#NotEatingAllTheThings - Week 2

This pretty much sums up my love for #NotEatingAllTheThings Challenge.

This was actually week 2 of the experiment - my week 1 recap is here - but since I forgot to even weigh in WHEN I STARTED (because I'm DUMB), this is the first measurable week.

And since I'm down 2.2lbs, I am calling it a moderate success. In actuality, I'm now at just about where I was MONTHS ago, before I became the laziest runner ever. So... I guess at least I undid that damage?

Some of the things I enjoyed this week include....

I am taking things VERY moderately, and still enjoyed some treats - a light frap, a tiny cupcake, cookie cake, a beer, some creme brulee (okay, a LOT of creme brulee - I bought it when I went out with #2, to share it, and turns out she doesn't like creme brulee. I'm not sure how that's even a thing, it seems like an impossibility, not liking creme brulee....).

So, considering all of the above, I'm pretty pleased. I suppose it's not as terrible as I'm pretending it is, but it has been a really long time since I've had to pay any attention - I maintained this exact weight for almost a year when actually marathon training. The weight gain would probably explain at least some of the general suckiness of the Eugene training. You know, in addition to the NOT RUNNING parts.

I plan on keeping up with the experiment for at least another 10 days, and then I'll re-evaluate after Memorial Day weekend.

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In unrelated news, I managed to find a pair of ORIGINAL PURE FLOWS. On Saturday, when we were at the mall for NINE HOURS to get our van repaired, I wandered into Sport Chalet. And while they did not have my size in stock, they checked inventory, and a store down the street DID show my size.

As soon as we got the car back, we headed straight there - and lo and behold, there is my beautiful original Pure Flow, size 7.5, resting in a display!

It took several employees, a manager, and 20 minutes, but they found the mate, and my feet can run happy again. Phew. My last pair of Flow's are on their last leg (no pun), so I am extra grateful for this.

This is what happy looks like.

Gabby was bummed that they are not purple, so we are no longer matchy matchy shoe twins - and she was NOT hearing it when I showed her the purple soles.

Kid, tell Brooks all about your disappointment, because I'm sad, too.

What if something's on tv and it's never shown again?

I woke up this morning and it was 42* outside. What the heck, OC, I thought we were being friends. Brrr.

I was the most jealous human EVER this weekend watching all the cool kids enjoying Wine and Dine weekend. 2013, this is a priority.

This weekend, we did a LOT OF SHOPPING (but not a lot of buying). #1 was on the hunt for some new shoes, and a dress for a field trip at the end of the month. Hot dang, she is difficult sometimes.

The views while shopping don't really suck.

If you look closely, there is a tiny, tiny bit of snow on some mountains back there. I swear.

During the shopping expedition, I spied with my little eye these beautiful hot pink, patent leather Kate Spade slingbacks....
They were $50. I don't know why they didn't leave with me. 

Gabby is on The Steroid again. In case you've missed it, The Steroid makes her kind of a jerk. A hungry jerk. There's not much fun about an unreasonable, famished kid. So far, it's been pretty mild, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she remains that way for her poor teacher today. Good luck, Mrs. A.

Saturday night, she walked into the living room, and demanded to LAY ON SOMEONE RIGHT NOW. And collapsed. Then she did this.
Okay, then.

Friday night, I went to a Road Runner Sports VIP event in Laguna, and met up with Sheila and her kidlets. They're hysterical. I spent some time prancing around in some trail shoes....

It's a PureGrit vs Cascadia show down. I'm super enamored wtih the Flow's and Glycerin's, so I think I'm sticking with Brooks for now. Why mess with a good thing.

I feel remarkably good for having just run 20 miles. And I was a little hungry yesterday, but not really as bad as I thought I remembered from spring marathon training. Huh.

I'm on the fence about IMS Arizona. I registered when it was STUPID cheap, like, $35, and I haven't booked any travel yet, so I'm not losing much if I flake. But I hate flakes, so I don't know. I might drop to the half, instead. Eh.

