Hey, remember me?

Apparently it takes a Frankenstorm for me to actually write a blog post!

Just an FYI, this is not a real picture…yet.  BLC and I are working from home today – mainly because NYC decided to shut down all of their public transportation.  It would be super difficult to get to work without my beloved subway.  So now we are watching a Sons of Anarachy marathon, eating ice cream and I’m FINALLY recapping my Reach the Beach experience.

In one word, the experience was

AMAZING.

But I’m sure you all want to know all of the ridiculous details.  All 32 plus hours of it.

If you didn’t know already, in the month leading up to RTB: NJ I was working insane hours.  Like 15 hour days, 6 days a week.  Money was good but I literally had no life at all…and that included my training (or lack thereof).  But lucky for me, I got a new job and the Thursday before RTB was my last day of craziness.

Since I still had to work until 9:30p, my amazing husband, BLC picked up the van that I rented from Long Island on Thursday at rush hour.  Did I mention that he is amazing?

When I got home, I still had to run down the BQE to Megan’s place to pick up some Cheribundi boxes for the relay.

Cheribundi was one of our sponsors and they totally hooked us up with a serious amount of tart cherry juice for our team.  I wasn’t sure how much until I got to Megan’s…

Yea.  Each of those boxes contained 12 bottles.  Just imagine me in Brooklyn loading all of that juice into my little Versa.  Comical.

BUT I’m pretty sure everyone on our team was obsessed with Cheribundi by the end of the relay.  & felt much better because of it!  Thanks, Cheribundi!

Anyway, after my trek to pick up massive amounts of juice – I still had to go home and pack.

Packing for a relay is much different than packing for anything else.  I basically stuffed three running outfits into three separate ziploc bags.  Definitely a smart move because looking for clothes to run in is the last thing I would have wanted to do during my breaks.

So when we were finally done packing, BLC and I headed to bed because we had to wake up at 5:00a so that we could be on the road by 6:00a.

& that alarm came way too quick.  One of our other teammates, Isaac (who was wayyyy too excited for having driven 10 hours overnight with a half hour of sleep! but awesome and super speedy so it was okay!) met us at our place and we headed through Manhattan to pick up another teammate in Hoboken.

Dave (a friend from college) overslept a tad but we ended up heading out of Hoboken and up to Vernon, NJ around 7:00a.  It should have taken about an hour and a half to get to Vernon but we made a wrong turn that cost us about 30 minutes due to traffic that we got stuck in.  BLC was a trooper driving that giant van through the city and up to the starting line, though.  We ended up making it to the start around 8:45a.  Being late was definitely not the first impression I wanted to make on the rest of the team but what can ya do!

When we got there, we parked and headed to the mandatory Orientation.

We briefly got to meet the rest of the team but it was very quick since we had to sign our waivers, check in our mandatory vests/lights/headlamps (none of which I brought but I did make BLC buy me a 10$ reflective vest that i never even opened…so prepared) and then we sat down for our orientation.

Fun Facts.

After our orientation, we went to get our team picture taken very quickly because it was about time for our first runner to start!  Stephanie made us some awesome shirts to wear and Colleen bought some Jersey Shore-esque sunglasses for our picture.

and so it began…

I’m such a jerk but this has already been too long of a post and I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff

To be continued…

Why hello there! I figured you all missed me wouldn’t mind reading a blog post after silence for 1 whole month over here at Healthy Life Happy Wife. Plus, this weekend is going to be super exciting!

So here I am, at my lovely Financial District Starbucks utilizing their free Internet during my half hour break. Please forgive me if I spell some things wrong or lack perfect grammar…

To the excitement!

Friday BLC and I will be running a 200 mile relay through New Jersey with 12 other runners! It is the first Reach the Beach through New Jersey so there will probably be a few kinks but I’m pretty excited if for nothing else than to meet my teammates!!

BLC and I are well trained not prepared at all but still super nervous stoked.

Our team name is a play on the Jersey Shore MTV show (which I may or may not watch religiously – don’t judge).

