Chapman 5k Winner!

So, turns out the 40 minute connection in Phoenix that I was super concerned about? No worries. Our flight to Phoenix was super delayed. So instead of OC->PHX->MCO landing at 6, we're OC->DEN->MDW->MCO at 9:15. Whee.

Anyway.

7 SoCal locals entered the Chapman 5k giveaway, and the winner thanks to random.org is Barb!

Barb and her husband Sevan own a fantastic jewelry company, viiad.

Congrats, friend. I'll shoot you an email with the details.

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.

Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.

5K Goals

I know I just PR'ed a 5K a month ago, but I'm going to try again.
Goal A: 26:57 <-ambitious, and crazy
Goal B: PR (current PR 28:11)
Goal C: Don't puke or die

Goal A is an 8:40ish pace. I've certainly never attempted this pace for any length of time - I did 1600's, like, forever ago, and hit that, but I had a RI in between. Doesn't really count. I did run mile 10 of my 11 miler Sunday at goal pace, and didn't want to die OR puke, so I guess it could happen. We'll see. I know it's kind of a stretch, but might as well give it a shot - it's a great course, and my legs feel good and recovered.

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Have I ever mentioned that I am a gigantic Disney obsessed freak?

For years, I've been a member of a Disney message board - I am normally the type who researches crowd calendars and counts down to the 180-day mark so I can make my dining reservations. I plan out what Fast Passes to get when (which is moot now, since they changed the FP rules at WDW, zoinks). It gets pretty intense around me when Disney planning is happening.

Anyway, they have a forum on these message boards dedicated to Make a Wish trips, and tips for families with special medical needs, which of COURSE I've been obsessively reading since we started planning.

On this board, though, there's a group of people, who select families going on Wish trips, and throw a little (or a lot....) of extra Pixie Dust their way...

By way of....

We've been receiving and opening Mickey Mail for weeks, and man, how stinkin' blessed are we.

Gabby is pretty much FREAKING OUT EXCITED every.single.day. The H said he woke up to her counting down yesterday. She advised me as soon as I walked in after work that we only had NINE DAYS LEFT.

I'm guessing today we'll have only EIGHT DAYS LEFT.

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Speaking of Gab.... It's been awhile since I've talked about Gabby.

The truth is, there's nothing to report. She's happy, healthy, and a typical 5 yr old kid.

I guess that's kind of the best report of all.

She had to get stitches a few weeks ago, after a playground incident. Can't get much more normal than that, eh?

The stitches came pretty soon after her chemo doses were increased - chemo is dosed based on the child's weight, mostly, and how they're reacting to their current dosage. Her weigh in at the clinic bumped her up to the next threshold, and doses went up. Not a ton, but enough to mess with her counts for a few weeks.

Chemo, in general, lowers her counts - white blood cells, platlets, red blood cells. All those cells you need to heal when you get cut, right?

So, long story short, her chemo was increased, which led to counts dropping, which led to the creepy stitches being removed but her leg not totally healed, so it was kind of an open wound and puffy, and she got an extra med to prevent infection. More chemo, and an extra med.

Like dominos, man.

Because her counts have been low, she's going to clinic again on Tuesday to make sure her counts have rebounded, before we leave for her Make a Wish trip.

What does that mean, exactly?

If her counts are still low, they'll "just" lower her chemo for the week and give her a transfusion.

You know. No big deal. Just lower chemo and blood transfusions.

Anyway.

The point to all this rambling, is today is Tuesday. Already this week, I've had two of my employees in my office, in tears, about children in their family with cancer.

I'm a private person, and I don't share my personal life with work. My employees don't know about Gabby and her leukemia. I've been here almost a year, and one of them just last week asked if I had any kids. They had no reason to come to me expecting anything more than a manager approving their time off.

TWO people, TWO kids with cancer. In TWO days.

What the fuck.

I don't know. It pisses me off. I hope I was helpful to them, somehow. I know I was terrified the first few weeks... and it takes a LOT to worry me.

It pisses me off that I'm so blase about "just" changing the dose of chemo and giving her a blood transfusion. I mean. Those are kind of serious things, right? I don't know how I'd function if I reacted as if things like that are a big deal, but maybe I should. And how incredibly lucky are we? How did we get SO fortunate.

I don't know. I don't really have a point here. I'm just mad.

RnRSEA, post mortem, and PFTW

Last week:
Tuesday: 3 mile run, 4 mile bike. Jerk Shin was being a little shady, so I played it safe, and cut my 4 mile run, then threw in the bike for kicks.
Thursday: .5mi walk, 4.5 mi easy run
Sunday: 11 miles, easy pace, with 1 mile @ potential goal 5k pace.....

This week:
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: Woodbridge 5K, going for a PR. I know, I just PR'ed a 5K. But I felt like I had more in me, and this is a WAY easier course. I have some lofty goals, and a reasonable one JIC.
Thursday: 6 miles easy
Saturday: 18 miles easy

So I guess recovery has gone well?

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Random thoughts post-marathon...

*I felt super rough Saturday night, and a little sore Sunday if I stopped moving. But otherwise, everything has felt FINE.

*Obviously, I could have pushed harder. And now I know that for next time.

*I didn't carry my handheld, and I didn't die. The weather was mostly fine for using on course aid.

*Fueling was okay, until I hit mile 20 and decided I was done. WTF, brain. You're not the boss. Stop that.

*Except that RnR insists on NOT using bottled water. WTF, RnR. With as much money as people pay for registration at your events, you can't provide bottled water? LAME.

*This will likely be my last RnR event. I don't like to say "never", but I just wasn't impressed enough to shell out that much cash again. Disney, they charge a billion dollars, and put on an immaculate race, every time, WITH BOTTLED WATER. I'm just saying.

*I'm not making any real goals for SFM in 26 days - just to finish, have fun, and take pictures.

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T-9 days to Gabby's Make a Wish trip to Disney World.

"I'm FREAKING OUT EXCITED!"

The look of someone "freaking out excited"

#crazyeyes

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.