I'm feeling pretty MEH about the World War Z trailer - you can watch it HERE. I really, REALLY liked the book, but I don't know that there's a really good way to turn that book into a movie. And this certainly isn't it. I don't know. It might be a fine film, but it's certainly not World War Z. MEH.

The end.

Three Picture Thursday

Hit the treadmill for a few easy recovery miles on Tuesday. Jerk Shin was being a little shady, but otherwise everything feels fine. Wanted 4, finished 3, and spent 15 minutes on the bike pretending to make up for it. Tested out my new Brooks Glycerine 10's....

Verdict: Love.

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For the first time in EVER, there are ACTUALLY race pictures that I don't hate. Some, I even like....

I just cannot get over charging $40 to download A SINGLE PHOTO.

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One of my team members brought me a cupcake for breakfast.

It would just be rude to turn that down.

Rock n' Roll Seattle - the not running part

First, unrelated, but I love a good deal, I love compression, and I love orange.  Lucky for me, Pro Compression is now launching their Marathon sock in ORANGE. You may recall that Pro Compression was one of our sponsors for Team So Much Cooler Online Ragnar SoCal a few months ago, and their magic baby blue socks saved my legs during the 203.5 mile relay.

You can buy your very own orange compressiony socks HERE, AND, you when you do that, you should also use coupon code SOM610 for 40% off (making the socks $30, with free shipping, I KNOW). Code expires July 10th!

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So, if you missed the recap where I'm a giant quitting whiner, you can read it here.


Friday, I flew into SEA around 1:30, and took the light rail up to the expo. I am freakish, and I LOVE public transportation. It's one of the highlights of any trip for me, and I try to figure it out when I travel. It's like a fun challenge. Also, it's cheap, and way less stressful than renting a car. I hate driving in strange places. And based on all the driving that other people did while I sat in the back seat, I would have REALLY hated driving in Seattle. Awful.

Quick run through the expo, and then it was time for a blogger meetup, hosted and organized by Tall Mom, with John Bingham speaking.

After the expo, Kim and S drove me to Alma's house....

hint: it's not here....

And the three of us got ready to head back into downtown Seattle for the Brooks/Online Shoes Girls Night Out event.

After they (carb) loaded us up...

...we had the opportunity to hear a bit about the Brooks story, the Run Happy philosophy, and dig into some fun shoe design details. Brooks is solely (ha, get it?) a running company - that's their thing, their focus.

They gave us a sneak peek at a new shoe, the Pure Drift, that will be released for sale soon.... 5.1 oz, and only $100 price point.

It has a low drop (I think 4mm?? But don't quote me on that....), but you can ALSO remove the sock liner to make it a total 0 drop shoe. Interesting!

We were all invited to try on the shoes from Brooks Pure Project line, and their Core line...

My picks? The Brooks Glycerine 10 (grey/pink on my right foot) and the Brooks Pure Flow (purple on my left foot)

I'm normally a Saucony girl, but I've been dying to try out the Pure Flow for awhile.

so purple!!

HUGE thanks to OnlineShoes.com and Brooks for a super fun night!

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Saturday evening, I was kind of a disaster. Luckily, Hotel Alma was open, has a couch, and a tv. We watched a Motley Crue documentary, and the track trials, and then I crashed.

Sunday morning, Alma and fam took me to Alki Beach

...and her #1 favorite bakery. Followed by Pikes Place Market, and her #2 favorite bakery. I love anyone with a #1 and a #2 favorite bakery.

And then ice cream.

And then Target, to buy a new bag. I was super stoked on my way in that I fit everything I needed into ONE backpack. And then I got all the things, and....

all the things no longer fit in a backpack.....

After an argument with the TSA chick about her phone scanning device not working meaning I needed to get out of line, print a boarding pass, then get BACK in the line I just spent 25 minutes in, I boarded my flight, with my connection in SLC. Apparently, I only managed to leave myself 28 minutes between flights? And snagged myself a seat in the very back of the plane? Oops. When I fiiiiinally got to the gate, the agent  greeted me with, "Oh, you must be Heather.".

