Holiday Gift Guide! Wondering what to buy the runner in your life?

Okay, Thanksgiving is over and I am perhaps a bit behind on my holiday shopping.  Well, at least that's what it seems like.

Do you get a gift for your running partner?  For a friend, spouse, family member who likes to run?  What do you get them?!  Well, fret no more... let me tell you about the things I either absolutely love or wish someone would get for me.  (**This is a perfect hint for someone to email this post to my husband**)

1.  Noxgear

The Tracer 360 is my absolute favorite piece of running gear.  I use this when running in the twilight hours, in low visibility conditions or out at night.  I used it while out trick-or-treating with the kids and I was stopped by other families out on the candy adventures or by the residents who we went begging for candy from.  Everyone wanted it either for cycling or some other activity hat required being more visible to increase your safety.  It is light weight, easy to use and super rad.  Check out my review here and hurry over to their website (linked above) to see if the fall sale is still going on.

2.  Road ID 

You never know when something could happen that leaves you unable to explain important medical information or emergency contact info.  I haven't had to use my Road ID, but I wear my wrist ID slim at all times and have my young children wear theirs too.  They are too young to have my cell phone and my husband's cell memorized, so they know to ask someone to call mom or dad and show them the ID.  My ID states my name; husbands phone number; friend's phone number; medication allergies; year of birth and blood type.

3.  BottleBand

With this handy dandy silicone strap, turn any bottle into a hand held water bottle.  Genius!  ...And, the perfect size for a stocking stuffer item.

4.  Electrolytes

There are two favorites that I enjoy.  The first is not as well known, but very tasty.  Check out Cocogo and try the Raspberry Passion Fruit!  You can use code  OUTRUNNINGTHERAIN for 10% off your order.  This product is a blend of coconut water and real fruit.  Natural ingredients.  No extra chemicals, coloring and all that unnecessary stuff.  

My second favorite electrolyte option is Nuun.  This is a fizzy tablet that you need to make sure is done dissolving before putting the cap back on your bottle.  Trust me.  :)  I enjoy the Cherry Limeade flavor but really like Watermelon... but that is a seasonal flavor.  

5.  Amphipod AirFlow Micro Stretch Race Belt

This belt is perfect for carrying your phone and a little fuel while also keeping track of your race bib.  I prefer this method than poking holes in my tech clothes (that are sometimes rather expensive).  This belt is also perfect for relay racing.  I can unsnap it, change my clothes and snap the belt back on without losing track of it between legs or in the shuffle of gear in the back of the team van.  

Need more ideas?  

Check out:

• Body Glide

• Fitsok

• Lock Laces

• Ion Reflective Iron on transfers

 

• The Stick

• Pay for a race entry or help buy the next pair of running shoes.

Not sure what races are on their wish list?  A little money could help your runner find a race to help keep their training momentum going.  A little money might also help invest toward the next pair of shoes to help keep your runner injury free. If I do more than 350 miles on one pair, my toenails let me know...

What are you hoping for this gift-giving season?  Or what items *might* you be planning to gift?

Facebook giveaway and Christmas Eve Traditions.

 It's been quite the week.... Preparing for holidays, lots of treats and trying to sneak in runs.  I'm on day 44 of my holiday running streak!  I am excited that I've made it this far, but it's still a battle to make time for even just a short mile every day.  We'll see what Christmas Day brings!

Christmas Eve has a new tradition of taking Squeakers and Bugaboo out in the double stroller to go look at lights in the neighborhood... and Maybe to work off the cookies Santa will be eating tonight.  We worse blinking holiday lights which, I'd like to think, helped us be more visible in the fog we are having tonight.  Good thing Santa has Rudolph... or he'd have a heckofa time in our area tonight!

On a side note, I wonder how this tradition will morph and change as the kiddos get too big to be hauled in a running stroller...

Other big news... A GIVEAWAY!!!

If you aren't already following me of Faceook, let me announce my big news!  Well, I think it's big.