BETTER THAN GTL: RES REPEAT (run, eat, sleep, repeat in place of gym, tan, laundry)

You can keep up with our shenanigans throughout Jersey by following our hash tag on twitter #teamresr or following me on Twitter (wink, wink) at Asutt.

Other bloggers on our team are:

Jamie @ From Couch to Ironwoman (our co-captain!!)
Megan @ Run Like a Grl (who I’ve met before and can’t wait to share a van with!)
Sarah @ Mom Running on Empty
Colleen @ The Chocolate Mile
Stephanie @ Live Like a Grrl

I feel like I know all of these girls already due to how much we chat on our Facebook group page but I can’t wait to officially meet & hang with all of them!

My plan: have fun & don’t die. (I aim high.)

I have not started packing yet but I figured an after the fact packing list would probably be better to post because when I inevitably forget something, I can make sure to tell you so no one has to make my same mistake

We received our approximate leg times so I will share them with you so you can think of me (& BLC) during our legs:

BLC: Leg 1 – 3.13 miles at 11:53a; Leg 2 – 5.66 miles at 11:08p; Leg 3 – 6.2 miles at 9:27a

Me: Leg 1 – 9.36 miles at 12:27p; Leg 2 – 4.24 miles at 12:10a; Leg 3 – 4.63 miles at 10:38a

(Please keep in mind I will be running next to a cemetery at midnight. Eek!)

Tomorrow BLC and I will be picking up the van & we will be leaving Friday morning to head up to the start! Wish us luck

Also, our team has some absolutely amazing sponsors so I wanted to give them a shout!

PRO Compression
Aspaeris
Cheribundi
Chobani
Justin’s Nut Butter
Nuun
Shower pill
Bic Bands
Tommie Copper

Give them some loooove because they are keeping us compressed, hydrated & full thanks!

Tomorrow is my long run so I figured I would let you all know what I do the night before a long run. I’m sure you’ve heard it all before – but for the one or two people that have been wondering how to prepare for a long run, you are welcome

1. Check the weather.

I like to check the weather first so I can figure out what I need to bring, wear & what time I should leave. Tomorrow’s weather looks perfect for an 8am run!

2. Lay out my clothes, fuel & shoes.

Black Aspaeris Compression shorts, Mizunos, running socks, Nathan hydration belt, Nike Dri-fit tank, Chapstick, Metrocard, money, keys, sports bras ( yes, I wear 3) & RevHoney Energy.

3. Hydrate.

All.day.long. Water (& some Nuun, of course.)

4. Compression.

Love my new white Pro Compression socks! Already had the pink & black – just tight enough without cutting off circulation! Official review to come

5. Charge your devices.

For me, that means my Garmin 305 & my iPod.

6. If you run with music, create a pump up playlist. I know I always get more excited for a run when I have an awesome playlist to listen to. Check out my previous playlists for some new tunes!

7. Eat some carbs!

In the mix:
Veggie pasta
1/2 pack TJ’s Soy Chorizo
1/2 diced onion
3 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapeños
1/2 can corn
TJ’s Sesame Peanut dressing
Frank’s Red Hot
Parm

8. Set out coffee & something to eat before my run.

TJ’s Instant coffee

My homemade energy bar (normally I have a banana but…alas, none in the house).

9. Lay on the couch & relax!

With the pup…

While watching True Blood & SOA.

& finally,

10. Get your beauty sleep!

I know Freck will

What do you do the night before a long run?!

Is anyone else really excited that summer is almost over? No? Just me?

I feel like all I have been doing this summer is running around, vacationing (not a bad thing, I know), being really hot & dehydrated on my runs and sweating wherever I go. I have also neglected my training like whoa. Something about running in the 100 degree 80% humidity hasn’t appealed to me. Go figure.

Yuck. (yes – I always feel better after the run but getting out there has been tough)

Also, with all the vacationing, I have become gluttonous. Like, all health out the window because I’m on “vacation”. Indulging a little = no biggie but eating like crap for 3 months is not okay.

But on the bright side, fall is upon us!

Guess what’s on the other side of that double rainbow?!

