Happy New Year!

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Blog Survey - Play Along!

I found this survey-of-sorts on Kim's blog (Just) Trying Is For Little Girls.  She got it from another blogger and, since I'm at a loss lately about what to write, I've blatantly stolen it.  

How often do you update your blog?  Not as much as I used to/want to/probably should!  As I said above, I'm just not motivated to write posts right now.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with not training for anything at the moment.  I can't imagine that anyone wants to read about my slow, average runs so I don't bother posting about them.
     
How long do you spend writing each post?  Depends on the post.  If it's a quick Three Things Thursday then only a few minutes.  A race report can take me a couple of hours to a couple of days.  I seem to have a good memory during races so it takes a while to get it all down.
 
How long do you spend reading blogs each day?  More than I should.  I try to keep up to date on my favourite blogs.  Since I'm a SAHM I find myself drifting back and forth to the computer throughout the day.
 
What other social media sites do you use?  Facebook and Twitter.  I use fb mostly for personal use.  My blog's page is relegated to notifications of new posts.  I like Twitter for keeping up with running related stuff.  I find it easier to follow companies there as well as other blogs.

What is the first blog you started reading?  Jill Will Run.  I was looking for a review on a hydration pack (which I eventually purchased).  I think the second one I followed was Mom Vs. Marathon.  Most of my early readings were found through Kerrie's blog - I just stalked her blogroll.

How do you read blogs? Phone/iPad, dashboard, Google Reader...?  Blogger Dashboard.  I scroll down until I find the ones I've previously read and then open all the ones since then.  I'll click on links from Twitter and Facebook too.

How many blogs do you follow?  74.  However, I need to do a purge again as some of those are dormant.  I don't really like unfollowing blogs, but if I didn't I'd have a couple hundred and that's just too many!

You're on a week-long vacation. Do you a) pre-set posts for the time you're away, b) blog every day on vacation, or c) organize guest posts in advance?  Maybe A.  Usually I'll just say that I'm out of town and ignore the blog for a week.  If I know I'll have limited computer access I might just post an "it's going well" kind of thing, but sometimes it's nice to be out of the loop.

Have you made money off of your blog?  No.  I've won some sweet stuff though.

Would you quit your job to be a full-time blogger, if it meant cutting your salary in half?  No.  I don't make much working weekends as it is.  And I get a kick ass discount that I'd have a hard time giving up. 

A Runner's Christmas Loot!

Merry Christmas everyone!  A late wake-up call from Spud (staying up late after church might have had something to do with it), lots of fun opening presents - 95% of which were for Spud, and lots of great gifts for this quasi-runner have made for a super relaxed morning.  Colin's parents will be here in a while and then we're off to my parents' for dinner.  I hope your holidays are going as well as mine.

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Catch Me Up

I have been so completely out of the loop for the last week or so.  At my job on Saturday (cashier at a sporting goods store, in case you're new) I probably looked like this:

Well, her attitude, maybe.  Perfect makeup, not so much.  And thank goodness I don't have to wear an apron!  It was a nice short shift, crowds were steady, but not crazy, and I was off at 3:30pm.  However, when I phoned Colin and asked if he was picking me up in the stupidly insane parkade or off mall property he informed me that he thought I was off at regular time (5:30pm) and was still close to home, which is a good half hour away.  Sigh.  At least I got some shopping done.

Now that it's Thursday I'm tired.  I don't usually work during the week, but had the opportunity to pick up a few extra shifts (re: money).  The catch?  I work after Colin's off for the day.  So it's been 3:30pm-12am; 7pm-12am x 2; 6pm-11pm; and tonight is 7pm-12am again.  I never say TGIF, but I will be shouting it from the rooftops tomorrow as Colin and I both have it off!!!  Should be able to sleep in a little if Spud is agreeable.

I am excited that I have Friday off as the 23rd is generally really busy and looks an awful lot like this:

Anyways, the whole point of this post was to ask how you're doing!  Any milestones, PRs, or other important things to report?  I haven't been around much and therefore not very up to date on my blog reading.  Things will get back to normal in the new year.  I'll be running and posting more frequently as I begin training for my 3rd full marathon on 3 January 2012.