Yep. Sure am.



Happy Monday!

Saturday morning was my first run with the PCRF fundraising team (to donate, you can click here). I was pretty excited to get out there - I'd taken an extra day off, iced and stretched my IT band, and was feeling GREAT. We took off on a 3.5 mile run... and awful. My leg? Hurting. I walked the second up-hill, and that was the end. I didn't get back out. I didn't finish my 7.5 remaining miles. I didn't do my long run. I logged 6.5 miles last week, total.

Sucktastic.

I spent the rest of Saturday, and all of Sunday, alternately stretching, icing, and foam rolling. Tonight, I attempt again. Fingers corssed?

I also have an update on my Brooks shoes situation...

So I posted this picture on the Brooks Gurus FB page...


And this is the ensuing conversation:
Okay, so that came out teeny, but, essentially, Brooks Gurus tells me that my "nagging" pain (that at this point has been around for 3 full days) is what caused the defective-looking wear on my shoes TWICE, which started last JUNE.

And now I'm pissy, because I've been preaching about how rad Brooks are, and their customer service is above and beyond, and their shoes rock... HERE... and... HERE, for example.

So, something to keep in mind when looking at Brooks in the future, I guess. And such a bummer, because I really did love Brooks.



But what makes this such a Happy Monday?



This...


I think the steroids have run their course, and my kid seems to be back. She spent the weekend being sweet, and huggy, and playful, and moving, and it was the.best.thing.ever. I mean. I don't think there are even words for how grateful I was to see her again.



General housekeeping... don't forget about the $25 CSN giveaway! This runs until tomorrow night, and winner announced Wednesday.


I've also been gifted with tons of other goodies from some generous companies, that you'll all love (think fab running supplies)! I'm so excited about these.... Next week :D



And..... of course, my donation page, and our story - please share!

OH! And, Happy Birthday, TMB! Stop by and tell her how awesome she is. I hear she likes that.

Three Things Thursday, and a giveaway!

Another CSN Giveaway! We all know about CSN. They've got everything from modern dining room furniture, to foam rollers, to cookware.

To enter to win this fabulous $25 gift certificate...
*Be (or become) a follower of 365awesomedays (1 entry)
*Follow me on http://twitter.com/hmgiraffy (1 entry)
*Post a link to my fundraising effort, something sure the hell ain't right, on your blog, fb, twitter, etc (1 entry for each)
*DONATE here, 1 entry for every $$ you donate! If you've aready donated, leave me a comment and I'll add your entries :).

Leave a separate comment for each, please! Otherwise, I won't calculate them properly, and you'll miss out on your extra entries. I'm math challenged!

That's it! Easy peasy.

Rules:
This is gonna be a quick one! Giveaway ends at midnight (pacific) on Tuesday, 2/8, with the winner announced Wednesday.
CSN only ships to the US and Canada, so the winner must be only in... US or Canada.

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Three Things Thursday....

1. So... looks like I'm running a half marathon in May. :D. I seriously expected to *maybe* eventually hit the $1000 for the half marathon. But in 24 hours, we did this:



I've updated my goal to $2000... at $2000, some chick on my favorite message board wants me to wear something made out of this god awful beautiful fabric...


Awful.

2. Back in December, I posted about this weird wear pattern on the inside of my shoe... and Brooks was kind enough to replace the shoe for me, as it's not normal wear. I've been wearing Brooks for ages, and this is the first time I'd had an issue.
I've had the replacement pair since December, and have run exactly 59 miles in them, and this....

So I emailed Brooks, again, and was told - seriously - I probably just have a weird shaped foot, and they suggest I buy a different style. Really? A weird shaped foot. Thanks, Brooks.

3. Seems I've got a bit of an IT band situation. I meant to ice it yesterday, but it was soooo cold, I couldn't bring myself to it. I'm such a pansy. :D