See and Be Seen Running Fashion Show

Since I'm on Fleet Feet's email list, I get emails with information about all sorts of events that they are hosting.  I have gone to 2 so far...and have completely failed to post about the first one because of the more time-sensitive Chicago Marathon posts, but I promise that is coming soon.  And it will be well worth the wait because I met a celebrity at it.

Last night's event was the See and Be Seen running fashion show.  That's my kind of fashion show.  Rachel came with me and we had a really great time!

We arrived and got seats near a little table, which was clutch because we each ordered a fruity girly cocktail.  What else would you order at a fashion show?  Dave Zimmer, the owner of Fleet Feet, was hosting the show as MC for the night and he was awesome!  At the beginning he said it'd be a fun night of fashion, fitness, food, and booze.  And that it was.

The show was great with models from local news outlets and with other athletic affiliations, each showing off this season's hottest running fashions.  Each company seems to want to spruce up the "average black running tight" by offering new colors or patterns.  I fully support that idea, as I love being as colorful as possible, as demonstrated by what I wore in the St. Louis Half Marathon this past weekend:

Dave also announced that everyone attending would get a $20 merchandise credit to spend at the after party in the store (the actual fashion show was at Second City.)  The ticket to the show was $20, so as long as you bought something, it's like the ticket was free!  Now, obviously, this was to get people to spend money in the store...and it worked.

Another great marketing ploy they used?  Get people drunk while shopping.  I know from experience that drunk shopping is quite fun and you will in fact spend more money than you would if you were sober.  This is also the case at bars or restaurants too; the drunker you get, the more willing you are to spend that money buying your friends shots, etc.

I'd say 98.7% of the attendees had wine...but I like beer.

I only had 2 drinks the entire night, so I actually was not drunk shopping - I just love running clothes.  And this comes nowhere close to the time Grace, Kristin, and I went out for a Mexican lunch and margaritas before Christina's bachelorette party and went drunk shopping in Victoria's Secret.  (PS Google Blogger still doesn't recognize bachelorette as a word - why is that?)

I bought 2 items.  Even with the $20 credit, it sure adds up quickly.  I must say that blog endorsement of products really works because I first saw this shirt on the Hungry Runner Girl blog (click here for the post) and I really wanted it.  So then when it was featured in the Fleet Feet fashion show, I just had to get it.  And almost fought people for my size.  Picture women runners holding a glass of wine in one hand and furiously shopping. (There weren't many men at the fashion show, but a few.)

Anyways, it is the Brooks Equilibrium Base LS.  I'm about to go run in it tonight and I hope it feels as awesome as it looks. I'll report back tomorrow.  I also bought a Brooks running hat.  I really wanted a hat with a ponytail hole, so I found a pretty pink one that should keep me warm and stlyin'.  Rachel got a matching one and you know how much I love matching outfits, so I'm sure we'll break those out on the lakefront together soon enough.

So time to hit the road in the rain now! I haven't run in rain in awhile, but I do like that it's an opportunity to wear a hat.

Have you ever been to a fashion show?

What is your favorite brand of running apparel?

The Most Delicious Turkey Sandwich

It's TWIN DAY!!  I don't think I've mentioned enough how much I love matching outfits - for running or for real life.  The workday is going to be a million times better knowing Grace is sitting at her desk in DC wearing the exact same outfit as me.  Today is a pretty exact match Twin Day since we have the same top from The Limited.  But sometimes we have Twin Days where we just say wear a khaki pencil skirt, a blue top, and a white cardigan.  I think we need to get even more people to join in on Twin Days.  Oh and on Wednesdays, we wear pink.

I had big plans for last night.  I was going to leave work, go to Walgreens, run 6-8 miles, get ready really fast, and meet Mariel and Steph for dinner.

Around 4pm, the sky started to look dark so I decided running wasn't going to happen.  I was still sore from Monday's long run and I could use the extra time to go to the grocery store.  I planned to take either today or tomorrow as a rest day, so I figured I'd just switch it up.  Here's what actually happened last night:

(This is called "The Colleen Tracker" - as named by Rachelle.  I have a habit of telling people really minuscule details of my day that really don't matter to anyone and doing so in the most long-winded fashion possible...which is why I like having this blog)

Walgreens - I needed a prescription and picked up some household items so that Lauren and I can live like real people in our apartment.  Normally, we don't buy things like toilet paper, paper towels, sponges, etc.  We go "shopping" at our parents houses when either of us goes home on the weekend.  Our moms have Costco memberships so why should we buy things for ourselves when they can buy it in bulk for us?  Anyways, I forgot to "shop" while I was home on Saturday and we desperately needed a few things.

