Holy Wowza.........

......what a week! 

Today I bring you every-other random thing floating through the mind of the Curly Pink Runner. You're welcome. 

1. A week ago today I was packing like a mad woman before I headed north to join my team to Relay Iowa. Amazing experience. I'm working on my recap and I cannot wait to share it with you. If you're a runner; go find a relay to run. DOOOO it. Hello craziness. 

2. I absolutely totally fell in love with this post on a new blog I'm following, Mile Posts. She perfectly described the thoughts that spun through my mind on every run I took when I first began running. I'd like to say I've embraced myself as a runner, but there are still days when my body's image gets in the way of my body's ability. Kicker- neither one define who I am. Hello love-your-body reminder.

3. I took 3 consecutive days of rest from all exercise post-relay. World record for me. You have to listen to your body, and my body said "rest". I came back feeling absolutely amazing- no soreness, no tightness, NO pain, but massively short on sleep and with just a touch of a head cold. Physically I was ready to go, but a time-out for some extra rest never hurt anyone, especially someone who is guilty of over-loading their 'active rest day' on a regular basis. Hello down time.

4. Yes, I've already set my next running goal. And it's a tough one. Hello progress.

5. ^^^ This girl is coming to visit me. Hello wonderful. 

6. Am I the only one who puts an entire onions in their egg scramble. Hello Vitamin C powerhouse. 

7. Daft Punk. enough said. Hello musical obsession. 

8. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:31 &32. Hello conviction. 

Tell me something totally random from your day! 

Finishers!

24 hours ago, my amazing teammates and I were dashing across the finish line after running 339 miles across the state of Iowa. Relay Iowa 2013- mission accomplished!! 

Full re-cap coming soon!!

A Letter to Running.

Dear Running,

Today our nation celebrates running.
I celebrate you everyday. 

I love you because you are good for my body, but you are also good for my soul.

I love you because you don't discriminate- anyone can run. They can be tall, short, slow, shy, brave, discouraged, lonely, bold, young, old, healthy, unhealthy, thin, thick, funny or all of the above.

I love you because you are not easy, and like anything worth having in life; there are no shortcuts.

I love you because you have introduced me to so many beautiful places that I would have never appreciated fully without seeing from my own two feet.

I love you because you converted me from a night owl to a sunrise junkie.

I love you because you give me a reason to eat peanut butter & jelly toast every Saturday morning.

I love you because you have shown me the value of time management and priorities.

I love you because you give me an excuse to skip acting like an adult and splash through puddles when it rains.

I love you because you give me endless hours to listen to Daft Punk and Imagine Dragons and Kasey Musgraves. 

I love you because you have introduced me to wonderful, vibrant, passionate women and men who have become amazing friends and add so much joy to my life.

I love you because you are the only thing that can make me drop $100 on a pair of shoes without feeling wasteful.

I love you because you make me face my fears.

I love you because you have changed my perspective on life.

I love you because it doesn't matter if it's a marathon or a 400 yard dash, or a 4 minute mile or a 20 minute mile- running is not about statistics. 

I love you because you don't judge when I'm sweating puddles. 

I love you because you are applicable to all seasons of life- after a bad day of work, before a hectic week, during a heartache or after a celebration. 

I love you because you remind me about balance- push days and rest days.

I love you because running clothes are just fun to buy and make laundry so much simpler.

I love you because you mean hours of prayer time.

I love you because you don't require coordination, thank you x 100. 

I love you because some days you are effortless, and it makes me feel empowered.

I love you because tears are okay, but smiles usually follow.

I love you because you helped change my body. 

Running, it's been an amazing first year. Here's to 50 more. 

xoxo.

Curly Pink Runner

If you love running, tell me why!! 

Five Steps to a Fabulous Monday.

Happy Monday! 

Monday is by far my favorite day of the week, (however, I gotta say that Saturday has become a close runner-up ever since it became my official long-training-run day). I love the feeling of starting with a clean slate, leaving the problems/stress/chaos of the previous week in the past. I try not to be that annoying person in the office who is all up in your face with my Monday-love, but it's sorta, kinda, totally hard to hide. 

Five ways to make your Monday a little piece of heaven on earth.

Five ways to make your Monday a little less hateful.

1. Be Positive.

2. Brew some coffee. DRINK. 

3. Find something to laugh about.

4. Go for a run. 

5. Set a goal.

Everyday is a gift, don't waste a single one-- not even a Monday!! 