My Facebook page reached (over) 1,000 likes!!!  So to celebrate, I'm having an "Ultimate Runner's Care Package" giveaway to start off someone's 2014 on the right foot.  Click here to check out my Facebook page.  While the giveaway is going on, it'll be pinned to the top of the page.  

For this giveaway, I've teamed up with "Hands Free living with Hips-sister", Fitsok, The RunnerBox and Glimmer Gear.   You won't want to miss this.... and for a limited time, Fitsok and Glimmer Gear are offering my readers a discount on some of their products.  

Race Recap: Ugly Holiday Sweater Run and Walk

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Logo by: Andrea Schwoebel  (http://andreaschwoebel.com)

A friend from Moms RUN This Town posted on Facebook about a free 5k, and before she could say anything else about it.... she had me at "free".

Cost:
The race is free, but asking for donations for the Ladybug CDH Foundation.  Participants could bring 100% cotton receiving blankets, socks or hats.  If it was easier, cutting a check for the foundation was acceptable (and appreciated) too!

The race was a small and intimate affair, but so much fun and highly recommended!!  I am bad at estimates, but I think there may have been about 50 people participating today.

Beneficiary:
As noted above, the Ladybug CDH Foundation was receiving the donations made by participants. Click on their name to go see their webpage what they are all about!  They hope to raise awareness about a birth defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and raise money for research and treatment.
 
$110 was raised in cash/checks and the charity received 83 pairs of socks, 42 hats and 64 receiving blankets!  I don't know how that compares to last year, but I hope the race is growing and will continue to grow in participants.

Location:
The 5k (or one mile option) was an untimed fun run that was held at Summerlake Park.  The park was very beautiful with the light fog, frozen lakes and streams and water fowl in the area.  There is also a dog park with in the park and a very dog-friendly race for friendly dogs.

The course is pretty flat, with a mild incline at the end of the first mile (or just after starting your second loop of the park).

Atmosphere:
The events started with a costume contest before the actually running or walking... What would an "Ugly Holiday Sweater" theme race be without costumes?

As you can see below, I went all out in my "Ugly Sweater".  I didn't just put on a sweater I found and decorated... I dressed up as a sweater!  

Once again, I forgot to ask people for permission to post their pics on my blog, so you'll have to trust me that there were some really fantastic, fun and festive holiday sweaters there.  One of the participants wore a "top hat" that was a brick design  with black boots on the top like Santa's feet on his way down the chimney.  Then the sweater was green and done up like a tree.

Eggnog was donated by Alpenrose, coffee from Starbucks, bagels from Einstein Bagels and some pastries and holiday cookies that I believe were from a local grocery store.

There was also plenty of door prizes too.  And to get a door prize?  All you had to do was show up, receive your drawing ticket and hold on to half of it while the other half was placed into the basket for the drawing.

While runners and walkers made their journey to finish one loop or three, the race organizers taped the winning ticket to the items and you could check to see if you had a match.

A fresh cut holiday wreath was available, 13 gift certificates to Veggie grill, gift cards to local running stores (Foot Traffic and Pace Setter Athletic), and a free race entry to a local race (The Bald Peak Half).

(Pretty awesome!  My family scored two $10 veggie grill cards and my running partner/sole sister got $20 to the local "candy store"... okay, running store.)

 

In the top right picture, you can see the "bones' of the costume.  My husband constructed a large pvc pipe "hanger to hold the XL sweater coat and with some foam, a belt and suspenders, the contraption somehow stayed on and relatively pain-free.

The next two photos on the right column are me in the first test run.

The bottom, middle picture is my Squeakers and Bugaboo after the race, and heading home.  Squeakers is wearing wool pants made out of a shrunken, felted (and ugly) sweater.

The bottom left picture is my "bling" for my creative masterpiece.  :)  A trophy that has to be more than 3 ft tall.... though I haven't broken out the tape measure for it.