Treasure Island - This is such a wildly overpriced grocery store.  But the man at the deli who sliced my turkey was very pleasant even though they were out of the first two types of turkey I asked for.  And the man in the produce section was very kind as well.  I was about to grab gala apples and he stopped me and told me to take them from a box he had just brought out straight from the cooler.  I don't think having nice workers is worth me paying a bit more for groceries though.

Here's where things get fun:

Dinner - After my errands, I got home and got ready to go out for dinner.  But then it started pouring and thundering and lightening and nobody wants to go walk around in that.  We decided to reschedule and I was OK with that since now I could use some of my new groceries for dinner.  I didn't feel like really "cooking" (see my definition of cooking below), so I settled on making a turkey sandwich, but this was better than any average turkey sandwich I've made!

wheat bread slightly toasted

basil pesto hummus

cucumbers

turkey

So basically it's just your average turkey sandwich, but I used cucumbers instead of lettuce and put the basil pesto hummus on the bread.  That was probably one of the best ideas I have had in awhile.  Usually I buy garlic hummus, but the basil pesto flavor called out to me and I'm glad it did.  My eating habits are very elementary so putting hummus on a turkey sandwich was new and wild to me.

I meant to only use the turkey for weekday lunch sandwiches, but it really did the job tonight when I wasn't intending to cook in the first place.  And to me, cooking means making buttered pasta.  Sometimes I get gourmet and add feta cheese.  We can add cooking to a list of things I should probably learn soon.  I was just going to say that I am good at baking though.  But that's actually not true.  I am a boss at making brownie mix out of a box, but that's about as far as it goes.  And that brings me to my next point.

Cookies - Pumpkin cookies from a box mix.  They came out amazing.  And I made them even more amazing by using Lotus Biscoff Spread as frosting (basically cookie butter).  You can't add quite as much as regular frosting because it's much thicker - almost like a peanut butter consistency.  I was going to add chocolate chips to the mix, but forgot to buy those which means I'll have to make these again soon.  This box wouldn't have expired until May of 2014, so I can go stock up on quite a few boxes to get my fill of pumpkin things throughout the year, and not just right now in the fall.

Marathon Signs - Catherine's marathon is this Sunday!!  So I had to make some signs :)  I do not want to show any pictures though because they have to be a surprise while she is running.

What do you do on a rainy night?

What is the best food idea you've had lately?

Race Recap: Chicago Half Marathon

I finished the Chicago Half Marathon yesterday!  I was not particularly pleased with the time, but also not as upset as I have been over bad races in my past.  I finished it without quitting or crying, so that's a success in my book.

First of all, I was supposed to be picked up for the 7am race at 6am.  Mac has a history of oversleeping when we are supposed to run (ok it happened once) and thought it would be hilarious to text me at 5:58am saying he just woke up.  I freaked out for about 2 minutes until he called and said he was outside.  Well played.

After parking, we warmed-up by running about a mile to the start.  We were a bit late because of the parking situation (typical Chicago), so there was no time for the bathroom and we hopped in the corral and started almost immediately.

 

This was my first race in the 25-29 year old age group.  These ladies are much faster.  I've read that women distance runners peak in their late 20s, which seems consistent with the age group results.  I would've been in the top 20 of the 20-24 year old age group.  But none of that really matters, just an observation.

There actually wasn't anything super eventful about the race.  I obviously made a sweet playlist for the occasion - all my recent/usual favorites.  The course was flat, a few tiny "hills" like when we had to run up an exit ramp off Lake Shore Drive and over a bridge.  There weren't spectators throughout the entire course, but there were enough that it didn't seem desolate.  The volunteers at all the water stations were high school students who were very enthusiastic and helpful!

The splits that the tracking device got for me were:

5 miles - 36:18 = 7:16/mile

10 miles - 1:16:31 = 7:39/mile total average and 8:02/mile for miles 5-10

Finish - 1:42:04 = 7:47/mile total average and 8:13/mile for last 5k

I also know after the first 5k I was at 22:08, which I thought was perfect because that is the exact time I was at during the first 5k of the North Shore Half Marathon in June.  My plan was to try to do the same pacing I did there, but then not die as much at the end.  I thought I'd be able to do this because my training has been  better in between that race and this one than it was the few weeks/months before that race.

