Storing all that bling!

How do you store all your race bling?

I will admit it - I have become a race snob!
No longer will I run a race that doesn't provide me with some sweet swag and a medal! (Unless I need it for time - such as my upcoming Elizabeth River Run 10k).

I don't see the point in mud runs, or colored runs. I like running - I DO NOT like dirt! And to me colored cornstarch is a form of dirt!
I'm sure that at some point in life - I will wind up running one those muddy or colored ones.....but right now its not something I willingly volunteer for.

Anywho.....back to the topic at hand!
With all this race bling - how do you store it?
I sure am proud of all these medals (and miles)!! I want people to be able to see them when they come to my house!

I scoured Pinterest  and Etsy on fun ways to display them.
I even thought about shelling out the cash for one.
But then I realized I have this super handy and crafty Dad who likes new projects and enjoys spending time in the Wood shop of the retirement village him and Mom live in. So why not task him with a project?

So one weekend when I was there doing my laundry, I brought all my bibs, and medals and asked him what he could do for me. We laid everything out and came up with a plan.  He even offered to make me a few for my running friends. That Dad of mine is a great guy!

The first one he made me, I don't have a picture of, because it didn't last long.
He had taken his time and stained the wood two different colors and put it together. The race bibs went on the front, and the medals hung on the bottom. There are quite a few of this style available on Etsy. Well after a few weeks for some reason the wood started to separate. When I brought it back to him to fix, he said he was coming up with something better.

This is what I got -

It's quite an upgrade from the first one I had!!

So my medals go on a separate board from the race bibs.

There is even room enough on my medal holder to create a third and fourth row for future medals.

It's nice to be able to see all my accomplishments hanging in one place!!




While it might now be a lot, it means a lot to me because I never thought I'd accomplish this!

A view of my most recent medals. 

A view from where it all started. 

Wait till you see how I treat myself after races - with my portable race bling!!

Getting back in the groove

Since coming home from the Broad Street Run, I've been nursing an injury. The Dr. says its Plantar Fascitis, but now that's healed up and I have some ankle pain. I'm giving it a few more days and then I'm going to get a second opinion. 

I felt super motivated after Broad Street because it's one of the first races in awhile where I ran the whole thing without going to my run/walk combo.  But now my injury has side lined me. 

While I know that I need to train for a distance race like the Broad Street. I also know that I just need to get back on the pavement, and rekindle my love strong like of running. 

Because lets face it - I don't love running, I complain, I hurt,  I have blisters, I'm sore, I want to give up....but I keep doing it. Like the picture above states....I like dessert! And if you know me or my sister, you know that a Ben and Jerry's pint of ice cream is a serving size, and I can eat it in one sitting. 

But no more. 

I think my injury and all around sluggishness of running has come from the extra 10-15lbs I've been toting around for the last 6-9months. 

Not cool. Not cool at all. 

But I have no one to blame but myself, and probably the guys who makes the milkshakes at Sonic.

So this week marks a new change. 

Janet and I have re-joined Weight Watchers and we are going twin tag team these extra lbs!!

It's time to get serious and focus on me. 

Grad School is finally done! YIPPEE!!

School will be out in 22 days! (But who's counting)

And it will be all about getting in as much healthy food and activity as possible. 

Stay tuned for my progress...... 

I am in LOVE with the Broad Street Run!!

Here's my wrap up of the Broad Street Run -

the good, (ok amazing!!)

the bad, 

and the unfortunate. 

So like I had posted earlier last week, I was heading up to Philly to run (for the first time) the Broad Street Run with my boyfriend and some friends from college. 

I was excited because it's the first time I was running in this iconic race! This year celebrated the 35 year! Plus, it was the first race I was running with my KU bestie in Philly. 

Friday I spent the day at Kings Dominion with some of my students. We walked the park about 100 times!! Needless to say I was exhausted Friday night, and had an early flight on Saturday morning out of Norfolk. Early Saturday morning when I was up getting ready to head to the airport I got a phone call that the flight was delayed. Ugh! How can a 7am flight be delayed!! Long story short - I was supposed to be in Philly by 9am, but didn't get there till almost 11! 

