Rock N Roll Chicago Recap

HERE WE ARE - at the finish line and with medals... and smiles ;)  

This race was more of a mental surprise than a physical one.  Not gonna lie... I was pretty scared at 4:30am on Sunday morning wondering when I might need to force myself to finish.  Happily I am here to report that I thoroughly enjoyed the race and was HAPPY up through mile 8.  After that I have to give some HUGE props to one of the race sponsors - XSport Fitness.  They had teams of 6-8 people at each mile all dressed up in rocker gear and extremely energetic to cheer us on!  Coming into mile 9 I was slowing down and doing some walking and the team was so fired up that it was contagious and got me through another mile.  PURE AWESOME!  Thank you XSport!  I am proud to say I am a happier member of your gym now!  

The wheels came off my bus totally just before mile 12.  We were in the Bears tailgating parking lot and I was dreaming of sitting on a chair and having a beer instead of trying to make my legs keep moving.  Pretty much every part hurt by then.  A total and complete stranger stopped and asked me my name... then proceeded to say her name was Sue and she was going to help me breathe in strength and exhale fatique for the next 10-15 minutes.  WOW.  Truly took my mind off how bad my feet wanted to cramp... my knees felt like they had been hit by a baseball bat... and I was soaking wet as it had started to rain.  Sue - if anyone knows you - YOU ARE MY ANGEL!

So with all that drama I crossed the finish line at 2:30.  I made it out there!  Which is more than Bret Michaels :( who cancelled his appearance last minute.  LOL... And 10 minutes off what I have done in my last two.  I was thrilled that I had that finish and reminded myself once again - when the heck am I going to start take training for these things more seriously!  Rock N Roll Vegas is December 4th... I do have a chance to redeem myself....

But on to the more fun part of the recap is my amazing shopping finds at the Expo!  I show case them here in my vlog and I must say I have not taken off these new Zoot shoes in 4 days - AMAZING!!  I mean a girl has to have a reason to run 13.1 miles... I can't think of a better one that some cute new finds ;)

Ready or Not... Here I RUN!

Oh... you know how when you haven't golfed for awhile sometimes you hit your best holes because you aren't trying to kill the ball or swing too hard... well do you think that is true for running?  :)  well let's hope so because as I explain it seems before every race I feel like I didn't do enough and this time - ANY running in the last month.  Life caught me and gave me a big dose and now I am just determined to stick with being a runner and give myself a finish no matter the time.

Loving my new goodies from the Competitor Group above for racing.  They were really a turning point in my running preparation mentally this week as I talk about in the video.  WELL... gotta run and go pick up the girls to head to the Expo and shop.  CROSS your fingers and toes for me about 8am tomorrow morning which is when my first "Why the hell am I doing this" will probably kick in.

Rocking my Runs!

Have you downloaded your free RockMyRun.com mix yet - I am in Love.  I want them to personally DJ all my run and talk to me specifically during my weakest miles ;)  I feel like it's been a little party in my ears when I am running.  Rock N Roll Chicago training is officially starting for August.  I have to get my short runs up to 5 miles to try for a different result at the finish line and I am doing fairly good thanks to some help.

I have been kicking up my mileage with friends.  I LOVE running with PEOPLE!! ;)  It is so much easier to keep your mind on something other than the mind games of running and talking to girls while I run is really helping my cardio!  Good for the lungs, legs, and soul - find a friend!! LOL!

I was going to show a video of my push up progress.  Didn't think of the fact the 8 year old didn't know how to use the video camera.  Ooops.  More to follow. :)  Also will be posting some happening video of a Zaarly party that is kicking off the holiday weekend!!  

Kelly and I will be tweeting from the Zaarly party tomorrow with awesome pics and your chance to DJ our party from afar -- so if you are around - tune in and join us!!

CHEERS!!

Back to the Drawing Board

Blog today had a little bit of everything in the video today.  I pushed out my pushup/pullup deadline to August and incorporate some running in again.  Also released some of the strictness to the Paleo diet and it seems I am choosing to eat still pretty clean on 50% of my meals.  I must say I did feel “lighter” without the breads but emotionally, I am not ready to let go of them 100% :)

I say I didn’t QUIT Paleo or the Challenge just adjusted.  Is that like saying I bought a pair of shoes because they are on sale?  Hmmm....

I extended out my crossfit challenge and updated my run training into August and kicking off race season.  I am running Rock and Roll Chicago on August 14th and I am hoping to take 10 minutes off my time!!  (WHOA did I just put that in print???)  I am excited as I learned some AWESOME things at Fitbloggin from Holly Perkins.  I am ready to devour some information on HIIT and Interval training and how that relates to cortisol in your body.  

So much new news on some fun things I saw at the conference that are must have so I will share on that later in the week!!