Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Oops I Forgot SORRY!- Some Race Recaps and a Gel-Bot WINNER

Oops, this was my 5 things Friday post that I wrote on Friday and for whatever reason I forgot to post it ~ Sorry!! What the heck was I thinking, who knows!! Anyway here goes:

I am really liking these list things, in trying to get caught up in blogging they are very helpful. And I am stealing these simple little race recaps to catch up from  my bestest buddy Sheri ~ Thanks girl hope you don't mind :)

1. Pregnancy Resource Center 5k- May 28-This was held at the lovely Millinium Park in Danville, Ky. Not my favorite course but anyway...The weather was perfect not too hot not too cool. I felt good and ready to race! Sheri and I pretty much stayed together until right at the end, at the end there was this younger girl we was approaching that was running in the center of the pathway. I started to pass her as we was going into a curve and what did she do? She curved right along with the path and basically pushed me into the grass! (The same thing happend to Sheri) So I backed off a little thinking I would pass her in the next curve, but NO it was the same thing again almost in the grass, I just backed off completly and let her go on, Sheri did pass her IN THE GRASS!!! I don't mean to sound pushy or better than anyone else but come on PLEASE!!! The age groups for this one went by 10's which for me is not always the easiest to place in but Sheri, Katrina and I dominated it:) Sheri was 1st, I was 2nd (25:52 only 30seconds away from my PR) and Katrina 3rd ~ Great Job Ladies!!!

2. Beef Festival Stampede 5k- June 4- This one is in Harrodsburg, Ky just a block down from my office. I sorta like this course, its an in and out with the in being slightly uphill which leads to the out being downhill! This year they changed it up a bit but I still enjoyed it. This is also the race that I fell at last year, so when I got there I was asked that a million times "Are you gonna fall this year?" Luckily I didn't but I did have it on my mind the entire time!! No age group awards at this one only top 3 overall needless to say wasn't me but I was still pleased with my time 25:52 ~ huh same as the week before!

3. Run for the Brass 5k- June 11- Once again at Millinium Park. This race usually has a larger crowd than some of the others since it is held for a local Brass Band Festival held in town, it draws in lots of out of towners.  The weather looked a little questionable with dark skies but thankfully the rain held off.. This time around Sheri was 2nd and I was 3rd with a 26 flat, first time I have ever got a flat time!

4. RJ Corman 5k- June 25- Wilmore, Ky Another course that isn't my favorite and this race is not part of the local "Serres" that my crew and I participate in but it is a local race that I have done and I got to (well really WANT to) do a race every weekend possible! Usually it is SUPER hot for this one but once again the weather was perfect. This year was the first year that I didn't walk a SINGLE step, maybe it was the perfect weather or maybe just maybe I have finally learned how to pace myself. I ended up cutting 3mins from my time last year which I was super excited about and I got first in my age group, none of my crew came along it was only me! The best part about this year this year, they made homemade banana ice cream after ~ YUMMY!!!

5. And finally the Gel-Bot WINNER is...........Stacie from Impossible is Nothing. Stacie send me an email with your mailing address so I can get your bottle on its way!

Thank you for following my Journey!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

3Things Thursday-Thoughts on another Marathon

1. When I finally completed the Flying Pig marathon I said "never again will I do that!" I felt so miserable and hated my finish time.

2. A few days later when my emotions had calmed down I said "ok so maybe not ever again just not Cincinnati. Next time I will look for a flatter one!"

3. I am now looking at the calendar for next year and have been considering another full marathon. I have even been talking about it with a couple of my running buddies. This morning I get in my car to leave for work and look what my trip mileage read (in the pic above :) I think its a sign, how about you?
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Whoa Nelly Its HOT!

So I decided this was for sure going to be the week that I get my routine back together and get my butt in gear. And what happens......it is the hottest week EVER ~ ugghh! But don't count me out yet ;) I just won't be jumping into speed work or major long distances this week. I enjoy running and do better in the mornings but its even HOT in the mornings and I have become a non morning person so late evenings during the week it is.

PLEASE BE SAFE OUT THERE! DRINK LOTS OF WATER AND TAKE BREAKS WHEN NEEDED! I know as runners we know this but we are stubborn and sometimes we need to be reminded!

