Wordless Wednesday #bibravepro Edition

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Project Repat Tee Shirt Quilt #fitfluential

I was so thrilled to be given a chance to have a free quilt made as a Fitfluential Ambassador. I went into my closet and dug out all of my tees from Jersey races that I hadn't used in past quilts.



I followed the directions emailed to me when I ordered the quilt, and cut the back off of each shirt, mailing only what I wanted in the quilt. I was given VIP shipping, and before I knew it, I got an email that my quilt was on its way back to me! It was so quick, and I was eager to see the finished product. I really miss NJ and my Jersey running friends and this quilt is a representation of them!





I will be keeping it in my guest room, which is where all of our Jersey memories are. it's just perfect!



Before I send you over to www.projectrepat.com let me tell you a little bit about them, because the details are important!
Your quilt be cut and sewn in the USA.
They aren't just for runners, use any shirts that are meaningful to you or someone you love.
Our quilt will be backed with PolarTec fleece in your color choice, and it's made out of recycled bottles! Each yard recycles 23 plastic bottles.
Head over to Project Repat and use the link below to get 15% off!
http://projectrepat.refr.cc/KR5S84N

posted from Bloggeroid

Run Rock n Roll #virtualraceseries winner!

I am super excited to announce the winner of the Virtual Race Series entry! This entry was provided to me as a Rock n Blogger and I decided to pass it on to one of my readers and pay for my own entry. Happy Holidays!
I used Random.org to choose a winner.



Easy Pease!

And the winner is.....



Congratulations! I will be sending you the code later today with the link to the registration page! I hope you are as excited as I am! I will be doing the first race this Saturday!

posted from Bloggeroid

Ugly Sweater Fun Run

Fleet Feet in Fort Mill sponsored a free fun run today, with food donations optional. they had courses for anywhere from one to five miles printed out so you could choose what distance you wanted.



After a group photo we all headed to tell start point. Some of the ladies I mentored were doing a two mile walk, and since I'm
running the trails tomorrow I decided to join them.



It was a perfect day! Afterwards, they served free pancakes and had fruit and drinks. They also had a raffle and prizes for the best three ugly sweaters. It was a great time and the perfect way to keep moving on a Holiday weekend!




What did you do this weekend to keep your body moving?

posted from Bloggeroid

Flat Mama Friday, Ugly Sweater Edition

Saturday morning I am running an Ugly Sweater Fun Run, and I couldn't be more excited. I love the holiday season, and this is the perfect way to get it started.
I will post pictures on Sunday, it's a trail run so it should be really pretty scenery. I'm hoping it's not too warm out, I will wear a tech shirt underneath just in case....

posted from Bloggeroid

Charlotte South Park Turkey Trot #Thankful5

Today I ran the Charlotte Turkey Trot 8k, at the South Park Mall.
I started the day by dropping the hubs off at the airport so he can fly to California for a dirt bike ride from Barstow to Vegas. Of course, this meant I was super early for the race, but that's ok.
I picked up my bib and tee and then hung out in the car for awhile until the Kid's Mile started.



Once the kids started, I got into the corral and found my friend Robert, which made me super happy. I didn't think I knew anyone, so it was a welcome surprise!



We are such grown ups.
The course was very nice, hilly of course, but well marked and the volunteers were all very good. The water stops were well spaced, and the volunteers did a great job.
The time went by quickly because Robert and I gabbed a lot, and before we knew it, we were running into the mall parking lot towards the finish!




We got our cute medals and tried to find food and drink. After much searching we found where we could pour our own water, and then after even more searching we found the food.



That's right. Half of a granola bar after running almost 5 miles. I was a little shocked, I'm not gonna lie. I was starving, so I took two. So, a whole granola bar. I'm a rebel.
Next were awards and the costume contest.



I thought I had a good chance, until I found out that it was popular vote. I had no friends with me, so I had to rely on my costume. The three that won were good costumes, but I might have had a better chance if it was judged by an actual judge and not the audience. I really loved the costume that won, I wish I had taken a pic! The girl made a turkey costume that reminded me of a Mummer costume, I was impressed that she did the 5k in it!
It was a fun race and now I'm home in comfy ugly sweater leggings and my race tee, watching the parade with my family.
It's a good way to celebrate Thanksgiving!
Will I run this race next year? Nope. I'm sure I can find another Turkey Trot to try!

posted from Bloggeroid

Wordless Wednesday Turkey Trot Flat Mama Edition

 This is my first of two Flat Mama posts this week! This is for tomorrow's Turkey Trot 8k at the South  Park Mall, a guaranteed PR since I've never run an 8k before. It's the little things. 

