The Kindness of Strangers

Hey, wanna run a 5K? I'm giving away an entry to the Chapman University 5K! Click HERE to enter, ends Wednesday night!

PFTW....
Last week:
Tuesday: 3 miles easy
Wednesday: Woodbridge 5K, 50 second PR!
Saturday: 18 miles, easy pace <--wtf, why is this easy pace my MGP and I sucked at MGP in actual practice? LAME.

This week:
Yesterday: 13.1 treadmill half marathon <--for real, I did that, and it was 3 seconds off my second best half marathon time, AND IT WAS EASY.
Today: 5 miles easy pace, maybe. My achilles (?!) is being wonky.
Tomorrow: 10 miles easy pace
Thursday: Fly to DISNEY WORLD
Friday: ANIMAL KINGDOM
Saturday: something Harry Potter that's not Disney
Sunday: rest

That's kind of a lot of miles for a few days, but I'm desperately trying to avoid running in swampy Florida. I'll see how my achilles feels later tonight, and make a call on the 5 miler. If I bump it, I guess it's not going to actually KILL me to run 5 miles in the heat. And humidity. And mosquitoes. I GUESS.

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On Saturday (after I ran 18 miles, naturally), our Make a Wish volunteers arranged with our neighborhood Chili's to host Gabby's Wish Presentation Party.

One of the Chili's servers, on her own dime, went out and purchased the princes decorations, and came in, on her day off, to decorate.

People amaze me, sometimes.

We FINALLY got our trip information, and flight details (FINALLY, man, that isht made me antsy).

While one volunteer, A, went over our trip with us, her husband, B, went through the contents of Gabby's new Dora backpack...



 

Everyone at Chili's was fantastic. The Wish volunteers were fantastic. I don't even know what else to say.

Magic, yo.

Gab's at the clinic this morning for one last blood check, and.... yeah. 48 hours from now we'll be... in the air. Well. In Pheonix, changing planes frantically (really, 40 minutes between flights with three kids, zoinks). But close enough.

#runalltheraces = 5K Giveaway, and Woodbridge 5K recap

Giveaway first!

Back in September, Team Sparkle posted on their Facebook page about putting together a team to run the Chapman University 5K. It was a week out from my goal half marathon, but I am a sucker for the sparkle, so I registered myself and my two oldest kids.

The race was GREAT. Tons of swag, fun course, super flat, tons of community support, including a dude playing the trombone on his porch, bazillions of volunteers, two (TWO!) water stations, fantastic oatmeal bar at the finish. Plus, the shirts are nice (I actually wear mine!) and you get a medal.

Point is, it's a really well run event, and a fast course, IMO - Kid #1 PR'ed there, and took 2nd in her division with 22:08.

I registered the same day I saw that registration was open. I think right now registration is only sitting at $35, which is pretty typical for 5K's in SoCal, and a great deal for a race this good.

Chapman is letting me give away ONE entry to the 5K this year!

The race will be held Saturday, October 6th, at 7:30am. Race day pick up avaialble!

Obviously, you've gotta be local(ish) or willing to travel to OC for a 5K (Becka?) to win this entry.

Small, local races like this are my absolute favorite. And honestly, I love the food at Corona del Mar, but this is probably my favorite 5K yet.

Interested, leave me a comment below telling me your favorite type of race - big? small? chip timed? don't care just let me run? -  before Wednesday, July 11th at 11:59pm, and I'll post the winner on Thursday July 12th before we leave for DISNEY WORLD.

Maybe I'll even toss in a sparkly surprise - on my own dime. Hint, hint.

disclaimer, I don't know if this even needs one, but just in case, I'm getting zippo out of this, I've already paid for my registration, so everything I've said here is my own opinion, and the race really is rad. You should run it, even if you don't win. But just in case, you might as well enter. If you're local, that is. That's a long way to travel for a 5K, yo.
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Recap second....