What positive thought did you choose this morning? 

How do you take your coffee?

May Goals Recap and June Goals!

May Goals:

1. Turn of electronics at 10pm. Um, well......kinda check?? This one is a toss up. While there were several occasions where I consciously shut off electronics at 10pm, there were also several days I found myself still working/studying/blogging etc....at a late or sometimes 'early' hour. I'd like to continue to focus on curtailing my electronics use at night, but I'm happy with the progress I made.

2. Let Freakin' Go. When I set my May goals, I laughed at this one and told myself 'good luck'. I'm actually very, very happy with the improvement I saw this past month. There were several specific situations that I really was able to just chill out about instead of trying to control and manipulate. This will always be an area of struggle for me, but I'm grateful to reflect and know that I was able to do my part and place the rest in God's so very capable hands and just trust Him to be faithful. I'd also have to admit that I had some of my most embarrassing moments EVER last month, but that's a total coincidence, right??


3. RUN FREE. This was the hardest goal for the month of May!! With the exception of my race on May 11th, I ran a total of  43 miles without timing them. It was so interesting to see how differently I pushed myself when I knew I would have no numbers to mull over at the end of the run. I LOVE to run, and this month of running free was a great reminder of that. It's not about the numbers. It's not about the negative splits. It's about running because of what it means to me. Love it! (A HUGE thanks to Cori for sponsoring the challenge- great idea!) 

4. Cut out distractions during meal. Check! Breakfast with the only meal that I really struggled with. I typically eat breakfast during my morning drive to work- not an easy habit to break! I did do a good job of eating supper without opening up my laptop or ISSA textbook. Since I eat a lot of my meals alone, it just makes sense for me to multi-task, but I know ultimately it's so much healthier for me and it enables me to listen to my body much better in regards to the food I'm eating.

June Goals. 

1. Make a meal plan for suppers each week. (captain of the 6pm-and-standing-at-the-refrigerator- door-thinking-to-myself- "eat all the food" team right here!) 

2. Run my first Relay. (and look cute doing it.)

3. Blog 3x a  week. (ya'lls are gonna get so sick of my humor sarcasm.)

4. Perform 5 consecutive handstand push ups (I can currently do 1.)

Are you setting goals for the month of June? Link up in the comments!! 

Night Run 8k Race Recap!

During my Arizona vacation I was psyched to have the opportunity to run a race! I love racing, and it's even more exciting to race in a new location! I was very glad to share this race experience with my sister. Running is one of our absolute favorite things to do together.
When I was picking dates for my trip to AZ, I scouted out races that would be in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, or within a short distance from where we would be staying. Once I found the Night Run, I knew right away I wanted to run it!!

The Night Run was held in down town Scottsdale, with the start at the Civil Center. (P.S. If you've never been to the down town area- GO. Night or Day, there is lots to see and do.) They had a 3 mile fun run/walk and an 8k.

Pre-race packet pickup closed at 7, and the race started after dark at 8pm. We picked up our packets and got our bibs and walked around. It was warm, almost 100 and I was interested to see how well I would run in the heat. I did some minor stretching before the race and hit the line for the porta-potties. (While I was in line I chatted it up with 3 women standing in front of me who had just hiked the Grand Canyon the week before!! Hello, new bucket-list item!!)


 My goal for this race was ultimately to just enjoy the experience of running at night and have fun. This would also be my first race post-marathon, so I was just excited to be racing again! I had no idea what kind of time to try and shoot for because I hadn't been timing my runs at all prior to the race in keeping with my May Goal to #RunfreeforMe. My goal was to run all sub-10 minute miles and finish in under 50 minutes.