FALL!!

Fall means:

Starbucks Pumpkin Lattes

Jeans & a long sleeved shirt

Playing with my new little niece, Kira

Reach the Beach Relay with my new best running friends!

Halloween

Cool breezed runs at the track

Hot oatmeal every morning

FOOTBALL!!

Colorful leaves (I’ve missed the changing leaves for the past 5 years while I was living in San Diego so I am even more excited this year)

All my fall tv shows coming back on

Tailgating

I could probably go on forever. I love the fall. I even found this on Pinterest & vow to do it all before Christmas…

(from my Pinterest board – follow me!)

But besides all of the fun stuff, I do have some September goals (although I kinda bombed out on my August goals…oopsy).

September Goals:

1. Stop being lazy & RUN! I know the cooler weather will help with this one.

2. Start cross training (BLC & I got a living social deal to NYSC so I really want to consistently take some classes & weight train)

3. Get back into my healthy eating routine. (more veggies, less takeout/processed food, more water, maybe a juice a day?)

4. Plank a day! (last month this was one of my goals – I probably managed 10/31 days. Impressive, I know)

5. Try to do 30 minutes of yoga at least once a week.

6. Complete the fall checklist above!

I know, I know – I’m the worst at goals but hopefully this month my excitement for fall will help me to accomplish at least a few of them

BTW – BLC & I are finally heading back to the east coast after our awesome trip to visit family in SoCal. It was great to see everyone but we are excited to get home after 10 long days…& of course, see our little Freckle monster!

I’ve missed her sooo much!!

What is your favorite thing about Fall?!

YTD: 263/600 miles for 2012

Sorry about being MIA. This weekend has been a whirlwind!

On Friday, BLC & I flew out of Newark to Ontario, CA.

We had to leave this little one with my parents I miss her already!

I wore my Pro Compression socks on the plane. I always have to have socks on when I travel so I don’t have to step on the floor barefoot through security. Yick!

We arrived late on Friday night (& totally surprised BLC’s grandmom!) and went to bed shortly after because we were exhausted.

I woke up around 8:30a on Saturday & hydrated for my run.

Nuun & TJ’s instant coffee! So necessary!

BLC drove me up to this path in the middle of Euclid Ave in Ontario, CA.

It is kinda a dirt road which was harsh on my legs. But what was worse was that the first half is a slow & steady uphill. I was dying by the end (it was 2.6 ish miles long) but was super excited to turn around & run downhill for the rest of the run.

Other than that, the path was really nice because it was tree-lined which provided some shade & the houses up & down Euclid are gorgeous!

My splits definitely reflect the uphill & downhill portions.

Mile 1 – 11:38
Mile 2 – 11:25
Mile 3 – 11:12
Mile 4 – 9:48
Mile 5 – 10:19

Super inconsistent but whatevs. I wore my SweatPink tank to represent on the West Coast & my amazing compression shorts.

#sweatpink

BLC & I went home, showered & got ready for my GIL’s 90th birthday party. I met a ton of distant family members which was nice & I think my GIL had a really good time. Overall, a success!

After the party, BLC and I got to hang out with his cousins who I LOVE. I also introduced them to my favorite shot (and may or may not have drank way too many of them…YOLO?)

Best pickles evarrrrr.

Pickle backs!!

We had lots of bourbon/whiskey/scotch & roasted marshmallows on the fire. I also attempted a cartwheel & fell on my face. Good job, Alex.

BLC’s cousin’s son challenged us to the ice/salt challenge which turned out to be a terrible idea…& also proved that women can handle a bit more pain then the boys

Don’t try it at home!

Here’s my battle wound. It still hurts. Another good one, Alex.

Now, this is gonna happen for the rest of the week

Woot woot!

What’s your favorite shot/drink?

Sorry for my absence this weekend but I was busy down the shore with about 13 of my girlfriends from college.  It was a fabulous weekend.

#sorryimnotsorry

My weekend included laughs, alcohol and reminiscing.  I love my girlfriends.

Oh yea – and lots and lots of dancing.

