Five Things Friday

May 25, 2012 by · 17 Comments

1.  In T- 6 days we are going to start a self inflicted challenge, BUT we would like for YOU to join us!  In many parts of the country, our’s included, it might as well already be summer…but there is still time to get some toning of the bod in before summer is over.  With that said we are doing a push up and plank challenge!  The idea is to print out the blank calendar below and keep a record of how many push ups you do and how long you plank each day!  It is as simple as that!  You can do it however many days  you want, BUT…yes there is a but – if you want to win the prize from our Tone It Up Challenge you are going to have to beat your competition!  When June is over you will send us via email, a twitpic, etc. your filled in calendar and who ever planked and pushed up on the most amount of days will win!

You  might be thinking, well, Teal & Beth, what if some of us tie????  Good question! We have an answer! We then take it to who did the most push ups and the longest amount of planks.  For example, if Challenger A did 1,000 push ups and planked for a total of 45 minutes, whereas, Challenger B only did 800 pushups and 41 minutes of planks then challenger A is the WINNER!

So click the link below and print out the calendar…..and June 1st get to work on push ups and planks!  Let’s Tone It Up!

June Tone Up Challenge Calendar

Now you might be thinking, Teal. Beth. What do I WIN???  Another good question we only have a partial answer to that one!  Oops?? We are thinking a gift card…a $50 gift card to the winner!  We haven’t fully decided where this gift card will come from but we are thinking a running store, running company so you can reward yourself with some new stuff!  So join us June 1st for the Tone It Up Challenge! You know you want to! 🙂

2. We joined Instagram, why not? All the cool kids are doing it. We have been on individually for a while and just decided yesterday that Life is a Run needs one too! Come find us!

3.       Tour des Fleurs registration opened Thursday! We love this race for many reasons but perhaps the best is that it really was the kick off to our first ½ marathon training together. Beth ran before as you know, BUT we love it and are excited to run again. Come join us!!  Oh, and an added bonus this year is your race registration gets you free into the Chihuly exhibit currently at the Dallas Arboretum! It looks cool!

4.       We found out that the Dallas White Rock Marathon has officially changed its name to the Dallas Marathon! Check out this press release. We also then realized that this meant we ran the LAST official White Rock Marathon ever. Hey at least it went out with a bang… or crazy ridiculous cold rain.  Check out the mary story if you are confused 😉 Plus registration for that opens June 1st too. You will see us out there for sure but just for the ½ this time because…

(source)

5.       We decided to FINALLY register for our SECOND full marathon.  We will be running the Louisiana Marathon January 20th in Baton Rouge!!

(source)

Welp, that’s all from us! Have a great Friday and please join us in our June challenge!

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Lazy Solo Running Weekend

October 24, 2011 by · 7 Comments

Beth here with my running recap for the weekend! 🙂  My weekend turned out to be NOT what I was expecting, but exactly what I needed! After my long run Saturday morning I was suppose to be hitting the road to Austin with my sister for a wedding, but life happened and sister felt she needed to stay in town to be with a friend.  I took full advantage of this and slept in on Saturday morning!  And by slept in I mean until 7:30 a.m. Woohoo!  My favorite spin instructor at my L.A. Fitness had been out of town last Monday on my usual spin day, so I skipped it.  I decided spin class on Saturday morning [since favorite instructor would be back] made more sense than Sunday morning and then back to spin class Monday after work.  So I did spin, I did a 30 minute yoga class and then I spent hours with my littlest nephew!  It was a fabulous Saturday! Here’s what my sister and I did to our nephew on Saturday –

This was inspired by what Jack’s Mom did to him last week.  Jack being the first grandbaby of Cindy[#TeamCindy] who we are running Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio half in memory of and raising money for breast cancer.  And here’s me getting some good cuddle time in with Easton!

Sunday I slept in until 8 a.m.  That was some glorious sleep! I wrote that ‘What’s the Deal?‘ post a few weeks ago and to be honest I still hadn’t fully snapped out of it! I’m pretty positive I was wearing myself out during the week and then just going, going and going on the weekends.  Pretty much since the weekend of August 20th I had been going on long runs then drinking tons of coffee in an effort to stay up and go out to celebrate things like: my sister’s birthday, my boyfriend’s birthday, being in California and running a half, celebrating one of my best friend’s birthdays, celebrating a 1 year old’s birthday, celebrating a 2 year old’s birthday, hosting a baby shower, celebrating my oldest nephew’s birthday and my sister in law’s birthday – see what I was doing to myself??

