2019 Running Goals

It's that time of year again! Time to set goals that I probably will forget about and time to try and achieve the "New Year, New Me" mentality that everyone seems to focus on for the first few days. I've separated these into a four different posts, each post focusing on a different aspect of this blog. The first post is my running goals for 2019!

1) Actually maintain a consistent running schedule, ideally 2 times a week.
Every year I try to focus on adding more mileage, bu this year I've decided I need to step back and focus on maintaining the consistency and quality of my running. In a perfect world I would manage 3-4 running sessions a week, but in my world I've decided to focus on twice a week with one run on the weekend.

2) Incorporate more hill work.
I hate hill work. I hate walking hills, I hate running hills, I just hate hills. So for 2019 I've decided to try and master the hill work which will hopefully help me achieve a better pace during races.

3) Take advantage of the dog stroller.
Yes, I am one of those people. My dogs have a stroller and with 70 lbs of dog in that stroller it is extremely difficult to push. The stroller is designed to be run with so I really should take advantage of that and run with the dogs. Hopefully their extra weight will work to improve my pace and muscle growth to make pushing myself during races easier.

What are your running goals for 2019?

Black Friday Haul and NYX Lippie Countdown Day One

If you follow me on twitter you'll see that I may or may not have gotten pissed at FedEx and UPS because packages scheduled for delivery on November 30th were not delivered by 10:00pm. FedEx stayed in contact with me and delivered at 11:00pm. That driver deserves recognition for going above and beyond. I also have to give the FedEx social media team credit for being immediately responsive and polite. UPS on the other hand didn't deliver until December 1st, didn't ever update their package tracking, and was only responsive on social media after I called them out for being MIA. If I had to pick a delivery service for my Christmas gifts based off the way they responded to the late deliveries FedEx would win hands down.

Anyways, onto my Black Friday haul. Asics had an amazing sale on running shoes and I was able to snag two pairs of GT-2000 for under $100.00! I love the GT line and these are no exception. My last pair of running shoes has made it through 3 half marathons and almost a year (possible over a year) of runs. They are well overdue for a well deserved retirement.

As you've probably figured out, I'm addicted to makeup. If they could my friends would probably throw me into rehab for this addiction. But they can't and my local Ulta would probably be confused if I didn't show up for every other new release. So, once again I went and ordered a ton of makeup on Black Friday. In my defense, this should be my main stock for the year along with the Fundays sale and the Cyber Monday sale.

The first Ulta item is the Clinique Party Favours set. This set includes trial sizes of the Quickliner for Eyes Intense, High Impact Mascara, All About Eyes, Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Color Balm Take the Day Off Makeup Remover, Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief, Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, and City Block Purifying Charcoal Cleansing Gel. Some of these items I've tried before, like the Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. Other items like the City Block Cleansing Gel are new to me.

The second Ulta item is the Ecotools Highlight & Glow Brush Set. I saw that this set included a spoolie for eyebrows and jumped on it. Currently, the only eyebrow brush I have is included with my eyebrow gel so a dedicated dry brush will be nice The other brushes will honestly be a surprise for me after I open the box. 

The next item is the Laura Geller New York Gilded Goddess collection. Last year I received a baked highlighter from Laura Geller and fell in love with it. When I saw that this set includes a baked highlighter and an illuminating stick I knew I had to have it! 

The fourth item from Ulta is the Origins Skin Bests Black Friday Set. This set includes a travel size of the Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash, and Ginzing Energy-Boosting Gel Moisturizer. I've eyed the Origins line for awhile and was excited to see this set, it should be a nice intro to Origins and help me decided if it's worth splurging on. 

The fifth item is Julep Stars of the Show set. Julep is another brand that I've been interested in but haven't made the jump to try yet. This set includes a nail treatment, gel eyeliner, and lip mousse. All three products are full size which is better than the standard holiday set! 