But today we are back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Guess who came out of hiding?!

My running shoes!! Woooooo!

I got all inspired and excited because I created our training schedule for Reach the Beach: New Jersey.

Here it is folks:

As you can see, I do not have paces in our schedule yet because we had our first Mile Trial today!  We will be basing our long run, tempo and easy run paces on our mile trials which we will be doing every two weeks.  I thought it would be fun to track our progress and keep ourselves motivated that way.

Today we headed to McCarren Track which is about 1 mile from our apartment.  We used that mile to warm-up and then we ran an additional 2 laps when we got to the track.

McCarren Track has a soccer field in the center of it which is kinda strange but never really affected our run.  & I have to say… I love the track!  I will definitely be looking forward to our mile trials every two weeks!  I was especially excited because it is rubber and much easier on BLC’s shins.  Don’t want my mans getting injured again

I ran the first mile while BLC timed each lap.  I didn’t want to keep looking down at the Garmin so I just went by feel.  I was definitely quicker than I thought I would be.

Results:

Lap 1 – 2:11

Lap 2 – 2:11

Lap 3 – 2:07

Lap 4 – 2:03

Mile – 8:33

After I was done, I was pretty tired but felt good about my effort.  Next up, BLC!

BLC’s Results:

Lap 1 – 2:07

Lap 2 – 2:11

Lap 3 – 2:10

Lap 4 – 2:02

Mile – 8:32

Pretty ridiculous that our mile times were one second different.  Now, that is love <3

When we were all done, BLC and I walked two laps and then had a nice, easy cool down run home.  All in all, we ran about 3 miles.

We stretched and foam rolled when we got home then I made dinner.

Couscous, broccoli, soy chorizo, diced tomatoes & a little bit of cheese – delish!

Now I am compressing & watching preseason football.  & guess what color my socks are?

Pink, duh!  #sweatpink

Hope everyone had a great Monday!

LIEBSTER AWARD!

I was very excited to see that I was nominated by Zero to Twenty Six Point Two and Burning Babi Fat for the Liebster Award!
Thanks, loves!  I really appreciate it!

So now you all get to hear eleven random facts about moi AND 22 answers to 22 questions!

Some random facts:

1.  I have a large tattoo on the small of my back (technically, a tramp stamp.  yup.  I am a classy broad).  I got it when I had just turned 18 and hid it from my parents for a year.  Luckily, BLC doesn’t mind it and I can’t see it.  I basically forget about it at all times.  BLC actually had to remind me I had one for this random fact.  It is a lotus flower.  Sorry no pic

2.  I hate bikes and umbrellas (more like afraid of them).  I am so afraid when I am on a bike that I am going to crash (which was not that unfounded since I crashed twice during my triathlon.) or someone is going to crash into me.  Also, when I’m just walking I’m so afraid of a biker running into me (it would most likely be my fault, of course) and/or someone poking me in the eye with an umbrella.  Totally rational fears, right?  Good thing I moved to NYC.

3.  I have severe road rage.  I don’t know what comes over me but when I am in the car, I become the devil.  It’s not cute.

4.  I have super curly hair but I get it straightened every 3 months or so.  Always want what ya can’t have.

5.  I have ridden on a camel in Egypt.  Yup.

6.  I love Bloody Mary’s in the morning and tequila in the evening.  I would much rather a spicy drink over a sweet drink.  & if we are day drinking, I will have a Bloody Mary in my hand.  Done.

7.  I have read Fifty Shades of Gray.  It was okay.  Entertaining but nothing crazy good.  I have been trying to finished Fifty Shades Darker since our trip to Aruba…so over a month.  Just not interested anymore.  That makes me the 1% of people who didn’t love it.  Guess I’m just a weirdo.

8.  I carry around toothpicks because my teeth attract food particles.  I honestly can get a piece of food stuck in my teeth after drinking juice.  I don’t know where the food comes from but it gets stuck in my teeth no matter what.  Toothpicks are my savior of life.