Bibs were also available for fun at the race, as well as a link provided before hand to print out.  I just love the logo of the runner in the detailed sweater she has on.   

Race bib by:  Andrea Schwoebel   (http://andreaschwoebel.com)

So, I hope I've convinced you to give this one a try next year.  If anything, it's untimed, so grab a group of your friends and wrap yourselves up in yarn and Christmas lights ( you could call your team "hot mess") and have some fun while helping out some babies.

You can't go wrong and will be glad you went.  

(Don't expect me to outdo myself on this year's costume.  I'll probably be wearing it until it starts to unravel.  And now I have Weezer "Undone" stuck in my head.)

Holiday Streak Day 30. The hardest mile ever... maybe the best one yet!

Day 30 of my holiday streak.  I wanted to give up this morning.  "Who cares?"  That voice keeps chanting in  my head.  "No.  Honestly.  Who Cares?  If you stop now and stop posting on your blog or facebook page that you are streaking... will anyone care?"    A much smaller voice reasoned "It's just a mile.  Go get it done and another day is in the books." 

Nope.  Not motivated.  

Then the even smaller voice of my 3 year old pierced through the argument in my head.

"Mama.  I want to run with you."

Time to lace up those shoes and get moving.  If there isn't many on the world wide web who "care" about my journey or my struggles through it... there certainly is someone outside of myself who does.  My children.  

I helped Bugaboo pick out some warm clothes and we powered through a mile.  An entire mile!  Together. 

My best little running partner...

It wasn't a miracle mile.  Actually I kept trying to bargain with her if I could turn around now and take her back home to her daddy so I could get my mile done.  Nope.  She wouldn't have it... and as cranky as I was becoming to just "hurry up"... I realized that I hadn't even wanted to run in the first place, and now she got me out there.  I wasn't going to kick her to the curb and tell her she couldn't be there with me.  What kind of example is that?  Yeah.  I like running-time to be "me time" to clear my head and think straight and piece together my sanity at times... but this was different.

Was it an awesome run?  No.
Was it fast and full of heart pumping endorphins and exhilarating?  No.

Not every run can be that.

Was it goofy, full of laughs and looking for "huge pine cones"?  Yes.

 

After a loooong 20 minute mile, we came inside to a nice cup of hot chocolate.  Well, Bugaboo had some.  I'm not having a sweet tooth right now so I'll keep the 100 calories I burned on the longest one mile ever and savor her happiness to bond on a run and snuggle up after.

"Where did the marshmallows go?"

Day 27 of the run streak in 17 degree weather.

Besides, Day 27 was my euphoric run.  Hold on to those... they just don't happen every day.  What fun would that be if they did? 

Any secrets to overcoming those negative thoughts or lack of motivation?  Share your secrets with me!  :)

DIY riding costume... or "How to stuff a turkey costume for your turkey trot"

Eight days before my "Turkey Trot" race on Thanksgiving Morning... I got onto Google.  This is usually bad news for me, because I see some idea that I can't let go of and become obsessed.  

This time, I looked up "Turkey Trot Costumes" and scrolling through the images, it didn't take long to come across this beauty:

Photo Credit:  http://www.kranson.net/events/2011/thanksgiving/parade/default.htm

The website says it was the Turkey Trot from 2011 in Detroit... So, getting more specific in my Google search terms, I found a youtube video with the runner in action (which you can click here to see it, but you might want to fast forward to 4:25.)  and a blog about his costume!

After my detective work was done, I set to sketching and after two hours from the initial Google search, I had the head completed.  

Because I was in such a hurry, I didn't think this through in terms of blogging and didn't take many photos of the process to make this.  So, bare with me as I try to explain it...

I've made 90% of the costume with found objects in my random home.  I have lots of felt for all sorts of projects, so using some felt, some orange-ish 4-way stretch jersey material, a pool noodle, black pants, coat hangers and a pole I use in the garden for bean runners... I have my costume.  And a whole lot of pillow stuffing.  Some I had to pilfer from friends who had some old/extra pillows I could de fluff.  