This is going to be quick. Like my race. Ha.

So, my goals were.... 26:57 (I'll tell you a secret - that was 1 second faster than Becka's PR), or PR, or just don't puke/die (<--these are kind of synonomous for me).

The race started at 7:15, down the street from my house. I LOVE THAT SO MUCH.

The H was all froggy and woke up before me, and then I stumbled out of bed a minute later, and had coffee. Mmm. Coffee. Woke up #1... who always thinks she wants to race, until it's actually the morning of a race....

There is a 5K and a 10K, with separate start lines and different courses, but they start at the same time.



Pretty!

The 10K ran a part around the lake, I think. Or the mile kids' races. I can't remember.

Started close to on time, but honestly not sure - #1 had my phone, and it was not chip timed. So... I don't know. BUT, my garmin says I ran mile 1 in 8:39, exactly where I wanted to be. Mile 2 at 8:26 <--that might be my fastest mile ever. I mean, I haven't tried to run a mile time trial since I started running, so there's that. Mile 3: 9:28. Shit. My shoe came untied (I DOUBLE KNOTTED!), then there was a little bit of a gradual uphill, and I couldn't hold pace. Oh well. And .1, 7:55. Bah.

Anyway. I wore my red Adidas Adizero's, the same shoe I wore at CDM. I wanted to think they're my new PR short distance shoes.... but not only did they come untied, they did this...

What the hell. Jerks.

Oh well. B goal, crushed.

Becka, you're still faster than me.

Team Gab Virtual Race Giveaway Winner - Week 1

So, I intended to post winners this afternoon, but instead I got stuck in performance review formatting hell for 3 hours past my get off of work time. That's fun. Especially on Friday's. Whee.

So, after hours of jacking up excel spreadsheets at work, I came home and did the same thing to match up who donated, how much, and how many entries they got.

And ended up with a bunch more spreadsheets.

Also, I ended up with a winner for the first week of drawings.

Per Random.org..

...and #200 on my final spreadsheet...

is Skinny Runner!

Congrats, friend. Peruse the prize listing here and email me with the prize you select.

There are still a TON of prizes left, and I'll select winners weekly until they're gone. There is still PLENTY of time to enter and donate!

Jess The Blonde Ponytail has already completed her race, running her 10K as part of a 7 miler.

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Thank you, to everyone who has donated! This morning I posted about being the 3rd team in fundraising dollars.

But of course it's a race...

....only $950 left to 1st place...

Click HERE to like the Team Gab Facebook page.

So, it's Monday. I'm working. I have a headache.

BUT, I had a rad long run yesterday, so I suppose all is well with the world.

Let's do this numbered style today, so I can pretend I won't forget things.

1. Have you registered for the Team Gab Virtual Race?!

We have great prizes from Tommie Copper, Team Sparkle, iFitness, Tough Chik, Gu... Tons. TONS. And you're supporting a great cause - who doesn't want to help out pediatric cancer research, right?

2. Right, so Carlsbad is coming up Sunday! Runners, the weather looks GREAT! Chance of showers, nice and cool..... Great for spectators, not so much though. I'm not sure I'm tough enough to stand and watch runners in the rain. Yikes.

3. Sweaty things that happened last week...
Tuesday: 5 miles easy, 1 mile comfortably fast @ 9:43, total 6 mi 1:04:47, 10:47 avg.
Thursday: Tempo. Blah. 1 mile warm up, 2 @ 10:20, 2 @ 10:00, cool down. What ACTUALLY happened... 10:23, 10:19, 9:54, 9:25. Hm.
Saturday: 25.8 miles on the stationary bike while watching the trials.
Sunday: 12 miles easy, 2:17:48, 11:27 pace. If you're keeping track, that's ohhhh.... 13 seconds off my PR pace. And it was EASY. Last 10K avg 10:38 pace, and last mile was sub 10. There was clearly more left. That's nice.