9.  I despise squirrels.  Yes, to you they may be cute and cuddly looking but to me they are walking rabies carriers.  Plus, when I was in college we lived in a run down house with squirrels living in the walls.  We could hear them running in the ceiling and walls constantly.  There was even an instance where one fell through the ceiling into my bathroom, ran around in there all night knocking over shampoo bottles and pooping in the shower.  Then my roommate let it out into the living room…and we never saw that squirrel again.  Shudder.

& as my girl Carrie Bradshaw has said, “They are just rats with cuter outfits.”

10.  I was in a sorority in college and I loved every second of it.  I am actually heading to the beach this weekend with about 16 of them.  I’m super excited!

11.  I am a diehard Penn State Nittany Lions and Philadelphia Eagles fan!  I absolutely love football and AM SO EXCITED FOR THE SEASON TO START!  I could talk your ear off about football…so I’ll just leave it at that

So now that you know SO much more about me – how about some questions?!

Burning Babi Fat’s Questions:

Spring!  I love the transition from winter to summer – the flowers are blooming, the weather is not too hot and not too cold & every one is just in much better moods! Plus, my birthday and our wedding anniversary is in April

Well, hello again. Since this is supposed to be a running blog (I have been SLACK-ING on the running front), this is a post about running!

Now, I know I have told you that I will be running the RTB:NJ relay on October 12-13 but it has just been decided that BLC will be running with me, as well!! Woooo hoooo!

So now we will be training together for the next 9 weeks (eek!).

We just got our legs (BLC will be running 16.1 total miles & I will be running 18.23 total miles) so I figured it is about time to start really thinking about our training plan & training schedule. I have yet to create our official training schedule but I do have a nifty training plan to lay out for you fine folks.

Here ya go! (super exciting, I know)

TRAINING PLAN FOR RTB:NJ

- Build base for first 4 weeks (slowly increase mileage each week, running about 3-4 times per week)

- Learn what pace we can comfortably run the total miles so that we can pace ourselves on our first 2 legs. Don’t wanna have dead legs for our last leg!

- Have one tempo paced run per week; one long, slow endurance run; and 2 easy runs per week.

- Add Hill Sprints or Strides at the end of easy runs toward week 3 (I’ve got a few hills in my first leg & BLC has some hills on his second leg)

- Practice fueling & re-fueling to really figure out what works best for us.

- At week 5, add a two a day on Wednesday (with at least 8 hours between runs to stimulate relay conditions) so that it doesn’t interfere with our long run.

So that’s the plan! I will definitely post our training schedule once I have completed it.

Anyone ever run a relay & have some training tips for us?!

Just to be clear in the beginning, I do not recommend racing a sprint triathlon with 5 days notice and no swim/bike training.  Just to be clear

On that note, here is the recap about the time BLC and I raced a sprint triathlon in Aruba with 5 days notice and no swim/bike training!

The Week Before:

BLC called me on the Tuesday before we were leaving for Aruba and said, “Guess what we are doing on July 1?”

Knowing that we were going to be in Aruba, I was thinking snorkeling, laying by the pool, walking on the beach…

I was wrong.

We were signed up for the Aruba International Sprint Triathlon.

BLC had been emailing the director back and forth (who were super nice and helpful, BTW) trying to figure out how were were going to get bikes and how much registration would be.  It was $35 and they agreed to rent the bikes for us and have them at the sign-in table the morning of the race.  Couldn’t really argue with that

At first I was very excited because I’m weird like that.  Then I started getting super nervous.  Did I mention that neither BLC nor I have rode a bike in about 3 years and haven’t swam laps in over 7 years?  & we signed up to swim a 750m open water swim, 20K bike ride and 5k run on our vacation.  I never claimed we were very smart.

I started scouring Triathlon websites, tips for beginners, how many people have drowned during the swimming leg of a triathlon (14 last year, BTW), etc.

Nervous did not even begin to describe how I felt.

The Day Before:

On the Saturday before the tri, BLC and I woke up at 3:45AM to get to the airport for our 6:00AM flight.  Probably got about 3-4 hours of sleep…(two nights before a race is supposed to be the most important night for sleep…eeeek).