Three Things Thursday: Spud's Christmas, Longer Runs, and A Five Fingers Question

1.  Just got home from Spud's playschool Christmas "concert".  There were only 4 kids there, he being the only boy, and they sang a few songs for the parents/relatives that were able to make it.  Super-freaking-cute!!!  He sang some of the songs, pouted though the ones he didn't like ("I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas"), and yelled at the top of his lungs during their final song, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  For a boy who whined that he was too nervous to perform in front of so many people - his words; there were about 10 - he did very well.  Once he figured out that people would laugh when he bowed after every song he hammed it up.  Kind of makes me wish that I posted pictures and videos of him on here...

2.  Did a couple of long runs earlier this week.  Many thanks to my friend Gina who had Spud over for a playdate even though it was her birthday!  As much as I didn't want to run after 25km on Monday - it had a 2km hill that gained 5ooft in elevation right at the half way point - I put on my big girl running pants and went out to run 11-1/2 more on Tuesday.  Needless to say, compression was my best friend on Wednesday.  Didn't get a run in today due to Spud's do, but will hopefully get out tomorrow if it's not too gross out.

3.  Anyone have experience fitting Vibram Five Fingers?  I measured my foot, purchased a pair of Bikila's at work, and brought them home to try on.  According to the site, once I add the 1/8", I should fit in a 41.  However, they seem way too big.  My big toe has lots of room (the end of my toe barely reaches the part where the sole wraps over the top of the toe) and the others just float around with a good finger width at the end.  Now, my feet are big, but my toes aren't, so maybe this has something to do with it?  My big toe is my longest toe.  Colin refers to the rest of my toes as "cocktail wienies."  Are Five Fingers made for people with finger toes?  Should I just go down a size and see how they work out?  If you have a pair how much room do you have at the end of your longest toe?

Tooting My Own Horn

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I am finally over 1000km for the year!  

That's like running from my house to Portland, OR, and back!

Follow-Up Friday

Thanks everyone for your kind words regarding my last post.  It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has struggles!  I love the blog community for being so supportive.

Random thoughts:

• I'm 2 for 2 in December.  No this is not going to be a streak - my weekends just don't lend themselves to runs - but I did have a couple of great runs!  Yesterday it was cold, but got sunny for my hour long run.  And today I got to run with my friend Gina.  Good conversation, weather cooperated, and so did Spud!
• I'm just shy of 1000km for the year!  Didn't quite make it today since it didn't fit into Gina's training plan to run longer, but I'll get it next week!
• Good luck to all of my friends (in real life and online) who are running Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas tomorrow!  Can't wait to hear all about it and see pictures.  Pretty sure what happens in Vegas is going to be splashed all over the blogosphere come Monday...
• Colin and I get to go see this movie tonight - it figures that it's running related:

Have a great weekend!

Confessions From The Queen Of Excuses

I am my own worst enemy when it comes to my running.  In a perfect world I would want and get to run every single day.  I would never get injured.  Every run would result in the elusive runner's high.  Unfortunately life is decidedly not like that and won't be anytime soon unless I win the lottery.  Of course, I would have to buy a ticket, but I digress...

The reality of my life is such that I should be able to run as often as I want/need to.  I'm a stay at home parent.  We don't fill our days so full that there is no opportunity to run.

Recently, however, my brain is not allowing me to realize this.  Someone out there must feel that they identify with the following excuses at least one; please tell me I'm not alone!:

• It's too cold (seasonal - sometimes it's too hot).
• It's raining too hard.
• It's too early/late/dark.
• Spud is heavy in the stroller.
• Spud will only sit still for about 20 minutes - if I'm lucky - before he wants to get out to run.
• I just don't feel like it.
• I feel like I'm holding other people back since I've lost all my speed.
• I'm self-conscious about the weight I've gained over the summer and how I look in my running clothes (I'm not overweight, but am not comfortable with my current weight).