I might add in a wooden spoon, but we are cooking for Thanksgiving right now and I can't spare one!

Saturday I am doing an Ugly Sweater Run, but I have to find the sweater in one of the Christmas boxes, so I will post that on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Run Rock n Roll Virtual Series #giveaway

One lucky reader will win the whole Virtual Race Series, that's 4 medals!
Let's make it easy on you, to get entries into the drawing, you can....
follow me on Instagram @BarkingMadRun
follow me on Twitter @BarkingMadRun
comment below that you did so!
comment which medal is your favorite!

Easy, right?
And check out the bling!



Happy Thanksgiving! I will draw a winner on Monday, November 28th! sorry for the quick post, this just became available to me and my parents are visiting for the week! Good luck!

posted from Bloggeroid

Staying Active on Vacation

The hubs and I are on a whirlwind trip to Boca Raton for a Bar Mitzvah before the craziness of Thanksgiving starts. I am still recovering from the marathon but I am getting antsy so I made sure to get out there and move a little today, after we landed in Palm Beach.
We are staying overnight at the Waldorf Astoria and I really feel like a fish out of water here. We saw a famous actor at the pool, and everything is so fancy! Anyway, I made sure to get my steps in and we haven't even made it to the party yet. I'm sure that I will add to them when the dancing begins tonight!

posted from Bloggeroid

2017 Achievement Board

If you have read my blog for more than a year, you've probably seen one of my past achievement boards. I started making them in 2013 as a way to help visualize my goals.

   

 

I started thinking about 2017 while I was walking the second half of the NYC marathon, as a way to distract myself from my misery. As I walked, I realized that during 2016 I made excuses that helped me to basically give up on myself. 

First, we were moving, and the hubs was working in NC during the week and home on weekends, so I was packing alone. We moved on Super Bowl Sunday. Then we were unpacking. And by we, I mean me. Because the hubs went right to work and helped me with the heavy lifting on the weekends. I barely ran again until March or April. I always had an excuse. 

When I was marathon training, I was so worried about injury that I basically ran, and that's it. No yoga or anything else, except a random workout here or there.

Let's talk about the food. I have been eating.all.the.food.

I haven't gained any weight, in fact I have lost some poundage, but I should weigh about 30 pounds less with all of the running, but if you cut me open and looked inside, I'm pretty sure I'm made of cake with chocolate in my veins. 

For real.

Every year I pick a word. It basically encompasses all of my goals. I try and get a shirt, bracelet, necklace, whatever I can find to go along with it. 

I decided that my goals for 2017 would have something to do with making improvements to my actions in 2016. Does that make sense? I have been running slower, not really working out, and my eating was crap. 

In addition to my usual goals, I added in that I needed to beat my best times of 2016 for each distance. 

I started thinking about a word to go along with this, and was throwing around improvement, inspired, motivated, and then I saw this:

 

Redemption.

I don't even remember what I was looking at. It just made sense to me. And so the planning begins. I looked at some more serious fonts, but I didn't want it to be depressing, so I went with the whimsical. I wanted to have a lot of spaces for my goals, as well. Once I meet a goal, I often add to it if there is still time left in the year. Once I lose five pounds, I'll make a space for ten. Complete a two minute plank? Let's go for three. And so on....

Once my goals are in place, it's time to make it permanent. I will hang this up in my office or my gym, where I will see it almost every day, to remind me of the goals I have met and those I still need to chase down. As I meet them, I color them in. I color in the corner squares right off the bat, so it's not so depressing. 

Since I am still recovering and won't start working out again until tomorrow, I had plenty of extra time this week to work on my training plan going forward. I may have actually planned out the next 11 months. Maybe.

I added some progressions to help me increase my speed, and included Ragnar training and Chicago marathon training. No worries, it's in erasable ink, so I can change it as I go. 

 I'm ready for 2017! Do you set goals each year? If you had to pick one word for 2017, what would it be?