First thing, my orange material was "tube shaped" like the material was meant to be sewn into a skirt.  So, I took the "waist" of the skirt-like tube and folded it down to the bottom and sewed the two together all the way around, except for a small hole to shove pillow stuffing and the pool noodle in.  

Next I cut an "x" in the crotch of some old black pants and sew the new opening around the doughnut-hole opening in the orange material.  This "x" has to be big enough to fit around the hole in the orange doughnut and big enough for me to jimmy on before a race.  :) 

Getting into this thing is a making for a bad video on youtube or something.  

Then next part, I had my husband place a tennis ball on the end of the "bean pole" so that if/when I tripped and fell over my costume, I wouldn't impale myself on the rod in the head.  Shove it in the turkey head, add stuffing and sew the neck shut and attach the pole through the "chest" of the orange doughnut and secure pole into the pool noodle with just about anything you can get to work...  We have a lot of hot glue, string and maybe even a little duct tape in the mix.  The tail is attached the same way, with some coat hangers within a couple of the feathers so that it didn't just flop down behind me and get dragged behind me on race day.  It did droop a little and I'll want to fix that somehow so I'm not irritating the serious racers around me when i run in it.

That's pretty much it.  Oh!  Except suspenders.  Suspenders are a must.  That is what I did purchase for the costume at the local thrift shop.  Attaching the suspenders to the orange doughnut, I had to be cautious stepping into the doughnut hole... not to get tangled in the suspender straps and hike the turkey butt up over my own.  That was a chore.  Most certainly something I needed help with.

I have very patient friends...

This is me taking the turkey out for a test spin.  It did great for those 2 test miles.

The reactions I got from witnesses of my test run would be a whole other blog entry...

On race day, I'd change how to get the tail to be a little more predictable and not so droopy and after 3 1/2 miles in it, my suspenders came loose.  I pestered two poor race volunteers at separate parts of the course to reach down into the "doughnut hole" and clip my suspenders.

I swear that isn't as naughty as it sounds.

After giving up on it working again,  I carried the turkey to the end/beginning of the race where I had one more loop to do.  I'll go into all of that when i get the race recap up... but for now, I think instead of suspenders that are removable with their clips... I'd sew in something much more permanent and no chance of snapping/breaking/coming undone.

Anyway.  I added some old back socks to the end of the pants for "boots" (with some white material from the old pillow for the "socks"), hot glued some painted cardboard on for buckles and used a black tech shirt and some white material for the pilgrim's shirt.

The hat is black poster board and a little bit of foam inside.  I hot glued a headband to it and it stayed on perfectly.  That's about all I can think of...  :)  I'll get the recap up soon and post a pic of it on race day.  I added a couple embellishments with jingle bells on the reins and black arm sleeves with white cuffs on my arms.

Did you do a "Turkey Trot"?  Do you ever run in costume?  DIY or store bought modified for running?

**I should add that this beast weighed 11lbs, so I'll probably want to figure out ways to lighten it up too**

Weight weighing on my mind. (Reflecting on the last 12 months...)

Without a doubt, the year is drawing to a close, and as we think about what we are grateful for, turkeys and shopping for gifts... maybe you are even getting a jump start on New Year's resolutions?  I am thinking about the year that has gone by (and so quickly too).

I have never ever been one for resolutions... I mean, the whole point of them is to brag on Facebook how quickly you broke them.  Right?  That's what it seemed like to me.  I'm sure there is a statistic somewhere about how many of those resolutions are based on weight loss and how many of those hopes and goals are forgotten before June.  I wasn't going to do that.  So... why even make some silly promise to myself anyway?   

That was before I saw this picture:

The photo that "said it all" to me.

 This is Christmas Eve 2012.  We are arranging presents under the tree and last minute decorations before the kiddos go to bed and I gobble down all of the cookies left out for "the big guy" who sneaks into houses and leaves presents behind.  Unless you get coal.