 
The start was a little bit confusing- someone was talking on a microphone, but I couldn't hear them at all. All the runners bunched up together at the start. There were lots of people and we unintentionally started towards the front of the group. It was very congested for the first few hundred feet but it thinned out pretty quickly.
Tabitha and I started out together, but she said she might not want to run the entire thing at my pace. She is a faster runner than I am, so I assumed this meant she would pull ahead and I told her to go when she felt good! Before we knew it someone yelled out "Mile 1". There were a ton of Garmins beeping around me and I was tempted to ask someone what pace we were running, but I decided not to. I didn't want to spoil the fun we were having by getting hung up on our speed.
After Mile 1, Tabitha said she wasn't feeling super good and she was having a really hard time holding pace. We were talking, and I tried to distract her and help her keep her head in the game, but she just really wasn't feeling it. Finally she told me to keep going, she was going to drop back and walk a bit and see if she felt better.
There was a young girl, maybe 8 or 9 running with her Dad and he was pacing/coaching her. It was so fun to see! They ran alongside us for a few minutes and they were listening to some good old country tunes on his i-pod, so we were all singing along. In my head I made a mental note to not let that little girl beat me!! :)

It was really a beautiful night to run and SO much fun! The course had a lot of turns and we seemed to be going in circles. We ran by a lot of restaurants and bars and the feedback was interesting! Some people were standing out in the street clapping and cheering and high-fiving, while there were quite a few others who were name-calling and booing. It was not your average race atmosphere, to say the least!
I was feeling really, really good and my legs just kept moving. I was passing a lot of people, and trying to just hold to what felt like a steady pace. Apparently I missed all the mile markers, so after Mile 1, I never knew where I was on the course. This made it difficult because I was trying to run hard, but yet not burn out and have nothing left to finish on.
The course was mostly flat with one of two small inclines. I was feeling really, really good and I was moving!

As we got near to the end we circled back around Civic Center Park and I knew we were getting close. Pretty soon I could see the finish line and I started to kick it with all I had. I have NEVER been a strong finisher, but this race I was really flying at the end. I still felt really great and still felt strong mentally and physically.
As I was flying towards the finish, all of the sudden that little girl & her Dad from earlier in the race were right on my heels!! They were kicking it & I was kicking it and the race was on!! She ended up crossing the finish line right in front of me, but according to our chip times, I actually finished 3 seconds faster than she did. 

My official finish time was 45:09, with an average page of 8:50, finishing 266th out of 651 runners! I was stunned to see that I had run all 5 miles at a sub-9 minute pace!! I completely blew my expectations out of the water! I was super happy with how well I ran the race and how good I felt post-run.
After I finished I ran back out along the course to find Tabitha. I expected her to be right behind me, but I didn't find her until Mile 4.
After we split she ended up running some more, but unfortunately got sick around Mile 3. Even after getting sick (twice) she still ran like a champ and finished!!  

She had a very tough race and I am SO proud of her for finishing! Her grit and determination to finish inspire me! I was really worried about her post race, but after getting re-hydrated and some sleep she was good as new!

We stretch in gas-station parking lots 'cause we be cool like that.
(And it was fun to totally embarrass Noah.)

The Night Run was a fantastic race and I loved running it. It was a great experience and if you are a Scottsdale local, I'd definitely recommend you check it out in 2014! 

World's Longest Roasting Stick.

Happy fake Monday to you! I hope you all had a wonderful ______ (insert word of choice) weekend. This was a working weekend for me, so no super-exciting weekend events from me.

I didn't post yesterday, out of respect for the fact that though Memorial Day is usually full of cook-outs, swimming and family; the real reason for the holiday to is remember those who have given everything for our country. I am so, so, SO grateful for all of those who have served and currently serve to protect our nation. The freedoms and liberty that I enjoy on a daily basis are because of their sacrifice. They are all heroes, and their families, who love, wait and support them deserve our unending gratitude and appreciation.  If you have served- in the past or presently, love someone who serves or have lost someone who served; thank-you for your sacrifice.

And now for some would-you-rather Memorial Day style. Browsing back through the history of Memorial Day celebrations in my family, we've never had a particular tradition. Each year we celebrate the day with family or friends in a variety of ways.

One year we had a record rainfall the week before, which almost cancelled our plans to have friend camp out on our farm. They decided to come regardless and the rain ended up being the main attraction; we found a gully full of water, built a dam and had a monster mud-fight. Probably the most epic celebration ever.
(Kansas farm kids are not afraid of dirt or mud.)
Would you rather;

Have a water war, a board-game tournament or sweat it out in a game of volleyball?

Have a bonfire, attend a parade or spend the day at the lake?

Grill hamburgers, steaks or hotdogs?

Or enter a contest for creating the loooongest roasting stick in the State of Kansas. We still need to improve this skill because the world record for the longest hot dog is 250 feet........

What did you do to celebrate Memorial Day?

Ketchup, mustard or sauerkraut on your hot dog?