Anyways, I laid in bed Sunday morning catching up on my DVR until I had to get up and meet a friend at yoga at 1:00 p.m.  I ate a late lunch and decided to lay in bed longer while my food digested before I could go out for my long run.  And something happened that NEVER happens – I took  nap!  I am in no way a napper!  I just lack the ability to take a nap and wake up refreshed, so the only times I do it are if I’m sick or I’m apparently wearing myself out THAT much.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. I was off on my long run for the weekend!  This run I decided to take with me a Clif gel I’d received while I was out on the Tour des Fleurs 20k race course in September.  Like I do every long run I stuck it in the hidden pocket inside my Nike shorts only problem was that the Clif gel packaging is wider than the GU gel packaging I usually take on my run.  I ran through the gel pack poking me for 4 miles then I had it, took it out and ran holding it for 4 more miles until I opened it.  Now I am a HUGE chocolate lover, but I am now not a fan of chocolate flavored gels which is what I had!   But don’t worry Clif! I have not given up on you just your chocolate flavored gel. 🙂

And there is my cut/chaffed area/what have you on the right in the picture above.  I’m not going to tell you where that is exactly, but if I put the pack in an inside pocket of my shorts I think you can use your imagination. 😉 [Sorry Mom if you are reading this and are shaking your head at me! Love you!]  Ok, back to long run – I didn’t know how this would go since I have never run more than 8 miles by myself and Teal had left me to go on an awesome trip to San Francisco!  SO jealous! But it went great! I was so proud of myself for keeping my pace under 10 minutes the WHOLE entire time!  I had a couple times where I wanted to stop more because I needed to use the facilities than being tired. 🙂  I guess that’s the downfall of running not at my usual time.   I explored a little bit and ran a slightly different area than Teal and I have ever run before and overall I felt great during this long running!

I ended my Sunday night with some #runchat, Chipotle, Rangers, wine and my Tommie Copper calf sleeves [if you don’t own any – what are you waiting for?? Seriously!]

Check back with us tomorrow for Teal’s San Francisco Running Weekend recap!

Are you a fan of Clif gels? What is YOUR favorite flavor?

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September Race No. 2

September 19, 2011 by · 4 Comments

As we were thinking back over the Tour des Fleurs race this weekend we realized that this was literally the race that kicked off our first half marathon training last year. We only ran the 10k last year and actually ended up running the longest distance of our life only 1 short year later. We were up early as usual and rode out to the Arboretum together and met our friend Steven (a.k.a. Bitner) for the race. I am not sure either of us was really worried about the race itself, but rather the extra 3.6 miles at the end to make the 16 mile run.  Before the race we ran into our friend Katie and then as we lined up for the race we saw fellow North Texas Runner, Michelle!

 

We decided to stay together for this race as well because we both really knew that we were going to need each other at the end. We decided to not dodge anyone and stay at a constant pace for the entire race, get the miles in and don’t die! We started out  pretty strong, running faster than we had recently trained and really maintained that for most of the race. The last section was seriously crazy. It seemed like every time we turned a corner we had a huge up hill leg to run. Around us you could seriously hear the collective sighs of people as we approached the hills. At one point a college friend of Beth’s was next to us and was like ‘it is way to close to the end of the race for this.” It seriously seemed like they lasted for about 3 miles, and really as annoying as it is to admit we wanted to stop—they were nuts. We didn’t, we just kept talking to each other, giving reminders of distance and just saying keep going. Here are the hills from our runkeeper:

 

We powered through really not dealing with much else and just concentrated on maintaining our pace and not stopping. As we approached the finish line we started to look for Steven to catch him to run the lat 3.6. We weren’t 100% sure what we would do at the finish because this was the first time we actually had to keep running past the finish line. We saw him and literally neither of us stopped. We jumped down to the actual trail part of White Rock Lake and just kept going. We finished the 16 miles right around the same time. 2:47 min. The longest run of our life! With that said- 16 was hard but better than we thought, we both ended tired, sore, and with random cuts from god knows what article of clothing but we finished and are able to walk today!