HAPPY HOT RUNNING!! :)
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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Just wasn't feelin' it - Run for Independence 5k

This is my third year running this race and I do NOT like the course. It is one of the harder courses around my area, lots and lots of hills and not just little ones. I really thought I was going to be ready for it today, the only day I ran this week was Thursday so I knew I was well rested. But today, today I just wasn't feeling it. And it started when my alarm went off.....I did not want to get up and didn't allow myself time enough to get up and get myself prepared ~ thank goodness I already had my outfit picked out! Today was the first race in the local "Serres" that my friends and I participate in  for over a month so I was glad to see everyone. The weather was overcast and felt good standing out waiting to start, it usually seems to be terribly hot at this race and there seemed to be low turnout of people which is not normally the case either. For some reason some people thought the race started at 9am instead of 8 so they decided to delay the start time about 15mins, by the time we did finally take off I felt tired and ready to go back to bed!! I just wasn't feeling it.  That good feeling weather quickly became Holy Cow its humid and hard to breathe, my legs felt very heavy and for what ever reason my arms felt heavy. I just wasn't feeling it.  I was able to stay with Sheri until about half way point then I started slowing down, I started to have drainage in my throat and really felt like I couldn't breathe! For the first time in a LONG time I walked a few steps! UGGHHHH!!!!! And not just once but three times ~ UGGHHHH!!!! But they were quick little catch my breathe couple of steps up the hills steps. A young little boy got right in front of me and he had a good pace so I paced myself off of him ~ thanks little buddy:) I was never so happy to make the final turn and know it was the final turn. I have been trying to have nice strong sprint like finishes, didn't think I would today but actually I did, at least that's what I heard someone say on the side lines as I came through. I have never received a medal at this race before so that was my main goal today. When I had the walking moments I thought well I probably shot that goal but surprisingly I was 2nd (27:40) and  Sheri was 1st ~ HOORAY FOR US!!! Even though I just wasn't feeling it!


Katrina, Sheri, Me, Carmen We all was WINNERS!!




Friday, July 15, 2011

5 Things Friday- Hooray it's Friday :)

1. HOORAY IT'S FRIDAY!!!!! :)

2. This was going to be the week I really got back on track. Monday and Tuesday was hotter than I don't know what, actually it was mostly due to the humidity. On Tuesday at 6am it was already a heat index of 90*! Not running in that kind of weather for sure, Sorry I am not much of a treadmill girl.

3. Although I haven't run this week I have tried to start getting up in the mornings and do some arm exercises with weights :) Just trying my own stuff like curls and things to work on my arms ~ they NEED serious attention. Any suggestions on workouts for arms/abs???

4. Have you seen the Gel-Bot? It's really cool. Try your luck at winning one HERE!!

5. Have I mentioned it's FRIDAY yet? HOORAY the work week is almost over :) Going back to work is so hard after vacation!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone! Anyone Racing ~ Good Luck!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Have you seen IT yet? The GelBot




If you like being able to drink water along with your energy gel you WILL LOVE this GelBot! The great Scott with Outside PR was awesome enough to offer this bottle for me to try out. Since I really wanted to do good at my last 10K (read all about it Here!) I knew that would be the perfect race to try it out (even though I generally don't and wouldn't recommend using new products for races).

So what is the GelBot?? Here is what the Hydrapak site has to say:

The Gel-Bot delivers two performance essentials, fuel and hydration, in one easy to use sport bottle. This patent-pending design lets you fuel or hydrate with just one hand. Perfect for racing or total gel addicts. All the Gel-Bot components can be taken apart and easily cleaned.


Here is me loading my gel into the gel chamber (have I told you I LOVE Pineapple Roctane GU!! If you are a follower you have heard me say that several times:) At first I thought this would be a messy process, having to squeeze the gel out of the package and into a bottle?? To my surprise it was super easy and I didn't make ANY messes!! I used two gels to put into the gel chamber and I am not too sure it would have held another full one but maybe a half .  




I really meant to prepare my water in the bottle the night before so it would be nice and cold, but did I, NO so I added some ice cubes to the water.(Which made my gel nice and COLD!:)  Then I pushed the gel chamber onto the lid and put it into the water bottle.

Taa Daa!! Here is my bottle fully loaded, gel + water = GelBot!!!