I am stuck in a vicious cycle.  I make excuses, don't run, feel fat and lazy, still don't run because I don't see the point, and all that serves to do is perpetuate those feelings.  I know that self doubt and a lack of motivation are my main issues.  If I don't have a desire to haul my butt out the door I won't go.  Eventually to get back on track I'm going to have to ignore the extremely loud voice in my head that is telling me I'm not good enough and that I should quit.  Short of a frontal lobotomy I'm still trying to figure out how to effectively do that.

There are excuses I need to tell to shove it right off the bat.  Weather can't be an excuse.  I live in Vancouver, BC, for Pete's sake!  It's going to rain and it's going to rain often.  My weight can eff off too.  Yes, I'm feeling bad about it.  Mainly because I am comparing myself to how I looked back in May after a full marathon training cycle.  I notice it far more than anyone else and am my worst critic.  I need to get back the mentality I had when I bought my first pair of tights.  I cannot see myself running down the road.  So what if things are moving about?  If anything at least I can say that I made an effort to get out and better myself.

The time of day is a huge issue for me simply because I can't go out early or late on my own.  Neither Colin nor I are comfortable with it.  We don't live in a terrible neighbourhood, but prefer that I don't take the risk.  If any of my friends reading this are interested in either early, early or post-kiddo-bedtime runs message me!

My struggle really lays with the oft-cursed stroller, the expectations of a 4-1/2 year old, and my willingness to deal with both.  It is far too easy to say it's too much effort to get everything together for a >1 hour run.  And yes, it is easier (and warmer, drier, etc) to stay home.  But I'm only doing myself a disservice.  In the long run - totally unintentional pun - no one cares if I run but me (well, maybe Colin, but that's because he has to live with me).

What I need is to be held accountable.  Ask me how my non-training running is doing.  Come January ask how my marathon training is progressing.  Ask if I sucked it up, threw on the rain cover, and took Spud out with me.  Essentially, continue to give me the kick in the butt I so obviously am in need of.

The best I can do is try, but I know that I need to because, at the end of the day, it's about taking care of myself and setting a good example for Spud.  It's about what I do and about how I feel about myself.

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Hydrating for Black Friday!

I know that many of you are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday.  There's nothing like spending time with family, stereotypically watching the game - which ever team you support, and relaxing on a day off.  

Of course, there's the day after Thanksgiving to look forward to as well.  In Canada we have Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) to ransack the stores in the hopes of finding good deals.  I'm incredibly jealous of Americans since Black Friday is 100 times better than that.  For all of you crazies who are going to brave the stores please remember to be well hydrated!  You can't race for the good stuff if you're feeling sluggish or crampy!

Nuun is offering discounts on their boxes of regular and U-Hydration flavours until the 25th.  I know that I'm late to the party in telling you about it, but there's still time to order!  

If you don't get your delivery before Friday you can always hope that it'll be there for you to sip on when you do your shopping online on Cyber Monday.  Apparently warm Nuun is delicious!

Three Things Thursday

1.  If you are from Greater Vancouver you'll already know which areas of town to avoid because of useless drivers.  If you're not and ever come here stay the heck away from Richmond (or if you fly - because that's where the airport is - get out ASAP)!  Confusing roads, annoying drivers and just plain not where I wanted to be this morning.  But I wanted the car love my husband and he had to work there today.  So I braved the roads and was thankful that it wasn't raining since that would have made it worse.  Glad that part of my day is over!

2.  Spud has his first ever field trip today.  He's going ice skating - also for the first time ever.  I'll be the proud mum in the stands with the camera...

3.  My friend, Gina, is going to try to kill me this afternoon.  We haven't been running together as much as we'd like lately so I jumped at the chance to join her.  Unfortunately I think that I just might die tonight as it's an interval run.  My body no longer understands what it's like to run fast.  However, the threat of thundershowers might just make my turnover quicker!  I told her last night that she might get a strength workout in by dragging my body home.  I'm only kidding a little bit.  

Christmas Card Swap

It's that time again!  Zaneta at Runner's Luck is hosting her second annual Christmas Card Swap.  This is a great way to find new blogs and, if you're like me, look forward to something coming in the mail during the holidays that isn't a bill.