I did have a very healthy breakfast at the airport, though.  Gotta give myself credit somewhere…

We travelled for about 10 hours and got to our resort around 5PM.  We checked in, put our stuff in our room, went down to the bar & found out it was Happy Hour.  We proceeded to drink 3-4 fruity cocktails each to calm our nerves about the next day.  Also, not our best idea ever.

At that point, we wanted to see how long it would take us to get to the transition area/registration table the next morning so we knew when we should leave.  So we walked on the beach up to Eagle Beach, where the start would be located.

We couldn’t find it and managed to thoroughly tire out out legs in the process.  Go us.

We went back to our room and tried to fall asleep around 9PM for our quickly approaching 4:30AM wake up call.

The Day Of The Sprint Triathlon:

We woke up, nervously got dressed and headed up the beach hoping to find the transition area.  I am not gonna lie…I was half hoping that they forgot about us and we didn’t actually have to race.

No such luck.

We got to the transition area around 5:15AM, signed our registration forms & got our rented bikes.  We also had to borrow helmets. We got all numbered up, adjusted the seat on our bikes (mine was still a little too high for me but more on that later…) and got all numbered up.

I was 178 & BLC was 177.  Sorry for the scary look.

After we set up our transition station, we put on our swimming caps & headed over to the start.

The red caps were the Olympic distance. We had white caps.

BLC and I were all the way in the back.  Nervous as hell.  & then it began.  No more time for nerves…

I decided to just stick to breast stroke because it takes a little less energy and I wanted to be sure to conserve as much as possible considering 750 meters is a long way in the ocean.  I ended up doing that until the first buoy then did a mixture of side stroke (<—my savior stroke!), laying on my back & breast stroke.  By the time BLC and I passed the second buoy, the first few Olympic distance racers started to pass us (they had two laps, we had to do one).  It was a little bit embarrassing but guess what?  BLC & I weren’t the absolute last two to finish the swim!! Booyah!

We finished the swim in 20:33 (me) & 20:34 (BLC)

Both BLC and I were dead tired after the swim but I think we were really excited to be done with that part.  I mean, how bad could a 20K bike ride and 5K run be, right?

When we got to the transition area, our feet were covered in sand, we had no water & BLC didn’t even have a change of clothes.  Again, totally prepared.  We tried to wipe our feet off and both ate a banana, put our helmets on & got ready for our 20K.

Transition time: 8:07 (me) & 8:06 (BLC) <– I am aware that this is absolutely terrible because the next closest transition time was 4:00 – we clearly had no idea what we were doing.

& then it was time for the bike leg.

We had 4 loops of 5K each ahead of us.  It was almost entirely flat which was definitely amazing.  What wasn’t so amazing was that we didn’t figure out how to shift gears until we were about 1 lap in.  Another super smart move

But then!  Another amazing thing happened!  Half way through our second lap…I got a flat tire.  Yep.  I told BLC to continue on without me.  I ended up talking to one of the volunteers and she told me to head back to the transition area to see if anyone could repair my tire.  I had to walk my bike about 1 mile back to the transition area.  I was pretty bummed out at that point.

The lovely photographers capturing my search for a new tire…

As the volunteers were trying to find me a new tire, the winner of the Sprint distance came in.

Guess who gave me their tire?  Yep, the winner of the Sprint distance (also – 13 years old if you were interested).  You would think with the tire of the winner, it would have been smooth sailing but you would be wrong.

I got back on my bike and was going pretty good for my third lap.  The first turn was pretty wide so I had no real problem but the next turn I took a little too slowly & clipped the curb causing me to fall off my bike and get a pretty gross bruise on my leg, above my knee.  I brushed myself off, got back on my bike and soldiered on.  I was pretty stoked when I passed the transition area for my final lap.

I was a little nervous about the last turn due to my fall and I think I psyched myself out.  So instead of just clipping the curb, I crashed right into it.  I flew forward and hit my pelvis area pretty hard on the handle bars.  I was really hurting but I was so close to being done that I got back on my bike and kept riding.  Probably not the smartest thing but I was so close to being done with the bike and to the run leg which should have been my easy leg.