I was in total shock!  That's what I look like?  Denial was not even the right word.  I was mortified and shocked and afraid.  How would I ever get to a healthy weight?  Depression set in and I felt hopeless. My stomach over hangs and spills into my lap!  my breasts sit on top of the shelf provided by my large stomach.  My legs look like huge rain barrels to me.

It shouldn't of been too much of a shock.  I had just had Squeakers and had "baby weight" to loose, but even my maternity pants weren't buttoning up.  This was November 2012.  One year ago I looked like this:
  

I'm so big, I couldn't even button my pants!

A friend had great success at Weight Watchers, and as a Christmas present, offered to pay for my first two months in the program.  I was so skeptical.  Assigning "points" to food and eating "whatever you want" as long as you stay within your assigned point values sounded fishy to me.  

So, you could eat all your daily value in peanut butter and chocolate cups and starve for the rest of the day, and still be following the program?  Well, if you want to simplify it that much.  I learned so much about myself and the program I was so willing to dismiss since my New Year's resolution to "loose the extra fat".  I joined Weight Watchers in January and  I started pounding the pavement, rain or shine.  Exercise and looking at my food choices and portion sizes is my only secret to my success.

Jan 2013 in the freezing rain.

I'm not perfect.  I still have so much more to learn.  For example, I still stress eat and turn to peanut butter and chocolate cups.  I also still think of myself as fat.  I do, actually have a few pounds to go before I'm with in the "healthy" range on my BMI chart... but more than that... I still purchase clothes that I think are going to be too small and skeptical about it and then find out that it is actually too big.  

But this is my journey.  I thought I'd share a little more about that, because sometimes I forget about it.  About how far I've come and I forget to celebrate my successes instead of seeing them as small milestones in a goal that I still have so very far to go on.

For every pound lost, there is a 4 pounds reduction from knee joint stress.  That is great news, because there was a point where i was not sure if I'd be able to grow old in a home that required the use of stairs.  I could get on the floor to play with my children, but then I'd have to crawl to a sturdy piece of furniture to pull myself up again.

So much has changed.  For that I'm so grateful.

I can run and play and keep up with my kids.  I started a local chapter of Moms RUN This Town and I've finished two half marathons (within a month of each other).  I've lost 66 pounds.  Here's to a good finish to the year, despite the temptations and treats... and to a healthy 2014!

What a year it has been!

Tell me about your goals (for the new year?) or how you started running.  :) 

Streaking through to the New Year!

Idly flipping through my Runner's World magazine while cross training on the stationary bike... I thought about my lack of motivation.  It was Sunday... my "long run" day.

However I was on day 15 of my "I can't seem to lace up my running shoes" streak. 

Then I came across an article about the holiday Running Streak to take place Thanksgiving day to New Years day.  Run every day for at least one mile.  Okay.  I can do that.  But I need to start now...

I have a 10K coming up on Thanksgiving Day to usher in the holiday and my first year of trying not to be a glutton.   I need to start training again!

So... today is day 2 of my run streak.  Yesterday was a slow and stiff one mile.  Today was an even slower three miles, but I think I'm getting my mojo back!

As you can see, my sweet Bugaboo wanted to run with me.  It has been even longer for her since she has been able to go for a ride.  And "Ludo" from our "Labyrinth" themed half marathon came with us.  This doll goes with us everywhere now... (he even has his own set of pajamas and clothes.)

So, you might just see more of "Ludo" on this run streak....

In the mean time, you might just find me on pintrest, drooling over pumpkin pie, eggnog, persimmon cookies, anything with chocolate in it, candied yams, homemade fudge and on and on.  This season is full of so many temptations that I usually walk out of it a full 20 lbs heavier.

What are you doing to stay healthy this holiday season?  Do you have any issues with food, over eating or lack of motivation to run or exercise?  ...My hibernation instinct is kicking in.