Here's the info if you want to join me:*

Send an email to Zaneta (runners.luck@hotmail.com) with the subject “2011 Christmas Card Swap” and include the following:

Name:
Blog Title and URL:
Mailing Address:
Introduce yourself in a couple sentences:  (so that others in your group can get to know you)
Additional Information:  (if you feel you can only send to 1, 2, or 3 people instead of 5 or more, its totally cool!! OR if you are willing to send a card internationally or not!  Just let me know!)  

Go to this page and post a quick comment stating that you’re in so that she can cross reference and double check entrants.

You need to have your info in to her by December 2nd so that she has enough time to organize the groups, send out addresses, and allow us to mail and receive the cards before Christmas!

Hope you'll join in the fun!


*Does not guarantee a card from me.  If you'll be devastated by that loss please let me know your address and I can send you one too. :)

Lest We Forget

If I'd Waited Until Thursday It Would Have Been A Month...

Greetings from the land of rain.  To quote How I Met Your Mother right off the bat, "You know what they call this in the 'couve? Barbecue weather."*  Autumn has officially arrived in Vancouver.  Well, it showed up a while ago, but it wasn't big enough news to write an entire post about.  To be honest, it's darn near winter.  They've closed the ever popular Grouse Grind which is apparently fun, but climbing 2800ft just for the heck of it still intimidates me!  And they've opened at least one of the local mountains for skiing/riding. 

I haven't been blogging lately and it's been kind of nice.  What kind of crappy blogger does that make me?!?  I've been reading blogs and commenting, but when you aren't running it's hard to come up with things to write about.  And, let's face it, what runs I were getting in were either so short or so slow they would have been exceedingly boring to read!  Not too much has happened in the last month.  Ran a little, walked a little, worked a little, Spud dressed as Mickey Mouse for Halloween (3rd year, 2nd costume because he outgrew the first one).  That said, if you've been stalking my blog - coughmumcough - you'll notice that the only updating has been to my mileage.  As of today I have run 936.38km/581.84mi.  I had higher hopes at the start of the year, but after burn out I'll take what I end up with!  

Speaking of burn out I think/hope/pray that I'm over it.  While I am running I'm not getting out quite as much as I'd like.  Ideally I'd get to 4 days/week.  Right now I'm at 3 so it's not much to add another day in there.  Having Spud in playschool really helps because I can get a longish run in on one of those days.  I thought I'd see what I had in me the other day so I picked one of the biggest hills to run up and over.  I proved to myself that, yes, I could still do it.  However, my hill training has completely gone to pot.  I wasn't silly enough to try and run without stopping.  I did intervals.  I'm sure that all the drivers coming down the road (and up for that matter) were wondering why I was choosing to run up it.  At about half way I was wondering the same thing!  At least the downhill was fun.  After 1.7km up getting to run 2km down was lovely.  My shins didn't quite think so later that day, but it wasn't raining, the view was great and downhill is what I love running the most.

Fun gear I have bought/won since I've been away aka "nothing helps you get back into the swing of things like new running gear"!  

CEP Compression Socks:  I won a pink pair on Facebook at the start of October. You can never have too many pairs of compression socks.

The green socks are next!  And if not then the green sleeves!

Sugoi Midzero Zip:  I had time to kill one morning before work so I was perusing the aisles of Winners (that's TJMaxx/Marshalls up here).  Usually I laugh at how crappy all of their stuff is - with the exception of their toys/books.  But I started looking in the women's athletic section and was completely surprised to find a Sugoi top.  And a nice one at that!  So I had Colin stop by the next night after work and pick it up for me.  He had to go back the day after that to get one for my friend so we continue on our tradition of being twins!

There is no reason to ever turn down a deal as good as the one I found: $35 for a shirt that retails for $100.  It reminds me a bit of Grimace from McDonalds, but I'll just have to come to terms with that.    

Any idea what he actually is?

All joking aside it really is a comfortable shirt.  It's still a little warm - I was pretty hot in it this morning.  However, I'd much prefer to be too hot in the rain and soaking wet than wear my water resistant shell and have it not breath well enough.