The final paid Ulta item is the NYX Lippie Countdown Advent Calendar. Last year I bought the NYX Advent Calendar with the Lingerie collection and loved it! So I knew when I saw this calendar that I had to have it!

Opening up the Calendar you see the 24 boxes all nicely lined up. This year instead of doing random spaces each day is in order. This makes the organizational freak in me happy because there's little thought that will need to go into where the next day is and it means that the sides will be even. 

As you can see, each day is nicely nested in the associated day which creates a nice display when you open it. 

The first day includes the NYX Matte Lipstick in Eden. 

Eden is a nice blue toned red that is soft enough for day wear but would transfer nicely to a night look depending on the eye. When I went to wash off the swatch on my hand this didn't budge or smudge. It took two rounds with soap and water to wash off Eden. Because I received the Ulta package so late I was unable to wear Eden during the day, but after seeing how hard it was to wash off I would bet that this is a good half day lipstick. I look forward to wearing this for a full day and playing around with this color. 

The final items in the Ulta box are the freebies that I love to get during these sales. The first two are from the standard skincare sample that I always select. They included Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Foaming Mask, and the Bliss Fabulous Drench 'n' Quench Cream-To-Water Lock-In Moisturizer. I'm excited to try the Foaming Mask, but a bit freaked out about the idea of a Cream-To-Water Moisturizer. 

Like most years, this Black Friday sale included the option of a gift with purchase. I selected the Fringe bag in Bone because it seemed like the most neutral color. 

This bag included all Ulta branded makeup which I have recently come to appreciate. There was a double ended eyeliner in Blackout and Plum, a Tinted Eye Primer, a sharpener, and an eyeshadow kit in Sunshine, Plum Drop, Desire, Say What, Buzzword, and Fearless. 

This bag also included a blush brush lip gloss, Matte Lip Crayon, and highlighter kit in Warm, Radiant Diamond, and Translucent. 

Celebration Rotary Club 19th Annual Pancake Run Recap

Occasionally, I do things without reading the fine print. Like signing up for the 2018 Princess Half without realizing that my good proof of time won't work this time around. Cue the panic of being in the last corral when I realized this around June. (Yay for not taking races seriously since I moved!) I quickly checked all the local races for a 10k, 15k, or half that would help me get a new proof of time and discovered the Celebration Rotary Club's Pancake Run. It looked like a nice, easy course, and it was cheap. So I signed up and started to train!

The race took place in Celebration with the start and finish line by the Fire Station. I was worried about parking so I arrived at Celebration at 6:00 and was pleased to see parking at a church next to the fire station. From there I went to get my packet, which was easy to find but a bit strange. Usually I have to show ID to receive my packet but this time I just needed to give them my first and last name. Once I had my packet I went back to my car to nap for a bit until 7:15 when I planned on warming up.

When 7:15 rolled around I headed to the start and stretched. The race organizers did have a woman leading Zumba as a warm up but I didn't like the idea of changing my usual warm up.

There wasn't much warning before the starting gun went off but when it did my phone decided to stop speaking with my wireless headphones. I updated my phone during the last Apple update and it's given me issues with connecting to FitBit and my wireless headphones. Thankfully the interval timer I use vibrates strong enough so I can feel it through my arm band.

The first mile of the race is pretty unremarkable, honestly for someone who runs through Celebration weekly the whole race is pretty unremarkable. I was able to settle into a nice comfortable pace and pulled off a 9'07", well below my target pace of 9'40" for the first mile.

The second mile I pulled off a 9'52" as I settled into my intervals. This was below where I planned on being but I felt comfortable so I worked on maintaining it.

Miles 3-6 evened out into 10'11", 10'17", 10'14", and 10'16" respectfully. For the final 0.2 miles I could see the finish line and decided to give it everything I had left. There was a girl who I had been trading places with for the majority of the race and I had it in my head that I couldn't let her finish in front of me. Honestly, I feel like she felt the same way because once I passed her I felt like I could see her try to match my pace.