I finished my last lap and headed to the transition area in quite a bit of pain.

My time from here on out was pretty messed up but BLC finished the bike leg in 57:09.

I hung up my bike, ate a little apple sauce packet I had because I still hadn’t had any water & it was HOT out.  But I set out for my run thinking it would be no problem.

The run was a shortened portion of the bike lap and for the 5k we had to run 2 laps.  I thought it was only one lap.  Should have double-checked on that sucker.

At the first water station I was soooooo excited to get a water.  I was super thirsty and most likely dehydrated.  Like I said in the begin, do as I say…not as I do.

I was actually pretty excited about how they handed out water.

It was a little water packet.  At first I was kinda confused at how to drink it but I just bite off the corner…and that was that.

I thought they were so cool, I even grabbed an extra so I could take pictures of it.  It’s the little things in life, right?

So during my first lap, my pelvis was hurting a little but it continued to hurt more and more as I ran.  I was really frustrated that the run was so difficult.

Some how I managed to get my best race picture ever while I was in immense pain after swimming in the ocean and riding my death on wheels bike for 20K.  Go figure.

I got to the turn off for the finish and really thought I was finished.  I ran through and got to the finish.

I got my medal and t-shirt but when I didn’t see BLC, I started to question whether it was 1 or 2 laps at the end.  Since I didn’t have my Garmin, I literally had no clue.  Unfortunately at that point my pelvis was throbbing so it was probably better that I didn’t keep running on it.  Had I known before I turned off, I definitely would have kept going.

So needless to say…I finished my very first Sprint Triathlon in Aruba in 1:49:37 (minus about 1.5 miles).  I was really upset considering how close I had gotten but I wanted to be there for when BLC finished.  I stood at the finish line and waited for BLC to become a triathlete!

I was soo excited when I saw him coming around the corner to the finish (he was a little bit behind the winners of the Olympic distance racers.)  I’m not gonna lie – even though I was bummed about my race…I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw him finishing.  I was so proud of him!

BLC finished in 2:01:55!

When he got to the finish line, I gave him a giant hug and told him what happened with me.  I could tell he felt bad and asked if I wanted to go walk the last 1.5m together but it was really hurting even to walk so we decided it wasn’t the best idea.

We stuck around for a little while, chatted with a few of the other racers, had some food and drank some Gatorade before we headed back to the resort to shower and relax for the rest of the day.

So that was that.  Our first sprint triathlon.  I apologize if this post seemed a little bit whiney (I’m just a whiney kind of person lol) but I truly am very happy we decided to do it!  Regardless of the outcome it was definitely an accomplishment and has opened us up to a whole different world of races!  We will definitely be registering for another sprint tri in the future…but I will also train on the bike and do a little swimming before that

Post Race Photo Shoot:

Happy that we signed up…

Sad that I didn’t finish the last 1.5m.  FYI – I think it was just a bruised muscle/pulled muscle.  It took about 3-4 days to fully heal.  But I am all good now

Cool water thingie I saved!  Any one else ever seen one of these at a race in the states?

Me and my TRIATHLETE!!  Wooo hoooo!  Go BLC!

Can you believe that BLC raced a triathlon in board shorts?  Can take the dude out of SoCal but can’t take the SoCal out of the dude.

Our cool t-shirt. <3

Hope you liked the recap!  I truly had the experience of a lifetime!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write my recap but I was hoping I could wait for some race pictures to add. But no such luck!

Anyway – I ran the NYRR Mini 10k on Saturday. It was an insta-PR (because this was the first 10k race I have ever run). But let’s start from Friday.

On Friday afternoon I went to the NYRR office to pick up my bib. Just an FYI, it is not very easy to get to for me. I have to transfer twice then walk about 6 blocks – not complaining, just kinda explaining why I waited until the last minute to go pick up my bib.