Under Armour Recur Over The Calf Sock:  When I saw these at work I really wanted them!  They're just this side of obnoxious.  The picture doesn't really do them justice - they are fluorescent.  I'm not sure if I'll wear them running (I'd need a new skirt since mine will clash terribly), but they seem like they'd stay up if I were to try. 

Let's Talk Racing:

I registered Colin for a race this morning.  It's the first half marathon in Vancouver (aptly called "The First Half") in 2012.  I volunteered at it last year and it's a well run, relatively flat course.  Unfortunately I am going to be signing up for the full marathon clinic and this was sort of Colin's "fairsies" for that.  It took all of my willpower not to sign up myself at the same time.  Not only is it the first race he's doing that I haven't, but a ton of friends are running it too.  Alas it is now sold out so I will be a spectator extraordinaire come February.

Our plan after that race is to continue training for the BMO Vancouver Marathon.  It's at the start of May so we'll have plenty of time to prepare.  It's a brand new route this year and I think it'll be a nice change from last year.  We'll register for this one in December since that's when the price will increase and I really don't want or need to be hit with an extra $20.

The "Fun Race" of the year will be the Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon.  We'll both be running it.  I'm super excited about it since there will be many bloggers/Hood To Coast friends there.  I'm a little apprehensive about not knowing the route, but I'm sure I can suck up all the hills they're sure to throw at us for 21.1km/13.1mi.  Thanks to Megan (who's flying out for the race!  Yay!!!) for reminding me that there's a $20 discount on Friday to celebrate 11.11.11!    

So.  That's what's going on here right now.  I can't guarantee that I'll write every day, but I don't think it'll be as long as this last hiatus/sabbatical/random disappearance.  Hope your running is going well too!  I appreciate you all for sticking around - except for that one person who left a couple of days ago (I understand, though, since I wasn't here...).       


* If you're from Winnipeg then it's completely acceptable to say "The Peg", but no one calls Vancouver "the 'couve".  Unless you're a tool.

Eating Myself Into A Tryptophan-Induced Coma

Between work and time with my family I won't be online much this weekend so:

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!  

I'll need try to run a bit in the next three days, but mostly I'm looking forward to my mum's dinner on Sunday - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, brussels sprouts (yup, I like them) and pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving 2011 brought to you by Spud's hand-print turkey.

Three Things Thursday

1.  I ran on Tuesday.

2.  I ran last night in the rain with Colin and Spud.

3.  I ran today!  My legs are tired and appreciate the pink CEP socks I won last week.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: New Course!

The BMO Vancouver Marathon has new routes for the full and half marathons!  Will you be joining me 6 May 2012?

Getting Out The Door

This is the first time I'm "recovering" from a slump.

I hate it.

I am not fast.  I have never been fast nor have I really pretended that I am.  Sure, there have been some seemingly speedy times on my HRM, but they generally correspond with going downhill.  The only time I ever felt fast was last spring when I convinced my friend to run all out at the end of a tempo run to concentrate on something other than some personal stuff.  But that was more because I was being a good friend than it being anything I could sustain in the long run.

Dropping down from being a slow runner to an even slower runner is hard.  Not so much physically.  It's actually kind of nice to just plod along.  But, mentally, it's the pits.  As much as I thought I'd accepted the slow runner in me I haven't completely.  She's still there and I really want her to go away.  That's going to take some work.  And it's work that I'm not willing to do right now.  

My goals are small.  Run for an hour.  Run 4 days a week.  For now I'm just working on getting out the door.  

September's Over? Already?

I can't believe that it's already the end of the month.  And that Christmas is less than 3 months away.  Seriously, this year has gone by so quickly and I remember so little of it.  Between training/races, vacations/trips, and life 2011 is going by in a blur.  

I'm sure you've noticed that I've been absent for much of September.  It's not that I've disappeared entirely - I've been lurking; check your stats - but I've definitely taken a break.  After Hood To Coast I was physically and emotionally exhausted.  I touched on it briefly, but this introvert over-extended herself big-time during those 3 days.  It didn't seem like it at the time and I'm sure my teammates didn't really notice it.  However, I came home and holed up for a week - thankfully my family understands and leaves me alone.  Spud didn't quite get that Mummy really needed not to be climbed all over, but obviously he missed me so I couldn't quite begrudge him that.

