I still went into my second half marathon with the goal of running the whole thing (I didn’t). I added planned walk breaks into my third half marathon and took over 12 minutes off my time in 5 months!
• You shouldn’t run with music (aka real runners don’t need music to run, etc.). I have always run with music. First I started with an iPod shuffle connected to a sensor in my shoe. I’ve moved on to a Garmin and my iPhone, but recently I’ve started doing my group runs without any music. I still do all of my solo runs with something (most recently, I’ve been listening to audiobooks), but running with the groups without music has allowed me to talk with my fellow runners (what a concept!) and I don’t feel mentally strained without it. I still fear those races that say “iPods not recommended” but I haven’t run across a race that completely bans them, so I still feel safe. I have to say I’m still in awe of anyone who can go out for a long run and just go – it’s just another one of those mental games that running brings on that you have to figure out how you’re going to tackle. 
• You have to be fast. I don’t consider myself slow and usually, I think I’m pretty fast – I can keep up with the majority of the guys on the soccer field and I actually enjoy sprinting. But push me beyond the length of a soccer field and my speed definitely drops off. Am I ever going to win a race? No. Can I win my age group? It depends on how many other people I have to compete against (I came in #1 out of a group of 7 last March). My favorite quote regarding this faulty concept:

• The only reason to run a race is to beat your previous time (aka beat that person in front of you, etc.). The good news is that when you first start running, it’s pretty easy to beat your times, just by making some small changes, so sometimes it feels like it will always be that easy – unfortunately at some point, you hit a plateau. This happened to me when I first started running and was focusing on 5ks. My first race was one I signed up on a whim for, so I didn’t really “train” for that race – I finished with some major walking and knew that I could do better. So, I signed up for a 5k/10k training group at work and registered for another race. Race #2 took off 2 minutes, as did race #3, so in a matter of 4 months, I had taken 4 minutes off. After that, the record-breaking stalled. It took another year to take off 2 more minutes and another year after that to get 20 seconds off to get under 26 minutes where my PR stands now. Yes, getting faster and beating your previous time is a great feeling, but there are definitely other reasons to run a race – to do something you’ve never done before, to run for fun or for a great cause or to complete a bigger goal. 

I’ve been slightly distracted the last couple of weeks because I’ve been focusing my attention on getting the next season of the Charlotte Women’s Soccer League set up. We kick off our spring season in mid-February, so everything needs to be updated before registration goes live on February 1. I have officially taken over the manager position that coordinates all of the league’s activities (fields, referees, teams, socials, team shirts, etc.) and I’ve got a great supporting crew of captains to support me in this new role, so I’m excited to get things started. For any women in the Charlotte area who are interested in playing some soccer, check our our league!

I was doing some random internet surfing last night and decided I wanted to look for some “must run races” for my 50 State Challenge and what better place to start than with Arizona? I got to go to the Grand Canyon in January 2013, so my first google search was for “Grand Canyon half marathon” and what did I find – a race 5 miles from the Grand Canyon! Even more amazing? There’s a whole series of these races, focusing on half marathons held near various national parks:

• Zion, Utah (March)
• Grand Canyon, Arizona (May)
• Yellowstone, Montana (June)
• Rocky Mountain, Colorado (August)
• Grand Teton, Wyoming (TBD 2015)
• Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee (September)
• Glen Canyon, Arizona (October)