It was about 5 miles into the race that I really started to feel like I couldn't keep up my pace and became a little mentally overwhelmed.  Mac was with me for about 4 miles and then he got ahead (or I slowed down, or a combo of both) and that didn't really bother me because I knew he would be faster, but I also think I should have tried a little harder to keep up.

Throughout the last half of the race, I walked about 30 seconds each mile when I was going through the water stations.  I did have one walk break that was probably about a minute long, but managed to get going again with the encouragement of some of the other runners on the course.  I really should be able to get through a half marathon without walk breaks and obviously I know I can considering I've done it plenty of times before.  But at least I know that while I was running, my pace was still decent... but a few short breaks will really get ya.

After the race, I had a lot of time to stretch out and relax while we waited for Mac's friend Bryce to finish the race.  Then the 3 of us went to get our free slice of Lou Malnati's pizza which is basically heaven on a plate.  I'm pretty sure the walk back to the car was at least as long as the race was.  But after we got in the car, put Teenage Dream on, and were heading for pancakes, life got a lot better.

And once we got to Elly's, I ran into my friend Nani who ran a PR in the race!  Pancakes are always the answer after a race.

I also used this race to see how my Chicago Marathon outfit would work out.  I have to say that I'm pretty happy with it.  I was unsure of the spandex shorts because I have only ever worn them for short runs before.  I bought the compression socks Saturday afternoon with a Fleet Feet gift card I got for my birthday and now I'm basically obsessed with them.  But I'm even more obsessed with my new blue sparkly headband.  Overall, I think the outfit was successful and comfortable.

My mom thinks I should wear a headband like Rafael Nadal and sent me this picture as an example:

Maybe if you added some glitter to it, I would.  I hope I look that intense in my official race photos.  I would however like to personally hunt down the jerk photographer who took a picture of me during one of my walking breaks.  That was not cool, dude.

Photo credit for the pictures of the race medals goes to my friend Megan.  After the race, I saw she had posted a few photos on Facebook from the finish line and she said she was there as a volunteer!  I wish I would've known ahead of time to keep an eye out.

Weekend Photo Bomb - 9/6 - 9/8

Here's a sampling of the weekend in pictures!

Friday - Rachel is training for the Fox Cities Half Marathon and needed to do a long run.  I met up with her after work on Friday to bike while she ran.  It was a great time catching up!

When I showed up to meet Rachel, we had matching running fanny packs!

About 5 miles in and still smiling!  She finished 11 miles woohooo!!  I am only half a good friend though because I left after about 6 miles because I was planning to drive home for the night.

On my way home, I went to hang out with Catherine and Matt for a little bit.  Catherine is officially in marathon taper mode now!  Her marathon is in 2 weeks, and trust me, she is working on a good guest post to write for my blog afterwards.

Saturday - Mac and I went to the Chicago Half Marathon Expo at Navy Pier.  We ran there about 2 miles and then walked around the expo for awhile.  I found 2 of the Sweaty Bands headbands to complete the marathon outfits that Angela and I will wear!  Since we had our race bags from the Expo, we just had a nice stroll back home instead of running.  And who wants to run very much the day before a race?

I can't decide what was the better purchase of the day - the headbands or the socks.  Both were better (and cheaper) than the half marathon purchase.  Races are too expensive.  But I am glad we did it.

Sunday - Chicago Half Marathon! I am going to do a whole race recap tomorrow, but here's some of the basics...  I finished in 1:42:04.  I was hoping for a little faster, but I'm over it.  Mac and his friend Bryce ran too.  This was the first half marathon for each of them and I think they were pretty pumped about the medals.  We are all winners.

And here's a giant picture of the slice of Lou Malnati's pizza we each got after the race!

Despite having the pizza right after running, that obviously wasn't enough so we went out to Elly's for breakfast.  They have such amazing pancakes.  And I ran into some other friends there too!

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

10 Mile Tuesday & MARATHON OUTFIT !!

So boring stuff out of the way first.  I ran 10.4 miles in 1:23:15 (8 minute pace average) after work last night.  Really nothing eventful at all.  My legs were super tight from Monday's hill workout so the first few miles were difficult.  I stopped to stretch about 4 miles in and 8 miles in and then felt a lot better after each time.  A few weeks/months ago I probably would've been super pumped about this run and the fact that I did it after work.  But now 10 miles seems just slightly longer than normal and not nearly as difficult as it used to be.  And now that I've done a 19 mile run after work, I guess I don't have any excuses if my weekends are busy with something else.