Once in Philly Josh and I head over to the expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For a race that was hosting about 40,000 runners packet pick up was super quick and easy. We walked through the expo for a while and then headed out to do some touristy things in the city. 

It has been a long time since I've been a "tourist" in the city. 

I'll admit it - I'm a geek. I love museums, old houses and I really really love wax museums. And not the Madame Tussauds fancy one with famous people, but the old creepy ones depicting historical events. Weird....I know.

Checking out the Liberty Bell

Selfie at Betsy Ross's House. 

Oh hey there Benjamin!

So we wandered around the city for a few hours, checking out The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklins Burial site, and Betsy Ross's house.  It was an enjoyable but exhausting afternoon. 

Later we headed to my friends house to have dinner and crash for the night. 

Sunday morning we headed off to the start of the Broad Street Run. Typically they urge you to park at finish of the race and ride the septa train or shuttle bus back up to the start. We opted for parking at the start of the race and taking the train back after the race. Since I'd never been to this race before, I was just going on what my friend thought was the best idea. It only took a few minutes for us to find parking - thankfully and we walked to start. 

WOW! I've run a lot of races but have never seen this many people at a start. Or at a race at all!! It was absolutely amazing. I tried to take some pics, but couldn't quite do it justice, till I saw a guy standing on the back of a flat bed and I asked him to take some pictures for me. Just unbelievable.

We were supposed to start in the very last corall, and my friend was starting in one much earlier one - but with all the people I didn't think it was possible for us to get back to where we needed to be, or we'd be run over by people moving to try and get in. So once the corral we were standing to the side of started moving, we headed on in.

That's my picture of the Green Corral where Court was supposed to start.

View from the top of the  flat bed towards the start. 

Somewhere at the very back of that picture the Pink Corral was standing. That's where I was supposed to start....

I was no where near the time I needed to be in the corral we started running with, but we went anyway. My friend took off......I could see her for a few minutes but then she disappeared in the crowd.
The great thing about Broad Street is all the support! The streets were lined with people for the entire race. Some areas were more crowded then others, but the support, cheering and encouragment never disappeared. There was no miles of trudging on by yourself (and your handsome running partner).
Because I found myself in a way faster corral, I was pretty much passed the entire race. It really didn't bother me much, it was actually motivation to keep going.

The miles easily ticked by, and I stopped for most water/gatorade stops. I knew I was WAY undertrained, and I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated and gave myself a break.

Josh told me before he thought I would make it to Mile 7.5 before I started my run/walk combo, Court said she thought I would run the whole thing.
For the most part, I ran the whole thing.
There was a moment around Mile 9.25 that I had to stop. I was exhausted, every part of my body hurt and I wanted to cry, but I kept going. We were so close to the finish.

I finished in ....... 3 minutes slower then my 10 miler time for the Surf n Santa.
I thought I would have done better, but my undertrained self just couldn't keep up.
I was slow.....like super slow.....so slow Josh walked next to me at one point. But I kept going.
There was just something about the determination in my head during this race. I honestly don't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that because I had started running in an earlier corral that I kept getting passed and there were people around me all the time, or that there were crowds around me all the time cheering us on. Whatever it was - it worked and motivated me to keep going.

When we finally did finish we grabbed all our stuff and luckily found our friends. The weather during the race was great, and then all of a sudden after we finished, it started to get cloudy and rainy. We quickly made our mile trek from the Navy Yard back to the train station, and back up to our cars.

Pre Race Picture

Yea for my KU Bestie who encouraged me to come up and run!!

Taking on the Broad Street!!

Bestie's with Matching Running sneaks! Totally not planned!! HAHA

Overall it was a fantastic race and one I will happily run again....but this time with the proper training!!


So thanks Philly, Josh, Court, Roberts, Mike and Baby Daniel for making my first experience at the Broad Street an awesome one!!

Post race selfie with my new bling!!

My times were not fabulous, and I came home with some Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot, but I also came home with some great motivation to get back out there and run more consistently in time for the Wine and Dine!!

Gearing Up for Broad Street.

It's exciting to run in a new city. 