 

 

 

#TCSNYCmarathon recap

I'm not sure that I'm 100% ready to write this, but the line to vote is over an hour long and it's cold outside, so I'm waiting a little longer to head out to the polls.

 Team photo! Team Momentum met for dinner the night before the race, and we got a great course description from someone who used to work for NYRR. It was a fun and inspiring night. Afterwards, I prepped everything for the race, and got to bed as early as possible.

I had a typical night of sleep, what the hubs has dubbed race sleep. Lots of tossing and turning, and up at 5 to get ready for the bus. It was a mile walk to the bus, with lots of waiting on line and confusion. Luckily, I left early and was on the bus at 6:15.

A bad selfie, but with one of NYPDs finest. What a good sport!

The bus ride was about 90 minutes, pretty relaxing, with a friendly group at the back of the bus. The line at Staten Island security looked terrible, but it moved so quickly, and I was in the Fort within 15 minutes. Sooooo great. Time to wait around. I missed out on the Dunkin hat somehow, stood on line to pee, and then hunted around for someone I knew. It's not easy with 51,000+ other people milling around. After a few messages, and some more wandering, I found Kaseedee and her friend, and we hung around until it was time to go. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane.... for #TCSNYCMarathon

The day has finally come and we are sitting in Charlotte Airport, waiting to board our flight!  In just about 10 minutes the adventure begins!  I think I have everything packed..... now.

First, I noticed that I packed my hydration belt, but not the bottles.....

Oops! I did this for Zooma Florida a couple weeks ago. Omg.

I lost the compression band for my tight IT and went to three stores yesterday before I found one.

I almost forgot to pack shoes for Tea at the Plaza.

But.....

I got my nails done....

And I got to the airport on time.....

And I'm ready to go! See you soon, NYC!!!

 

 

 

 

Packing for the #TCSNYCMarathon

Friday morning, the hubs and I are hopping on a plan and flying north for my grandest adventure yet: the NYC Marathon. I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified. Not about finishing, no. To quote my 17 year old son "let's be real mom, you know you're gonna finish." And he's right. I will finish. The IT  band issues I've been having definitely changed my goals. That's not it either.

It's all the things I cannot control. Sorry boys, but it's almost TTOM. Seriously. Because running for 6 or possibly 7 hours through NYC isn't challenging enough. I'm an emotional wreck as well. Every little thing makes me cry. Oh, and my allergies are acting up. What if I get sick?

And so it goes.

Four more days. Leaving in two days. More like a day and a half now. So I've been packing all week. I have lists. Very serious lists. Dress for Tea at the Plaza with my daughter and her bestie. Dress and sneakers for our Team MDA dinner on Saturday night. Clothes for in between. Let's not even forget race day. Yikes.

So I will break it down for you now. I've packed for dozens of races and race-cations, so I'm kind of a pro. 

The first thing I always pack is my race day outfit. Soup to nuts. This goes in your carry on. Let me say that again. Every single thing you need to wear on race day goes in your carry on. Why? Luggage gets lost. I've never had that happen to me, but many have. You can replace your day to day clothes,  but not your race day clothes. I won't even think of the chafing that would occur. :::cringing:::

I packed this last week. Seriously. I wanted to be sure I had my favorite sports bra, and all of my accessories went in today. Last night I tried on my dress for the Sophisticated Sneaker Team Dinner. The lighting stinks, but I'm going to look so cute! 

Next came the extra clothes for the plane ride and expo, for after the race on Sunday, and for Monday when I'm achey and have to get back on the plane. I printed out my pace bands for all of my goals... A, B, and C. 

A. Finish in 6 to 6.5 hours

B. Finish under 7 hours

C. Finish. Period.

I grabbed some KT tape, and my compression band for my IT Band. I bought snacks for the hubs to carry for me.... Twizzler bites and pretzel sticks.

I packed my Oofos for after the race, so I can take my sneakers off after I finish. 

I printed out the mini guide that NYRR has on their website. 

Oh, and let's not forget the throw away clothes for before the race. I plan to look super stylish. I have some super sexy sweats from the men's department at Walmart. It's on, y'all. 

I water proofed my sneakers and packed ponchos becaus for one brief moment they were predicting rain. I packed a Mylar sheet to sit on in the village. 

I think I'm ready. Which means I'll add twenty more things to our bags before we go. And that's ok. 

Because it's New York City.

And...

I'm about to go there...

If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.....