First chaffing from the ol' camelbak

Results:

Teal: 2:05:04

Beth:  2:05:04

And that’s all the result information you get – maybe there is something wrong with us but we do not totally get the break down and what all the different numbers mean on the result page for this race! 🙂After the race we headed up and grabbed a beer and frozen yogurt from the vendors and actually got to meet another runner we have talked to on twitter, Heidi and her husband. We hope to meet up with them sometime and run the hills around our usual area in Plano! Hopefully that will help make those crazy hills we ran today seem like nothing.

 Since the Tour des Fleurs is always at the Dallas Arboretum we had to take advantage of our surroundings and take some cheesy pictures! 🙂 Enjoy!

pumpkin house

Cinderella's carriage

And in true Beth and Teal fashion we didn’t rest and kept up the day, Beth attended a 1 year old’s birthday party, Teal to work, and then we both went to Steven’s for drinks and dinner to celebrate his 29th birthday!

 

Mustaches & margs at 1 year old's Birthday party

Happy Birthday, Bitner!
Happy Birthday, Bitner!

Overall another great Tour des Fleurs race for us, but we would be lying if we didn’t say we were definitely disappointed we didn’t get hats at the end of the race like in the last 3 years at least! They’ve always been great hats to run in, oh, well!

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Tour des Fleurs

September 16, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Wheee! Another race weekend is in front of us. Tomorrow we will be running the Tour des Fleurs (TDF) benefiting the Dallas Arboretum.  This race is either a 10k or 20k distance – pick your poison.  We have run this race before and only as a 10k.  If you look at our PR page you’ll notice this is our very FIRST time running a 20k race, so yah!! No matter what we’ll both PR this weekend. 🙂

If you checked out our marathon training schedule you’ll notice we put 20k race + 4 miles…well, we decided we are going to attempt a total of 16 miles tomorrow.  Our plan is to run the 20k and keep in mind we have a little bit more than a 5k to do afterwards.  So if you see two crazy girls grab their TDF hats at the finish line and keeping going that’s why!  We’ll actually be out there with our friend Bitner (whom we’ve run with before) and I believe he plans on doing the same thing as he is also in marathon training for White Rock.

Here is what our course looks like:

We have run around White Rock Lake a handful of times so the only surprise for us will be the NOT around the lake part.  We are confident we will do fine tomorrow.  Maybe we still have a Disneyland Half high mixed with oh my gosh the weather is starting to be awesome again in Dallas high!

Weather:

Precip: 10%

Wind: 7mph

High: 89*

Low: 70*

Goals:

We share the same goals this week – do our best with the 20k and have our minds mentally prepared for the additional mileage we’ll put in after the race!  Which will also mean that this is the first time we’ve EVER run more than 13.1 miles! We got this!

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May’s Race

May 8, 2011 by · 2 Comments

before the race started

Well, we now have half marathon number two under our belts! And we are about 17 weeks away from our next one!  This past Saturday we ran in the White Rock Centennial Half and as we mentioned before did not really get a lot of training in before doing it.  For this post we thought we’d let you into our minds as we ran so enjoy…