So I got there at around 6:15 ish (they close at 7 – way to cut it close, Alex) & it was pretty packed. I went upstairs, got my bib & came back downstairs to get my shirt (which I was very excited about because it was in women sizes!!!). I got in line & realized they only had large & extra large left. Bum City. So I got my shirt & swag bag & moved on. They had Lara bars (love – grabbed 2 cashew cookies) & they had samples of the new Über Lara bar (pretty excited to try them!)

Freck wanted in with all my Lara bars & large t-shirt…there was a progression…

All up in my grill like usual…

Finally, a good pic…but wait!

Freck left her bone! Obviously, that was too important to leave…

Getting sick of this, yet? Me, too.

Well, Freck is only finished when she wants to be finished. It’s Freckles world, we’re just living in it.

But I digress.

Once I left NYRR I checked out my bib…& was pretty disappointed. I was in the 10:44 pace corral. Bum city numero dos. I knew that they had gotten my pace from my Brooklyn Half time but this was one day after my super amazing sub-9 minute 10k so I was bummed. Plus, I know a lot of people were put in corrals based on 5k paces or the pace they estimated themselves. But I’ll stop bitching now

I met up with BLC after my bummer of a trip to NYRR & we wandered around Central Park for a minute.

Gorg.

Unbelievable that this is in the middle of NYC. <3

Then I kinda did exactly what you are not supposed to do the night before a race.

I went out with BLC & a girlfriend. We went to Boukies in the East Village for some Greek food (really, really good! Try it if you are in the area!) I had lots of bread & one wheat beer. But then…we went to International Bar (my new fav dive bar in the city). We had a tad too much fun, drank a little too much (don’t I always say this?) & didn’t get home till about 2:30a. Eek. I am quite the party animal.

Set alarm for 6a. Slept for about 3 1/2 hours. Smart, real smart.

But I got up! Made some coffee & put it in a water bottle. Classy.

BLC woke up for 5 seconds to take a pic and wish me luck then he went back to bed & didn’t wake up till I got home. Lucky.

I ate my Double Latte Gel because I felt like I needed a little bit more caffeine and I didn’t have a banana to bring with me. (I was really prepared.)

I will reiterate even though I’ve said it before, I am not a fan of the Double Latte flavor. Blech!

So my subway transfers went pretty smoothly & I got to the start at around 7:40a. I bought a water from the bodega at the start & waited in my corral with my tunes blasting.

At about 7:55a ish, there were a few speakers (all of which inspirational & amazing – one of which was my run-crush, Desi Davila). I honestly got a little teared up during the speakers considering what a lot of them helped to do for women’s running.

The race started right on time which I loved because I was the loser standing by herself. I didn’t actually cross the start line till about 2:50 in.

The race was hard. I actually overheard Desi saying it was a “tough course” when i saw her sitting at the end of the race. There were rolling hills throughout most of the course & it probably didn’t help that I only slept for less than 4 hours & ran a very fast 10k (for me) only two days prior (legs weren’t exactly fresh). But I ran that sucker, didn’t stop and passed quite a few runners.

Plus, I had originally wanted to finish under an hour & guess what?! I did! Even without a Garmin to tell me my paces.

Official time: 59:48
Pace: 9:38
Place: 2820/6122

Insta-PR!

At the end of the race, they had bagels, plums &…wait for it…Popsicles! What a great idea, right?

So as I was eating my Popsicle, I saw Desi & all of the other winners near the stage so I went over to see the award ceremony & kinda stalked Desi from a far.

Then I decided to head home to the hub. But I felt great, the weather was perfect running weather (overcast with a slight occasional drizzle) & I didn’t feel like transferring subways. So I ran to the 14th street L stop from the middle of Central Park. For those of you who don’t know, that’s about 4 miles. I figured I would round out the day with a solid 10 miles. Why not?

I took the miles slow (about 4 miles in a little over 40 minutes), took in NYC & grabbed a giant iced coffee at the end.

All in all, a pretty amazing day before the time of 11a.

Then we did what I absolutely love to do after a race – gorge

We had lots of pizza, Stella’s & water. Then, I laid around with Freck all night.

She acts like she ran 10 miles…what a little princess.

But she’s cute, ain’t she?