I finished in 1:05:06 which was slower than my goal of 1:00:00 but faster than my PR of 1:14:46. I'm pleased with my time and how I did, but it's been irritating me how close I was to getting that 1:00 10k. At the minimum I fully plan on going at or under 1:00 for the Pancake Run next year.

Overall, I enjoyed the race. It was a basic, cheap, local race that was fairly organized and on a flat course. The biggest issues I had were that there were no parking instructions given prior to the race, you couldn't hear the announcer/DJ if you were close to the starting line, and traffic wasn't completely blocked from entering the course.

Well, I did great at my morning training run!

5:30am. My alarm goes off. I peek outside and see it's still dark. Roll over and go back to sleep for another hour. This whole getting back into running and dedicating myself to training is going super well! On one hand I need to suck it up and go run despite the darkness, on the other hand I should probably get my community gym card activated and go use the fitness centers. If it wasn't the rainy season, with thunder, I feel like this wouldn't be an issue.

After deciding that the run was not going to happen this morning, thanks to needing to go do Paralegal things, I got up and immediately got yelled at by the cats. Apparently having all their food on the mat as opposed to in their bowls is a crisis. Tweedles, if you didn't shove all the food out of the bowl then we wouldn't have this issue!

You've got food Bailey. Stop yelling at me!

Once I was done with everything on my to-do list at work for the day I headed over to the barn. The drive there kills me, it takes an hour and the drivers are insane. At least once every drive I'm cut off with very little clearance or tailgated by someone who could easily pass me. But it's worth it for the pony therapy time, and getting to make sure she's doing alright. Because it was extremely hot and humid today I didn't want to work her too hard. The dressage ring is used for turnout so I can't ride in it at night, and no one has mowed the jump field in a few weeks so I don't feel comfortable working patterns. We just did a few laps at the walk while asking for her to go long and low, trot work while asking for a frame and lengthening/collection, and a few laps of the canter focusing on our turns and staying balanced. Our work at the trot needs a lot of practice but Cupid works so hard to do what I ask and it's amazing to see how far she's come since our first ride last year.

After our ride, I gave her a bath including working on getting her used to having her face wet. Because I think she expects me to aim the water up her nose and in her ears I'm currently using the mist setting on the hose. Once she's comfortable with the mist setting I plan on using a light trickle on her cheeks and possibly the center of her forehead. So far she allows me to mist her face but doesn't look thrilled. She has started to play with the hose and take drinks when I offer it to her, it's this little action that lets me know she's getting more comfortable with the wash rack.

I got home after the barn and wanted nothing more than to skip my run. It was still hot and humid, and I'm super lazy. After going through various stages of bargaining, including offering to reward myself with chips and salsa, I got myself off my floor and went for my run. The plan was to just run as much as I was comfortable with. I'm not starting my official 10k plan for another few weeks so I just want to get myself to a steady 3 mile pace that's hopefully under 11:00 minutes per mile. As always my times aren't good by any standards but they're something I can do and I can only improve from here. I settled into an easy 1 mile run which resulted in an 11'24" pace. Once I finished my mile I continued for a little more just to get myself closer to my house. Overall, I feel good with myself. I got out for a run even when I didn't want to and I didn't talk a walk break until I got to my cool down starting spot.

If anyone has any suggestions for how to keep myself from getting a stitch in my side when I run in the humidity I would love you forever! 

What's Up Wednesday?

I got home from the barn. Quickly changed from my breeches to running shorts. Dashed downstairs and put on my running shoes. Just as I was locking my front door it started to pour. If it weren't for the thunder I would be trying to get a quick 3 miles in. The lifeguard in me still tells me to stay inside during thunder. So now I'm sitting on my couch, watching Netflix, and eating leftovers from last night. Yay Florida life....

On the bright side, the rain is pretty to listen to and I do need to write as opposed to my usual say I'll write and walk away.

