Thursday, December 13, 2012

Liebster Award Nomination

So excited to be nominated for a Liebster Award!  I know you're wondering what a Liebster is right?  Liebster is the German word meaning, "beloved" or "dearest".  So of course, I'm honored!  Thanks to Lindsay at Sweets n Sweat for nominating me!

This award comes with a few rules:

1.  Write 11 random facts about  yourself.
2.  Answer the 11 questions by the person who nominated you.
3.  Create 11 new questions.
4.  Nominate 11 bloggers and mention them in your post.
5.  Thank the person that nominated you and tell the people you've nominated.

11 Random Facts About Me:

  • I was in the National Guard for 9 years.
  • I can sing the alphabet backwards.
  • I can't stand the feeling of wet wood.
  • I love all things 80s!
  • I love reading about the Holocaust and the Westward Journey.
  • I was in the high school colorguard.
  • I know lots of useless trivia!
  • I don't eat meat.
  • I wish I was a sign language interpreter.
  • I have a sweet tooth!
And Lindsay wants to know:

My favorite breakfast: Whole-grain waffle with almond butter and a banana.

My favorite workout: Running.  Hands down.

Do I workout in the morning?  You bet I do!

My favorite restaurant: I'm a big Panera fan!

Favorite thing to buy myself: Running clothes and running shoes!

Mani or Pedi?: Mani!

Pony or Braid: Pony!

Favorite show as a kid: You Can't do that on Television!

Favorite actor: Topher Grace

Do you watch the news?: Not often

Do you blog on your phone or the computer?: Usually the computer.

My 11 questions:

1.  Who is  your biggest fitness influence?
2.  Yoga or Pilates?
3.  Favorite candy?
4.  HGTV or DIY Network?
5.  Favorite snack?
6.  Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
7.  Do you have a tattoo?
8.  How old were you when you got your ears pierced?
9.  One food you would never give up, ever.
10.  Favorite book?
11.  How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?

My nominations are:















Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Sweat Pink




Do you sweat pink?  I do!  I'm a new Sweat Pink ambassador!  I'm so excited to join this great program and spread the Sweat Pink love!

If you've  never heard of Sweat Pink, basically it's a program to get women on board with healthy eating, healthy living and staying fit.  All of which I love!

So, I first heard about SP from a few of my running tweeps after we ran the Disney Wine and Dine half-marathon.  I researched what it was all about and knew I just had to apply!  Sweat Pink stands for everything that I am!  And I love encouraging other people to take control of their lives and finally get fit and healthy!  The right way!  Which is eating right and exercising.  I know, not rocket science!

So stay tuned for my Sweat Pink adventures!  I hope you'll join me!

~Sweat Pink!~

Want to know more about it?  Click here:

http://www.fitapproach.com/

You say you wanna be an ambassador too?:  Check it out!:

http://www.fitapproach.com/2012/01/become-a-sweat-pink-ambassador/

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Show some respect!

 Do you ever feel like parked cars get more respect than us runners?  People don't think twice about driving around or leaving plenty of room between them and a parked car.  But when they see me running on the side of the road, they keep driving as though I'm not even there.  Not all drivers, but I'd say more than half.  Why is that?  When I see a runner on the side of the road, not only am I secretly cheering for them (Go, go, go!), but I make sure to give them plenty of space.  Why not?  Do you want to be that guy that takes out someone's Achilles tendon?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Disney's Wine and Dine Half-Marathon weekend

Well, let me just start out by saying "Amazing!"  If you know Disney, then you know they go all out on everything they do, races included!  My weekend started out at Epcot for the Wine and Dine half-marathon meet-up.  Basically what that is is every race Disney does, they have a pre-race meet-up somewhere to meet other runners, promote the race, etc.  Disney announced this meet-up less than a week before race weekend.  When they do, the first 40 people who respond are selected for the meet-up!  Keep in mind about 14,000 runners run this race, so 40 people isn't that many!  Imagine my excitement when I got the email telling me I was selected!  Eek!  We got to Epcot super early and met up with Jeff Galloway for a run through the park.  After they passed out runDisney shirts to all of us  for the photos of course!  It was so cool, running through Epcot before the park opened with other enthusiastic runners like me and Jeff, who was wearing jeans because he forgot warm-up pants!  After our 2-mile run, we met in Germany for a light breakfast and some guest speakers, which included the winner of the first 2 W&D races Anton Von Dyl, Tara Gidus  the runDisney nutritionist and a cooking demo from Chef Steff.  The most amazing baked spaghetti I've ever eaten! Then we did a bunch of group photos around the park.  As an added bonus, we got free tickets to Epcot, a gift card to spend there, and a fancy runDisney water bottle.  So fun.  I'll never forget it.    Fast-forward to Sunday night of the race.  We took the runners shuttle from our hotel to ESPN's Wide World of Sports where the start line was.  You've never seen a bigger pack of runners!  We mingled a while, danced to a DJ and warmed up while waiting to go into the chutes.  They had us corralled in 7 different groups so they could stagger the starts.  Can you imagine that many runners taking off at the SAME time?  Fireworks went off and here we go, we're running at Disney!  First, we ran through Animal Kingdom.  The Tree of Life and Expedition Everest are really cool at night!  All along the race route there were cool characters, if you wanted to stop for pics.   Next we headed to Hollywood Studios.  The highlight of that park was the Osborne Family light display.  If you don't know what that is, google it, so awesome at night!  Finally, we were headed to Epcot via the Boardwalk at Disney.  As we came into Epcot, the energy and the people cheering you on really pumped us all up.  I even sped up a bit at Mile 12.  Laser light show tunnel and the huge Epcot ball were a welcoming sight at the finish!  And as if it couldn't get any better, they gave us skinnygirl margarita bottles at the end!  Crazy!  I was worried about how I would feel running that late at night, being that I'm a morning runner.  But I felt awesome the whole run.  Keep in mind, this is not a race to PR at.  There are runners on your heels the whole race and you're running through theme parks.  It's not meant for that!  More importantly, it's a race to just enjoy.  Look around and just be in the moment.  You're running at Disney!  I would do it again in a heartbeat!