4. Sweaty things happening this week....
Tuesday: 6 miles easy, maybe hills
Thursday: 1600's, bah.
Friday: 3 miles easy.
Sunday: 9 miles; last 2 at half goal pace.

5. There was a chick on the treadmill at the gym Saturday while I was on the bike. And at first, I was in awe - she had the speed jacked up to 10, and looked GOOD. And then I realized why. She kept standing on the edges of the treadmill letting it run. At first, I thought maybe she was doing some weird interval stuff, but... nope. Not any type of consistent timing between intervals.

At first it was just 30 seconds here and there... then it was a minute or two, while texting... then 5 minutes to take a call.... then she straight stepped outside to take a call and left it running.

So bizarre. How do you know how much you actually ran!? Why would you do that?!

People are weird.

6. L, Becka's sister, suggested this to me for my next medal hanger, and it's RAD. Thanks, L, I LOVE IT!

And, thanks Allied Medal Hangers - it's perfect!!! Oh, and, if you enter the Team Gab Virtual Race... you could win one. IJS.

I think my next purchase is going to be a Disney-specific hanger....

7. I broke down and got a Garmin. The 205. Used, from eBay. Well, "used". It seems to be brand new, and had 2 runs on it, both starting at like an 8 min pace, and quickly turning into a 25 min pace. Guess it didn't work out for them so well. Sorry 'bout your luck.

I wonder if the hair was extra?

8. I AM FAMISHED.

Team Gab Virtual Race!!

It's a new year, everyone is training for something, right?

Put those miles to good use!

If you're new around here, Gabby, that kid ^^, is my 5 year old daughter. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in January, 2011. I am fundraising for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, and will be running the PCRF Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon in May with Team Gab.

If you're in SoCal, you can join me, Skinny Runner, Once Upon A (L)ime, Caro from Canadian Runner in Exile, and my friend Leigh on May 6th in Irvine - there is a 5K, 10K, a half marathon, and a Bike Tour.

What's that? You don't have the incredible luck of living here?

1. I'm sorry.
2. Run with us anyway!

When: Starts Monday, 1/16/12, through Friday, 2/17/12 - that's a full month to fit in your race!
Where: Wherever you feel like racing
Who: Everyone is invited to the party - I am a friendly type.

Here's where the fundraising comes in.

$5 donation = 5K = 1 entry
$10 donation = 10K = 2 entries
$25 donation = half marathon (13.1 miles, yo) = 5 entries
$40 donation = FULL marathon (26.2) = 10 entries

HOW THIS IS GOING TO WORK (hopefully):

1. Choose your distance - obviously you can donate the amount you are comfortable with, and extra donations are happily accepted. (Additional entries 1 = $5 donated beyond the amount noted above. Ex: Run a 5K and donate $15, receive 1 entry ($5 for the 5K) + 2 entries (for the additional $10) = 3 total)
2. Click HERE to donate to PCRF and Team Gab.
3. Leave a comment or email me (GoTeamGab@gmail.com) with your race distance and donation amount (I will calculate your number of entries, but fair warning, I took college algebra three times - so you could include the number of entries based on your donation amount, and I wouldn't hate it). Maybe I'll send you a bib. Maybe not, I'm pretty not good with creating things, but it could happen!
4. Snag that snazzy picture up there, and link back to this post if you're so inclined (but I'd really like it).
5. Share the race on FB, Twitter, whatever floats your boat (again not mandatory, but it'd be swell).
6. Run your race (or bike, or hike, or swim - I don't care, just move yourself!) take some pictures, write a race report, and email it, send me the link, or comment.

I'll post a link to all of the race reports once compiled.

Now, the million dollar question....

WHAT do you get out of this?

You can sleep peacefully knowing you've done your part to help fund pediatric cancer research.

Oh. You also will get entered to win some of these cool prizes...