In an effort to start keeping up with this, I'm going to try and set a few days for regular posts. Everything else will be a fun extra that I'll write as I think of it (or say I will, write it halfway then walk away). One of these regular days will be Wednesday since it's mid-week and I'm usually settled into my work week at this point. Because I'm super creative these posts will be labeled "What's Up Wednesday?" and will try to cover anything that's going on in my life. The plan will be to segment these posts into four sections: Run, Ride, Read, and Repeat. The first three sections are exactly as they sound, and the fourth section, Repeat, will be for anything else that's going on in my life.

So without further blabbering, let's begin the first "What's Up Wednesday?'!

Run
I stopped running. After the Star Wars Half Weekend I took time off to let my foot heal and didn't really start once I felt better. A few weeks ago I went and did three different runs to see where I was at in my baseline fitness. The first was on June 4th and I did a mile in a run/walk pattern, this was done in 11'01". The second was June 6th and I decided to do an easy mile without walking. This was the first time I've ever run a mile without walking since high school and I'm proud to say that I was able to complete it in 10'56"! The third run was 2.5 miles, on June 9th, at an 11'27" pace. For this run I did end up doing a run/walk pattern and I really don't have an excuse as to why I decided to not slow down and run the whole thing.

My goal is to run a 10k this fall without walking (other than water stops) which means I'll have to put in substantial training. I am currently planning on running the Celebration Rotary Club's 19th Annual Pancake Run on October 28th. My ultimate goal would be to do the 10k in under an hour, but for right now I plan on beating my PR of 1:14:46. I know I have it in me to PR, I just need to take this training seriously and make sure to run enough races before so that I'm ready to really rock it.


Ride
Cupid is doing well. We showed at the Sumter Equestrian Center in their May Hunter/Jumper/Dressage Show and did fairly well. I am in the process of finishing this recap so you should see that in more detail at a later date.

Currently, Cue and I are working on our flat work. I've started to ask her to use her hind end more and she is responding beautifully. We have plenty of moments where she is clearly confused but she attempts to respond to me and it's those attempts that make me appreciate how good of a mind she has.

The biggest news I have regarding Cupid is our upcoming move. On July 1st, Cupid and I will no longer be training with our current trainer or boarding at our current barn. I made the decision back in May to move out to the West side of Orlando for several different reasons. The main reason being that I want to have access to trails and would like to be at a property that does not flood. If you follow me on Twitter then you have seen my complaints about the current barn flooding. It will be nice to be at a place that was build uphill and has better drainage.

Read
If you follow me on Goodreads you'll see that I have been binge reading The Saddle Club series. As a joke I picked up the first book because I had read about how bad the horsemanship is. This has turned into me laughing over the writing and horsemanship, while appreciating that these are great books for the horse crazy child. When I wasn't able to ride these books let me maintain my love for horses

I'm also reading Little Women again. A few years ago I decided to start the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge and this is one of the books on the list. I'm in no hurry to complete the challenge, I just would like to do so before I turn 30. Since Little Women is one of the longer books it makes sense to read it with ample time to finish.

Repeat
Last weekend I had my second concert with the CFCArts Orchestra, American Roadtrip. This stands as the concert I am most proud of. The music was challenging yet the entire orchestra, including myself, rose to the challenge and put on an amazing show! Manager attended one of the performances and stated that it was his favorite one yet. Our next concert is ¡Fiesta! and will be on November 3rd and 4th. I can't wait to challenge myself further and perform with the orchestra again!

Star Wars Dark Side Expo and 10K

Months ago I signed up for the Star Wars Dark Side Challenge. The race weekend is finally here and I've already completed the 10k! I'll be honest that I didn't expect to be happy with my results this weekend due to a foot injury, but I am thoroughly impressed by myself with my 10k time.