It's exciting to run a new course. 

.....it's not exciting to be undertrained

.....but that's life!!

This Saturday I'm flying up to Philadelphia to meet up with my boyfriend, one of my besties from college and a few other friends to run the Broad Street Run (10 miler) in Philadelphia on Sunday. 

This is the first time I'm running a "big" race in Philadelphia. Josh and I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in April, but that was a brand new race. The Broad Street Run has a lot of history behind it, and I will be running with about 40,000 of my closest running buddies!!

In years past, (from what I've been told by my bestie), you had to sign up for the race in the first few hours of registration opening or you weren't getting in. It sold out just as fast, if not faster then some RunDisney events! Last year however they went to a lottery system in order to ensure fairness for runners. 

This year, since Josh lives in PA, and we enjoy running together, we committed to the Broad Street - or at least the lottery. We both were a little surprised that we made it! 

After finishing the Hot Chocolate 15k, and the ODU Big Blue 5k I'm still nursing a knee injury and haven't really found the time to run. The weather has still been crappy and I've had a lot of "life" going on. Needless to say this race is going to be questionable and probably difficult. I'm pretty sure my body will hold up - I just have to make sure my mind can too!

Josh always likes to give me an estimate on how many miles in till I "give up" and go to my run/walk combo. Surf n Santa I made it 8 miles, Shamrock I made it to 7 miles, and Hot Chocolate I made it to the 10k split. Since I'm still kind of gunning for a faster corral time for the Wine and Dine, I'm going to try my hardest to run consistent and for the entire 10 miles. 

Here's to wishful thinking.....and a new medal to add to my collection!!!

At least I get to spend the weekend with some of my favorite people!!

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ODU Big Blue 5k

A few weekends ago, my running buddy and I ran in the inaugural ODU Big Blue 5k.

It was in conjunction with their spring football game and their Big Blue Barbque. I'm not an ODU alum, although I did take a few classes there, so I don't have a strong affiliation to the school other then I've been on the campus a few times and have seen some concerts at their sports arena. While the whole idea of the day was great....I didn't have the time to stay for the entire days festivities. Maybe next year.

For a 5k there really shouldn't be that much to recap - however it was a pretty great day for me and the running buddy!!

My one and only complaint about the race was that there was no dry gear check. I understand the constraints. There was a BBQ to prepare for, and a football game so they needed to get the race stuff cleaned up ASAP. But it would have been nice not to have to walk from my car to pick up my race shirt and bib number, and walk all the way back to my car to put it away - and then back again to the race start. Just sayin. I'm glad that we left early enough to not have to worry about the timing. It actually worked out perfect for us.

The weather was AMAZING.....a little warm...but that's ok. I'll take warm temps over the freezing cold. I just have to give my body time to readjust to running in the heat!

The race start was actually pretty crowded. We snuck into the corral above ours, just cause there was actually some space in there.

The course ran all through the ODU campus, so there was a lot of turns. I don't particularly mind turns, it keeps things interesting. We were running at what I felt like was a comfortable pace, and when I saw the Mile 1 marker and glanced at my Garmin I almost fell over!! We were running around an 11min mile. I called back to my buddy in amazement and kept on trucking.

Ok so we slowed down to a pace that was a little more our "speed" - 

but WOW was I impressed with my first mile! 

Well, the quick mile pace was not on our side as we steadily slowed down. The heat was starting to get to us. By Mile 2 - 2.5 my buddy was dragging. But I love her to pieces cause she just keeps on trekking!  I run ahead, stop, check on her, then we start running together again....that was pretty much our cycle for the last mile. She always tells me to go faster, but I never do. I like knowing she's there. Whether she's in front of me, behind me, or right next to me.

We crossed the finish line in 37:19.
A new PR for me.....I don't think I've ever ran a chipped 5k. My goal was 36:00 - so I'll take 37:19.

Overall we enjoyed ourselves. Even with the trek back and forth and the heat!

I got to sport my new running tank from raw threads and sparkle skirt made by Janet and spend the morning running with one of my favorite people.