1. <------- GONE!, by Skinny Runner
A Tough Chik cotton tee of your choice. You may have noticed my cool new banner over there ->
Tough Chik is performance and casual apparel for active women. I love their philosophy, and I'm excited to be a part of Team Tough Chik... but more excited to share the Tough Chik love.

2.
Tommie Copper sleeves and hat! Winner can select from knee, elbow, ankle, calf sleeves.

3. <----- TAKEN, by Bobbi!
Team Sparkle skirt and Race Legs!! It is no secret how much I LOVE Team Sparkle. Their skirts are made to be worn over your favorite shorts/tights, and are seriously THE cutest.

4.
VII A.D. angel pendant. VII A.D. believes there are those who wear art and have the right to wear the finest quality of unique, designer art pieces. Sevan, the founder of VII A.D., also happens to be married to a lovely friend of mine. He creates each piece individually! Edit: Sevan is awesome, and actually is upping his donation to this more expensive piece. Because they're awesome.

5.
iFitness belts! Two belts to giveaway...

Double Pouch Belt

Single Pouch belt

6. <------ Taken by Karen, week 3!!
GU Performance Energy Sampler - includes 9 GU Original Gels, 5 Roctane Gels, 2 Chomps, 2 Electrolyte Brew Packs, 1 Recovery Pack, and 3 Individual Electrolyte Tablets. I LOVE GU, so the winner of this will be sideyed HARD when I give this away.

7.
A $35 Road ID Gift Card. We all have heard about SUAR's cousin, Sherry, who went missing on her run several days ago. Be safe!

8. <------ TAKEN by Rose!
Allied Medal Hanger! Allied makes TONS of options...



Winner can select from their online store, or go with a custom option!

9. <----Black, Gold, and White taken by Elizabeth! Balance snagged by T! THESE ARE GONE :D
Two sets of BIC Bands! There are 6 total, so I'll split these into 2 separate prizes, first winner can select their three favorites.

10.
Arctic Ease Cryotherapy Wraps. GIANT set of 4 packs of 4"x60" wraps, and 2 packs of three 4"x6" cooling pads.

Pretty nice spread, huh?

A winner will be selected every FRIDAY beginning Jan. 20th, until prizes are GONE, using Random.org.

ADDITIONAL PRIZES MAY BE GIVEN FOR:
1. Best outfit. You guys know I'm a sucker for obnoxious, shiny clothes.
2. BEST race report. Do something crazy. I like crazy.
3. Whatever else strikes my fancy.

****NOTE**** If you've already donated, THANK YOU, and there is NO NEED to donate again to join the race. I'd still love it if you shared the race info, though :)

aaaand, the disclaimer: all of these items were donated to me by those fantastic companies. That's pretty awesome, right? ALL of those companies agreed to help fund pediatric cancer research. We should go thank them. All of the opinions are my own. I only approached companies that I personally use and love.

Alright. I know this was really, really long, so if you've made it this far, here's my contribution to Funny Friday Photos or whatever it is this week.

Thursday Three... or four other websites you should check out today

1. I'm sure by now you've all heard of the missing Montana teacher, and SUAR's cousin, who went out for a run Saturday morning and disappeared. Link HERE to the story. Local police and the FBI have been investigating, but there are still no leads on Sherry Arnold. From the story...

The couple have five children between them from previous marriages. Gary Arnold has three and she has two. Sherry Arnold, who grew up in Sydney, is a cancer survivor.

You guys, be safe out there. I live in a super safe, very populated community, and I have always been leery of running early mornings by myself. BE CAREFUL.

And always wear your Road ID. Yes, that's mine. It's awesome.

2. Margot is running an Olympic Trials Giveaway! Guess which three crazy-fast women will make it to London, and win some cool stuff.

My money is 100% on Desi. I'm a little in love.

3. I am seriously stalking Team Sparkle after their announcement on Facebook this week...

Rainbow Race legs AND all skirts colors & sizes are back in stock! But check back daily... because we will be slowly adding new skirt fabrics & new race leg options!