Teal: This race was seriously a mental game for me. I knew going in that I could finish the race even though I really hadn’t trained consistently, but I was very nervous about what that would do to my head. One mile in I was completely off, I had accidentally turned my runkeeper app off and my music kept repeating the same song and I couldn’t get it to stop repeating. In my head I was like, this is going to be a long 13 miles if I can’t even get this stuff under control and was annoyed that my mileage and time was now off for the way that I track my running. I finally just decided to stop and fix it all after mile 1. After getting everything set I was now officially in the race. I started with my normal counting, but felt very tired, my knees were tight and I just felt like I was running heavy. The first 3 miles seemed to take forever. At the beginning I had decided that I would try to make sure I stayed between the 2 hour and the 2:10 pacers. I lost track of the 2 hour pacer by mile 3 which was slightly frustrating.  I decided that the only way to get through was literally go one mile at a time. I started to get really nervous that I had overdone the week. I had run 9 on Sunday and 10 on Tuesday, and thought maybe my body was just worn out.  Starting at mile 4 I just started saying to myself, less than 10 minutes to mile 5 and kept that up. Mile 4 was a huge tease, because they ran us through the finish line, so I felt like the race was super long knowing that I still had to make it all the way around the lake. After each mile I just said to say to myself less than 10 minutes until the next one. It worked and by 10 I felt ok, I ran a next to a trainer from my gym for about 5 miles and it was motivating, we kind of went back and forth in pace with each other, but it kept my mind off of being tired. It was at mile 10 that the 2:10 pacer passed me. I stayed with them for a while but then lost sight; I literally didn’t have much left to keep up with them. The hills were crazy and I hated every last one of them. We had run the Tour des Fleurs last year and they ran us up the same hill for this race that I had to walk in the 10k, so I was very proud of myself for making it and actually making all of the hills. The bridges scared the crap out of me too. Every time I ran on one they moved. The first one I ran across literally made me think I was passing out. It was that weird feeling you get when you miss a double bounce on a trampoline. It scared me to death and literally my heart dropped to my stomach. At 11, I seriously didn’t know if I would finish. I really wanted to walk but kept saying to myself you will be mad if you do. I had a goal to beat my last ½ by 5 minutes. I, however, decided to stop at the drink stop for the first time, I had been drinking the water from the bottle I was holding.  I walked the entire water stop; it probably took me about a minute and a half. At the end of the 11, I ran the rest and was determined to not stop even if I was running 11+ minute miles. I finally made it to 13 and I swear on everything it seemed like a ½ mile from 13 to 13.1.   I just kept thinking, you made it this far keep going, start counting and just freaking finish. I crossed the finish line and was kind of dizzy and seriously worn out, way more worn out then White Rock in December.  I looked for Beth who was just outside the fence and I looked at her and said “that has to be the longest .1 miles I have ever run!”

Overall the race was rough there were lots of hills, lots of wind, and not too many cheering spectators. The spectators are my favorite part. They literally make it easier to keep going. I kind of felt alone in this race and was sometimes bored, which makes it much harder to run.   I should be incredibly happy that my legs can carry me that far!!

Beth: We started the race right around the 2 hour pacer.  When we got started I saw the pacer and said to myself “I will not see you again during this race!”  I had my runkeeper app on during the run and it was updating me every half mile how I was doing.  This isn’t an app I want to run with regularly while the coaching feature is on.  I prefer to be my own motivator and pusher, but nonetheless I had it on.  I was talking myself through the hills and was proud of myself for keeping my miles under 9 minutes for the first 7.  It was when I got to the mile 8 marker that the 2:00 pacer passed me.  And I wanted to just break down and cry right then and there as I watched my goal pass me.  I let it get to me and I took a minute then to walk, but started again as this guy who introduced himself to me as Ryan later said, “Come on runner! Let’s go”  I started up again and ran on and off with him some – he was a great motivator for a couple of miles for me.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so for me when I tell you on this blog that my goal is this if I don’t achieve it that makes me feel like complete crap.  So that first time of walking I was just like “great! You know you are now going to have to blog about this!  And now you didn’t even complete the half without walking!”  And honestly, I had to do a couple more brief walking periods in the last 5 miles.  When I was approaching the 13 mile marker I heard my runkeeper app say “..distance: 13.1 miles..”  All in all when I crossed the finished line I think I had done a distance of 13.3 miles.  Thinking about my time it’s very bittersweet – I am kind of impressed I finished it just over 2 hours considering how my last 5 miles went, but I am disappointed with myself for not keeping it together and staying under 2 hours and running the whole time.  But on a positive side my favorite part of the race was high five-ing some of the kids out there cheering on their parents and the baby I passed that was at least old enough to be waving his arms around in excitement as people ran by!  That big grin on his face put a smile on my face!

Us with Bitner

 Our Results:

Teal: Hit a new PR at this race! Finished in 2:14:52, was 53rd out of 140 in her age group and finished 831st overall!

Beth: Finished in 2:06:35, was 39th out of 140 in her age group and finished 617th overall.

We mentioned in our pre-race post that Bitner was supposed to run with the half with us in December at the White Rock Marathon, but was sick and unable to run.  This was his very first half marathon race ever and we just had to acknowledge how awesome he is!  He finished in 1:44:39, was 21st out of 94 in his age group and finished 106th overall!

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