How did the GelBot work for me? I really liked using it, I liked the convince of having my gel and water all in one step without having to open a gel package and getting it all over me and I had no package to carry until I could find a trash can, I HATE LITTERBUGS!! There is also a hand strap to be able to carry the bottle while running, I however still had trouble with the strap fitting my hand properly and it wasn't very comfortable the first time I used it, the next time I tried to tighten the hand strap a little more it was a little better. I do LOVE the fact of having everything ALL together in one place, CONVINCE :) The only other minor problem I had with the GelBot is getting the gel chamber not to fall down into the water, it took me a couple of times to get it to stay put. I thought it would be hard to get the gel out of the bottle but it was super easy! Overall the GelBot is something I do not use all of the time but I do LOVE using it!


Wanna try a GelBot bottle for yourself?? Your in luck (maybe:) cause its
                             GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

MANDATORY ENTRIES-
*Be a Follower of THIS Blog
*Like Hydrapak on Facebook and tell them I sent ya :)
BONUS ENTRIES-
*Go to Hydrapak's site and tell me what product you would like to try
*Spread the Word- Blog It, Tweet It and/or Post it on Facebook
     (one entry for each item)
*Tell me how you Hydrate while Running

Enter as many times as you like from the choices above! Entries will be taken until July 19 and a WINNER chosen after then!





















Saturday, July 9, 2011

McDowell Wellness 10k - Watchout

Here is another past due race report~ Sorry trying to get caught up!


May 21, 2011
       I really wanted to do well at this race, half of this course is what we used for marathon training. I had planned on running the course a couple of times before hand but did I ~ NO!
     So I knew that I could not get caught up in the fast take off if I wanted to do decent, so I ran to where I felt comfortable and even talked with Carmen for about the first mile and a half. This course goes through a local neighborhood, about a mile into it a truck started backing out of the driveway. We was about .25 away from it but the truck never stopped! WATCHOUT!!!!! there was about 50 runners coming through and it just kept backing right on down the driveway, the man that almost got hit smacked the back of his truck. He was an older man driving the truck and had nerve enough to pull up beside the other man and ask if he had a problem and kept driving slowly beside him for a little ways! About 4 or 5 male runners all kinda grouped together (still running) and told the man he better just go on! What a JERK! WOW that was the most exciting thing I have ever seen during a race, I was ready to speed on up to them and help out I just knew for sure a fight was getting ready to break out, thankfully it didn't!
     After all of that excitement I felt like I was ready to start picking up the pace a little, I held off until I reached about mile 2.5 and just slowly sped up as I could. One thing I don't like about this race is the course loops back around by the finish line but you have to keep on going about another mile and a half before you come back around to the finish, seeing that finish line messes with my mind a little! I still felt comfortable and at a decent pace but I could tell I was starting to slow down. Coming down the home stretch and I could see the finish line I did my best to kick it in and finish strong...........
Official Time-  55:11    Overall Place 54/102

I was thrilled with my finish time, it was 5mins better than last year!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Hello My name is Bobbie and I think I am a Blogger...........5 Things Friday + Winners!!




1. I have been so absentee from the blogging scene and well just about everything. I know I keep on whining about it but I think I have finally busted out and seeing the light! I now have two half marathons coming up in the fall and a reason to TRAIN!!

2. I finally got the hubs to do a 5k race. 4th of July we ran the Great Buffalo Chase 5k in Frankfort, Ky.
It is held at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. I have never ran this race before but hope to do it again in the future! The top overall winners get $$$$ $2000, $1500 and $1000, I laughed and told my mom I would have to take my $2000 to pay my medical bills from running so dang hard cause I could never run a 16 something 5k~ ha ha ha!!! Overall it was a good race, the hubs wasn't in the best of moods so we didn't even speak or start with each other, I stayed where I could keep an eye on him though:) I passed him a half mile in and kept the lead until the very end. I felt like we both ran a great race, of course with the cash winnings involved the fastest of the fast was out! I think I ended up being 6th overall in my age group and was 142/476 with a time of 26:28. Not sure what place the hubs was in age group but overall was 139/476 with a time of 26:25.



3. Since I have been an absent blogger I have many race reports I still haven't wrote and a couple of giveaways to post! Please hang in there with me, I promise to get them all out soon and I am sorry in advance about post so much stuff all at once and late :/ I have been on vacation this week and am trying to get caught up on top of our big project at home but more on that later!

4. The WINNER of the CLIF SHOT ENERGY GELS is Haley @ Climb Run Lift Mom.  Haley please EMAIL ME your complete mailing address and what flavor you would like! Congrats

5. The winner of the CLIF SHOT BLOKS is Megan from Fit Crafty English Teacher. Megan please EMAIL ME your complete mailing address and what flavor you would like! Congrats