A few things have happened since HTC:

1.  I quit my half marathon clinic.  If I'm honest with myself I never should have signed up in the first place.  I know how hard it is to train during the summer and I thought that the clinic would hold me accountable.  It didn't.  First, I work on Sundays which is typically my long run day.  Second, Colin had to work a bunch of overtime and I was missing my weekly clinic night.  Third, I could never make it to the mid-week run at the store since Colin doesn't get home early enough.  So, if you read that over again, you'll see that I was missing all of my scheduled group runs.  And I just wasn't going out by myself like I thought I was going to.  When I came home from Oregon I contacted the leader and let her know that I wouldn't be returning.  And it felt great.  I think that I was unconsciously stressing about it and it felt like such a relief when I finally admitted that it just wasn't working out.

2.  I'm not enrolling in any other training this year.  Sure, I could sign up for the clinic that takes me through to a February race.  But I still have the same issues and they aren't going to go away before the new year.  

3.  I'm learning to love running again.  Yup, you read that right.  I burned out this summer.  Looking back I'm not surprised.  I've been enrolled in clinic after clinic since May 2009.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  I even mentioned it at our dinner at Nuun HQ in Seattle and asked that they bear with me.  That race was kind of my last hurrah before checking out.  Now I'm just back to running for time instead of pace/distance and getting my runs per week back up to 3-4.

4.  I took September off.  As in I ran 3 times.  And it was great.  Except for the consequences.  Over the summer my brain still said that I'm "in training" and my stomach agreed, which was unfortunate for my hips, butt and thighs.  Let's just say that I'm no longer even close to being at "racing weight."  Another issue with taking time off is that my fitness level has gone to crap.  Walk breaks have always been my friend, but now they are more frequent.  My legs feel like they're on fire when I'm barely going up a little hill.  I suck wind like I sucked nitrous oxide when I was having contractions.  Honestly it feels like I'm starting all over again.  I'm sure in a few weeks it'll be like I never stopped, but it's hard right now.  No wonder people try and give up on running so quickly.

5.  Spud started playschool this week.  He loves it and I love that I can go running without pushing the stroller.  A win-win for both of us!

6.  I'm dabbling in the world of Twitter - @lovemyrunners.  Since I don't have a phone to read it on it's not hugely practical right now and most of what I'm doing is following and trying to get a handle on the whole thing.  Unfortunately I missed the tutorial that went on in our HTC van.  You can follow me - not that I've tweeted yet - and I'll reciprocate.  

So that's my life in a nutshell right now.  I'm sure October will be better for my running (mentally) even if I'm getting back into it right as it's supposed to rain ALL THE TIME.  I have a feeling that during the next few months I'll have a lot of "dig deep and find myself" moments.

Anyone else burn out before?  How did you find your way back to running?  How long did it take?

ThankYouThankYouThankYou

If you watched the Hood To Coast video yesterday (if not, go do it NOW) to the very end you saw that we had a lot of support from other companies.  It's amazing how many connections some of the other ladies have!  I totally benefited and got awesome goodies - loot, really - so it's only fair that I thank them, especially since I've thanked Nuun more than enough (well, probably not, but you get what I mean).

Team Sparkle:

Not only were Kelly and Carrie amazing teammates - unfortunately not in my van - they also gave us each a wicked skirt.  

I chose "gunmetal" since I could wear it with most of my tops.  Two reasons these skirts are awesome: 1) easily identifiable - we could pick out our runners in crowds and from far away and 2) you can wear them over your own bottoms as they aren't lined.  This is excellent when travelling in a van and not wanting to wear the same bottoms each leg.

Check back next month: you could win your own Team Sparkle skirt.

BuildASign.com:

We were fortunate enough to have BuildASign.com on board with us (literally).  They made us fantastic car magnets that held on for more than the 200 miles.  We didn't lose a single one during the entire trip.  They were well made (strong) and went so well with our van.

Endorphin Warrior:

I LOVE my bracelet.  I've known about them for awhile, but never had the chance to order one for myself.  So when Kelly asked what saying we wanted on ours I knew right away: FOCUS.  I chose it because that's what I fight with the most in my running.  I think it's come off a grand total of 3 times since August.