And now I want to share something that I am beyond super excited about!  MARATHON OUTFITS!!!

Here's what Angela and I are going to wear:

Unfortunately, I don't think there are actually any Dayton Flyers running singlets out there on the market (even though there totally should be), so we had to improvise.  We bought white Nike singlets from Dick's and took them to a screen-printing shop in the mall to have the logo put on.

I have to give most of the credit for the idea to Catherine (and her brother Mike).  Mike wanted to get Cath and Matt Notre Dame Singlets for Christmas.  It's even more surprising that he couldn't find ND running singlets, but he couldn't.  So he bought plain singlets and had them screen printed with the ND IRISH logo on the front.  And look at Matt helping Cath run along with water bottle in hand!  Can't wait to cheer for you both in a few weeks at the Fox Valley Marathon!!

And as for the rest of the outfit, I don't think we have everything 100% figured out yet, but it will obviously be awesome.  We discussed the options thoroughly on our bike ride last weekend.  Angela wants to wear black spandex shorts.  I was planning to wear gray regular running shorts, but could possibly wear black spandex as well too.  I need to try doing some longer runs in them first though...I LOVE long spandex, but sometimes the shorts ride up a little too much for me.

Either way, matching bottoms aren't nearly as important as the tops.  Another awesome thing is that the Dayton Flyers logo is high up enough on the singlet that the bib number won't cover it up.

Next step in completing the outfit is matching headbands.  I think we are going to look at the Sweaty Bands website to find some.  I took a look already and want this blue sparkly one I think.  Or red.  Or silver or gold.  I think any of those would go with the outfit nicely.  Matching outfits and glitter are 2 things I love, so put the 2 together and I am a happy girl.

 

Shoes are obviously picked out already.  I've been slowly breaking them in, alternating between this green pair and the older pink pair (both Brooks Adrenaline).  I definitely will not be wearing those green socks though, since they are probably long gone in the garbage.   A few weeks ago I bought 2 new packs of socks and threw away any that had holes.  I have a gift card for Fleet Feet, so maybe I'll splurge on some fancy running socks.

Another issue could be the weather.  Unless it's as low as 30-40 degrees (or lower), I think I'll be fine in just the tank.  If it is any colder I might have to wear a long-sleeve shirt underneath, but we'll have to figure that out as the day gets closer.

Hmmm what else will I be wearing?  I'll have to pick which sports bra to wear.  Maybe just blue or black.  And my running fanny pack!!  It's called a SPI Belt and it's awesome and doesn't bounce much and now I don't have to carry my GU in my sports bra.

That little watch you see in the picture - I'll be wearing that too.  I don't want to wear the Garmin during the race.  I would look at the pace way too much.  Just knowing every mile will be just fine.  So...I hope that covers everything and that I don't have to add things like a hat and gloves to this list.

How do you carry things like GU when you run?

Do you ever wear special outfits for racing?

At Dusk and Dawn, I Was Running

I've stuck to the first 2 days of this week's plan already!!  Woohoo!  Way to go, Colleen.  I have to give myself some positive reinforcement here.

So, yesterday evening I did a tempo run.  I didn't start until about 7pm because I met Erin for fro yo right after work.  It was a good pre-run snack and we sat and chatted for awhile, but I knew I couldn't put this workout off any longer.  My plan was to do 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles tempo, 1 mile cool-down.  Here are my splits:

8:19, 6:56, 6:57, 7:46, 7:36, 7:54, and 2:27 for the last .3 miles

After the first 2 miles of the tempo, I couldn't keep it up in the heat/humidity and decided to step it back a little, but still push a decent pace.  Even though I couldn't hold onto the pace for as long as I wanted, I was still happy with this run.  My average pace was 7:37...which is goal marathon pace.  It's a goal that I know is a little bit aggressive, but that I would like to achieve.  I did stop probably every mile-ish for a quick water fountain break.  The last stop included a little photo opportunity:

And I had to take a selfie to show you how darn sweaty I was.  I think the camera was kinda sweaty too..

You know you all love taking selfies too.  I sure do.  Even though I don't think I'm the most photogenic person, I love having my picture taken and being in pictures.  This is why I really love Snapchat.

Fast forward less than 10 short hours after that tempo run and it was time to run again!  I don't like that it is dark out when I have to get up to run now.  But I managed to get out of bed and hit the road for a 6 mile run.  I ended up running for 45 minutes, so I decided I'll call it about 5.6 miles - not entirely sure since I didn't have the Garmin, but I figure I was probably going a normal 8 minute pace.