GAH! Can't wait! There's still plenty of time to buy yours for Tinker Bell Half!

4. My friend Leigh is not a running blogger, but she is a runner, and a blogger. Confused? She's a funny lady, and a member of Team Gab, and she blogs about whether or not she should have kids, and is running her first half marathon this weekend. Go visit her and tell her good luck! To Kid or Not to Kid link HERE.

Blogger... Boobs? Name our Ragnar Team!

So, if you've not checked out my "Come Run With Me!" tab up there ^^^, you probably haven't noticed that I added a little somthin' to my race schedule for 2012.....

In a fit of jealousy while reading Nuun Hood to Coast tweets, I suggested to Sarah OUaL that we should do Ragnar.

Man, that chick works FAST. By the end of the day, we had an ultra team (6 people) and one NORMAL 12 (wo)man team.

And we're letting YOU, our readers, choose our team name.

Which we'll all wear printed across our collective boobs for the duration of the 200 mile relay.

Pretty sweet of us, huh?

We'll also give the winners some free stuff. Even sweeter, right?!

Here's how to play...

Just leave a comment (or two, or three... as many as you got, we need help, obviously) with the funniest, grossest, creepiest, weirdest, randomest team names you can come up with.

We've got a few weeks. Eventually, we'll (the Ragnar teams you should be extremely jealous of right now) join forces and have some winners.

It'll be awesome.

12 (wo)man Team (aka, The Smart Ones)

Me!
Becka
Rose
Kat
PrettyFittie
Kate & Ang
Monica
Broke Runner
Madison
Elisabeth
Danica

The Ultra Team (aka, The Crazies)
Sarah OUaL
SkinnyRunner
ChaCha
Margot
HauteRunningMama
And commenter extraordinaire, Pam

Tuesday Twelve (or thirteen)

1. I took #1 for FroYo and a book shopping expedition Sunday. Books - unsuccessful, she was being picky and shot herself in the foot because she was stubbornly holding on to the most expensive book she could find, and wouldn't settle for less. She's 12. I guess that's normal? Seems irrational.

2. When we sat down to eat our yogurt, there was this furry spider on the wall INCHES FROM ME.

3. If you know me, you know I hate spiders. Hate. But #1 was laughing at me, so I stuck it out. And ate my frozen yogurt (that's half coconut with strawberries, banana, kiwi, and more coconut, and the other half is coffee with chocolate chips, which was heaven. HEAVEN.)

4. But then I lost visual on the spider. I freaked out. #1 was laughing, some more. I may have said something about how it's vital to maintain visual and keep your enemies close. But I didn't see it. So I went to take another bite.

5. Until I saw something MOVE ON MY LAP.

6. Damn spider. We had to move tables entirely. I was retreating.

7. Anyway. I made some Plátanos Maduros this weekend. Love.

Cuban food is one thing I *do* miss about living in Florida.

8. We went swimming. It was hot this weekend, I don't know if I mentioned that...

Of note, Gabby's hair is growing back in... black? Weird.

9. Well, by we, I mean The H took #2 and #3. I was still feeling a bit pukey after the hottest 10 miler ever. And #1 took advantage of that by watching Ghost Adventures with me.

10. We also played Candyland. I might have had The H stack the deck.

11. Rose challenged everyone to do 26.2 pushups yesterday. I kicked that goal right in the face and did 97. The Suck Less Challenge is back on. And then I collapsed on to the ground. But not before showing off the hint of muscle. 6 weeks, and this is what I've got?! I'll take it... I guess.

12. What else did I kick right in the face? My $2000 fundraising goal!

You can still donate, HERE!

13. That Run Disney annoucement? Underwhelming. But I'm in anyway. Because (a) it's local, and (b) I cannot resist Disney. Who else is in?!

And, hey, Don't forget to enter my Giveaway HERE! Have a great Tuesday!