Made of metal and leather... pretty hard to ruin it running.

Barney Butter:

Almond butter in handy single serve packs.  I know I got a packet - I had to claim one before they were all gone, but don't remember eating it.  Now, this isn't because it's forgettable.  I was told it was excellent.  But either I ate it when I was too tired to notice or I brought it home and have promptly lost it.

  
GU:

It amazes me that we had a box of Raspberry Chocolate Roctane in the van the entire time and we forgot about it.  The bonus to that, of course, is that there were lots of leftovers when we got back to Nuun HQ.  Even better (for me), most of the people who were around either didn't like it or couldn't eat it.  I now have a dozen of them to use once training starts back up again.  Hooray! 

Inperspire:

I received a great towel from Inperspire.  I've read about them on other blogs, but they are way better (larger and better made) than I expected.  Unfortunately I didn't get my first choice, but I like the one I got.  Now if I ever get the guts to try a spin class I'll have something to soak up all my sweat.

Nathan Sports:

Having these stopped me from stinking like a polecat.  'Nuff said.

Saucony:

Not only did I receive another water bottle - to add to my miniscule collection of about 10 - I also got a pink drawstring bag.  I personally love Saucony's slogan "Find Your Strong" that is printed on both.  

One Love Collections:

Psychedelic headbands to go with our rainbow themed costumes and van.  I used mine while I was recovering from my runs.  After my first leg I'm not sure if the ponytail ever came down, so it was nice to have something to hold my hair back.

Smart Girls Who Surf:

I have to admit that this is another brand I didn't get much of a chance to use during the relay.  I got lip balm, sunscreen and a face stick.  Of those I only really used the lip balm at HTC.  I chose the cherry over the vanilla.  I like it because it smells like cherry, but doesn't really taste like it.  

I ended up using these when I went to my in-laws a couple of weeks ago.  I love the face stick.  It's a little thick, so I had to rub it in, but it barely smells (a little like cinnamon, maybe).  The sunscreen worked well on Spud.  If it can keep an 4 year old from getting burned then the it's good for adults too.

Jack Black:

This is traditionally a men's skin care line, but I really like their stuff.  The Industrial Strength Hand Healer is great, the lemon and chamomile lip balm smells like candy and I can't wait to try this one:

Bring it marathon training - you've got nothing on a product containing Dragon's Blood.

Hood To Coast Video

Remember how I mentioned that we had a videographer following us for 200 miles?  Well, here is the finished product.  It's amazing and captures the essence of our experience in 4 minutes.  I love that I get to see the other runners since we rarely saw them on course.



Did you spot me?  Because I'm a huge dork you can find me at 00:36, 00:46, 00:49, 00:51, 01:01, 01:39-01:41, 02:58, and 03:08.

Hood To Coast - The End

I must admit that this last recap of Hood To Coast is going to be a little picture intensive.  Not sure how much there is to say about spending an afternoon on the beach!  I don't remember what time we actually got to Seaside.  Thankfully we didn't have to sit in traffic for very long - if you've read other recaps you'll already know that it turned into a major parking lot.  As Van #1 we were able to get to the beach with plenty of time to get settled and wander around.

      

We got to enjoy the scenery:

I must have taken this shot - note the slightly skewed horizon.

And the food (anything was good at this point):

Mason, Jocelyn, Emily, Lauren, me - it's hard to pretend to eat penne...

There were lots of things to see:

And people to meet:

A bunch of us with Hood To Coast founder Bob Foote, left in blue, and random dude (behind me).

Lauren with Bart Yasso of Yasso 800s fame.

We got to cheer for our teammate: 

Megan running to the finish

And for ourselves:

We wrapped up the day knowing we'd gone through an amazing experience with new friends:

I'd love to be able to tell you that this is the absolute last post about HTC.  Unfortunately I can't do that just yet.  I have at least 2 more and they're important: a huge thank-you to all of the companies that supported us (no, it wasn't just Nuun) and what I learned during what can only be described as a whirlwind trip.