Ok - so these aren't the greatest pics of us but you can check out my new Little Mermaid Bow Tank from Raw Threads, and Gineff's Little Mermaid T-shirt from them too. We coordinated and didn't even know it!!

It's also only coincidence that my KT tape matched my outfit.HAHA!!

The BLING!

Up next I'm tackling the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philly with Josh and my other PA buddies. Then its time to focus on the Disney Wine & Dine!!!

Running for Chocolate....Hot Chocolate 5k/15k

This past weekend was the start of my Spring Break. I had originally planned on hopping on a cruise ship for a week and soaking up the sun in the Caribbean. However, with the boyfriend moving to PA, I opted out of the Caribbean for sunny PA to spend half of the week with him. Of course I had to see if there were any races that we could run. 

I stumbled upon the Hot Chocolate 5k/15k taking place in Philadelphia this past Sunday morning. 

We decided to stay at the Hilton by the Airport because they were providing a free shuttle to and from the race start. 

Let me just run down some of my minor complaints about the race. 

I don't want to say I've become a running snob, but after running a handful or races with J&A and even RunDisney I've come to expect a decent level of togetherness. 

From some of the blogs I've read, RamRacing seemed to have it together. Maybe I should give them a little more leeway as this their first race in Philly. But there was no expo. It was two tents set up outside the Philly Runner store where we could go pick up our bib number and race swag. Josh is not a fan of crowds so we stayed there for only a matter of 3mins. Long enough for me to look for some KT tape and get out. It sucked because I really love a good expo. 

Ok so I know I had some complaints...but check out this race swag.

Sort of made it all worth it. Its really nice tech hoodie! Definitely came in handy on race day!

Race morning I was expecting a coach bus as the shuttle, because I had seen in other blogs that they had coach buses. As long as I was keeping my expectations to the expo.....we had a school bus. It didn't bother me. It was warm and transported me to the start and back again. 

Just a little cold out!

Now let me talk about the actual race. 

IT WAS COLD!! Like so cold I couldn't feel my feet!! We had to wait around over an hour from the time the shuttle dropped us off to when the race actually started. The 5k started about 45mins before us. Trust me - I much rather would have run the 5k but Josh made a point that if we're going to be doing any sort of traveling...it has to be longer then twice around the parking lot of his apartment complex. 

Once the race actually started we were good to go. Our feet started to defrost and I was slowly finding my rhythm. I have a new knee problem that has recently popped up so I made sure to use some KT tape and tape it up. It actually helped, but I'm still planning on seeing my doctor to make sure it's not anything major.

Knee all taped up and ready to run.

By the 10k split, I was tired and tired of running. Josh knows I don't always push myself, so he knew I was going to throw in the towel at some point. I actually think he thought it was going to be way earlier then 2/3 of the way through. The race was an out and back on part of the loop, so I could see on my way out that they were timing the 10k split. Since that's the shortest distance I need for the Wine and Dine, I wanted to see what I was currently running. 

We finished the last 3.1miles with my run5/walk2 combo. Our time was just under two hours. 1:59:48. 

Overall I couldn't complain. 

My Garmin read further then the actual 15k, but I'm still pretty happy with that pace for how little I've trained - and the amount of walking we did. 

Hey - I'm still lapping the old me who would've still been asleep! 

The race finished right at the bottom of the steps to the Art Museum, so that was pretty cool. I should've snapped a picture of that but I forgot. 

We grabbed our dry gear, hot chocolate/fondue mug, sat for a minute and then headed back to the hotel. 

There was no medal but this mug is pretty sweet! Although I'm not sure my tummy really enjoyed all that chocolate after running. 

We showered, rested for a few and then headed over to Xfinity Live to hang out before the Flyers game that night. 

For my first weekend of Spring Break it was an eventful and fun weekend.  

Enjoying the Flyers game!! 

And they won!!

(Thanks Matty for the tickets!) 

Here are few pics I took along the run. Philly might be my new favorite place to run. It was pretty fun to see all the crew teams out on the water next to us while we were running. 

Can't wait to run the Broad Street 10miler in a few weeks!

Ok that guy on the sidewalk is walking with a giant log on his shoulders....not sure what that was all about.