I attended the expo on Thursday, April 20th, and had planned to make it a quick trip. Picking up my bib took about 5 minutes. I had printed my race waiver the night before and was easily able to locate the tables for the Dark Side Challenge bibs. Like what typically happens I had to be reminded to produce my ID. For some reason I always forget to pull it out of my wallet before I reach the table. From the bib table I went over to the tshirt pickup. Because I was participating in the Challenge my shirt pickup was in the same building as bib pickup. For those of you who haven't attended a race at Walt Disney World there are two different buildings of ESPN Wide World of Sports utilized for the expo. One building hosts the bib pickup, preordered merchandise pickup, and shirt pickup, the other buildings hosts the vendors, shirt exchange, and the big Disney merchandise booth.

From the bib pickup I went over to the expo building. My plan for this was to see what the race specific merchandise was for this event, and to see the Sparkly Soul booth. I'll be honest, I was not impressed with the Disney merchandise. The magnet for the challenge is an "I did it!" magnet, which I find stupid. Obviously, if I'm displaying the magnet I have completed the race. I would have preferred to have a themed magnet that matches the other challenge items. The beer glass (or water glass if you follow Disney names), is just to add to my collection. Somehow I've fallen into collecting glasses relating to the races I have run. As for the headband, I have no excuse other than I'm slightly addicted to wearing and collecting headbands.  I know in past years there have been issues with Disney having enough items for those who arrive later in the day. I arrived about 5:30-6:00 pm and was able to find everything I wanted. It seems that Disney either has figured out their problems with stocking or these items were not in high demand.  

Disney swag from the expo

My stop after the Disney was the Sparkly Soul booth. I stumbled upon these headbands at the Hot Chocolate 15k Expo in Chicago and only bought my first one because it said "Run Chicago" and I wanted a bit of my hometown with me when I moved. Ever since then I've been in love with these headbands, I'm working on building a collection with every color because I wear them constantly. These can be found under my helmet when I ride, or holding back my bangs when I'm hanging out at home or running. They stay where I put them even during a hard run or a day working at the barn. My only issue is that with my longer bangs I do look a bit like a mad scientist with the bangs flopping behind the headband, so I was excited to see that Sparkly Soul had come out with a wider headband. I haven't worn it yet so I can't vouch for the quality but hopefully it matches with the rest of the Sparkly Soul line.

I'm a bit of a headband hoarder

Now for the race. As I had said above I recently injured my foot during a training run so for the past two weeks I've been taking it easy. I started the 10K this morning expecting to go slow, enjoy the sights, and try not to stress my foot. For the first 3 miles I kept a pretty consistent pace and didn't feel too stressed. But I was super warm and actually found myself drinking more of my Powerade than normal. It was cool, and dark during this first 5k, and the course wasn't too crowded. I felt comfortable doing a walk/run at a slow pace and didn't feel like I was going to get run over or end up in someones way. 

Gross and sweaty but still trucking along

The second half of the race went a bit slower for me. Once I finished with the "on ramp" at mile 3 I started to feel a twinge in my foot. I decided to take a step back and slow down with more walk breaks. It was this half of the race that started to get hot and I started to get extremely sweaty, like sweat dripping off my nose sweaty. This isn't normal for me as I usually sweat very little, so I was glad for my decision to slow down. I was able to take advantage of the various hills along this section of the course. My strategy was to power walk up the hills, then jog down them and use the momentum from the down to help me get to a point ahead that I would focus on.

EPCOT Fountain shot

I crossed the finish line feeling tired but not exhausted. I was able to comfortably collect my medal and food items, plus the pain in my foot had disappeared. I had assumed my time was above 1:20 but was happy to discover it was 1:16. This isn't a good time by my standards, and it' far from my goal of 1:05 but considering I've had to take two weeks off I am extremely happy with myself.

No idea what my shorts are doing but I did it!

Now for the pros and cons of this race.
Pros: Fun and fast course. Plenty of water. Well organized. Nice medal and swag.
Cons: No cooling towels after. The corrals were split into waves, I would have preferred more corrals. The river walk from Studios to the Boardwalk is always tight.