Flat Mama Friday and the Hot Chocolate Expo

***I received entry into the Hot Chocolate Charlotte 15k as part of being a BibRave Pro (Ambassador). Check out BibRave.com to find and write race reviews.***

Hot Chocolate is one of my favorite race series. Where else can you run 15k through a fun city, while eating chocolate on the course? That's right! Not only do they give you chocolate on the course, but also after you finish!

Lissa (RunNerdGirl) and I met up at the Convention Center just as the expo was opening. Ok, so we met up at the Starbucks in the lobby. A girl needs her iced tea, y'all.

After we had our beverages, we headed into the expo...

But first, a photo opp!

Next we picked up our bibs. I love their system! You go on any line (there weren't any when we arrived, so we walked right up), show them the QR code from your email, and they print a label and slap it on the first bib in their pile. I had my bib, and my friend Teddy's, in about 2 minutes. Mostly because I wasted 30 seconds searching for his QR code in my Facebook messages.

Next, you go into the expo and pick up your hoodie. Oh my heck, this hoodie is amazing. It is so soft and cozy and it has thumb holes. Thumb.Holes.

After we collected our hoodies, we wandered the expo, and by that I mean we loitered around the chocolate table...

So yummy. It is a chocolate themed race, after all!
After we wandered a bit more, we walked a few blocks to Teddy's hotel, and left his bag at the desk, before Lissa took the train back home.

I went to Amelie's for a quick pick me up before I made the long drive back home.

I have my Flat Mama all ready for tomorrow morning...

Are you racing this weekend?

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Training Update

The new running season had started, and this is usually when I stop doing any other form of exercise. Not for any particular reason, mostly just laziness.

I have been making an effort to change that, and I had a pretty good week!

Monday I went to Burn Boot Camp. I signed up for their new 6 week program, Raise the Bar. I can go as often as I want for 6 weeks, my goal is at least twice a week, hopefully 3 times. The first day was upper body and I just about died. Each day of the week there is a chance to improve on a certain exercise. Mondays it is the number of push ups, without quitting, in 2 minutes. I did 21, on my knees. Let's not go crazy. I did manage to increase that to 25 this morning!



Tuesday, the new running season was in full swing. I got up in the dark, ran three miles in the dark, and drove home...in the dark. I have a runner who is brand new, so my times will be slower until she gets in her groove. She is doing so well already!



Wednesday. Ahhh what a day. As I was getting ready to teach yoga, my son calls out to me that he needed help. He had been wrestling with his puppy and she scratched his nose. Deep. Like, blood dripping from his face deep. So, instead of teaching yoga I was in urgent care. We did end up taking the little face wrecker on a hike later that day.



Thursday was a trifecta day. First, I went for another dark run.



Then Hope and I went to Burn, since we missed it on Wednesday. It was a lot of ab work. A lot. I managed 72 v-ups in 2 minutes, doing one leg at a time.



Then I taught yoga. Yikes that was painful!

Friday I took a break. Thursday was rough on the old body, and I had a big day on Saturday as well.



Saturday was long run day. I have such a great group of ladies this season, and they are all at different levels, so we did several loops on the Greenway to accommodate everyone.







Saturday night I went to a friend's birthday party, and we all went roller skating! So fun, but it made my shins hurt!



Sunday we went grocery shopping, walked the dogs, and then I went to see Gone With the Wind at the local movie theater. Perfect end to the week!



What was your favorite workout this week?

Wordless Wednesday

Training Update

I think it's been awhile since I posted an update! December was super crazy, and I always seemed to be going somewhere or doing something. I joined a few challenges to start the year off right, and they seem to be working.

Monday I did 25 minutes of yoga and then there was much dancing!





Tuesday I dragged my butt out to a New Year's Day trail race and then met some friends and walked 4 miles.



Wednesday I taught yoga and walked a mile...

Thursday I taught yoga and walked a mile...



Friday I did a core yoga workout on ClassPass and walked a mile in my living room. It was pouring!



Saturday was the Frosty 25k, we did 11.5 trail miles, I wrote about it yesterday...
I also did 10 minutes of yoga in the parking lot after...



Sunday the hubs and I walked the pups, then walked a few miles around Charlotte, since temps hit 70!





A great week overall. I am adding something new this week. Stay tuned....

Sometimes Ya Gotta DNF

Yesterday was the Frosty 25k in Winston Salem, NC. I ran it with one of my new fave running buddies, Toni. She is running Goofy this weekend, so our plan going in was to run intervals the first loop and possibly walk the second loop.



We got there nice and early, got our bibs and shirts, and then rested in the car a bit before lining up to start.



The scenery was amazing, and the course was better than we thought it would be. It's been raining here a lot (like, build an Ark raining) so we wondered how muddy the course would be.



For the most part, it wasn't too bad, but there were some spots that were very soft.



At mile 3.5, there were Krispy Kreme donuts. Wow. I'm a happy girl.



At mile 6ish, Toni turned her knee. She thought she would be ok, but it quickly became obvious that she was struggling.



We talked about stopping after loop 1, mile 7.75 , but she wanted to stick it out. She can walk really fast, so I was still doing the intervals while she walked, and we pushed on.



We were hard core talking about stopping at this point. We reached mile 9.6 when she said it was really starting to hurt.



When I pointed out that it was 6 more miles to finish, but only 2 to go back, she decided to turn back. Goofy is way more important!

It was definitely the best decision, and we had 11.5 beautiful miles under our belts for the day!



Have you ever decided not to finish a race?