Again, it was VERY humid even though it was like 6am.  I was again drenched in sweat, and this time my shirt paid the price.  I was wearing a pink sports bra (a new-ish one from American Eagle's new workout line that I decided to try because I heard it was dece) and a lime green Under Armour tank.  Apparently, the pink dye bled onto the green shirt.  I must've looked like I was bleeding or something...

I sure hope that comes out... I think I had only worn that sports bra without a shirt before, so I'll have to stick to that.  It will be a summer-only sports bra.

Even though I did the running part of my training plan for the week, I failed on doing any core work yesterday or today (yet, but it probably won't happen tonight).  When I got home from the run last night, I needed to get in the shower ASAP.  I couldn't handle the sweat.  And then this morning I obviously left the exact perfect amount of time to run and then get ready for work.  Perhaps I'll try getting up slightly early to get in the core work, which means more and more of my run in the dark.  Wooo for winter coming!...NOT.

Besides the usual wear and tear, have you ever had clothes ruined by running?

Are you sticking to your workout plan so far this week?

The Courage to Start

I have been given the task of creating a training schedule for my friend (my brother's girlfriend) Erin's first half marathon!!  I'm really excited for this, for multiple reasons.

First of all, I am thrilled that she has decided to take on this commitment! I encourage everyone to start running :) Erin texted me maybe a month or 2 ago and said she was going to do a half marathon in St. Louis. This week I was looking up the dates for future Rock 'N Roll races and saw that the St. Louis event is on October 27th. I texted her to see if this is the one she was planning on running and she said that she wasn't so sure any more. I managed to convince her that she could and that I would come to St. Louis that weekend to run with her!

Another reason I am excited for this is that I kind of get to act as her "coach" and make her a training plan! I love running and am glad I have this opportunity to help her get into it more also. And it's an item to cross off her bucket list! So, I started working on her plan, and find that it's much different making up a plan for a new distance runner (she runs/works out regularly, but she has never ran more than 2 miles at a time) than when I try to come up with plans or workouts for myself. She gave me an indication of what pace she can run, but it's hard to judge what others are capable of as opposed to what I know I am capable of or what might be just a bit to much. It will be a fun challenge. Maybe what will be more fun is making her a training plan for her SECOND half marathon after she gets through this one and wants to go faster!!

Woo go Erin!! - "The miracle isn't that I finished. It is that I had the courage to start."

I'm not quite sure if I'll register for the race or not. I don't like paying for a race that I won't technically be "racing." All these races get expensive! But I'd get a t-shirt I guess, that's always a nice perk.  And a medal.  Even though I was looking up some future races, I decided not to commit to anything until after the Chicago Marathon. But I think this would be a good chance to visit St. Louis (and all my friends and cousins there) and help Erin run her first half marathon! I have lately been thinking that my running has always been mostly competitive, whether with myself or with others, and I have not been having as much "fun" with it as I should (although starting this blog has added fun to my running!) The Chicago Marathon will be a "compete against my own self/PR" race still, but also should be loads of fun to run with Angela wearing our amazing matching outfits...which I will maybe reveal later this week...so get pumped for that! Anyways, I think deciding to run this race with Erin and help her get through it will be a great experience!

On a somewhat related note to training plans, I made a training plan for myself for the Chicago Marathon way back in June, but haven't been doing the greatest job at sticking to it...that's the hard part, isn't it?  But now, as of tomorrow, there will be 7 weeks left until the marathon.  That gives me 4-5 solid weeks of training before I have to taper.  So I'm going to make them the best 4-5 weeks yet.  And to help do so, I'm going to go back to posting the plan week by week here.  I kind of fell out of that habit when I was just running however I felt instead of following my plan.

I did some damage at Dick's this morning. They really rope you in with their coupons. I think these are the shorts I'll wear in the marathon. They'll go nicely with the matching singlets I alluded to above. Also, 13 new pairs of socks!! At Christmas, I got like a million new pairs of socks and threw away all my old socks because let's face it, they almost all had a hole or were just old. And somehow in the last 8 months, all of THOSE pairs managed to get holes. So, time for another sock purge.

On the schedule for tomorrow is 18 miles! That will be my longest training run yet, but I've had a few runs of 15-16 that have gone well, so I think it should be manageable. And I will have Mac to run with instead of my last couple long runs that have been done alone.

What is easier for you - making a training plan or sticking to it?

How often do you have to buy new socks?